Chapter 35 Fortress

The Japanese invading army carried out unprecedented cruelty to the people of Jizhong. Although it also created a momentary atmosphere of terror, it also aroused the people of Jizhong to hate the Japanese invaders even more and deeper. Therefore, except for a few traitors and anti-communist diehards, The vast majority of the masses, including some small and medium-sized landlords, can unite under the banner of our party to "resist Japanese aggression and save the nation" and fight desperately against the Japanese invaders and traitors. This is the solid mass foundation for our anti-Japanese struggle.

After the "May 1st" anti-"mopping up" in 1942, the people of Jizhong did not flinch in the face of the enemy's crazy revenge, and launched various forms of struggle with the enemy, open and secret, armed and unarmed.On the one hand, use the "two-faced regime" to deal with the enemy. On the other hand, based on the characteristics of plain areas without high mountains, dense forests and rivers, harbors and Han as support, develop "hiding holes" into tunnels extending in all directions. "Tunnel warfare", and then developed from "tunnel warfare" into a three-layer crossfire network in the sky (roof), underground (tunnel), ground, village, street, and courtyard. Form a series of three-dimensional combat positions, which can be used for both village warfare and field attack, forming an underground Great Wall that can hide, fight, transfer, advance, attack, and retreat to deal with the enemy; coupled with mine warfare and sparrow warfare , Beating the enemy in a daze and losing their souls.These are the masses constantly summing up experience from the struggle, and gradually developed. They are the crystallization of the wisdom of the masses, which enrich and develop Mao Zedong's military thought of the people's war.

After we restored the Jizhong Military Region, we attached great importance to these experiences created by the masses, and on the basis of the original mass work, we further carried out double support activities-supporting the government and loving the people and supporting the army and giving priority to subordinates.In the war years, everything is for the front line, everything is for victory, the army is the backbone force in the war, and the people are the backing of the army. Therefore, the main responsibility for improving military-civilian relations lies with the army, which also reflects the nature and purpose of our army; especially In the environment of guerrilla warfare, our troops all wore plain clothes made of homemade cloth woven by ordinary people, lived in the homes of ordinary people, ate food provided by ordinary people, lived among the masses, and fought with the support of the masses. Watery and milky.At that time, the army lived in the home of the common people, and they helped the landlord and the surrounding people to carry water, firewood, and clean up. They helped to cultivate when the farming was busy, and helped to harvest and dry the wheat when it was harvested. To prevent the enemy from looting, abide by the "three major disciplines and eight points of attention" everywhere to protect the interests of the masses.At that time, when the houses of the masses were burned by the enemy, the army took the initiative to help the masses repair their houses. Therefore, in the eyes of the masses, the troops were their own soldiers and cared for them.

When we first entered Jizhong, although the situation has changed a lot since 1943, the dying enemy is still crazy.Although it is no longer possible to carry out large-scale "mopping up" as before, it still often relies on the counties and strongholds it occupies to concentrate a certain amount of troops to carry out key "cleaning up".The enemy's strongholds and blockhouses are still spread all over the lines of communication, blocking our traffic and dividing our base areas. Therefore, the leading comrades and troops of our military region were still wearing plain clothes. When we went out, comrades such as Yang Chengwu, Luo Yuchuan, and Wang Qicai and I Riding a bicycle, Comrade Lin Tie rode a donkey if he didn't know how to ride a bicycle. From one sub-district to another, from one village to another, he walked through the enemy's blockades and fortresses. At night, he lived in " Fortress House".

Speaking of "fortress households", this is a good experience summed up through the complicated struggle between the enemy and ourselves during the War of Resistance Against Japan. This meaningful name was also invented and created by the majority of cadres and soldiers.Because the enemy's fortress is built of bricks and stones, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire for security, but our fortress is built among the masses, and our security is a thousand pairs of vigilant eyes, which the enemy cannot destroy. of. "Fortress households" are generally the homes of our party members or basic masses; under special circumstances, in order to cover operations, some individuals choose to stay at the homes of patriotic gentry (landlords) in areas close to the enemy, and liaison officers and "fortress households" There is a set of communication methods and signals between them.When we lived in the "fortress households", we mostly used pseudonyms. The parents of the "fortress households" would gather the whole family to introduce each other, and rank me according to my age as brother, son or nephew. How do we call each other, so that if the enemy suddenly breaks into the village, we have no time to move and can deal with the enemy, which shows the good intentions of the masses to cover us.

In order to protect the safety of our army's passing personnel and the wounded and sick, many "fortress households" and the masses have made great sacrifices and contributions.When I first entered Jizhong, I heard the touching story of Nie Dasheng, the mother of soldiers from the sixth district of Jizhong, in the sixth district: Nie Dasheng was a rural woman in her fifties in Dongxiaoliu Village, Jin County. Suffering from poverty and suffering, the Eighth Route Army turned around.She successively sent a seventeen-year-old son and a twelve-year-old son to join the Eighth Route Army.I and my wife live with a daughter and a young son farming and herding sheep. Although the family is not very well-off, but there is a little delicious food, which is reserved for the wounded and sick or the passing Eighth Route Army.Under the careful care of Aunt Nie, Xiao Guo, Lao Xie and other comrades of the divisional pistol team recovered and returned to the team.Aunt Nie’s house had people coming and going almost every day, and it was even more lively at night. Just as one was sending off, another came again. Every night, she couldn’t take off her clothes and sleep soundly. One night, she got up eleven times in a row to receive comrades.So everyone gave her family the nickname "Anti-Japanese Store".In the winter of 1943, the environment was even more cruel. Her comrades advised her to hide elsewhere, and her husband also urged her not to stay at home, but she only lived outside for a day, and she couldn’t sleep because she was worried that her past comrades would not have a rest. At the office, the bedding was moved back home the next day.She resolutely said: "If you die, you must die at home, and you will never leave again." In November 1944, the military division held a meeting of heroes, and all representatives unanimously awarded Nie Dasheng the title of "mother of the soldiers of the sixth division". honorable title.

At that time, the enemy used all kinds of cruel and vicious means to hunt down our army cadres, soldiers and local staff.After they suddenly surrounded a village, they gathered all men, women, old and children in one place, randomly took a few people as hostages, and forced them to ask, "Who is Eighth Road?" The masses took the initiative to protect us and refused to say who was Eighth Road.The enemy killed the hostages one by one. Sometimes the enemy drove the young and middle-aged men aside and let the women come forward to claim their husbands. If no one claimed them, they took them away or killed them on the charge of eight roads; some women tried to rescue our hostages. Comrade, we claimed our comrades away and sacrificed our husbands; some girls cleverly recognized our comrades as husbands in order to rescue our comrades, regardless of personal humiliation, and even kissed in public under the persecution of the enemy. Acquainted comrades to confirm that the claimant is indeed her husband.There are cases like this everywhere.Hao Xiaomei, a young woman from Nanhao Village, Anguo County, had an anti-Japanese cadre hiding in her home. One day, the enemy broke into her home and asked, "Where are the eight-way cadres hiding?" She insisted, "No." The enemy tortured her, and she She passed out several times, but still refused to speak. Finally, the enemy poured black oil on her body and burned her to death, even her home was burned.In Wuqiang County, there are also stories about the young hero Wen Sanyu who would rather die than surrender to protect the Eighth Route Army.One day, the enemy suddenly broke into the village where Wen Sanyu lived. The Eighth Route Army hiding in the tunnel of his house had not had time to move, and the enemy had already broken into his house.The enemy forced Wen Sanyu's parents and elder brother to ask: "Is there any eight roads here?" His parents and elder brother firmly replied "No!" Wen Sanyu's mother shouted loudly: "No, there is no Eight Roads here!" The enemy stabbed her viciously, and she immediately fell into a pool of blood. The 20-year-old child was not spared, and he was caught from the ground, first lured, and then pointed at his chest with a bayonet, trying to force him to find out the location of the eight roads.But Wen Sanyu insisted: "I don't know!"

The enemy was rummaging around, and suddenly found the entrance of the tunnel in the house. Our Eighth Route Army soldiers saw that the enemy had already noticed it, and pre-empted the attack. With a burst of gunfire, several enemies at the entrance of the cave were knocked down. The enemy panicked and dared not go in. Chong, he vented his anger on Wen Sanyu, chopped off several of his fingers with a bayonet, and shot him in the stomach. Fortunately, the guerrilla detachment arrived at this time, and the enemy retreated hastily.The comrades hiding in the tunnel quickly came out to rescue Wen Sanyu.He opened his eyes and saw the Eighth Route Army uncle standing in front of him. He smiled happily and said, "Uncle, I didn't say anything to the devil."At the Second Hero Model Conference of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, the party committee and government of the Border Region awarded Wen Sanyu the title of "Model of Children's Integrity".On January 21, 1945, "Jinchaji Daily" publicized his heroic deeds.

In the long-term cruel and complicated struggle, the people of Jizhong have learned a set of good ways to deal with the enemy and Han.One day, two traitors came to a village pretending to be wounded soldiers from the Eighth Route Army and asked an old lady to lead them to hide in a tunnel.Seeing the two men entering the house, their eyes were rolling around, as if they were looking for something, and their faces and actions did not look like wounded people, so she talked with them and signaled her younger son to go find the militiamen. Come.Soon, two or three militiamen came in successively.When the two traitors saw the people coming, they thought they had fallen for their tricks, and immediately put on a pitiful look and asked the people to help them hide in the tunnel quickly, otherwise "the Japanese devils will die when they come." The militiamen saw that they said so I said, but I didn't really look like I was afraid of devils, so I deliberately asked them which unit of the Eighth Route Army they belonged to, and who was the captain?The two traitors hesitated to speak clearly, and later said that it was a military secret and could not be said casually.One of the militiamen deliberately approached them, pretending not to notice, and tripped the bandaged foot of the "wounded soldier", who showed no signs of pain.The militiamen guessed that these two guys were probably not good guys, but they were not completely sure. One militiaman deliberately grabbed a "wounded soldier" by the collar and said angrily: "Well, you two gangsters, you want to get involved. Is our village being beaten by the imperial army? Come on, beat him to death!" Two militiamen surrounded him all at once, ready to beat him with fists.At this time, the two traitors showed their original shape and shouted: "Folks, don't get me wrong, we are the plainclothes team of the imperial army, we are the plainclothes team of the imperial army!" , since you have confessed to being traitors, it is right to beat you!He swung his big fist and beat those two traitors hard, cursing in his heart, "I'll beat you to death, you bastard traitor!" But he deliberately shouted: "You bastard, how dare you pretend to be a plainclothes team of the Imperial Army to lie to us? Beat you to death and hand it over to the imperial army!" The three militiamen picked up another guy and beat them harder, beating the two traitors half to death, and then the "two-faced village chief" escorted them to the enemy's gun tower.

The Japanese devils "dumb to eat yellow lotus", complained secretly, but still had to praise: "You, the village chief, are very good, you have caught eight roads, and you have done a lot of credit!" His ingenuity is the experience summed up from the lessons of blood.Once, a few traitors pretended to be Eight Routes and went to the village to ask for cover. An old man believed them and led them into a tunnel. As a result, the tunnel was exposed and could no longer be used. The old man was also arrested and tortured to death in the stronghold.It just so happened that one day, Wang Qicai, the deputy director of the Political Department, and I took a guard to a village to rest, and wanted to learn about the struggle here.The three of us rode three bicycles and had just entered the village when we met a middle-aged woman. I said to her, "We are the Eighth Route Army, and we came from the military area. We stopped here for a rest. Please take us to the village chief." The woman took us to her house, greeted her mother-in-law and said, "We have visitors, let's boil water and cook for them." After a while, the woman disappeared, leaving only an old woman who slowly got down from the kang and cleaned the pot. , light a fire, cook, and move slowly.She chatted with us while lighting the fire, and looked at us secretly from time to time.Because at that time, some traitors and secret agents thought that gold teeth were beautiful and elegant, and they liked to have one or two gold teeth regardless of whether the teeth were bad or not; People from Fujian, their speech is very difficult to understand. "Drinking water" is called "Ha Shui". Neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter-in-law can understand, so they suspect that we are traitors, leaving the old woman to pester us, and the daughter-in-law to report to the village cadres and militiamen, preparing to catch the traitor.After a while, cadres and militiamen came, because Comrade Wang Qicai had served as the political commissar of the Ninth Division, and some cadres knew him, so they rushed up to say hello and apologize, and scooped up the bran and vegetables that were going to deal with the traitors, and mixed them again, Give us pancakes to eat.We repeatedly praised their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law for their high vigilance.

In December 1944, the observation group of the Allied Forces stationed in Yan'an sent three people to the Jinchaji Military Region, and one of the observers, a US military captain named Ace Durren, was assigned to our Jizhong base.His main tasks are: to prepare for the Allied Forces to participate in coordinated operations against Japan in North China, to collect Japanese military intelligence and facilities in Beiping, Tianjin, Baoding, and Shijiazhuang, and to understand the use value and utilization of Baoding Airport and Bohai Bay Beachhead and understand how our Eighth Route Army fought against the Japanese in the Jizhong Plain and the strength of its combat capabilities, etc.After we received instructions from the Central Military Commission and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region to do a good job in the reception work, according to the situation at the time, we specially established a liaison section and appointed Gao Cunxin as the head of the liaison section.After Captain Du Lun arrived in Jizhong, we sent Chief Liaison Section Gao Cunxin and Deputy Section Chief Wu Yingmin to accompany him to the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Army Divisions for inspections. At the same time, we managed to find a county magistrate named Ma Zhenwu as a translate.The group of them visited the tunnels in the seventh district first, and showed Du Lun the tunnels under the edge of the kang, under the pot stove, inside the leather wall, and under the millstone. They also took him to drill two tunnels himself. , and told him that most of the tunnels in central Hebei have been built to connect households, villages and villages, and villages are connected. There are ventilation holes, lookout holes, and shooting holes; there are trunk lines and branch lines; It is fireproof and waterproof, and can accommodate all the people in the village and hundreds of combat troops; it has formed an "underground Great Wall" that can be attacked and defended.After watching it, Captain Duron repeatedly praised us for the uniqueness of using tunnels to fight in plain areas, and he also appreciated our choice of tunnel crossings and clever camouflage. Unexpectedly, when Gao Cunxin took Captain Du Lun to the Ninth Division to investigate and collect information, at midnight one day, the Hejian enemy's rapid force and the enemies of Ren Qiu and Gao Yang suddenly rushed to the border gate where the leadership of our Ninth Division was located. Village raids.Division chief Lei Xi reported the enemy's situation to Gao Cunxin, and Gao Cunxin immediately woke up Captain Du Lun and moved with the division agency to Pili Village, about ten Huali southeast, to hide.They had just settled down in the "fortress house" in Pili Village, when the enemy followed and broke into the village at around five o'clock in the morning.Gao Cunxin and Lei Xi immediately directed Ma Zhenwu and Wu Yingmin to lift a camouflaged New Year picture on the east wall of the north house, uncover the hole in the leather wall, and lead Du Lun into the tunnel first, and they followed suit. Not long after they entered the tunnel, the enemy rushed into the house, caught the landlady in the east wing who was too late to hide in the tunnel, and asked where the tunnel entrance was?The aunt kept her mouth shut, and the enemy pulled out a command knife and chopped off four fingers of the aunt; the aunt refused to tell the truth even after she fell into a coma.The enemy smashed and smashed around like crazy. Unexpectedly, the entrance of the tunnel between the walls of their north house was smashed open. Fortunately, they turned a corner and moved forward for more than ten meters after going down the tunnel.The enemy threw in a grenade, and then tried to search the tunnel.But when an enemy had just dropped his feet from the tunnel entrance, Gao Cunxin wounded his leg with a pistol. He screamed and retracted his leg again.Seeing that they could not enter the tunnel, the enemy yelled loudly from above: "Let the poison go" and "Let the water drown them!" The comrades in the tunnel immediately took off the towels wrapped around their heads and took out urine, preparing to use them as gas masks when the enemy released poison.Although the enemy did not release poisonous gas, they began to pour water into the cave.The comrades guarded against the enemy's hand early and immediately led the water into the pre-dug wells.Then, the enemy fumigated with smoke, and they took off their cotton jackets to block the opening for the smoke, and led the smoke to the ventilation hole and the lookout hole to discharge.The enemy saw that they couldn't deal with them from only one tunnel entrance, so they beat everywhere, trying to dig a second large tunnel entrance.At this time, Comrade Xiao Zhe, the lover of Wei Hongliang, commander of the Ninth Division, also hid in the tunnel with her son in his arms. Because the cave was dark, humid, and the air was thin, the child couldn't stand it and kept crying.Comrade Xiao Zhe was afraid that his son's cries would reveal the location of the tunnel and endanger the safety of comrades, so he tightly covered his son's mouth, and unfortunately his son died of suffocation.Comrades sympathize with her, but what can be done in such a cruel environment of struggle? The enemy has been tossing around Piri Village all day.In the evening, the 42nd District Team of the Ninth Division and the nearby regional teams heard that the Divisional Office was surrounded by the enemy and rushed to reinforce it.When the enemy learned that our troops were about to arrive, they withdrew in a hurry. Captain Durham returned to the military region after he escaped from danger, and I personally received him.He talked about the situation and feelings of his visit and inspection in Jizhong, and especially mentioned the tunnel battle in Pili Village he personally experienced. He gave a thumbs up excitedly and said: "In order to protect the Eighth Route Army, an ordinary old lady was beaten herself and her fingers were cut off. She would rather die than surrender." In order to protect everyone's safety, the wife of a divisional commander covered her son's mouth with her own hands until he died of suffocation. This kind of people is really great, this kind of mother is really great, really great!" Captain Durham also said to me : "General Li, I am the first American soldier to participate in tunnel warfare in China. I am very honored. May I ask, General, which military strategist invented this tunnel warfare method?" I told him: "This This kind of tunnel warfare was invented by ordinary people during the battle. They developed from hiding holes to concealed places with two openings, and then dug through the concealed places of each family to form small tunnels, and then developed from small tunnels to be able to fight. Tibet, the large tunnels of the villages that can be attacked and defended. Our Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army mainly lead and help the masses to sum up experience, promote experience, and make the tunnels more perfect day by day and play a better role. So, in the final analysis, The inventor of the tunnel warfare is the millions of anti-Japanese people." Du Lun listened, nodded frequently, and then gave a thumbs up and said: "The Chinese people are very wise and very capable; When the captain first arrived in Jizhong, he looked down on us, thinking that only their American planes, cannons, and tanks could defeat Japan. After more than a month of experience in Jizhong, he admired the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the base area from the bottom of his heart. Whenever I recall the anti-Japanese struggle in Jizhong, I can never forget Li Xingge, the "mother of the soldiers in Jizhong".She is an ordinary rural woman in Baoziying Village, Anping County. Her husband died young, and she has three children. Her life is very difficult.Since the Eighth Route Army arrived in her hometown, the anti-Japanese government has cared about their orphans and widowed mothers, distributed relief food, and organized labor in the village, and life has improved day by day.She decided to follow the Communist Party in this way, and she firmly supported the government's call to support the army, and the Japanese devil's "three light policy" could not frighten her.At first she was only in charge of taking care of one or two wounded, but as the number of wounded increased, her home became a secret temporary hospital ward. During the cold and summer, the seriously wounded were brought in, and the lightly wounded were transferred away. Three people came today and two tomorrow. One, the wounded continued; the doctor came in three or two days to change the dressing, and usually relied on Li Xingge to take care of him.In this way, the wounded who had been raised in her home lived for at least three to five days, some for thirty or forty days, and some for more than a year.Liu Jianguo, a 16-year-old little soldier, suffered twelve wounds, some of which exposed his bones, and a knife wound the size of a sickle on the back of his head.When the village head carried him to Li Xingge's house, he was bleeding all over his body and was dying.Li Xingge carefully cut off his clothes, and gently scrubbed him clean with cotton soaked in boiling water. The doctor gave him medicine, and he woke up from the coma the next day.Li Xingge hurriedly brought him porridge to feed him, but he couldn't eat it after just one mouthful. It turned out that the knife wound on the back of his head made him unable to open his mouth.Li Xingge thought about it, and hurriedly found a reed pole for him to sip and drink.Because there were many wounded living in Li Xingge's house, two military doctors, Zhang Shukai and Yu Chunhui, and two health workers also lived in her house soon.There were a lot of people coming to the hospital, so Li Xingge dug holes in hidden places such as the house, the pigsty, and the vegetable cellar, and let the medical staff and the lightly wounded live in the holes, and the seriously wounded lay on the kang.One day, news came that the enemy on the blockhouse was coming to search, and the village cadres moved away with doctors and lightly wounded people.Liu Jianguo couldn't be transferred because of his serious injury, so Li Xingge volunteered to take care of him.She took off Liu Jianguo's bandage, put a large plaster on the wound, let him lie on the kang, and deliberately placed dirty things such as a bedpan, broken shoes, and rotten socks next to his pillow.When the enemy found her home, she remained calm and said to the traitor with a weeping face on purpose: "My son has a malignant sore, and the doctor said it is contagious. You see, with so much blood, it seems that he will not live for a few days." , Sobbing and crying.When the devils and traitors smelled the stench, they held their noses and left.Li Xingge did his best and took risks to take care of seventy-three wounded, including Liu Jianguo, Wei Dengfu and other five seriously wounded. People thought it was impossible to save them, and the army prepared coffins for them. They miraculously survived under nursing care and returned to the front line. Not long after we arrived in Jizhong, we were deeply moved when we heard the report of Li Xingge's deeds by the leaders of the division.The Party Committee of Jizhong District and the military region decided to award Li Xingge the title of "Mother of Soldiers in Jizhong".On February 16th (the fourth day of the first month of the lunar calendar), Lin Tie and I personally took a company of soldiers, carried award flags and two large gift boxes containing white noodles, pork, cloth, towels, pears, etc., and beat gongs and drums Came to the house of Li Xingge in Baoziying.Lin Tie put a big flower of glory on her, and then I and I supported Li Xingge to ride a big mule, and led the mule for her through the village to a threshing ground at the head of the village, where an awards ceremony was held .At this time, all the old and young in the village gathered on the threshing ground. After a burst of enthusiastic gongs, drums and slogans, Lin Tie, on behalf of the Jizhong Party Committee and the Jizhong Military Region, awarded Li Xingge a piece of "Mother of Jizhong Soldiers" written by me. The big red flag with large characters, the 36th district team also presented the red flag of "Our Mother". Finally, I spoke on behalf of the Jizhong Military Region and the Party Committee of the Jizhong District, publicized Li Xingge's exemplary deeds, and called on everyone to learn from her and build a better life. Carry out the work of supporting the army, giving priority to family members, supporting the government and loving the people.From time to time, my speech was interrupted by warm applause and slogans such as "Learn from Aunt Li!" "I wish my mother good health".After I finished speaking, the sound of gongs and drums rang out from the audience, and the soldiers danced the lion, beat the "overlord whip", and danced cheerfully. The audience was full of joy and festive atmosphere.Reporter Wei Wei participated in this New Year's greeting with us, and wrote a newsletter for "Jinchaji Daily", reporting the event in detail. In September 1950, Rong Guanxiu, the "Mother of Soldiers from Jinchaji", and Li Xingge, "Mother of Soldiers from Central Hebei", both went to Beijing to attend the National Conference of Model Workers, Peasants and Soldiers. Chairman Mao and other leading comrades of the party and the country met them personally. And take pictures with them.I was in Xi'an at the time, and when I saw this news in the newspaper, I was as happy as seeing these two venerable "mothers of soldiers" again.