This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The eight soldiers of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, henan contributed 1898356 soldiers, second only to Sichuan in the rear; in the land of the Central Plains, the Chinese army and the Japanese army have been facing each other for a long time, in order to block the Japanese attack, they have fought in Zhengzhou, Xuchang, Luoyang and other places, leaving countless stories to sing and cry. Today's article reviews the defense of Luoyang with one enemy, three enemies, and nine deaths.
Luo Shujing | wen
In April 2012, we interviewed Di Chaoyi, a descendant of the 15th Army, in Huilongguan, Beijing.
When his father, Di Changlun, participated in the Battle of Luoyang in May 1944, he said three times in a row that it was "too tragic." He said that his father was a company commander of the 64th Division at the time, led a company to fight very bravely, and rescued a regimental commander in the pile of dead people, so he was promoted to battalion commander. Because of his meritorious service in battle, he was later promoted by Liu Maoen, the chairman of the province, to the head of the Shaanzhou Security Regiment, and two years later he was promoted to the county magistrate of Lingbao County. But his father belonged to several regiments, battalions and companies, and it was not clear which piece he defended in the Battle of Luoyang. I only heard that the regiment leader's surname was Kong, and there was a pinch of hair on his face.
Di Changyi, a descendant of the 15th Army
Subsequently, I searched the Internet based on these clues, trying to find a trace of "Di lian" participating in the war, but found very little. It is no wonder that if it were not for the report of the deeds of Geng Zhen, the leader of the "Huagang Rebellion", and the unremitting efforts of the local forces in Luoyang, the entire Luoyang Defense War, the battle in the history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which was a battle that felt the heavens and the earth weeping and the ghosts, and the fierce battle of Hengyang, would have been annihilated in the vast ocean of history, not to mention a small junior officer who participated in the war at that time. It was only from then on that I began to pay attention to various reports and reminiscences about the defense of Luoyang.
First, the mountain rain is about to come and the wind will fill the building
Di Chaoyi said that when his father was a company commander, he was stationed in the Xin'an area to guard the river. As soon as he had free time, he was picked up with his mother and grandfather to live in the camp. Once, he was on vacation in elementary school and lived in Luoyang City for a month. With a monthly salary, my father quickly entrusted someone to send him home and let the family buy land. The troops had not confronted the Japanese head-on for three years, and there was some laxity up and down.
In fact, from the end of March 1944, the Japanese army began to gather a large number of troops and launch the Battle of Yuzhong with the main purpose of eliminating the main force of the Field Army of the First Theater and capturing the capital Luoyang.
The Japanese army first dispatched about 100,000 enemy troops originally stationed in various parts north of the Yellow River, and placed the main force of its 12th Army in the area around Kaifeng and Xinxiang; the 69th Division of the 1st Army and the independent mixed 3rd Brigade regiment were deployed on the north bank of the Yellow River in southern Jin; the Central China Front sent the 11th Brigade of Independent Infantry and one of the 65th Divisions to the Zhengyangguan area of western Anhui Province, under the command of General Okamura Ningji, commander-in-chief of the North China Front, and reassigned the Fifth Air Force with 200 fighters to attack Yuzhong by separate routes. The use of the method of sweeping warfare combing grate warfare and shuttling back and forth caused our anti-Japanese field army to be unable to fight as a whole, and the war situation was extremely bad.
In May 1944, the Japanese bombed Luoyang Airfield
Jiang Dingwen, commander of the First Theater, did not pay enough attention to the frequent movements and strategic intentions of the enemy. Before the battle began, Jiang Dingwen held a meeting of senior generals in Luoyang and demanded that all group armies and officer commanders move their officers' dependents, bulky luggage, and important documents to the rear as soon as possible, without talking about the attempts, objectives, and strength of the Japanese army, as well as the adjustment and deployment of our troop strength. At the meeting, General Li Jiajue, commander-in-chief of the 36th Army, advocated taking the initiative, but the proposal was not adopted.
Jiang Dingwen believes that since the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain in May 1941, the Japanese army and the first theater have been facing each other across the river for 3 years, and the Japanese army has not broken through the defense line on the south bank of the first theater because of the solid and solid deployment of the Japanese army, so that the Japanese army does not dare to act rashly and cross the mine pond for half a step. Therefore, there is no need to adjust the defensive line in the first war zone, let alone make a fuss about attacking everywhere, as long as it sits on the Diaoyutai. What is even more surprising is that he also set up the chief's headquarters in Luoyang City. Deputy Commander Tang Enbo also set up a deputy commander's department and stationed in Ye County. The two were not convinced.
At this time, the Japanese army had already used the "bridge building machine" to repair the Yellow River Iron Bridge. On the night of April 17, the 37th Division of the Japanese 12th Army and the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade first forcibly crossed the Huangpan area from the Area of Zhongmu. In front of the superior strength of the Japanese army, Tang Enbo's first-line strongholds were lost after fierce battles, and he tried to "counterattack the enemy who crossed the enemy with all his strength", but the Chongqing side ordered the consolidation of Xuchang and the strongholds of Wuyang, Ye County, Mi County, Yu County, and Linru to the west, waiting for the opportunity to "flank the enemy advancing westward with the main force".
Tang Enbo divided his forces into two corps, the north and the south. With Li Xianzhou as its commander, the Southern Corps commanded the 12th, 29th, provisional 15th Armies, and the Pan-Eastern Advance Army; the Northern Corps, with Wang Zhonglian as its commander, commanded the 13th and 85th Armies, which were given the task of holding firm and attacking, respectively.
The mechanized troops of the Japanese army drove straight into the central Henan Plain, as if entering no man's land. On the 22nd, Zhengzhou and Xinzheng fell.
The Japanese troops who besieged the city were menacing
After that, the Japanese army marched forward to the western section of longhai road with the main force, pointing to Luoyang, and then went south along the Pinghan Road with another part, capturing Xuchang on May 1. At the same time, the Japanese troops who were originally in Xinyang also committed crimes along the Pinghan Road, and on May 8, the Japanese troops on the north and south roads met xiping and opened the southern section of the Pinghan Road. At this time, the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Yellow River also crossed the river from Bailang and Nankou in Shichi and attacked east along the Longhai Road, and the enemy of Mengjin also took the back of Luoyang from the north, and the ancient city of Luoyang fell into a three-sided encirclement.
According to the "Memoirs of Liu Mao'en", the seventh chapter of the "History of the Bloody War of the Japanese Army" written by the Japanese Itten Zhengde after the war, "The Mainland Opens Up Operations", said: "The radio code (code) of the Japanese army against Tang Enbo is like the United States interpreting the Japanese army, and it has also been interpreted by the Japanese army, so for the Tang Army's combat intentions and actions, for the Japanese army, it is really very familiar..." Think about it, how terrible it is! The great war has not yet begun, the strategic intentions and actions have been interpreted by the enemy, how can it be undefeated?
On May 7, seeing that Luoyang was not safe, Jiang Dingwen hastily led his headquarters out of Luoyang, the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties, that night, and retreated along the Luo River Valley towards Lu. According to the orders he left behind before his departure, the difficult task of defending Luoyang fell to Wu Tinglin's 15th Army.
Second, the 15th Army was in danger
Wu Tinglin,Trumpet Qifeng,a native of Yichuan, Henan. He was 52 years old. In his early years, because his father was killed by the enemy family, he threw himself into the rong and joined the model regiment of Zhang Xiaobu as a student soldier. He participated in the Northern Expedition in 1927. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, as the commander of the 64th Division of the 15th Army, he followed Liu Maoen to the Shanxi front and participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan, the Battle of Xinkou, and several battles of Zhongtiao Mountain, showing heroism. In October 1939, he was appointed commander of the 15th Army.
Luoyang can be said to be Wu Tinglin's base camp, he went to school here when he was a child, and later joined the army, bought property, founded Heluo Middle School, Heluo Library, etc., so his feelings for Luoyang are self-evident. The predecessor of the 15th Army was the Zhensong Army in the Minyuan Period, most of which were sons of Yuxi. Later, through the reorganization and training of professional soldier Liu Maoen, he gradually broke away from the colors of "bandits" and "generals" and became a regular unit with strong combat effectiveness. This army did not want to see its hometown fall, and its enthusiasm for defending the country was very high.
The 94th Division, which was temporarily assigned to Wu Tinglin, was commanded by Zhang Shiguang, who belonged to the 14th Army and the Sichuan Army, and most of the officers and men at the grass-roots level were students of the Whampoa Military Academy and lacked actual combat experience. However, the will to fight is very strong.
On May 7, Wu Tinglin received orders: First, Wu Tinglin, commander of the 15th Army, commanded the 94th Division to serve as the garrison of Luoyang; second, the 94th Division stubbornly defended luoyang city, and the 15th Army occupied the existing positions on the outskirts of Luoyang, and cooperated with the 94th Division to hold Luoyang for 10 to 15 days. On the same day, Jiang Dingwen sent a telegram ordering Wu Tinglin to be the commander of the Luoyang Garrison District.
After receiving the task, Wu Tinglin immediately adjusted the deployment of Luoyang. The original positions around Luoyang were constructed according to the strength of 12 regiments, but at present, there are only 7 regiments in total, and the strength of the troops is seriously insufficient. There were only 4 regiments in the two divisions of the 15th Army, of which the 190th Regiment of the 64th Division and the 193rd Regiment of the 65th Division were now being reorganized in the rear. The 94th Division had 3 regiments and was still fully staffed. After study, it was decided to divide the entire position into three areas: Xigong, Qiuling, and Chengxiang, and to hold it firmly, with The 94th Division led by Zhang Shiguang as the garrison of the Chengxiang District; The 64th Division led by Liu Xianjie as the garrison of the Xigong District; the 65th Division led by Commander Li Jiyun as the garrison of Qiuling, and the 3rd Company of Field Artillery attached to the artillery battalion directly under the army occupied the position in the yuecun, Gejialing, Shangqing Palace, Zhuangwangshan, and Shijiagou areas.
At this time, Wu Tinglin had put a lot of thought into personnel arrangements, and was completely out of a sense of justice: the 64th Division was his hardcore, and although it lacked troops, it was assigned to the most important Western industrial position; The commander of the 65th Division, Li Jiyun, who was from Huangpu, had always looked down on the commander of the Wu Army, who was born as a "general", and was sent to the relatively safe position of Qiuling, while the 94th Division was a friendly army, and had nothing to do with the 15th Army, so it was sent to the safest chengxiang area to guard.
After receiving the order, the troops immediately moved, and at dawn on the 8th, they all reached the new defensive zone, entered the positions, built and strengthened the fortifications, and made pre-war preparations.
In order to stop the Japanese advance, the Chinese defenders endured the pain of blowing up the bridge, and the remnants of the bridge still stand on the Luo River.
Liu Xianjie, commander of the 64th Division, was Liu Zhenhua's eldest son and Liu Mao'en's nephew. Immediately after receiving the task, we summoned the cadres at and above the level of the company and battalion commander to a meeting, arranged to guard the Western Industrial Position, and with the determination of "surviving step by step, we can die at any time," we exchanged encouragement with all officers and men to achieve the sacred mission entrusted by our superiors.
On May 9, the enemy on the Longmen Street side attacked along the main road. At dusk, it burst to the south bank of the Luo River and began shelling across the river. At dawn on the 10th, the enemy from Yiyang passed through Sanshan Village, about 20 miles southwest of Luoyang City, on the north bank of the Liluo River, and waded in groups like bears in the dim winding moonlight. At 8:00 a.m., it attacked the position of the 192nd Regiment of the 64th Division along the Qilihe River, and then detoured to the east of the town of Zijian and attacked the position of the 191st Regiment of the 64th Division around Zhuangwangshan and Litun at noon. The officers and men of the two regiments of the 64th Division saw the enemy coming and vowed to fight with him to the death.
On the morning of May 11, the enemy to the east of the city wall took advantage of the dawn to attack the positions of the 94th Division and the 194th Regiment of the 65th Division of the Dongguan Division, and the situation was fierce. However, the officers and men of the defenders were able to calmly cope with the battle, rely on their positions, and flexibly use combat technology to repel the enemy one by one.
In the fierce fighting for three consecutive days and three nights, the enemy pounced on the position and immediately expelled from the position, and the position was repeatedly fought for more than a dozen times, killing and wounding more than 2,000 enemy soldiers, and the defenders also suffered heavy casualties. In order to save troops, on the evening of the 12th, the 64th Division abandoned the Western Engineering position and turned to defend the shijiatun in the southern foothills of the Yaoshan Mountains to the guandi temple line in the northwest corner of the city via Miaogou and Yaogou, and the 65th Division mainly defended the line of Wangchaoling, Yingzhuang, Shangqing Palace, Zhuangwangshan, and Houdong on the yaoshan mountain.
Letters from soldiers of the Nationalist Army
On the morning of the 13th, reinforcements from the enemy brigade came, and dozens of chariots were dispatched to cover the brigade's infantry breakthrough into the core position of the Western Works with a powerful and fierce artillery attack, and all the fortifications were destroyed, forming a sea of fire. The defenders used the terraced slopes of the ridges, cliff trenches and village houses to build gun holes, built hidden fire points with concrete and masonry, and connected the fire points with scattered trenches and communication ditches. Erect barbed wire outside the fire points, dig anti-tank trenches and lay mines near anti-tank trenches. Fight with the enemy village by village, and engage in white-knife combat many times.
In this battle, Liu Xianjie, commander of the 64th Division, was deafened by the cannons in both ears.
3. Chiang Kai-shek's warrants and the surrender of the Japanese army
In the afternoon of the 20th, the battle entered a white-hot situation. At this time, the plane also sent Chiang Kai-shek's warrant to the 15th Army: "If you still stick to Luoyang, don't believe the rumors, at the latest one week, I will be responsible for supervising the army and air force to reinforce Luoyang." According to this order, the 15th Army changed its deployment again, except for the east and west stations each set up a strong position, the main force of the army all withdrew into the city, and joined forces with the 94th Division to defend the city.
On May 22, the enemy attacked Luoyang with the 63rd Division, the 3rd Tank Division, the Cavalry Brigade, and the Yetian Corps, which were several times the strength of our defenders.
The city box is the last support point of Luoyang, and it is also the focus of contention between the enemy and us. When Di Chaoyi said "tragic", he meant the final street battle. Outside Luoyang City, a moat about 6 meters wide and 7 to 8 meters deep was dug, and the inside of the trench attracted flowing water to form an artificial moat. Trenches of 2 meters wide and 2 meters deep were dug in the streets and alleys of the city, and the upper part of the trenches was piled up with sacks, sand or masonry to form walls 1.5 meters high and 1 meter wide.
After the 15th Army withdrew into the city on the night of the 22nd, the defensive area of the city was readjusted. The 94th Division guarded the East Half City, East Railway Station and North and South Avenues, the 64th Division guarded the West Gate, Southwest Corner, Jidao Street, Happiness Street, Guxiang Lane and the back alley of Heluo Middle School to Nanchengji, and the 65th Division guarded the West Station and the Northwest Corner. The military headquarters is located in Yiyong Street, and the command office is in the Silver Building of Boseong. The 64th Division headquarters is in the southwest corner, and the 65th Division division headquarters is in Fudan Middle School.
At dawn on May 23, the enemy concentrated more than 30,000 troops on attacking Ximen and persuaded Wu Tinglin to surrender through leaflets and loudspeakers:
“...... Since the Imperial Army entered China, it has been invincible, and it has not been attacked for more than a week without falling. The generals and generals held Luoyang for more than ten days and fulfilled their duty to defend the land... Now, on the outskirts of Luoyang, there are no Chinese troops within a hundred miles, and the reinforcements are hopeless, and it is unwise to sit and wait. One is the general's plan, the other is to prevent the ruins of Luoyang from being destroyed in the war, and it is hoped that the defenders will stop doing useless resistance, and take the truce and submission as the best policy! If they obey the order, from the general down, the officials at all levels will not move, and the salary will be paid. Reply within 24 hours. If you don't obey your orders, the imperial army is ready, the siege can be broken at any time, and then the jade will be burned, and it will be too late to regret it! ”
On May 23, the Japanese commander Hidetaro Uchiyama forced the monks of the White Horse Temple to send a letter of persuasion to the Chinese defenders in the name of "preventing the destruction of the ancient city of Luoyang from being destroyed in the flames of war", but was sternly refused by the commander of the Chinese garrison, General Wu Tinglin.
After receiving the leaflet, Wu Tinglin immediately ordered the only shell to bombard the headquarters of the Japanese 12th Army in Longquangou, North of the city, as a solemn reply: Bloody battle to the end, no compromise! At this time, supplies were cut off, food and ammunition were lacking, and there was no news of rescue, but they still gritted their teeth and struggled.
On 23 May, the battle for the castle was in full swing. Enemy artillery bombarded the city, as well as at The East and West Railway Stations, at Anlewo, Zhougongmiao, Xiguan, Match Company, Miaojiagou, Zhuangwangshan, Shangqing Palace, Gejialing, Wulipu, and Xiayuan Street. About 8,000 rounds of artillery were fired into the city in one day. By night, the enemy's siege strength had increased to more than 35,000, more than 400 chariots, 120 heavy artillery and mechanical guns, and more than 1,000 vehicles for the transfer and transportation of ammunition.
At dawn on the 24th, in addition to the enemy planes flying over Luoyang to bomb, strafe, and distribute leaflets, more than 6,000 enemies launched an attack on the eastern half of the city guarded by the 94th Division, and the two sides launched a fierce battle.
At 12 noon, 120 enemy artillery shells bombarded the city, and the shells rained down, and the exposed fortifications and houses were destroyed. Under the cover of artillery fire, the enemy attacked the city in 6 routes: southwest city corner, west gate, northwest city corner, northeast city corner, east gate, and southeast city corner.
At 3 p.m., the northeast corner defended by the 94th Division and the northwestern corner defended by the 65th Division were breached at the same time. At 4 o'clock, the special office and Fudan Middle School and other places found the enemy. At 5 o'clock, the enemy chariot entered the intersection through North Avenue. The various levels of command of the defenders were cut off section by section. In the case of the interruption of command, the officers and men defending the city used the houses to engage in street battles with the enemy, fighting street by street, and the enemy had to pay a huge price for every step forward.
On the 25th, some officers and soldiers who did not withdraw from the city fought bloody battles with the enemy in more than a dozen streets and alleys
After dusk, the city entered a state of melee. That night, Wu Tinglin ordered all the troops to take the road out of the city and assemble outside Luoyang City.
According to the "Overview of the Operation of the 15th Army Garrison luoyang" and other materials, in the entire battle to defend Luoyang, our officers and men totaled 18,000 people, while the Japanese army invested 50,000 troops. Our defenders captured 2 enemy officers and 5 soldiers, killed and wounded more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, and destroyed more than 60 enemy tanks. The casualties of the 15th Army were also extremely serious, with more than 530 casualties and missing officers and more than 16,000 soldiers, and after the breakthrough, the whole army received only 316 officers and 1,795 soldiers outside Luoyang.
The 94th Division also suffered heavy casualties. According to veteran Gong Shaozhou, he was the commander of the machine gun company of the 1st Battalion of the 81st Regiment of the 94th Division. When the final breakthrough was made, he saw corpses strewn all over Luoyang City, choking people with thick smoke, and guns flying on his head from time to time. The trenches outside the city have been filled with dead bodies. All 100 or so of them were gray-headed, their military uniforms stained with blood, and they were exhausted. In horror, more than 100 pairs of eyes stared at him. Gong Bihua, a distant nephew of his hometown, took his hand and said, "Daddy, no matter what, you must live a few people to return to your hometown in Sichuan to report the news!" Hearing this, his heart was sour, and he was bleeding and wounded during the battle, and when he saw that the brothers had not shed tears after they died, he could not help but burst into tears when he heard these words.
Zhang Shiguang, commander of the 94th Division, said his best four company commanders were killed three people on the same day on May 12 and one was seriously wounded. The four company commanders were Yang Yang, Liu Yachao, Qu Yute, and Zeng Ying, who were guarding the four passes of the east, west, south, and north of Luoyang City. All four were graduates of the 17th infantry section of the Xi'an Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy, and were promoted to company commanders on the same day, all of whom were young talents in their 20s. Liu Yachao, who survived many years later, recalled the other three comrades-in-arms, still full of affection. Liu Yachao's company had 140 men when it entered the battlefield, and by the evening of the 13th, there were few officers and men left who had not been wounded.
4. Heluolang fought bloodily in Luoyang City
The predecessor of the 15th Army was the Zhensong Army, which had long been saddled with the notoriety of bandits. Most of them were disciples of Western Henan; as warlord troops, they followed Liu Zhenhua and Liu Mao'en on an eastern expedition to the west, and participated in the siege of Xi'an in the "disaster of Shaanxi", the Great War in the Central Plains, the rebellion, and the "suppression of the communists", but in the face of the national enemy, their righteousness was awe-inspiring, and the nature of the "humble bandits" was brought into full play and shone with dazzling brilliance.
Di Changlun after the Battle of Luoyang
Di Chaoyi's father, Di Changlun, was supposed to be ordered to reinforce on May 20, when the fighting was at its most intense. According to veterans' recollections, on May 20, Wang Yuzhen, chief of staff of the 64th Division, personally led the division headquarters and one platoon of the special service company of the 65th Division, two platoons of the search company directly under the army, and two companies of the 190th Regiment to reinforce, and fought fiercely against the Japanese army. At the height of the battle, the rush was at the forefront and unfortunately died. Then "Di Lian" is one of these two companies.
Before the start of the war, the 190th Regiment of the 64th Division was ordered to Hubei to replenish. Looking at the entire history of the 15th Army, there is only one 190 regiment commander surnamed Kong Mingjun, who was previously known as "Kong Camp" during the Shanxi War of Resistance, the earliest being "Kong Lian", and later promoted to "Kong Regiment". As for how "Di Lian" drove reinforcements for thousands of miles, how he rescued the Kong Regiment on the battlefield, and how he was promoted in the line of fire, it is unknown.
According to the recollection of veterans of the 15th Army, on May 20, Zhang Yiqun, commander of the 195th Regiment of the 65th Division, was killed in fierce fighting on both sides of Wangshan Mountain in Luoyang zhuang and on the positions north of Shijiatun. On May 20, at the rear cave position in Luoyang, Han Kunsheng, commander of the 2nd Company of the 194th Regiment, captured the Japanese brigade commander Fujimoto, and Japanese soldiers flocked to grab it. Han Kun hurriedly stabbed Fujimoto to death, and he himself fell under the enemy's bayonet. Deputy Company Commander Jia Lemin roared at the sight of the situation, rushed into the enemy group with 8 grenades, and died with more than 50 Japanese troops.
Li Junyi, platoon commander of the 191st Regiment of the 64th Division, led a whole platoon of fighters to block the advance of Japanese tanks with cluster grenades and flesh and blood, blew up 5 Japanese tanks, killed more than 30 enemy soldiers, and none of the officers and men of the whole platoon survived; during the 4 days and 4 nights of the defense battle of the Shangqing Palace, the Japanese army suddenly cast poison gas, and the officers and men still did not flinch and coexisted with the position.
There was also Zhang Chao'an, the company commander of the 64th Division, a native of WenXian County, who was fierce in nature. When guarding the Western Work position, he saw that most of the bunkers were taken by the enemy, and he was very angry, organized death squads to launch a counterattack, charged and fought hard, and recaptured 7 bunkers in a row, and the enemy's corpses were all over the field, and he fled in a hurry. After the death of the platoon leader of the 195th Regiment, the first sergeant squad leader of the 195th Regiment took the initiative to lead the soldiers of the platoon to kill the enemy and hold the bunker, the enemy artillery was fierce, the whole squad was killed in battle, and the squad leader committed suicide... So is Di Lianchang as desperate as these heroes?
Geng Zhen, who suffered nine wounds in the defense of Luoyang and was captured, led the Huagang Rebellion in Japan
The leader of the Huagang rebellion, Geng Zhen, was the commander of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 191st Regiment, 64th Division of the 15th Army. According to his recollection, he led the whole company of fighters, relying on the solid fortifications of the west pond, on the 11th, all day long to block the enemy from crossing the river. On the front of the position were 5 enemy tanks and a large number of infantry, and although our army's firepower was inferior to that of the enemy, it still repelled the other side's repeated attacks. Later, the enemy launched an attack from both east and west directions, the tanks rushed to the front of our position, and our heavy machine gunners replaced them with steel bullets with certain armor-piercing capabilities, and shot at the weak points of the tank deck, killing the red-eyed soldiers and picking up the cluster grenades and dying with the enemy.
At 5 p.m., the Japanese army was annihilated and the Chinese soldiers suffered heavy casualties. At noon, Geng Zhen suffered multiple injuries to his body and legs, one of which injured a large blood vessel. He cut through his uniform with a bayonet, bandaged the bleeding wound, and continued to command the entire company until he fainted from the ground after losing too much blood. At 6 p.m., after completing the task of blocking the attack, they were ordered to withdraw from their positions and move to Luoyang Ridge, and the soldiers carried him to the field medical station for treatment with the door panels of his hometown.
After liberation, Geng Zhen served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Xuchang Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a librarian of the Henan Provincial Museum of Literature and History, and returned to Luoyang several times to see the old battlefield. He once stood by the Luo River and said sadly: "That battle was very tragic, more than 70 people were sacrificed in our company alone, the retreat order was urgent, the enemy artillery fire was attached to the rear to chase, and the remains of comrades-in-arms could not be buried, which is sad to think!" "Later, it was learned that after the Japanese army broke through the Luohe defense line, they threw the remains of all the officers and men of our river defense into the Luohe River.
Fortunately, these surviving veterans survived until after the reform and opening up, leaving a "living mouth", otherwise how can we understand the tragedy and fierceness of the Luoyang defense war?
Di Chaoyi's understanding of the Battle of Luoyang was told by his father's bodyguards. A man in the village named Di Huaiyi followed his father from birth to death. The guards later told their families that Lao Di almost couldn't come back this time, and there were only a dozen people left in a row. After the battle, they broke through to the mouth of the Old River in Hubei to recruit troops. A few months later, he brought back a letter of appointment for the head of the Shaanzhou Security Regiment, and married a little wife like a flower in Liuliping Town under the Wudang Mountains. After his father returned, he explained to his family this way: At that time, several staff officers in the battalion headquarters said that the area around your hometown Of Lingbao and Shaanxi County was occupied by the Japanese, and your wife and children may have been killed by the Japanese, and there was no home. That's why he married another new person.
Although the Japanese army won a great victory in the Battle of Yuxianggui, it was already the end of the crossbow. In 1945, the Japanese army in Luoyang surrendered.
Because of his meritorious efforts in defending Luoyang, Liu Mao'en directly named Di Changlun as the head of the Shaanzhou Security Regiment, and in October 1947 he became the county magistrate of Lingbao County, and in 1951 he was suppressed in the town counter-movement.
About the author: Luo Shujing, female, born in the 1960s, now lives in Lushi County, Sanmenxia City; she loves literature and history, works tirelessly, and has written many long and short works.
Editor: Yunji Image source: Network
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