Today's China has celebrated the 71st anniversary of its liberation, but before the founding of New China, there was a history of bloody battles. Countless soldiers and civilians died in the war, and the anti-Japanese soldiers remembered are only a part of them, they are not afraid of life and death, and the blood spilled on the battlefield in exchange for the stability of the world. Du Yuming, Fu Zuoyi, Wang Yaowu, Xue Yue, and countless other generals made great achievements for the motherland. There is also a famous general, 16 shots fell on the battlefield, his death made the old Jiang can not help but cry bitterly, the Japanese army in the battle also suspended the bombing to avoid injuring his body, he is Zhang Zizhong.
Zhang Zizhong was born on August 11, 1891 in a family of eunuchs. The family situation is relatively good at the age of 6 when he entered a private school, and at the age of nine, he followed his father to Jiangsu for inspection. In 1905, Zhang Zizhong's father, Zhang Shugui, was promoted to an official position because of his good political performance. Zhang Shugui felt that the fourteen-year-old Zhang Zizhong had grown up, so he sent him back to his hometown, but shortly after Zhang Zizhong returned, the news of Zhang Shugui's death came.
After the death of his father, the affairs of the Zhang family were decided by his mother, and he was exposed to a lot of traditional Chinese culture since he was a child. Traditional Chinese morality was deeply rooted in his mind, and the loyalty and grandeur of Guan Yunchang and others had a great influence on him. In October 1911, the third year of xuanunciation, Zhang Zizhong, who was admitted to the Beiyang Law and Politics School, came into contact with Sun Yat-sen's Theory of the Three People's Principles and the bourgeois revolutionary program for the first time.
In 1911, Zhang Zizhong joined the Chinese League, and five years later entered Feng Yuxiang's army under the introduction of a friend. The warlords were fighting endlessly, and Zhang Zizhong only silently learned tactics. In 1930, a warlord melee unprecedented in China's modern history broke out. Zhang Zizhong defeated Jiang Jun's elite division, Zhang Zhizhong's Second Division, at Gaoxian. Soon after, Zhang Xueliang, who was watching the battle in neutrality, joined in and waved his division into the pass.
After being incorporated, Zhang Zizhong became the commander of the Thirty-eighth Division, and soon his Third Army was reorganized into the Twenty-ninth Army. On September 18, 1931, the Japanese army launched the September 18 Incident and invaded northeast China. By 1933, the two sides had been in constant friction, and the main force of Zhang Zizhong's Twenty-ninth Army was sent to Tongzhou and other places to stand by. This was his first battle against the Japanese army, and after the fall of Chengde in March, the 29th Army went to Xifengkou to stop Zhang Zizhong and Feng Zhi'an from fighting the Japanese army for seven days at the Zunhua Santun Camp.
This was a rare victory for the Chinese army in the early stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan, but soon after the Great Wall defense line was weak, the Twenty-ninth Army had to abandon Xifengkou. At the time of the July 7 Incident, Zhang Zizhong suffered from enteritis, and he tried to maneuver around, but the Japanese army insisted on launching a war of aggression. Because of public opinion, Zhang Zizhong was forced to resign, and on August 8, 1937, Peiping fell, and on September 3, Zhang Zizhong fled Beiping.
Zhang Zizhong also guaranteed the victory of the Battle of Taierzhuang, and in the Defense of Linyi in March 1938 before the great war, he and Pang Bingxun and others commanded the Banyuan Division, which was known as the Iron Army. In this battle, the Chinese army paid a terrible price, and eventually killed more than 6,000 Japanese Kou. In May 1940, the Japanese army launched the Battle of Zaoyi, and Zhang Zizhong, as the commander-in-chief of the group army, could have avoided the battle, but he insisted on fighting.
On May 1, he issued a handwritten proclamation to all parts of his subordinates, vowing to die in the war. He personally crossed the Xiang River with more than 2,000 people and killed the enemy without flinching. The enemy army was one and a half times more numerous than them, and by the 15th, more than 1,500 people led by Zhang Zizhong were surrounded by more than 6,000 Japanese. After a few days of fierce fighting, At 4 p.m. on May 16, Zhang Zizhong's entire army was destroyed, and Zhang Zizhong was martyred.
After his death, Huang Weigang, the commander of the Thirty-eighth Division, led the death squad and the 179th Division to fight with the Japanese army for a night in the mountains near the pumpkin shop, and recovered Zhang Zizhong's body. At the same time, the Japanese army also ordered the bombing to stop, so as not to hurt Zhang Zizhong's body. Zhang Zizhong was shot as many as 16 times, and then his body was sent back to Chongqing for burial. When it came to Yichang, 100,000 soldiers and civilians volunteered to pay tribute, and the Japanese planes flew three times without a single person hiding.
On the morning of May 28, 1940, Zhang Zizhong's coffin was transported back to Chongqing, and Chiang Kai-shek and others greeted him at the dock. The moment he saw the coffin, Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but cry as he supported the coffin. Zhang Zizhong was only 49 years old when he died, and his wife died of a seven-day hunger strike after hearing the news.