What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In June 1942, Xiong Shanglin, one of the "Seventeen Warriors of the Dadu River", quietly disappeared into a place called Grassland Ditch, and even more incredibly, he fell under the muzzle of his comrades-in-arms. Many people have a question in their hearts: how could such a heroic figure leave us in such a way?
In 1982, the Chicheng County CPC Committee of Hebei Province held a forum to collect party history, and the veteran leaders of the former Pingbei Prefectural Committee, the Special Office, and the Military Sub-district attended the meeting and provided many valuable materials, which became the basic materials for compiling the "History of Chicheng County of the CPC." After reading these oral materials repeatedly, I found that none of these materials were reminiscent of Xiong Shanglin. Why? Is it reluctant to mention it, or is there another reason? Not to mention that Xiong Shanglin was once a warrior of the Dadu River, even in Pingbei, he was not an ordinary soldier, but a battalion-level cadre who played an important role. And why were these old leaders or old comrades-in-arms of his then secretive and silent? The author has collected and repeatedly confirmed it through many parties, and strives to make a fair and objective conclusion about Xiong Shanglin's "cause of death".
Portrait of martyr Xiong Shanglin.
In his memoirs "From the Red Devil to the Commander of the Rocket Troops," General Li Shuiqing, the founding major general, has a section entitled "Fighting Side by Side with the Heroic Company Commander of the Dadu River", which reads: "I thought of Xiong Shanglin, the heroic company commander who led 17 brave warriors of the Red Army to cross the Dadu River. On May 24, 1935, at the behest of Comrade Zhu Rui, director of the Political Department of the Corps, I led people to the Red Regiment, which had just captured the Anshunchang Ferry, to comfort the commandos who were preparing to cross the Dadu River and mobilize for battle. The next day the battle began, and the Two Mortar Shells of the Red Army seemed to have long eyes and accurately hit the bunkers on the opposite shore without bias, and the enemy machine guns suddenly became dumb. Xiong Shanglin, armed with a barge gun, commanded seventeen warriors to drive a small boat to the opposite shore in the face of the terrifying waves and the rain of bullets, and with my invincible courage and indomitable vigor, he forced the enemy's two companies of defenders to defeat the enemy's two companies of defenders with grenades and white blades. It was this heroic company commander who was brave and good at war, and when the vast North China Plain was full of flames of the War of Resistance, he fought side by side with me in the anti-Japanese base area in Pingxi for more than two years, he served as the battalion commander, I was an instructor, life and death depended on each other, and I loved brothers. Unfortunately, in a fierce battle in Pingbei in 1940, Xiong Shanglin was seriously injured and shed the last drop of blood for the motherland and the people. ”
General Li Shuiqing.
It can be seen from this passage that during the Red Army period, Xiong Shanglin and Li Shuiqing were both in the Red First Division, Xiong Shanglin was the commander of the second company of the Red First Regiment and the First Battalion, and Li Shuiqing was the head of the propaganda team of the Political Department of the Red First Division. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xiong Shanglin was in the Independent Regiment of the 115th Division, and Li Shuiqing was in the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division, both of whom were battalion-level cadres. Later, they served together in the Old Seventh Regiment of the Advancing Army, with Xiong Shanglin as the battalion commander and Li Shuiqing as the instructor. However, General Li Shuiqing may have mistakenly remembered that Xiong Shanglin was not seriously wounded in battle in 1940 and then killed, but was killed by his own subordinates in 1942.
General Chen Jing, a native of Guizhou and a Miao, was once a veteran soldier of the Red Sixth Army. After the founding of new China, he wrote the novel and film script "Jinsha Riverside". After retiring, he retook the Long March road and carried out the creation of a million-word Long March series. On October 8, 1985, he came to the raging Dadu River, looked at the monument to the majestic Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's forced crossing of the Dadu River, deeply remembered Xiong Shanglin, the heroic captain who fought with him and crossed the Dadu River, and wrote the article "The Tragic Ending of the Dadu River Warrior Xiong Shanglin". It reads: "In the arduous year of 1942, in the Anti-Japanese Base Land in Pingbei, which was divided into several pieces by the enemy, Xiong Shanglin led dozens of comrades to struggle heroically, overcame all kinds of difficulties, and finally opened up the situation near the Great Wall of China, and developed from dozens of people into an independent regiment. At this time, the Pingbei Subdistrict was officially established. When the list of sub-district leaders was announced, Xiong Shanglin found that there was no name for him, and he was angry again. At this time, when we happened to meet, he said to me angrily: 'Chen Jing, I will not do it, they do not believe me, Lao Tzu will go to the revolution alone!' I persuaded him a few words, telling him to 'not be blind'. However, it was still tens of miles away from the sub-district, and the next day, when I arrived at the sub-district to report this situation, Xiong Shanglin had already left the army and went to the Dushikou area with his chief of staff and two guards to 'carry out the revolution alone'. Ten days later, a guard came back and said: Xiong Shanglin originally thought that when he arrived at a place where others were familiar with him, everything would be easy to carry out, but when the masses knew that he had left the party and left the organization, they ignored him. The situation cannot be opened at all, it is untenable, it is simply desperate... A few days later, another guardman also returned, saying: Xiong Shanglin and the chief of staff quarreled endlessly every day, and finally the chief of staff took advantage of Xiong Shanglin's defenselessness and shot at him... And just like that, the hero fell. ”
General Chen Jing's recollection is his own personal experience, which is true and credible, and is basically consistent with the investigation results of local party history workers in Zhangjiakou, but there are slight discrepancies in individual places. The results of the investigation of party history workers are: In 1942, the army was streamlined and reorganized, and the forty regiments reorganized from the Pingbei guerrilla detachment directly administered 5 companies and no longer had battalions (brigades). The troops arranged for Xiong Shanglin to serve as deputy chief of staff or to study at the Kang University Branch School, but Xiong felt that it was not satisfactory and asked to go to the most difficult place to continue the struggle against the Japanese invading army. So he and the former deputy commander of the second brigade took a correspondent to carry out guerrilla warfare near Zhangjiakou City, and the correspondent was killed in the battle. He and the deputy captain and the two of them arrived at the bashang area, and for a while it was difficult to stand on their feet, and then turned back to the mountainous area under the dam and lived in the natural village grassland ditch of the administrative village of Shizuizi in Xigou, Longchongchi United County. According to the landlord, the two were first heard arguing, and then the deputy captain shot Xiong Shanglin to death. After the deputy captain returned to the Pingbei Military Sub-district, he said that Xiong Shanglin was going to surrender to the enemy, and I beat him to death. The military sub-district felt that Xiong and the deputy commander were both old Red Army soldiers and were not easy to deal with, so they sent him to Yan'an.
After comparative analysis, I think the following points are debatable: First, Chen Jing said that "Xiong Shanglin led dozens of comrades ... The development of an independent regiment" is inaccurate, and Pingbei has never had an independent regiment, but a forty regiment. The Forty Regiment, fully known as the 40th Infantry Regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, was established in February 1942 by six companies and a cavalry brigade of the Pingbei Guerrilla Detachment, with regimental commander Zhong Huikun and political commissar Wang Qigang. Second, Xiong Shanglin did not strive for the position of leader of the military sub-district, but the position of leader of the Forty Regiment. The Pingbei Military Subdistrict was established in July 1940, not in 1942, with commander Cheng Shicai (who held the position for two months), director of the political department Duan Suquan; in September 1941, commander Qin Guohan, director of the political department Duan Suquan. In January 1942, Yang Chunpu took over as director of the Political Department. In July 1942, commander Qin Guohan and Duan Suquan were appointed as political commissars and acting secretaries of the prefectural party committee. During the Red Army period, Duan Suquan was the political commissar of the Qiandong Independent Division, qin Guohan was the commander of the Red Sixth Army, and Xiong Shanglin was only a company-level cadre at that time, so it was impossible to compete for the position of the head of the division. Before the establishment of the Forty Regiment, Xiong Shanglin was the second captain of the regiment, at the battalion level, and after the establishment of the Forty Regiment, he was arranged to be the deputy chief of staff of the regiment, or at the battalion level. During the Red Army period, Xiong Shanglin was the company commander, Zhong Huikun, Wang Qigang, Deng Dianlong, and other cadres at the company level were also cadres at the company level, while Zhong served as the commander of the Forty Regiment, Wang served as the political commissar, and Deng was the deputy regimental commander. Third, it was the deputy captain who shot at Xiong Shanglin instead of the chief of staff. Xiong Shanglin's second brigade is a battalion-level formation, there is no post of chief of staff, and the deputy brigade leader is credible.
From the above examination and analysis, it is not difficult to conclude that in the personnel arrangement of the Forty Regiment, Xiong Shanglin felt that his position was not ideal, so he left the organization, left the army, and single-handedly went to fight the "world", so the next tragedy occurred.
General Chen Jing's article also reveals some weaknesses in Xiong Shanglin's personality, allowing us to see another side of the hero: "Rough, blunt, and even too reckless." He was strong, his face was purple, he spoke like a cannonball out of the chamber, and he always had a little dirty writing. He used to think of things very simple, and in his eyes there seemed to be no difficulty, but Xiong Shanglin himself admitted that I was not afraid of life, that is, I was afraid of learning! "On the way to Jidong, in a small mountain village on the south side of Bada Ridge, he snatched a horse from the enemy, and he was so happy that his mouth could not be closed, and he even said, 'Good horse, good horse!'" A few days later, when passing through a small ditch, the horse suddenly did not listen to his command, that is, refused to cross the dangerous small bridge, Xiong Shanglin could not subdue it with great effort! He was furious, 'Do you dare to be naughty with Lao Tzu?' With that, he drew his pistol and fired three shots at the horse's head, and the horse fell..."
Tomb of the Martyrs.
Xiong Shanglin competed for the leadership position of the Forty Regiment, and I still remembered his direct leader and founding lieutenant general Sun Jixian. During the forced crossing of the Dadu River, it was Sun Jixian who led the warriors of the second boat to cross the river, but they were never included in the warriors. As for whether he was a warrior of the Dadu River, Sun Jixian had always remained silent and low-key. Several of his children have repeatedly questioned their fathers for a clear explanation. Sun Jixian said: "The battle to cross the Dadu River is already very clear in my memoirs, and as for whether I am a warrior or not, there is no need to argue. During the revolutionary war years, countless martyrs sacrificed their precious lives, and some comrades did not even leave their names after their sacrifices. We, the survivors, feel sad when we think of them. If you fight for any warriors again, it will be too boring, and I feel ashamed! Sun Jixian said to the children many times: "The Red Army soldiers who fought heroically on the Long March Road are all heroes, and everyone is a warrior!" ”
Exploring the cause of Xiong Shanglin's death, my heart is heavy. If nothing else, he is likely to appear in the ranks of the Republican generals. But history cannot be assumed, and time cannot be reversed. In addition to the lamentation, I remembered another hero who appeared in ancient Greek mythology, his name was Antai. Antai is the son of Gaia, the goddess of the earth, and Poseidon, the god of the sea, who is invincible as long as he maintains contact with the earth. Another hero in Greek mythology, Hercules, discovers the secret, and during the battle, he lifts Antey into the air so that he cannot gain power from Gaia, and finally strangles him to death. Yes, the hero leaves the collective just as Antai leaves the earth, and the final outcome can only be the destruction. And Xiong Shanglin just forgot this, and finally fell under the muzzle of his comrades-in-arms...