In November 2019, in order to search for the remnants of the Anti-Japanese War in Western Yunnan, several friends and I drove from Dali to Longling, and did not do much homework between going, only knowing that the Longling Anti-Japanese War was an important part of the entire Western Yunnan Anti-Japanese War, and probably made some knowledge reserves.
As we all know, from the Japanese occupation of Longling on May 4, 1942 to the reconquest of Longling on November 3, 1944, the entire Longling War of Resistance lasted two years and six months, which was the longest-consuming and sacrificial offensive in the counter-offensive operation in Western Yunnan, and it was also the campaign that annihilated the Japanese army the most.
▲Relief wall of Longling Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall [Photo: Fisherman]
Among them, the "Three Attacks on Longling" campaign in 1944 was the largest and longest-consuming fortress battle in the entire Western Yunnan Counteroffensive War.
In more than four months of fighting, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has invested 115,000 troops, after three tug-of-war battles, after hundreds of large and small battles, a total of 10,640 Japanese troops were annihilated (except for more than 400 remnants of the enemy who broke through and fled to Mangshi, the rest were completely annihilated), and the Chinese Expeditionary Force paid a casualty price of 29,803 people, which is not to be described as tragic.
After the Restoration of the Dragon Tombs, the strong positions on which the Japanese army relied on occupying western Yunnan were swept away, and the Japanese invaders were driven to the land of Pingchuan on the first line of Mangshi (in present-day Dehong Prefecture), and there was no longer any danger, and the overall situation of victory in western Yunnan was determined from then on.
Regarding the historical relics of Longling, everyone is familiar with the Songshan Battlefield Site and Huitong Bridge, but since Longling is located in the throat of the Yunnan Burma Highway, it is also the core area of the Sino-Japanese war during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the remains that have survived to this day are far more than the above two places.
▲A mountain of shell casings in the exhibition hall [Photo: Fisherman]
The Longling Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall, built to commemorate the Longling Anti-Japanese War, is a good place to see the main events and characters of the Longling Anti-Japanese War.
The memorial was inaugurated on November 3, 2004, the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Longling War of the Western Yunnan War, and was opened to the public free of charge, and then upgraded in 2015 to become what we can see now.
The entire memorial hall covers an area of 7.8 acres, the main body is a two-story frame structure, the construction area is 486 square meters, the entire exhibition hall area of 460 square meters, of which the permanent exhibition is only more than 150 square meters.
With an exhibition hall area of more than 100 square meters, it is not an easy task to talk about the entire Longling War of Resistance, so this museum has taken a unique path in terms of display - more prominent immersive sensory experience.
▲Museum Exhibition Hall [Photo: Fisherman]
It does not strictly follow the time clues to arrange the exhibition line, but to the tension of the confrontation between China and Japan as the main installation design, with a large number of simulated three-dimensional exhibits to create a tense atmosphere during the war, this way of exhibition, it is easier to mobilize the emotions of visitors, but also more able to achieve the effect of the exhibition, very clever approach.
The official introduction: "The whole exhibition is divided into two parts of the Japanese occupation zone and the Chinese army's counter-offensive position, in the Japanese occupied area, mainly through pictures and weapons to show the Japanese army trampling on ha long ling tragic situation, Songshan fortifications, the Japanese army equipment and ammunition at that time, etc.; in the Chinese army counter-offensive position, mainly to show the expeditionary force's weapons and equipment, living habits, as well as famous generals and Longling three major battles." In addition, there are also materials related to the Longlu anti-Japanese guerrillas, U.S. military equipment, and the Burma Road."
▲Interior view of the exhibition hall [Photo: Fisherman]
The above basically summarizes the content of the entire exhibition.
Outside the museum, there is also a Japanese bunker, which is a steel-concrete structure with a hexagonal shape. The steel bars were exposed, and the gun holes were entangled in spider webs. There were originally 4 such bunkers, collectively known as the "East Card Bunker", which were located on the left and right sides of the intersection, and now only one on the right side of the road remains.
▲Japanese bunker [Photo: Fisherman]
The bunker sits southwest to northeast according to the terrain, cast in reinforced concrete, covers an area of 10 square meters, is 1.8 meters high and has a wall thickness of 0.2 meters. The southwest side of the bunker is a spiral entrance, and the remaining sides are divided into three sets of narrow trough-like perforations, which can form a dive control over the road and the surrounding field dams, and a small team was stationed to defend it that year.
In October 1944, the three-way army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force surrounded Longling, and thousands of people of the Honorary 1st Division of the 8th Army, which was responsible for the front-line attack mission of Dongka, were stubbornly blocked by the Japanese troops guarding The card. After many artillery bombardments and the organization of death squads to charge without success, new flamethrowers were transferred from reinforcements to carry out fire attacks, which finally completely eliminated more than 460 defenders and opened the main passage for the army to capture Longling City.
▲Longling Japanese army crime site [Photo: Fisherman]
The Battle of Dongka was the most tragic fortress offensive in the entire Longling counterattack. At present, there are still many bullet marks left by the fierce battles on the bunker. As one of the evidences of the Japanese invasion of China in Longling, the bunker was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Yunnan Province in 2004. In 2006, when the former site of the Battle of Songshan was announced by the State Council as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, this bunker was one of the sub-items of the national security.
▲Japanese bunker [Photo: Fisherman]
Next to the memorial, there is a large relief wall, a stone mill used to build the Burma Highway, and a bell pavilion.
▲Stone mills used to build the Burma-Burma Highway [Photo: Fisherman]
By the way, the museum is 600 meters to the northwest, and there is also the former site of the Dongjiagou Japanese military comfort station, which is also a national security sub-item of the former site of the Battle of Songshan.
From May 4, 1942 to the fall of Longling in 1944, the Japanese army recruited more than a dozen comfort women from Korea and other places to settle here for their sexual pleasure. At a time when the expeditionary force counterattack was fierce and the troops were approaching the city, in order to destroy the evidence, the panicked and dying Japanese Kou did not forget to brutally kill these innocent comfort women at the end of the road.
I was in a hurry because I didn't have time, so I'll leave it for later.
▲ U.S. military mouth cylinder [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Refugee Card [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Japanese "March 8" bullet [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Japanese razor [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Oil pipe card [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Marching bed [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Expeditionary Bayonet [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Expeditionary Army coat [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Expeditionary Force signal bomb [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Japanese water filter [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ 82 mortar shells [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Japanese grenades [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Heavy machine gun [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Cannonball [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Expeditionary Force machine guns and ammunition [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Close-up of the weapons of the expeditionary force [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Mortar [Photo: Fisherman]
▲ Military kettle (Photo: Fisherman)
▲ Expeditionary Force flamethrower [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Japanese army individual equipment [Photo: Fisherman]
▲Expeditionary Force Individual Equipment [Photo: Fisherman]