Follow in your father's footsteps

——Essay on Remembering My Father (Serial, stay tuned)

Chapter II: Participation in the Revolution

One

At the beginning of August 1945, the Soviet Red Army had marched to the nenjiang territory, and there was a steady stream of cars and fighting vehicles on the highway, we didn't know what was going on, and we heard that Japan was finished and the northeast was liberated! The Northeast has been restored! At this time, I was really indescribably happy in my mind, and I was running everywhere to tell each other.

------ excerpt from his father's 1971 review

The picture shows the liberation of northeast China by the Soviet Red Army on August 8, 1945

My father's happiness at that time was that he thought that he would no longer be bullied and oppressed by the Japanese, and that good times were coming. The concept of the Central Army at that time was the army of the state. When the Central Army comes, things will be easier to handle, and the country will be at peace. He thought that he was twenty-seven years old and should marry a wife and start a family and go home to farm.

His father said that he had not actually seen any central army at all, only the local pseudo-Manchu team pulled up by corrupt officials, traitors, spies, and bandits, called the "Guangfu Army", and later learned that it was the Kuomintang team. They extort and extort everywhere, and the people are very resentful. At that time, there was a saying in the northeast: "Think of the central authorities, look forward to the central authorities, and the central army will suffer even more when it comes."

At this time, a comrade Fan Changming came from Nenjiang County. He was originally a member of Shigoutun (he was never at home during the puppet period) and he and Wang Jingxiang of Shigoutun organized a team. Comrade Fan Changming said that he was sent by Commander Xia (Commander Xia's name was Xia Fenglin, and he was from the Northeast Anti-Japanese League. It is said that he returned from the Soviet Union, and his headquarters was located in the county seat.) So we joined this team, and the marks we brought with us at that time were: the red armband had Soviet characters written on it, and there was also a badge like the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which had four small characters written on it "Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance", and five big characters in the middle that read "People's Autonomous Army", which was later changed to "People's Self-Defense Army", and I joined the people's army in this way.

In August 1945, my father joined the army. Because he was tall and good at riding horses, he was immediately assigned to a cavalry company, and as soon as he went, he became a squad leader. In 1946, the cavalry company was transferred to the cavalry regiment of the Nenjiang Military Region and organized into the third company, and the company commander Fan Changming. The dramatic Fan Company Commander married his father's cousin Yang Guibin in Harbin after liberation. The leader of the father's participation in the revolution became a brother-in-law!

At that time, the commander of the cavalry regiment was called Ren Defu (he had returned from the Soviet Union with Comrade Xia Fenglin, and when he began to organize the team, he called Comrade Ren Defu as the commander) Our main task at that time was to suppress bandits. Most of the locations where our cavalry regiments operate are: Nenjiang County, Nahe County, Gannan County, and the area around Zalantun.

When writing about my father's history, I searched for Ren Defu and Xia Fenglin on Baidu. I also found Ren Defu's introduction, and the chapters in it also mentioned Xia Fenglin. It was confirmed that they did recruit troops in Nenjiang in August 1945.

Ren Defu was the commander of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division of the 6th Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese League, the commander of the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Detachment of the 3rd Route Army, the deputy commander of the 2nd Military Subdistrict of Nenjiang Province and the commander of the Cavalry Regiment, and the deputy chief of staff of the 3822 Unit. Later transferred to the Air Force. He has made more than 30 major and minor contributions, and has won the Hero Medal of the Soviet Soldier. He died of illness in April 1963.

On August 8, 1945, Ren Defu became one of the 17 members of the Nen giang Provincial Group under the leadership of the founder of the Northeast Anti-Japanese League. Wang Minggui served as the leader of the group. (Wang Minggui was then commander of the People's Self-Defense Army, deputy commander of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and was awarded the rank of major general in 1955.) Ren Defu flew to Nenjiang on August 12, and formed a team with Xia Fenglin and Cheng Yu to take over the Nehe and Nenjiang areas, plant flags to recruit troops, and expand the team. At the beginning of November, according to the instructions of the Nenjiang Provincial Party Committee, the Second Military Subdistrict of Nenjiang Province was established, and Jin Zhong from Yan'an was sent as the commander, and Ren Defu was appointed as the deputy commander and commander of the cavalry regiment.

—— Excerpt from Baidu Encyclopedia "Ren Defu"