Anti-Japanese War hero Hao Mengling
On the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, Hao Mengling was the first military commander sacrificed in China, but the first military commander who martyred the country after the first anti-Japanese martyrdom was sealed in history and rarely talked about.
Now, when we clear the fog of history and look back at the deeds of these famous anti-Japanese generals, it is as if we reappeared yesterday, as if we can see Hao Mengling's fighting figure through Changhong...
The most down-to-earth generals are also the most patriotic
Hao Mengling was born in 1898 to an ordinary peasant family in Gaocheng County, Hebei Province. In 1919, at the age of 16, he had already graduated from the Baoding Army Officer School. During his 25-year career as a soldier, he successively served as brigade commander, division commander, deputy commander, and military commander of the National Revolutionary Army.
At that time, although he was in a high position, he was very caring for the people, and in order to help the children go to school, he also used all his savings to help his hometown establish a senior primary school and a girls' primary school.
In order to encourage these children to be able to study well, Hao Mengling also personally set up a regulation.
As long as the village can pass the senior primary school or above, he will personally pay the tuition fee for him.
Later, Hao Mengling's move was unanimously praised by the villagers.
The children who were sponsored by Hao Mengling also became the backbone of the later troops.
Compared with other senior Kuomintang officers, Hao Mengling seems to be more grounded. Why?
Whenever Hao Mengling returned to his hometown, he would always take off his military uniform and change into ordinary plain clothes beforehand when he was still more than a dozen miles away from the village. Not only did he demand this from himself, but even the attendants around him had to learn to change into civilian clothes.
And they do, that's it
In order to be able to meet fellow villagers on the road when wearing plain clothes, they can communicate cordially
。 Although the military uniform is very imposing, for Hao Mengling, it has opened up the distance with the villagers, making them feel a sense of distance.
Therefore, when he returned to his hometown, he was very concerned about his relationship with the villagers, and a senior general like Hao Mengling was so approachable and left a deep impression on the villagers, and whenever he was mentioned, everyone's heart was warm.
Although Hao Mengling was a general, he was very disgusted with war, and during his tenure, he also applied to his superiors many times to be able to be relieved of his armor and return to the field, but in the end he was not allowed.
Old photos of the July 7 Incident
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese Kou launched the "July 7 Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries. At that time, he was on his way to the Sichuan Army University to study, and Hao Mengling, as the commander of the Ninth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, resolutely returned to the unit and immediately wrote a letter hoping to approve him to lead the army north.
He was determined to die before he went north, so when he passed through Hankou on the way north, General Hao returned home to say goodbye to his family.
Bid farewell to his wife and children and bravely go to the battlefield
At this time, Hao Mengling's daughter was only 15 years old. So when his mother told him that he had not slept all night and had been writing letters the night his father returned, when she opened the drawer, she found a letter to her daughter, but on the envelope it was annotated:
Twenty-seven years (that is, 1938) opened the book
。
Hao Huiying was still young and did not know what his father meant by this, so he took the letter and asked his father in person, but he wanted to open the letter during the conversation, and his father was robbed after seeing it, and directly tore it off and threw it into the spittoon.
Hao Huiying was even more curious about her father's unusual approach, and he wanted to see what his father had written in the letter, so when his father left, she carefully fished out the pieces of paper, cleaned them up, and then put them back together.
Hao Mengling's widow family portrait
When she saw the contents of the letter, she was moved to tears, and the letter left by her father turned out to be a will.
In the letter, he wrote:
This time I went north to resist japan, and I have already made up my mind to sacrifice. In case of death, you have to listen to your mother's tutelage, filial piety to your grandmother, about you waiting to go to school, I personally have no money, in the future the country will be victorious, you can enter the school of the remnants... He stayed with Hui Ying, Hui Lan, Yin Huai, Qian Nan and Yin Sen, and his father stayed on September 15, 1937.
When the whole family saw this will, they wept bitterly and were blocking their father from not wanting him to leave, but despite this time, his father had already made up his mind, so in the end he could not keep him.
Before leaving, Hao Mengling said his heartfelt words to the child, he said:
"I love you, but I love our country even more, and now the enemy is slaughtering our compatriots every day, and everyone should kill the enemy." If the country dies, you will not have a good life. ”
I have to say that Hao Mengling has his own clear attitude on the issue of right and wrong. He knew that if they did not pay and did not struggle now, then their descendants would have no place to live, so for the sake of a better life for future generations, they could only sacrifice themselves and fight on the battlefield.
At that time, Pingjin had fallen, and had successively occupied Chahar and central Hebei, at this time the Japanese army had already approached Shanxi, in order to be able to block the enemy as quickly as possible, he did not dare to rest for a moment, and rushed to the Shanxi front line without stopping.
Old photos of the Battle of Pingjin
On September 17, 1937, the day her father left, Hao Huiying went to the railway station to bid farewell to her father, and when she came to the railway station, she looked at the entire railway station with black oppressive soldiers, and the expression on their faces was the same as that of their father, and there was a determination to see death as a homecoming, and such a scene was also deeply imprinted in Hao Huiying's mind.
Xinkou was the last line of defense for the Japanese army from northern Jin to Taiyuan, and at the end of 1937, before Hao Mengling had reached it, the Japanese army was ready to assemble near Dai County to take Xinkou and attack Taiyuan.
When Hao Mengling's Ninth Army arrived at Xinkou on October 4, Hao Mengling immediately inspected the surrounding terrain and made a plan to block the attack. The terrain of Xinkou is dangerous, with Wutai Mountain on the right and Yunzhong Mountain on the left, and a river valley between the two mountains.
So that night, he made this testimonial:
This War of Resistance is a national war, about the survival of the country, so this battle is only allowed to win and not to lose, now the people are not happy, the soldiers should stand up to defend the motherland and the people.
At the same time, he made this vow:
Now that the great enemy is present, I am determined to live and die with all the officers and men, share the hardships and hardships, and fight side by side.
On October 10, 1937, Hao Mengling wrote a letter to his wife
On October 10, under the fierce attack of the Japanese army, Yuanping fell and the Japanese army directly approached Xinkou. At this time, Xinkou had been sunny for ten consecutive days, but just before the big war, it suddenly turned cloudy, and this seemed to indicate something.
Therefore, on the same night, Hao Mengling wrote a family letter to his wife, saying:
This war of resistance is a battle for the survival of the country, and if it cannot succeed, it will become a benevolent person. After my sacrifice, as long as the state exists, the education of children will certainly not be a problem. At the end of the letter, he also instructed his wife to take good care of the children and mother, and the brothers and sisters should also take good care of them. Those who die in the war for the soldiers, those who die for the country, can be said to be deserved.
Between the lines, it can be seen that Hao Mengling's determination to sacrifice his life for the country is incomparably firm.
That night, Hao Mengling also wrote down his state of mind at that time in his diary: "Today is the national day commemoration day, recalling the difficulties of the martyrs in creating the country, and now North China will fall into the hands of the sunset people.
We are too incompetent, too indisputable. ”
A few simple words showed General Hao's helplessness about the current situation, but in addition to worrying, he did not lose his temper, but strengthened his determination to resist Japan.
The life of the battle-hardened general was frozen
Early the next morning, the Japanese army, with its sophisticated equipment, launched a fierce attack on the Huaihua position in the south of Xinkou. In the face of such a strong enemy, Hao Mengling bore the brunt of it and personally went to the front line to direct the battle, and for a while, the two sides fought fiercely, and the flesh and blood were blurred.
Although the strength of the two is very different, and our equipment is not as good as the other, Hao Mengling, with the determination not to be afraid of death, has thrown himself into a tug-of-war with the other side. On the same night, the positions changed hands 13 times, our army suffered heavy casualties, and some regiments only had one battalion of troops left. After repeated killings, only a hundred people remained.
Battle of Xinkou
In the face of such an urgent situation, Hao Mengling did not panic in the slightest, but on the contrary, he inspired them that even if there was only one person left on the battlefield now, they would have to hold this position, as long as we did not die one day, the responsibility of resisting Japan would not be completed in one day.
He told the soldiers that he had made a will at home.
There is no survival without defeating the Japanese army
。 He asked loudly, "Do all of you dare to accompany me to hold my ground here?" ”
Under such a passionate mobilization, all the soldiers present replied in unison: "Swear to die and hold our position!" Hearing the soldiers shouting loudly, Hao Mengling smiled satisfactorily and raised their slogans.
Where to stand, where to die! ”
In this way, the warriors are inspired to move forward.
On the night of the 15th, commander-in-chief Yan Xishan sent seven additional brigades to Hao Mengling's command, and the left and right sides simultaneously instigated to attack the Japanese army. At this time, Hao Mengling stood on the top of the mountain, looking down at the bottom of the mountain and fell into contemplation, unlike before, the expression on his face was more solemn and solemn, and his eyes were more determined.
Battle of Xinkou (from left to right: Yan Xishan, Wei Lihuang, Zhu De)
At 2:00 a.m. on the 16th, our army's great counteroffensive began, and the sound of the horn was like a thunderclap that pierced the sky, and under the command of Hao Mengling, our army successively conquered and occupied several hills. At 5:00 a.m., in order to take advantage of the victory to pursue, Hao Mengling wanted to take advantage of the night to immediately rush to the front line of the Independent Fifth Brigade to direct the battle.
However, the situation here was much more dangerous than the current position, the front line had been blocked by enemy fire, so the soldiers were worried about his safety, so they advised him to write a written order to send someone.
In this regard, Hao Mengling, who has always been calm, was angry, and he shouted:
"The crock pot will not fall apart from the wellhead, and the general will inevitably die before the battle."
”
At five o'clock in the morning, Hao Mengling rushed to the front line with a group of men and horses, but just as they dodged the enemy's artillery fire all the way, when they passed only two hundred meters away from the enemy, the two bullets on the opposite side went straight through Hao Mengling's body and instantly fell into a pool of blood, and from then on, at the age of 39, he fixed his life at this moment.
From Guizhou to Shanxi, except for a few days on the road, Hao Mengling came to Shanxi for only twelve days but died on the battlefield.
Although he did not survive to the day of repelling the Japanese Kou, he used all his energy and swore to fight to the death, and he also followed his oath and truly achieved where he stood and died.
When the news of her father's death reached Wuhan, Hao Huiying was attending classes in the school at the time, and when the director of education told her the news of her father's death, Hao Huiying rushed back to her home, and just when she walked to the door, she heard the house crying bitterly, and her mother cried especially sadly.
On October 24, Hao Mengling's body was transported from Taiyuan to Wuhan, where a public sacrifice was held on November 16 and subsequently buried in Wuchang.
On December 6, 1937, the Nationalist government posthumously awarded Hao Mengling the title of General of the Army
。 As the first military commander to die in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Hao Mengling had far-reaching significance for the War of Resistance Against Japan. Although they have been sacrificed, they have strengthened their determination to resist Japan.
In the Ta Kung Pao, it was also reported:
Since the Republic of China, the military commander who died on the battlefield because of the supervision of the war was actually the first general Hao.
Mao Zedong was speaking
On March 12, 1938, at the commemoration of the thirteenth anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's death, Mao Zedong also gave an excited speech.
The blood of General Hao Mengling and others will not be in vain, and the expulsion of Japanese bandits from China who can say that it is not inevitable?
At the meeting, Mao Zedong also spoke highly of Hao Mengling
"It has given Chinese people a lofty and great model."
In order to commemorate Hao Mengling's exploits, after the victory of the War of Resistance, the Nationalist government renamed the Hankou North Trail to Hao Mengling Road. In 1985, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Wuhan also revived the road name named by Hao Mengling.
In 1983, Hao Mengling was posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr.
Later generations experienced a life of exile, and goodbye father has been renamed
After Hao Mengling's sacrifice, how did their descendants live? It turned out that after the fall of Wuhan in 1938, Hao Huiying and her mother came to Chongqing, but after the death of their father, they had no financial resources and their lives were in trouble for a while.
Later, they could only enter a private middle school in Chongqing, and in order to ensure that they could go to school normally, the children could only work during the winter and summer vacations to earn tuition on their own.
In the summer of 1939, a burst of children's shouting attracted the attention of Feng Yuxiang, vice chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, who was walking.
Feng Yuxiang
The two children were dressed in rags and were carrying pots selling tea on the street, and seeing the curiosity of these two children drove Feng Yuxiang to inquire.
So, Feng Yuxiang went to the children and asked them who they were and what their surnames were. But the two children's answers surprised him.
They are from Zhuanghe Village, Gaocheng County, Hebei Province, with the surname Hao.
Hearing this, a person suddenly appeared in Feng Yuxiang's mind, wasn't Hao Mengling a person from that place? Will these two children have anything to do with him? Therefore, he continued to ask whether he recognized Hao Mengling?
And then, the children's answers were shocked again, they said,
Hao Mengling is his father.
In this regard, Feng Yuxiang was very puzzled as to why these two children did not go to school but sold tea here.
And when he heard the children answer that they were selling tea to save for tuition, his eyes were moist.
So he immediately asked his secretary to write a report and present it to Chiang Kai-shek, who when he learned of it, even gave them twenty thousand yuan.
However, fortunately, they met Feng Yuxiang, and their seven-year exile finally came to an end.
On August 15, 1945, Hao Mengling's family finally waited for the news of the victory of the War of Resistance, but when they ran home happily, they thought that they finally missed home. However, she suddenly froze and found herself homeless.
After the founding of New China, Hao Huiying also received some condolence money after this. However, in 1969, when they went to visit their father's grave, they found that his father's grave was no longer there, so they had to go to the grave to give their father a grave.
Hao Mengling's tomb
In 1981, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinhai Revolution, when the Hao sisters came to the cemetery in the mountainside of Fuhu Mountain in Wuchang to prepare for the memorial, they found a strange thing.
Hao Huilan hugged her sister's arm in horror and said, "Sister, you see! And Hao Huiying looked down at her sister's hand, and the name written on her father's tombstone turned out to be a person named Liu Jing'an.
The man, who served as Li Yuanhong's secretary, died of illness in 1911, is also detailed on the tombstone. The two sisters stood on the cemetery at a loss and said in unison:
"This is indeed my father's grave!"
Hao Huiying, 94 years old
Later, after repeated searches, the civil affairs department replaced the cemetery with the grave of their father.
For Hao Huiying, although her father has been gone for a long time, she always remembers her father's enlightenment to her when she was young. Later, Hao Huiying would often go to her sister Hao Huilan's house to reminisce about the past when her father was with them.
In the hearts of the two sisters, the sentence that impressed their father the most was:
A person must love the country, love the people, or not love money, not afraid of death!