Every inch of mountains and rivers is an inch of blood, and the Japanese invaders wantonly slaughter our compatriots in order to occupy our homeland. After the September 18 Incident, Northeast China fell, July 7 Incident, North China fell in turn, and East China also fell into enemy hands after the Battle of Songhu. At this time, countless sons and daughters of the Chinese nation stood up and rushed to the battlefield to fight to the death against the Japanese invaders.
The Battle of Xinkou broke out during this period. In this battle, three generals of the Nationalist army were martyred in the same day, and more than 100,000 soldiers were bloodied on the battlefield. How fierce this battle was, and how these three generals died, let us return to that battlefield and see the heroism of the martyrs.
First, the fierce Battle of Xinkou
In 1937, the Japanese Kou launched the July 7 Incident, and North China was in a hurry, and East China was in a hurry, and the whole country fell into the fear that the country and the nation were about to perish. At this time, the Eighth Route Army won a great victory at Pingxingguan, and the whole country was energized. It now seems that the number of enemy troops annihilated by this victory is not very large, but it was inconceivable in that period.
The country has been poor and weak for nearly a hundred years, and the fear of foreign powers has penetrated deep into the bone marrow, and this fear must be broken with victory after victory. However, after the victory at Pingxingguan, the Japanese army reacted and sent a large army to cut off the back road of the Chinese army, and vigorously suppressed the border, continuously breaking through the multiple lines of defense arranged by the Nationalist army and rushing straight to Taiyuan. At this time, taiyuan only had the last barrier left in Xinkou.
Xinkou, as its name suggests, is an easy pass to defend and difficult to attack, which is the only way for the Japanese army to enter the Jinzhong region, and it is also the last chance for the Chinese army to be able to resist the Japanese army. The Nationalist army knows this, the Japanese army also knows this, and the two sides are destined to fight a big battle here. At that time, the Japanese army had more than 70,000 people, the Nationalist army had more than 200,000 people, the two sides of the comparison of troops, although the Chinese army is superior, but in fact the war situation is not optimistic.
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese army often needed to use several times the enemy's strength to barely win the Japanese army. What is even more frightening is that such victories often have to be achieved at great cost. Therefore, before the war, the Chinese army was not optimistic about the outcome of the war. But if you are not optimistic, you have to fight, because this is the last chance to save Taiyuan and even the whole of Shanxi.
Therefore, this battle was fought very vigorously, and the Chinese army was not afraid of death, building positions with flesh and blood, often fighting back and forth for high ground, and using life to fill the lack of equipment. At that time, the Japanese army not only had a strong ground force, but also a wild and indiscriminate aircraft. During the day, the Japanese army, under the cover of aircraft, seized the positions of the Chinese army, and at night, the Chinese troops marched in the dark and then recaptured the positions. The fight between the two sides in the end is basically a hand-to-hand battle.
The men of one regiment were all sacrificed, the men of the other regiment were on top, and in the end, no one could walk off the battlefield alive. On the most brutal day, on average, the Chinese army sacrifices a regiment every hour. On the position, the corpses were layered on top of each other, densely packed. In more than 20 days, the two sides fought hundreds of battles, and the final death toll of the Chinese army reached more than 100,000, and the Japanese army died more than 20,000 people, and the number of deaths was shocking.
But the tragedy of the battle doesn't stop there. In the Battle of Xinkou, three generals of the Nationalist army were martyred in the same day, which was the first time since the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that a general of the nationalist army at the military level was killed. Who were these three people, even if the Battle of Xinkou was so stale, why would they be martyred as commanders?
Two or three generals were martyred in the same day
The three generals were Hao Mengling, commander of the Ninth Army of the Nationalist Army, Liu Jiaqi, commander of the Fifty-fourth Division, and Zheng Tingzhen, commander of the Independent Fifth Brigade. General Hao Mengling was the commander-in-chief of the Central Theater of Operations at the Battle of Xinkou. Before the war, he had gathered officers and men and vowed to live and die with all officers and men and share hardships. He did not say anything, but after the war, he always took the lead, regardless of personal safety, insisted on supervising the battle on the front line and boosting morale.
Soon after the start of the war, the Chinese army and the Japanese army fought fiercely in Dabaishui Village, but because the village was located in an open area, there were no fortifications to defend. With superior strength and strong firepower, the Japanese army occupied the village and established strongholds in this battle, and it was very difficult for our army to capture these strongholds.
At this time, Wei Lihuang, the commander-in-chief of the campaign, found Hao Mengling's three generals and asked them to attack at night. According to the plan, Wei Lihuang and Hao Mengling each led a large army to attack the enemy camp. Because of the cover of night, the two large armies even conquered several enemy strongholds, and it seemed that they were about to win victory. At this time, General Hao Mengling and General Zheng Tingzhen, who were pioneers, were unfortunately swept by enemy machine guns.
General Liu Jiaqi saw this situation and hurriedly led the team to the rescue, but the enemy's ammunition was projected again, and unfortunately he was killed. The sacrifice of the three generals made the Chinese army sad and indignant. They could hide in the rear of the troops, remotely control the command, they could not risk their lives, but they did not do so, they sacrificed themselves for the victory of the war, and they deserve our eternal memory.
Third, it is worth remembering forever
In the Battle of Xinkou, the three generals were martyred in the same heaven and the whole country was saddened. The three of them did not differ much in age, and they were all born at a time when the country was at its poorest and weakest.
General Hao Mengling enlisted in the army at the age of 16, and after 25 years of military service, he ate and slept with soldiers and repeatedly expressed his patriotic feelings in public. Although he spent more than half of his military career fighting civil wars, when the Japanese invaders arrived, he resolutely led his troops north.
Before he went out on the expedition, he wrote a suicide note, he knew that it would be more evil than ji, but he had no remorse. One of his most common sayings is that he died in battle for the soldiers, died for the country, and died where he wanted. On the battlefield, he led everyone forward, and this figure will always be engraved in history.
General Liu Jiaqi was the first Wuhan general to be martyred in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This Hubei Hanzi led the troops north to Taiyuan, fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Xinkou for more than 20 days, and he still had a demented son and a seriously ill wife at home, but he still bravely rushed forward and bravely led the soldiers to repel the Japanese attack again and again.
When General Hao was shot, it was he who stood up and went to the rescue without hesitation, it was he who used his body to cover the enemy's artillery fire, his death was avoidable, but he did not flinch. With his own sacrifice, he demonstrated the chinese soldiers' courage not to fear death, and showed the lofty feelings of the Chinese soldiers who did not give up their comrades-in-arms.
General Zheng Tingzhen was a native of Henan, and there was still an old mother in the family who needed to be supported, but when the news of the front came, he just kowtowed to his mother and went to the battlefield. General Zheng told his mother that as long as he did not defeat the Japanese devils one day, he would not return home for a day. He made that promise, but when the Japanese devils were defeated, he never came back.
These three generals, they had wives, they had children, they had parents, they were living people. But they are willing to die for the sake of the country and the nation, for the sake of the bright future of the next generation. They used their lives to promote the victory of the War of Resistance. More than 70 years have passed, and many people have gradually forgotten this history, but we should not forget. These martyrs need to be remembered forever, and this history needs to be remembered forever.
Text/Leyu
Reference: The Battle of Xinkou: Sacrificing a Regiment in an Hour at its Most Intense, Cheng Ji