Chapter 26 Chapter Five Seven Star Rock Eight Hundred Heroes

Major General Guo Bingqi served as chief of staff of the 131st Division during the defense of Guilin.During the intermission of the war, he insisted on keeping a diary every day, and his "Diary of Guilin Battle in 1944" became a precious material for this defense battle. He wrote in his diary on November 1 that the 391st Regiment of the 131st Division was guarding the Pingfeng Mountain area. At dusk that day, when it was raining lightly, the Japanese army stormed the Pingfeng Mountain position. After more than a hundred corpses, they retreated. However, not long after, the Japanese army organized another attack, and the defenders fought tenaciously.That night, the sound of rifles, machine guns, cannons, and mine explosions continued until dawn.After dawn, the Japanese army withdrew due to the unfavorable attack.In front of Pingfeng Mountain, there are corpses of Japanese soldiers everywhere, piled up like a mountain.

After the Japanese troops withdrew, some soldiers climbed over the obstacles, searched the corpses of the Japanese soldiers, and picked up a large number of steel helmets, bullets and grenades from the corpses of the Japanese soldiers. Moreover, each Japanese soldier also had a small sun flag on his body. A way for the Japanese army to motivate. Gui Tiaoyuan and Luo Shouzhan said that the Gui army at that time was poorly equipped and all wore cloth hats, while the steel helmets of the Japanese army came in handy. After the Japanese army withdrew, the soldiers found the bullock carts in front of the position.It turned out that the night before, the cunning enemy disguised himself as ordinary people, drove an ox cart and pulled a disguised artillery, trying to pass through the Gui army's defense line, and then bombarded the positions in the city.The Japanese army did not expect that before the war, the Gui army had mobilized all the civilians who did not participate in the war to evacuate Guilin, so how could there be a bullock cart trying to enter the city under the hail of bullets?Therefore, as soon as the Gui army saw the ox cart, they knew it was the Japanese army in disguise. As soon as a shell passed, the Japanese army left the ox cart and fled in a panic.

On this day, the 131st Division fought fiercely day and night, while the 170th Division defended only sporadic Japanese troops.However, the 170th Division could not support the 131st Division, because no one could tell when the Japanese army, which had an absolute superiority in numbers, would suddenly appear at the west and south gates defended by the 170th Division.The two divisions defended the huge city of Guilin, which was stretched and far from enough. At that time, the Japanese army was attacking from east to west. Their combat deployment was: feint to attack north and south, first take Jiangdong, then cross the Lijiang River, and then go straight to Duxiu Peak, divide the defenders into two sections, north and south, and defeat each.If the west gate is not attacked, the defeated army will automatically flee to the west, and ambush heavy troops in the west of the Taohua River can wipe out the Gui army defending the city.

Therefore, when enemy troops were discovered one after another in the east, north, and south, there was no fighting on the western front. On November 2, the Japanese army continued to attack Pingfeng Mountain and Maoer Mountain where the 391st Regiment was stationed, and the battle was in a stalemate.The regiment headquarters of the 391st Regiment was stationed at Qixingyan, and the contact between the regiment headquarters and Pingfeng Mountain had also been cut off, and the telephone line was blown up by Japanese planes.The soldiers who lost contact with the regiment headquarters still stood firm on Pingfeng Mountain and Maoer Mountain without taking a step back.

At that time, there were two infantry companies and a heavy machine gun platoon defending Pingfeng Mountain and Maoer Mountain, with more than 300 people. That night, the Japanese army organized death squads to attack Pingfeng Mountain and climbed to the top of Pingfeng Mountain. However, the soldiers of the Guangxi army quickly cut off the communication channel between the Japanese death squads and the follow-up troops, making the small group of Japanese troops who climbed Pingfeng Mountain an isolated enemy. , only dare to stick to the danger, not to dive to respond.The soldiers in Guilin didn't bother to pay attention to them anymore, let the Japanese army, which was out of ammunition and food, endure hunger and cold on the empty mountain top.

The Japanese army at the foot of the mountain launched dozens of charges thereafter, all of which were repelled by the Gui army at Pingfeng mountain. The Gui Army, which was holding on to Pingfeng Mountain, persisted until the night of November 4 before losing its position. Of the more than 300 people, only 20 reached the west bank of the Lijiang River in the dark, and the rest died heroically.But now, these 300 people have not even left a name.Major General Guo Bingqi called them "unsung heroes". In the early morning of November 5th, the 20 warriors who returned to the west bank of the Lijiang River passed through the firepower of the defenders in the city. In order to avoid accidental injury, they shouted in Guangxi dialect, and the defenders took them to the headquarters of the 1st, 31st and 1st Divisions. , Teacher Kan Weiyong and Chief of Staff Guo Bingqi saw these blood-stained warriors, tears flowed down.

Some of the 20 warriors belonged to the heavy machine gun platoon. They said that from the first day of the battle, the barrels of the heavy machine guns were all red due to the continuous firing of the heavy machine guns. Scrap, beyond repair.Without heavy machine guns, the soldiers held rifles and aimed at the Japanese army.Later, the rifle bullets were gone, so the soldiers smashed them with grenades; without the grenades, the soldiers fought bayonets with the swarming Japanese soldiers, and the bayonets were bent, so they repelled the Japanese soldiers; later, the Japanese troops launched another attack, The soldiers smashed it with stones and stabbed it with sharpened wooden sticks. Relying on such primitive weapons, they also repelled many Japanese attacks.For several days, the soldiers repelled wave after wave of enemy attacks, and their numbers became smaller and smaller.The death toll of the Japanese army greatly exceeded that of the defenders.Just last night, the soldiers who had not slept for several days were so sleepy that they lay back to back on the ground. In the middle of the night, the Japanese army touched the hill again. After a while of fighting, only 20 of them were left. Quietly cross the Lijiang River and return to the headquarters of the 131st Division.

At that time, everyone in the division was in tears. And the soldiers of the company who stood firm on Maoer Mountain were attacked by the Japanese army when they ran out of ammunition and food. At this time, there were only seven soldiers left in the company, and all of them were injured. The company commander asked them to check their weapons, and only one grenade.The company commander sent the youngest soldier back to Qixingyan, where the regiment headquarters was located, to report the news. The other six hugged each other, and when the Japanese army approached, they fired the last grenade.

Later, it was learned from Japanese battle reports that it was two Japanese brigades that attacked Pingfeng Mountain and Maoer Mountain.Two brigades of 2,000 people, facing a small mountain defended by 300 people, took turns to attack for four days. Only when the defenders ran out of ammunition did they rely on sneak attacks to capture success.The strength of the Guangxi army made the Japanese army awe. The Gui army planted landmines in front of every position. The veterans said that in the Guilin defense battle, landmines played a big role and killed many Japanese. The first part of the 392nd Regiment of the 131st Division defended the area north of Jiashan, and a landmine array of hundreds of square meters was laid in front of the position.Under the cover of artillery, the Japanese infantry launched a heroic and ignorant charge. As a result, the Gui army on the ground had not yet opened fire, and the sound of landmine explosions sounded one after another. already.Various guns of the Gui army on the position took the opportunity to fire, and the shells whizzed past the minefields, and exploded in the follow-up troops of the Japanese army. The Japanese army crawled back in a panic like crabs exposed to the sun.

In this battle, hundreds of Japanese corpses were left behind. The next day, the cunning Japanese army collected 300 cattle and drove them to the minefields in the area north of Mount Jia.They soaked the tails of the oxen in cooking oil and set them on fire. The cattle with their tails burned by the flames ran around and stepped on land mines.The artillery fire of the Japanese army fired at the defenders' positions. Amidst the smoke and fire rising into the sky, the Japanese army launched a charge.The defenders hid in the cave when the Japanese artillery fire hit.But when the artillery fire ceased, the Japanese army rushed to the front of the position, and the defenders jumped out of the cave with bayonets in hand, pressing the Japanese army back again and again.

Because the line of defense in this area was too long, the strength of the Gui army was far from enough. The militia fighters and civilians who were unwilling to leave Guilin City organized themselves to stand firm with earthen guns, broadswords and spears.Faced with such poorly equipped defenders, the Japanese army fought fiercely for many days, but they were still helpless. The Japanese army began to transport troops to the Guilin forward position at night. Gui Tiaoyuan said that at that time, the artillery stationed on the top of the mountain would load and fire as soon as they saw moving lights at night.In those days, the Guilin City Defense Headquarters issued an order prohibiting lights, which would indicate targets for enemy aircraft bombing.Moreover, the Gui army was poorly equipped. Even generals like Kan Weiyong had to rely on their feet to go to the battlefield when they received orders to guard Guilin. Where would there be cars?Therefore, as long as there are moving lights at night, it must be a Japanese car.It's a dog day, I didn't say it! The planes of the Japanese army bombed the Guangxi army in the sky, and Chennault's Flying Tigers also bombed the Japanese army in the sky. At that time, the positions of the two sides were intertwined. How can we judge where is our position and where is the Japanese position? Gui Tiaoyuan said that the city defense command also has a way. They stipulate that as long as it is a position held by our army, a flag must be planted on the top of the mountain.In this way, the Flying Tigers will not bomb when they see this flag, but will bomb indiscriminately as long as they see that there is no such flag. And such a flag has also become the target of the Japanese artillery. Once there was a hill, the Japanese artillery bombarded the flag many times, and the flag fell down.The Japanese army thought that the Flying Tigers would bomb the Gui army's positions, but they didn't expect another flag to be raised ten minutes later.The Japanese army continued to bomb, but after the bombing, a newer flag would be hoisted.Several flags are prepared for each position. At that time, Chennault's Flying Tigers did not have the upper hand over Guilin, and the number of Japanese fly-like planes exceeded the number of Flying Tigers. At this time, the Battle of Western Yunnan was going on, and the Flying Tigers had to mobilize a limited number of planes To support the Western Yunnan Expeditionary Force. The artillery of the Guilin defenders did not even have an advantage. At that time, the Guilin defenders had only 22 artillery pieces of various types, while the 100,000 Japanese troops were equipped with thousands of cannons of various calibers. In the face of the artillery fire of the Japanese army, the artillery of the Gui army did not have any advantage. There was once a small group of Guangxi troops, in order to avoid the Japanese artillery bombardment of the defenders' positions, they had to choose a risky attack at night to attack the Japanese artillery positions. They once rushed into the Japanese artillery positions and blew up two cannons.However, then the brigade of Japanese troops arrived and they all died. Beginning on November 3, a large number of Japanese troops appeared in front of the Doujishan position defended by the 170th Division.The fierce battle at the South Gate began. No one thought that the 170th Division, which was composed of new recruits, was also very tenacious in combat. With grenades wrapped around their waists, they rushed at the rolling Japanese tanks; every squad, every platoon, fought to the last people.Every position was lost several times and regained several times. For positions lost during the day, militia soldiers carried swords on their backs at night, climbed up the cliffs, sneaked up, and drove the Japanese troops down again with big blades, regaining the lost ground. The Japanese army did not expect that the recruits of the Guangxi army who had just entered the battlefield in the miscellaneous army and the militia armed forces that were not even considered as miscellaneous troops were so brave. The soldiers of the 131st Division are still fighting fiercely on the east bank of the Lijiang River. The 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion and 3rd Company of the 391st Regiment of the 131st Division, under the leadership of company commander Huang Zhongyi, held fast to the Xingziyan position and repelled dozens of Japanese attacks for four consecutive days. Wounded and unable to resist the tide-like Japanese attack, he hid in a cave and continued to resist. When the Japanese soldiers came close, they were beaten to death one by one.Facing the small cave entrance, the Japanese army was helpless.Later, the Japanese army brought in flat guns and flamethrowers, blasted the cave fiercely, and then sprayed flames into the narrow cave. Huang Zhongyi was on fire all over his body, and the flames were soaring. He hugged him tightly and burned the Japanese soldiers to death.Facing a mass of burning flames, the Japanese army didn't react for a long time and forgot to shoot. The Gui army with the belief of defending their home and country is far more powerful than the Japanese army armed with Bushido spirit. In the end, there was only one cook left in the third company of the first battalion and third company of the 391st regiment of the 1st 31st division and returned to Qixingyan, where the regiment headquarters was located, to report the news. The rest of the soldiers all died heroically. On November 4th, on the east bank of the Lijiang River, the positions of the 391st Regiment fell one after another under the attack of superior Japanese forces, and the surviving soldiers retreated into Qixingyan, where the regiment headquarters was located. The head of the regiment, Tan Zewen, counted the number of people. At this time, there were only 1,000 people left in the regiment, and most of them were wounded soldiers. At this time, the Japanese army surrounded Qixingyan from all sides. Facing the battalion full of wounded soldiers, Tan Zewen said: "We have sacrificed so many people, and now we are surrounded by heavy siege. Our fate is fixed. There is no other way but to kill a few more devils." All the wounded soldiers stood up and shouted in unison: "Fight with the little devil!" The battle to defend Qixingyan has begun. The Japanese army first blasted Qixingyan with flat-fire guns, and then the infantry charged.Guo Bingqi recorded that in the afternoon, the wired telephones between the 391st Regiment and the division headquarters were cut off, and they could only communicate wirelessly. The battle situation that day was that the Japanese army, which had an absolute advantage, did not take advantage of the wounded soldiers of the 391st Regiment. Instead of capturing Qixingyan, they left hundreds of corpses. Just when the Qixingyan defense battle started, another Japanese army attacked Dezhi Middle School, which was defended by a company of the 170th Division. After a day of fierce fighting, Dezhi Middle School was occupied, and only three boys from the whole company of the Gui Army retreated with empty guns. rear position.They said that after the bullets ran out, the company commander forced them to retreat to the rear, and the company commander and the rest of the soldiers all died in battle. The battle to defend Qixingyan continued. On the sixth day of the war, only Qixingyan remained on the east bank of the Lijiang River. Major General Guo Bingqi, chief of staff of the 131st Division, recorded in his diary: On November 5, Qixingyan asked for artillery support. Our artillery stationed on Elephant Trunk Hill fired at the enemy, and the enemy threw incendiary bombs. The trees and buildings on Elephant Trunk Hill were burned to scorched earth. On November 6, Qixingyan and its surrounding hills were occupied by the enemy. Our army retreated into the cave and continued to resist tenaciously. On November 7th, the Qixingyan enemy released smoke bombs and used flamethrowers to burn all the trees and fortifications in front of the position; then, the enemy released poison gas... In this day's diary, Major General Guo Bingqi's heart was very heavy. He first wrote "the division has nothing to do", and then wrote "we really have nothing to do". On November 8, contact with Qixingyan was completely cut off, but gunshots could still be heard, indicating that resistance continued. On November 9, there were still gunshots at Qixingyan, indicating that our army is still resisting. On November 10, the direction of Qixingyan was unknown. From the diary records of Major General Guo Bingqi, we have seen how the last 1,000 wounded soldiers of the 391st Regiment resisted tenaciously until they fought to the last person and until the position was completely occupied. From November 5th to November 10th, due to the urgency of the war, the words recorded by Major General Guo Bingqi every day were extremely short. However, when we read them in later generations, the words are shocking, like the roar of heavy artillery.Through these short words and sentences, we have seen the unyielding ambition and the unyielding Chinese soul. Qixingyan is in such a critical situation, why didn't the division headquarters rescue it?Where are the division reinforcements? The 131st Division has no soldiers to send. The 131st Division has a supplementary battalion, which sticks to the Zhongzheng Bridge, which is now the Jiefang Bridge.However, on November 8, the day when the Qixingyan garrison and the division headquarters were completely cut off, the supplementary battalion also lost all casualties. The Supplementary Battalion is the most elite armed force of the 131st Division. This battalion is composed of two of the most fierce fighters selected from each company, so its combat effectiveness is very strong. It is divided into blasting group, sniper group, and bombing group.On the anti-Japanese battlefield, as long as the 131st Division and the Japanese army were in a stalemate and the outcome was uncertain, the supplementary battalion would go up and turn the tide of the battle in one fell swoop. However, in the Guilin defense battle, the supplementary battalion also had to undertake the defensive task because of too few troops. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of planes, tanks and artillery, the Japanese army finally occupied the Zhongzheng Bridge. The supplementary battalion retreated to the bridgehead position, and the Japanese army launched a group charge again.The supplementary battalion fought fiercely with the Japanese army for two days and nights before the position fell.At that time, there were only a few soldiers left in the battalion, including battalion commander Meng Shien.Meng Shi'en told the soldiers to cover their bodies with dead bodies, prepare to withdraw from the position after dark, and return to the rear to join the team.In "The Battle of the Stone Pai", I once wrote about a veteran of the Fourth Preliminary Division named Liu Bangrui, who escaped from the Japanese army by relying on this method. However, when the brutal Japanese army cleaned up the battlefield, they stabbed every Kuomintang army soldier with a knife. On the evening of November 8th, when the Japanese army came to Meng Shien, Meng Shien suddenly overturned the dead body covering his body, shot dead a Japanese soldier with a pistol, and killed a Japanese soldier with another shot. Japanese army.He shouted loudly to the few remaining soldiers: "Fight with the devils, and swear to the death that you will not surrender." When the soldiers heard the shout of the battalion commander, they also overturned the dead bodies covering their bodies and started to fuck The empty guns with bayonets rushed towards the Japanese army.However, the Japanese machine guns on the high ground rang out, and the last few soldiers of the supplementary battalion all died heroically. Luo Shouzhan witnessed the whole process of the defense of Guilin. His hearing was very bad, and his memory was also very bad. I had to write down the questions on paper so that he could explain them to me after he saw them clearly.During the defense of Guilin, he forgot many details, but he remembered Qixingyan very clearly. At that time, the Japanese army dispatched snipers to sneak into the top of Qixingyan Mountain under the cover of night, and the head of the regiment, Qin Zewen, was almost shot by the enemy snipers.Since the remaining troops of the 391st Regiment were really limited, they could not organize a counterattack. After all the surface positions were occupied, they could only retreat into the cave to resist. Luo Shouzhan said that there were too many wounded soldiers at that time, and almost everyone was wounded.Head Qin Zewen asked everyone to live and die with the position and never be a prisoner of the Japanese.In the cave, those who were able to move were all limping, crawling, supporting each other, and stacking rocks at the entrance of the cave to resist the Japanese army. The cave was wet and cold, and the soldiers were all wearing single clothes, so they shivered at night.This is not the most important thing, the important thing is that there is no food left.Before the Japanese army completely blocked Qixingyan, a pig strayed into Qixingyan by mistake. The soldiers tied it in the cave and wanted to kill the pig several times to eat meat, but the officer said that the pig must belong to the common people. It must not be killed.Later, because of the unbearable hunger and the turmoil of the war, the pig's owner didn't know where to go, so the soldiers secretly killed the pig and shared a small piece with each of them.It is this small piece of pork that many people are still reluctant to eat, and save it for the most critical moment. As the battle situation became more and more unfavorable, Tan Zewen said to the soldiers: "Currently the contact with the outside world has been cut off, and the battle situation is not good, but with the enthusiasm of the soldiers to serve the country, it is guaranteed that one bunker will fight another bunker, and one person will fight another." The time when Tan Zewen said this should be November 8, because on this day all contact between the March 91 Regiment and the outside world was cut off. After the Japanese army occupied Qixingyan, they used a brigade of troops to fight fiercely for many days, but they still could not eliminate the Guangxi army hiding in the caves and rebelled, so they released poison gas into every cave.In the cave, there is no air circulation and no gas masks, so the soldiers can only sit and wait to die.Even so, when the Japanese soldiers rushed into the cave wearing gas masks, many Gui soldiers were still fighting with the Japanese soldiers rushing in front of them with their remaining consciousness and strength. Qin Zewen was determined to live and die with Qixingyan, and the soldiers around him advised him that instead of making unnecessary sacrifices, it is better to break out and return to the team, and kill a few more Japanese.Qin Zewen thought over and over again before deciding to break out.They walked quietly along the back mountain, climbing vines and vines, and when they returned to the west bank of the Lijiang River, there were only three of them left. A year later, Guilin was restored. As soon as Tan Zewen, the deputy chief of staff of the 31st Army, returned to Guilin City, he first rushed to Qixingyan. them.He walked into the cave, knelt on the ground, and buried the remains of these brothers one by one. According to the "Guangxi Daily" on November 20, 1945: "The search results in Qixingyan, there are still more than 800 remains in the rock, all of which belong to the children of Guangxi. There are 303 light machine gun companies, and the commander of the company died. Holding the bridle, the loyal horse died beside him, wanting to die of poisoning in battle. In addition, there were anti-virus platoon, mortar platoon, first company, regimental officers, health team, field hospital and more than 300 wounded soldiers. Most of the guns were thrown into the deep pools inside the rocks... The dead in the rocks were extremely miserable. After the enemy used poisonous gas, they used fire to attack again. Many of the dead stuck their heads into the stalactites and stayed outside to avoid the poisonous gas; some Those who are lying on their backs; there are those who are still in a shooting posture, but now they are in a heroic posture..." In 1946, the local people collected and buried 823 remains of Qixingyan strong men, and buried them together in Bawangping, Putuo Mountain, and erected tombstones. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, dozens of remains of martyrs were found in Qixingyan during repeated laying of cables in the rocks. It is estimated that there were thousands of strong men killed by poison at that time.