A legend of the Chinese Expeditionary Force from Fucheng

With the popularity of the TV series "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", a dusty history of the Chinese Expeditionary Force has once again been placed in front of the people, and the bravery of the soldiers, the fierceness of the battle, and the tragedy of the war have all shocked the hearts of future generations. The story we tell you today can be seen as a realistic version of "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", which is more shocking and real than the TV series.

Gao Ruyi/Oral Jin Qiu/Record

Gao Ruyi, a native of Dongjie Village, Fucheng County, studied at Bowen Middle School in Dezhou, Shandong province in 1932, and after the July 7 Incident in 1937, all male and female students of the school joined the Kuomintang army en masse, rushed to the anti-Japanese front, and became a member of the Chinese Expeditionary Force

In 1942, Gao Ruyi joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India, a cross-border combat force sent by the Chinese government during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to support the British army in Burma against Japanese fascism and defend the rear area of southwest China. In the same year, due to poor command and slow progress of the British army, the various units of the expeditionary force were broken by the enemy, so the superiors decided to retreat.

Gao Ruyi's Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, after leaving Burma, entered the deserted jungle. It has been raining for many years, there are no people for many years, and there are swamps everywhere that can "eat people". What was even more frightening were those ants that specialized in sucking human blood, piles of them everywhere, waiting to suck up the blood of the warriors.

At that time, Gao Ruyi served as the commander of the machine gun company of the third battalion of the 288 regiment of the 96th Division of the Fifth Army, with a total of 178 people in the company. They walked along the jungle with no way to go, using guns and wooden sticks to explore the way, while constantly flapping to prevent the attack of various mosquitoes and blood-sucking insects, some warriors were very weak, their bodies were suppurated, and they smelled bad, and some even gave birth to maggots with white flowers, which made people feel uncomfortable.

After Gao Ruyi led the company into this area, the number of sick people in each platoon and class gradually increased. Without the corresponding medical treatment, there is really no way but to watch one warrior after another being tortured to death by disease and cruel environment. More serious is the "lack of water". Although it rains every day and there are ponds and swamps everywhere, all the water surface is floating with mosquitoes and flies, and there is no place for the warriors to drink. In this extremely tense and helpless situation, the soldiers were really thirsty and had no choice but to sneak to the side and use their hands to brush away a dirt on the surface of the water, and pick up the blackened water and drink a few sips.

Such a life has caused many unknown diseases and cholera infections. In this extremely dangerous situation, the expeditionary force could not continue to go on, and the superiors changed the route back to China and contacted the Chinese coalition army in India to turn to the Indian side nearby.

After the expeditionary force turned to India, it immediately entered the deserted "Savage Mountain", a name that was given when the expeditionary force passed, and was not the real name of this desolate mountain range.

"Savage Mountain" is a mountainous area densely covered by tall primeval woods. Here, the soldiers and horses of the expeditionary force were still suffering from severe illness.

Shortly after entering the mountain, a Henan soldier walking next to Gao Ruyi fell. Gao Ruyi ran over, put his hands around him and said, "Hold on, get up, get up, persistence is victory." The Henan soldier slowly opened his eyes in Gao Ruyi's shout, looked at Gao Ruyi without a look, and said: "Company commander, I am not okay, please tell my parents that I died on the way to fight the devils..." "Where are you, and what are your parents' names?" Gao Ruyi shouted loudly, and finally did not hear his words clearly. He died, and thus he was tortured to death by the disease. He was an ordinary warrior, and he died on the way to fight the devil, and he felt proud and died willingly.

Several warriors came and buried him, and then the expeditionary force set out on the road again.

At this tense moment, the expeditionary force received orders from its superiors: throw away all the ammunition, heavy weapons and bulky equipment, and be sure to unload the parts and destroy them before throwing them away. At that time, a soldier in the machine gun company touched the heavy machine gun that was born and died with him and cried.

"Xiao Zhang, don't cry, as long as we walk out of the 'Savage Mountain' weapons will have, I promise to get you a new one." Gao Ruyi only remembered that his surname Zhang was a fellow from Hebei, and he was unable to get out of the 'Savage Mountain' in the end.

After the expeditionary force abandoned its weapons and ammunition, the burden was reduced, and the troops marched faster, but the fatal thing was that there was no food. Originally, after entering the mountains, it was possible to use aircraft to airdrop. Where do you know that 'Savage Mountain' is a primeval forest, thick and dense, and the tall and thick branches at the top of the forest are connected, so that they cannot see the light of day for many years, and they cannot be airdropped, so naturally they cannot supply food and medicine. Unable to face this harsh hunger, they cut off a little meat on the dead horse where there were no maggots to fill the hunger. Diseases caused by the contamination of horse meat and the indiscriminate eating of food began to spread again.

At this time, an even more terrible malignant disease appeared, which could not be cured and would kill in seven or eight hours. As the expedition marched, it found dead bodies strewn along the road and in sheds made of branches.

Gao Ruyi led his company on a difficult march. At this moment, the disease was rampant to the extreme, attacking the soldiers from time to time, Gao Ruyi's side fell from time to time, we were unable to take care of them, so as not to infect, the request of the superiors was that as long as they got out of the "Savage Mountain" alive, it was victory.

I encouraged the warriors as I walked, unfortunately I also had the disease. Just as I was instructing the second platoon commander to take my place, Dr. Jiang of the Communications Battalion of the Fifth Army rushed up from behind. I had known him very well before, and after inquiring about my illness, he asked the soldiers to cook rice, and he injected me with a "914" (medicine he brought) with distilled water on the lid of the pot when he cooked.

Dr. Jiang left, and I looked up at his distant figure, and tears flowed down my face at once. After about half a day, I walked for a while with the support of two soldiers, and then I felt that my body was full of energy and I did not feel tired. So I walked for two more days, and suddenly I saw a rim in front of the dense forest, and a ray of sunlight sprinkled brightly in front of me.

We're out of 'Savage Mountain'!

I suddenly seemed to have the strength of a thousand jun, and my steps also grew bigger, just like a long-lost child seeing his mother, a joyous place. After we came out, someone ran to greet us and kindly told us that this was a military station for people who came out of the mountains, where they could receive food, doctors, and medicines for their illness.

"Congratulations on getting out of 'Savage Mountain.'" A young medic came up to me and grabbed my hand and said excitedly.

"Thank you." I was so excited that I couldn't speak for a moment. When I came here, I was all well, rested for a day, received food for two days, and went on.

Two days later we arrived at the easternmost bus terminal in India, Ribakmani. There were also people here, food and accommodation were arranged, we did a simple medical examination here, took a bath, changed into new military uniforms, so that I had 178 people from Burma, and only 8 of us arrived here. I had 8 people in Rikni for a day off, that is, to take the train to Langa in western India. It was a large barracks with reinforcements airlifted from the country and the 38th Division from the Burmese British army to India, with the rest all the men coming out of the 'Savage Mountain'. I was then assigned to the Fourth Company of the Second Battalion of the Guard Regiment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force Command as a company commander. Soon after, it was changed to the second company and continued to serve as a company commander.

Return to the motherland to contribute to the new China

After the establishment of the Chinese Military Command in India, I led the army to advance to the New Pacific, and I led the Second Company to be responsible for the security, ammunition, equipment, and grain depots of various departments of the command. Because my company had complicated tasks, scattered garrisons, and more contact with foreign personnel, I sent a "liaison officer" of the US military to be responsible for the business liaison work for foreign units.

In 1945, for various reasons, I was treated unfairly and dismissed from office. The day after I was dismissed, the anti-aircraft artillery battalion of the General Headquarters was transferred back to Kunming. The company commander of their second company was a classmate of mine when I was in Texas, so I flew back to Kunming, and it happened that the 96th Division of the Fifth Army, my old unit, was stationed in Kunming, and the old commander Huang Xiang was the commander of the 96th Division. I became the commander of the guard company.

In 1948 I was promoted to battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 643rd Regiment of the 57A215th Division, and in December 1949 I participated in the uprising in Xindu, Sichuan Province, and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army. In the same year, I was transferred to the Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army in Sichuan Province as a probationary chief of staff. He taught after changing careers in 1952 and has been retiring since 1976.

After retiring, I always insisted on learning and made a lot of notes and experiences, and combined with the path I traveled, I wrote a lot of articles to educate future generations. We must let them understand that new China was bought by countless revolutionary martyrs with their own blood and lives, and it was not easy to come by. Let them know that only by studying well and learning well can we build our great motherland well. For this reason, in the school where I teach, I have been giving regular patriotic education classes to my students. Looking at the children who are alive and well, I feel so happy in my heart.

After so many years, I still think of those comrades who could not walk out of the "Savage Mountain" with me, and if they were still alive, they would contribute to the establishment of new China like me.

Originally published in Hengshui Evening News, July 8, 2009