Chapter 47 Chapter 46 Exchange People for Coal——The "Mass Grave" of Datong Coal Mine

From September 1937 to August 1945, the Datong Coal Mine was under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders. At that time, the Japanese invaders blatantly called the Datong Coal Mine "the heat source of East Asia" and "the core zone of war resources in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", and frantically carried out predatory mining of Datong coal resources.Over the past eight years, the Japanese invaders carried out the bloody policy of "exchanging people for coal" and plundered 14 million tons of coal, killing more than 60,000 miners.For example, based on the amount of coal the Japanese invaders plundered from Datong, for every 230 tons of coal the Japanese invaders plundered, one miner would die.At that time, "mass graves" of various sizes were formed in the wilderness of the mining area, river valleys, abandoned mine shafts and other places.

It is difficult to find out the exact number of "mass graves" in Datong Coal Mine. According to the memories of veteran workers, there are 14 relatively large "mass graves".Such as Yangshuwan of Xinzhouyao Mine, Huangcaowa of Tongjialiang Mine, Dananwan of Yongdingzhuang Mine, Laoyemiao of Baidong Mine, Nangou of Meiyukou Mine, etc. Among them, the "mass grave" in Nangou of Meiyukou Mine is a relatively complete one of the existing "mass grave".This "mass grave" consists of upper and lower holes.The upper hole is 6.7 meters wide and more than 40 meters deep; the lower hole is 4.5 meters wide and more than 70 meters deep. The bones of the dead miners are piled up in layers inside the hole.Judging from the posture of the bones in the cave, many miners were thrown into the "mass grave" without dying.Some of them were still struggling to crawl towards the entrance of the cave, some were still shouting angrily, some were stroking the wounds on their arms in pain, some had their legs amputated, their limbs were cut off, their heads were pierced, and they twisted their heads. The spine was broken, and the scene in the cave was horrible.

In the Datong Coal Mine, the Japanese invaders often yelled: "I would rather have an extra ton of coal than be afraid of killing a few more people", "There are a lot of coolies in China".Out of such wolfish ambitions, the Japanese invaders did not consider increasing equipment, reforming technology, or improving the working conditions of the workers, but just blindly stepped up plundering, all with the aim of increasing productivity, convenience, saving labor, and speed.The barbaric and backward production methods and primitive and heavy production tools not only make the miners' labor extremely heavy and strenuous, but also the underground natural disasters such as roof fall, water, fire, coal dust, gas, etc., are always threatening the miners' lives.The ventilation is poor, and most of the lighting on the working face is still sesame oil lamps and calcium carbide lamps, which can easily cause gas combustion and coal dust explosions.On the horribly large coal mining face, the pressure on the roof was very high, but the Japanese invaders rarely let the pillars be hit, forcing the workers to risk their lives to produce coal.Some working faces had collapsed, and the Japanese invaders forced workers to crawl in through cracks to pull coal out.Some tunnels were flooded, and the Japanese invaders forced workers to wade into the water to carry coal. Accidents always threatened the miners, and death always awaited the miners.According to the old workers, it was very common for people to die in the mine at that time, and every wellhead was carried out almost every day.

In the spring of 1938, the No. 9 pit of Meiyukou Mine was flooded with water. After the workers found out, they all said that they would drown people and that they could no longer mine coal.One day, groundwater suddenly rushed out, trapping more than 120 miners underground.After the accident, the Japanese invaders not only did not organize rescue, but also blocked the workers with bayonets to prevent the workers from going down the well for rescue.As a result, more than 120 miners were trapped underground for 15 days. Except for 8 people who survived by chance, the rest were all starved to death.

In June 1941, a coal mining face in Baidong Xikeng, due to long-term mining and no support, the roof slammed for several days, and it was about to collapse, but the Japanese invaders forced the workers to go in and work. As a result, the big top fell, and more than 70 miners were all crushed to death.Tragedy like this happened from time to time during the Japanese rule, and after each accident, the inhumane Japanese invaders only cared about rescuing machines, not people. In the spring of 1943, the roof of the No. 4 coal mining face in the south of Xinzhouyao Mine collapsed, crushing 8 workers. One of the workers was crushed half of his body under the stone, but he was still alive. When the worker went to save the machine, he hacked the half exposed worker to death with a knife.

In order to suppress the workers' resistance, the Japanese invaders established and strengthened the fascist ruling network in the mining area. They recruited some Chinese national scum and established the "Mine Police Team", "Inspector Team", "Secret Team" and "Foreign Dog Team". The "Mine Police Squad" is a reactionary armed force that suppresses workers; the "Inspector Squad" is a plainclothes policeman who arrests workers; the "Secret Squad" is a spy organization that secretly monitors workers' activities; , is specially used to bite workers.In addition, the Japanese invaders also sent a large number of military police stationed in various mines to suppress workers.

Under the brutal colonial rule of the Japanese invaders, the miners were completely deprived of their personal freedom.At that time, before dawn every day, the devils and Baotou went to the work sheds where the workers lived to destroy the work.When going to work, the little foreman leads the way, the foreman is in the middle, the Japanese soldiers with guns are on both sides, and there are "house evacuators" behind.Sometimes, the Japanese invaders even brought foreign dogs to supervise the wellhead.Underground, miners work 12 to 16 hours a day.When thirsty and hungry, drink some dirty water from the well.At that time, the Japanese aggressors still did what they called "working hard to produce coal day" in three days and two days.On this day, the devils mobilized their heads together, tied red cloth strips on their heads, held hammerheads and leather whips, and forced the workers to work underground for 24 hours. The miners were tortured to the point of exhaustion. The beating.

The Japanese invaders and the boss worked together to brutally exploit the miners.According to the recollection of the old workers, at that time, the miners worked for a day, and when they came out of the well, they were given a meal card, which was equivalent to 5 jiao in counterfeit coins.From January to the end, the wages earned by miners are no more than 15 yuan, while a small head is at least 100 yuan, and a large head is as high as 1,000 yuan. , "deposit gold", and even the supervisors and the printing oil used for the heads require the miners to pay "referring material money", and the rest of the money will not be issued in cash, but "special quotation certificates", which can only be paid Buy things in stores opened by Japanese invaders and heads.

Life for the miners was miserable.They live in large workshops, each of which is more than 30 meters long and four or five meters wide. In such a slender house, there are only four windows on the wall, and each window is neither pasted with paper nor decorated. The glass is all sealed with wooden boards and iron bars. At first glance, it looks like a prison.There are two rows of kangs in the room, and more than a hundred people sleep there. Most of the miners have no bedding and bedding, and some only have mats, sacks, cement bags, coals, and bricks as pillows.Those who have just entered the house are so dark that they can't see anything.The house has not been ventilated for many years, does not see sunlight, does not clean, and is cloudy and damp. In addition to the smell of sweat from people, the excrement and urine of patients, bedbugs, fleas, etc., it is the young and strong young people who live in it. How long, also have to fall ill.Not to mention what the workers ate, besides steamed buns and black bean cakes, was “Xingya noodles” made from moldy sorghum, bran, and peanut skins.The miners wear tattered clothes. They go to and from get off work in a suit of clothes that have been patched and patched. They have not been replaced, and they have not been washed all year round.It's just the tattered clothes, some workers don't have them yet.In winter, they can only use sacks, advertising cloth, and cement bag paper to cover their bodies and keep out the cold.

Heavy labor, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions, made a large number of miners seriously ill.At that time, when the miners fell ill, the Japanese invaders neither gave them medicine nor stopped them from working. As long as they could not die, they forced them to work in the mine.If anyone can no longer struggle, the Japanese invaders will let the "corpse team" carry them and throw them into the "mass grave". In the spring of 1942, cholera was prevalent in the mining area, and batches of miners fell ill.The Japanese invaders feared that they would influence them, so under the pretext of preventing infectious diseases, they forcibly dragged the miners who were dying of hard labor and disease into the "quarantines" they set up. "Nine times out of ten, if you enter the isolation center, you will die." Either you will be thrown into a "mass grave", or you will be sent to the "burning place".According to the confession of Cheng Chongshan, the deputy captain of the "corpse pulling team" at that time: in 1942, more than 200 people were thrown into the "mass grave" by his hands, and more than 20 of them were alive.According to a member of the "Corpse Squad" at that time, in the past, one yuan and five cents were paid for each person pulled.It is said to be a "corpse dragging team", but in fact many people are still silent, and they were also thrown into the "mass grave".The father of Qian Kuibao, a veteran worker in Meiyukou Mine, was thrown alive into the "mass grave". At the end of 1941, Qian Kuibao, his father, uncle and a family of 8 were tricked from Tangyin, Henan to the Datong Coal Mine. Within three months, 6 members of the family died tragically at the hands of the Japanese invaders.One day, his father fell ill in the big house. During the rounds, the devil found that his father was not at work. Without saying a word, he raised his hammer and hit his father on the head. Several draggers swarmed up, dragged them away, and threw them into the "mass grave".

In order to cover up their crimes, the Japanese invaders wrapped the corpses with rotten mats at first, and then tied them with straw ropes. Later, they simply used two wire loops, one for the head and the other for the legs, with a wooden stick in the middle to lift them up. Get up and throw it away.According to an article in the "Anti-Japanese War Daily" on October 19, 1940 in Northwest Shanxi Province: Huangtugou is a shortcut for people to go to Kouquan. In the past, there was always a constant stream of pedestrians on the road. This year, there are almost no pedestrians on this road. Even if there are people walking, there are very few people.There are always three or five dead people dragged from the Kouquan Coal Mine to Huangtugou every day. These coal miners either died of illness or hanged themselves or were beaten to death. Wild wolves munched on their mouths, and the bites were bloody and bloody. They had feet but no hands or legs and no head. There was nothing more sad than that. In addition to the "mass graves", the Japanese invaders also set up many burning sites, the largest of which are the Xinzhou Yao Mine Burning Site and the Sulaogou Mine Burning Site.These places are often billowing with black smoke, and thousands of miners were burned alive.The miner's family belonged to five members of the eldest daughter's family. During the Japanese rule, she followed her husband from Hunyuan to Xinzhou Kiln Mine.In less than a year, the doctor died tragically in the mine, and his 17-year-old son lived by carrying coal in the mine.Later, the older child fell ill, and the Japanese invaders insisted that it was an infectious disease, so they took him to the burning place and burned him alive. A few days later, the 13-year-old eldest daughter was also burned to death by Radiu.Yu's eldest daughter was locked up in a "separation center", and the remaining 5-year-old child was left unattended and starved to death.There are thousands of others in the Datong Coal Mine who suffered such a tragic experience like Yu Danv’s family. Zeng Shigui, an old worker at Meiyukou Coal Mine, complained: In August 1942, all four members of my family fell ill due to hunger and cold. The Japanese invaders knew about it. Later, suspecting that we had an infectious disease, they sent dog legs to seal the doors and windows of my house with barbed wire without any explanation.I knew that the devil was going to set my whole family on fire, so when the devil was going to fetch gasoline, I pulled the wire and escaped through the window.When I was about to pick up my wife and children and escape together, the devil came back and burned my three relatives to death in the house with a fire. The cruel Japanese invaders owed countless blood debts to the Datong miners!