Chapter 19 13. Who killed the Japanese armored train

When I was collecting historical materials of the Anti-Japanese War in Japan, I once received an electronic version of an old photo, showing a destroyed Japanese armored train lying on the track, a miserable scene. The Japanese Kwantung Army, which controls the South-Manchuria Railway, owned and modified a batch of armored trains with both heavy artillery firepower and steel plate protection. In the process of occupying the three northeastern provinces of our country, these armored trains were widely used as offensive weapons, such as attacking Jiangqiao Ma Zhanshan When they were in the army, the Japanese army sent four armored trains into battle, which posed a great threat to the volunteers who lacked heavy weapons.According to the annotation of the photo, we know that this photo was taken in 1932 in the suburbs of Harbin. The Japanese army under attack belonged to the Second Division commanded by Lieutenant General Domen Erro, and they were attacking Harbin.

So, which army has the courage and means to kill such a majestic behemoth of the Japanese army?According to this information, Sa found a piece of information. According to our records, in the spring of 1932, General Zhao Shangzhi commanded Chinese resistance fighters to successfully subvert a military train belonging to the Second Division of the Japanese Army in the suburbs of Harbin.However, after tracing the specific time and place, it was found that this was not the same battle, because General Zhao Shangzhi overturned the Japanese armored train in April, when Harbin had already fallen.

Another possibility is that the Japanese armored train encountered the Chinese armored train. In previous battles, it has been shown that the performance of the Chinese armored train is better than that of the Japanese army. This has a lot to do with the design and historical origin of the tanks of both sides.It can be said that Chinese armored trains are designed according to the model of a male lion, while Japanese armored trains are designed according to the model of a female lion. What is the difference between a male lion and a female lion? In Africa, zoologists have noticed a phenomenon that in groups of lions, there is usually only one adult male lion, but there are groups of female lions.It is the lionesses who are really responsible for hunting. They attack zebras and antelopes in groups, but the male lions seldom go out.In terms of body structure, male lions are bulky and slow to run, so they are not suitable for this kind of hunting.

So, what do male lions usually do? It has been found that the role of male lions is actually very important.It is his responsibility to fight and drive away any other male lion or large beast of prey that enters his territory.Without male lions, a lion pride has no hunting grounds of its own. If a lioness fights with a lioness, the lioness will definitely suffer.The reason is that although they are all ferocious beasts, the male lion is "designed" to fight against carnivores, while the female lion is "designed" to fight against herbivores. When the two sides fight, the male lion will naturally prevail.

This is somewhat similar to the situation of armored trains in China and Japan.At that time, the armored trains of the Chinese army were originally designed to fight against enemy armored trains, while the armored trains of the Japanese army were originally designed to support infantry.Comparing the designs of the two sides, we can find the shortcomings of the Japanese armored trains: First, the firepower is not as good as that of China.Although the Japanese armored train is equipped with a 105mm heavy gun with a larger caliber than the Chinese side, this heavy gun is fixed and can only shoot directly in front of the train.The artillery on the Chinese train is equipped in a rotating turret. The whole train has four turrets, which can be turned to shoot in any direction. The firepower is much stronger than that of the Japanese army.

Second, the defense is not as good as that of China.The armor design of the Japanese army trains was mainly aimed at infantry weapons. The locomotives only had partial armor on both sides, and the heavy gun compartment of the first train was opened forward. The Japanese army, which was so vulnerable to casualties, could only place sandbags on both sides of the heavy guns as an auxiliary defensive measure. Better than nothing, its 75mm light gun is a semi-open turret, only the front is armored. Third, it is less maneuverable than China.The locomotives of the Japanese army temporarily used the front of the 1C2 passenger car, and the horsepower to drive the armored train was insufficient.The Chinese side only hangs one or two troop carriers, while the Japanese side has more than ten troop carriers. Once a battle occurs, the vehicles have big targets and many worries, so it is inevitable that they will be afraid of wolves and tigers in tactical actions.

During the Battle of Harbin, Ma Zhanshan sent armored trains to participate in the battle, but he did not go directly into the battle due to many concerns.Therefore, it seems that there is no possibility of an exchange of fire between the armored trains of the two sides. Just when Sa thought that the case was inconclusive, he made an unexpected discovery in a Japanese army photo album. This photo was also collected in the "Glorious - Manchuria Incident Photo Collection" compiled and printed by the Japanese Army's Military Service Department. Sa soon discovered that this was actually one of the three series of photos!Judging from these three photos, the overturned Japanese train is a simple armored train made by "Manchurian Railway" temporarily adding armor to ordinary locomotives, and its destruction is clearly visible.The Japanese military photographers marked more detailed.According to the markings, the place where the train was overturned was not Chenggaozi, but Sanchahe. It can be confirmed that it was not the same battle as Zhao Shangzhi's subversion of the Japanese train.The note states that on January 28, 1932, because Xiqia's Jilin puppet army lost the battle, the Chinese defenders in Harbin suddenly received reinforcements (Yilan guard Li Du Xingye rushed to the rescue), and their morale soared.The Second Division of the Japanese Army urgently used four armored trains to transport the reinforcements of the two brigades of the Fourth Wing as the backbone to Harbin, trying to capture the city in one fell swoop. At 4:15 pm on the 28th, the first military train departed from Changchun, followed by the second and third trains, and the fourth train departed in the afternoon of the next day.During the advance of the Japanese army, not only the Russian employees in charge of the railway were indifferent, but seven or eight hundred Chinese officers and soldiers blocked the Japanese army, slowing down the Japanese army's advance.

"On the 29th, the second train was overturned at Sanchahe, and on the night of the 30th, it was attacked at the Twin Castles," reads the note. In this way, the overturning of the Japanese military train should have nothing to do with Zhao Shangzhi. Then, who overturned the Japanese train attacking Harbin in the Sancha River? The answer may involve a public case.Shuangcheng can be called the northern gateway of Harbin, while Sancha River is located in the south of Shuangcheng and belongs to Fuyu County, which can also be called the key of Shuangcheng.The Japanese army was attacked in Shuangcheng on the 30th mentioned in the label. It was a sudden attack by the 664th Regiment led by Zhao Yi, the 22nd Brigade of the Northeast Army Infantry, which caused heavy losses to the Japanese army. It was described in the TV series This battle.But Wu Yonghe, head of the 664th Regiment, was also killed in the battle.In charge of blocking the Japanese army south of Shuangcheng was a disgraceful figure——Chen Decai, head of the 663rd Regiment.It is said that Chen Decai is not very honorable, and it is said that he led his troops to defect to the enemy two months later, and became the brigade commander of the Eighth Brigade of the Jilin Guard of the Puppet Manchukuo, and became a traitor. Many years later, Zhao Yi accused Chen Decai of the 663rd Regiment in his literature and history materials for not carrying out his orders, for not stopping the Japanese army, and for not even destroying the railway.

The author of "Report on Frontal Battlefields of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China" has another saying, he thinks that Chen Decai was wronged. "The Chen Decai regiment not only resisted, but also destroyed the railway tracks around the Songhua River Iron Bridge. This was mentioned in the Japanese army's report, but, didn't we say it earlier? The Japanese came out with two trains, the first one They were loaded with emergency repair materials. Chen Decai group blocked it, but they couldn't completely block it." "Many years later, Chen Decai has become a traitor. Naturally, no one will care about Chen Decai's resistance. Even because he later became a traitor, it is natural to think that he deliberately surrendered to the enemy and did not resist, so as to affect the battle situation."

"But in fact, although the Japanese army was only delayed for more than half a day, if it hadn't been for the resistance of Chen Decai's regiment, it is very likely that the Japanese army would have rushed to Shuangcheng before Zhao Yi had time to set off to attack the puppet army. After that, the famous all over the country The battle of the twin castles will most likely turn into a different scene." Judging from the photos we have seen of the overturned Japanese armored train and the labels on it, Chen Decai not only blocked the Japanese army south of Shuangcheng, but also left at least a quarter of the enemy troops behind by destroying the Japanese armored train. Sanchahe, no matter in terms of record or impact on the subsequent battle situation, can be regarded as actively completing the task.Moreover, according to Japanese records, after the Japanese army captured Shuangcheng, the Chen Department also cut off the railway behind the Japanese army, so that the Japanese train from Shuangcheng could not reach Changchun on time, and it was difficult to pick up the next batch of reinforcements.

We have no way of knowing what method Commander Chen Decai used to overturn the Japanese train, whether it was bombing the railway, turning the switch, or directly attacking the enemy train, which was not easy anyway.In the same book, the Japanese army published a photo of a wounded armored patrol vehicle. On February 2, after the fall of Shuangcheng, the Japanese army continued to advance to Harbin. After being blocked, the car did not lose its combat effectiveness after being damaged.It can be seen that the car has been shot heavily, and the marks of the shots are almost like warts on a toad, but the volunteers with only light weapons cannot penetrate its armor.Therefore, Chen Decai's destruction of the Japanese armored train is really a brilliant record. However, the hero who had bravely destroyed the Japanese armored train was disappointed in the ensuing war and chose to surrender in April 1932. Moreover, only one month later, on May 29, 1932, more than 3,000 people from the Jilin Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Forces Ma Xianzhang, Xing Zhanqing, Yang Zibin and the Gongchang Sea Cavalry Detachment will attack Acheng and surround the puppet army stationed in Acheng in one fell swoop. The Eighth Brigade, after a fierce battle, most of the enemy was wiped out, the puppet brigade commander Chen Decai fled to Harbin, the puppet county magistrate Wei Fuxi was captured, and the puppet police chief was shot dead... How do you evaluate the head of the delegation, Chen Decai?Hero or Traitor? It can only be said that history is complicated.