When Yan Xishan is mentioned, I believe that many people will have the image of an authoritarian and dictatorial and reactionary warlord in their hearts. However, in the eyes of the older generation of Shanxi people, Yan Xishan has done a lot of practical things for the local people in the decades that he has ruled Shanxi. He not only vigorously set up new education, but also actively develop modern industry, he founded the Northwest Industrial Company has a far-reaching impact on the development of modern industry in Shanxi, but also created a large number of jobs for the local area, economic and social benefits can not be ignored.
Compared with other warlords of the Republic of China, Yan Xishan is actually a relatively personality figure, and his interests and hobbies are not the same as those of ordinary people. Some of his colleagues like to listen to plays, some like to write poetry, but he likes to tinker with strange gadgets. He once invented a special grenade that worked wonders in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
We all know that because grenades have the characteristics of small size, light weight, easy to carry, and high lethality, they are widely used in modern warfare. Seemingly indestructible tanks, armored vehicles, or impregnable bunkers can be easily destroyed by grenades.
In fact, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, easy-to-make, low-cost grenades have always played a very important role on the battlefield. In order to win the war of resistance, arsenals everywhere are stepping up the production of grenades. However, due to the immature production technology of that era, the production level of each factory also had certain differences, the quality of grenades was not stable, and there were even many duds that could not be used.
Just when everyone was feeling anxious about this, someone suddenly found that Shanxi Province had produced a grenade that was extremely powerful and well received by soldiers, which constantly showed its might on the anti-Japanese battlefield, and even frightened the Japanese army, which was very advanced in weapons and equipment. In fact, this grenade is a masterpiece that Yan Xishan made in his leisure time.
In order to further enhance the power of the grenade, Yan Xishan ordered the arsenal to abandon the previous strategy of being light and easy to carry, and to develop in the direction of large charge quantities. However, after the production of this grenade, it caused a lot of controversy, after all, its weight reached tens of kilograms, and the volume is also very large, not only can no one throw it out with bare hands, but also it is not convenient to carry on the battlefield.
Therefore, in addition to the generals expressing confusion, other anti-Japanese generals also laughed at Yan Xishan. Faced with overwhelming skepticism, Yan Xishan did not explain much or change his mind, not only insisting that the local arsenal produce the heavy grenade, but also forcing his soldiers to carry it on the battlefield.
In fact, Yan Xishan did not intend to rely on manpower to throw this kind of grenade at all, he first thought of rolling this grenade down at the mouth of the mountain pass and other commanding heights, such a defensive method is both effective and labor-saving. The Japanese did not care when they first saw these bulky grenades, so they let down their vigilance, and were indeed blown up by the grenades rolling down the mountain. After this battle, the Japanese army saw the power of this grenade, and after the news spread, the generals of other provinces also began to look at the version of the grenade invented by Yan Xishan, and sent people to the Shanxi Arsenal to learn the scriptures, and then began to imitate.
Although he had been ridiculed by everyone for a long time before, at the time of the survival of the country, Yan Xishan did not take these small things to heart, but made the production process of this version of the grenade unreservedly known to the world. Although the power of this version of the grenade is very strong, the production process is not complicated, so the arsenals in various places have produced a large number of qualified products of stable quality in a short period of time, and then they have been widely used in the anti-Japanese battlefields everywhere, giving the Japanese army a heavy blow. From this point of view, Yan Xishan made indelible and great contributions to the victory of China's War of Resistance Against Japan.