Chapter 37 The last battle against the Japanese invaders

In August 1945, our summer offensive in the vast liberated areas of the Jizhong Military Region was like a prairie fire. It was extremely fast and violent, which shocked the hearts of the enemy and puppets, and even inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in Jizhong.While we were celebrating the victory, news of the victory of the anti-Japanese bases across the country also flew in like flakes. "Jinchaji Daily", "Zidi Bingbao", and "Frontline Daily" published the news of the counterattack victory in large characters every day, which was even more exciting. .At this time, the international situation has also undergone drastic changes: on August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and millions of Red Army troops entered the northeast of my country; The battle is about to start, and the troops participating in the war have also started. That night, the news that "the Japanese government issued a note of begging for surrender" came.

When the good news came, the entire military region was boiling, and the sound of slogans, gongs and drums, and cheers resounded in every camp.I immediately told Lu Yang, the director of the "Frontline Newspaper", to print out "Outside the Number" as quickly as possible, and send someone to send it to the troops. The party committee of the military region immediately held a meeting to study, and the operation of the Amboli campaign was suspended, waiting for new orders from superiors.Soon, Commander-in-Chief Zhu issued an order for a major counterattack, and the military region immediately held a meeting of cadres above the regiment in the Daguan Hall in Suning County.Commander Yang Chengwu issued an order to carry out Chairman Mao's "last battle against the Japanese invaders" and started a general counter-offensive; I made a report on "the current situation and the task of the major counter-offensive".The cadres have been working hard for eight years, and they are looking forward to this day. After hearing the order of the general counter-offensive, how can we not be excited and excited!All of them looked like sharp arrows resting on the bowstring, eagerly waiting for the order to strike.

After Liang Hu returned to the Hebei Central Military Region, our armed forces expanded rapidly with the development of the struggle situation. Our team expansion is still following the route of gradual upgrading from the Red Guards to the local armed forces and then to the main force, which began in the early days of the Red Army.The armed struggle in Jizhong has a broad mass base. Militia and guerrillas are spread all over the country. They have been trained in combat and have certain combat experience and political awareness. On this basis, after being educated, young and middle-aged militiamen among them are mobilized to participate At the same time, district squads, county brigades, and regional teams are also tempered through combat, and those who have passed the battle test and have a certain combat effectiveness are selected from them and gradually upgraded. increase the quality of the main force.Therefore, when we first arrived in Jizhong, the main force of the military region was only a small regiment and a few regional teams, as well as some local armed forces from county brigades and district squads. After seven or eight months of combat training, by July there were four The armed forces of the main regiment, more than 30 regional teams (regiments), and many county brigades and district squads have greatly developed.Now, in order to meet the needs of the general counter-offensive, according to the instructions of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, in just a few days, it was quickly formed and developed to 26 main force regiments.

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Comrade Lu Zhengcao led the 691st Regiment of the former Northeast Army into Jizhong, established the Jizhong People’s Anti-Japanese Armed Forces, and brought a large number of northeast cadres with him when he founded the Jizhong Anti-Japanese Base Area; After graduation, most of the two batches of trainees in the Central Hebei Military Region were assigned to work in the Central Hebei Region. Therefore, there are many cadres from the Middle East and Northeast in the Central Hebei Military Region.Their hometown was the first to be ravaged by the Japanese invading army, and their families were separated from each other and wandered in all directions.The victory of the Anti-Japanese War made them very excited. Some toasted and drank to celebrate each other, and some gathered together to express their homesickness and sang "Go back to your hometown!" with tears in their eyes. , Liberate the fathers and folks.The Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission fully understand the feelings of many Northeast comrades, and ordered all Northeast comrades working in central Hebei to be transferred to the Northeast.In a few days, Shake, the chief of staff of the military region, led the Northeast cadres and the two main groups in Jizhong to the Northeast, realizing the long-cherished wish of the Northeast comrades for many years to "go back to their hometown".

In order to cooperate with the counter-offensive, the Jizhong District Party Committee and the Jizhong Special Administration put forward the slogan "all for the victory of the front line" and mobilized the people of Jizhong to fully support the soldiers.Luo Yuchuan, director of the Administrative Office, personally mobilized the masses to make military uniforms for his younger soldiers. In just a few days, all the commanders and fighters of our Jizhong Army took off their plain clothes and put on brand new "Gaoyang cloth" (that is, good cotton cloth produced in Gaoyang area) Gray military uniforms, the military appearance and style of the troops are completely new.

On August 9, 1945, Chairman Mao issued a call for "the last battle against the Japanese aggressors." On the second day, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued an order to all armed forces in the Liberated Areas, stating: "Anyone in the Liberated Areas who resists the Japanese must All armed forces may, in accordance with the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration, send an ultimatum to the enemy's army and its commanding agencies in the traffic arteries of nearby cities and towns, restricting them to hand over all their armed forces to our combat troops within a certain period of time. After disarming, our army shall treat them preferentially. The prisoner regulations provide life safety protection. If the enemy and puppet armed forces refuse to surrender and disarm, they should be resolutely eliminated." The next day, Yan'an Radio Station broadcast, Commander Zhu ordered the Jizhong Anti-Japanese Armed Forces to accept the surrender of the Japanese and puppet troops in Tianjin, and Appoint Yang Chengwu as Tianjin Garrison Commander.

At this time, the twenty-six main regiments had been formed, and their morale was particularly high. In addition to two regiments advancing to the northeast, there were still twenty-four regiments in central Jizhong. Ten thousand people swearing-in meeting.At the meeting, Commander Yang Chengwu read out the "Order to March on Tianjin" and announced: Commander Nie Rongzhen of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region has issued an ultimatum to Shimomura, commander of the Japanese Invading Army North China Dispatched Army, ordering The Japanese troops within the jurisdiction of our military region handed over all their weapons and supplies, and gathered them separately according to the prescribed locations, waiting to be dealt with.After Commander Yang read out the order, representatives of the commanders and fighters of each regiment came to the stage to express their determination to fight.At the same time, according to the spirit of the orders of Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Commander Nie, the Political Department of our military region immediately drew up a notice from the Tianjin Garrison Command, ordering the Japanese invaders and puppet troops to immediately disarm and surrender. , Anyone who surrenders, regardless of whether he is an officer or a soldier, is guaranteed to be safe and treated leniently; those who refuse to surrender will be resolutely eliminated.

At the same time, the Tianjin Garrison Headquarters issued the "Proclamation on Anmin", announcing to the citizens of Tianjin that our army is an anti-Japanese people's armed force, and we will enforce the three major disciplines and the eight precautions, and will not commit any crimes. Don't disturb each other, wait.Some of these notices were carried by various troops and pasted to the suburbs of Tianjin, and the other part was pasted into downtown Tianjin through the underground party organization and the secret traffic line of the "North China Traffic Work Corps" of the military region, and sent to the barracks of the Japanese and puppet troops. , The puppet army and the puppet regime personnel were greatly shaken.At the same time as the announcement of our military region, there is also a declaration of the "Japanese People's Liberation Alliance in China" and a letter to the Japanese military officers, urging the Japanese army to recognize the situation and surrender as soon as possible.These leaflets also played a big role.

On the afternoon of August 12th, Yang Chengwu, Lin Tie and I led the troops to march towards Tianjin in separate routes to accept the surrender of the Japanese and puppet troops.After hearing the news, the people along the way set up a tall "Victory Gate" with branches and flowers to see us off.They beat gongs and drums, danced yangko, sang and danced to see off their soldiers. Many old women and sisters-in-law brought bowls of boiling water to our soldiers with tears, and some even stuffed eggs into our soldiers' pockets. , Jujube, wish us a successful start. Our main force is divided into two groups, one pointing directly at the outskirts of Tianjin, and the other approaching Dagu; while the local armed forces in the other divisions, as well as the broad militia and the masses also took advantage of the victory to encircle Anguo, Boye, Lixian, Xiongxian, Baxian and other counties. Encircle and force the enemy to surrender as soon as possible.

On August 14, the Japanese government announced its unconditional surrender.The next day, Commander-in-Chief Zhu sent a telegram to Ningji Okamura, Commander of Today's Army Invasion of China, immediately notifying the Japanese troops surrounded by our army to surrender to our army, and announced that the Japanese troops in North China would follow the order of Commander Nie Rongzhen to surrender. However, Chiang Kai-shek, who was sitting on Mount Emei, couldn't wait to stretch out his claws at this time, and wanted to snatch the fruits of victory from the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the anti-Japanese people's armed forces who had fought bloody wars for eight years.With the support of U.S. imperialism, he "ordered" our army to "stand by and stand by", and at the same time dispatched his direct troops from the rear to seize important cities and traffic arteries, and ordered the Japanese and puppet troops to "maintain order" on the spot. ", waiting for the "National Army" to accept the surrender.

We quickly learned through the Tianjin underground party and underground traffic: Although Japan had surrendered, the traitors in Tianjin were not only wanted and brought to justice, but were instead sheltered by the Kuomintang reactionaries.Chiang Kai-shek even added officials, promoted them, and reorganized them, turning them into the "Central Army".As for the Japanese army, Chiang Kai-shek asked them to "hold their ground", instructing them to continue to resist and not allow the Eighth Route Army to accept surrender.It's really unreasonable!Cadres and soldiers are filled with righteous indignation, what should we do?At this critical moment, the head of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region sent us a telegram, conveying in time Chairman Mao's report "The Situation after the Victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and Our Policy" made at the Yan'an Cadre Meeting, clearly stating that "tit for tat, The policy of fighting for every inch of land has pointed out the direction of struggle for us and strengthened our determination to move forward bravely. On the evening of August 19, our Jizhong troops launched an attack on the Japanese and puppet troops in the towns from Yangcun to Tangguantun with thirteen regiments as planned, and won the first battle.After receiving the good news, the head of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region immediately called to congratulate him on the 21st. The congratulatory message said: "In one day on the 19th, you captured the three stations of Yangcun, Zhangzhuang, and Beicang on Beining Road, and cut off Beiping and Tianjin. At the same time, they occupied various key points in western Tianjin, such as Wangqingtuo, Queen's Store, Hanliubao, Yangliuqing Station, etc. The vanguard troops once broke into Tianjin West Station and cut off the traffic on Jinpu Road. This shows that you are resolutely implementing Zhu The commander-in-chief and the military region commanded to bravely march towards the central cities and traffic arteries controlled by the enemy and the puppet. This resolute offensive fighting spirit should continue to be carried forward and implemented. You must mobilize the vast militia to cooperate in the battle, especially organize underground army uprisings, and cooperate internally and externally. Defeat the stubborn enemy and force the enemy to finally lay down their arms. The disarmament of Japanese fascism can only be achieved by making him fail. Hope to be brave, brave and brave, to achieve the victory of completely occupying Tianjin." After we received the congratulatory message from the head of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, we quickly conveyed it to all commanders and fighters through newspapers and oral communication.Everyone was deeply encouraged and determined to take advantage of the victory and strive for greater victories.On the morning of the 23rd, our 28th and 38th regiments attacked the Yangliubao and Yangliuqing strongholds on the outskirts of Tianjin. The village airport was completely controlled, and it also occupied Huidui, Dagu, Qikou and other places.At the same time, the first part of our main force forced back the false stronghold Li Qizhuang south of Tianjin, and attacked Balitai, Tonglou, Xiaowangzhuang, Madian, Nanlou, Houjianshan, Tucheng, Chentangzhuang and other strongholds on the outskirts of Tianjin. Advance to Tianjin South City. Our army's attack on Tianjin also received active cooperation from the underground army in Tianjin.When our army attacked Tianjin West Railway Station on the morning of the 19th, the Muslim underground army horses in the city and Comrade Zhang Er rose up to fight together and seized four rifles, two pistols and more than 200 rounds of bullets from the puppet army with bare hands.A factory worker held a wooden club and seized two enemy rifles.Fifteen members of the Dahongqiao underground army, led by comrades Tian and Liu Er, rushed into the pseudo-construction office with hooks and wooden sticks used for unloading ships. Three long and short guns. Later, they got in touch with the attacking troops and assisted the troops in continuing to attack the enemy. They intercepted the grain of 16 enemy vehicles and seized some guns. Although our troops attacking Tianjin fought bravely and once attacked Tianjin West Railway Station and engaged in fierce street battles with the enemy, the Japanese 3rd Armored Division, the commanding body of the Ninth Independent Mixed Brigade and three brigades were stationed in Tianjin. There are more than 10,000 people in the puppet army, and they occupy favorable terrain and rely on strong fortifications to resist; while our troops who attacked were few and outnumbered, we had to withdraw to the periphery, mobilize troops, and make new deployments. While attacking Tianjin, our 23rd Regiment and 67th Regiment attacked Jinghai County, and the 66th Regiment occupied Chenguantun; the first part of the Shifen District cooperated with the troops of the Jireliao Military Region and the Jicha Military Region to push into Peiping from the south. under the city.The other part of our Jizhong Military Region has laid down the strongholds of Beida Ran and Zhang Deng around Baoding.The 33rd Regiment attacked the headquarters of the Sixth Group Army of the Puppet Appeasement Army in Xiguan, Baoding at night, killing and wounding more than 600 Japanese and puppet troops, and captured more than 500 Japanese and puppet troops; The outer stronghold of Shijiazhuang was lost, and more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet troops were besieged.The 71st and 72nd Regiments of the Sixth Division captured Shulu County and 16 strongholds including Motou, Wangjiajing, Gongjiatai, and wiped out the enemy. The momentum of our army's counterattack shocked the Japanese and puppet troops.On August 22, more than 400 people from the Puppet Self-Defense Regiment in the southern suburbs of Tianjin, led by the puppet regiment leader, surrendered to our army.At 20:00 on the same day, Zhang Honglie, the leader of the puppet alliance in Xianxian County, led more than 700 puppet troops, armed with three light machine guns, one mortar, three grenades, and more than 500 rifles. An uprising was announced in the Erzhuang area, and they immediately cooperated with our army to attack the enemy in order to serve the country, which was warmly welcomed by the local people.The military region immediately appointed Zhang Honglie as the commander of the First Jizhong Independent Corps, and gave Zhang 60,000 yuan as a preferential treatment, which reflected our army's policy towards the uprising officers and soldiers. On August 23, the troops of the Hebei-Chahar Military Region liberated Zhangjiakou, the economic, political and military center of the Japanese invading army in Chahar Province, and achieved a major victory.The leading organs of the party, government and army of the Jinchaji Border Region immediately moved to Zhangjiakou, making Zhangjiakou the capital of the Jinchaji Liberated Area.The good news came that the morale of the troops besieging Tianjin was even higher, and the Japanese and puppet troops in Tianjin were tightly surrounded.Unexpectedly, at this time we found one after another American planes flying over Tianjin to Beiping in the suburbs of Tianjin; we were trying to figure out what these American planes were "busy" about?Not long after, the superiors reported the situation: it turned out that the US imperialists were "busy" helping Chiang Kai-shek transport troops to seize major cities and strategic points, preparing for a civil war.The besieged Japanese and puppet troops in Tianjin may have also received a notification from Chiang Kai-shek, and instead of the pessimistic and desperate mood of the previous few days, they became arrogant and frantically resisted.The whole situation has undergone drastic changes, the United States and Chiang Kai-shek cooperated, and the Japanese and puppet stubbornness merged.We are facing a civil war crisis of unprecedented severity! In order to avoid civil war, the Party Central Committee issued a declaration on the current situation and proposed emergency measures to the Kuomintang government to avoid civil war.At the same time, considering the deterioration of the situation, it is more difficult for our army to continue to seize large and medium-sized cities. The Party Central Committee promptly changed the policy of military struggle and instructed us that we should generally threaten large cities and traffic arteries with considerable troops, gather the necessary troops, and spread as far as possible. Occupy the villages and small cities, expand and consolidate the liberated areas, and at the same time, mobilize the masses to struggle, seize the time to retrain the troops, prepare for the new situation, and make long-term plans. According to the spirit of the instructions of the Party Central Committee, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region immediately adjusted its deployment. Except for the troops advancing to the Northeast, Rehe and Chahar, which were still operating according to the original plan, the main force of each military region was from Beiping, Tianjin, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, and Taiyuan. After quickly shifting around large and medium-sized cities, they immediately returned to the interior and the edge of the liberated areas to capture the towns occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops. The main forces of our Jizhong Military Region were ordered to transfer from around Tianjin and point the finger at Qinghebei.At this time, the Japanese army in Hebei Province of the Qing Dynasty had fled to Tianjin, leaving the traitors and puppet troops in the strongholds of the towns, relying on the support of Chiang Kai-shek, still arrogant.What they didn't expect was that we shot back from Tianjin, even thirteen counties in Jizhong, wiped out the Japanese and puppet strongholds, and took advantage of the situation to recover many villages and towns in this area. On September 2, the Japanese imperialists formally signed their surrender.The Anti-Japanese War was won, and the people should have lived a peaceful and happy life. However, Chiang Kai-shek insisted on his reactionary policy of dictatorship and civil war. In order to safeguard the fruits of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and safeguard the peace and happiness of the people, our party led the people in a great war of liberation. In August 1985, when commemorating the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, I once again recalled my combat life back then, and I was so excited that I wrote the poem "Recalling the Battle of the Plains".The "Preface" of this poem reads: "I usually recall the battles in the plains that year, and this is the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. I think about it. I think that in the difficult years, the people supported our army with blood and milk, Fang enabled me to gallop across the plains and win the victory. Recalling the present and looking back on the past, I am full of emotions, and I will remember it with poems, and remember the elders of the plains." The dream of fighting in the plains of Chipin, remembering the old people every year.We welcome the children with the food pot and pulp, and drive away the god of plague with the enemy.Straight divisions become strong gradually, mourning soldiers must win and finally win.This body is about to soak in the evening dew, especially remembering the kindness of Pingyuan's father. "Final Victory Sentence": "Zuo Zhuan·Xin Gong Twenty-eight Years" has the sentence "The teacher is strong and the song is Gui"; "Lao Tzu·Sixty-nine chapters": "Resisting the hardships of the soldiers, mourning the soldiers wins."