In Jiangsu Gaoyou Xihe Lane No. 70, there is a victory square in the last battle of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the height of the monument is 19.45 meters, which means that in 1945, the Chinese nation won a comprehensive victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the main sculpture of Victory Square "Victory Moment" will come into view, it is understood that the main sculpture is 12.26 meters high, implying the last city liberated by our New Fourth Army on December 26, 1945.
On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan issued an edict announcing unconditional surrender through the radio, announcing the unconditional surrender of the Chinese battlefield, and China paid a heavy price in exchange for this hard-won victory under the condition of the unity of the whole people, marking the final victory of the Chinese national war of resistance.
However, after Japan's surrender, some of the Japanese warlords continued to resist, and the Japanese army entrenched in Gaoyou, more than 4 months after Japan announced its unconditional surrender, still stubbornly resisted, refused to surrender its weapons to our New Fourth Army, and wanted to make a comeback.
Gaoyou is located in the southern line of the Central China Liberated Area, located on the east bank of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, controlling Yangzhou in the south and strangling the two Huai in the north, is the main water and land transportation route connecting northern Jiangsu in central Jiangsu, known as the "iron lock of the canal gate", is the main water and land transportation route connecting northern Jiangsu in central Jiangsu, and has always been a place where soldiers and families must fight.
Surrounded by lakes and rivers, Gaoyou City is high and thick with fortifications. The city wall is 9 meters high and 7 meters thick, there are multiple machine gun bunkers on the city wall, and there are 8 two- or three-story large bunkers, there are shooting bunkers between the battlements, and there is a moat 5-7 meters wide outside the city, which is surrounded by dangerous terrain.
After Japan's surrender, with the support and connivance of the Kuomintang diehards, the Japanese puppet army requisitioned 240,000 migrant workers, and built a 10-kilometer-long fortified city wall outside Gaoyou City, and built a large number of artillery towers and pillboxes, so as to make a desperate attempt to strengthen the garrison, which made it very difficult for the New Fourth Army to attack the city.
The Japanese puppet army boasted that the city was strong, the grain and grass were plentiful, and the attitude was extremely arrogant with the support of the recalcitrant army, and the commander of the Japanese army, Iwasaki Daisa, not only ignored the ultimatum of the Central China Field Army ordering his troops to surrender, but also threatened to cooperate with the recalcitrant army to "recover the lost land" to the New Fourth Army! "Actively plan and cooperate with the attack on the liberated areas of central China."
In order to protect the people's achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our heroic New Fourth Army followed the proposal of its superiors that "all enemy and puppet armies surrounded by the armies of the Liberated Areas shall be surrendered by the troops of the Liberated Areas, and the enemy and puppet armies surrounded by the Kuomintang troops shall be surrendered by the Kuomintang troops." Resolutely strike at the enemy and puppet armies that refuse to surrender. To this end, Su Yu, commander of our Central China Field Army, personally led his troops to the city and pointed his sword at Gaoyou, and the last battle of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Gaoyou, was launched.
On December 19, 1945, 15 regiments of the 7th and 8th Columns of the New Fourth Army and local armed forces entered the designated location. The 8th Column attacked Gaoyou City, and the 7th Column attacked Shaobo south of Gaoyou, adopting the tactics of siege and reinforcement, and launched an attack on the enemies of Gaoyou and Shaobo.
Su Yu issued an order to attack, and the participating troops launched a fierce attack on the outer strongholds of Gaoyoucheng on the battlefields of 80 miles from north to south and 40 miles from east to west, and the outer strongholds of Gaoyoucheng were swept away by the 8th Column except for the Dongmen Pagoda. Surrounded by the New Fourth Army, the Japanese puppet army shrank the city and stubbornly resisted, and constantly strengthened the fortifications of the city.
In order to reduce the casualties of the war, the troops also launched a powerful political offensive, using microphone shouting, kites to distribute leaflets, and mortars to beat leaflets to break up the stubborn Japanese puppet army.
On this night, with the help of the dark clouds and fog and rain, the general headquarters issued an order for a general attack. Under the support of artillery fire, the siege commando team braved the rain to attack the city from the northwest, east and south, and one of them broke through the city with a ladder, and launched a fierce battle with the defenders, repelling the defenders and counterattacking many times, expanding the breakthrough.
Our army adopted the practice of "encircling three ques and one que" and concentrated its firepower and strength to attack from the east, north, and west, inducing the Japanese army to desperately break through to the south, and then encircling and annihilating, and unexpectedly launching a fierce attack on Gaoyou City from the three directions of the north, east, and south of the city.
In the face of the strong Gaoyou City Wall, in order to reduce the casualties of our army, the commander arranged for the soldiers to build a "half-moon" fortification in the open area to the east, set up light and heavy machine guns, and formed a flat shot with the enemy troops on the city wall.
During the siege of the city, the warriors set up a ladder to climb up the city, but the bamboo ladder is very thin, only a few people can rush together at a time, the devils and pseudo-military hook and sickle guns on the top push the ladder, many warriors even fell down with the ladder, and the siege encountered a bottleneck. At this moment, the "Tiger Regiment" stepped forward in three companies and one class. They set up ladders on the protrusions of the battlements, snipers covered, and once an enemy hooked the ladder with a hook and sickle gun, they could kill the opponent in time. The team members in the back bravely advanced, one by one, and kept rushing upwards, and finally occupied the city tower, and the main force of the New Fourth Army climbed the city wall.
The three companies and one squad played a key role in the entire offensive battle, and after the war, Yuan Jinsheng was also awarded the title of "Special Combat Hero" by the Central China Field Army.
After 7 hours of fierce fighting, the puppet army was first eliminated, and in the early morning of the 26th, the Japanese brigade headquarters was attacked, and the Japanese supreme commander in Gaoyou, Iwachi Daisaku, was forced to surrender. At the same time, the Nationalist army aided by Yangzhou in the north was also repelled.
Han Nianlong, director of the Political Department of the Eighth Column of the New Fourth Army, and Xie Yunhui, deputy director of the New Fourth Army, escorted by the troops, majestically entered the Japanese headquarters and ordered the Japanese chief Iwasaki Daisa, to order all the departments to immediately disarm and surrender their weapons and surrender unconditionally. Iwasaki Put his command knife on the table, saluted Han Nianlong, held the Japanese roster and the ordnance register in both hands, and respectfully presented it, and then retreated to the side of the stand.
The Japanese army Daisaku ordered the besieged strongholds to surrender their weapons and surrender, and went to the squares and warehouses to count and hand over weapons and other materials, and the Japanese Iwasaki Daisaku stood solemnly in front of Commander SuYu, holding a cold weapon with purple light shining high above his head, and then bowing deeply on his shoulders and knees, and said in his mouth: I would like to dedicate this purple cloud knife that has been passed down from afar to the Chinese general who has long admired the great name.
In the early morning of December 26, 1945, after the victory in the Battle of Gaoyou, a surrender ceremony was held in the auditorium, and Chief Huaye accepted the surrender of Iwasaki Daisa, the supreme commander of the Japanese army stationed in the post, on behalf of the New Fourth Army. At this point, Gaoyou, which had been occupied by the Japanese army for 6 years, finally returned to the embrace of the people.
In that year, major newspapers and periodicals reported on the brilliant achievements of the Gaoyou Campaign, which annihilated nearly 10,000 Japanese puppet troops, captured more than 60 artillery pieces of various kinds, 4,308 guns, and countless military supplies. This is also one of the most battles in history to annihilate the enemy army, the Battle of Gaoyou was the last battle of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and it also marked the complete victory of China in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Gaoyou became China's anti-war memorial hall, and also built a museum of anti-japanese war here, there are a number of precious anti-war cultural relics, outside the museum also set up victory square, Gaoyou people's heroes monument, written: "Remember history, remember the martyrs, cherish peace, create the future" and other words.
The last battle of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Battle of Gaoyou, the last city liberated by the New Fourth Army, has been 75 years since then, and finally won a complete victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. We pay our highest tribute to the countless revolutionary martyrs who have exchanged their lives for the victory of this war in exchange for our happy life today!