Chapter 23 17. Su Bingwen's plan of dragging the knife

In Chiba Park, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, there is an Araki mountain. However, before 1933, this small mountain had no name at all, and it was just a place where the horn players of the Japanese Railway First Regiment practiced musical instruments.The reason why it got this name is because the Japanese army built a monument here to commemorate one of their "battle heroes", Captain Araki Katsuya. There is even a special section in Japan's "Song of Engineers" introducing Captain Araki, the content of which is as follows: xing'anling no asaborake Railroad Guarantee boom

its no body and total burial りし cantari honor bamboo silk ni its name hui く araki shan The translation should be like this - Facing the rising sun in Xing'an Mountains Pioneering in securing railways The sudden "letting go" die with it Receive the honor of famous book bamboo and silk Daimyo and Mount Araki share the same splendor This Japanese "hero" Katsumi Araki died on December 3, 1932, during the Japanese attack on Su Bingwen's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army. By the end of 1932, all the units of the Northeast Army originally stationed in the three northeastern provinces, except Su Bingwen’s, had been defeated or surrendered.His unit became the last relatively complete formed unit of the old Northeast Army in the three northeastern provinces.Hulunbeier, where Su Bingwen guarded, was also the last area not yet controlled by the Japanese army.Therefore, his resistance can be regarded as the last elegy of the former Northeast regular army on the battlefields of the three eastern provinces.

It should be said that it was not easy for the Su Bingwen Ministry to persist until the end of 1932.This is because although the area of ​​Hulunbeier is only one Sicily smaller than Italy, it is sparsely populated and has basically no industry. The activities of mechanized units and heavy artillery units suitable for Japanese superiority.The strategy adopted by Su Bingwen was to use the swampy area on the west bank of the Nenjiang River to fortify tightly to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward, while making an ambiguous attitude to deal with the Japanese army, and at the same time actively contacting various anti-Japanese troops to prevent accidents.Therefore, the Japanese army had illusions about Su Bingwen, and at this time they were worried about the shortage of troops, so they did not rush to attack the Soviet Union.

However, in September 1932, most of the rebels suffered heavy losses, and the signs of Su Bingwen's "false cooperation and real resistance to Japan" became more and more obvious. The Japanese army began to mobilize troops to deal with the Hulunbeier defenders.At the same time, the Japanese army demanded that Su Bingwen's main general, Zhang Dianjiu, be removed from the positions of commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade and deputy commander of Harman's road guard army, and the traitor Feng Guangyou was reassigned to take over.Su Bingwen felt that he could not continue to deal with the Japanese army, so he renamed the army "National Salvation Army" and raised the flag to revolt.

After the uprising, Su Bingwen had a plan to deal with the Japanese attack, that is, he joined forces with Ma Zhanshan, Deng Wen, Li Haiqing and other anti-Japanese armed forces to take offense as defense. In October, troops from all walks of life counterattacked Qiqihar according to the predetermined plan. This was also the last large-scale counterattack of the Heilongjiang Volunteers against the provincial capital. The counterattack against the provincial capital was relatively smooth at first, but because Ma Zhanshan and other troops had been fighting hard with the Japanese army for more than a year, the quality of equipment and personnel had greatly declined, and the Japanese army quickly dispatched heavy troops to the north. Hulunbuir.

Su Bingwen's Ministry once captured Fulaerji on the outskirts of Qiqihar, and fought every step of the way, fighting for every inch of land with the superior Japanese army, trying to win domestic and international support, but the Japanese army was unable to advance for a while.However, as the Nen River froze, the swampy areas that could have hindered the advance of the Japanese army were unimpeded. On November 24th, the Japanese army launched a general offensive. At 1:00 pm on November 30th, the Japanese military uniform detachment composed of the mixed 14th Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Brigade detoured from Gannan to the outskirts of Zhalantun, the former enemy headquarters of the National Salvation Army. Under the cover of troops, they captured this important town behind the National Salvation Army.So far, the rear areas such as Hailar and Manzhouli have opened their doors.

Facing the menacing attack of the Japanese army, Su Bingwen had already felt that there was a lot of danger in the vast and frozen Hulun Buir Plain. Therefore, after the fall of Zhalantun, he immediately deployed to retreat the anti-Japanese armed forces and equipment into the Soviet Union. However, the Japanese army advanced too far. Soon, he discussed with Zhang Dianjiu and decided to stop the Japanese army at the mountain pass and tunnel section across the Daxing'an Mountains in Boktu and delay their actions to ensure the smooth withdrawal of all troops. The aforementioned Captain Araki was on the roster of the Japanese army's dead at this time.

It turned out that due to the tenacious resistance of the Chinese army when they retreated, the Japanese army sent armored patrol vehicles of the First Railway Wing to break through the obstruction of the Chinese army while repairing the damaged road.This Lieutenant Araki (a lieutenant before his death in battle) is the commander of the armored patrol vehicle unit.Under his command, the Chinese blocking force suffered heavy losses, and the blocking line was repeatedly broken through. It seems that such a record should be attributed to the armored patrol vehicle commanded by Captain Araki.This is a very special vehicle, and it is also an extremely advanced equipment in the Japanese army at this time.

The wheels of this kind of chariot have weird shapes. You can walk on the railway if you remove the rubber tires, and you can go off the road or even off-road with the tires on. The Chinese blocking forces in a linear defensive position look for the weakest part to break through. The "September 1st" dual-purpose armored patrol vehicle was widely used by the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War, which impressed the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians deeply.Mr. Yuan Kuocheng, a famous Pingshu performance artist, once described a mysterious "Kamikaze" armored train in "Blazing Fire", which is a modification of the "Jiuyi Type" armored patrol car (with a fake locomotive added). It is described in that it has brought a lot of losses to the anti-Japanese armed forces by using the function of being able to get off the railway at any time.

Seeing that the Japanese army could not be stopped, the Boktu Chinese defenders used a "secret weapon", which is "letting the car" described in the Japanese army song-taking advantage of their own high terrain to slide a train full of rocks towards the Japanese army. Hitting a Japanese armored cruiser. According to records, it was not Su Bingwen himself who made this move against the Japanese army, but Sun Lin, chief of staff of Su Bingwen's army. On November 30, 1932, due to the unfavorable battle situation, Su Bingwen and Xie Ke sent Sun Lin as the "Xing'an Defense Commander" to guard the Xing'an Mountain cave area. The actual command force was only a newly formed battalion.At this time, Japanese planes were bombing Boktu, Xing'an, Hailar and other places. Sun Lin led two companies in Xing'an, and he really felt that the troops were insufficient. At about 10 am on December 1, Boktu's road police had retreated to Xing'an Station. The Japanese army was advancing rapidly. Su Bingwen originally ordered people to prepare landmines and explosives in Xing'an for defensive purposes.However, after Sun's inspection, it was found that there were only empty landmine shells and no explosives inside.At this time, the Northeast Army could have destroyed the Daxinganling Tunnel to stop the Japanese army from advancing, but because the railway here belonged to the Soviet Union, the Soviet side firmly refused the Chinese side to destroy the railway, so this plan could only be shelved.In desperation, Sun was quick and wise, destroyed the winding track, and hid the wagon full of stones in the cave. When the Japanese armored vehicle came, he put it down and rushed towards the Japanese army to stop it from advancing.According to Sun Lin’s memoirs, he “sent people to destroy the phone to Boktu while blocking the cave. On the 31st, the armored vehicles of the enemy army arrived at Boktu Station and drove to Xing’an Mountain. The car wagon full of stones was released from a high place. Several enemy engineers and soldiers who were repairing the railway suddenly saw the lowered train rushing down. This car of stones happened to overturn the Japanese armored car on the hillside. There were quite a few casualties among the vehicles and engineering officers and soldiers. This effectively prevented the Japanese army from pursuing and provided a guarantee for the safe retreat of Su Bingwen's troops and their families to the Soviet Union."

In fact, the armored vehicles of the Japanese army were not knocked over, but they just backed away in fright.Among them, Araki played a great role. Seeing such a huge monster approaching suddenly, almost all the Japanese soldiers were frightened to death, and they were about to be wiped out.However, at this moment, Captain Araki jumped out and desperately installed a "derailer" on the railroad track to derail the oncoming train.As a result, the sliding carriage derailed and failed to hit the Japanese army.It's just that Captain Araki didn't have time to run away, and was killed immediately. In this way, Araki became a hero in the Japanese army. As a result, the railway line was impassable for a while, and the Japanese army's actions were forced to be postponed. Sun Lin retreated into the pass. Because he was originally from the Northwest Army, he joined the 29th Army. Later, he participated in the "July 7" Incident. During the War of Resistance, he served as the chief of staff of the 177th Division. He actively resisted Japan and made many military exploits.Boktu blocked the fight, and Sun Lin's subordinates were in charge of the fight against the newly formed Third Battalion of the First Regiment of the First Brigade. They suffered heavy losses in the fierce battle, and the battalion commander Zhang Guozheng was killed in battle. However, it was their sacrifice that gave the National Salvation Army headquarters time to evacuate. On December 4th, Su Bingwen, Ma Zhanshan, and Zhang Dianjiu led the rest of the troops, family members of merchants and civilians, and more than 4,000 railway employees to withdraw safely to the territory of the Soviet Union under the cover of Soviet fighter jets.Many of them went back to China and continued to participate in the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Movement.Temporary defeat is only the nirvana of the phoenix. The death of Captain Araki may only be regarded as a torch provided for this Nirvana.