Chapter 30 3. The first counterattack - Yingkou

After the Japanese army captured Shenyang, they plundered various places in the Northeast, but the main force of the Northeast Army held an attitude of non-resistance and retreated step by step.For a while, newspapers and periodicals across the country continued to appear information about "occupied" here and "lost" there, and the situation of the Anti-Japanese War became very serious.However, in Japan's "Glorious - Manchurian Incident Photo Collection", several photos of the Japanese army passively defending under the attack of the Chinese resistance force were published.According to the Japanese record under the photo, this is a photo taken when the Japanese garrison in Yingkou was attacked by the Chinese army at the end of 1931.During this attack, the enemy defending Yingkou was forced to abandon most of the urban area, and retreated to the chamber of commerce and the headquarters of the garrison. After fierce fighting, they persisted until the arrival of reinforcements.In the tide of retreat, who launched such a fierce counterattack?

Yingkou is an important town in southern Liaoning and an important port. It has an important strategic position. If the Chinese army occupies this place, it will be equivalent to reserving a sea supply line that can go directly to the hinterland for the war of resistance in the three eastern provinces. Therefore, it has long been valued by the Japanese army. After the "September 18th" Incident, the Japanese army immediately planned to disarm the Northeast military and police at various strategic points, and Yingkou was one of its key targets.On the second day of the incident, that is, on September 19, a part of the Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Yingkou Customs and Salt Administration, and Yingkou fell.The defender Li Zhenfu's coastal defense battalion was caught off guard, some were disarmed, and some were withdrawn from the sea to the south.

However, according to our historical records, after the fall of Yingkou, in 1931 alone, Chinese resistance forces counterattacked Yingkou at least three times. For the first time, on September 23, Zhang Haitian, Xiang Qingshan, and Cai Baoshan, who were born in Panshan Green Forest, organized the "Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army" and commanded 400 national salvation troops to attack Tianzhuangtai and Yingkou occupied by the Japanese army.More than 20 Japanese soldiers were killed in this battle, which not only caused heavy damage to the Japanese army, but also destroyed the Yingkou Power Plant and the water source, causing the water and power supply cutoff in Yingkou occupied by the Japanese army, and plunged into chaos.

The second time, on October 11, some Northeast Army troops and local armed forces attacked the Japanese garrison squadron in Yingkou. The third time, on December 25, in order to ease the pressure of the Japanese army to attack Jinzhou, the Xiang Qingshan Department, which had been reorganized as a volunteer army, attacked Yingkou again.Forcing the Second Division of the Japanese Army to return to aid, the situation in Jinzhou was eased slightly. Judging from the time when the Japanese photo was taken, this reflects the third battle of Xiang Qingshan's counterattack against Yingkou. According to Mr. Sun Huiyu's "Xinshi Street Experience", Xiang Qingshan's counterattack was very impressive. When the battle was fierce, the Japanese army in Yingkou was not strong enough, and even the police cavalry dug trenches on the spot, as if they were facing an enemy.After the war, the Japanese army also specially invited 70 or 80 monks and senior military and police officials from "Hongan Temple" to chant sutras and hang themselves for the Japanese policemen who were beaten to death in the backyard of "Dayamen" in Yingkou.

In fact, Xiang Qingshan's troops were not many, and he lacked heavy weapons. He didn't have enough strength to fight Yingkou (less than 3,000, and it was composed of several teams temporarily).He had just been a "beard" for a long time, and he had his own set of fighting tactics. He used his small team of horses to swim quickly around the entrance of the camp, creating a huge momentum, and from time to time he rushed in to get something, which made the remaining Japanese soldiers care about one thing and lose another.At this time, the Japanese army really hadn't fought against the "beards" in the Northeast. They were beaten so passively that they thought there were "40,000 to 50,000 people" in the Xiangbu.The Second Division was forced to transfer the Sato detachment that went north to protect Yingkou, but Xiang Qingshan had already led his troops back to Panshan.

The counterattack on Yingkou was just one of the attacks launched by the Volunteer Army against the Japanese occupying forces at that time.Before and after that, they have launched attacks on important towns such as Changchun, Tianzhuangtai, Xinmin, and Faku many times. Especially on August 29 and September 1, 1932, the Northeast Volunteers counterattacked Shenyang twice, captured the airport, and burned it down. There were 27 Japanese aircraft, which caused a major shock to the Japanese army.Because of their heroic combat and Ma Zhanshan’s re-raising of the flag of righteousness in Heilongjiang Province, in mid-1932, the resistance of the military and civilians in the Northeast had a climax, so that the Japanese army dismissed the former Kwantung Army commander Shigeru Honjo who failed to complete the set goals due to the failure of the conquest.

It is worth mentioning that Xiang Qingshan, who counterattacked Yingkou, can be called a legend. Xiang Qingshan was born in the green forest, and reported as "Loyalty". He was brave and good at fighting. He and another green forest hero "Old Beifeng" (Zhang Haitian) worked together to wipe out the puppet army of Ling Yinqing, which was painstakingly supported by the Japanese army, and captured Ling Yinqing and Japanese adviser Shigetaro Kurangaoka alive. etc., was one of the major early victories of the Volunteer Army.At that time, people in Jinzhou praised Xiang Qingshan with a catchphrase: "Old Beifeng Qingshan deliberately captured Riken, captured Commander Ling alive (referring to the traitor Ling Qingyin - author's note), and shot down Japanese soldiers..." After Xiang Qingshan led his troops into the customs, Zhang Xueliang He once gave him a pocket watch with his own photo on it, and reorganized his department into a brigade, and Xiang served as the brigade commander.

It's a pity that such a fierce general ended up being so useless.Shortly after entering the customs, when the troops were transferred by train, Xiang violated the railway safety regulations after the train of Xiang brigade departed. purpose unknown).Unexpectedly, a sign suddenly appeared on the side of the road, and Xiang collided with the sign while the train was driving at high speed, and died immediately. From his way of death, it can be inferred that this Kanto hero must have been a rebellious character when he was alive.