On October 28, 1944, four Japanese fighter jets took off from Southeast Asia and pounced on the Himalayas, targeting the plane on which an important figure was flying. Due to the accuracy of Japanese intelligence, the assassination mission was completed, the target plane was destroyed, and none of the nine people on board survived, including the important person.
He Yingqin, then chief of the general staff of the Nationalist Army, heard the bad news and was so distressed that he lost his voice, and only after a long time did he say to his subordinates, "The Japanese army destroyed my arm," and threatened not to repay this vendetta.
The Japanese army planned so precisely and invested so much combat power, who were the important people killed? It was General Li Nintao, the first person in chemical warfare of the Nationalist army.
When Li Nintao was young, he studied chemistry in Europe and the United States, and returned to China in 1933. Determined to serve the motherland with his own skills, he joined the military and promoted China to form its own chemical warfare unit.
After World War I, chemical weapons entered the stage of history and were used by many belligerent countries because of their lethality and wide attack range. But in China at that time, many people did not know the importance of chemical weapons, let alone how to prevent the use of chemical weapons by immoral enemies.
Li Nintao understands, and he also knows that in the future battlefield, we must learn to guard against the use of chemical weapons by immoral enemies. Under his constant impetus, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed to form a chemical warfare force, but in secret. Therefore, Li Nintao's chemical weapons unit has been kept secret since its formation, and the name of the unit is "Student Corps".
Two years after the establishment of the "Cadet Corps," the Nationalist army held a military exercise in Jurong County, Jiangsu Province, using the Japanese army as an imaginary enemy. When the Japanese entered the area, the cadets fired smoke screens in place of tear gas, and as a result of the exercise, all The Japanese troops were wiped out.
But in the face of such convincing results, many people still do not understand the importance of chemical warfare. On the spot, an officer shouted: "If you fight a war, you will fight a war, this black smoke miasma, what a famous place." ”
But the Japanese understood, and were terrified. They did everything possible to collect intelligence on the "student corps," and also invested a great deal of financial and material resources, taking Li Nintao as an imaginary enemy and holding many chemical warfare exercises on the mainland. In addition, Japan has equipped nearly 2 million soldiers in 30 divisions with gas masks and antidotes, and even 90,000 war horses have been equipped with gas jackets.
Unfortunately, the national army does not attach great importance to the student corps and lacks capital investment. By 1942, Li Nintao had only 4 regiments, equipment was still obsolete products used in The First World War, and the number was seriously insufficient, and an average of 150 officers and men could only be given a gas mask.
Moreover, there are always people who are not accustomed to this unit. At one meeting, a general asked to change the cadet corps into an ordinary infantry division. Li Nintao argued on the basis of reason, saying: "Of the more than 1 million Japanese troops in China, everyone is wearing gas masks. Not afraid of the generals here, but afraid of the cadet corps. ”
There is no way to play in the domestic battlefield, and Li Nintao has shown his skills in the international battlefield. In February 1943, Li Nintao led two regiments to change american equipment in India. On the battlefield of Burma, they effectively curbed the attack of the Japanese chemical troops, which made the Allied forces feel admired and made great achievements.
The Japanese army was too jealous of Li Nintao, and sent spies and spies to assassinate him several times, but they were all defused. In the end, the Japanese army obtained the flight route of Li Nintao's return to China and snipe him in the air.
After Li Nintao's death, some of his subordinates went through the relics and saw the vow he had written before his death: "The general died before the hundred battles, and the brave soldier was wrapped in ten years." For the sake of the independence of the Chinese nation, General Li Nintao said and did it.