After the Opium War, with the development of modern industry on the mainland, coal prices gradually rose, and the coal fields in the Zaozhuang area transitioned from manual operations to machine mining, and coal production increased significantly. For the transportation and sale of coal, the capitalists successively laid the Lin (Cheng) Zao (Zhuang) Railway Branch Line and the Zao (Zhuang) Tai (Erzhuang) and Tai (Erzhuang) Zhao (Dun) Railway Branch Lines. In this way, the coal of Zaozhuang can be connected to the Jinpu Railway in the west, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Longhai Railway in the south, and the coal quality is beautiful, the supply exceeds the demand, and the capitalists who open mines are "surveying and the princes and princes are rich."
However, their monetary wealth was cast with the blood and sweat of coal miners. A large number of unemployed workers had no food or clothing, wandered the streets, and in a hurry, they ate "two lines" (railways) in groups of five. Through long-term training, they flew down from the Mercedes-Benz train and flew up, like walking on the ground. No matter what goods are on the train, as long as they can be lifted, they will be thrown down for money. Hong Zhenhai and Wang Zhisheng are the best in this group. Of course, they often have to pay a heavy price for this: if they are caught by road police and car police, they can be beaten severely or beheaded in prison. But in order to survive, they had to take risks.
(Hong Zhenhai)
In the autumn of 1937, Zhu Daonan, a member of the Communist Party, attracted hundreds of workers and peasants in one fell swoop at Zouwu Yiqi. In May of the following year, the SPECIAL Committee of the Sulu Yuwan Border Region of the CPC gathered a few sparks in the Zaozhuang area and established the first anti-Japanese armed force directly led by our party, the Sulu People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Brigade, at Tomb Hill in the Border Mountain area of Teng (County) Yi (County). Hong Zhenhai and Wang Zhisheng also resolutely joined this team.
(Wang Zhisheng)
The Japanese invaders had long coveted zaozhuang's high-quality coal, and immediately after invading Zaozhuang in March 1938, they forced workers to go down the well and carry out predatory and barbaric mining. From 1938 to 1945, the Japanese army stole raw coal from zaozhuang coal mines in total 12948. 9 tons, most of which were shipped to Japan. In order to ensure the long-term plunder of zaozhuang's coal, the Japanese army sent heavy troops to garrison Zaozhuang, built a large barracks in Zaozhuang, stationed the 194th Brigade of the Japanese Independent Infantry Battalion, and successively established military and secret service organizations such as the gendarmerie team, the police station, the gendarmerie detachment, the mine police team, and the suppression squad. The gendarmerie is the central body that controls the Zaozhuang area, and the captain is Shoudao, directly under the leadership of Murakami, the commander of the 141 units stationed in Jinan. In addition to using various armed organizations to suppress the local anti-Japanese army and people, the Japanese army also organized non-governmental pseudo-organizations such as the "Xinmin Branch", "Maintenance Association", and "Chamber of Commerce" to carry out deceptive propaganda, engage in "coexistence and common prosperity in Greater East Asia", and promote the so-called "love village" and the armor protection system to strengthen its rule over Zaozhuang.
Another characteristic of the Japanese army's rule in Zaozhuang was the use of commercial organizations such as "business groups," "foreign firms," and "rice noodle distribution points" to carry out espionage activities. They installed plainclothes agents in these commercial organizations to collect intelligence on our Party and our army, and at the same time to track the activities of our underground Party members and assassinate and arrest our anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. In addition, the gendarmerie, mining police, and infantry brigades stationed in Zaozhuang often went out of the city alone or in conjunction with the Japanese troops in Lincheng, Yixian, Feixian, and other places to carry out large-scale "liquidation and suppression" and "sweeping," posing a serious threat to the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in our mountainous areas.
In order to completely cut off the connection between Zaozhuang and the mountainous areas, the Japanese army set up two checkpoints between Liangzhuang and Beizhuang, the main traffic route to the mountainous areas, and between thirst and Beishan, to strictly check the passers-by. Because the anti-Japanese troops in the mountainous areas did not get information on the activities of the Japanese army in Zaozhuang, they encountered or were suddenly surrounded by the Japanese army several times, which affected the mood and combat effectiveness of the troops. In order to reverse the passive situation, the leaders of the Sulu People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Brigade decided to send elite personnel from the troops to break into Zaozhuang and establish a secret intelligence station. When studying the candidates, the leaders of the general brigade invariably selected Hong Zhenhai, a platoon leader of the three squadrons of the three major teams, and Wang Zhisheng, the leader of the three platoons. These two people are native to Zaozhuang and are familiar with them, which is conducive to the collection and delivery of concealed themselves and intelligence.
One night in October 1938, hong zhenhai and Wang Zhisheng, who had been trained, quietly sneaked into Zaozhuang with the instructions and expectations of the headquarters leaders. They established a secret anti-Japanese intelligence station based on Chen Zhuang on the west side of Zaozhuang Railway Station, with Hong Zhenhai as the station chief.
(Railway Guerrilla Monument)
Hong Zhenhai worked as a miner, could drive trains, and practiced a flying car kung fu, known as "Scud". He is proud and righteous, loves to report injustice, although his temper is violent, but his chivalrous courage has impressed the hearts of many partners, and everyone affectionately calls him "Brother Hong". This time back to Zaozhuang to engage in intelligence, he and Wang Zhisheng resumed their old business, contacted the brothers who had eaten two lines in the past, picked up coal from the Japanese train at night, and sold coal during the day. Using this professional cover, they tried every means to collect intelligence on the deployment and dispatch of the Japanese army in Zaozhuang, and sometimes in order to find out the intelligence inside the enemy's stronghold, they risked their lives to go to the stronghold to give the enemy coolie.
(Schematic map of the anti-Japanese struggle of the railway guerrillas in the enemy-occupied areas)
The "Chint International Company" (known to the masses as "Foreign Firm") opened by the Japanese army in Zaozhuang was a secret service organization under the cover of doing business, and in order to find out the internal secret service activities of the foreign bank, Hong Zhenhai decided to send Wang Zhisheng to join the foreign bank. Wang Zhisheng is a generous person, good at communication, bold and decisive in case of trouble, calm and calm, often able to turn dangers from dangers into disasters, known as "lucky generals". He entered the foreign firm as a porter, and sure enough, he lived up to the expectations of the people, and quickly found out the activities of the foreign firm and its agents, and promptly sent the information to Hong Zhenhai, who then transferred it to liu Jingsong, a traffic officer, who managed to send it to the mountains. Hong Zhenhai has successively developed several formal intelligence officers and dozens of peripheral personnel outside. Among these are railway workers, coal miners, rickshaw drivers, family members and children, and some Japanese and pseudo-Japanese personnel. As soon as the enemy has increased or moved, the mountain troops can get information in time and move in advance, not only so that the enemy's "sweep" several times to empty the air, sometimes the headquarters can also ambush the Japanese puppet army that went out to "sweep" in the middle of the road. Hong Zhenhai, Wang Zhisheng and three other people took advantage of the night to touch the foreign company and killed two of the three treasurers and injured one.
The next day, Wang Zhisheng went to work as usual, and saw the third treasurer Jin Shan lying in a pool of blood calling for help, so he called a doctor. Wang Zhisheng was not only suspected by the enemy at the end, but was promoted to the head of the class because of his "life-saving grace" for Jinshan.
In October 1939, while transporting goods for the Japanese army, Wang Zhisheng found that some of the weapons were loaded onto a train and prepared to be transported to Lincheng. He quietly marked the carriage containing the weapons and immediately consulted with Hong Zhenhai, intending to intercept the weapons. After a series of careful preparations, at about 9 p.m., as soon as the train left Zaozhuang Station, Hong Zhenhai and Cao Dequan jumped onto the train, and when the train reached the predetermined location on the west side of Wanggou, they threw two machine guns, 12 Ma Dagai rifles, and two boxes of bullets off the train. This is the "flying car machine gun" that people widely transmit.
(Luo Ronghuan)
In the autumn of 1939, Luo Ronghuan led part of the main force of the 115th Division into Lunan, and the People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Brigade was also reorganized into the Sulu Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, and the situation of the anti-Japanese struggle in Lunan was greatly improved. The leader of the detachment instructed Hong Zhenhai to prepare for the establishment of an anti-Japanese armed force on the basis of continuing to do a good job in anti-Japanese intelligence work. At this time, in addition to Hong and Wang, the intelligence station also developed six backbone intelligence officers, Zhao Lianyou, Xu Guangtian, Zhao Yongquan, Li Ronglan, Wang Zhiyou, and Cao Dequan. In order to conceal their identities, they must have a legitimate professional cover. After active preparations, the "Yihe Charcoal Farm" was officially opened in November 1939, with Hong Zhenhai as the manager and Wang Zhi as the deputy manager. Because the charcoal yard is set up by eight intelligence officers and "shares", it is also called "eight major shares". They are ostensibly busy doing business during the day, but in fact they are doing everything they can to gather enemy intelligence. At night, most people went to engage in the coal plundered by the Japanese army, and a few people secretly sent the information they had obtained to the mountains. Although the Japanese agents in Zaozhuang were rampant and collected information from all sides, they were unaware of Hong and Wang's activities, and Jinshan, who had been "saved" by Wang Zhisheng, saw Wang Zhisheng and gave a thumbs up and said, "The king's, he has made a fortune!" In the same month of the opening of the charcoal farm, Hong Zhenhai secretly organized an anti-Japanese armed force with 11 participants, named Zaozhuang Railway Team, with Hong Zhenhai as the captain and Wang Zhisheng and Zhao Lianyou as the deputy captains. Subsequently, they reported the situation of the establishment of the armed forces to the Sulu detachment and requested that the detachment appoint a political commissar.
In February 1940, the Sulu detachment officially named the railway team the Lunan Railway Team, and sent Du Jiwei to serve as the political commissar of the Lunan Railway Team. Du Jiwei assumed the pseudonym Liu Heting, and his public identity was Mr. Guan of the "Yihe Charcoal Field".
(Du Jiwei)
After two months of investigation and training, Du Jiwei successively recruited Wang Zhisheng, Zhao Yongquan, Xu Guangtian, Cao Deqing and others to join the Chinese Communist Party and established a party branch. Communists became the backbone of the railway team. Since then, this small anti-Japanese armed force has gradually grown up under the leadership of the party.
In July 1940, the railway team received a notice from the Lunan Military District to get some funds to solve the difficulties of the troops. After consultation, several leaders of the railway team decided to build a Ticket Train for the Japanese Army. So they found the pseudo-captain of the car running in Lianyungang through the relationship, and learned about the operation law of the Japanese ticket car. Every Saturday, every station along the railway passes through this car to pay jinan. Therefore, they sent people to disguise themselves for reconnaissance and found out the relevant situation of the Japanese puppet army's escort vehicles. According to the action plan of the ticket truck, the railway guerrillas selected 12 brave combat team members as the advance team, first infiltrated the train to reconnoiter the situation, selected the target, and stabilized the enemy; deputy captain Wang Zhisheng led 20 elite short gunmen to set up an ambush at the predetermined location in advance; the captains Hong Zhenhai and Cao Deqing were responsible for killing the driver and mastering the locomotive. By Saturday, the railway guerrillas had begun operations as planned. The first team members all stared at their targets, and when the train passed Zaozhuang Station, Hong Zhenhai and Cao Deqing jumped on the locomotive, killing one driver and tying up another driver. Then, drive the train forward. As soon as the train arrived at the scheduled ambush site, the brakes slammed and the speed slowed down, wang Zhisheng led the team members to climb on the train, and cooperated with the scouts on the train, killing more than 20 Japanese soldiers escorting the train. Then they went to the last carriage and threw down the bags containing the money. A total of more than 80,000 yuan was paid for this operation, and 8 short guns, 12 long guns, 1 hand gun and 1 machine gun were seized. The railway guerrillas suffered no casualties.
(Pre-war preparations)
In October 1940, Zhang Guangzhong, commander of the Lunan Military Region, and Wang Lushui, political commissar, ordered the railway brigade to think of some medicines. One day, Song Bangzhen, the inner line of Lincheng Station, delivered information: a truck loaded with medicines will drive from Qingdao to Lincheng and then head south. The railway brigade immediately moved, and at 10 o'clock that night, the guerrillas flew onto the train, and when the train reached the distance between Shagou and Tanghu Station, the fighters quickly took down the medicine. The railway brigade promptly transported the medicines to the Lunan Military Region.
In June 1941, the railway brigade attacked the Japanese military escort train again and seized more than 80,000 yuan of French currency. In early November, the Railway Brigade, together with the Canal Detachment, the Teng Pei Brigade, the Weihu Brigade, and the Border Joint Detachment, intercepted Japanese transport vehicles near Tanghu Station. A total of 1,200 cotton cloths, more than 500 sets of military uniforms, 200 suitcases, more than 100 satin quilts, one tweed and one blanket each, 4 microscopes, and 2 electric stoves were seized, and hundreds of people from more than a dozen villages along the lake were mobilized to help carry them. The guerrillas hid these materials in the lake area, and later the Lunan Military Region sent a cavalry company to transport them to the Caoliujing Village Military Region Clothing Factory in the Baoligu Mountain, solving the dilemma of the military region's armed forces lacking cotton clothes for wintering.
In late May, they learned from the intelligence sent by Zaozhuang that the Japanese puppet army stationed in Zaozhuang would go to the mountains to "sweep." In order to contain the enemy's strength and combat its arrogance, the railway team decided to attack the Japanese Zhengtai Foreign Company again. Since the first blow of our army in August 1939, as well as the number of Japanese agents has increased from the original 3 Japanese agents to 12, with Ichiro Maoyama as the chief treasurer, and the courtyard wall has also been erected with barbed wire. After careful reconnaissance, the leaders of the railway team divided the team members into 5 combat groups, Hong Zhenhai took a group to meet outside the courtyard wall, and Wang Zhisheng led 4 groups to punch holes in the wall into the foreign bank, and all the ghosts living in the 4 houses were hacked to death with large blades. A total of 13 Japanese soldiers and one interpreter were killed in the battle. 6 long and short guns, more than 100 watches and pocket watches were seized. This was the "blood-stained foreign trade" that was widely known among the masses, and it was also the first battle after the railway team opened its banner. This victory is of great significance to deterring the enemy, boosting the morale of the team members, and enhancing the prestige of the railway team among the masses. The masses said that the railway team was a hero who could fly and walk on the wall to kill ghosts, while the Japanese army regarded the railway team as a magical "flying army".
(Blood Stained Foreign Firm)
In June 1941, the railway guerrillas carried out another surprise attack on Yan Tuan and Lincheng, and won a victory. The Yan regiment was a pseudo-regiment headed by Yan Chengtian. At that time, the regiment was transferred from Tai'an to the Lincheng area to garrison, and one of the battalions was stationed on Weishan Island. Together with the Japanese, the regiment committed heinous crimes in the surrounding areas and directly threatened the anti-Japanese forces operating in the Lake District. Therefore, the railway guerrillas and other fraternal forces decided to annihilate the battalion of the enemy stationed on the island. One night, the railway guerrillas and other troops landed on Weishan Island, and the railway guerrillas directly attacked the enemy's battalion headquarters, killed the enemy battalion commander, captured the enemy's deputy regimental commander, completely annihilated the battalion, and captured more than 200 pieces of light and heavy weapons. Later, the railway guerrillas disguised themselves as puppet troops of Yan Chengtian's regiment, attacked Lincheng Station, and successfully blamed Yan Chengtian for this matter. The Japanese escorted more than 300 members of Yan Narita's regiment to the northeast coal mine to do hard labor, and Yan Chengtian and his main deputy were tied to a telephone pole and stabbed to death with a bayonet.
In November 1941, the Lunan Military District was destroyed by the Japanese army, and the clothing of the troops became a problem. When the railway guerrillas learned of this news, they decided to get a batch of cloth from the Japanese army. They found the inner line at Shagou Station and learned that there would soon be a batch of Bu Nan Transport. When the train stopped in the sand ditch, the inner line put the sand into the oil pot of the train, forcing the train to repair at Lincheng Station and delaying the departure of the train. In the evening, the train finally started, but the inner line pulled out the duct and pin on time, so that the two carriages of cloth were parked near the Pond Lake on the south side of Shagou. Two or three hours later, most of the cloth was unloaded, and those that were not unloaded were set on fire. Just then, another column full of Japanese soldiers came from the opposite side, and before the column could approach, the railway guerrillas opened fire on the enemy. The military train not only did not stop, but accelerated, and as a result collided with the burning cloth carriage, killing more than 30 Japanese soldiers and seriously injuring countless people. A total of more than 18,000 cloths, more than 800 sets of Japanese military uniforms, and some blankets and medicines were seized in this operation.
(Railway Guerrilla)
Railway guerrillas also often undertake the important task of safely escorting senior cadres across the railway. As the railway guerrillas were very active, the enemy strengthened the protection of both sides of the railway, along which bunkers were lined up, searchlights remained all night, and deep ditches parallel to the railway or blockade lines were dug on both sides of the railway to restrict the activities of the railway guerrillas. Therefore, escorting cadres across the railway is a very difficult task.
After the Anhui Incident, the New Fourth Army decided to open a secret communication line from the Yancheng area in central China to the north and to Yan'an through the southwest of Shandong. After receiving the task, the railway brigade successively successfully escorted Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, Chen Guang, Luo Ronghuan, Xiao Hua, and Ye Fei through the Jinpu Railway near Lincheng, smoothly passed through the enemy-occupied area, and crossed the border safely. From 1942 to 1944, he escorted more than a thousand cadres to and from Yan'an without a single mistake, and was commended by the Lunan Military Region.
(Xiao Hua's inscription for the railway guerrillas)
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. In October, commander-in-chief Zhu De issued seven consecutive orders, demanding that the Japanese surrender within a time limit or be annihilated.
More than 1,000 Japanese troops stationed around Zaozhuang gathered at Lincheng to bide their time to flee Lunan. A few days later, the Japanese troops and their families in Lincheng drove out at night in an ironclad train to prepare to flee south to Xuzhou. When the ironclad car drove near the sand ditch, it saw that the railway in front of it had been destroyed by the railway team, and tried to retreat to Lincheng. At this time, the explosives that the railway team had buried under the railroad tracks in advance sounded, and the enemy's retreat was cut off. The Japanese ironclad vehicle had to stop when it could not enter and had no way to retreat. The railroad team immediately surrounded the ironclads. The Japanese army gathered in an open field not far from Shagou Station and handed over the weapons and ammunition they had brought to our railway team in detachments. The railway guerrillas, who had been fighting bloody Japanese forces on the railway line for 7 years, finally stood in front of the enemy as victors. After the Japanese surrendered their weapons, they took the road opened by the railway team and fled to Xuzhou in panic like a lost dog.
(Schematic map of the surrender of the Japanese army)
At the end of December 1945, the Railway Brigade was ordered to Tengxian (present-day Tengzhou City) for reorganization. After the reorganization, in addition to leaving two companies under the leadership of the Lunan Railway Working Committee, the remaining 100 people were incorporated into the special service regiment of the Lunan Military Region of the East China Field Army. At this point, the Lunan Railway Brigade was abolished and its historical mission was completed.
(Railway guerrilla spirit)