In February 1940, in the mountains of Mengjiang County, which was icy and snowy, General Yang Jingyu was sacrificed, and in the whole five days of being besieged by the Japanese army, Yang Jingyu did not have any food, during which he evaded the enemy's pursuit several times, and finally shot and killed a Japanese soldier, the Japanese army was very curious, in the case of running out of ammunition, how did Yang Jingyu survive, where did he have the strength to fight with them for so long?
Therefore, these inhumane Japanese troops let people cut open Yang Jingyu's abdomen, and saw that Yang Jingyu only had some tree roots, turf, and cotton wool in his stomach, which shocked the Japanese troops at the scene, among which the director of the pseudo-Tonghua Provincial Police Department, Kishitani Ryuichiro, shed tears on the spot, and after returning to Japan after the war, he fell into deep guilt and self-blame, and finally left a suicide note to commit suicide.
In February 1905, Yang Jingyu was born in Liwan Village, Qishan County, Henan Province, to a peasant family, who lost his father at an early age and came from a poor family, and was raised by his mother Han Xinru.
Yang Jingyu, who grew up in the darkness of the old society, was not afraid in the face of injustice and oppression, once, the officials of the county education bureau framed the brother-in-law for stealing clothes, and hung the brother-in-law to a tree and beat him severely, Yang Jingyu was young at that time, but he was also angry at this situation, he called on his classmates at school to drive the servants out to help the brother-in-law get out of danger, and finally successfully saved the brother-in-law and drove away the errand boy. After this incident, he decided that when he grew up, he must speak up for the weak and be a hero who protects others.
Later, Yang Jingyu joined the Communist Party of China, because of his experience since childhood, he felt empathy for the deep and fierce life of the vast number of peasants, so he actively carried out the peasant movement, made a lot of efforts for the development of the hometown self-defense force, launched many peasant riots, and won many interests for the local people.
According to Yang Jingyu's excellent work performance, his superiors arranged for him to go to the northeast to participate in the work and join the Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army. Based on his long-term combat experience, Yang Jingyu summed up a set of combat tips, which the soldiers used to win successive victories in the northeast battlefields all over the Japanese army.
Soon, when the Japanese invaders heard Yang Jingyu's name, they were all frightened and even offered a heavy reward for the arrest of Yang Jingyu, the commander-in-chief of the First Route Army, and at this very moment, problems also arose within our army; Cheng Bin, commander of the First Army Division of the Anti-Japanese Coalition, informed the enemy and gave the enemy important secrets such as the marching route and battle plan of the First Route Army.
When Yang Jingyu led his army to retreat to the east of the Mengjiang River, he was surrounded by heavy Japanese troops, Yang Jingyu's troops were cut off from the outside world, and the enemy's planes bombed and strafed them day and night, resulting in a dilemma of no food and no rest.
At that time, in order to hunt down and kill Yang Jingyu, the Japanese army set up a number of squads, and even changed the heads of several squads, not only to strike militarily, but also to carry out political inducements, and sent military planes to distribute leaflets over the woods, which clearly stated that as long as they surrendered, they would ensure their safety and give benefits. Yang Jingyu was dismissive of these people and resolutely refused to surrender, so the Japanese army spent time on others.
The Japanese army persuaded the surrender of leaflets
The guards, Ding Shoulong, informed the enemy and secreted Yang Jingyu's whereabouts and grain storage places, and after receiving this information, the Japanese army began to attack one by one, and from then on, Yang Jingyu was completely in a passive situation. There were fewer and fewer soldiers left around him, originally a team of two thousand people, to a few hundred people and dozens of people, but the Japanese army still pursued them relentlessly, and finally only two people were left.
On February 18, 1940, Yang Jingyu and two soldiers had not eaten for many days, the weather was freezing, and they had to deal with the Japanese army that was in hot pursuit, and the Japanese army ordered that the villagers who went up the mountain to cut firewood were strictly forbidden to carry food, although Yang Jingyu was not afraid of sacrifice, but there were two guards around him, they were now very tired, so Yang Jingyu let them go looking for food, and at this time, the Japanese army found Yang Jingyu, who was alone.
It was said that he should have no physical strength, but he ran fast, flexibly shuttling through the mountains and forests to avoid the pursuit of the Japanese army, not at all like a person who had not eaten for several days, but how could he resist the team of hundreds of people alone? In the end, he was forced to the cliff, and then shouted to Yang Jingyu to make him surrender.
Yang Jingyu said "Okay, I surrender" during the conversation, taking advantage of the Japanese army's lack of preparation, shot and killed a Japanese soldier, and then under the enemy's raindrops, hid in the mountains, but Yang Jingyu's arm was still injured by bullets, and to make matters worse, Yang Jingyu's two guards could not return, it turned out that they had been found and killed by the Japanese army, and finally only Yang Jingyu was left in the whole team.
Yang Jingyu endured the grief in his heart, went to look for food himself, on the way met the villagers who went up the mountain to cut firewood, wanted to ask them to give them some food, and promised to give them money after escaping from danger, but those villagers said, "The Japanese ordered, do not let people give you food, you still surrender quickly, so that you can save your life" At this time, Yang Jingyu was already weak, these days all rely on eating grass root bark, as well as his own belt, the cotton wool in his clothes has also been ripped out and eaten, the cotton shoes worn on his feet have also been worn, and the toes are exposed to the snow. It was covered with frostbite. But even so, he said to the villagers, "I will not surrender when I die."
The timid and ignorant villagers not only did not give Yang Jingyu a little food, but also told the Japanese army where they met Yang Jingyu, and soon the Japanese army went up the mountain to search, and found Yang Jingyu's hiding place in the snow, Yang Jingyu dragged his injured arm to fight back against the Japanese army, but the Number of Japanese troops was too large, and soon surrounded Yang Jingyu.
The Japanese army dragged Yang Jingyu's body in a carriage
On February 23, 1940, Yang Jingyu died at the gunpoint of the Japanese army after five days and five nights of escape and hunger and cold, this year Yang Jingyu was only 35 years old, the year he left home, the child was still very young, his wife hoped every day that her husband could return home as soon as possible, but until the victory of the War of Resistance, he could not wait for him.
After Yang Jingyu's sacrifice, the Japanese troops, who were usually beaten by him, began a frenzied revenge, cutting off Yang Jingyu's head, hanging it on the city wall, and then "showing the public" in the puppet Manchu Tonghua Province and various places to warn those anti-Japanese troops not to oppose the Japanese army.
The Japanese army was very puzzled when Yang Jingyu evaded the pursuit, how to persist for so long without any supplies, in order to solve the puzzle, the Japanese army ordered the doctors of Mengjiang County Hospital to dissect Yang Jingyu's body, the result was a big surprise, Yang Jingyu's stomach only had some undigested grass root bark, then they understood that Yang Jingyu was relying on steely will to support himself, a person fought to the last breath.
Portrait of General Yang Jingyu
Everyone present was shocked, especially Takaichiro Kishitani, director of the police department of the pseudo-Tonghua Province, who shed tears on the spot and said, "Yang Jingyu is a hero", even the inhuman Japanese were touched by Yang Jingyu's behavior at this time, and then gave Yang Jingyu a solemn funeral.
Ryuichiro Kishiko
Since then, Kishitani Ryuichiro began to reflect on the Chinese aggression, in order to occupy the Northeast, he did too many things that hurt nature and reason, these Chinese soldiers would rather endure inhuman torture than surrender, just to resist the crimes he committed, he regretted his actions, and even more questioned the emperor who was high above, was the Empire of Japan in the emperor's mouth built on the suffering of the people of neighboring countries? His heart was getting more and more painful, and his conscience seemed to be roasting on the stove.
In 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ended in the victory of the Chinese people, the news of Japan's surrender came on the radio, Kishitani Ryuichiro heard it, looking up at the sky and laughing, he no longer doubted in his heart, what he did in China was a mistake, he was a cruel executioner, so he decided to die to apologize, he wrote in his suicide note: The war of aggression against China launched by His Majesty the Emperor may be a wrong decision, And if There are soldiers like Yang Jingyu in China, china will certainly not perish! Subsequently, he returned home, first poisoned his wife and children, then committed suicide by caesarean section, and left a message to tell his subordinates to bury his bones in the northeast to express his guilt for General Yang Jingyu.
In October 2019, a delegation of Japanese peace people came to the Jingyu Cemetery in Tonghua City, and they brought a letter of apology, written by Kishitani Ryuichiro's niece Kishitani and his own handwriting, she could not come because of the inconvenience of her legs and feet, he wrote in the letter of thanks: Once again to the anti-Japanese hero Yang Jingyu general to express my admiration.
Kazu Kishitani
Yang Jingyu used his life to interpret the indomitable spirit of the martyrs to resolutely resist the invaders, the hero's great spirit will always exist in the world, and my generation should be more determined to move forward.