During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to cooperate with the main forces in the war against Japan and Puppets, the Jin Sui Army formed a national army in the Suiyuan area. The national soldiers are the armed people, and in layman's terms, they are vigilante groups.
The common people in the Suiyuan area were familiar with the terrain, accurate marksmanship, fine riding skills, and although the number of Japanese puppet troops was large, they were all defeated in the hands of the Jin Sui Army in battles such as the Bailing Temple and the Red Geltu, and the reason was that the national soldiers had strong combat effectiveness. How powerful are the nationalist soldiers in Suiyuan? Flipping through the yellowed archives, we found the answer.
Suiyuan National Soldiers: All the people are soldiers, young and old
Suiyuan's national soldiers (vigilante groups) are divided into four levels: (1) in the countryside, they are reserves, and they are given preliminary military training by the local army or peasants who have been trained by the national soldiers. (2) National soldiers - all ordinary people in Suiyuan must be national soldiers, trained in different periods, each period of four months, separately concentrated in Suiyuan, Baotou, Jining, Wuyuan, Fengzhen five places for strict military training; each training number of 15,000 to 20,000 people.
(3) Reserve team - When the national soldiers return to the countryside after completing their training period, they will serve as a reserve team, just like the Japanese soldiers in the countryside. (4) Junior team - Boys aged 10 to 15 do junior teams, somewhat like Scout training.
In addition to being subjected to strict military training, the national soldiers are also trained politically, and the main political training method is to call slogans and teach singing, and the national soldiers get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to exercise, and they practice until 10 o'clock, and they also go to the gym in the afternoon, they live a stricter life than the soldiers; but the common people are very willing to accept this training.
They said: "We have been trained to protect ourselves and to overthrow Japanese imperialism." ”
Voice of the National Soldiers: Volunteer to kill the enemy and defend the country
The training of the national soldiers enabled the people in the Suiyuan area to grasp the basic military knowledge and know how to cooperate with the main forces in fighting. Many national soldiers even participated directly in the battle, and their combat quality was no worse than that of the regular army. In Xinghe County, The Governor of Meng County did the best in training the national soldiers.
The governor of Meng County divided the nationalists into two parts, one was the security regiment and the other was the volunteer brigade. Whether it is a security regiment or a volunteer team, the people volunteered to sign up, and even the carbines were self-supplied.
These national soldiers and warriors, their bravery and combat effectiveness, are even worse than those of the regular army. Because they adopt guerrilla tactics against the enemy, take on the front line of work, act sensitively, and are not easy to suffer major sacrifices. They are all local people, and they have the most serious demands for the preservation of their own wealth and property, so their enthusiasm for defending the land is also the strongest.
Blood Battle Red Geltu: 40 men defeated the main force of the 200-day puppet army
In the Battles of Honggeltu and the Lark Temple, the vigilante group performed quite well. In the Battle of Hongertu, the puppet army entrenched in the southern trench once surrounded a village on the border of Xinghe with more than 200 bandits in more than 20 cars. At that time, there were only 20 guards in the village, led by a team deputy. This brave deputy hid in a haystack, holding steady, and the bandit army rushed to the front of the village more than 20 times, all of which were seriously wounded and failed to rush in.
The bandits could not break into the village, so they used incendiary bombs to ignite the pile of grass, and the fire quickly burned, and the deputy was sacrificed in the fire. Just when the bandit army burned the grass and prepared to rush into the village in a big way, the defense regiment came to the rescue in time, but there were only more than 20 reinforcements, even if the reinforcements were added, the national soldiers were only more than 40 people, and it was very difficult to deal with the puppet army of more than 200 people.
But it was these 40 people who relied on the walls of the village courtyard, trenches, and holes to carry out fierce battles with the Japanese puppet army, and behind them was the homeland, that is, women and children. Although they are few, they seem to have infinite potential, and in the continuous battle, they seem to have brought full play to the limits of human beings. Whenever the Japanese puppet army rushed to the mouth of the village, there were always brave soldiers and warriors who were not afraid of death rushing out with the explosive package, and after pulling the explosive package, he died with the Japanese puppet army.
After repeating this three or four times, the Japanese puppet army did not dare to go near the village again. Their sacrifices bought time to hold out, and after a morning of fierce fighting, the puppet army could not invade the village on the 200th. Finally, at the instigation of a small team, they defeated the Japanese puppet army, and also intercepted a Japanese puppet army car carrying troops, one of the cars was a Japanese cobia who could not escape and was killed, and a Japanese driver fled in a hurry. On the way to escape, he asked a common man about the way back to the southern trench, only to be tricked by a vigilante soldier into going to the regimental headquarters and arresting the Japanese driver on the spot.
Heroic national soldiers, the basis of the victory of the Jin Sui Army
In order to avoid the combat casualties of the militia regiments, the governor of Meng County once set three creeds for them: guerrilla, disturbance, and taking advantage. They are not told to fight a hard battle so as not to be sacrificed, but these defense regiments, their emotions are too high, because their armament is very simple, the organization is not as tight as the regular army, so often twenty or thirty people automatically enter the position of the Japanese puppet army, and when the people in the rear are still worried about them, they often return with greater or smaller victories. The governor of Meng County repeatedly persuaded the vigilante group not to do this, but he could not be persuaded.
Suiyuan national soldiers (militia regiments), they are good at riding and shooting, familiar with the terrain and strong combat effectiveness, these people after receiving more than 4 months of intensive training from the Jin Sui Army, they have become a militia team with strong combat effectiveness and tenacious will to fight, they are more courageous than the regular army, more tenacious than the regular army troops, and more fearless of death. It was precisely with such national soldiers as a support that the Jin Sui Army was able to win battles such as honggeltu, bailing temple, packing head, and fighting wuyuan.
This is exactly what validates that saying: soldiers and civilians are the basis of victory. In 1936, the famous war correspondent Fang Da zeng arrived in Suiyuan, and he used his camera to leave us with the figure of these heroic national soldiers, and from their faces we saw courage, confidence and their fighting spirit.
References: "Frontal Battlefield: Jinsui War of Resistance", Fang Dazeng's "Suidong Front Inspection Record"