On October 16, 1937, in the Battle of Xinkou, Hao Mengling, commander of the 9th Army, was martyred, becoming the first commander to die after the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance.
After the war, Chiang Kai-shek posthumously promoted Hao Mengling to the rank of army general and wrote an inscription in his own handwriting, and Chairman Mao, who was far away in Yan'an, also wrote in his own handwriting:
"[Hao Mengling] gave the people of Chinese a lofty and great model."
So, what is the story of this General Hao Mengling that can be praised by the two leaders of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party?
Hao Mengling was born in 1898 in Gaocheng County, Hebei (present-day Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang), graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, and later served in Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, but because Chiang Kai-shek had always advocated that "outside the country must first be inside", Hao Mengling was very disgusted, in order not to fight the civil war, Hao Mengling resigned several times, but was not approved.
In 1937, Hao Mengling again offered his resignation, but was still not approved, and was also sent to the Sichuan Army University to study in the general officer class.
However, on Hao Mengling's way to Sichuan, he suddenly heard the news that the Japanese army launched the July 7 Incident, and Hao Mengling was indignant and immediately went north to ask for resistance!
When passing through Wuhan, Hao Mengling returned home and prepared to say goodbye to his family, but looking at his lovely wife and children, he was always difficult to open his mouth, so he had to decide to leave a letter.
That night, Hao Mengling wrote tears and tears in the study, and finally puts the finished letter in the drawer.
His eldest daughter, Hao Huiying, took advantage of her father's departure and secretly took out the letter, only to see that it read:
"If Yu Yu sacrifices, Wangru filial piety to the old mother, raising children, and taking care of brothers and sisters, so Yu sacrifice is also glorious..."
The next day, Hao Mengling said to the children:
"I love you, but I love our country even more, and now the enemy is killing our compatriots every day, and everyone should kill the enemy..."
Then, turning north, never looking back.
At that time, the situation in Shanxi was not exaggerated to describe it as "100,000 fires", and with the loss of Datong, Yan Xishan was impatient, mobilized more than 200,000 troops, and launched the Battle of Xinkou.
After entering Xinkou, Hao Mengling was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the central defense of Xinkou, responsible for positions such as Nanhuaihua. Before the war, Hao Mengling held an oath-taking meeting, and in the face of the young faces, he shouted with all his might:
"This War of Resistance is a national war, victory means the survival of the country, defeat is the destruction of the country, only victory is allowed, not defeat!" Now that the great enemy is present, I am determined to coexist and die with all the officers and men! ”
The soldiers brandished rifles and knives and shouted in unison: "Swear to coexist with the position!" ”
Their enemy in front of them was the ace of the Japanese army, the Fifth Division, known as the "Steel Army," and the commander of the division was the infamous Itagaki Seishiro, who regarded himself as a "China Pass" and was very arrogant, clamoring to completely annihilate the Chinese army in Xinkou and occupy Shanxi in an all-round way.
Soon, the Japanese army began to charge south Huaihua and other positions, aircraft, tanks, artillery bombardment in turn, Hao Mengling led the troops to desperately resist, repelling the Japanese charge again and again.
In just a few days, the position of Nanhuaihua changed hands 13 times in the hands of the enemy and us, and the Japanese army was never able to completely occupy it, Hao Mengling wrote in his diary:
"The Japanese fire is fierce, and our troops have suffered heavy losses, but the position has not been lost.
In the early morning of October 16, 1937, Hao Mengling took advantage of the night to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese army, conquering several hills in succession until dawn. Hao Mengling was well aware of the hardships of fighting during the day, and it was better to expand the results of the battle and reduce the burden on the troops, so he ordered the troops to continue to attack the Japanese positions with a single blow.
However, the danger soon occurred, the Heavy Machine Gun of the Japanese Army fired through, Hao Mengling could not dodge, unfortunately shot in the waist, heroic martyrdom. General Liu Jialin, who was traveling with him, went to the rescue and was unfortunately shot and killed.
After the war, when soldiers cleaned Hao Mengling's body, they found a letter in his pocket that read:
"Yu was ordered to go north to resist japan, and he was determined not to hesitate to die to martyr the country in order to survive the nation, and this war of resistance vowed to take the battlefield as his home..."
After everyone read it, they all cried bitterly.
When the news of Hao Mengling's martyrdom came, the whole country grieve, and Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman Mao, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and others all sent a message of mourning.
At Hao Mengling's memorial service, his wife took out the letter that Hao Mengling had written before leaving, and the eldest daughter, Hao Huiying, cried and read:
"In order to win the final victory and make the Chinese nation eternally exist in the world, so success does not have to be in me, I will sacrifice first, and those who serve the soldiers will die for the country.
——To learn more about the stories of the famous generals of the National Army, you can check out the column of the History Inn, a total of 100 legends of the famous generals of the National Army.