In China's peaceful environment, we will always lament that everything is the quiet appearance of the years. Perhaps the heroes of a hundred years ago heard the laughter of modern people and involuntarily raised the corners of their mouths. In the era that belonged to them, there was no full meal, no good education, and some were only smoke and artillery fire, and the only thing that supported them was "loyal to the country."
In 1940, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was already in its 10th year, and it had been four years since the Japanese army had fully invaded China. The enemy has planes and tanks, and we can only rely on an army that is not even equipped with shotguns to resist the next battle. Almost every time, everyone fought for the life and death, hoping to accumulate more enemy heads.
Since its formal establishment in 1938, the 4th Reserve Division of the Nationalist 75th Army has been stationed in Yichang, and they have fought until the third year, and they are born to contain the Japanese troops and change the unfavorable situation. At the beginning of the battle, they brought a heavy blow to the Japanese army, but such a brilliant performance made them receive important attention from the Japanese army.
The 4th Reserve Division of the 75th Army had become a nail that had to be removed in the eyes of the Japanese army, and they released misleading information that made people misjudge the attempts of the Japanese army at that time. The ensuing surprise attack also made the 4th Division unable to react, but the 4th Division quickly perked up and resisted round after round of strong enemy attacks.
It was not only the soldiers who died on the battlefield, but also their commander-in-chief Zhang Zizhong and the commander of the 173rd Division, Zhong Yi, who also sacrificed their lives for the country. The soldiers carried them night after night, and Fu Zhengmo, commander of the 4th Division, stepped up and walked in the forefront of the arduous struggle. However, due to the blockade of transportation by the Japanese army and the extremely harsh living conditions, our side finally retreated, and Yichang was declared the fall of June 1940.
After the Battle of Zaoyi, in order to stop the enemy's advance, the 4th Division stubbornly held in Huanghua Township. This is an important pass from Yichang to Chongqing, and once the last defensive line is broken, the consequences will be unimaginable. In 1941, the 4th Division engaged in frequent tug-of-war with the Japanese.
"There were so many wounded that the wounded were able to be treated immediately at first, but after a few days the rear was gone." At that time, in order to achieve victory, the Japanese army violated the international norm of "no harm to medical personnel" and had lost the hearts of the people. "I saw bodies being carried into the pit." A veteran named Yi Xingxi once recalled.
"At first, one person could be one, but then there were too many, and there could only be a dozen people in a pit." Yi Xingxi was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time, and he was a signal soldier at that time, sometimes traveling with the division commander Fu Zhengmo. He didn't know what was going on the front line, but the anxiety of the back line was in his eyes: "Sometimes I see the division commander wiping away tears all the way." ”
Yi Xingxi's predecessors told him that it was because there were too many soldiers who had fallen in battle, and everyone's mood was very heavy. In September 2010, the south side of Huanghua Township in Yichang City, Hubei Province, was building a highway, and a torrential rain came down, washing away the loose loess soil, and the white bones under dozens of acres of land appeared one by one.
People felt horrified and thought it was a pit of bones, until the relevant personnel came to understand it, and everyone did not know the truth. The young people who fought in the War of Resistance, or the children in the village, have become old people, and some of them have stayed and told people what they saw with their own eyes.
Qin Debiao, a 73-year-old villager at the time, was one of the witnesses, and when he knew that the remains had been exhumed, he couldn't help but burst into tears: "It's a pity!" He also claimed that when he was young, he had also seen some tombstones. According to Qin Debiao's recollection, people did find the remnants, and according to the above records, everyone verified the identity of the 4th Reserve Division of the 75th Army of the Nationalist Army.
According to statistics, there are more than 3,000 soldiers buried here, and the locals and staff carefully collected these remains, transferred them to Jinyuping to bury them, and repaired the monument. I hope these soldiers can rest in peace and the alarm bells will ring!