On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and for this matter,
The Japanese side openly flaunted "no expansion," but secretly, it began to send troops to central China
On July 28, the Japanese army, under the command of commander Kiyoshi Kazuki, launched a full-scale attack on Peiping Castle.
In the face of the strong invasion of the Japanese army, the Beiping defenders fought back, but unfortunately the enemy was outnumbered, coupled with the gap in weapons and equipment, in just 2 days, Peiping fell.
Tong Linge, deputy commander of the 29th Army, and Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 132nd Division, were martyred
。
On the second day of the Japanese attack on Peiping, the battle of Tianjin also began, although the Chinese army was superior in the early stage, but with the addition of Japanese aircraft artillery, it was also quickly defeated, and on July 30, it withdrew in the direction of Baoding.
After the victory in the Battle of Pingjin, the Japanese army immediately set its sights on North China.
The army marched south in three directions in an attempt to quickly capture northern China, with the focus of this army along the Tongpu Railway to capture Shanxi
In September 1937, the Japanese army began to attack Shanxi continuously
Conquer Datong, Wei County, Guangling and other places
, the spearhead points directly at the flat type pass.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army had rushed to the aid of Shanxi, and with the cooperation of Yan Xishan, it fought a major victory at Pingxingguan, annihilating more than 1,000 enemy troops.
However, a victory could not affect the overall situation at all, and when the Japanese troops in Datong arrived at Pingxingguan, the Chinese army was forced to withdraw, and then the Japanese army broke through
Ningwu Pass, Yanmen Pass, and occupied Dai County
At this point in the war, Shanxi was in a critical situation, and whether or not Shanxi could be saved was an important part of the battlefield in North China, and if we wanted to protect Shanxi, we had to see if Taiyuan could hold it, and if we wanted to defend Taiyuan, we must first guard the barrier Xinkou north of Taiyuan.
Leaning on the left of Yunzhong Mountain and on the right of Wutai Mountain, Xinkou is a 3 km wide and 16 km long pass, and its strategic location is extremely important.
In order to defend Xinkou, Chiang Kai-shek called Yan Xishan:
It is still hoped that all armies will be encouraged to continue to kill the enemy in order to win the final victory.
Wei Lihuang, commander of the Second Theater, personally led the 14th Group Army to reinforce the Shanxi battlefield, and 6 armies rushed to Xinkou.
However, it takes time for the army to attack, and the Japanese army will arrive at Xinkou in only 2 or 3 days. That is to send a fierce general to desperately delay the pace of the Japanese army and buy time for the troops.
Yan Xishan gave this task to the Jin army general Jiang Yuzhen, a good han in Shandong, and asked him to stay in the town of Pingyuan in Chengxian County for 7 days.
Jiang Yuzhen, a native of Heze, Shandong, was born in a cold and bitter background, and before he died, his father died and was raised by his widowed mother, because his family was poor, and his mother failed to send him to school.
In 1913, the 19-year-old Jiang Yuzhen left his hometown and went to Shaanxi to sign up for the army, because he was malnourished and weak from childhood, the troops did not accept it, and could only be regarded as a "reserve soldier", until the next year, it was considered to be enlisted, was incorporated into the Shang Earthquake Regiment, from a soldier, step by step to a battalion commander, and followed the troops to participate in the Northern Expedition.
After the victory of the Northern Expedition, Jiang Yuzhen entered the Central Military Academy, and after graduation, came to Shanxi and became a general under Yan Xishan.
Jiang Yuzhen, who came from a poor background, was different from other generals, trained hard, dared to bear hardships, and soon stood out in the Jin army, and was sent to the Shanxi Army First Cadre School and the Kuomintang Central Military Academy for further study.
In the several major battles in which the Jin army participated, Jiang Yuzhen would personally come to the front line in each battle.
He was a pioneer, because he was shot in the lungs, and cut off a lung lobe
Because of Jiang Yuzhen's style, he was deeply loved by the generals in the Jin army, and Yan Xishan also attached great importance to this Shandong Hanzi, and by the eve of the outbreak of the war of aggression against China, Jiang Yuzhen was already a brigade commander.
After the Japanese army invaded Shanxi, Jiang Yuzhen rushed to Niangziguan, quickly built fortifications, and after the Battle of Pingxingguan, he rushed to Datong, but unfortunately he had not yet arrived, Datong had already fallen, and on September 30, Jiang Yuzhen led his troops to Chengxian County, and Yan Xishan immediately sent him a telegram: ""
The Seventh Day Of Death Morihara Taira!
”
At that time, Jiang Yuzhen led the 196th Brigade of the Jin Army,000 or so, and it can be learned from the information received that the Japanese army marching toward Xinkou was 70,000 people, and there were heavy weapons such as aircraft cannons.
Yuanping is only a town under the county, there is no strong city, no land, no reinforcements, how to defend?
Although this task is very difficult, it is very likely that all 5,000 soldiers of the 196th Brigade will be buried in this small city, but Jiang Yuzhen is a general, he grew up in the Jin Army, and he knows better than anyone the importance of Xinkou to Shanxi and to the overall situation of the anti-Japanese resistance.
After receiving Yan Xishan's telegram, he put his life and death aside, and his reply to Yan Xishan was simple and clear: "
With me Jiang Yuzhen there, there is Yuan Ping, and I Jiang Yuzhen swear to coexist and die with Yuan Ping!
”。
After rushing to Yuanping, Jiang Yuzhen immediately ordered:
The whole brigade did not unload their armor, did not saddle their horses, grasped the construction of fortifications, and prepared to fight with the devils to the death!
Under Jiang Yuzhen's arrangement, all the brigade's men and horses were mobilized, and on October 1, the main force of the Japanese army, the 5th Division of Banheng, arrived at Hara Ping, which was already a fortified city!
From the occupation of the three eastern provinces, to the Battle of Pingjin, to the invasion of North China, the Japanese army invading China has not encountered real hard stubble in addition to suffering losses at Pingxingguan, and it is even more dismissive in the face of a town like Yuanping.
What Itagaki Seishiro did not expect was that the Japanese army made five or six consecutive charges, and even did not take the town, which made Itagaki Seishiro angry, gathered artillery, tanks and other heavy weapons to attack the plain, but after 2 days of fighting, it still failed to capture, but it formed a 3-sided encirclement of Yuanping.
At this time, Jiang Yuzhen's 196th Brigade had suffered great casualties, and in order to preserve its combat strength, it ordered its soldiers to return to Yuanping City.
On October 4, under the attack of the Japanese artillery tanks, the original Ping city wall was blown up, seeing the situation, Jiang Yuzhen immediately ordered people to bury a large number of grenades near the gap in the city wall, waiting for the Japanese artillery fire to stop, the infantry entered the city, Jiang Yuzhen immediately ordered, throwing grenades at the gap, suddenly exploded, the Japanese corpses were everywhere.
Seizing this opportunity, Jiang Yuzhen took the opportunity to plug the gap, and the two sides launched a tug-of-war.
Even if the city wall collapsed, under the desperate resistance of the 196th Brigade, the Japanese army still had no choice but to settle the city.
When guarding yuanping city, Jiang Yuzhen personally carried a submachine gun, together with a platoon of soldiers, where the gunfire was tight, he went to support, although the soldiers fought extremely hard, but when they saw the brigade commander, the fighting spirit would always be rekindled.
Finally, when the time came to October 7, Jiang Yuzhen successfully completed the task of holding on to the 7th, and the living soldiers breathed a long sigh of relief.
At this time, Jiang Yuzhen received another telegram, and bought 3 days for Xinkou's defense work!
At this time, the northeast corner of Yuanping had been occupied by the Japanese army, and Jiang Yuzhen was almost exhausted, and led the soldiers to fight in the streets.
Insisting on three days, an almost impossible task, someone suggested retreating, but Jiang Yuzhen refused, and he sent a report to Yan Xishan: "
Our brigade is fighting with the enemy from courtyard to hospital... Jiang Mou absolutely sticks to Yuanping, and hopes to be in charge of never worrying because of the yuanping crisis!
By October 10, Jiang Yuzhen's 196th Brigade, with only more than 1,000 people left, Yuanping, was almost captured by the Japanese army, but Jiang Yuzhen, who had a military order, had died in Yuanping City with the Japanese army Zhou Xuan.
On the evening of the 10th, Jiang Yuzhen only had more than 200 people left, but even so, he still insisted until late at night, and then ordered a breakthrough from the pre-dug city wall hole.
Even if it was retreating, Jiang Yuzhen retreated at the end, and the guards did not want Jiang Yuzhen to take any more risks, and even pulled him into the hole.
Unfortunately, not long after leaving the city, the Japanese cavalry and tanks caught up, and the two sides fought fiercely again, and suddenly, a shell landed on Jiang Yuzhen's side, and his left leg was injured and bleeding.
The guards saw the situation and quickly lifted him to retreat, but the enemy chased after him, and Jiang Yuzhen did not want to involve the soldiers, and struggled to let him down.
In desperation, the warriors could only put him into a crop field and then go into hiding.
Because of excessive bleeding, Jiang Yuzhen fainted and was finally discovered by the Japanese army.
The Japanese army was blocked for more than 10 days, and the Japanese army suffered countless casualties.
In order to vent his anger, he stabbed Jiang Yuzhen several times in the body, and even then he did not understand the hatred, and even cut off his head
！
At the time of his death, Jiang Yuzhen was only 44 years old.
Hearing the news of Jiang Yuzhen's sacrifice, Yan Xishan was heartbroken, and wrote this fierce general under his command into his diary, and the Nationalist government also explicitly praised him and posthumously awarded him to the lieutenant general.
Although it was not the Eighth Route Army, Chairman Mao was equally saddened to hear of Jiang Yuzhen's death, and praised Jiang Yuzhen and others at the March 1938 conference to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of Premier Sun's death and to mourn the fallen soldiers of the War against the Enemy, saying that he was "
It has given the people of the whole country a lofty and great model
In 1979,
After Jiang Yuzhen's sacrifice for 42 years, he was posthumously recognized as a martyr by the Shandong government and erected a monument for posterity in his hometown