Chapter 106 bowed his head

One night after the end of the Battle of Xiangxi, the military headquarters of a certain army affiliated to the Fourth Front Army made an exception and held a dinner party attended by more than 200 people.Nearby troops pulled almost all the guns outside the house, and fired into the sky as soon as it got dark. In an instant, tracer bullets of various colors in red, green, yellow, and white flew into the sky, forming a rare aerial spectacle. At the dinner party, even people who never joked opened their mouths and laughed.The officers and soldiers chatted about all kinds of dangerous experiences, strange people and strange things they had encountered during the Anti-Japanese War, as well as their personal plans for the future.

This day is August 11th.On the same day, the four countries of China, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain, after receiving Japan's begging note from a neutral country, issued a reply expressing their acceptance of Japan's proposal of surrender. Ever since the Battle of Zhijiang, they knew that Japan was going to be doomed, but the speed of the doom was somewhat unexpected.In any case, the wish for many years is about to become reality in a blink of an eye, and everyone is very happy about it. When everyone meets, they shake hands and congratulate each other in unison: "We have won!"

On August 15, the officers of the Fourth Front Army Command were having lunch when suddenly there was loud gunshots at the nearby US military advisory group station.When I inquired in amazement, I learned that the U.S. military had learned important news from the radio: Japanese Emperor Hirohito made a radio speech, officially accepting the "Potsdam Proclamation" and announcing unconditional surrender to the allies. Two hours later, Wang Yaowu also received an express telegram from Chongqing, the content of which was basically the same. The first task of the army is to accept surrender.According to the surrender area divided by the Army Headquarters, the Fourth Front Army is responsible for the surrender mission in the Hunan area. On September 15, Wang Yaowu and his staff flew to Changsha by plane to attend the surrender ceremony in Hunan.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the Fourth Front Army held a ceremony in the auditorium of Hunan University in Yuelu Mountain on time.The participants were mainly officers above lieutenant colonel in Changsha area and representatives sent from various places in Hunan. There were two to three hundred people in total. The representative of the Japanese army and the commander of the 20th Army, Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, and a group of three sat in designated seats.Banxi was fifty-four years old at the time, his temples had already turned gray, and his face no longer had the haughty look he had when he first took office.When Wang Yaowu stepped into the auditorium, Banxi immediately stood at attention and took off his hat, bowed to the former opponent and current winner, and presented the Japanese army list.Afterwards, Wang Yaowu read out the order to accept the surrender, and Banxi and others stood up and listened respectfully, expressing that they would obey it.

On September 20, the 74th Army accepted the surrender of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army in Hengyang.Lieutenant General Di Sanshu, head of the 68th Division, gathered his troops and waited for inspection, and all the lists of troops, weapons, ammunition, etc. were also handed over to the 74th Army for reception. Despite being a defeated army, the Japanese army was orderly when they surrendered.All officers and soldiers can be arranged in the whole team according to the military parade method. The weapons and ammunition are oiled after being wiped clean, and they are sorted and collected in front of the team.Wherever the confiscators go and which unit submits the form, it will be confiscated according to the form.

Before the surrender ceremony, you can even see the scene of Japanese cavalry drills. They are in groups of three or five, most of them wearing only a bellyband, riding horses with bare hands, or galloping back and forth, or climbing to the nearby hills.When these cavalrymen saw the surrendered personnel, they acted as if nothing had happened, and just practiced on their own, which surprised everyone. Another thing that left a deep impression on the surrendered personnel was the Japanese army's love for horses.When they were surrendered, all the oriental horses were washed clean, and there were bronze plates hanging on the side of the horse's bridle, engraved with the names of the crew and trainer respectively.

Japan's land area is not large, and it was also behind China in the international power rankings before modern times. However, it was able to catch up from behind, not only leaping to become a world power, but also almost causing China to fall into the fate of subjugation. The reasons behind it are indeed worth pondering. After the task of accepting the surrender was over, the 74th Army first garrisoned in Hengyang, and then went to the Nanjing area in batches to accept the surrender either on foot or by air.Those divisions of the Japanese army that had fought against the 74th Army many times, such as the 3rd Division, the 40th Division, and the 34th Division, all obediently bowed down in front of the "Brilliant Army". nod.

After completing these tasks, the 74th Army was ordered to serve as the garrison of Nanjing. The troops were stationed at Xiaolingwei on the outskirts of Nanjing, so they were called the "Yulin Army".In the early days of the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance, the "Yulin Army" stationed at Xiaoling Guard was the teaching corps. During the Nanjing War, this famous ace troop walked off the stage of history in a tragic way.In the following years, the Seventy-Fourth Army faced similar dangers many times. Fortunately, they maintained the reputation of the "Tiger Army" and China's first elite army until the end of the War of Resistance.

A few months later, the personnel of the 74th Army was adjusted. Shi Zhongcheng, the former commander of the army, was transferred out. Zhang Lingfu, the deputy commander of the army who had already completed the Army University course, was promoted to the commander of the army and the commander of the capital's security.At this time, Zhang Lingfu and his subordinates all thought of one place. This place is Saihongqiao in the west of Nanjing.At the end of the Nanjing Defense War, the remaining officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 302nd Regiment of the 51st Division stayed in the rear. The whole battalion fought alone under the leadership of the battalion commander Xu Jingming, and all died honorably in the Saihongqiao position.

One day, Zhang Lingfu and Zhou Zhidao came to Saihongqiao by car.As the old men of the 74th Army and the 51st Division, they fondly cherished the memory of Pao Ze who died in the War of Resistance by the bridge, recalling the past, and the two were deeply moved. The past has passed, and who can really understand and predict what the future will look like?What people know is that no matter how the torrential rain of time washes away, a heroic unit that once fought bloody battles for the survival of the nation and made extraordinary achievements should not be forgotten by the nation. Remember its name: Tiger Force!