Chapter 69 18. "Thousands of troops and horses in the middle" - the Chinese general Wang Minggui in the eyes of the Japanese

This is a group photo of two Japanese soldiers, with the words "Liujiang Yijian" written on the bottom of one soldier. What is striking is that there is a line of pencil markings on the side of the photo, which can be identified carefully. It is the words "Wang Minggui was killed in battle against the bandits". .You can also vaguely see "Keshan Station (that is, the meaning of the station in Japanese)".There are some notes on the back of the photo, indicating that the photo was taken by the Japanese soldier Jun Hibino on the right (the owner of the album, a member of the Japanese Invasion Army stationed in Northeast China) with the selfie function. He and the Japanese soldier Yoshimi Yanagi on the left Both belong to the first squadron of a certain Japanese army.In addition, there is also the address of the "surviving family" of Liujiang Yoshimi's family. It seems that Liujiang should be from Gifu County, Japan, and it is speculated that he died in the battle between Keshan and the "Wang Minggui Bandit".

Since the Japanese veteran Hibino's unit is unknown, I wanted to do further research on this photo, but at a Japanese friend's home I saw a collection of memoirs "Ah, Manchuria" (Manzhou Looking back at the Collected Publishing Association, 1965), I accidentally found many articles about General Wang Minggui in it, so I couldn't help writing.After all, the enemy's evaluation, whether "ferocious" or "thousands of horses and horses", for a Chinese general, expresses their awe. Wang Minggui, a major general who founded the country in 1955, was formerly acting commander of the third division of the Sixth Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army and head of the third detachment. After the founding of New China, he served as the deputy commander of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region.

Just by looking at this appearance, he is not a good stubble. Searching for the description of General Wang Minggui in our country’s public documents, most of them focus on the record of this fierce general in the Northeast bandit suppression battlefield, which does not seem to fully reflect his demeanor in the War of Resistance Against Japan. Among the Japanese soldiers and immigrants in the three eastern provinces, especially Heilongjiang , Wang Minggui's name is an out-and-out nightmare.In 1938, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army in Heilongjiang Province suffered a great setback, and when most of the remaining troops withdrew to the Soviet Union, the troops led by Wang Minggui have been active in the Northeast battlefield between the white mountains and the black waters, although his troops will also go abroad for rest. , but it must be another tricky and ferocious attack soon after.Wang Minggui was good at long-distance raids with his troops, and his tactical intentions were concealed, making it impossible for the Japanese and puppet troops to defend against him, which always showed the existence of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.

This nightmare lasted until Japan surrendered in 1945. "Ah, Manchuria" records the complicated mentality of the Japanese when they saw the living Wang Minggui after the defeat. Yoshimi Liujiang, the Japanese soldier killed in the photo, was probably killed when the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces captured Keshan County in September 1940.Keshan County is one of the important strongholds of the Japanese and puppet in the plain area. It is said that "Manchukuo is iron-struck, model Keshan County, and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".At that time, Wang Minggui led three detachments in the Songnen Plain. Taking advantage of the opportunity that the main force of the Japanese army in North Manchuria was transferred to the west after the Risu Nuo threshold incident, he joined Feng Zhongyun, Bian Fengxiang and other three detachments, and nine detachments conquered it in one fell swoop. (Wang Minggui is the commander-in-chief of this battle).After taking down the county seat, the Japanese garrison stationed in the west of the city came to fight back frantically by car. They were severely beaten by the three detachments that had replaced new weapons in the Soviet Union. They suffered heavy casualties and retreated.Liu Jiang probably died at this time.

I have not found the exact time of the attack on Keshan, but it should be in late September 1940, and the photo of Liu Jiang and Hibino was taken on "September 30", which makes me suspect that the date of the Anti-Japanese Alliance's attack on Keshan was actually later A little, or, this is a photo of two Japanese soldiers from the previous year. We record that more than 100 puppet troops were captured in this war, four mortars, more than 1,000 rifles and tens of thousands of bullets were seized, three Japanese military vehicles were destroyed, and more than 300 people were liberated from prisons. People join the army.

Even counties on the plains like Keshan said they would conquer it, and the Japanese "pioneering regiments" everywhere were not afraid of the "Wang Minggui Bandit".Toyotaka Kato's "A Brief History of the Manchurian Police" mentioned that some Japanese who had been beaten put "Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Yang (Wang) Minggui" side by side. Compared with Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow and Yan'an, Wang Mingui who kept appearing by his side was obviously a more direct threat. But the capture of Keshan is only one of Wang Minggui's achievements. It is undoubtedly interesting to see what the Japanese army and Japanese expats think of the "Wang Minggui Bandit".

In fact, the Japanese material that records the battle of Wang Minggui's troops is not "Ah, Manchuria".For example, on page 273 of Kato Toyotaka's "A Brief History of the Police in Manchuria", it is recorded that the three detachments under Wang Minggui took advantage of the ice in Heilongjiang to enter the puppet Manchukuo Heihe Province, Bei'an Province, Longjiang Province, and Xing'anxi Province to "incite the residents and form an underground network. , continue to carry out guerrilla attacks".Nagano, Governor of Heihe Province (and Chief of the Police Department) of the Puppet Manchukuo, ordered an "all-out crusade" for this, and aimed at Wang Minggui's troops, and produced a "Five Rules for Commanders of Bandit Crusade Operations", including "First, whether the crusade team No matter how tired you are, you must resolutely go into battle without hesitation; second, you must continue to attack without giving up even when you are at a loss..."

Despite this, the Japanese army continued to suffer losses in combat. On the same page, "A Brief History of the Manchukuo Police" recorded that on January 31, 1941, the Japanese army's Spade expedition team suffered a big loss in the battle with Wang Minggui. In fact, our side also has records of this battle, and Sa knows that the timing of this battle is a little bit special. I once heard from a friend about an interview with General Wang Minggui.It is said that the reporter chatted with Commander Wang for a long time, and suddenly felt that the way the old man looked at him was a bit wrong.

Looking at the photo of the old man, I think everyone can understand what it feels like when he frowned and stared at you sideways - Wang Minggui was seriously injured several times and lived to be ninety-five. This look scared the Japanese back then, even though the reporter is Chinese, he probably would have shuddered.After repeated questioning, the old man finally rolled his eyes and told the truth - why do I feel that you are not going to interview me, but to embarrass me. The reporter said how dare we shame Commander Wang, we just asked how hard and tenacious the Anti-Japanese League was back then...

The old man said, why do you keep asking me how miserable it is for me to be chased by devils when I am cold and hungry? To tell you the truth - At that time, what the devils ate and what I ate, he had some in the warehouse, and what I wanted for a car from the Kwantung Army. Those who swim in the water flying on the mountain, except tigers have never eaten, what mountain delicacies have I never eaten? You are also a soldier, you say, starving all day long, fighting with no hope at all, who wants to serve as a soldier for you?Can I expand my army? Also, why do you keep pestering me about the battle of the Kuchu River?

Lao Tzu's expedition to the Xing'an Mountains, there were sixteen battles, except for this one, which battle was the dog that took advantage of it? You chased after me and asked Lao Tzu what did you mean when I lost the battle? ! The reporter was dumbfounded.He couldn't help it, because his superiors asked him to interview the Anti-League, and there were only two themes: one was sacrifice, which meant how miserable it would be;He is also an organized person, so he can't fight against his superiors, can he? The last interview was nothing, and it seemed that the manuscript was not even published. According to Sa's understanding, although the history of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces was extremely difficult, these strong Chinese people did not look like they were suffering all day long, and their tenacity was also reflected in their attitude towards life. In the found diary of General Chen Hanzhang of the First Route Army, I saw an interesting record - on April 6, 1939, Chen Hanzhang not only listened to the report of the returned deputy division commander Hou Guozhong, but also held a meeting of senior cadres to discuss the issue of fighting the Japanese army and formulate In order to launch a surprise attack to prevent the Japanese army from sending reinforcements to the west (it seems that friendly troops are active there), I also gave a two-hour class on "common sense of the masses" in the afternoon and participated in another seminar. I was extremely tired at first, but, He was not able to go to bed until around eleven o'clock at night. According to his self-report, "the reason is that they played the phonograph too loudly". In 1939, it was unbelievable that the troops of the Anti-Japanese War were actually listening to the gramophone. However, this is not an isolated evidence. Li Min, a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War, recalled that when they retreated to the Soviet Union, they buried a gramophone before leaving the country. Unfortunately, they searched after the founding of New China, but failed to find it.This phonograph also has a lot of origins. It is the "trash" found by Geng Dianjun, the "three provinces" of the famous "Thirteen Provinces" and the commander of the 12th regiment of the Sixth Army, from the seized enemy supplies. Before his sacrifice, General Yang Jingyu always carried a harmonica. All of this reminds people of a slogan carved on a big tree found after the founding of New China - "The Anti-Japanese War has passed since then, and the descendants will never stop". Without the love for the children and grandchildren of life, how can there be the fortitude to swear to the death? In the interview clip, it is easy for people to misunderstand the image of Commander Wang. In fact, even the Japanese know that Wang Minggui speaks fluent Japanese, and his years of living in the Soviet Union have made him proficient in Russian.The advantage of being familiar with the languages ​​of the three countries is that Commander Wang doesn't want to be a soldier anymore, and he will be a good hand in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to partner with Marshal Chen Yi. Only on the battlefield, Wang Minggui is an out-and-out "Li Yunlong".His only disgraceful battle was also remarkable.In this battle, the three detachments were disbanded. Wang Minggui led the people around him and fought and retreated. When he reached the Heilongjiang River, there were only about 20 riders left, but they fell into the enemy's ambush. Tian crusade team. However, Wang Minggui, who was called the "rat in the bag" by the Japanese army, took advantage of the time when Spade divided his troops and tried to encircle them, he decisively led his troops directly to the headquarters of the enemy's crusade team, and launched an active and desperate attack.The Japanese and puppet infantry, who were caught off guard, realized that they were close to committing suicide fighting cavalry on the snow during maneuvering.In the fierce battle, the Spade Crusade Team, which was seven or eight times larger than Wang Minggui's, was beaten to the ground. According to the "A Brief History of the Manchukuo Police", including the captain of the Crusade Team, Tokujiro Spada (Jingzheng, equivalent to the squadron leader of the Japanese army), and the vice-captain Shouichi Izawa None of the three commanders including Liu Lin (the police officer) and the pseudo-police captain Liu Lin (the police lieutenant) could escape, and all were killed on the battlefield. Wang Minggui led his troops across the river. In that battle, Chinese general Wang Minggui let the Japanese understand what is meant by "thirteen checkpoints and returning carbine". In that battle, among the 24 cavalry around Wang Minggui, 13 cavalry died in the battle, and only 11 of them retreated to the base in the Soviet Union, half of them were injured.nice! It can be seen that the anti-union troops had changed into Soviet-style military uniforms and wore Soviet military ranks at that time.They have three designations at the same time - the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army Teaching Brigade, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army International Brigade, and the 88th Independent Infantry Brigade of the Soviet Far East Red Banner Army. The multiple serial numbers reflect the unique status of this unit on the anti-fascist battlefield in the Far East. Wang Minggui served as the commander of the third battalion instructing the brigade at that time. This experience also led to an interesting story about "Wang Mingui was criticized by Premier Zhou".Someone described this incident like this: "That year, Premier Zhou accompanied the then supreme leader of North Korea to visit, and Wang Mingui organized a guard of honor to greet him at the airport, salute, report, and welcome. Everything was organized in an orderly manner. The leader's neck said, "Old Jin, I miss me so much. In the anti-union teaching brigade reorganized by the Northeast anti-union transit troops, this leader was the commander of the first battalion, and Wang Minggui was the commander of the third battalion. Later, Premier Zhou criticized Wang Minggui, because this leader is no longer the battalion commander, but the head of state. After this leader returned to China, he gave Wang Minggui two cars of leather apples, and Wang Minggui distributed them to the troops.” The experience of entering the Soviet Union should have had a great influence on Wang Minggui. His familiarity with the environment of the regular Soviet troops made Wang Mingui serve as the vice principal of the earliest infantry school of the PLA. Once served as the principal, Wang Minggui should be regarded as a "Confucian general". However, the image of this general in the eyes of the Japanese is far from that gentle and refined, and their evaluation of him turned out to be - "ferocious". In today's Japanese, this is a word usually used to describe prehistoric monsters. On pages 542 to 543 of the book "Ah, Manchuria", the former Japanese puppet Helen—Counselor Kitasato of Yuyuan Forestry Administration wrote an article "Official Logging Business and Bandits"-the "bandits" here refer to It is the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces and other resistance forces.In 1943 (18th year of the Showa era), Beiyuan led a logging team from the Forestry Administration to Tangwang River to be responsible for forest logging and extraction of turpentine tar. Kitasato described the life of these Japanese and pseudo-forestry officials in the article as "when night comes, not only the machine gunners have to stay on guard all night, but all the staff have to put their pistols under the pillows before they can fall asleep. The outside of the office is as far as possible. The thickened earthen walls are pierced with gun holes, and the forest police are on the same alert day or night as they are on the field of battle.” "For forest logging, it is not enough to rely solely on the Japanese army's crusade, so a special forest police team of 3,000 people was specially established to guard... Despite such guards, for the logging team and us, the so-called 'peace of mind' is also Unbelievable, something nerve-wracking can happen between a word and a gesture." The reason why they are so nervous is that "between the Nuomin River and the Tangwang River is the den of ferocious 'bandits'. ) also asked the Japanese troops to come to the station during the operation, but the actions of the "bandits" were "elusive", and they still launched night attacks from time to time, and the massacres and plundering brought huge losses to our side." "Wang Mingui, who can't be described as ferocious enough, led dozens of his subordinates to base here. They were ordered to carry out development tasks here. I feel like 'picking chestnuts from the fire'. This life may disappear at any time like dewdrops on the banks of the Tangwang River. .” As a result, under the continuous attacks of Wang Minggui and other anti-union forces, although Beili worked very hard in the end, "blood wasted, flesh was shattered, and he fainted several times", but the task was "impossible to complete", "the timber produced with such painstaking efforts has not yet been completed." When it can be used by the army, it is defeated."Hearing the "Yuyin broadcast" by the emperor announcing the defeat at the National Hotel in Harbin, Beisato and others with mixed feelings couldn't help lying on the ground and "crying". In fact, if General Wang Minggui was alive, he would probably be wronged when he heard what this Japanese said. Because in 1942, the combat policy of the Anti-Japanese War has changed a lot.With the sacrifice of Zhao Shangzhi and the understanding of the latest enemy situation, the Anti-Union gradually realized that when the Japanese army mobilized hundreds of thousands of the main force of the Kwantung Army to North Manchuria, and launched a large-scale pioneering regiment and group tribe, rebuilding a large-scale base area had already become a reality. unrealistic.Therefore, the focus of the work of the main force of the Anti-Union Teaching Brigade has shifted to inbound raids and espionage activities with small units, especially the implementation of reconnaissance of the Japanese army's position configuration and troop deployment on the Soviet-Manchurian border, and the strengthening of underground organizations in order to cooperate with the future of the Allied forces. Operations against the Kwantung Army. Wang Minggui, Liu Yanlai, Xu Zemin, etc. were very active in these small-scale inbound operations, but their specific actions have not yet been fully recorded.The Tangwanghe area is where General Wang Minggui fought in his early years. When he led a small army into the country, it is not surprising that he established a secret base here and carried out activities, but the main target to deal with is definitely not the Japanese forestry task force. Fight a few battles, interfere with the enemy's development activities, and get some supplies by the way. Wang Minggui probably didn't expect to push Beili and others to such a point. The description of the activities of Wang Minggui's troops at this stage is also found in the recollections of other Japanese officials.Nakamura Zhencheng, commissioner of the Binjiang District of the Forestry Department of the Puppet Manchukuo, also wrote in his reminiscence article "Footprints of the Manchuria Forestry District-Daxing'anling" ("Ah, Manchuria" p. 549): "Xing'anling in winter, A man in the mountains who has no fear in fighting the cold white devils and wolves from Siberia, what is most frightening is the rampage of Wang Mingui's bandits who haunted the local area around the outbreak of the Great East Asian War (that is, the Pacific War) to disrupt our economy With their presence, the horror of the barren mountains in winter is multiplied, making the staff on site extremely nervous." Beili began to work in the Nuominhe Forest District in 1938, when the rest of Ma Zhanshan's troops were still active.However, after 1940, only the Anti-Japanese Federation was resisting.With a small number of troops, the 3,000 forest police team was held back. Even though he stood in an opposing position, Kitasato still expressed his sincere admiration for this "ferocious" Chinese general.He wrote in this article: "By the end of the war, the remaining 'communist bandits' were only a few such as Wang Minggui of Tangwanghe, but these were all strong men among thousands of troops. It made the (Japanese) army helpless." Many people believe that the activities of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces disappeared after the death of General Yang Jingyu in 1940.In fact, this is a completely wrong understanding.They have always fought alone and tenaciously behind enemy lines.They are said to be lonely because the Anti-Japanese Federation has lost contact with the Party Central Committee since 1935. They are said to be tenacious because the resistance of the Anti-Japanese Federation in the Northeast has never ceased until August 15, 1945, when the Anti-Japanese War was won.For example, on page 691 of "Ah, Manchuria", Nakamura Kojiro, the director of the Japanese puppet "Manchuria Development Research Institute", recalled the article "The Last Time of Tonghe County Vice-County Nagao Hara Seichi-kun", which mentioned In the spring of 1945, the Anti-Japanese Alliance launched a large-scale armed uprising in Tonghe County, which dealt a heavy blow to the local Japanese and puppet troops.According to our information, the leading organization of this uprising is General Zhao Shangzhi personally deploying and lurking, and the North Manchuria (Tongfeng) Transportation Terminal of the Anti-Japanese Alliance run by Yang Chun and Yang Zhenying father and son for two generations.The uprising troops once occupied Tonghe County, and released the imprisoned leader of the Volunteer Army, "Rolling Thunder", etc., and had a long deal with the Japanese army.Although the uprising was suppressed by the enemy and ultimately failed, some insurgents continued to fight until Japan surrendered. After Japan's defeat, Nakamura Sadasai saw the "terrifying" Wang Minggui for the first time. The Anti-Union Teaching Brigade where General Wang Minggui was in participated in the last battle of the allies against Japan—the Soviet Red Army’s attack on Northeast China. Three units participated in the battle: the first unit was divided into 57 groups, and carried radio stations to the Soviet army by airborne and other means. It took the lead in attacking the Northeast before, and launched a large-scale raid on the enemy's rear as a commando (due to insufficient personnel, even female soldiers like Li Min joined this army); The Soviet army conducted reconnaissance on the deployment of the Japanese forts and troops, and guided artillery when the attack was launched, and even directly penetrated and attacked the Japanese fortress positions; the third part acted as a guide and interpreter, and followed the Soviet army's vanguard.General Wang Minggui was on the Hailar side when the battle started, and after Qiqihar was captured, he was appointed as the deputy commander of the Qiqihar garrison. I am very grateful to a friend who was in Qiqihar at the time for providing what he witnessed at the time-"Around September 1945, after assisting the Soviet Red Army to wipe out the Japanese Kwantung Army, the Anti-Union soldiers stationed in Qiqihar City, fully equipped with Soviet-style equipment. The Chinese are very conspicuous in the Soviet army. They were full of energy, walked vigorously, held a simple ceremony of entering the city, and immediately set off and marched south to recover the lost land of the motherland." Contrary to the joy of the Chinese people's recovery, the Japanese are eclipsed.And Nakamura was General Wang Minggui whom he saw at this time. Nakamura recalled: "At the end of August, as representatives of the detained Japanese, we were ordered to report to the Qiqihar Public Hall. The military government conveyed the policy to us. The speech was made by Chief of Staff Wang Minggui (Note: Wang Minggui is actually the deputy commander of the garrison). He I am proficient in Japanese, but this day's speech was through an interpreter, telling us about the future of the Japanese. His appearance is a frightening thing for me. From the founding of the (Puppet Manchukuo) The Great Khingan Mountains, which has been quite peaceful since then, has undergone great changes since the 16th year of Showa (1941). It has repeatedly appeared in the Manteelin area, and it is the leader of the so-called king bandit who makes us fall into a torrent of panic. Ah. It was he who used chaotic warfare to destroy the stable rear base of the Great East Asian War... and he actually met in Qiqihar..." ("Ah, Manchuria" p. 888) Among them, Nakamura's mixed feelings can be seen. However, there may be another reason for Nakamura's mixed feelings.When Sa was interviewing Japanese "returnees" living in Osaka (that is, members of the original pioneering team who stayed in China after the war and returned to Japan after the coordination of the two governments), Furukawa Osamu, I heard from him that in the winter of 1945, because of Japan's pioneering Members of the regiment also shot down a Soviet plane after the war, which aroused the anger of the Soviet army and cut off the road from Harbin to the south. With no food or clothing, more than 5,000 Japanese died of cold and hunger just around Fang that winter. The original location of Gu Chuanxiu’s pioneering regiment was near Zhalantun, and he was forced to stay there after retreating to Qiqihar. After the war, most of the male young and middle-aged members of the pioneering regiment were recruited into the Kwantung Army to fight. Most of these people were old men. Weak women and children, and they were looted by Soviet rebels on the road.However, the Japanese who arrived in Qiqihar were much luckier than those in Yanshou and Fangzheng. Due to hunger and cold, they bit the bullet and went to the local government agencies for help.At that time, the Soviet army's military discipline was not good, and the Japanese pioneer group even made preparations for sacrificing many women in order to obtain food.However, a "Vice Commander of the Eighth Route" who received them said, "There is nothing wrong with women and children, let's live a good life after the war is over."Not only did they allocate a batch of grain to them, but they were also given 600 cotton-padded jackets. At that time, there were about 2,000 Japanese households stranded in Qiqihar, and 600 cotton-padded jackets solved a big problem.Having lived in China for 40 years, Furukawa, who no longer regards himself as Japanese, said in a strong Northeast accent: "The whole family takes turns wearing it, and we Chinese are benevolent." One time when I returned to China, I happened to hear from a descendant of the Anti-Japanese War that General Wang Minggui met two Japanese monks who came to ask for help when he was serving in Qiqihar, asking for help for the "women" of the pioneering group who were about to freeze to death. So a batch of cotton clothes were sent to them. What is interesting is that General Wang Minggui recalled this incident during his lifetime. He also recalled that he had to mark the clothes when they left the warehouse. Won the chapter of "Wang Minggui". At that time, I felt that I had known each other before, but later I realized that what Gu Chuanxiu said was the same thing?After returning to Japan, I went to visit the Furukawa family, and only met his younger brother, Mr. Keiichi, who was also a "returnee" from China, but he returned much earlier than his elder brother.Mr. Qiyi was only six years old when Japan was defeated, so he really couldn't recall the identity of the "Vice Commander of the Eighth Route", he only said that he was a "benevolent general". Unable to prove it, Lao Sa suddenly had an idea - at that time, ordinary people could not distinguish between the Anti-Japanese League and the Eighth Route, but at least it showed that the deputy commander was Chinese.How many Chinese deputy commanders did Qiqihar have at that time? I called Beijing to ask Mr. Shi Yijun, an expert on the Anti-Japanese War, and Mr. Shi said, "Then who else could it be? There is only one Chinese deputy commander, Wang Minggui." It seems that it is him. I suddenly remembered that a friend mentioned that when General Wang Minggui talked about his dislike of reporters covering the defeat of the Anti-Japanese War, he said: "I am a soldier..." In General Wang Minggui's heart, I am afraid that soldiers are born to win battles. But facing the hungry and cold Japanese women and children in Qiqihar, why did this general say "women and children are not guilty, let's live a good life after the war"? There is a saying in Chinese martial arts: the benevolent is invincible. When Nakamura wrote the article, it was in the 1960s. He should have known about this batch of cotton clothes in Qiqihar. Putting the images of "bandits" and "benevolent generals" together, it is no wonder that he was so entangled.