A nation with hope cannot do without heroes, and a country with a future cannot do without pioneers. In the course of the founding of New China, countless heroic figures who could sing and weep emerged, who spared no effort to sprinkle their blood and lives on the land of China and illuminate the way forward for future generations.
Dong Cunrui blew up the bunker
In the primary school Chinese textbook, there is a popular text "Dong Cunrui sacrificed himself to blow up the bunker", which described in detail the heroic deeds of Dong Cunrui, a soldier of the People's Liberation Army, and the sentence "For the sake of new China, move forward!" "Touched generation after generation of Chinese.
The people of Longhua County, Hebei Province, erected a monument for this 19-year-old young soldier who carried an explosive pack in his hand and blew up the enemy's bunker with his flesh and blood, built a martyrs' cemetery, and remembered the heroic souls of the martyrs. After the founding of New China, 220,000 Chinese spontaneously organized themselves and petitioned the Central Committee to implore the great leader Chairman Mao to write an inscription for Dong Cunrui.
What people did not expect, however, was that the people of Longhua sent special personnel to Beijing five times to ask Chairman Mao for an inscription, but they did not return to any availability. The slightly disappointed people of Longhua had to sit down and think deeply about what kind of considerations Chairman Mao had, and why didn't they write an inscription for Dong Cunrui?
Dong Cunrui
Dong Cunrui, a native of Nanshanbao, Huailai County, Chahar (present-day Hebei Province), was born in 1929. Dong Cunrui has six brothers and sisters, due to the poverty of the family, the three sisters were sent to other people's homes as child brides at a very young age, leaving only him and his younger brother Dong Cunjin and younger sister Dong Cunmei in the family. In order to reduce the burden on the family, Dong Cunrui dropped out of school early and helped his parents do housework and farm work, which caused him a lot of hardships.
However, even such a difficult day did not last long, in 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, the Japanese army trampled on the land of North China, and Huailai, who was not far from Beiping, bore the brunt of it. Dong Cunrui witnessed the shattering of mountains and rivers and knew that only the War of Resistance to Save the Country was the only way out for the sons and daughters of China.
In 1942, Wang Ping, secretary of the Huailai District Committee of the Communist Party of China, went to Nanshan Fort to publicize the anti-war ideas, but was rounded up by the Japanese army and was in danger. At the critical moment, 13-year-old Dong Cunrui stepped forward and hid Wang Ping in his home to avoid a disaster. Dong Cunrui's feats were highly appreciated by the organization and awarded him the title of "Little Hero of The Anti-Japanese Resistance", which was also the first time in his life that he was commended, and further strengthened his determination to resist Japan and save the country.
In 1943, the organization formed a children's regiment in Nanshan Fort, and Dong Cunrui took the initiative to ask for help, served as the leader of the children's regiment, and undertook the task of standing guard and passing on information for the Eighth Route Army. According to Dong Cunrui's childhood playmate Dong Lianzhu recalled: "Dong Cunrui was very bold, and once he brought home the unexploded bombs of the Japanese army and put the explosives inside into a homemade detonator and became a tool to deal with the enemy. ”
3 "Brave Medals" won by Dong Cunrui
In 1944, Dong Cunrui joined the local militia and married Lu Changling of a neighboring village in this year. Lu Changling is three years older than Dong Cunrui, although it is the order of his parents, but the married life of the two is very harmonious.
In August 1945, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stage of the Great Counteroffensive, Dong Cunrui said goodbye to his weeping wife on his back and joined the Eighth Route Army. Before leaving, 16-year-old Dong Cunrui made a promise to his wife that when the war was over, he would come back to live a peaceful life, and if he could not come back, Lu Changling would find a good family to marry.
In this year, Dong Cunrui officially joined the Eighth Route Army, and the unit number was 6 6 companies, 2 battalions, 24 regiments of the 9th Brigade of the Jireliao Military Region. In the following two years, he made three major merits and four small merits, and was awarded three "BraveRy Medals", shining in the land of North China.
In 1947, Dong Cunrui joined the party with honor and solemnly swore an oath under the party flag: I will hand myself over to the party and fight for the cause of communism all my life!
Stills in Dong Cunrui and Lu Changling
In 1948, when the War of Liberation entered the decisive stage, our Northeast Field Army launched a large-scale offensive against the Kuomintang troops entrenched in the northeast, dividing and encircling the enemy in three isolated strongholds of Shenyang, Changchun, and Jinzhou, and a major decisive battle was about to begin.
In order to cooperate with the actions of the Northeast Field Army, Chairman Mao put forward the strategic concept of "liberating Ji Chaliao" and completely blocking the way for the Northeast Kuomintang Army to flee south. In May of the same year, He Jinnian led the 11th Column of Dongye to attack Longhua County, and Dong Cunrui's 6th Company was responsible for covering the main force from the flank and capturing Longhua Middle School.
On May 24, the day before the general offensive was launched, the 6th Company held an oath-taking meeting to mobilize soldiers to actively participate in the commando. Dong Cunrui, the leader of the 6th squad, was the first to stand up and ask for help: "Our 6th squad requested the execution of the blasting mission, and we promised: We will also take the Longhua position when we die, and we will never fail to live up to the expectations of the commander and the soldiers of the whole company!" The company commander, Dong Cunrui, was so resolute that he appointed him as the leader of the demolition team and led the commando team to launch an attack on Longhua Middle School.
In the early morning of May 25, three signal bombs illuminated the night sky, and the general offensive officially began. After a night of fierce fighting, by noon, the People's Liberation Army had broken through the moss mountain position located northwest of Longhua and planted the red flag on the highest peak of moss mountain.
Dong Cunrui's comrade-in-arms Zhi Shunyi
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the People's Liberation Army began to attack Longhua Middle School. Longhua Middle School is an important stronghold guarded by the enemy, in order to block the advance of the People's Liberation Army, the enemy built a large number of dark forts around it, using the dark fort as a cover, using machine guns and submachine guns to form crossfire, blocking the way forward of the 6 companies.
When the 6th Company marched to the area of the Arid Bridge and Ditch outside the city, it was suppressed by the enemy's bunker on the bridge and could not lift its head. At this time, the brother troops had already entered the middle school from the other direction, and if they could not break through the enemy bunker, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Company commander, I'm on!" Just when the company commander was extremely anxious, a familiar voice sounded in his ears. The company commander turned his head to see that it was Dong Cunrui, the leader of the 6th squad.
The company commander hesitated: "No, you have already carried out several blasting missions, and our 6th Company still needs a squad leader..."
Before the company commander's voice could be heard, Dong Cunrui preemptively said: "I am a Communist, and I should be the first to go up, and I can't blow up the enemy's bunker, so I won't come back to see you!" ”
Seeing that Dong Cunrui was so resolute, the company commander tearfully agreed to his request and instructed: "Well, you go, you must pay attention to concealment!" ”
Dong Cunrui painting
In this way, Dong Cunrui carried the explosives package, and the leader of the 7th squad, Xi Shunyi, who carried the grenade on his shoulder, stepped out of the trench and braved the rain of bullets and bullets to creep toward the enemy's bunker on the bridge. Looking at the stoic bodies of the two men, the company commander immediately called for cover from the machine gunners.
Under the cover of their comrades-in-arms, Dong Cunrui and Xi Shunyi climbed to a distance of 40 meters from the bunker. Dong Cunrui made a gesture for Xi Shunyi to throw a grenade at the bunker, and he rushed out with an arrow and instantly burst under the bridge. The enemy inside the bunker spotted Dong Cunrui and kept firing bullets at him, one of which hit him in the leg.
Dong Cunrui was injured by a bullet and almost couldn't stand, but he didn't have time to bandage the wound, so he began to observe the terrain under the bunker, but this look startled Dong Cunrui into a cold sweat. He found that under the enemy's bunker was a flat roof, it was impossible to place explosive packages, and on both sides were smooth walls, and there was no place to make supports for explosive packages. If the explosive package is placed on the riverbed, and it does not have a good explosive effect, it is impossible to destroy the bunker, and more comrades will be sacrificed.
The time for the total attack has arrived, and I can't take care of so much. Only to see Dong Cunrui limping, straightening his body, raising his left arm, lifting the explosive package above his head, dead at the bottom of the bunker, and then facing forward and pulling open the fuse.
"Dong Cunrui!" Zhi Shunyi, who was closest to Dong Cunrui, saw the scene in front of him and suddenly understood that he was going to sacrifice himself for righteousness and use his flesh and blood to blow up the enemy's bunker.
"Shunyi, lie down!" Dong Cunrui shouted out the last voice at the moment of life and death. Later, after the film adaptation, Dong Cunrui's last sentence before his sacrifice was changed to "For the sake of new China, chong!" ", is a perfect summary of the heroic image of this heroic who is not afraid of sacrifice and sacrifices himself to blow up the bunker.
With a loud roar, the enemy's bunker was blown away, and Dong Cunrui was also blown to pieces, heroically sacrificed, and fell in the good old age of 19. His comrade-in-arms, Zhi Shunyi, was also thrown by the aftermath of the explosion and fell into the ditch.
For the sake of new China, rush! The soldiers of the 6th Company shouted the slogan of "avenging Dong Cunrui", jumped up from the trenches, stepped on the passage that Dong Cunrui exploded with his life, and after fierce fighting, finally raised the bright red flag at Longhua Middle School.
Chairman Mao
After the battle, Cheng Zihua, commander of the military region, went to the front line to offer condolences, saw the soldiers crying in a circle, and only when they asked did they realize that their comrade-in-arms Dong Cunrui, who supported the explosive package with his body, blew up the enemy's bunker, but he himself sacrificed. The comrades-in-arms had been in the rubble for a long time, and not only had they not found the bones of the squad leader, but not even a fragment of clothing had been found.
After listening to the soldiers' stories, Cheng Zihua could not help but burst into tears, and he immediately asked his secretary to collect the deeds of Dong Cunrui and write a report and publish it on the front page of the "Mass Daily" to publicize the heroic deeds of the soldiers and civilians in the base areas. In this way, the deeds of Dong Cunrui's sacrifice to blow up the bunker were widely known.
The Republic did not forget its heroes, and in September 1950, Dong Cunrui was posthumously recognized as a national combat hero and awarded the "Chairman Mao Medal". In 1954, Dong Cunrui, Liu Hulan, Huang Jiguang, Qiu Shaoyun and five other heroic martyrs were compiled into the "Model of Young Chinese Heroes" and became a model for hundreds of millions of young people to learn.
Nor have the people forgotten the heroes. In 1954, in Longhua County, where Dong Cunrui died, the local people built a martyrs' cemetery, replaced his bones with a wooden plaque, and buried him in the cemetery.
Zhu De wrote an inscription for Dong Cunrui
In the winter of 1956, the county government decided to build a monument in the Dong Cunrui Martyrs Cemetery, and considering Dong Cunrui's status as a famous heroic martyr in the country, it was discussed and decided to send a representative to Beijing to apply to Chairman Mao for an inscription for Dong Cunrui on behalf of the 220,000 people in the county.
However, as a representative of the 220,000 people in Longhua County, Ji Xingpo ran to Beijing five times in the six months from the winter of 1956 to the summer of 1957, and did not get Chairman Mao's inscription except for returning a piece of Han white jade. Ji Xingpo was a little puzzled, after Liu Hulan's sacrifice, Chairman Mao twice inscribed "The greatness of life, the glory of death", why did not give Dong Cunrui an inscription?
Originally, this was a decision made by Chairman Mao after careful consideration, and he believed that Liu Hulan was a mass, Dong Cunrui was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army, and it was more appropriate for Zhu De to be the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army or for him to write an inscription for Dong Cunrui.
Therefore, when Ji Xingpo rushed to Beijing for the fifth time, he received a satisfactory answer, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu wrote down with a pen that "sacrificing himself for the country and never dying", and expressed his high respect and endless remembrance to this martyr who sacrificed himself to blow up the bunker.
With this article, I would like to pay tribute to Dong Cunrui and the thousands of martyrs who sacrificed for the country and the people. Although the hero is gone, but the spirit is not destroyed, now the mountains and rivers are unharmed, and the blood and sacrifice of the martyrs will be forever remembered by future generations!