Battle of Baotou

Battle of Baotou
Part of the 1939–1940 Winter Offensive during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Date 17–24 December 1939 (1939-12-17 – 1939-12-24) Location Baotou, Suiyuan, Republic of China Result The Chinese army was unsuccessful in capturing the city of Baotou and eventually retreated voluntarily
Belligerents
China	Japan Mengjiang
Commanders and leaders
Fu Zuoyi Dong Qiwu Yuan Qingrong Sun Lanfeng Ma Hongbin	Kojima Yoshizo Nagaru Kumagawa Wang Ying
Casualties and losses
More than 1,000 dead and wounded	More than 3,000 casualties

The Battle of Baotou (Chinese: 包头战役) was fought from 17 to 24 December 1939, in Suiyuan Province of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Taking place in the Eighth War Area in Northern China, the engagement was part of the wider 1939–1940 Winter Offensive by the National Revolutionary Army.

With the aim of delaying the Japanese southward advance, the battle began with a perimeter battle on December 17 and a subsequent siege of Baotou, during which half of the city was captured at one point, but ultimately, due to the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, and the purpose of attracting the attention of the Japanese army had been achieved, the Chinese army chose to withdraw of its own accord, and laid the groundwork for the Battle of Suixi, which was to follow.

Background

See also: Battle of Suixi

In order to cooperate with the operations in other war zones and to delay the progress of the Japanese forces in North China to the south, Fu Zuoyi decided to start this battle.

Participating armies

Japanese Army

In December 1937, the Japanese began to form a “Corps in Mongolia”, which was formed on January 8, 1938, in addition to a cavalry group command of the Japanese Corps in Baotou, whose commander was Kojima. In addition, directly stationed in Baotou was the Cavalry Group Command of the Japanese Corps in Mongolia, headed by Lieutenant General Kojima Yoshizo. The command had a cavalry and artillery group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Nagaru Kumagawa, another cavalry squadron, an independent chariot group, a rapid-fire artillery unit, and incidentally commanded two Mongolian army divisions as well as more than a hundred gendarmes and spies. Also stationed at Goyang were the Ogami Shigeru Cavalry Brigade and the 8th Mongolian Army Division.

In 1939, the Japanese army brought in Wang Ying to organize a “Suixi Autonomous Allied Army”, with him as the general-in-chief, and three cavalry divisions under the command of Chen Bingyi, Wang Biaozi, and Chang Ziyi, which were stationed in the area of Gongmiaozi in Zhongtan region west of Baotou.

National Government Army

The main unit of the National Government Army in this battle was the 35th Army, which Fu Zuoyi had withdrawn from after the Battle of Taiyuan. The 35th Army prior to this had established the 73rd and 101st Divisions, which were later reorganized, with the 73rd Division returning to Shanxi and expanding to the new 31st and 32nd Divisions.

In addition, local units under Fu Zuoyi's jurisdiction included the 81st Army, the 6th Cavalry Army, and the 3rd New Cavalry Division, the 4th New Cavalry Division, the 5th New Brigade, the 6th New Brigade, and the Suiyuan Guerrilla Army.

The battle

Beginning stages

Fu Zuoyi's deployment for the battle was as follows:

1. Our army attacked the enemy in Baotou by a long-distance surprise attack to achieve the purpose of completely annihilating the defenders and occupying the city. We had to make preparations for an encounter and a forced siege of the city, attacked and advanced to the enemy in Baotou, and on December 20, carried out a siege of the city in Baotou.

2. Ordered the 6th Cavalry Division, Men Bingyue, to cross the Yellow River from Maqi Ferry, pass through the Yimeng area south of the Yellow River, advance between Saxian and Guisui on December 20, completely destroy the Pingsui Railway, hold the enemy in check by guerrilla attacks, prevent the enemy from reinforcing Baotou, and sent Senior Staff Officer Miao Yutian to accompany the army to strengthen the contact with headquarters.

3. Ordered Sun Lanfeng, Commander of the new 31st Division, to lead the division and attach the Yu Linrui Regiment of the Wulin Police Brigade and the 1st Battalion of Mountain Artillery as the left column, and to advance to Baotou along the Baowu North Highway.

4, so that the new thirty-second division commander Yuan Qingrong, attached to a battalion of mountain artillery for the right column, along the Baowu South Road to Baotou, and get in touch with the left column.

5. Ordered the commander of the 101st Division, Mr. Dong Qiwu, with a battalion of mountain artillery as a follow-up unit, to advance after the left column.

6, so that the Suiyuan guerrilla army Ma Fengchen brigade commander led four regiments of troops, using the night sneak, to the north of Baotou Wulashan lurking, such as Baotou, the enemy out of the city and our troops in the battle west of Baotou, the brigade took advantage of the gap into the occupation of Baotou.

7. Ordered Prince Xiu, Commander of the New Sixth Brigade, to advance to the highway between Dasheta and Baotou and to choose ambush positions in order to prevent the Japanese troops in Dasheta from reinforcing Baotou and to annihilate the enemy.

8. Ordered Ma Hongbin's division of the 81st Army to lead troops along the line from Wuzhen and Wuliangsuhai to Xishanzui to guard the back set area.

On December 17, the 6th Cavalry, under the leadership of Army Commander Mun Byung-yak, crossed the Maqidu and annihilated the pseudo-armies in the area of East and West Laozangyingzi, destroying the nearby railroad. [6] On the 18th, the 6th Cavalry Army fought with the Japanese at Twenty-four Hectares, and on the 19th it made a sneak attack at night on the Japanese troops stationed in Sarazi County. Meanwhile, the 81st Army acted according to a corresponding plan. on the afternoon of the 18th, Fu Zuoyi dispatched the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Wang Xing twice, and the staff officer, Captain Jin Shuko, to liaise with the new 31st Division, conveying an order confirming that the operation would begin on the night of the 19th.

After learning of the movements of the National Army's 6th Cavalry Corps, Japanese Group Commander Kojima Yoshizang dispatched most of the troops of the Cavalry Group, with Kumagawa Nagaru as commander, to form the Kumagawa Crusade late on the night of December 19, using five chariots as a vanguard to move out of the city to meet the 6th Cavalry Corps. In the early morning hours of December 20, after the Kumagawa expedition had moved away from Baotou, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 93rd Regiment of the New 31st Division, led by Lt. Col. Feng Zi, the 93rd Regiment's attaché, had bypassed the bunkers and barbed wire outside Baotou on the night of the 19th and arrived at the northeastern corner of the city, which was controlled by the False Forces. An Chunshan, the commander of the 93rd Regiment, led the regiment and the 1st Battalion under the guidance of local youth Wang Youliang. An Chunshan found that there were only a few Mongolian soldiers patrolling on the city wall when he entered the northwest gate, so he immediately gave up his original plan, and instead used the easiest place to climb in the northwest corner of Baotou City, “Shuiba Cave,” to take the lead in attacking the city.

An Chunshan ordered the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion to set up ladders to the city wall through the outer trench. As the attacking troops began to climb the wall, two Mongolian soldiers defending the city spotted the attacking Nationalists. The two soldiers then surrendered, which allowed the attacking troops to climb the wall without casualties. With the help of the information provided by the two surrendered Mongolian soldiers, the attacking troops quickly launched an attack on the Japanese troops stationed at the northwest gate, wiped out more than 20 Japanese troops defending the gate and captured the northwest gate. The battle at the northwest gate woke up the sleeping Japanese defenders, who immediately occupied various bunkers in the city and began to resist. At the same time a Mongolian army stationed outside the city at Xiyangpan also began to attack the northwest gate, attempting to pincer the 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment, but was stopped outside the city by a squad led by Captain Yao Dezeng, the commander of the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion. And the Mongolian army stationed at the shilling battalion outside the city took the initiative to send someone to contact the 93rd Regiment, indicating that they did not want to get involved in the battle and offered to give the 93rd Regiment 20 boxes of ammunition. This saved the 93rd Regiment from the danger of being attacked from the back, and also enabled the regimental commander An Chunshan to concentrate the main force of the 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment to quickly capture the Japanese ammunition supply warehouse.

While the 93rd Regiment captured the northwest gate, the 91st Regiment of the New 31st Division and the 1st Regiment of the Wulin Police Brigade, which had already assembled in the north of the city, and the two battalions of the 93rd Regiment in the northeast of the city, also successively attacked Baotou City. The artillery, under the command of Major General Liu Zhenheng, the deputy commander of the attack, took up positions near Huangcaowa and set up the divisional command post at Huangcaowa. The 1st Wulin Police Reserve Regiment was the first to enter the city under the leadership of the regimental attaché, Major Liang Yanchi, and then the main force of the 91st Regiment, after accepting the surrender of the pseudo-Mongolian army in Beiyingpan, followed the 1st Wulin Police Reserve Regiment into the city to expand their positions. By noon, 2 companies of the 1st Battalion of the 91st Regiment led by Captain Cui Jianxin and Captain Linghu Li also attacked the city. The two battalions led by Lt. Col. Feng Zi of the 93rd Regiment were unable to enter the city because of the wide receding trench outside the city and the fighting with the pseudo-military stationed outside the city, which was stuck in the northeast corner.

Japanese counterattack

At that time, the Japanese army in the city knew nothing about the attacking Chinese army, and its cavalry group commander Kojima appeared to be very alarmed. But because the attacking ministries failed to closely coordinate, so the attack time is not the same, the attack is not fierce, so that the Japanese army inside the city gradually recovered calm, organize strength to start resistance. Only one battalion of the 93rd Regiment entered the city first, the other two battalions were blocked outside the city and lost contact with the regimental headquarters. The commander of the 1st and 91st Wulin Police Regiments did not personally enter the city to command the battle, which allowed the Japanese to enter the bunkers and block the Chinese army's attack with firepower. Just as the various units of the new 31st Division launched their attack on the city, the Japanese Cavalry Group Command made contact with the Garrison Command in Zhangjiakou, but when the Commander, Lt. Gen. Naosaburo Okabe, asked if reinforcements were needed, the Cavalry Group replied that they had already notified the 1st Brigade Cavalry Regiment in Saxian of the need for reinforcements and that they did not need to dispatch the rest of their reinforcements.

At 10:00 a.m. on December 20, due to the varying progress of the attacking units and the fact that some units had not broken through the city walls, as well as the fact that the 1st Wulin Police Reserve Regiment, which was assigned to the battle, was unfamiliar with the 35th Army's chain of command, the commander of the new 31st Division, Maj. Gen. Sun Lanfeng, in order to unify the command of the attacking units, ordered the deputy commander of the division, Maj. Gen. Wang Lei Zhen, as the front-enemy commander to go into the city to command the battle. While Vice Division Commander Wang did not enter the city after receiving the order, but only set up a temporary command headquarters outside the city to direct the troops outside the city to fight against the False Army, he ordered Colonel An Chunshan, the commander of the 93rd Regiment, who had already entered the city to unify the command of the troops that had entered the city, and dispatched the 3rd Battalion of the 92nd Regiment to enter the city to provide reinforcement. [9] At this time, the troops that had already entered the city included the 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment, two companies of the 1st Battalion of the 91st Regiment, the 3rd Battalion of the 93rd Regiment, and a part of the 1st Regiment of the Wulin Police Reserve.

An Chunshan, after obtaining the unified command, quickly contacted the various departments in the city, he deployed the battalions and companies in the line from Qianjie to Jinlongwangmiao, and started a fierce street battle with the Japanese troops in the city. And the Japanese army at this time also rely on well-trained, well-equipped advantages, quickly into the set up in the street entrance to the bunker to resist, the city fighting is very fierce, the Chinese army progress is blocked. 20 at 3:00 p.m., in the Anchunshan regiment under the command of the head of the city troops will be pressed to the city of Japanese troops to the southeast corner of the city, and put up the national flag. Baotou local people after learning that the Chinese army into the city have sent tea and water to comfort the army. But because of the southeast corner of the Japanese bunker configuration intricate, fire blockade fierce, attacked the city's Chinese troops have never been able to occupy the southeast corner, and the Japanese army and several times to organize counterattacks, the war was forced to fall into a tug-of-war state.

The new 31st division Sun Shi Min in order to speed up the attack, at this time ordered the reserve 92nd regiment 3rd battalion into battle, strengthen the attack force of the troops in the city, but did not expect to go out of the city early in the morning to look for the main force of the Chinese army to fight the Japanese army Kumagawa expeditionary force also at this time rushed back to Baotou, and with the northwest gate of the city of Baotou and the Chinese army to fight, this unexpected event makes the two sides of the Chinese and Japanese armies are trapped in the melee. At the same time in Baotou city outside the city of fierce fighting, the Japanese cavalry 1st brigade brigade commander Katagiri Shigeru major general order belongs to the two cavalry group by Guyang, Anbei two urgent reinforcement Baotou.

Siege of the city

At about 4:00 p.m. on the 20th, the 1st Japanese Cavalry Brigade and its direct subordinate troops broke into the city of Baotou and succeeded in joining the defenders[10]. The 13th Cavalry Group in Guyang was reinforced by a brigade led by Colonel Ichiaki Obara, its commander, and was met by the 92nd Regiment of the New 31st Division of the Chinese Army and the 1st Brigade of the Suiyuan Guerrilla Army as they traveled to the area of Sanhe No. The Japanese army used chariots to open the road, and the 1st Brigade of the Suiyuan Guerrilla Army to attack the Japanese army. The Japanese army used chariots to open the road, advancing step by step, the 92nd Regiment's 2nd Battalion commanded by Colonel Yu Chuanyi's position was nearly broken through by the Japanese army. Yu Chuanyi urgently contacted the division headquarters by phone, hoping for reinforcements. At this time, General Fu Zuoyi personally visited the headquarters of the new 31st Division to inspect the battle situation and put forward the policy of changing “siege and reinforcement” to “defend the city and reinforcement”. Its staff officer Jin Shuko captain in the Yu received a phone call after the intention of Fu Zuoyi told Yu Chuanyi, Yu said immediately resolutely solid position, and finally hit the reinforcement of the Japanese cavalry 13th coalition, the coalition leader of Osamu Kohara was also seriously wounded in the battle and was saved by his subordinates back to Guyuan, the remnants of more than 300 people in the commander's command of the first unit of the desperate breakthrough to Baotou, in the early morning of the 21st rushed to the northwest of the city of Baotou, and was met by the Chinese army. Outside the northwest gate of Baotou city, and was blocked by the Chinese army's new 31st division 93rd regiment North Pass defenders and 91st regiment Northwest Pass defenders, were forced to retreat into the northwest gate outside the city trench defended. At this time when the new 31st Division sent Division Chief of Staff Colonel Song Haichao led an artillery company into the city to support the battle, Song saw the Japanese remnants of the trench, immediately sent to contact the 93rd Regiment on the wall, first suppressed with artillery fire, followed by the 93rd Regiment infantry charge, the Japanese troops were all annihilated. The 14th cavalry reinforcement from Anbei is far away from Baotou, at this time is still on the way to the battlefield.

When the Japanese cavalry 13th unit was defeated by the Chinese army, the commander of the Japanese army in Mongolia, Okabe Naosaburo, realized the seriousness of the problem, he immediately contacted the 26th division commander, Lieutenant General Kuroda Shigehide, and ordered him to send the 13th Brigade of Cavalry and the 14th Brigade of Cavalry to reinforce Baotou, and the rest of the troops were to be assembled to Baotou, and at the same time ordered the pseudo-Montenegrin army to rescue Baotou. After the battle in Baotou was held into the night, the Japanese cavalry group leader, Lieutenant General Kojima, contacted Lieutenant Colonel Kumagawa, who was commanding the battle outside the city, and designated all the troops in Baotou to be under the command of Lieutenant General Katagiri Shigeru, the brigade commander of the 1st Brigade Cavalry Regiment, and made use of the Japanese army's familiarity with the terrain to formulate a plan for a counterattack during the night.

In the early morning of the 21st, Japanese troops under the unified command of Lieutenant General Katagiri launched a surprise attack on the Chinese army inside and outside the city, breaking through the position of the 1st Regiment of the Wulin Police Reserve located in the front street of the city. The 93rd regiment commander An Chunshan also immediately invested troops to launch counterattacks after learning that the position was lost. After dozens of fierce battles, commander An Chunshan finally thwarted the Japanese troops inside the city, while the Japanese troops located outside the city were also thwarted by the favorable counterattacks of the new 31st division's deputy divisional civilian, Major General Wang Lei Zhen. In order to quickly wipe out the Japanese troops inside the city, after thwarting the night attack plan of the Japanese troops, Chief An Chunshan decided to launch a counterattack against the Japanese troops inside the city. However, after the attack began, the Japanese bunker fire blockade prevented the Chinese troops in the city from continuing to expand their gains, and from daytime until nightfall, the troops under the command of Colonel An Chunshan were still locked in a line with the Japanese at Qianjie. Only the 92nd Regiment 3rd Battalion under the leadership of Major Qiu Zilin, battalion commander, captured the south of the city Japanese army a most fortified compound, will be defending the yard of the Japanese army 1 squad were annihilated. [ At this time, news came from the 6th Cavalry Army, which was besieging Saxian, that it had captured Saxian and destroyed the Pingsui Railway.

Outside the city, the infantry-cavalry alliance commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nagarji Kumagawa attacked Liujiyaozi, the front-line command post of Vice-Division Commander Wang Leizhen of the New 31st Division, with more than 300 cavalrymen under the cover of two fighter planes. This Japanese unit was favorably blocked by the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion led by Colonel Liu Jingxin, the commander of the 91st Regiment of the New 31st Division, as well as an artillery company. The Japanese cavalry gave up the frontal attack after 4 consecutive unsuccessful charges and attempted to detour to the flank of Liujiaoyaozi to attack again, but was still repulsed by Liu Jingxin's troops. Seeing that the attack was ineffective, the Japanese turned to launch a sneak attack on the headquarters of the new 31st Division in Huangcaowa, which was once again defeated by two battalions of the 92nd Regiment as a reserve, and the remnants of more than a hundred of its troops returned to the east of Baotou City.

Just as the 92nd Regiment of the New 31st Division was blocking the cavalry in front of it, the 14th Japanese Cavalry Coalition was approaching Baotou. The 14th Cavalry Group's location, Anbei, was under attack by the 81st Chinese Army, so the group's leader, Colonel Kobayashi Ichio, did not take all of his troops out, and did not conduct any reconnaissance along the road on both sides of the road, so that when they approached Baotou, they were ambushed by the Chinese Army's New 5th Brigade, and their troops were annihilated, and the group's leader, Colonel Kobayashi, was killed on the spot[13], and only the remnants of 100 men escaped from the ambush. Only the remnants of 100 men escaped the ambush, but when they reached Kundulun, they encountered the 11th Battalion of the 94th Regiment of the New 32nd Division, which had just arrived at the battlefield. The commander of the 1st Battalion, Major Lu Leshan, tried to persuade the Japanese to surrender due to his lack of battlefield experience. After rejecting the request for surrender, the Japanese remnants fled back to Anbei before the 1st Battalion of the 94th Regiment was ready to fight.

The 101st Division of the Chinese army defeated the pseudo-Mongolian reinforcements in the Maogi Shenyaozi area. The 302nd Regiment, under the command of Colonel Guo Jingyun, surrounded a pseudo-Mongolian reinforcement in the Kundulun area and captured more than 300 men, including the head of the regiment, Yu Zhenyun. After being captured, the pseudo regiment commander Yu Zhenweng took the initiative and succeeded in persuading the pseudo-Mongolian army located in New Castle to surrender.

Stalemate

At 3:00 p.m. on December 21, two brigades of the Japanese 26th Division arrived near Baotou after breaking through the Suiyuan Partisan Army's peripheral blockade, and launched an attack on two battalions of the 93rd Regiment of the new 31st Division to the east of the city under the cover of five fighters, and after breaking through the defense of these two battalions, they met with Kumagawa Cavalry and Artillery, and joined with the Group Command in the city with half of the troops, while the other part of them launched an attack on the division headquarters of the new 31st Division in Huangcaowa. The other part of the force went straight to the new 31st Division Headquarters in Hwangchawwa and launched an attack. At this time, in addition to the division headquarters, only two battalions of the 92nd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 94th Regiment of the 32nd Division had just arrived on the battlefield. In view of the fact that the three battalions had already suffered considerable losses during the previous blockade of the Kumagawa Cavalry and Artillery Combined Unit, these three battalions failed to stop the Japanese troops in front of them, and the commander of the new 31st Division, Maj. Gen. Sun Lanfeng, had no choice but to order the evacuation of the new Division to the vicinity of Beisanen to reorganize. Due to the ferocity of the Japanese attack, an artillery company left near the division headquarters of the new 31st Division was wiped out when Liu Zhenheng, the deputy commander of the siege, failed to notify the Japanese in time, and the company's four mountain guns were all captured by the Japanese.

After capturing Huangcaowa, the Japanese again targeted Northwest Pass. The 2nd Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 91st Regiment defending the Northwest Pass and the regiment's machine gun company under the command of Captain Sun Yingnian, the commander of the 2nd Company, concentrated on light and heavy machine guns and successfully stopped the Japanese. At this time, the 95th and 96th Regiments of the 32nd Division arrived at Baotou City. Under the command of Major General Yuan Qingrong, the Division Commander, the two regiments immediately went into battle and fought fiercely with the Japanese brigade attacking Northwest Pass. And the Japanese 26th Division's succeeding troops also arrived one after another at this time, into the battle, resulting in the new 32nd Division was attacked from the back and suffered heavy losses, Division Staff Captain Wang Xiaopeng and the 96th Regiment's two company commanders were killed in action one after another. Just when the new 32nd Division was in danger, the 101st Division, after getting rid of the pseudo-Mongolian troops along the way, also rushed to join the battle at Northwest Pass. The Chinese and Japanese sides were fighting around the Northwest Pass until after nightfall.

On the morning of December 22, in the city a little rest Japanese troops to cavalry 1st brigade brigade commander Katagiri Shigeru as the counterattack commander-in-chief, commanded six infantry squadrons, three cavalry squadrons, a chariot team and artillery a to the city outside the 35th army departments to launch a general counterattack. The 101st, 31st and 32nd Divisions and the 1st Wulin Police Regiment simultaneously engaged in fierce fighting with the Japanese. This battle lasted until noon and ended when the Japanese stopped their attack.

Active retreat

In view of the fact that Japanese and pseudo-Japanese reinforcements were still constantly rushing to Baotou, the Chinese army was already extremely fatigued after two days and two nights of bitter fighting. If they continued to fight with the Japanese, they were bound to suffer even greater losses. For this reason, Admiral Fu Zuoyi, Deputy Commander of the 8th War Area, considered in the light of the situation that a large number of Japanese and pseudo troops had been killed and wounded during the three days of fierce fighting, and that it was impossible to recover Baotou at this time, and so Admiral Fu decided to withdraw his troops. The summary of the order is as follows: “Our army has attacked Baotou from afar, has already attacked the city, eliminated a large number of enemies, and attracted the main force of the Japanese army, the task of cooperating with the battle of Xiangbei has been accomplished. In order to avoid disadvantages and find victory, it has been decided to make a strategic shift. All units should cover each other and disengage from the battle according to the order of first inside the city and then outside, and first attacking troops and then reinforcements, and turn toward the Zhongtan area on the night of the 21st.”

At noon on the 22nd, the 35th Army began to retreat. After realizing that the main force of the 35th Army showed signs of retreat, the Japanese sent a large number of chariots and automobiles in hot pursuit, but they were then entangled by the 101st Division, which was in the rear, and were forced to withdraw to Baotou. Although the main force of the 35th Army escaped from the Japanese pursuit, it was again attacked by the Pseudo-Mongolian Army in the Kundulun River area, and in the battle, more than a hundred men below Captain Zhang Luchen, the commander of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 94th Regiment of the New 32nd Division, which received the retreat of the main force of the 35th Army, were killed in action.

At this time, on the battle line inside Baotou, when Admiral Fu's order was issued, Major General Wang Lei Zhen, deputy commander of the New 31st Division, urgently sent men into the city to convey it to Colonel An Chun Shan of the 93rd Regiment. But the officers and men who entered the city to fight have expressed their determination to retake Baotou and insisted on not retreating. The troops outside the city have begun to retreat one after another, the new 31st Division Wang, deputy division commander also repeatedly sent people urging An Chunshan to withdraw. At this time, An Chunshan could only falsely claim that “retreat is false, out of the city to fight is true” as the reason, the troops out of Baotou. When the troops led by Colonel An Chunshan withdrew to the Kundulun River, he found that the main force of the 35th Army was entangled with the pseudo-Mongolian Army, so he immediately joined the battle and attacked the pseudo-Mongolian Army from the side. The Pseudo-Mongolian Army was attacked from the flank and retreated to the northwest foothills of the Kundulun River. The Japanese and pseudo-Mongolian army located in Baotou, although has assembled nearly ten thousand troops, but because of the previous pursuit was blocked and did not take further action.

In the early morning of the 24th, the divisions of the 35th Army withdrew to the Zhongtan area and returned to Suixi. The attack on Baotou was over. While the 35th Army withdrew from Baotou, seven soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 93rd Regiment held on to Niangniangmiao in Baotou, they did not receive the order to retreat, and chose to hold on to the battle after realizing that the troops were retreating, until nightfall on the 22nd, when they ran out of food and ammunition, and raised their rifles to cut themselves. After the war, the Japanese army felt his loyalty, especially for these seven heroic Chinese soldiers monument.

Aftermath

The 35th Army killed and wounded more than 3,000 Japanese and pseudo-military, destroyed more than 60 Japanese cars, 4 battle tanks, destroyed an arsenal, captured a variety of weapons, munitions, and killed a Japanese captain (another cavalry 13th Wing Commander Kohara Ichimine returned to the Guryang died of his wounds), captured the pseudo-military leader of 1, and according to the statistics of the Japanese internal confidential documents, the Japanese army in the outskirts of Baotou in late December The winter counterattack launched by the Japanese army in the outskirts of Baotou in late December, a total of 11 officers killed in action, 196 people below the level of non-commissioned officers killed in action, in addition to 30 officers, non-commissioned officers below the level of 464 people were wounded in action, a total of 701 people were killed or wounded [14], if you add the casualties of the Japanese army in the middle of December, as well as the Nationalist Army in Baotou City to the Japanese casualties caused by Japanese troops, the Battle of Baotou, Japanese forces should be killed or wounded nearly 1,000 people. The 35th Army suffered more than 2,000 casualties, although the 35th Army failed to recapture Baotou in this battle, but the attack was conducive to the consolidation of anti-Japanese bases in northern China, attracted the attention of the majority of the Japanese army in northern Jin, Channan and northern China, so that the Japanese army drew the plan of the north of China to the south failed to carry out the plan of the Japanese army to draw down the forces of northern China. Strategically it has played a great role.

The Chinese army this action but to the Japanese army to a great shock, they simply did not expect Fu Zuoyi group will have the strength to launch an offensive against the Japanese army. The Japanese army in Mongolia in order to prevent Fu Zuoyi group again attacked Baotou, on January 15, 1940, to formulate aimed at the annihilation of Fu Zuoyi group of “eight combat”. In view of the Wuhuan more than 200 kilometers west of Baotou, more than the Japanese army base camp combat control line, so the army in Mongolia and submitted the battle plan to the base camp. At that time, the Japanese base camp did not consider the occupation of Suixi, so although the January 24th reply approved the plan, but ordered the attacking troops to withdraw to the original defense immediately after reaching the goal. This decision eventually led to Fu Zuoyi's taking advantage of the Japanese main force's successive withdrawals after accomplishing their mission to carry out a counterattack and ultimately winning the battle for Suixi.

External links

• Scene from the 1939–1940 Winter Offensive in the Vicinity of Baotou, Suiyuan Province, during the Second Sino-Japanese War (Saint Louis Art Museum)