Chapter 89 Fifteen. Died in battle on the way to counterattack the Northeast——Record of General Liu Guiwu

After the Northeast Army entered the customs, they were repeatedly caught in the vortex of civil war all the way to North China, Central China, and Northwest China, but their determination to restore their homeland became more and more intense.General Liu Guiwu, who died in the counterattack on the Northeast Road, is a typical example.General Liu Guiwu, whose name is remembered more because he carried out the order to capture Chiang during the Xi'an Incident. Speaking of it, the Xi’an Incident started because of the Anti-Japanese War, but what is frustrating is that because the Northeast Army was divided and used in the Anti-Japanese War, it was quite discriminated against, especially the officers who participated in the operation to capture Chiang had doubts about Jiang’s revenge. Among the generals of the Northeast Army, quite a few were forced to surrender to Japan during the eight years.For example, Bao Wenyue, Zhang Xueliang's chief of staff, is a typical example. In addition, Sun Mingjiu, Ying Detian, Miao Jianqiu and other radical young officers at that time also descended to the sun.Including Bai Fengxiang, the commander of the Sixth Cavalry Division who was responsible for the task of capturing Chiang, was also wounded and captured during the battle, and was forced to serve as the commander of the pseudo-"East Asia Allied Army" (he was poisoned to death by the Japanese army anyway because he tried to do so).

However, among these generals, the commander of the troops who captured Chiang most directly died in battle in the ensuing war of resistance, and his death was quite staunch. This general is the protagonist of this article, Bai Fengxiang's subordinate, Liu Guiwu, head of the 18th Cavalry Regiment of the Sixth Cavalry Division. Liu Guiwu, a native of Jianchang, Hebei, participated in the activities of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army. During the Xi'an Incident, because he and Bai Fengxiang both came from green forests and were good at "digging out old kilns", he ordered the regiment he led to directly participate in the Xi'an Incident. Responsible for attacking the Erdaomen and Wujian halls guarded by Chiang Kai-shek's guards.For this reason, Zhang also took Bai Fengxiang and Liu Guiwu to meet Chiang Kai-shek in order to get familiar with the path and recognize the person. For Liu Guiwu, who was only a colonel at the time, it was a rare "honor".

This historical fact is actually quite interesting, because Zhang Xueliang introduced Bai and Liu to Chiang Kai-shek precisely because he wanted to send them to go deep behind the Japanese army in Rehe to carry out guerrilla warfare.Thinking about it, if Chiang had no confidence or interest in fighting against Japan, he would not have summoned these two officers.Perhaps it was not that Jiang did not resist the Japanese for Zhang Xueliang, but that his anti-Japanese moves were too slow and too hesitant. Despite the experience of "digging out old kilns", due to the dark sky and the well-trained guards of Jiang Fang, the battle against Wujianting continued for a long time until Qian Dajun, the chief guard who directed the resistance, was shot through the chest (Later, he was rescued by his subordinates in a cave and captured by the Northeast Army) before he stopped resisting.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had already fled into Lishan, but Liu Guiwu failed to capture him alive, and was later searched by Liu Duoquan and Sun Mingjiu (Sun Mingjiu's description of the Xi'an Incident was often flickering, and historians have doubts).

The place where Chiang Kai-shek was arrested. In order to capture Jiang Ting, Sa once climbed here when he was visiting Xi'an. He was still out of breath when he was in his twenties. He thought that when Chiang Kai-shek was over half a hundred years old and walked away with injuries, he could still run in the middle of the night. Far, this skill is really amazing.There are two iron cables next to it, leading to a stone gap, which is said to be where Chiang Kai-shek is hiding.The style of the pavilion is a combination of Chinese and Western styles, also known as "Bingjian Pavilion".At that time, there was a fortune teller below, but his hexagrams were very accurate.

After the Xi'an Incident was resolved, Bai Fengxiang was dismissed, but Jiang Fang expressed his indifference to the regiment-level officers, so Liu Guiwu was promoted to the commander of the sixth cavalry division major general, with two cavalry regiments and one infantry regiment under his command. In 1937, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Nationalist Government ordered General Ma Zhanshan, who fired the first shot of the Anti-Japanese War, to form a Northeast Advance Army in Datong to regain the Northeast.Due to the disparity in the strength of the enemy and ourselves, most of Chasui fell, and the possibility of returning to the three eastern provinces by advancing from the northeast is obviously too small.However, Ma Zhanshan resolutely moved northward to Harazhai on the banks of Daqing Mountain, and used guerrilla tactics across the Ikezhao Grassland. He continued to lead his troops over Daqing Mountain and attacked the Japanese hinterland.For eight years, the Japanese army has been unable to completely expel Ma Zhanshan's troops from this area.

The cavalry troops of the Northeast Army fought in the enemy's rear area for a time. In addition to Ma Zhanshan, Bai Fengxiang's Rehe advance also threatened Duolun, and they fought again and again. It was only in 1939 that they were defeated in Guyang under the heavy Japanese attack. The location is the same as that of Liu Guiwu. The place of death in battle is only tens of kilometers away. In several battles across the Daqing Mountains, Liu Guiwu took advantage of Suiyuan's sparsely populated land and made full use of the advantages of fast and fierce cavalry to fight and leave, making repeated military exploits. In March 1938, in order to cooperate with Fu Zuoyi's counterattack against Suiyuan, Ma Zhanshan's division once again crossed Daqingshan, launched an offensive behind the Japanese army, took advantage of the false attack to capture Liangcheng, Hekou, Tuoketuo and other places, and captured the head of the puppet Mongolian Army Fourth Cavalry Regiment alive Men Shuhuai and Liu Guiwu led the Sixth Cavalry Division to capture Saraqi Railway Station, captured the false King Mengkang alive (later sent back to Chongqing as a prisoner) and cut off the Pingsui Railway.

Fu's counterattack and the Japanese Sakai division's offensive in northern Shanxi happened to collide, causing heavy losses. However, the Japanese army was deeply shocked by the cut off of the Pingsui Railway, and the main force turned around to attack Ma Zhanshan and marched forward.Since the Japanese army learned the lessons of fighting the horse cavalry, they formed a large-scale motorized unit and attacked the Ma Zhanshan Department with the cooperation of aircraft, so that the advancing army, whose main force was the traditional cavalry, fell into a passive position.At this time, Ma Zhanshan was excited by the victory. He tried to recover the entire Suibei for a while, and continued to attack in the direction of the Oriental Bailing Temple and Wuchuan. On April 20, the retreating advancing army was intercepted and defeated by the Japanese army.After Liu Guiwu led his troops to stop, he fought hard for two days and two nights. On the 22nd, when the troops were crossing the river in Youyou Ganzi (near Baotou today), Ma Zhanshan's headquarters was suddenly attacked by Japanese tanks. Commander Liu led his troops to resist on the spot. Covering the evacuation of the army, unfortunately, he was shot and died for the country.

Ma Zhanshan, who broke through the siege, heard that Liu Guiwu had died in battle, and returned to the rear regardless of the danger, caressing the corpse and crying (Ma and Liu are old friends from the Northeast Army era, and they have a deep love in their robes).Because of the urgency of the battle, his subordinates had to temporarily bury his body in the rocks near the river bank. At that time, the Chinese government posthumously awarded Liu Guiwu the rank of Lieutenant General of the Army.A year later, Ma Zhanshan led his troops out of Daqingshan again to rebuild the mausoleum for Liu Guiwu, wear stones as a martyr's shrine, and erect a "Memorial Tower for Anti-Japanese War Fallen Soldiers" as a commemoration.

Starting in the grass and dying for the country, he is probably a soldier like Liu Guiwu.