At the highest point of the snow village in Suningwo North Town, Cangzhou, Hebei Province, there is a huge square, along the top platform of the steps of the square, a tall stone stele was erected, and the front of the stele was engraved with eight big characters of "Anti-Japanese Heroes Are Immortal", and the stele yin was "Monument to the Martyrs of the Breakthrough Battle in Snow Village".
Standing here, looking at the towering stone stele, gazing at the inscriptions that have gone through all the vicissitudes, thinking back to the thrilling sound that happened in the village 79 years ago, soaked in the blood of martyrs, the breakthrough battle in the snow village, and the heroic soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who appeared in front of me faced the critical period of blood and fire, life and death, survival and death, and forged immortal feats with young life! Composed a song of heroic praise that can be sung and wept!
In May and June 1942, the Japanese invaders, under the blows of the heroic resistance of the Chinese soldiers and civilians, coupled with the mire of the Pacific War, suddenly felt that the danger was everywhere, and they fought a battle of trapped beasts. To this end, under the direct command of Okamura Ningji, the supreme commander of the North China Dispatch Army, an unprecedented and cruel "May Day" "sweep" began in the hinterland of Jizhong. For a moment the situation entered the darkness before dawn.
This Okamura Ningji is a cunning fox, and the "May Day Sweep" he personally commanded this time is different from the past, purchasing the so-called iron wall encirclement tactics that combine "dragnet type" and "comb grate type". The so-called "drag-net type" refers to the tactic of concentrating absolute superiority forces and encircling and pressing the Eighth Route Army on all sides in a wide front and in great depth; the "combing grate type" means that on the one hand, it is equipped in depth and on the other hand, in a dense juxtaposition column, in a small area, to oppress the Eighth Route Army, with a very small gap, in an attempt to prevent the Eighth Route Army from jumping out of its combined strike circle from any gap.
What is more serious is that he divided the team into several layers, advancing layer by layer, and when he was halfway through the fight, there was a sudden emergency retreat, it seemed that the old nest was brought back to the rescue, in fact, this time it was initiated by the planner and personally different from the past. After the Japanese army was halfway through the sweep, it pretended to be in a posture of rushing back to the rescue, and during the day, one car after another drove to the large strongholds along the line, as if withdrawing troops, but actually did not withdraw troops, but hid the "induction circle", waiting for the virtual net, fishing with a net, and attracting the main force of our army. These tricks of his have indeed caused considerable losses to the military and people in the base areas behind enemy lines.
At that time, the Eighth Subdistrict of the Hebei Central Military Region of our Eighth Route Army was a key area for the Japanese army to "sweep up," and the Japanese army vainly tried to wipe out our main force, and specially blocked the Ziya River near the Zang Bridge in the north of Xianxian County, in order to raise the water level of the Fuyang River and the Tuotuo River, and to send additional Japanese guards along the river bank and along the highway. During the day, cavalry, bicycles, armored vehicles, and motorboats patrolled back and forth, and at night, fires were raised everywhere to prevent me from crossing the river, and in the area north of the South Tuotuo River, it seemed to relax their vigilance, that is, there were no bunkers and no garrisons, giving people the feeling of a vacuum zone, and once the main force of our army was found, it rushed from all directions to attack and encircle.
Under the leadership of commander Chang Deshan and political commissar Wang Yuanyin, our heroic commanders and fighters of the Eighth Division successfully jumped out of the enemy's large encirclement circle many times, and the enemy's "sweep" basically flew into the air, successfully avoiding the enemy's sharp edge. In early June 1942, the Eighth Divisional Command received an order from its superiors to return the transferred team to the central area. As usual, after receiving the instructions, he quickly ordered the main forces of the Later Eighth Division to move to the Jinluyu area, and he himself led a detachment to garrison Xuecun in Wobei Town, Suning County.
At more than 4 o'clock in the morning on this day, the village was still asleep, commander Chang Deshan led the troops into the snow village, quietly woke up the fellow villagers, numbered the house, set up a guard post, and wanted to rest, just at this time, a reconnaissance officer came to report, in the direction of Liangjia Village on the Hesu Highway, found a long string of lights of the enemy's automobile column, about fifty or sixty vehicles, roaring and driving, was rushing to here, it seems that the Japanese army has discovered the intention of our army's camp.
Commander Chang Deshan was wondering when he received a report from another reconnaissance officer from all the way, saying that the enemy in the direction of Suning County, Xianxian Zangqiao, and Raoyang had large troops dispatched and were advancing towards Xuecun. At this time, if he did not rest for a while, the commander who drank a sip of water immediately arranged his team to prepare for battle.
It turned out that our army had just gained a foothold due to the informant of the traitors, and at that time our army had less than a thousand personnel, no heavy firearms, very few light and heavy machine guns, and a shortage of ammunition; the Japanese army relied on the absolute superiority of nearly five thousand men and horses, and with the cooperation of infantry, horses, artillery, and Tann arms, it rushed from the direction of Liangjia Village, Suning County, Zangqiao, and Raoyang to Xuecun, and meticulously laid down an "iron barrel array" surrounded on all sides, in a vain attempt to "encircle and suppress" the headquarters of the Eighth Sub-district in Yuxuecun.
Chang Deshan, commander of the Eighth Sub-district, and Wang Yuanyin, political commissar, saw the urgency of the situation, immediately led the sub-district organs and troops to fight and go, rushed out of the snow village, and walked to a large open area without villages on the side of the Hesu Highway, although there was a ditch, but it was very shallow, however, when marching rapidly on the highway, a large number of Japanese troops occupied the highest points on both sides of the highway and shot at our army from a commanding height, resulting in heavy casualties in our army, and the comrades-in-arms fought desperately to the death, protecting the commander and the political commissar who rushed through the highway defense line, but still did not get rid of the enemy. Riding high-headed horses and bicycles, they quickly wrapped up from both sides, and their legs were no better than semi-automated instruments.
As soon as the standing commander saw that the critical moment had arrived, he immediately ordered everyone to disperse and break through, so that the enemy would lose its main target, and he himself led one to deal with the enemy on one side, and took the lead in charging, causing the Japanese cavalry to plant their horses one after another, and under his leadership, many soldiers went into battle shirtless, brandished large knives, pounced on the enemy, and fought with the enemy to the death.
Due to the open terrain, too many enemies, advanced means of transportation and weapons, enemy cavalry and car teams from both sides of the roundabout side attack blocking, at this time there is no wind and rain, the weather is dry, several places have not yet been harvested wheat is hit, rising pillar after column of black smoke. At this time, the permanent commander was already injured in many places on his right foot and left hand, and he continued to shoot with his shoulder against the machine gun, covering everyone and fighting and walking, while fighting, he loudly ordered local cadres, confidential personnel, and telegraphers to take off their military uniforms, change into plain clothes, rush out, and let the guards destroy all the documents.
At this time, Chang Deshan because of the excessive bleeding from his injuries, began to blacken his eyes, and hu Delan, the personal guard next to him, saw that the commander was injured and wanted to carry him on his back to break through the siege. Chang Deshan looked at him and said, "Xiao Hu, don't cry, you go fast, I don't want you to sacrifice with me." You rush out, I cover you, go to Baiyangdian to find an organization. Xiao Hu resolutely wanted to carry him, Chang Deshan solemnly ordered: "Xiao Hu, carry out the order", said, Chang Deshan continued to pull the trigger, towards the front of the targetless strafing. Xiao Hu finally broke through the siege, and Commander Chang Deshan was killed by more than twenty bullets.
After Chang Deshan's sacrifice, Wang Yuanyin, a political commissar on the other side, was wounded in the leg and had difficulty moving, and also committed suicide with a pistol. Also sacrificed were Wang Wei, political commissar of the 30th Regiment; Xiao Zhiguo, deputy regiment commander of the 30th Regiment; Shen Xiaotian, secretary of the general branch; Qiu Fuhe, commander of the second battalion of the 23rd Regiment; and Yang Kefu, commander of the reconnaissance unit of the sub-district; in the end, only a hundred or so people of our army retreated to the north to break through the area around Guocun and Xingcun.
Commander Chang Deshan, a native of Yi County, Shandong (present-day Pizhou City, Jiangsu Province), had a very hard family life, his parents died when he was two years old, he herded cattle for landlords at the age of six or seven, joined the Northwest Army as a soldier at the age of 17, and led a squad to join the Red Army in only one year. He successively served as squad leader, platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, and regimental commander, and made many meritorious achievements in the struggle to create revolutionary base areas in "Xiang'exi" and "Xiang'echuanqian." During the Red Army's Long March, he served as chief of staff of the Sixth Division. At the time of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was the commander of the Eighth Subdistrict, commanding the troops to strike at the Japanese puppet army, carrying out a traffic sabotage war, avoiding the real and the virtual, skillfully maneuvering with the enemy, and restraining the Japanese army's crazy sweep of the base areas. If he had not sacrificed, he would have been a division-level general during the Red Army period, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he would have spoken of the rank of lieutenant general.
Political commissar Wang Yuanyin was a native of Wutai, Shanxi, who was a middle school student in Beiping before the July 7 Incident, a backbone member of the 129 Movement, and an underground party member. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he participated in the organization of the Beiping Xishan Guerrilla Group, and later served as deputy director of the Political Department in the first sub-district of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Shrewd and capable, good at speaking and writing, were outstanding intellectual cadres in the people's army at that time, as well as Wang Wei, political commissar of the Thirty Regiments, deputy regimental commander, and other outstanding Red Army cadres who went through the Long March.
Seven senior cadres at or above the regimental level in a sub-district of the Eighth Route Army were all martyred. The high rate of sacrifice of front-line commanders is rare in the history of Chinese and foreign wars. This is the arduous battlefield behind the anti-Japanese enemy lines, and this is the anti-Japanese soldiers who have followed the previous servants! In order to commemorate their exploits, the local people built the Snow Village Breakthrough Monument for future generations to hang forever. Everyone who came here to pay respects composed a song of heroic praise for the martyrs with the spirit of fearless sacrifice, and built one immortal historical monument after another with incomparable reverence.