In early September 1937, Jiang Yuzhen, the brigade commander of the Jin Sui Army, received an order from Yan Xishan to send him to the anti-Japanese front, when his wife had just died of illness, leaving three young children unattended, the mother was old and infirm, and the whole family was in a state of difficulty and grief.
Before leaving, Jiang Yuzhen's mother and son comforted each other. The mother told her son to fight the devil with peace of mind, and the son comforted the mother to pay attention to her body and take more care. Jiang Yuzhen bid farewell to her mother, comforted the child, and ran to the place where she buried her wife in the north hill of Yangquan City to bid farewell to her dead wife. With tears in his eyes, he faced his wife's grave and said, "I'm going to go out to fight, and after fighting the devils, we will go back to my hometown in Shandong (Jiang Yuzhen is a native of Heze, Shandong). ”
One day in early September, the 196th Brigade of the 66th Division of the Jin Sui Army, under the leadership of brigade commander Jiang Yuzhen, departed by train from Yangquan and went straight to the Yanbei area of the anti-Japanese front, marching to Datong.
Yan Xishan ordered the 196th Brigade to defend the Nancheng River in Chengxian County (at that time, the river had no water, it was a dry river), and Jiang Yuzhen received the order, so he and the chief of staff each rode a war horse to the Chenghe River to inspect the terrain, and when they returned, they made a defense.
The team had just reached both sides of the River and received an order to "hold the original peace within a seven-day deadline." Jiang Yuzhen immediately called back Yan Xishan: "If you can't reach the task, you will be martyred with Yuan Ping." Then the team turned around and headed for Yuanping, and at about 9 p.m., arrived at Yuanping Town, Jiang Yuzhen did not care about resting, and grasped the deployment, personally leading the officers and men to build fortifications and prepare for battle.
On October 1, after the Japanese army captured two defensive positions of the Jin Sui Army's defensive line, it moved south from Dai County and surrounded the town of Yuanping with heavy troops. In the first three days of the siege of Yuanping by the Japanese, the officers and men of the 196th Brigade engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese outside the city.
Later, the Japanese army reinforced a large number of heavy weapons and troops, and due to the excessive disparity in strength and weapons between the enemy and us, the troops outside the city suffered heavy casualties. In order to preserve his strength and facilitate the re-battle, Commander Jiang Yuzhen withdrew into the city and held the city wall. After the seven-day mission of defending the city expired, Yan Xishan sent another telegram to let him hold Yuanping for three more days.
On the evening of October 7, Jiang Yuzhen held an emergency military conference attended by officers at and above the regimental level. At the meeting, the situation of the war situation was analyzed and discussed, and some advocated continuing to hold firm and some advocating withdrawal.
Jiang Yuzhen insisted on following the order and was determined to persevere. He said: "My surname is Jiang who has been a soldier for more than twenty years, and I have never been a soldier in a war. This time, I fought hard, that is, I was crushed to pieces, and I also had to complete the task and stick to it for three days. With me Jiang Yuzhen there, there is Yuan Ping. I Jiang Yuzhen vowed to coexist and die with Yuan Ping! ”
On October 8, the Japanese army mobilized aircraft and artillery to bombard the city of Yuanping, and the officers and men of the 196th Brigade suffered heavy casualties. But the officers and men stubbornly persisted in fighting. The Japanese army used aircraft and artillery as a cover to break through the southern gate of yuanping castle and attacked the city. Jiang Yuzhen led the remaining officers and soldiers to engage in fierce battles with the Japanese army in the streets and alleys of the city. Then they fought from house to hospital, fighting in hand-to-hand combat, never backing down. Officers and men climbed onto the roof, set up machine guns, and strafed around. Every time the Japanese army captured a street or a courtyard, it had to pay a great price.
On the afternoon of October 10, it was the most difficult and fierce moment for the officers and men of the 196th Brigade to fight with the Japanese army, and there were less than 1,000 officers and men left in the brigade. The officers and men climbed up the roof wall bare-chested and stubbornly resisted the Japanese army. Jiang Yuzhen was carrying a short gun, carrying a grenade and rushing to the front line with the soldiers. The Japanese aircraft and artillery bombarded the positions of the 196th Brigade one by one, and the Japanese troops on all sides were frantically approaching forward. At this time, only five or six hundred officers and men of the 196th Brigade were left, gathered in a compound near the northeast corner of the city wall to resist.
In the afternoon, the three regimental commanders saw that the war situation was very critical and that the task of sticking to Yuanping was close to completion, so they asked the chief of staff to go to see Jiang Yuzhen together and said: "Brigade Commander, at present, our army has suffered heavy casualties, there is only one courtyard left in the position, and the task ordered by Commander Yan is close to completion, so we should consider the issue of retreat." ”
Jiang Yuzhen replied very dryly: "There are a few people who fight a few people's battles, and it is the natural duty of the soldiers to defend the land. By this time. We only resign ourselves to fate, and I fought. ”
In the evening, huang Hongyou, the leader of the guard platoon, saw that the situation was critical, and together with several soldiers, he pushed and pulled together, and took Jiang Yuzhen to withdraw from Yuanping Town from a hole pre-dug in the northeast corner of the city wall to the outside of the city.
Jiang Yuzhen, Huang Hongyou and a few escorts withdrew from the city not long after they were discovered by the Japanese army. So the Japanese chariots turned their heads and followed in pursuit with cavalry and infantry.
During the retreat, a shell fragment hit Brigadier Ginger in the left leg, so badly wounded that he could not walk. Huang Hongyou wanted to retreat behind his back, but Jiang Yuzhen resolutely refused to comply, he said: "At this time, leave me alone, you should retreat quickly." ”
Huang Hongyou and the soldiers said with tears in their eyes: "If we want to be born, we will be born together, and when we die, we will die together, and we must not leave the brigade commander here alone." ”
At this time, the pursuing enemy was getting closer and closer, the chariot was only a few tens of meters away from Brigadier Jiang, And Huang Hongyou and a few soldiers did not say a word, seven hands and eight feet, dragging Jiang Yuzhen to a small vegetable garden in the southeast direction. On one side near the small vegetable garden was a cornfield, and they wanted to hide Jiang Yuzhen in the cornfield, but when they carried Jiang Yuzhen to a distance of more than ten meters from the cornfield, Jiang Yuzhen was helpless and had no choice but to put him down. In order to divert the target, Huang Hongyou immediately ran towards the cornfield with a few soldiers.
After Jiang Yuzhen was injured, due to excessive bleeding, unconsciousness, and unconsciousness, groups of Japanese troops caught up with him, found him lying on the ground, and was a tall soldier, and then killed him inhumanely (the Japanese soldiers first stabbed Jiang Yuzhen in the abdomen with a bayonet, and then removed his head).
In this bloody battle, most of the more than 5,000 officers and men of the 196th Brigade were killed, and only more than 200 survived. After Jiang Yuzhen's heroic sacrifice, major newspapers and magazines across the country successively reported the heroic deeds of Jiang Yuzhen and the officers and men of the 196th Brigade who sacrificed their lives for the country in resisting the Japanese army. Patriots and students from all walks of life have held solemn mourning activities, especially the young students in Taiyuan, who are full of emotion and have donated more than 3,000 yuan to comfort the families of zhonglie. In June 1979, the Shandong Provincial People's Government posthumously recognized Jiang Yuzhen as a revolutionary martyr.