Chapter 19 Chapter Five: The Soul of the Whampoa Army
Li Chengxun——Student of the 14th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Zhang Fangpeng——Student of the 16th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Yi Qingming——Student of the 14th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Wang Yongzhong——Student of the 14th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Zhang Xiuqi——Student of the 15th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Song Xishan——Student of the 16th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Rao Pingru——Student of the 17th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Li Songzhuo——Student of the 17th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Yang Cenfeng——Student of the 17th Batch of Whampoa Military Academy
Personal destiny is always closely related to the background of the times. If the background is overemphasized and the lack of personal vivid stories, details and emotional narration is bound to make people feel empty and boring.The whole editor's notes are written down, as if I were writing a thesis, but it is still difficult for me to jump out of this emptiness and boringness. Closely related!
The reality owes a lot to history!
The word "Whampoa" has faded out of people's sight for many years. When most people knew "Whampoa", it was defined as Chiang Kai-shek's selfishness in cultivating his descendants, which completely deviated from Mr. Zhongshan's original intention of creating the Whampoa Military Academy.When "Whampoa" was mentioned, the background of the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was the most emphasized.
History, of course, requires more understanding.Needless to say the Northern Expedition, but the Anti-Japanese War required "consideration".
After the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, the army needed most commanders at the company and platoon levels, and these commanders were almost all graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy except for those who were promoted from experienced soldiers.
In the narrations of witnesses in this episode, most of the students from the 14th to 17th Whampoa Military Academy were the most impressive. Li Chengxun and Zhang Wangpeng were the two old people who were most impressed. Their original intention to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy came from 1925. In that spring, they Impressed by Sun Yat-sen and a group of young student soldiers.
In the story of applying for the Whampoa Military Academy, among the many young people who are determined to commit themselves to the country, many of them have this original intention.Wang Dingjun once described it in the article "From the Eight Years of the Anti-Japanese War to the Whampoa Advancement": "Every generation of young people has his idol. In that era when various thoughts are rushing and everywhere is tossing around, young people are most envious. 4 These are the Whampoa Military Academy students, journalists, civil engineers, and surgeons. At that time, surgery had to rely on Western medicine, which was simply a miracle doctor. To be the mouthpiece of the people, see the official rank; at that time, the imperial power was abolished, the Republic of China was established, and the country's construction had just begun. Bridges, roads, buildings, and factories were being built everywhere. Civil engineers were popular, and their chins were raised high; Military school students wear woolen military uniforms, armed belts, and swords. They are disciples of the Son of Heaven, who succeed and become benevolent. They are half human and half god.”
Heroic idols are always enviable. However, exploring history reveals that the price behind the glory is extremely heavy.During the Battle of Songhu, from July to November 1937, more than 10,000 Whampoa officers died on the anti-Japanese battlefield.Hu Zongnan, a first-term student of Whampoa, recalled after the war: "Most of the Whampoa troops have been defeated, and there is no one to support them... We must work hard to train the third-term revolutionary cadres to complete the future mission."
During the Battle of Songhu, when batches of Whampoa soldiers fell on the battlefield, more young students entered the gate of Whampoa Military Academy.
Regarding China's War of Resistance Against Japan, Neiji Okamura, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese invaders, said in 1939: "It seems that the center of the enemy's anti-Japanese forces is not the 400 million Chinese people, nor the 2 million people who are a mixture of various types of troops. The army is the central army with Chiang Kai-shek as the core and the young officers of the Whampoa Military Academy as the main body. In previous battles, it not only served as the main driving force for fighting, but also strictly supervised the local motley troops who gradually lost their fighting power and were hesitant. Therefore, its power cannot be ignored. The thorough education of the Whampoa Military Academy shows that...with such an army, if we want to resolve the incident peacefully, it is tantamount to seeking a fish on a tree.”…
In the creation, I saw such a text: "The spirit of the devil's Bushido is to kill people very fiercely. Chiang Kai-shek said that it cannot keep up with the spirit of Huangpu."
My question is, what exactly is the Whampoa spirit?
Wang Yongzhong was a student of the 14th class of the Whampoa Military Academy, and had already fought in the Battle of Xinkou before going to school. Graduated in 1940, later served as company commander, and survived the war until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Seventy years later, he can still recite large sections of the instructor's speech in class.
Wang Yongzhong repeated a passage of Chiang Kai-shek's speech: "Chiang Kai-shek said: 'You are infantry, and there are quite a lot of officers and officers who have died in various theaters, especially the lower-level officers are not enough, let you sacrifice them. Why did we make such a big determination? No. The other reason is to drive Japanese imperialism out of China and win the War of Resistance.'”
It has been nearly 70 years since the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. The name of the Whampoa Military Academy has also undergone several changes. It was founded on June 16, 1924 as the "Chinese Nationalist Army Officer Academy", and in March 1926 it was renamed "Central Military Political Academy". In September, it was renamed "National Revolutionary Army Officer Academy", and in September of the same year, it was renamed "National Revolutionary Army Whampoa Officer Academy". In January 1946, the Whampoa Military Academy was renamed "Republic of China Army Officer Academy" and the school was nationalized.When the Kuomintang moved to Taiwan, the military academy was moved to Fengshan City, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan.
According to a report by "Guangzhou Daily" on February 25, 2010, the former site of the Guangzhou Whampoa Military Academy Alumni Association, built in 1924, has been transformed into a nightclub.
One day in 1937, in a small courtyard next to Taoyedu on the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, Li Chengxun's family was full of sorrows of parting.From August 15th of this year, Japanese aircraft began to bomb Nanjing, and the people in Nanjing were panicked.Li Chengxun's father decided to flee Nanjing with his family.However, Li Chengxun has his own ideas.
Li Chengxun recalled: "I decided to enter the Whampoa Military Academy and fight the Japanese to vent my anger and revenge."
He told his parents that he had made up his mind to go to Huangpu.
"My son was leaving, and my mother was crying uncontrollably, mending my torn clothes." Li Chengxun said, "She asked me when I would be back, and I said I didn't know when I would be back. My father sighed beside me."
Seeing their son who insisted on going to the Whampoa Military Academy and then going to the battlefield, Li Chengxun's parents were worried.They don't know that their son's dream of Huangpu has been hidden in their hearts for a long time...
On June 1, 1929, Sun Yat-sen's coffin was moved from Biyun Temple in Xishan, Beijing, to Nanjing, and a funeral ceremony was held in Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Zijin Mountain.Hundreds of thousands of citizens in Nanjing City waited on the roadside to see Sun Yat-sen off, and young Li Chengxun was among them.The scene at that time caused waves in his heart.
"I have seen many famous people's funerals in my life, and this one is the most spectacular and touching." Li Chengxun said, "The send-off team is very long. There are navy, army, artillery, students, workers, farmers, and others. There are businessmen with representatives from various countries. I was young at that time, I didn’t understand, I just thought that such a great figure in our China has passed away.”
Li Chengxun heard that Sun Yat-sen once ran the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou.He is full of curiosity about this school.
On June 16, 1924, on Changzhou Island, Huangpu, Guangzhou, the opening ceremony of the newly established Chinese Nationalist Army Military Academy was held.In the early morning, nearly 500 teachers and students lined up in front of the military academy to welcome Sun Yat-sen who came to attend the opening ceremony. Zheng Dongguo, a 21-year-old Hunanese who later became a lieutenant general, was among them.
Many years later, Zheng Dongguo recalled in his memoirs Sun Yat-sen's speech at the opening ceremony:
In his instruction, Mr. Zhongshan made clear the meaning, first of all, he put forward the significance of building a revolutionary army.He said: "The Chinese revolution has been going on for thirteen years, and the result now is only the year of the Republic of China, but not the fact of the Republic of China... This is because of our revolution, only the struggle of the revolutionary party, not the struggle of the revolutionary army; because there is no The struggle of the revolutionary army, so the bureaucratic warlords control the Republic of China, our revolution cannot be completely successful. We want to open this school today, what hope do we have? It is to recreate the cause of the revolution from today. The students in the school are the foundation and form the revolutionary army. You students are the backbone of the future revolutionary army. With this backbone, we can become a revolutionary army and our revolutionary cause will be successful.”
Sun Yat-sen announced the school motto as "Dear and Sincere" at the opening ceremony.This was proposed by the principal Chiang Kai-shek.
The "School Pledge" of the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy is: "To be loyal to the revolutionary post and obey the orders of the party. To implement the Three Principles of the People, to live and die forever. To abide by the Constitution of the Five Powers, only to struggle and sacrifice. To strive for human equality, regardless of success or failure."
There used to be a pair of couplets hanging on both sides of the colorful building at the gate of the Whampoa Military Academy: "If you want to get promoted and get rich, please go elsewhere; if you are greedy for life and afraid of death, don't enter the gate", with the banner reading "Revolutionaries come". After Sun Yat-sen passed away in 1925, it was changed to "the revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still have to work hard" in his political will.
In 1925, the young Zhang Fangpeng was moved by a group of student soldiers from the Whampoa Military Academy.
In 1925, the National Revolutionary Army went on two expeditions to the east, conquering the warlord Chen Jiongming's troops entrenched in eastern Guangdong, and won victory.Among them, the Whampoa Student Army fought bravely and played a pioneering and backbone role.
At that time, Zhang Wangpeng was an ordinary primary school student in Jiexi, Guangdong.He remembered that the Eastern Expeditionary Army "went to Meixian and passed through our avenue".He heard stories about the Whampoa Student Army from the adults.He saw that the student army marched forward, shouting the slogan "Don't be afraid of death, don't be greedy for money, love the country, love the people" during the Eastern Expedition. "Everyone came to see the student army, made tea, and made a lot of pastries. They brought them to the roadside and offered them to eat. Everyone applauded them."
Zhang Fangpeng said that since then, he has been deeply impressed by the Whampoa Military Academy.
When the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, 20-year-old Zhang Wangpeng applied for the sixth branch of Whampoa, which moved from Nanning, Guangxi to Guilin, and became a student of the sixteenth term.After bidding farewell to his parents, Li Chengxun came to Wuhan and joined the wartime work cadre training group organized by the Second Division of the National Revolutionary Army and became a trainee.Later, the students of this batch of combat cadres were assigned to the fourteenth batch of the Whampoa Military Academy.
From 1937, the Whampoa Military Academy began to set up enrollment points all over the country.The number of applicants is endless.When Nanjing candidate Yi Qingming rushed to the Whampoa Military Academy's enrollment site in Wuhan, the exam time had passed.
Yi Qingming recalled: "When I went there, all the admitted students had passed the physical examination. I asked for a make-up exam, and the examiner said: 'You are not impersonating, are you?' He was afraid that I would impersonate. He asked me to recite "The Prime Minister Will”, I recited it to him. The examiner said: “Okay, I will recite it here. You are a high school student, not bad.”
Yi Qingming passed the exam successfully.He didn't expect that during the physical examination, he was pulled out of the team by the examiner. "After the examination, he said, 'Others are normal, but the blood pressure is too high.' I asked: 'The blood pressure is too high, what's the problem? Well, the soldiers will be abused.'”
This made Yi Qingming very anxious. "I said, then I will not abuse the soldiers, treat the soldiers like brothers, and I promise not to abuse them."
After listening to Yi Qingming's words, the examiner didn't say much.A few days later, Yi Qingming's name appeared on the admission list.
At the end of 1937, on the eve of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, the Whampoa Military Academy withdrew from Nanjing. After traveling through Jiujiang, Wuhan, and Tongliang for 16 months, it finally arrived in Chengdu. On the basis of the former Chengdu Branch School, the Chengdu Headquarters of the Whampoa Military Academy was established.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Whampoa Military Academy opened nine branch schools across the country. After graduation, most of the students were enriched into the army and became junior officers.
Zheng Dongguo used the word "fiery" to describe his Huangpu years in his memoirs.Fiery is the unanimous feeling of the Whampoa students about the life of the military academy.
In the early morning, Wang Yongzhong, a student of the 14th class of Whampoa, who was sleeping, and his classmates were awakened by a rush of assembly whistle.
Wang Yongzhong recalled: "According to the regulations, there are only 5 minutes to dress, wash, and then put on the gun and prepare for exercise. Just after washing his face, he saw a classmate walking around with no clothes on. An officer waved to him in the distance and said, come here. come over."
The disheveled students walked over anxiously.
"I went over and looked, oh, it's the principal. Stand there, this classmate is terrified."
Wang Yongzhong and his classmates have long heard of Chiang Kai-shek's strict requirements on Whampoa students.They heard that at the beginning of the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy, when the whole school assembled, the instructor Gu Zhutong was late, buttoning his clothes while inserting himself into the queue.This scene was seen by Chiang Kai-shek, who was preparing to give a lecture. He immediately ordered Gu Zhutong to come out and punished him by kneeling in public.After Chiang Kai-shek finished speaking, he went straight away without looking at Gu Zhutong.Gu Zhutong knelt like this until the next morning.
Guo Yiyu wrote about Chiang Kai-shek's strictness to the students in "My Fragmental Memories of the Whampoa Military Academy": "I remember that a student was punished for violating the school rules and was locked in a confinement room crying loudly. Hearing the cry, he immediately said: "Revolutionary soldiers are valuable and self-respecting. If they violate school rules, they will be punished. Just admit your mistakes and repent. Cry! You will lose the personality of a revolutionary soldier. If you make more mistakes, you will be confined for three more days." "
In Wang Yongzhong's memory, that classmate walked over and stood in front of Chiang Kai-shek. "The principal said with a smile: 'Classmate, what are you doing?' He said: 'Report to the principal, I will wash my face.' The principal said: 'Why don't you button the collar of your clothes? Okay? Dress neatly, understand?" He said, "Principal, I understand." The principal sent him back."
The students who thought they would be severely punished no longer dared to be negligent in details such as dress.
Wang Yongzhong remembers that the strict discipline of Huangpu is reflected in the details, such as the "Study Rules" in the classroom: the military cap must be placed on the left front of the desk, the hands are placed on the knees when not copying notes, and the sitting posture is straight. Slightly crooked, staring at the instructor with both eyes, not allowed to twist when copying notes.There are as many as 20 regulations on lectures and self-study.
Zhang Xiuqi, a student of the 15th batch of the Whampoa Military Academy, said: "You are forced to get used to the life in the barracks, so there was a process of transformation when you first went. Oh, everyone regretted it to death, and came to this place to suffer."
When Zhang Xiuqi entered the Whampoa Military Academy for a week, he felt that the long-awaited military academy life was extremely boring. "Exercising every day, I haven't started cultural education, the main thing is to exercise. Running in the morning, as well as mechanical exercises, horizontal bars, parallel bars, and wooden horses, are all mandatory. You must reach the standard within a certain period of time. If you fail to complete, you will wait until the evening I’m all asleep, and I went to the playground to practice more. At that time, when we grabbed the horizontal bar, my hands were covered with blood blisters after being worn out, and I couldn’t move anymore, but you were not allowed to come down if you grabbed it, and when you came down, you would beat you with a belt. It’s not polite.”
Song Xishan, a Whampoa graduate, recalled: "It is not easy for an ordinary person to become a soldier. It takes 8 minutes to eat, 8 minutes to gather in an emergency, and walk with your chest up and your head up. There are requirements for the speed and length of your steps. How can you say that the emergency assembly is so fast?"
Rao Pingru, a Whampoa graduate, sighed: "To be honest, I used to be a young master at home. I had a master cook, a rickshaw, and a driver. Before I was 18, I didn't do anything. I have to do things like wash my face and so on for me.”
These young people from all over the country took off their casual clothes, shaved their long hair, wore military caps, belts around their waists, green cloth shoes and socks, and leggings. This is the military posture of the anti-Japanese soldiers.
Song Xishan said: "During the emergency assembly, we will inspect your attire, not only the attire during the day, but also the attire at night. If you dress quickly at night, how to arrange your clothes when you sleep, and how to pack your backpack are all in training. within range."
Whampoa graduate Li Songzhuo said: "Whether you are a veteran or a recruit, you must receive specialized training uniformly. This is a characteristic of Whampoa. After the training period expires, you will start to receive military courses."
"After becoming a reserve officer, the military uniform is different." Wang Yongzhong said.
Although the training and study were hard and tense, the students of the Whampoa Military Academy were always enviable at the time.
In "Memoirs of the Anti-Japanese War of Huangpu Alumni", someone described it like this: "On Sundays, we wore newly issued student uniforms, student collar badges, and military school student symbols on our chests, and walked towards Naxi Market Town in small groups to visit the city. People in Sichuan always call us Boss, and our classmates say we are not bosses, but students. In the teahouse, a person with high education said with a smile: "Your classmates are students today, and you will be bosses in the future. You will also become anti-Japanese heroes." 'The students are proud, and everyone wants to be an anti-Japanese hero."
One day in 1938, Zhang Fangpeng and his classmates were notified to gather in the auditorium.When he arrived, the auditorium was full of people, but there was no sound.On this day, news of another defeat on the front line came.
Zhang Fangpeng said that Zhang Hanliang, who stayed at the school to teach after graduating from the 11th class of Whampoa, gave a speech, "He said, to be a Whampoa soldier, you must commit yourself to the country. When you enter the Whampoa Military Academy, you will give your life to the country. "
According to Zhang Fangpeng’s recollection, Zhang Hanliang told everyone a story: Once upon a time, a businessman went to the beach and saw many fishermen mending their nets on the beach.The businessman asked a fisherman: "Man, let me ask you, what did your grandfather do?" The fisherman said: "My grandfather fished." The businessman asked: "How did he die?" Fish, the weather was fine, but suddenly there was a strong wind and waves, the boat capsized and died at sea." After hearing this, the businessman felt sympathetic, "Oh, that's it. What did your father do, and how did he die?" The fisherman Tell the merchant that his father, also a fisherman, also died at sea.After listening to the fishermen's story, the businessman began to persuade the fishermen to change their careers.The fisherman said: "Sir, I want to ask you, what does your grandfather do?" The businessman said: "My grandfather was in business, running around, old, sick, and died on the bed." He asked again: "What about your father?" "My father was also in business. He was old and sick and died on the bed." The fisherman stood up and said, "Oh, you are in business again. You will be with your grandfather in the future." , father, and died on the bed again, you change your career quickly, change your career quickly.”
Hearing this, the 500 students in the auditorium roared with laughter and applause.
"Zhang Hanliang said: 'Your response is so enthusiastic, it can be seen that you understand the true meaning of this story. It is the most meaningful for you to come to Whampoa Military Academy, especially during the Anti-Japanese War, to be loyal to the motherland.'"
In order to exercise the commanding ability of reserve officers, the military academy conducts sand table combat exercises from time to time.Zhang Fangpeng recalled: "In a hall, more than 100 of us gathered around a sand table, which was slightly larger than a table tennis table. There were mountains, roads, rivers, forests, and soldiers on it. The two armies faced each other. One side was red, One side is blue. The instructor talked about how to command the battle, and the explanation was very vivid."
This is the first time Zhang Fangpeng thinks about how to fight from the perspective of an officer. "The instructor taught us through the sand table, assuming that you are the company commander now, how do you arrange the platoon leader and squad leader, when and where your unit will occupy the position, which direction the enemy will attack from, and face the enemy's planes and mortar bombing. , how do you command."
After the Whampoa Military Academy moved to Chengdu, due to the situation, the academic system was greatly shortened. The instructors selected the most important basic subjects, which were divided into two categories: academic subjects and technical subjects, and taught all the necessary courses for officers in the shortest possible time.
Wang Yongzhong remembers that after the emergency assembly, "the company commander took us to the field, taught us how to throw grenades, and the use of various tools, so we continued to train every day."
What impressed Zhang Fangpeng the most was, "There is a lot of education at night. We all train in the mountains. When it is windy and rainy, the roads are muddy, and when we encounter big pits, we jump down when asked to jump down, so as to exercise the spirit of going forward. Back from the night education Often in the middle of the night, my feet are covered with mud. I am very tired. I go to bed without washing my feet, and the quilt is covered with mud from my feet. When it is dawn, the mud on the quilt dries up, and the mud on my feet also falls off. I will wash the quilt later, so it is called 'washing the feet is worse than washing the quilt'."
One day in 1938, at the training ground of the Whampoa Military Academy in Chengdu, Wang Yongzhong and his classmates had just finished a day of training. The star officer announced that all the students should gather in the school auditorium.
Within two minutes of arriving at the auditorium, Wang Yongzhong heard the command to stand at attention and tidy up.Then report the number.At this time, Wang Yongzhong realized that it must be Chiang Kai-shek.
Wang Yongzhong recalled Chiang Kai-shek's speech: "He said: 'I am the commander-in-chief of the whole country. With this responsibility, I cannot come to your training every day. It has been a year since the Anti-Japanese War, and it is terrible. I am extremely nervous. At night, my principal I only slept for 4 hours. You said that the training was hard. You are the students of this principal. You should work hard. We have worked so hard and sacrificed. Why, why do you say?'”
The students, many of whom were from the occupied areas, were silent.
"Chiang Kai-shek said: 'You are infantry, and there are quite a lot of officers and officers who have died in various theaters, especially the lower-level officers are not enough, let you sacrifice. Why do we make such a big determination? It is not for anything else, but to destroy the Japanese Empire. drive out of China and strive for victory in the War of Resistance.'”
Wang Yongzhong said that at that moment, the auditorium where hundreds of people gathered was unusually quiet, and everyone looked serious.
After half a year of training and study, Wang Yongzhong and his classmates were sent to the battlefield.
After the Spring Festival in 1940, after completing six months of intensive training at the Whampoa Military Academy, Zhang Xiuqi was assigned to the 109th Division stationed in the Third Theater as a platoon leader.
Zhang Xiuqi recalled: "When we first arrived, the teacher said: 'You students, when you were conducting military exercises in the school, the enemy was a fake, and he didn't hit you. Now come to this place, you are here It is a matter of life and death in front of the enemy. You don't know what war is like in school. You go to the battlefield to see for yourself.'”
Zhang Xiuqi was taken to a village called Chaijiafan.There had just been a battle here a few hours ago.On the battlefield, there were corpses, discarded weapons and bombed vehicles everywhere.
"There were wild dogs dragging the corpse, dragging it in a mess. Oh, it smells so bad, it's disgusting to go there. Oh, everyone's heart was shaken. It turns out that war is like this."
This was the first time Zhang Xiuqi witnessed a real war scene, and everything he saw was lingering in his mind.
"After I came back, the teacher said, you are thinking about how to distribute it now. Because I was only 20 years old at the time, and another classmate was also 20 years old. The teacher said, you two are too young, and you are going to be a platoon leader. The soldiers are older than you. Big, you can't control it. I said we hope to go to the front."
The teacher didn't stop him, and Zhang Xiuqi and his classmates transferred directly to the frontline troops.
"When we went, those soldiers were already suffering. Because the cotton clothes were not brought up, they were still wearing single clothes in winter, and they had pustules on their bodies. There were sores on their fingers and inside their crotches, and they couldn't be caught with guns. So they were assigned In the company, I saw it, it’s terrible, this can’t fight.”
Weak soldiers and outdated weapons and equipment made Zhang Xiuqi, who had commanded a platoon when he first entered the battlefield, very anxious.
"I thought to myself, once there is a situation, how will this battle be fought? Moreover, the company commander of my company was born in the army, uneducated, and very mean to the soldiers. I was very sad, and I cried. We are not friendly, because we have never met. They call me little platoon leader, and they don’t even ask me my last name.”
Zhang Xiuqi said: "Many of our squad leaders are veterans, who have been wounded several times. They just told me, little platoon leader, what skills do you have in war?"
The veterans who came over from the pile of dead people didn't look down on this little platoon leader at all.
"I remember one night when there was a situation, I took my platoon outside to search. At that time, the army did not equip the platoon leader with a pistol. I took a rifle and put a bayonet on it. Later, a squad leader said to me:' Platoon leader, come back.' I went and asked what was the matter. He carried a big knife and said, 'I have killed many Japanese devils with this big knife. Just dare to say it publicly.’ The search found nothing, and when he came back, he said: ‘Platoon leader, you say you can do it, let’s compete. Of course, I don’t use a big knife, I use a bamboo piece as a big knife.’ I said: 'Then I'll use a bamboo pole as a gun, let's try it out.'”
Hearing that the new platoon leader was going to compete with the old squad leader, the soldiers gathered around to watch.
"I shoot very quickly. Assassination is mainly about reacting quickly. We learned in school: first of all, you don't look at the enemy's knife or gun. You have to look at the enemy's eyes. His eyes are his eyes." Intentional performance, I remember this point very clearly; another point, the reaction must be sensitive, so that other people's knives are too late. These two points are very important. So I told him at that time: "I may not be physically stronger than you, but my movement Faster than you.' Indeed, after the test with me, he said, 'Hey, the platoon leader still has some tricks.' I said, 'Well, just as you raised the big knife, my bayonet reached your chest. It's that fast. '"
After this competition, the veterans' attitude towards Zhang Xiuqi was quite different from before. Slowly, they began to approach this small platoon leader from the Whampoa Military Academy.Zhang Xiuqi led these veterans who had experienced the test of life and death, and went through life and death again and again on the battlefield.
In March 1942, Yang Cenfeng, a student of the 17th batch of Whampoa, the platoon leader of the 286th Regiment of the 96th Division of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, accompanied Dai Anlan, the commander of the 200th Division, a student of the third batch of Whampoa, Enter the ancient city of Tong in Myanmar.
Yang Cenfeng recalled: When the Tonggu blockade was about to start, Dai Anlan took the lead in writing the suicide note of "swearing to live and die with Tonggu", and officers at all levels followed suit. "The friendly ones in the army copied each other's address books and said: 'If I die in battle and you survive, please inform my family.'"
The 12-day war with ancient times ended with the Chinese army voluntarily retreating and the Japanese army occupying an empty city. The Japanese army suffered more than 5,000 casualties.Later, Chiang Kai-shek listened to Dai Anlan's report and praised: "The Whampoa spirit of the Chinese army defeated the Bushido spirit of the Japanese army."
After World War I, at dawn on April 28, 1942, the Chinese army positions in Pingmanna, Myanmar were violently shelled by the Japanese army. Japanese bombers strafed at low altitude, and the infantry approached Yang Cenfeng's position step by step.
Yang Cenfeng recalled: "The enemy attacked fiercely for half an hour, and many people died on the battlefield. A squad leader said, platoon leader, you are bleeding. I saw that you were bleeding. I said, it's all right, you continue to fight. "
Yang Cenfeng gritted his teeth and pulled out the shrapnel embedded in the flesh. After dressing the wound briefly, he went into battle again.
At this moment, the Japanese army was already in front of them.One of Yang Cenfeng's soldiers, "from Sichuan, was only in his 20s. He called out to the platoon leader and was shot to death by a machine gun before he could finish his sentence."
Yang Cenfeng said: "My platoon is the advance platoon. It is equivalent to an outpost in the regiment. It is three to five miles away from the main force of the regiment. It is alone on a high ground. If there is no outpost like ours, the enemy will not know when they attack. Then the whole army was wiped out. I looked at it at the time, and there were less than half of the platoon left. The deputy platoon leader was down, the machine gunner of the second squad was dying, and most of the soldiers in the first squad were killed. "
The battle lasted for 8 hours, and the position was finally saved.
There were 60 people in Yang Cenfeng's row, but only 10 survived.
"The scene was so tragic. The artillery fire was so fierce that some soldiers' clothes were burned, and some were wounded, lying on the ground and could not move. At that time, I was very sad. It was a war. On the battlefield, the guns did not have eyes. After starting a battle, you can only advance and cannot retreat. If you retreat without an order, your superior will immediately execute you with a single shot. If a soldier flees, as an officer, I have the right to kill him. So the two emotions were intertwined at the time. .”
On May 18, 1942, Dai Anlan was shot while leading the 200th Division to move north. On May 26, Dai Anlan died for the country at the age of 38.
From March 1942 when they entered Myanmar to fight in January 1945 when the counter-offensive in northern Myanmar and western Yunnan ended successfully, more than 5,700 graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy were buried in foreign lands.
Many years later, Wang Yongzhong still has a vivid memory of the scene where he and his classmates left the school to go to the front line.
Wang Yongzhong remembers that it was February 23, 1940. On the playground of the Whampoa Military Academy in Chengdu, he and the graduates of the same period lined up to sing the school song.
"Mr. Soong Ching Ling came and stood side by side with the principal on the stage. She looked at us very kindly, just like a mother looks at her own child. She was very kind, and we were very excited. The principal stepped off the stage and began to review on horseback. In front of the procession, there was a guard leading a horse. The horse walked very slowly. The principal looked at each student with the same kind expression on his face as Mr. Soong Ching Ling, but also revealed a special majesty, which is what people often say is not Angry and mighty. We all stared at him."
The familiar slogan gradually faded away, and the familiar singing sounded again, echoing for a long time.Wang Yongzhong and his classmates knew that this would be their last gathering at the Whampoa Military Academy, and the young classmates were about to embark on a journey to their death.
The chill of early spring has not receded, and in the cold spring breeze, there is a faint smell of gunpowder smoke...
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Whampoa Military Academy established a total of 9 branches: the original Luoyang branch was changed to the first branch and moved to Hanzhong, Shaanxi; the Wuhan branch had long been closed, and the second branch was established in Nanhu, Wuchang in the winter of 1937, and then moved to Wugang, Hunan. The third branch school was established in Ruijin, Jiangxi; the fourth branch school was renamed from the original Guangzhou branch school, and moved several times after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, and finally took Dushan, Guizhou as the school site; the fifth branch school was established in Kunming; the sixth branch school was renamed from the original Nanning branch school , and later moved to Guilin; the seventh branch school was first established in Tianshui, Gansu, and later moved to Xi'an; the eighth branch school was established in Junxian, Hubei; the ninth branch school was established in Dihua, Xinjiang.
As a student of the Army Military Academy, I adhere to the honor creed of not lying, not cheating, and not stealing, and I will not condone others' violations. I am determined to become a military leader who is both polite and moral, and has leadership management, problem solving, and language communication skills. And continue to learn the four major abilities, abide by the core values of the country, responsibility, honor, sacrifice, unity, courage, self-confidence, play the school motto of love and sincerity, make sure that I am the best cognition, and implement the requirements of respecting teachers, being honest and pragmatic .
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