preface
General Xu Shiyou, pictured |
In 2018, Xu Huashan came to the Jinan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, and she said to the people around her:
"Laying a wreath for the martyrs who liberated Jinan, especially the cemetery of the nine-column martyrs, this is my father's unfulfilled wish before his death..."
Xu Shiyou and the Twenty-seventh Division
In 1955, Xu Shiyou inspected the work of the 80th Division of the 27th Army, formerly known as the Ninth Column of Huaye.
Back in the old unit, Xu Shiyou's happy mood is conceivable, accompanied by the military commander and political commissar, Xu Shiyou walked to the officers and men of the Eighty Division who lined up to welcome his arrival, just as Xu Shiyou was waving with the soldiers, suddenly a drum sounded, hearing this sound, Xu Shiyou turned his head and walked back, and the military commander and political commissar rushed to catch up and ask what was going on.
Only to hear Xu Shiyou angrily rebuke:
"Engage in something, formalism!"
The commander hurriedly explained: "According to the regulations, leaders above the rank of general should go to the troops to inspect and guide the work, and they should play music to greet them. ”
Xu Shiyou snorted coldly and said:
"I am the old commander of the Ninth Column, and everyone doesn't know me, so what are you doing with this formalistic thing?"
After the commander and political commissar listened, they hurriedly followed Xu Shiyou's request and immediately asked the military band to withdraw from the scene, until the military band left, and Xu Shiyou walked into the barracks of the Eighty Division of the Twenty-seventh Army.
Although this is only a small matter, Xu Shiyou's pragmatic style is deeply imprinted in the minds of the Twenty-seventh Army, and to this day, the Twenty-seventh Army still maintains this pragmatic style, does not practice the air handle style, and does not engage in any flower racks.
Pictured| General Xu Shiyou with the soldiers
In August 1969, Xu Shiyou suddenly received instructions from Chairman Mao to send an army from the Nanjing Military Region to North China, and at that time relations with the Soviet Union were tense in order to prevent a surprise attack.
After obtaining Chairman Mao's consent, Xu Shiyou immediately called the commander and political commissar of the Twenty-seventh Army and ordered them to take a helicopter sent by the military region to the military region early the next morning to accept the task.
In August, the weather in Jiangnan was sweltering and hot, and in the early morning, everyone was sleeping soundly, and the relevant personnel of combat, confidentiality, and communications suddenly received a notice and immediately rushed to the playground of the Eighty Division to take a helicopter to Nanjing to accept a new task.
On August 18, the Twenty-seventh Army received an advance order from the Military Region, and on the 20th received a telegram from the Central Military Commission, and then the Twenty-seventh Army entered the Xuanhua area of Zhangjiakou...
The troops of the Twenty-seventh Army that remained in Wuxi carried out intense and orderly preparations, issued an order to close the troops on the 21st, and in only 37 hours, the 8 regiments and 7 battalions and 12 companies were all gathered, and on the 23rd, the vanguard troops marched, and on the 27th, the Eighty Division, the units directly under the Central Military Commission, and the Seventy-ninth Division successively departed from Wuxi, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou.
When the train passed through Nanjing, Xu Shiyou specially went to the station to send off the soldiers, and for decades, the officers and men of the Twenty-seventh Army made meritorious achievements under the leadership of Xu Shiyou and cultivated deep feelings, and this unit was also Xu Shiyou's favorite.
According to Xu Shiyou's daughter Xu Huashan, she recalled:
"When I got home from the train station, my father stayed alone in the house and closed the door for a long time, which I remember twice, and the other time was when Premier Zhou died, and my father was also so sad."
When the Twenty-seventh Army had not yet completely separated from the Nanjing Military Region, when Xu Shiyou learned that the north had entered winter and that cadres and fighters were sleeping in the wild for exercise training and fortifications, he instructed the relevant departments to purchase a batch of single wool felts and distribute a bed to each person in the whole army to prevent frost and moisture.
Picture | Xu Shiyou
The Twenty-seventh Army came to the Saibei Plateau from the land of fish and rice in southern Jiangsu, and was very uncomfortable with the dry climate, and more importantly, it was accustomed to eating rice in the south and not used to eating coarse grain nests.
To this end, Commander You Taizhong called xu Shiyou to react and said:
"A division of our Twenty-seventh Army has produced so much rice for the organs of the military region on a farm in northern Jiangsu and has made contributions, and now that we are encountering difficulties, it is not good to open our mouth to the Beijing Military Region, can we support us with a batch of rice to solve the urgent need at present?"
When Xu Shiyou learned of this, he immediately promised to give hundreds of thousands of catties of rice to the Twenty-seventh Army free of charge, and then continued to transport the departure department together.
On behalf of the whole army, Commander You expressed his heartfelt thanks to Xu Shiyou for his concern, and when the rice arrived, the cadres and soldiers learned of this situation, and many people were moved to tears.
During the garrison of the Twenty-seventh Army in Xuanhua, one day the responsible comrade of the logistics department of the Nanjing Military Region suddenly came to Xuanhua, where the army received him warmly and asked what matters the visitors needed to handle.
The person who came directly said that he had come to settle the rice expenses, and Commander You was very puzzled about this, so he hurriedly called Xu Shiyou and explained the original committee.
Xu Shiyou was very unhappy about this, and immediately informed the cadre to return quickly, saying that he did not ask for instructions, did not report, and played the piano indiscriminately.
In November, the Eighty-first Division was also ordered to go north to build the Twenty-seventh Army, and in May 1970, all the remaining offices and family members of the Twenty-seventh Army went north.
The officers and men of the Twenty-seventh Army and their families boarded the train with affection and affection, constantly looking back at the land where they had lived for many years, and looking back at the figure of General Xu Shiyou waving goodbye, as if this moment was forever fixed there and in the hearts of officers and men.
Since then, the Twenty-seventh Army, the unit that Xu Shiyou trusts the most and is also the most capable of fighting a hard battle, has left Jiangnan, which has been stationed for many years, and has broken away from the nanjing military region and is no longer under the direct leadership of Xu Shiyou.
However, the decades-long fighting friendship between Xu Shiyou and the officers and men of the Twenty-seventh Army cannot be separated, and their hearts have always been closely linked
The fighting friendship between Xu Shiyou and the Twenty-seventh Army can be traced back to the predecessor of the Twenty-seventh Army, Huaye Jiuzhong...
Xu Shiyou and Hua Ye Jiuzhong
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chairman Mao, when he was considering letting go of the masses and strengthening the anti-Japanese base areas, set his eyes on Shandong, and for this reason Chairman Mao successively sent Luo Rongheng and Xu Xiangqian to Shandong.
But it is not enough to have handsome talents, but also to need a vanguard general, at this time Chairman Mao's mind from time to time came up with the "Xu monk" who was not a monk.
At that time, many people disagreed with Xu Shiyou for holding the military power and occupying one side, but in the face of the doubts of the people, Chairman Mao still insisted on his own views:
"Not bald or poisonous, or Xu Shiyou!"
In this way, under Chairman Mao's decision, the Central Military Commission appointed Xu Shiyou as the commander of the Jiaodong Military Region, and after receiving Chairman Mao's order, Xu Shiyou quickly rushed to the Battlefield of Shandong.
On March 15, 1941, Xu Shiyou made his first public debut in Jiaodong, and at the meeting held by the Party Committee of Jiaodong District, Xu Shiyou spoke:
"I came to Jiaodong to fight. Taiping I will not come, I will not come to Taiping. Chiang Kai-shek created the 'Anhui Southern Incident', and the Jiaodong surrender faction cooperated with the Japanese army to fight us every day. We will not be able to fight to the end, and we will not be able to resist to the end without fighting; we must resolutely fight out, crush the Japanese aggressors, crush the capitulators, and create a new situation in Shandong. ”
Xu Shiyou's unique speech, just one seat, said 7 "typing" words, directly filled the entire venue with a strong smell of gunpowder.
Pictured| Xu Shiyou and Chairman Mao
When Xu Shiyou first arrived in Shandong, his most outstanding contribution was not in how many enemies he had annihilated and how many weapons he had captured, but that as soon as he arrived, he broke the myth that "the Japanese army was invincible", let the commanders and fighters of the Jiaodong army see their strength clearly, and greatly increased the courage and confidence in defeating the Japanese army.
It is precisely because of this tough and fierce spirit that Xu Shiyou has not only become a legend in the hearts of the common people, but also a legend in the enemy.
From the spring of 1941 to September 1945, when the Japanese army signed the surrender document, Xu Shiyou led the sons of Jiaodong to fight bloody battles with the Japanese puppet army for four years, successfully reversing the passive situation of our army in Jiaodong, smashing the Japanese army's repeated dragnet "sweeps", and extensively mobilizing the masses, establishing militia armed forces, guerrilla warfare, mine warfare, night raid warfare, sparrow warfare and other tactics.
From the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to the War of Liberation, Xu Shiyou turned to Shandong for 16 years, leading the Jiaodong disciples to fight many beautiful battles, and half a century later, the local old people still chanted:
"Wow, in those years, Li Jiaodong had 24 commanders in succession, all of which were picked up by a Communist commander!"
And the communist commander that the old man said was General Xu Shiyou, of course, this is also an afterthought.
At the beginning of 1947, the units under the Jiaodong Military Region were ordered to be included in the combat sequence of the East China Field Army and were organized as the Ninth Column, and Xu Shiyou became the commander of the Ninth Column.
In the years when Xu Shiyou fought side by side with the Ninth Column, there were many battles that he would never forget, including the defeat of the Seventy-fourth Division known as the "Imperial Forest Army" of the Chiang Dynasty in the Battle of Menglianggu
Battle of Jinan
。
In the Battle of Menglianggu, the Ninth Column played a crucial role, whether it was the initial blockade or the rear into the main attack, the Ninth Column made outstanding contributions to the elimination of the Seventy-fourth Division.
For Xu Shiyou, who has experienced hundreds of battles, the capture of Jinan is one of the most important battles he commanded, and it is also one of the most proud masterpieces of his military career.
In 1948, on the eve of the Battle of Jinan, chairman Mao, when reviewing the East China Field Army's operational plan for the Jinan Campaign, found that there was no signature of Xu Shiyou, and when he learned that Xu Shiyou was recuperating from his wounds in Penglai Aishan Tang, he took the initiative to call the East China Bureau:
"This attack is a major battle, please consider asking Comrade Xu Shiyou to come back as the commander-in-chief of the siege with the permission of Comrade Xu Shiyou."
In the face of Chairman Mao's "point general" again, Xu Shiyou took his wounds into battle, and when he came to the battlefield, Xu Shiyou understood that this battle was only allowed to win and not to lose, and in this case,
The thing that bothered him the most was that the fortifications in Jinan City were strong, the nearby defensive zone was deep and long, the troops were strong, and the firepower was fierce.
After some thought, Xu Shiyou decided to seize the enemy's key parts and concentrate his forces and firepower in the battle to attack the enemy's "heart".
The siege plan was also divided into attacking the outer city and attacking the inner city, and under the siege of the east and west of the nine columns led by Nie Fengzhi and the ten columns led by Song Shilun, under the heroic battle of three days and three nights, the outer city was successfully breached.
The next step was to attack the core part of the enemy's entrenchment in Jinan, the inner city, and at midnight, all the siege troops were blocked under the inner city, and after a fierce battle, neither the enemy nor we took further action, and the entire battlefield showed its first silence since the beginning of the war.
In this regard, Nie Fengzhi proposed to attack the city overnight, and Xu Shiyou expressed his great agreement, and after consulting with Tan Zhenlin, he re-issued the order:
"The whole line once again organized an attack, attacked by the East and West groups, and the inner city must be taken down."
Subsequently, Xu Shiyou said to the commanders of the columns:
"Our difficulties are great, the enemy's difficulties are greater than ours, now it depends on whose determination is harder than whom, we must compare perseverance with the enemy, more tenacious, more than staying power, victory is often won in the last five minutes."
In this way, at 1:30 a.m. on September 24, the eastern and western front groups of the siege force fired in unison, and for a time the city of Jinan was submerged in a sea of fire.
And led by Nie Fengzhi
Nine vertical "knife tip" seventy-three regiments
It was the first to break through the inner city and planted the banner of victory at the head of Jinan City
Therefore, the 73rd Regiment of the Ninth Column was also awarded the honorary title of "Jinan First Regiment" by the Shandong Regiment of the East China Field Army.
On this day, the city of Jinan was liberated, and all 110,000 defenders were annihilated
As a result, 1466 people were sacrificed
Xu Shiyou did not make a wish
In Xu Shiyou's view, whether the soldiers of the Ninth Column fought against the Japanese puppet army on the battlefield or bravely charged in the Battle of Jinan, they were all former servants and successors, and they were not afraid of death, and it was precisely the feelings that had been baptized by the fire of war that were doubly sincere.
It is perfectly normal to have soldier casualties on the battlefield, but Xu Shiyou always keeps these martyrs in his heart.
In 1985, when members of the East China Region of the Central Advisory Committee of the Communist Party of China were to hold a forum in Qingdao, Xu Shiyou decided to attend the meeting.
At this time, Xu Shiyou already felt that his body could not support himself for too long, and at this time he wanted to take this opportunity to go to Jinan to lay a wreath for the nine martyrs' cemetery.
Therefore, before leaving, Xu Shiyou specially called Chi Haotian, who was then the political commissar of the Jinan Military Region, and put forward this request, saying:
"I was recently going through Jinan, wanting to liberate The martyrs of Jinan, especially
Wreaths were laid at the Cemetery of the Nine Columns Martyrs
, please make the necessary preparations. ”
After hanging up the phone, Chi Haotian hurriedly sent someone to look for the grave of the nine-column martyr, but after many searches, he could not find the grave of the nine-column martyr.
After Xu Shiyou arrived in Jinan, he immediately informed Chi Haotian to report the situation on the train, and after Chi Haotian saw Xu Shiyou, he reported on the failure to find the cemetery of the Nine Vertical Martyrs.
"Since the tomb of the martyrs of the Ninth Column has not yet been found, I will no longer get off the bus in Jinan and stop, please lay a wreath in front of the monument of the Martyrs' Cemetery of Hero Mountain in Jinan on my behalf."
Then, Xu Shiyou sighed lightly and recalled:
"Chairman Mao named me to fight Jinan, which was originally scheduled to be fought for several months, but as a result, we fought for 8 days and 8 nights, and the victory was not easy to come by. We must not forget them, they are our comrades-in-arms, heroes who liberated Jinan, and our good days today are all bought with their lives. After the liberation of Jinan Jiuzhong sacrificed more than 1,000 people, how could it not find a cemetery? Where was it buried? Keep looking. After finding them, tell me that I must also lay wreaths for them, otherwise we will be sorry for the martyrs who sacrificed, and we will not be able to account for their relatives..."
After Xu Shiyou instructed him about the nine-column martyrs' cemetery, he left Jinan by train, and in order to immediately implement Xu Shiyou's instructions and find the cemetery of the nine-column martyrs, Chi Haotian immediately called the political commissar of the Twenty-seventh Army, recounted the matter in its original form, and asked the Twenty-seventh Army to go to Jinan as soon as possible to find the nine-column martyrs' cemetery according to the information stored on the martyrs.
After the political commissar of the Twenty-seventh Division learned that it was General Xu Shiyou's instructions, he immediately sent three cadres of the organs to form a tomb-searching group and immediately rushed to Jinan to look for the martyrs' cemetery.
Picture 丨 Hero Mountain Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery
After receiving the instructions, the tomb-seeking team first went to the Jinan Civil Affairs Department to understand the situation, and learned that the Ninth Column attacked Jinan from the east of the city, and the eastern part of the outer city of Jinan belonged to Licheng County, so the tomb-seeking team immediately went to the three cemeteries in the east of Jinan City for concentrated and scattered burial.
After searching and inquiring, they learned that there were more than 1,100 graves in the Licheng County Martyrs' Cemetery, most of which belonged to the nine-column martyrs, because it was impossible to erect monuments at that time, and only wooden plaques were inserted on the side of the grave, but with the passage of time, the wooden plaques had long since decayed and the handwriting could not be recognized.
Finally, these martyrs' cemeteries were relocated to the Heroes' Mountain Martyrs' Cemetery in Jinan City, where they were buried as unknown martyrs because their names and remains could not be matched one by one.
In addition, the tomb search team also learned that in a barren mountain more than 10 kilometers away from the town of Sunshan, 46 martyrs of the Nine Columns were buried here.
Although the cemetery has been unattended for a long time, and the tombs have no monuments, the local people have carved the names and titles of the martyrs on a small stone tablet in front of each grave.
After learning of this, the tomb search team immediately rushed to the cemetery, and took pictures of the stone tablets of the martyrs' cemetery one by one to bring back the information, coincidentally, the three divisions to which the Ninth Column belonged and the direct subordinate units all had martyrs buried here, which can be said that these 46 tombs are extremely representative.
However, during the check, the tomb search team found something surprising, and when comparing the registration form for martyrs of the Twenty-seventh Army, the names of the 46 martyrs were not found.
After investigation, they learned that the Ninth Column Medical Team was in Suncun Town during the liberation of Jinan, where the seriously injured were treated, and many of the seriously injured were buried here after they died, so these martyrs were not registered, but were investigated as missing persons.
After the cemetery was found, the tomb-seeking team consulted with the Jinan Municipal Government Department before moving the 46 martyrs' tombs with special representative significance back to the Hero Mountain Martyrs' Cemetery, and then the tomb-seeking team communicated with the Jinan Civil Affairs Department to build the Martyrs' Monument.
In this way, Chi Haotian had a complete account of the instructions given by Xu Shiyou, but after the work of relocating the tombs of the martyrs of Jinan in the Ninth Column liberation was completed and the martyrs' monument was completed, General Xu Shiyou had already died.
Until his death, General Xu Shiyou could not achieve his wish to personally go to the scene to lay wreaths for the martyrs, which also became a major regret for General Xu Shiyou.
Although General Xu Shiyou failed to go forward to lay wreaths for the martyrs, General Xu Shiyou still did not forget the actions of those martyrs who contributed to the Liberation War in the last days of his life, and will always be remembered by future generations.
Picture | Xu Shiyou's daughter Xu Huashan paid tribute to the unknown martyr
On October 12, 2018, Xu Huashan, the daughter of General Xu Shiyou, came to the revolutionary martyrs' cemetery, and in front of the tombstone of the unknown martyrs in the cemetery, she laid a wreath to the unsung heroes who died in the Battle of Jinan, during which she carefully wiped the monument of the unknown martyrs with her hands, with tears in her eyes and murmuring in her mouth:
"Father, I have finally fulfilled your last wish."
This sentence, she couldn't help but repeat many times...