The memory of the battle of attacking and defending the county seat of Huaxian County
Written by Shi Weizhi
After the outbreak of the Xi'an Incident in December 1936, a battalion of the 105th Division of the Northeast Army and a cavalry company under its jurisdiction, which were originally stationed in and around the county seat of Huaxian County, immediately entered a state of emergency combat readiness.
At the time of the Xi'an Incident, newspapers reported on the war in Huaxian County
At that time, Shi Yishan, the head of the county security regiment (from the same village, my elder) and Shi Weifa, the squadron leader of the county security regiment (brother), lived together in a cave behind the former old public security bureau. Because I followed my brother to school in Ham Junior High School, I lived with them.
During the period of defending the city, The commander of the Meng Guangchen Battalion of the Northeast Army was very concerned about the safety of the people, students, and merchants in the city. He once went to Xianlin Middle School to summon all the teachers and students of the school to speak, saying that the Northeast Army was determined to coexist and die with the city, and it would rather call the whole battalion casualties than lose a hair of the students. Every student is asked to pay attention to safety and not to run around to prevent stray bullets from being injured.
In order to ensure the personal and property safety of the people and merchants in the city, a joint picket of military and police was set up on About December 14 according to the instructions of Commander Meng Ying to maintain law and order in the city. The team members were jointly composed of soldiers of the Northeast Army and soldiers of some county security regiments, and Shi Weifa, the squadron leader of the county security regiment, was appointed as the captain, and the picket team patrolled and inspected the city day and night. During the patrol, it was found that a few soldiers of the northeast cavalry company had committed robbery, and after reporting to the commander of the Meng battalion, the battalion commander immediately dealt with it seriously. Therefore, during the entire period of siege, the security in the city was good.
The Dacheng Hall of the Temple of Literature - the wartime gunpowder depot of the Northeast Army
During the siege of the 28th Division of the Nationalist Central Army, I stayed in the cave, especially from the evening of December 19 to the morning of December 20, judging from the heavy gunfire that the fighting between the two sides was extremely fierce. At 8:00 a.m. on December 20, the 28th Division's army entered the city, and after the battle, I first went to the city to see, only to see that outside the northern and western city walls (the northern section), there were still many cloud ladders for the 28th Division's army to besiege the city, some of which were connected by two wooden ladders, and some were single ladders (that is, a rafter in the center, and then a horizontal short wooden). There are many corpses under the city, especially there is a pile of corpses under the ladder about 100 meters west of the north city gate, and I counted 11 people.
At about 12 o'clock that day, the Northeast Army defending the city was concentrated in the small courtyard attached to Xianzhong, and after a period of time, the army of the 28th Division bundled up and escorted the commander of the Meng Battalion of the Northeast Army, only to see that the commander of the Meng Battalion was tall, wearing a soldier's coat, and no socks on his feet, standing in front of the Northeast Army. The escorting officers and men asked Commander Meng to speak to his soldiers, but he held his head high and stared at the brothers left behind after the battle with tearful eyes, without saying a word. Suddenly, in the captured Northeast Army, someone shouted loudly: "Fight with the battalion commander and go back to your hometown!" For a moment, the Northeast Army was excited. The escorts of the 28th Division felt that the situation was embarrassing, and immediately took Commander Meng out of the hospital, where his whereabouts were unknown.
The offensive and defensive battles in Huaxian County have been seen and heard a lot
Author Huang Shuqing
In 1936, when the Xi'an Incident took place in Hua County, I was running a stationery business in the West Street of the city. When the people in the city learned of the news of the imminent siege and siege of the city, the people were panicked and could not live forever. In particular, the merchants in the city rushed to buy flour and rice outside the city, and even the water tanks were filled with water. Merchants and residents of the city dug caves and prepared to hide in case of an accident.
After the siege began, the city's houses and residents were closed, and the streets and alleys were empty. At that time, most of the civilians needed by the Northeast Army (including apprentices in shops and factory workers) were assigned by the police. I saw the minfu delivering arms to the cave behind the county government. When the 28th Division outside the city launched its first siege, the Nanjing government sent aircraft to assist in the battle, which was double-winged. The most memorable thing is that during the second siege of the city, the 28th Division fired a shell from the direction of the north railway station of the city that day, which landed in the backyard of my house and exploded, and the sound of whistle bullets continued to pass overhead. The gunshots of the battle were like the firecrackers of Chinese New Year's Eve night.
Throughout the siege battle, the Northeast Army suffered few casualties. I know that one person died in Dongyangpo (the big slope on the east side of the current county government gate) and the qinchang match factory in the city, and an apprentice of a certain business was killed at the east gate.
At the beginning of the liberation, Liu Hexin drew on dongyangpo in the city
After the 28th Division entered the city, there was a short period of chaos. I once witnessed an officer of the 28th Division coming down from the West City Gate, with a command knife in his hand, demanding that the troops entering the city should not mess around. The general impression is that in offensive and defensive battles, the various firms have not lost much.
A platoon leader of the 28th Division who had entered the city once lived in my shop, and in the middle of the small talk, the platoon leader told me that he had come to the city from the northeast corner of the city. The commander of the Meng battalion of the Northeast Army was a big man who had changed into a soldier's costume when he was captured. I also heard that there is an underground cave fortification built by the Northeast Army near the entrance of the current county theater troupe, and there are many Northeast Army and masses inside.
When the 28th Division first entered the city, it was very annoyed that many brothers were killed by the siege and killed some of the Northeast Army here. From the actual observation and comparison, I feel that the equipment of the Northeast Army is better than that of the 28th Division.
Original source: Huaxian Literature and History Materials, Vol. 6
Original authors: Shi Weizhi, Huang Shuqing
Compilation and editing: Huazhou Literature and History Collection