Chapter 33 6. Xinmin—the death of the company commander of the "Zhongshan Artillery Team"

In the "Manchuria Incident Photo Post" published in Japan in 1932, a pistol used by a Chinese military officer is displayed.The description under the photo shows that the gun was used by a company commander (squadron leader) of the Chinese Volunteer Army. He died heroically in the battle of the Second Brigade of the Independent Garrison.When the Japanese army confiscated his remains, they obtained his pistol, attached magazines, bullets and other items. According to Japanese military records, this pistol is a German Mauser pistol.This German-designed shell pistol was the standard weapon for lower-ranking Chinese officers at that time.The Japanese army also used a small number of shell guns, but because they did not understand the tricks of Chinese soldiers using this gun, the effect was not good.The Japanese military used rare language of admiration in the photo's caption to describe his sacrifice. Before the "September 18th" Incident, the Japanese army in the Northeast sent troops to various places in the form of an independent garrison brigade in the name of guarding the Manchurian Railway. After the incident, they immediately seized the surrounding military points.It is speculated that this Chinese officer died in the battle with these Japanese troops.Xinglongdian, also known as "Old Xinglongdian", is located in Xinmin County, Liaoning Province, only 60 kilometers away from Shenyang. This photo shows that nearly a month after the "September 18th" incident, there are still Chinese resistance forces fighting around Shenyang , They should also be the predecessors of the Volunteer Army.

It is worth mentioning that, as seen in the photos, the pistol used by this officer is very distinctive.The Mauser pistol, known as the shell gun in China, is a pistol manufactured by the Mauser Arsenal in Germany.It is one of the earliest automatic pistols in the world.This kind of pistol, which is widely used in the Chinese battlefield, is also called box gun because it has a wooden gun box.In fact, this gun box can be combined with a Mauser pistol and turned into a butt, making it a submachine gun. Although the design of the shell gun is excellent, and it can be installed with a large magazine of 20 bullets, the firepower is fierce, but it is not taken seriously in its hometown of Germany, and no country in Europe adopts it as a standard equipment.The reason is that the muzzle will automatically jump up when the gun is fired in bursts, and the bullets will hit the sky after a few shots.However, the west is not bright and the east is bright, and this pistol is very popular in China.The Mauser factory produced about one million shell guns in total, and China used about half a million (including counterfeit ones). Why is this?It turned out that the Chinese used a brain teaser to easily solve the problem of the muzzle jumping up when the shell gun was fired-just turn the wrist when shooting, put the gun flat, and turn the palm up.At this time, the trigger is pulled, and the jumping action of the muzzle makes the shell gun form a sweeping effect from left to right, giving full play to the advantages of its automatic rapid fire.Because many officers were born in green forests, the Northeast Army, which is rich in sharpshooters, also favors this weapon.

Because the shell gun is light and not inferior to the firepower of a submachine gun, China purchased a large amount of this weapon from Germany in the form of government procurement before the Anti-Japanese War, and all of them used 20 rounds of large magazines.However, since the shell gun with 20 rounds of magazines was finalized in May 1931, the Northeast Army was not ready to equip it before and after the "September 18th" Incident.It can be seen that the pistol used by the officer in the picture is an old-fashioned gun with 6-10 rounds of ammunition and a fixed magazine.As an artillery officer, this should be his weapon of self-defense.

The shell gun was an important weapon of various anti-Japanese troops in the Northeast War of Resistance.When General Yang Jingyu was martyred, he carried three sheller guns, a 9 cm long barrel long seedling shell gun, a 9 cm standard barrel large shell gun, and a 7.63 cm short barrel small shell gun. Although the records of this "Zhongshan Artillery Corps" unit fighting the Japanese army are not found in the Chinese archives, according to our records, it is speculated that this Northeast Army officer is likely to be under the command of General Geng Jizhou who organized the Anti-Japanese War in Xinmin at that time.

Geng Jizhou, named Li, styled Jizhou and later Yixing, was a former officer of the Northeast Army. At the time of the "September 18th" incident, he was already in his fifties, and he still offered to "abandon his post as a colonel" and "accommodate the old troops, organize and train the people, and organize volunteers to fight against the Japanese invaders." At the beginning of October 1931, Geng Jizhou organized an anti-Japanese team of more than 1,000 people in his hometown Xinmin.The Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Salvation Association in Beiping appointed him as the commander of the Fourth Route Army of the "Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army", and he was allowed to wear the rank of lieutenant general.By the end of 1931, the Gengbu Volunteer Army had grown to 12,000 people, with two divisions under it, and insisted on fighting the Japanese army in the Xinmin area.After Xinmin County fell on November 23, Geng led his troops to counterattack Xinmin twice in December 1931 and January 1932, and regained Jinxi County in August 1932 after fierce fighting.The subsequent battle of Tanghezi near Jinzhou severely damaged the Japanese army and hit the arrogance of the Japanese invaders.After the failure of the Liaoxi Volunteer Army, Geng Jizhou led his troops to fight desperately and entered the customs. He once joined the People's Anti-Japanese Allied Army organized by Feng Yuxiang. After the "July 7th" Incident, he was appointed by the Kuomintang as the Senior Councilor of the Tenth War Zone.

Geng Jizhou was born in the Artillery Corps of the Northeast Army, and was organizing the Anti-Japanese War in Xinmin in October 1931. Therefore, this officer belonging to the "Zhongshan Artillery Corps" may be Geng's subordinate.However, further research needs to wait for more sufficient historical materials. There were not a few officers and troops of the Northeast Army who spontaneously organized resistance like Geng Jizhou. Some of them entered the customs and returned to the Northeast Army, and some of them developed into part of the Volunteer Army, and even joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces.