Chapter 26 Chapter 25 The Japanese Army Bloodbathed Xing County, Shanxi (1940)

In the winter of 1940, when the Loess Plateau in Northwest Shanxi was covered with snow and the wind was blowing, the Japanese troops stationed in Ningwu, Jingle, Fangshan and other places, after some careful planning, came to the capital of the Anti-Japanese Democratic Base in Northwest Shanxi. ——Xingxian County launched a retaliatory "sweep".The Japanese army adopted the policy of burning, killing, and robbing all in an attempt to turn Xingxian into a "no man's land" in order to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, drive out the Communist Party, and destroy the anti-Japanese democratic bases in Northwest Shanxi.

Xingxian County in Northwest Shanxi has a glorious revolutionary tradition and a long and splendid cultural heritage.As early as 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, the 358th Brigade and 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army led by He Long and Guan Xiangying were ordered to advance behind the enemy lines and go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War, creating and establishing an anti-Japanese democratic base in Northwest Shanxi. Most of the anti-Japanese leading agencies such as the 120th Division Command and Political Department, and the Shanxi Northwest Administrative Office were stationed near Lijiawan and Caijiaya in Xingju.After several years of hard work, Xing County has become the center of the anti-Japanese democratic base in the Jinsui Border Region. The party, government, and military leadership organs, cultural propaganda and education undertakings, and other facilities serving the Anti-Japanese War in the Jinsui Border Region are all set up in Xing County. At that time, some people called Xingxian County "Little Yan'an" in Northwest Shanxi.If the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region is the "base camp" guiding China's War of Resistance Against Japan, then in terms of its geographical location, the Anti-Japanese Democratic Base in Northwest Shanxi is the corridor leading from the "base camp" to all parts of the country, and Xing County is the throat of the corridor. , From the "base camp" to the anti-Japanese base areas in the past, troops, military supplies, and leading comrades must pass through northwest Shanxi, go to Xing County, and then turn to each anti-Japanese base area.

The Japanese invaders did everything possible to destroy this anti-Japanese democratic base, and carried out three major "mopping ups" in one year.For the first time, in the spring of 1940, the Japanese troops stationed in Xinzhou and other places, after careful planning and lightning-like tactics, suddenly "mopped up" Northwest Shanxi and attacked Xing County, in an attempt to destroy our anti-Japanese democratic base in one fell swoop.The 9th Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army departed from Ningwu, passed through Shenta, Wuzhai, Kelan and other places, and went straight to Xing County; the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army departed from Xinzhou, Jingle, Loufan and other places, passed through Fangshan , Lan County, and Xing County together; the 109th Division of the Japanese Army set out from Lishi, passed through Sanjiao, Linju, Baiwen and other places, and jointly attacked Xing County.In addition, the Japanese troops stationed in Jiaocheng, Wenshui and other places marched towards the boundary river mouth of Xingxian County in two routes to cooperate with the Japanese army's surprise attack.

Don't you know that one foot tall, the devil is one foot tall.When the Japanese army dispatched troops and prepared to invade Xing County, the headquarters of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army stationed in Lijiawan, Xing County detected the news of the Japanese attack.At this time, the main force of the 120th Division led by He Long and Guan Xiangying had just returned from Jizhong to Northwest Shanxi. They overcame the cruel "mopping up" of the Japanese army, wiped out more than 1,400 Japanese and puppet troops, and at the same time recovered 30 cities occupied by the Japanese army, including Fangshan, Linxian, and Lanxian, as well as Sanjiao, Hekou, Mafang, Dongcun, and Pudong. Ming, Loufan, Gedong, Chakou, Anye and other 11 market towns.

Unwilling to be reconciled to their defeat, the Japanese army was beaten and defeated. In the summer of 1940, they mobilized some troops from Taiyuan, Datong and other places to attack Xingxian County for the second time. The first time the Japanese attacked, due to the resistance of the Eighth Route Army and various anti-Japanese armed forces, not only did they fail to destroy the Anti-Japanese Democratic Base in Northwest Shanxi, but even Xing County was defeated by the Eighth Route Army.This time, the Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops, concentrated on the main attack direction, drove straight in, and suddenly surrounded Xing County.The leaders of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army learned of the actions of the Japanese army in advance and deliberately abandoned Xingxian County. They flexibly commanded the party, government, and military leading organs in Northwest Shanxi to assist the local people to transfer immediately.He Long, Guan Xiangying, Xu Fanting and other comrades led the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi New Army's 1st Temporary Division, the Workers' and Guards Brigade, the 4th and 2nd Columns of Destiny, and other anti-Japanese armed forces. The guerrilla tactics of breaking up the whole into parts and splitting into joint attacks started a deal with the Japanese army.When the enemy advances, we retreat, when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy retreats, we attack.Because our army is familiar with the geographical terrain and has the active support of the local people, it was able to lead the enemy around and lead the Japanese army into the deep mountains and valleys. Taking advantage of the favorable terrain of high mountains and steep slopes and ravines in the northwest of Shanxi, the Japanese army could not look at each other from head to toe. .According to the "Anti-Japanese War Daily" sponsored by the Shanxi Northwest District Party Committee of the Communist Party of China: On July 4, 1940, more than 2,000 puppet troops stationed near Chengguan in Xing County were attacked by the Eighth Route Army and local guerrillas. Retreat to the area of ​​Yanghuiya and Mingtonggou, east of Ershilipu, Xingxian County.This place is a combat zone set up in advance by He Long and Guan Xiangying.The commanders and fighters of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the Workers' Guards Brigade, the Temporary 1st Division, and the 4th Column of the Deathly Brigade had been waiting in full force, ambush on the hilltops of Ershilipu and Yanghuiya, just waiting for the Japanese army to enter our ambush circle.

During this attack, the Japanese army was beaten everywhere and hit a wall everywhere.Since entering my base area, I haven't eaten a safe meal, nor slept a safe sleep.As soon as he went out, he either ran into bullets fired by the Eighth Route Army and guerrillas, or fell into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army, rushing from left to right, in a dilemma.The Japanese army stationed in Xing County for 11 days. Due to the attack of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese army was frightened and fled to Lan County secretly.Walking to Yanghui Cliff to the east of Ershilipu, it was suddenly violently attacked by the Eighth Route Army.Because this place is a deep mountain canyon, with cliffs on both sides, the Japanese army marched in the valley, and the Eighth Route Army shot on the hills on both sides of the valley. Wielding their sabers, they forced the Japanese and puppet troops to counterattack, but no matter how the Japanese struggled, they couldn't fight the grenades thrown from the cliffs on both sides.The Eighth Route Army beat the crap out of them again and again, like bundles of sorghum felled down a slope, rolling down the stone slope in batches.

The Japanese invading army was severely blocked by the Eighth Route Army, unable to break through, so they had to retreat in the canyons of Baiyagou and Yanghuiya, and asked the Japanese commander stationed in Xinzhou for help, asking for troops to respond.Like tortoises, the Japanese army crawled and lay down in the canyon for a whole day and two nights. It was not until the dawn of the third day that a group of reinforcements sent by Baode brought the remnant enemy back to Jingle.The battle lasted for three days and two nights, wiped out more than 2,200 Japanese and puppet troops, and fought a beautiful ambush.This is the famous Ershilipu battle in Northwest Shanxi during the Anti-Japanese War.

The Japanese invading army "mopped up" the anti-Japanese democratic bases in northwestern Shanxi twice in a row, but was stopped by our army.The Japanese aggressors were extremely vicious enemies, and they would not shed tears until they saw the coffin. In the winter of 1940, after some planning, the Japanese army "mopped up" Northwest Shanxi for the third time in late December.This time, the extremely barbaric "three light policy" was adopted in an attempt to recover the fiasco suffered by the previous two "sweeps".Under the cover of the plane, the artillery opened the way, and the infantry stormed, rushed and occupied Xingxian County.Because our military got the news of the Japanese attack first, all the party, government, and military agencies were transferred, and some of the ordinary people also moved with the troops.As soon as the Japanese army entered the county, they saw that it was an empty city. Knowing that our army had been on guard, they immediately sent a mountain search team to search the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians everywhere, and left a "destroyer team" in the county to burn, kill, loot, and loot.

Xingxian County is an ancient city in the northwest of Shanxi Province. Many famous people have appeared in history, such as Yin Tonggao in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, who served as the governor of Sichuan Province and the capital in the late Ming Dynasty; , Sun Honggan, Sun Yanggan, and local gentlemen, they built many luxurious mansions in the county, plus more than a dozen monasteries and temples with peculiar buildings, forming an ancient and civilized mountain city.This time, as soon as the Japanese army entered the mountain city, they set fires everywhere, and smoke was everywhere. In an instant, an ancient city became a sea of ​​flames.Almost all buildings in the city were burned.Wherever the Japanese army went, they killed everyone they saw and robbed everything they saw. No matter whether it was a newborn baby or an old man over sixty years old, no one could escape the clutches of the enemy.In the Zigou section of the northern pass of Xing County, forty or fifty ordinary people who had no time to escape were massacred by the Japanese army.The Japanese army grabbed these innocent people and forced them into the ravine with bayonets. Those who walked slowly were stabbed to death on the spot.Lu Tiehai, a resident, wanted to escape, but was caught by the Japanese army and thrown into a deep ditch under the north city wall, where his brains burst.After the Japanese army drove these unarmed common people into Zigou, they used bayonets to force them to strip naked, "matching young and old". How could the kind and innocent common people endure such shameless atrocities!There was an old man who grabbed a big rock and threw it at the enemy, but was brutally killed by the enemy.The Japanese army stabbed him several times with bayonets, then picked up the stone and threw it on the old man's head...

Then the Japanese bandits set up machine guns and fired at the crowd, and the poor people fell into a pool of blood one by one following the sound of enemy gunfire.At this time, people's yelling, shouting and crying shook the cliff and canyon, and the blood of the victims stained the land of the mountain city red.When the Japanese soldiers left the scene after massacring the common people, there was a five or six-year-old girl, holding the arm stabbed by the Japanese soldiers, crying and looking for her parents among the corpses.A few days later, when people went to collect the body, they found a woman in her 30s who was stabbed to death by the Japanese army and was still holding her nursing baby tightly in her arms.

The Japanese army captured more than 70 people who did not escape in Guojiagou, Xiguan Bridge, Xingju City, drove them into the Kang family compound, pulled the women out first, and raped them in the cave dwelling where the Japanese army set fire to the doors and windows. A seven or eight-year-old girl held onto her mother, was caught by the Japanese army, and thrown onto the stone pier at the gate, her brains burst and her blood spattered everywhere.After the Japanese army had finished their brutality, they drove the half-dead women out of the cave compound, allowing the puppet soldiers to practice assassination on living people.The gang of robbers first stabbed the man and then the woman, and people made miserable cries.There was a ten-year-old boy who was bayoneted by the Japanese army. After the Japanese army left, he crawled out from the pile of dead people, dragged his younger brother with one hand, and hugged the stomach that had been stabbed by the Japanese army with the other. walk around…… Some common people on the West Cliff are hiding in Xi'an Temple.They thought that Xi'an Temple was a "holy place" and the Japanese army would not trample on it, because in July of the same year, when the Japanese army "raided" Xing County for the second time, all the ordinary people hiding in the Catholic Church and the Jesus Church were not captured.At that time, the Japanese army wanted to strengthen law and order and enslave the common people, so they did not use cruel suppression methods; at the same time, the Japanese imperialists maintained friendly relations with some other countries, so they did not invade the missionaries of various countries in China, nor did they arrest and hide in Catholic churches. and the people in the church of Jesus.This time is different.The Japanese army found the crowd hiding in Xi'an Temple, so they surrounded Xi'an Temple. Then, several executioners jumped into the temple, wielding swords in their hands, hacking and killing.Those unarmed ordinary people wanted to hide but couldn't hide, wanted to run but couldn't, so they had to let the enemy kill them.When the Japanese army left Xi'an Temple, dozens of corpses were left in the temple, some with missing legs and arms, some with heads in different places, and some with their chests open...the cruelty is unbearable to see.This time, the Japanese army massacred more than 370 people in Xing County, burned more than 3,000 houses, looted more than 400 cattle and donkeys, robbed and slaughtered more than 800 pigs and sheep, and looted all gold and silver property. The Japanese army "mopped up" Northwest Shanxi and bloodbathed Xingxian County, not only destroying a mountain city with an ancient civilization, but also burning the flames of war to the countryside.The entire county stretches from Heicha Mountain in the east to the banks of the Yellow River in the west. Wherever the Japanese troops passed by, gunpowder smoke filled the air everywhere, killing people and setting fire to them. In the early morning of December 26, 1940, a group of Japanese soldiers rushed to Guojiamao in the east of the city. They couldn’t find the masses, and first set fire to the houses in the whole village. Liu Xuze’s mother in the village had no time to hide due to illness, and was burned alive by the Japanese soldiers. Died in a cave. The Japanese army set fire to the village, and then sent a search team to search and capture the people.More than 80 ordinary people in Guojiamao and Chengjiagou were hiding in the four-hole earth cave dwelling temporarily excavated in Miaoliang. After the Japanese army discovered it, they called the puppet army on the hillside and shouted: "Hey, folks: come out. ! The imperial army does not kill ordinary people, as long as you do things for the imperial army, the imperial army will give you benefits." However, no matter how the puppet army shouted, none of the people hiding in the cave responded.Finally, the Japanese army set up machine guns and fired at the cave dwelling.When the people in the cave heard the gunshots, they curled up in fright. The mother hugged the nursing baby tightly in her arms. There was an old man named Zhao Fanlu in the cave. His body blocked the entrance of the kiln and died heroically. Zhao Fanlu's sacrifice did not save other people in the cave.Almost all of the more than 80 people hiding in the earthen cave were shot and died. It was not until the mournful cries stopped in the earthen cave that the Japanese army left like a group of mad dogs.This time, the Japanese army massacred 87 people at the bottom of Guojiamao and Chengjiagou. Among them, 8 households including Li Youhai, Gao Bulen, Shang Youer, and Li Laoqi were killed by their entire families.After the Japanese army withdrew, the villagers went to collect the corpses and found three survivors.One is Liu Lihua, the 4-year-old daughter of Liu Quanmin; the other is Zhao Huangmao, an 11-year-old orphan; and the other is Liu Jiuer, the 5-year-old son of Liu Maoquan.When people rescued these survivors, they found that their clothes were coagulated with the blood of the victims.The villagers carried the bodies of the victims to the Lvhe beach in Caiqian. All of them were bloodstained and blurred. Even their relatives could recognize who their parents were.Several elderly people rinsed the bodies of the dead with warm water, collected them, put them in coffins, and parked them in cave dwellings whose doors and windows had been burned down by the Japanese army. They did not bury the dead one after another until the spring of the following year. In 1984, Liu Jinyu (Liu Jiuer) recalled the tragic scene of the Japanese army’s bloodbath of Guojiamao Village, saying: In the early morning of November 28th of the lunar calendar in 1940, the Japanese army stationed in Xing County suddenly surrounded Guojiamao Village after killing people and setting fire to the county town.At this time, most of the people in the village fled. Only some sick and elderly people did not have time to escape. They were caught by the Japanese army and stabbed to death with bayonets. Then they pushed them into the cave and set fire to their bodies.Later, I heard the old people say: On that morning, the Japanese army assassinated 48 people in my village. Among them, the family of 5 people who still had a son were all sick (typhoid fever) at the time, and they were all killed by the Japanese army at home. Stabbed to death with a bayonet, and then set fire to the body.The Japanese army also took away more than 30 cattle and 14 donkeys, and set fire to more than 90% of the houses in the village. At that time, my father Liu Maoquan had already participated in the anti-Japanese and national salvation work.Most of the people in the village moved away. I followed my grandmother, mother, two aunts, and two cousins. Together with the villagers, I fled to the valley called Miaoliang and hid in a few holes dug temporarily.After the Japanese army found out, they set up machine guns and fired at the cave dwellings.People huddled together when they heard gunshots, and my mother held the nursing baby tightly in her arms.At the entrance of the cave, there was an old man in his 70s named Zhao Fanlu, who was the first to be shot and killed.The entrance of the cave is too big to stop the bullets. Dozens of ordinary people hiding here were all shot to death. When the Japanese army withdrew, when the villagers came to collect the bodies of the victims, they found three of us survivors, one was Liu Quanmin's 4-year-old daughter Liu Lihua, the other was an 11-year-old orphan Zhao Huangmao, and the other was me. .The villagers carried the bodies of the victims back to the village, all of which were bloodstained, indistinct and horrible.Many people don't even dare to recognize their relatives. The Japanese army rushed to Hongyue Village, Xing County. There was an ordinary family who was marrying their son a wife. When they heard the gunshots from the enemy, the whole family, young and old, relatives and friends ran to hide in the Nangou.The Japanese army entered the village, looted property everywhere, and sent search teams to search and arrest people everywhere.The Japanese army found more than 40 refugees in Nangou, including the newly married daughter-in-law. The Japanese army forced them back to the village with bayonets, gathered them in a threshing field, and raped more than 10 women in broad daylight.Two women fought with the Japanese soldiers, were stripped naked by the Japanese soldiers, and stabbed to death with bayonets. Then, the Japanese army drove all the people in the village into a hole in the earth cave dwelling on the threshing ground, and set up machine guns to shoot.Then, he piled up hay at the entrance of the cave, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire.Inside the earthen cave dwelling, 22 corpses were so badly burned that they could not be identified.Hongyue Village had a total of 160 people, and 47 people were killed this time. Five families were killed, and the 9 members of Ao Qichou's family were killed, leaving him alone. The Japanese army burned, killed and looted everywhere, and women were ravaged.The Japanese army captured more than 20 women in Lijiata and raped them regardless of age. They captured an old lady in her 70s in Aojiatan, kicked and swollen her genitals with leather shoes, and then raped her.These beasts not only rape the living, but even the dead.The Japanese army captured a 14- or 15-year-old girl in a certain village (excerpted from "Anti-Japanese War Daily", no village name), pressed her on a kang and raped her.The little girl resisted desperately, grabbed the Japanese soldier's face with her hands, and bit the Japanese soldier's hand with her mouth. The Japanese soldier grabbed a pillow and stuffed it on the little girl's mouth. After a while, the little girl was smothered to death. Five Japanese soldiers He and seven or eight puppet soldiers gang-raped the female corpse. The Japanese army went out of the county and climbed the mountains, passed through Weijiatan to Watang, and "mopped up" at the mouth of Peijiachuan.There are 18 natural villages in Watang administrative village, all of which were trampled by the Japanese army, and some villages were "mopped up" three or four times.Their purpose is to destroy the grain stations set up in various districts and villages of the Anti-Japanese Democratic Base in Northwest Shanxi, burn down houses, destroy agricultural tools, and create a larger "no man's land."During this "mopping up", the Japanese army took away 21 cattle, 12 donkeys, burned more than 300 houses, slaughtered 37 innocent people, and raped more than 70 women.After an 11-year-old girl was raped.Will not walk for a long time.What's even worse is that the Japanese army, holding a bayonet, threatened an old man to rape his little granddaughter, and let the whole village watch.A woman was stripped naked for resisting the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, tied to a large vat with ropes and gang-raped. The Japanese army stayed in Wujia Tower for one night, and when they left the next day, they set fire to all the houses in the village.When the Japanese army arrived at Heiyukou, they threw bombs into the house and set fire to the house.There were 29 households in Chaershang Village, all of which were burnt to the point that only one hut was left, and all the furniture was destroyed or burned.Lijiawan under Hujiagou was also almost burned.After the Japanese army left, the common people had nowhere to live. In many places, three or five families lived side by side, and dozens of people crowded into a cave dwelling. This time the Japanese army "mopped up" Northwest Shanxi in turn, bloodbathed Xing County, massacred more than 1,300 innocent people in Xing County, burned more than 9,700 houses, robbed and slaughtered more than 1,000 farm cattle, took away 1,400 donkeys, and slaughtered 5,000 pigs and sheep. There are many heads, nearly 10,000 chickens, 3,600 stones of grain (one stone is equal to 300 catties), countless gold and silver jewellery, Baiyang, silk, cloth, clothing, etc. were robbed and trampled, and 29 looms were destroyed. The Japanese army bloodbathed the urban and rural areas of Xingxian County, bringing huge disasters to the people in the base areas. Among them, the villages that suffered the most were Chengguan, Guojiamao, Hongyue, Fengjiao Shangbaijiagang, Hengcheng, Wujiata, Heiyukou, Wakuang, etc. 38 villages.The evil Japanese imperialist aggressors committed unforgivable crimes in Xing County.