On this day, 84 years ago, on April 12, 1941 (March 16, 1941 in the lunar calendar), the Japanese army's sweep caused serious losses to the Hebei, Shandong and Henan base areas. A soldier of the Eighth Route Army who died in the battle On April 12, 1941, the 35th Division of the Japanese Army, the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade and a unit of the Puppet Army, totaling more than 10,000 people, with the cooperation of more than 100 cars and tanks, launched a large-scale "mopping up" against the Shazhou base areas north of Puyang in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region and south of Neihuang. They carried out encirclement in the area from Neihuang to Qingfeng and Puyang in an attempt to eliminate the Second Column of the Eighth Route Army and the organs of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, and destroy the Anti-Japanese base areas. On the 15th, the Second Battalion of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Column of the Eighth Route Army was surrounded by the Japanese army. After the 2nd Battalion broke through, it was attacked by the Japanese for the second time when it moved to Yongjian, Northeast of Jingdian. Except for the 5th Company, all the 6th and 7th Companies died. Under the leadership of Yang Dezhi, the main force of the Second Column broke through southeast and turned to the Houhe area northwest of Puyang. The Weihe Brigade and other local armed forces suffered some losses, but they all escaped the siege. After the Japanese army failed to encircle, on the 16th and 17th, they repeatedly launched joint attacks on the sand area and searched more than 10 times. The Japanese army failed to discover the main force of the Eighth Route Army, but wantonly braved violence. It burned 141 villages centered on Nanzhangbao and Xuecun, killed more than 3400 people, cut down more than 10,000 jujube trees that the people relied on for survival, and burned down more than 12,000 houses. On the 18th and 19th, the Japanese army launched a joint attack from the center of the sand area to the north and south edges of the sand area. However, the Eighth Route Army and its leading organs had moved ahead of schedule, and the Japanese army once again fell into the air. On the 20th, the Japanese army withdrew and ended the "mopping up". In this anti-"mop-up" struggle, the Eighth Route Army killed and injured more than 700 Japanese and Puppet troops, but the base areas also suffered serious losses.