At 2:00 a.m. on November 13, 1938,
The city of Changsha was suddenly engulfed in flames.
The people of Changsha, who had long since fallen asleep, were awakened by the fire, and hundreds of people ran and howled in Changsha City.
Some people call on friends and friends to try to put out the fire in front of them, but the fire is too fierce, all their efforts are in vain, and people can only watch their homes turn into scorched earth under the fire.
The fire burned for 5 days and 5 nights, after which 90% of the buildings in Changsha City were destroyed, and more than 30,000 People in Changsha were killed in the fire.
The fire made Changsha one of the most devastated cities in World War II, along with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But did you know that,
The Changsha fire was a long-planned plan of the Nationalist government, and the more than 30,000 people who were killed died unjustly.
According to the original plan, the arson was supposed to be carried out after all the people of Changsha were evacuated, and this big oolong was only caused by the negligence of the translator.
In fact, this is not the first time Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to burn the city, as early as june of the same year, at the time of the Sino-Japanese Battle of Wuhan, on the eve of the defeat of the Nationalist army, Chiang Kai-shek had the heart to burn Wuhan.
However, Chen Cheng, who received the order at that time, could not bear to burn Wuhan to the ground and did not carry it out, so he also provoked Chiang Kai-shek to be angry.
On October 25, 1938, after the fall of Wuhan, the back of Changsha was completely exposed to the Japanese army, and at the same time, Guangzhou south of Changsha also fell into the hands of the Japanese army, and Changsha was suddenly in a dangerous situation of being attacked by the enemy on its belly and back.
On November 7, Chiang Kai-shek personally went to Changsha, and Xi Chulin, the then mayor of Changsha, was very excited, after all, the president's presence showed the importance he attached to the war in Changsha.
With the headmaster personally seated, the morale of the commanders and soldiers was high, and it was time for the morale of the army to be available.
However, things did not go in the direction that Xi Chulin expected, and Chiang Kai-shek's arrival not only failed to save Changsha, but brought ruin to this prosperous city.
As soon as Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Changsha, he convened a military conference at the top level, and just when everyone was racking their brains to think about how to hold Changsha, Chiang Kai-shek did not say anything about it.
He first criticized Chen Cheng
"Neither obey orders nor be ordered"
The folly of this is to quote the history of Russia's defeat of Napoleon by burning Moscow in 1812.
Speaking of this, the people attending the meeting already felt that Chiang Kai-shek's tone was a little wrong.
Changsha Mayor Xi Chulin even had a bad feeling, is it not that the principal did not burn into Wuhan, and want to set a fire in Changsha? Thinking of this, Xi Chulin was afraid that what he had guessed would become a fact.
On November 10, Zhang Zhizhong organized a secret meeting of the provincial government.
At the meeting, Zhang Zhizhong proposed,
Once Changsha is undefendable, we must destroy all the grain, weapons, and resources without leaving a single trace of the enemy, and as for how to operate, it is exactly as Xi Chulin guessed, to set fire to the city.
As soon as this remark came out, the participants were in an uproar, and the vast majority of people felt that the burning of Changsha City was too shocking and debatable.
Seeing the chaos below, Zhang Zhizhong frowned and said loudly:
"Don't argue, whether we set fire or not is not something we can decide, that's a matter for the military."
Although it is not explicitly stated, the implication is that chiang kai-shek, the supreme military commander of the country, should have issued this order.
Since the Japanese army invaded China on a large scale, the people of Hunan Province have poured into Changsha in large numbers, probably feeling that the big city is safer and it is difficult for the Japanese army to easily break through. As a result, Changsha's population has surged from 100,000 to 300,000, and the degree of prosperity has not decreased but increased.
This situation continued until the end of the Battle of Wuhan, and with the fall of Wuhan and Guangzhou, people realized that the big cities were not as safe as they thought, and out of fear of war, all capable people fled Changsha with their families.
At this time, the permanent population of Changsha City was only about 30,000 people, and I am afraid that they never dreamed that what brought them disaster was not the Japanese Kou who had lost their conscience, but the Kuomintang government that they gave high hopes.
After this secret meeting of the provincial government was convened, the Changsha garrison and government organs had already begun to make preparations for the burning of Changsha in an orderly manner.
Of course, all this is impossible for ordinary people to know, in fact, most government officials only believe that this plan will only be implemented when Changsha falls.
On the morning of November 12, Zhang Zhizhong received a confidential telegram from Chiang Kai-shek.
The content is:
"Limited to one hour, Chairman Zhang of Changsha." dense. If Changsha falls, we must burn the whole city, and we hope to make proper preparations in advance, do not make mistakes! Medium text of the attendant. ”
It is not difficult to see from the telegram that Chiang Kai-shek is very persistent about the "scorched earth policy," and it can be said that Changsha is destined to become a scorched earth.
After receiving the order, Zhang Zhizhong did not dare to be idle, and quickly summoned the Changsha City Garrison Commander Feng Ti and the provincial security department chief Xu Quan to discuss the specific plan for burning Changsha.
According to the plan, the arson task was the responsibility of the 1st Guard Regiment and the Social Training Corps, and the arson materials were distributed to the company-level units, which must be prepared by 2 a.m. on November 13 and reach the designated location.
Before 4:00 a.m., complete the evacuation of Changsha residents,
Zhang Zhizhong will review all the task points at 4 a.m.
The fire order must be based on the order of the chairman of Hunan Province, and the written order issued by the Hunan Provincial Capital Security Command can be counted as a fire order.
It should be said that there was nothing wrong with the formulation of the entire arson plan, but when Xu Quan and Xu Quan approached Xu Quan, the director of the provincial security department, with the arson plan, Xu Quan made several seemingly innocuous changes to the plan, causing many problems later.
First, Xu Quan changed the 1st Garrison Regiment, which was originally responsible for arson tasks, to the 2nd Garrison Regiment; secondly, the arson materials were distributed to the squad-level units.
On the surface, these changes seem to have little impact on the plan, but it should be known that the Second Guard Regiment at that time had been stationed in the suburbs, and transferred them into the urban area to delay the time, and secondly, their understanding of the urban area was certainly not as good as that of the regiment that had been stationed in the city for a long time, and it was inevitable that there would be some confusion when carrying out the order.
In addition, the arson materials are distributed to the squad level, who can guarantee that every squad leader can order the ban, the uncontrollable factor has increased by nearly 9 times more than before, and for such a strict plan, a small mistake will cause unpredictable results.
Of course, in the evening, the changed plan appeared on Zhang Zhizhong's desk.
Zhang Zhizhong read it carefully and did not perceive anything wrong, so he quickly signed and approved the plan.
However, he repeatedly told:
"Be careful not to make a mistake."
November 12, this day is not ordinary, it is the anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth.
According to tradition, commemorative activities should be held, but now that the army is under pressure, the government has no spare energy to organize large-scale commemorative activities.
However, Sun Yat-sen was the father of the nation after all, and it was inappropriate for the government to react at all on his birthday, so the Changsha municipal government organized a torch parade and took the opportunity to put the arson material in place.
At midnight that day, everything was ready, and the second regiment of guards responsible for arson also arrived at the designated location, just waiting for Zhang Zhizhong to review.
Around 2 a.m.,
Xu Quan, the deputy commander-in-chief who had not rested, suddenly found that there was a faint fire in the direction of the south gate of Changsha City.
Xu Quan was shocked and guessed which sloppy guy accidentally ignited the gasoline.
He thought that the person in charge near the South Gate was Xu Kun, so he called him and wanted to ask what had happened.
Although the phone was opened, but could not find Xu Kun, hang up the phone Xu Quan thought, no matter what, it is important to find someone to fight the fire first, according to his observation, the current fire is not serious, if the fire is put out in time, it should have little impact on the original plan.
So he made a second call.
This time he was looking for police chief Wen Chongfu.
However, the phone was not answered, and what Xu Quan did not know was that the police in Changsha had all withdrawn at that time, and it was impossible to organize enough people to fight the fire.
It turned out that in recent times, the police in Changsha had a large-scale escape phenomenon, often sending a wave of police out to patrol in the morning, and the gang took advantage of the situation and left.
For this matter, Wen Chongfu has been worried, he found someone to go to the various sub-bureaus for a while, and the news he got gave him a headache, it turned out that everyone was preparing for the retreat.
There is also that although the military has done a lot of secrecy work, there is no impermeable wall in the world, I don't know which link has been missed, the rumors that the army planned to set fire to the city are still boiling in the folk, and Wen Chongfu has naturally heard about it.
On the 12th, this astronomical heavy fu keenly found that there were several times more soldiers patrolling the streets than usual, and most of them were raw faces.
One by one, the soldiers were in a hurry, carrying iron barrels in their hands, and they didn't know what was inside.
Combined with the rumors in recent days, Wen Chongfu was shocked,
Could it be that today is the day of the arson?
In order to find out the situation, Wen Chongfu began to look around for news.
At night he finally called the Security Command, but the answer was
"The Commander is not there"
。
Wen Chongfu, who had already lost his square inch, automatically made up the "absence" brain as the commander of the garrison and withdrew from Changsha.
When wen Chongfu came to this conclusion, he couldn't sit still, and it happened that at this time, the south gate was on fire, and when he ran out of the door in a panic, he found that the original fire was far more than the south gate.
This Wen Chongfu confirmed his previous conjecture even more, saying that since the commander of the police had withdrawn, my little police chief was still polite, so he ordered his subordinates to ring the alarm bell to notify all the police in Changsha to retreat urgently.
At the same time, Xu Quan, who did not contact the above-mentioned Chongfu, had also found that the fire was more than one place in the south gate.
Xu Quan realized the seriousness of the problem, and his first reaction was that the plan changed the arson time ahead of schedule.
But then I think, if the plan changes,
I, the deputy commander-in-chief, can't not receive news!
In addition, Chairman Zhang Zhizhong did not issue a written order, and according to the plan, the first person to ignite it should be the Tianxin Pavilion instead of the South Gate.
Xu Quan, who realized that the situation was not right, immediately called Zhang Zhizhong and heard about the situation in Changsha, and Zhang Zhizhong on the other end of the phone was also very confused and said that he had not issued an order to ignite.
Putting down the phone and taking care of the others, he immediately began to organize people to rescue him, but at this time, the fire had already started, and it was a fantasy to try to extinguish it.
In the end, Xu Quan could only sigh and watch changsha city burn in front of his eyes.
Compared with the soldiers who had prepared earlier, the most tragic thing was that the people who had been kept in the dark, because the plan was not in advance to evacuate the masses, and the awakened people were simply lambs to be slaughtered in the face of the raging fire.
According to historical records, the resident of No. 3 Old No. 3 Yujia Lane in Changsha at that time was an old woman in her 60s, and when she was awakened by the fire at night, all the ways out were sealed by the fire.
In desperation, she had to jump into a large water tank in the courtyard, hoping that the cold water inside could save her life.
But what she did not expect was that the fire burned for too long, and then the cold water in the water tank boiled up, and by the time the fire was extinguished, the old woman was already boiled alive and died in the water tank, and the scene was so tragic and shocking.
When the fire broke out in Changsha, 10 soldiers were recuperating in a shelter on Yaowang Street, and they had not received any news in advance, and when the fire broke out, there was no way out, and more than 10 people jumped into a dry well in the courtyard to take shelter.
Unfortunately, under the scorching fire, the courtyard wall by the dry well collapsed, and all the wounded soldiers were buried under the well, losing their lives inexplicably.
What is even more hateful is that these wounded soldiers should have been evacuated long ago, but it was only because Shen Shaosan, the captain of the transport brigade of the Wounded Soldiers Management Office, actually embezzled the personnel carriers for his own benefit after receiving the order to evacuate the wounded soldiers, which caused the tragic death of the wounded soldiers.
As for how many casualties the fire caused, there is no accurate data so far, we can only see an official message issued by the Hunan provincial government at that time:
More than 30,000 people lost their lives.
Since the 12th was called "Wen Ri" in the telegram code at that time, the fire occurred again at night,
History is called "Wenxi Fire".
In the early days of the founding of New China, the real estate and tax departments of Changsha City conducted investigations and assessments of houses destroyed in the Wenxi fire.
The results show that at the time of the Wenxi fire, there were more than 1,100 streets and alleys in the city, more than 690 were burned to pieces, and more than 330 houses with less than 5 surviving houses.
According to statistics, almost 90% of the city's streets were seriously damaged in the fire, burning about 56,000 houses.
The fire provoked great public anger, and the reply given by the Nationalist government was that the fire was caused by the citizens of Changsha who, because they did not believe the rumors, set fire to their houses in anger.
In order to calm the people's anger, changsha police commander Feng Ti and three other people were executed by shooting because of the unfavorable fire fighting.
Later, it was also rumored that the arson was zhang zhizhong's order, and the so-called chiang kai-shek secret order mentioned by Zhang Zhizhong in his recollection was never recognized by the Kuomintang government.
Ironically, on November 4, 1938, before the Fire in Changsha was extinguished, the Kuomintang Central Committee published a title
"Solid Walls Clear The Wild, Changsha Has Become a Ruin"
Short comments.
The general meaning of the article is that the burning of Changsha was part of the Kuomintang's plan to clear the field, and the purpose was to make Changsha have no grass or trees to defend, and even if the Japanese occupied Changsha, they would not get any benefits.
But the problem is that when Changsha caught fire, the Japanese troops in Wuhan and Guangzhou did not move at all, let alone have the intention of attacking Changsha.
Many years later, in the historical materials published by the Japanese Defense Agency, it was found that on November 10, 1938, the eleventh Army, the main force of the Japanese army, issued a series of orders.
"Decided to suspend the pursuit near the first line of Yuezhou (present-day Yueyang) and Tongcheng" and "turn to the security posture"
That is to say, the Japanese army at that time did not have the opinion of attacking Changsha for the time being, in other words, Chiang Kai-shek's plan to build a wall and clear the field was implemented early, not only did it not play the envisaged role, but also caused huge losses to the government and the people.
By this time, Chiang Kai-shek could not withstand the pressure from all sides and was eager to find a scapegoat for this incident, and the three people of Feng Ti, Wen Chongfu and Xu Kun were undoubtedly the best candidates.
Originally, the three of them were not sentenced to death, but in the end, President Jiang waved a big stroke:
"He was fully responsible for the Changsha guards, was negligent and lazy, neglected his duties, and harmed the people, and was shot. As the chief of the police, Wen Chongfu left his post without authorization, led the police to escape, and was shot immediately. Xu Kun neglected his duties, harmed the people, and was shot. ”
The fire case, which had permanent wounds in Changsha City, ended the trial in a hurry within a few days with three heads landing on the ground.
At the same time, Zhang Zhizhongyin
"Negligence in employment, prevention of negligence"
He was dismissed from his post and retained; Xu Quan was dismissed
"Panicking and shaking"
He was dismissed from his post and investigated.
However, after the fire, Xu Quan's whereabouts were soon unknown, and the investigation became a blank piece of paper; Xu Quan was sentenced to life imprisonment and later commuted; and Xi Chulin was dismissed from his post as chief executive.
So what happened that day that caused the burning plan to be greatly advanced?
There is a saying that the Japanese army did move on the 12th, and the direction of the march was indeed Changsha, and the Kuomintang spies in the Japanese army learned of the Japanese army's movements, and they spread the news.
However, the translator who received the message was careless and put the message in the message
"The Japanese army is now in the New Wall River"
Translated to
"The Japanese army is now in The New River."
You must know that the New River is only 3 kilometers away from Changsha, and after receiving this news, how can the military not panic, which is why there is the Oolong incident in advance of the 2nd Regiment of Security.
Regardless of the truth, the Wenxi Fire is definitely a major tragedy in the history of China's War of Resistance.
Thousands of innocent people lost their lives, more than 300,000 citizens were displaced, and Changsha's century-old foundation was destroyed.
Today, when we visit Changsha, if you look closely, you will find that many of the buildings are written on the top of the profiles
"The original building was destroyed by the Wenxi fire."
Although Chiang Kai-shek shirked responsibility afterwards, the author deeply believes in a passage he once said.
Chiang Kai-shek said after the fire:
"In the study of the root causes of this incident, it can be said that it is not the fault of any one individual, but the fault of our entire group."