Mine warfare is the most important part of the history of the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people. Together with tunnel warfare and sparrow warfare, it is the most important method of warfare for the anti-Japanese armed forces under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, especially the militias in the base areas, and is the symbol and symbol of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In 1962, bayi Film Studio filmed a militia traditional teaching film, "Mine Warfare", which extended the influence of this unique method of warfare to several generations. The heroic village of Zhaojiazhuang in the film is based on the village of Zhao Yan located in the Penzi Mountains of Haiyang County, Jiaodong Peninsula. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Haiyang militia, represented by the villages of Zhao Yan, Wen Shanhou, Xiaotan, Xiaoji, Yejia, Luanjia, and Kunli, actively used landmines and other self-made weapons to comprehensively carry out the struggle against "sweeping" and "encroachment," defeating the strong with the weak and defeating the foreign countries with soil, thus fully demonstrating the tremendous power of the people's war.
The movie "Mine Warfare" extends the impact of mine warfare in Haiyang to several generations
However, it was not Haiyang that first attempted mine warfare in the Shandong base area, but the neighboring DazeShan in Pingdu County (Haiyang now belongs to Yantai, while Pingdu belongs to Qingdao). In July and August 1940, the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army eliminated the Kuomintang diehard Shen Guanchen and liberated the Daze Mountains, which became the center of the Ping (Degree) Zhao (Yuan) Lai (Yang) Ye (County) Anti-Japanese Base Area. In order to encircle and "encroach" on the base area, the Japanese Kou successively established more than 20 strongholds around Mount Osawa, and often went into the mountains to "sweep" and harass and plunder. In order to defend the base areas, under the leadership of Fu Jianwu, director of the Western Maritime Armed Forces Commission, a joint defense of the Gaojia militia composed of five villages, namely Gaojia, Leek Garden, Nantai, Beitai, and Suoli, was established.
Sculpture of the "Copper Wall and Iron Wall" of the Osawa Mountain Militia holding a gun in one hand and a thunder in the other
At the beginning of the formation of the militia, guns and ammunition were extremely scarce, so everyone used their brains and actively sought various weapons to protect their families and kill the enemy. There was a stonemason in Gaojia Village named Gao Fanghe, who was inspired by the cannon quarrying and set up an explosive device in the chisel hole of the xiangshi wall near the main road. However, because it was ignited by using a reed pipe containing black medicine, it was impossible to accurately control the timing of the detonation, and it did not play a role, but only frightened the Japanese puppet army that was preparing to enter the village to rob, thinking that the militia was prepared, and folded back halfway. Although the initial battle was not completely won, the militiamen were not discouraged; they referred to the "ground gun" structure of badgers in their spare time, changed the explosive device to pull fire and ignite it, and changed the installation of holes in a fixed position to fill them with ready-made stone holes to facilitate the laying.
Fu Jianwu wrote a monograph entitled "20 Tactics of militia warfare", which scientifically summarized mine warfare
With stone mines, the Osawa-san militia has an inexhaustible and powerful weapon for fighting the enemy. In the autumn of 1941, the Gaojia Joint Defense Militia used stone mines on a large scale for the first time, laying a minefield in the river beach northwest of Gaojia Village, killing and injuring more than 50 Japanese puppet troops who came to "sweep up", and achieving the first major victory in mine warfare. In the winter of 1942, the Japanese Kou gathered more than 1,500 people to "attack" the Osawa Mountains again, and more than 30 stone mines were heard in less than one square kilometer, with more than 70 casualties. In October 1943, more than 3,000 enemies in Pingdu and Yexian counties once again carried out a dragnet "sweep", and the local militia cooperated with the main force of the Eighth Route Army to lay mines in the villages of Leek Garden and Gaojia, killing more than 250 enemy prisoners. The village of Gumiao in Pingdu County was across the river from the Datian stronghold set up by the Japanese army, and the militia of the village planted more than 500 mines along the river, forcing the enemy to never dare to cross the river to attack.
The Osawa-san militia planted mines on the enemy's inevitable path
Haiyang County, east of Mt. Daze, is the seat of the jiaodong district party committee and administrative organs, and its location is very important; in particular, in the Hai (Yang) Lai (Yang) Border Area, in the west is the Yan (Taiwan) Qing (Island) Highway controlled by the enemy and puppets, and in the southwest there is the Kuomintang surrender faction Zhao Baoyuan's troops, which are the forefront of the three-way contacts between the enemy and us, and the situation of struggle is very grim. In order to better defend himself and strike at the enemy, in the spring of 1943, Luan Jinjie, director of the Haiyang County Armed Forces Committee, went to DazeShan Leek Garden and Beitai Village, participated in a two-month mine training course held by the West Sea Armed Forces Committee, learned the technique of making and laying stone mines, and participated in actual combat exercises when the enemy attacked Daze Mountain. In May of the same year, the Haiyang County Armed Forces Committee held a meeting of directors of the armed forces committees of various districts in Shabuqian Village, Xiaoji District, at which Luan Jinjie introduced the experience of the Dazeshan militia in using mines to kill and injure the enemy, put forward a preliminary plan for carrying out mine warfare in the whole county, and taught the basic methods of laying mines on the spot by Luan Jinjie, and also issued some iron-shelled mines to all districts. After the meeting, the district armed forces committees then convened a meeting of the heads of the villagers and soldiers to introduce the methods of mine-making and mine-laying, and to distribute the mines to the key villages frequently harassed by the enemy for use.
Luan Jinjie, founder of Haiyang Mine Warfare (first from right)
In the study and promotion stage, Luan Jinjie ran around and guided the villagers. At the end of May, Yu Fengming, deputy captain of the Ruiyu Villagers' Militia, buried the mines issued on the road, killing and injuring five Japanese puppet soldiers who came out of the xingcun stronghold to grab wheat. Soon, a mine from The village militia of Xiaotan, Sun Chunfan, and other generals laid a mine into a clip mine, buried it on the enemy's bridge repair site in the village stronghold, and deliberately left traces. Zhao Yan, Wenshanhou and other villages have also successively received good news of the success of the actual mine battle. At first, mine warfare was fought in only a few villages adjacent to enemy strongholds, and gradually covered the entire county. The Haiyang militia saw the effects of landmines in practice, began to scramble to learn how to mine-lay mines, and forged an indissoluble relationship with mine warfare in the following decades. Luan Jinjie himself later served as the chief of the political department of the Jiaodong Military Region, and went to the northeast in 1946, where he served as the vice mayor of Luda City, but unfortunately died prematurely in 1949 due to overwork.
Yu Fengming, who created the first record of killing the enemy in Haiyang mine warfare, was later named "Jiaodong Militia Hero"
The biggest highlight of the Haiyang mine warfare is that in a small area adjacent to Zhao Yan Township and Xingcun Town in the county, three famous militia heroes who are famous throughout the country have emerged. Zhao Shoufu of Zhao Yan Village (one of the prototypes of Zhao Hu in "Mine Warfare"), together with militia captain Zhao Tonglun and others, seriously studied the laying method, and in August 1943, two mines they buried at the top of Zaobu successfully exploded, killing and wounding 5 puppet soldiers. Zhao Shoufu and others also targeted more than 30 new types of mines, such as "mother-daughter mines," "hair and silk mines," "delayed spontaneous mines," and "long vine mines," and worked out new tactics such as "true and false minefields," "actively luring the enemy," and "sending mines to the door," cracking the enemy's conspiracy, and killing and injuring a large number of Japanese and pseudo-living forces.
The three national militia heroes emerging in Haiyang are Zhao Shoufu, Yu Huahu and Sun Yumin from left to right
Yu Huahu of Wenshan Hou Village (another prototype of Zhao Hu in "Mine Warfare") and Li Shuzi of the same village fought the first battle at Wild Tiger Ridge, and the two iron mines all exploded, killing 7 enemy people. They did not wait to rely on it, they created a large number of stone mines on their own, in just one battle, they used more than 70 stone mines to kill and injure 17 enemy people, setting off a wave of large-scale stone mines in the whole county, iron and stone mines were used together, so that the power of mine warfare was doubled. In terms of combat methods, Yu Huahu and others took the lead in adopting the method of "flying and exploding," taking advantage of the militia's familiarity with the terrain and roads to quickly lay mines and hang strings in the direction of the enemy's travels, overcoming the shortcomings of the traditional method of passively treating the enemy with landmines. In Xiaotan Village, Xingcun Town, there is a 16-year-old goddess gunner Sun Yumin (one of the prototypes of Magnolia in "Mine Warfare"), 2 mines killed 4 enemies, and led more than 40 women in the village to learn to lay mines. She also combined sparrow warfare with mine warfare, harassed and injured the Japanese puppet army, and achieved many victories, and in the spring and summer of 1945, during the "anti-sweeping" struggle, she and her fellow villagers and soldiers and the enemy circumnavigated for 105 consecutive days, killing 17 enemy soldiers.
Zhao Shoufu received a pennant prize and a weapon used
Entering 1945, the Japanese Kou, who were not willing to accept defeat, were dying and struggling, on the one hand, shrinking the front line and sticking to the stronghold of the main line of sea and land transportation, on the other hand, they pooled their troops and carried out a crazy "sweep" of the Penzi Mountains. The Haiyang militia changed its tactics at the right time, using mines to block enemy strongholds and break the enemy's lines of communication; at the same time, in coordination with the main forces, they set up a "mine feast" in the mountainous areas, forcing the enemy to be unable to grab grain and stay for a long time. Zhao Shoufu, Yu Huahu, and others devised a "nail mine" to deal with cars, specifically bombing the enemy convoy transporting grain through the Qingwei Highway. When the enemy saw that the highway was impassable, he instead transported grain from the coastline south of He Jia, and Sun Zaoxun, Sun Yumin, and others developed "water mines" loaded in gourds, which were laid out adjacent to the Qingwei Highway and the Gangliu Ferry, and 7 mines blew up 13 enemy soldiers who were transporting materials. Zhao Yan, Wen Shanhou and Xiaotan, 3 villages have become "Jiaodong Model Explosion Village". In late July, the Haiyang County CPC Committee and the County Armed Forces Department held a county-wide militia hero model meeting in Gaojiazhuang, calling on the vast number of militiamen to take the initiative to attack the enemy and "drive the devils out of the Basin Mountains." After the meeting, mine warfare quickly advanced to the periphery and interior of the enemy's stronghold, and the militiamen also divided the scope, and a certain village or several villages bombed a certain stronghold or a certain hill, and for a time there were thunder everywhere and explosions from time to time, and the Japanese puppet army was in a dilemma, unable to survive in peace, and had to shrink into several major strongholds such as the county seat.
The Haiyang militia innovated and created a large number of mine varieties and tactics
As the record continues to increase, so does the reputation of Haiyang Mine Warfare. In his memoirs, "In the Years of Anti-"Sweeping" in Jiaodong, Xu Shiyou pointed out that "the militia in Haiyang is famous for mine warfare throughout Jiaodong." In order to expand the scope of mine application, under the command of the Jiaodong Military Region, from 1944 to 1945, more than 60 "explosion kings" and technical experts, such as Zhao Shoufu, Yu Huahu, Yu Fengming, Zhao Tonglun, and Luan Hengyue, were successively selected from the Haiyang militia to form an expeditionary explosive team, go to other places to cooperate with the troops in combat, and train the backbone of mine warfare for the local militia and troops. In October 1944, Yu Huahu led 5 members of the team to carry out mine warfare on the Yan (Taiwan) Wei (County) line, which lasted more than 4 months, and they taught more than 1,000 militiamen mine-laying techniques in The Area of Huang County and Penglai, planted more than 20 mines in Penglai City at a time, and killed and wounded 28 Japanese puppet troops. In January 1945, the Jiaodong Wushu Committee sent Yu Fengming to lead a 4-man bombing group to Penglai to carry out a mission, teaching more than 600 troops and militiamen in 10 days, and laying a blockade of the enemy's Daxindian stronghold, causing more than 40 enemy casualties, and was commended by the Jiaodong Wushu Committee. At the beginning of May of the same year, Zhao Tonglun was dispatched by the Jiaodong Military Commission to lead Zhao Bingkun and 5 other members of the team to form the "Jiaodong Expedition Explosion Team" to go to the Lancun area along the Jiaoji Railway to cooperate with the Xihai Independent Regiment in combat, and destroyed the enemy's railway tracks three times, resulting in a long-term interruption in the enemy's railway transportation.
The Haiyang militia has formed expeditionary explosive teams on many occasions to cooperate with the troops in other places
During the entire period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Haiyang militia fought more than 2,000 battles alone or in conjunction with the main force, killed and wounded more than 1,500 enemy prisoners, captured more than 600 weapons of various kinds, and emerged more than 500 heroic models at or above the county level, including Zhao Shoufu, Yu Huahu, and Sun Yumin, three national militia heroes, 13 Jiaodong militia heroes, 99 Jiaodong militia models, and 11 Jiaodong explosion kings, and Haiyang County has been awarded the glorious titles of "Model County for Militia Work" and "Model County for Combat." Driven by it, mine warfare has continued to be promoted throughout the Shandong base area, and Yinan, Huangxian and other places have successively become models of new mass explosive movements. Mine warfare in the Shandong base areas not only made outstanding contributions to the victory of the local war of resistance, but also effectively supported the struggles of other base areas. Until the period of the War of Liberation, the vast number of Shandong militiamen still regarded landmines as an important weapon in fighting against the enemy, inherited and continuously carried forward the glorious tradition of mine warfare, and in many major battles such as the Battle of Laiwu, in coordination with the main forces of the People's Liberation Army, effectively delayed the actions of the Kuomintang army, gave them heavy casualties to their living forces, and wrote a glorious chapter in the history of the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people.
The "Haiyang Zhao Shoufu No. 1 Explosion Team" award flag was awarded to militia hero Zhao Shoufu
The reason why Haiyang mine warfare is famous throughout the country is not only due to the great achievements made during the war years, but also to the enduring publicity of the movie "Mine Warfare", and also to the far-reaching impact of the nationwide militia and mass blasting training in the 1960s and 1970s. Especially after 1966, as a successful example of mao Zedong's people's war ideology, the small Haiyang County has received foreign guests from more than 30 countries and regions such as Albania, Palestine, Romania, Tanzania, and Vietnam to visit and study, bringing the impact of mine warfare to the whole world, so it has a higher reputation and popularity than the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, which carried out mine warfare earlier. Mount Osawa did not have such treatment, and its history as the authentic birthplace of mine warfare in Shandong gradually disappeared.
In the 1970s, the village was trained by the militia of Wenshuiquan Village in Yimeng, and the village was also a model village for mine warfare during the War of Resistance
The last reason for the fame of Haiyang mine warfare is that after entering the 21st century, the local government has increased the excavation and integration of red cultural resources, and has successively built the Mine Warfare Memorial Hall, the Mine Warfare Scenic Area, the Xu Shiyou Memorial Hall in Jiaodong and the Mine Warfare Site, etc. The red scenic spots related to mine warfare account for more than a quarter of the city's A-class scenic spots. In turn, it has further established and consolidated the image of Haiyang mine warfare and further enhanced its visibility.
Group portraits of militia sculptures in the Haiyang Mine Warfare Museum today