Chapter 58 The last battle against the Japanese invaders

After the War of Resistance Against Japan entered a stalemate, because the Japanese invading army mainly targeted the Communist Party and carried out frenzied "mopping up" and "cannibalization", although the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy faced serious difficulties, due to the Communist Party giving full play to the power of the people's war, Finally over the storm. The army and civilians in the base areas responded to the call of the central government and fought hard, becoming the backbone of the nation. "Model Qinyuan" is one of the countless exemplary models of the Anti-Japanese War behind enemy lines.

The army and civilians in Qinyuan County, Shanxi Province, located in the center of the Taiyue Anti-Japanese Base, under the command of the siege headquarters, launched a mass attack on the Japanese and puppet troops in Qinyuan County and its surrounding strongholds with sparrow warfare, sniper warfare, mine warfare, and ambush warfare. The revolutionary and long-term siege war consumed a large amount of Japanese and puppet troops, forcing its Liangyi troops to shrink their positions three times, and was finally besieged on a hill in the west of the city. They retreated in April 1945 with the support of more than 1,000 enemy troops.

Mao Zedong always watched the development and changes of the world situation and the impact of China's war of resistance. On June 22, 1941, the invincible Hitler yelled: "The Barbarossa plan is realized, and the whole world will be eclipsed by it." Dispatched 190 divisions, more than 5 million people, 3,700 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, and more than 47,000 cannons, and rushed towards the Soviet Union aggressively.Mao Zedong realized that China's war of resistance still had a hard way to go. In August 1942, after leaving 300,000 corpses in Leningrad and Moscow respectively, the German army under the command of Hitler concentrated another 1 million elite troops to attack Stalingrad.Stalin commanded the Soviet army to carry out a tough defensive battle.

Just as the battle was in full swing, Mao Zedong had keenly foreseen the significance of this battle to the entire Second World War. On October 12, he wrote an editorial for the "Liberation Daily" stating: "This battle was not only a turning point in the Soviet-German War, not even the world anti-fascist war, but also a turning point in the entire history of mankind." He predicted, "The Battle of Stalingrad will stop the fascist offensive, This battle is a decisive victory. This decisiveness is related to the entire world war." The Battle of Stalingrad ended with the elimination of 1.5 million German troops, and the German commander-in-chief Paulus remained in the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp.

This gave Mao Zedong great encouragement, and made a time estimate for the progress of the war. On January 5, 1943, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Chen Yi and Rao Shushi, pointing out that the entire Anti-Japanese War still needs two years of preparation.He instructed Chen and Rao to think of various ways to survive the two years, maintain the basic backbone of our army, and not be afraid of a reduction in numbers. As long as the backbone exists, it is a victory. On June 1, he pointed out in a telegram to Peng Dehuai: Three years of preparations are needed for the War of Resistance. During these three years, our party will strive to consolidate and stand undefeated.

Under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong, the military and civilians in the base areas worked together. By 1943, the base areas had overcome serious difficulties and began to recover and develop again.At the Cairo Conference held this year, China was one of the four major anti-fascist powers in the world. This dealt a blow to Japan’s surrender policy against Chiang Kai-shek, blocked the door for Chiang to seek a compromise, and might lead the Japanese army to attack the frontal battlefield.Mao Zedong seized the opportunity and quickly transformed the strategic stalemate into our army's strategic counteroffensive.

In the spring of 1944, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army began a partial counter-offensive according to the instructions of the Central Committee. In order to prepare for the final battle against the Japanese invaders, on August 22, 1944, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, and Chen Yi jointly called Zhang Yunyi, Rao Shushi, and Lai Chuanzhu, requesting that "the training of the Central China Army should focus on training, leading, raising, and employing troops. And focus on military training."Troop training must focus on improving combat skills, and at the same time strengthen the study of tactics, weaponry, fortification, topography, and management education for cadres at the regiment and battalion level.

Not only that, Mao Zedong cast his deep eyes on his hometown Hunan and the areas south of it.During the Anti-Japanese War, our army concentrated in North China and East China for a long time to fight, while Jiang Jieshi had always been regarded as the old nest by Chiang Kai-shek. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it will definitely become the world of the Kuomintang, and a new base must be established.After deliberation, Mao Zedong decided to send troops to the south. First, he established an anti-Japanese base area in central Hunan, relying on Hengyang, and then established contact with the Dongjiang Column in Guangdong. First, they mainly dealt with the Japanese invaders. After the Japanese invaders were eliminated, they armed to stop the civil war and deal with Chiang Kai-shek.

On September 1, 1944, Mao Zedong presided over a meeting in Yangjialing, and formally decided to transfer troops from the 359th Brigade to form the First Independent Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army (that is, the Southward Detachment), led by Wang Zhen, Wang Shoudao, Tan Yubao, etc. to march into South China and establish an anti-Japanese war. base. On October 31, Mao Zedong presided over a meeting again to study and determine the regions and organizational structures for going south. On November 1, the southward detachment swore to set off.At the foot of Pagoda Mountain, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and other central leaders reviewed the troops against the bitter cold wind.

Mao Zedong gave a speech to the soldiers of the upcoming expedition.He said that now the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek are flirting with each other, singing and singing together, Japan is occupying the city, and Chiang Kai-shek is occupying the hills.This time you are going to the south, planting flags in the enemy's rear, and opening up new bases behind the enemy.This is a glorious but arduous task.You will encounter many difficulties, but I ask comrades to believe that the future is infinitely bright.You must overcome all kinds of difficulties with the greatest perseverance, work together as one, and unite as one.To be like the "teacher of the king", abide by the three major disciplines and eight points of attention, and truly achieve strict discipline without committing any crimes.We must become one with the masses and serve the people faithfully.Finally, he wished everyone good health and a successful expedition.

On November 9, the Southward Detachment shouldered the great trust of the party, bid farewell to Yan'an, and began to march south, piercing the south like a sharp sword. In late March, the first detachment of the 359th Brigade going south entered Hunan and was renamed the "National Revolutionary Army Hunan People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army" to open up a base behind the enemy on the border of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi. The leading cadres of An's 359th Brigade were received by Mao Zedong.This is a group photo taken during the interview, with Mao Zedong the seventh from the right and Wang Zhen the fifth from the right. This caused Chiang Kai-shek to panic.These areas were lost to the Japanese when Chiang Kai-shek could not "defend himself" when the Japanese army opened up the line of communication to the mainland. However, when the Hunan People's Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Army led the Hunan people to prepare to counterattack the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek came out to "self-defense". In early April, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Xue Yue and Wang Lingji to gather four regular troops, plus two guerrilla columns and a local security regiment with a total of 60,000 troops, in an attempt to annihilate the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in one fell swoop.The foreign aggression was not eliminated, and the civil war broke out again. Throughout April, the smoke was billowing in northern Hunan. On May 4, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Wang Zhen: "The recalcitrant army will attack you with six divisions, and you can use mobile operations." On May 16, the Standing Committee of the Seventh National Congress held an enlarged meeting and decided to send the rear echelon of the 359th Brigade still in Yan'an as the second guerrilla detachment of the Eighth Route Army, and the first part of the Yan'an Garrison Brigade as the third detachment, composed of Zhang Qilong, Liu Zhuanlian and Lei Jingtian and Wen Niansheng respectively led them to go to the border of Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi via the border of Hunan and Hubei, and established new bases behind enemy lines in the south to expand the new situation in South China.To this end, the military and political committees of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi and the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China were established. During the negotiations in Chongqing, in order to comply with the people's desire for peace and gain political initiative, the Communist Party gave up eight southern provinces, including Hunan, and the detachment went south and returned to the north, returning to Yan'an on September 27, 1946. In order to completely expel the enemy and strive for the liberation of the people, various units of the Eighth Route Army launched a spring offensive in 1945, annihilating more than 570,000 enemies, recovering 24 counties, expanding the liberated area to more than 80,000 square kilometers, and liberating a population of 4 million.During the spring and summer offensives launched by the New Fourth Army, more than 380,000 Japanese and puppet troops were wiped out, more than 80,000 square kilometers of liberated areas were expanded, and more than 2.4 million people were liberated, basically connecting the anti-Japanese base areas in central China. In May 1945, German fascism was defeated.The fall of German and Italian fascists isolated Japanese fascists. In May, Mao Zedong promptly issued instructions to "weaken the Japanese and puppet forces, develop our army, shrink enemy-occupied areas, and expand liberated areas."Following this, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army launched a large-scale summer offensive against the Japanese and puppet troops, intensified their encirclement of enemy-occupied points and lines, and opened up connections between liberated areas in order to gain an active position in combat and create conditions for a full-scale counter-offensive. On August 8, the Soviet Union issued a declaration of war against Japan in accordance with the agreement at the Yalta Conference. At 00:10 on the 9th, 80 divisions and 1.57 million Red Army troops assembled on the Sino-Soviet border launched a fierce attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army, known as the "Flower of the Imperial Army". To speed up the demise of the Japanese invaders, on August 6 and 9, Uncle Sam dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, instantly razing these two cities to the ground. While the main force of the Kuomintang is still far away from the battlefield in the Southwest, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, which are at the forefront of the Anti-Japanese War, shoulder the heavy responsibility of counter-offensive on the Chinese battlefield. On August 9, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Last Battle Against the Japanese Invaders" statement in the name of Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, sounding the clarion call for a major counteroffensive. At midnight on August 9, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued the first order to all armed forces in the liberated areas: "1. Any anti-Japanese armed forces in the liberated areas may, in accordance with the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration, send an ultimatum to the enemies and their commanding agencies on the main traffic routes of the nearby cities, restricting them to hand over all their armed forces to our combat troops within a certain period of time. Afterwards, our army shall protect the safety of life in accordance with the regulations on preferential treatment of prisoners. "2. Any anti-Japanese armed forces in the Liberated Areas may send an ultimatum to all the puppet troops and puppet regimes in the vicinity, restricting them to lead the unit to go ahead and wait for deployment before the enemy surrenders and signs. "3. All anti-Japanese armed forces in the Liberated Areas should be resolutely wiped out if the enemy's puppet armed forces refuse to throw their arms. "4. Our army has the full power to send troops to accept, occupy, implement military control, maintain order, and appoint a commissioner to manage all administrative matters in the area. If there is any sabotage or resistance If it happens, it must be regarded as a traitor." In order to ensure the victory of the counteroffensive, on August 11, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China instructed the party committees of the districts in the "Decision on Our Party's Tasks after Japan's Surrender": "At this stage, we should concentrate our main forces to force the enemy and puppets to surrender to us. Launch attacks in specific circumstances and eliminate them one by one. Vigorously expand the liberated areas, occupy all possible and necessary cities and major transportation routes, seize weapons and resources, and freely arm the basic masses. There should be no hesitation." According to the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, and Zhu De, the Eighth Route Army in North China, the Eighth Route Army in Central China, and the anti-Japanese guerrillas in South China launched large-scale counterattacks against the large and medium-sized towns and traffic arteries occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops in their areas. The Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces cooperated. The Soviet Red Army liberated the Northeast. A powerful hurricane blew across the land of China, sweeping across China. The great counteroffensive on the battlefield behind enemy lines dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese and puppet regime. The people's armed counterattack led by the Communist Party of China wiped out more than 398,700 Japanese and puppet troops, seized more than 243,000 rifles, more than 5,000 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 1,300 artillery pieces. , Jinpu, Pinghan, Tongpu, Jiaoji, Longhai, Guangjiu and Zhengtai railway lines turned the big cities occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops into isolated cities.A total of more than 3.15 million square kilometers of land was recovered, more than 18 million compatriots were liberated, and the liberated areas were basically connected together, making an indelible contribution to the final victory of the National Anti-Japanese War. The Soviet Union sent troops to the Northeast, the U.S. atomic bombing, and China's counterattack on the battlefield behind enemy lines were like three sharp swords piercing the throat of the Japanese Empire. Under the desperation of Japan, Emperor Hirohito made the "sacred decision of the end of the war" with tears in his eyes, and issued the "Letter to the Loyal and Good Subjects" on August 15, announcing his unconditional surrender. On September 2, the Japanese representative signed the instrument of surrender.So far, the biggest national disaster in Chinese history has finally come to an end. The news of Japan's surrender spread throughout China through radio waves, and the entire land of China boiled. In Yan'an, although the surrender ceremony of the Chinese theater was held in Nanjing at this time, there were 15 surrender areas under it, and none of the Eighth Route Army or the New Fourth Army had worked hard. Instead, Chiang Kai-shek ordered "the Eighth Route Army to stay in place and stand by." The shadow of wanting to monopolize the fruits of victory has emerged, but The joy of victory and revenge overwhelmed everything. On the morning of August 15, the news of Japan's surrender reached Yan'an. People rushed to tell each other. In the evening, it is a carnival night.Regardless of party, government, military or civilian, regardless of men, women, old and young, they flocked to the streets.A torch parade was held in the suburbs of the city, and all the Yan'an bands and Yangko teams were dispatched. The lights inside and outside the city of Yan'an were brilliant, the drums and gongs were loud, and the slogans shook the mountains and rivers, one after another.The melon and fruit sellers were so happy that they gave peaches and pears to passers-by, and threw some into the air, shouting as they threw it: "Victory fruit that doesn't cost money, please eat as much as you want!" That night, the lights in Yan'an were on all night, and the streets were full of happy people. Xie Juezai, one of the four elders, was so excited that he composed an impromptu poem: August 15th Revenge Day, August 15th Victory Day. The dead body bleeds for five thousand miles, and it tastes bravery for a hundred years. When the tiger is ready to be fully captured, it has to sweep its hole, but the fish has not yet caught the trap. Fighting to benefit the descendants and grandchildren, watch the moonlight on the top of Jialing Mountain. Chongqing, Kunming, Taipei and other places are also having carnivals, and Chinese people from all over the world celebrate together. An editorial in Xinhua Daily documented and analyzed the situation at the time: "The whole Chinese people went crazy with joy! This is not surprising at all. Half a century of anger and fifty years of humiliation have been vented and wiped out today; eight years of death and misery and hardships have been achieved today. The reward has been paid. The Chinese people proudly accepted their unconditional surrender in front of the defeated Japanese fascists. What a day this is! Who said we shouldn’t go crazy with joy? Who said we shouldn’t weep with joy?”