Catch devils in the "grid net"
In June 1942, in order to reverse the serious situation, the Taihang Military Region deployed an all-round anti-"encroachment" struggle in conjunction with the anti-"mop-up" struggle. We organized county guerrillas, armed workers, enemy stations, and public security bureaus in border areas to participate together, and the momentum was huge and the results were remarkable, causing many maintenance meetings in the areas receiving the enemy to collapse.
The Japanese army left the mainland and invaded China from afar, with a serious shortage of troops, many strongholds were guarded by pseudo-soldiers, and only important towns, bridges, and passes were guarded by the old one.
The puppets know that the Japanese rabbit tail does not grow, and they all want to leave a way back for themselves. So on the one hand, they perfunctory the Japanese, while providing convenience for our armed forces, guerrillas and militia, passing on intelligence.
The basic armed forces of our first sub-district and the militias in Lincheng and Neiqiu not only attacked the enemy who built roads in the base areas, but also organized county (district) guerrilla detachments and armed workers to jump into the grids "encroached" by the enemy to carry out guerrilla activities, cultivated and developed various forms of secret mass armed forces, and waged covert and open struggles against the enemy. The armed forces that went deep behind enemy lines became the first line, and the armed forces that restrained the enemy's advance in the front were the second line, and the frontal insisted on cooperating with the guerrilla cypress behind enemy lines, effectively striking at the enemy's "encroachment."
On the eve of a counter-"sweep," in order to obtain accurate information, Commander Li Da of the Taihang Military Region called on all divisions to arrest prisoners, and clearly stated: "To arrest the Japanese, it is better to be an official." It is useless for the puppet army to catch it. "Japanese devils are not easy to catch, we haven't caught them for more than a month. When I received the report, I was not convinced. I don't believe that the Japanese have three heads and six arms, and they are determined to grab a live specimen and come back to mobilize everyone.
I took a platoon of the base regiment and waited for the opportunity in the area of Jingchen and Yulu. Both prefectures are model prefectures for the Japanese, and the rule of the devil is relatively tight. The reason why I chose to be here is precisely because I came for the "model county". First, the enemy in the "model county" is often paralyzed; Second, it is more convincing to grab a job from the model county and go back.
After arriving in Jingxi, I gathered the leaders of the local anti-Japanese government with the cadres of the enemy workers and the leaders of the armed work team and listened to their briefings. One thing that caught my attention in the situation they introduced was the Japanese way of communication. There are no telephones between their bunkers, but there are regular contacts twice a day, by manual transmission. Because they are all their world, they don't care, and when they come out to make contact, sometimes two people, sometimes one person, riding a donkey and carrying a big gun backwards, from this bunker to that bunker.
When the situation was settled, my determination was also set: to arrest his liaison soldiers.
Of course, this plan must penetrate into the enemy's hinterland in order to be implemented. It is very dangerous to move when the lone army is deep, deep in depth, long distance, the enemy situation is complicated, the terrain is unfamiliar.
Then again, can it be called war if it is not dangerous? Of course I would like to sit at home and fall from the sky as a captive, but that's impossible.
Having made up my mind, I asked people to prepare two pairs of ropes and a wooden bar, picked three people, and handed them to the platoon commander to carry. Why bring rope and bar? The Japanese have a strong spirit of bushido and do not surrender to death. Japanese soldiers are physically strong and well-trained, and some can also do judo and karate. You go to arrest him, both to deal with him desperately and to prevent him from committing suicide. I explained this clearly to the platoon commander, and the operation began.
It was autumn, around August or September, and the sorghum was not yet ripe, and the green yarn tent was hiding. Our capture team had been digging into a town near the border with the Yuan clan, lurking on the path of the enemy's two strongholds.
Sure enough, on the same day, a Japanese soldier riding a donkey shook his head and walked towards another stronghold.
As soon as we entered the ambush point, four of our comrades fell from the sky, and before he could come to his senses, his feet were tied. At such speed, our platoon leader's hand was still bitten off by him.
It was bad luck for this Japanese soldier to bump into our hands. Shut your mouth with dirty socks, tie your hands together, tie your feet together, stick a large wooden bar in the middle, and carry it back like a pig. In that kind of posture, he wants to fart, I'm afraid he can't let it out. We thought that the liaison soldiers should have classified documents with them, but when we brought them back and searched them, there was nothing. They made verbal contact, interrogating him and refusing to die. Later, the prisoner was sent to the Yan'an Anti-War League, and he was released back to Japan after the victory of the War of Resistance.
First time doing foreign affairs work
During the period of work in the First Division, apart from dealing with the enemy's brutal sweeps one after another, we generally did not take the initiative to confront the enemy head-on, but devoted ourselves to consolidating and developing the anti-Japanese base areas, strengthening the building of the anti-Japanese armed forces on the basis of deeply mobilizing the masses, and launching a universal mass guerrilla war.
Although this was a very difficult period, it also made our anti-Japanese army and people stronger and more mature. During this period, in addition to directing operations and assisting local party and government organs in carrying out their work, a large part of the work of sub-districts was placed on local armed construction.
In the most stressful environment, I did not give up studying, and I kept a diary. The guards also had enough eyes and minds, carried a diary in their shoulder bags, and every night before going to bed, they sent the diary and wrote it down unchanged on the kang table in the people's homes, with oil lamps, one by one, one by one.
After a few days, the diary developed from the original simple recording to writing thoughts and opinions on things, and later to summing up lessons learned, and sometimes expressing a little feeling. While organizing and leading the construction of local armed forces, I am more concerned about the details, especially focusing on grasping the essential characteristics of things.
In December 1942, on the premise of having a large number of first-hand materials, I wrote an article on the characteristics of local armed forces, expounding my own views on the building of local armed forces from the aspects of the mass and local nature of local armed forces, their persistence and tenacity, their comprehensiveness and complexity, and their dispersion and extensiveness. This is the first time that I have combined practical experience with theory to systematically and comprehensively expound my ideas in a certain field. The article, entitled "The Characteristics of Local Armed Forces," was later published in the Eighth Route Army's "Military and Political Magazine" and was well received by higher-level organs and units, holding that the arguments were sufficient and the materials were detailed, and that they had certain guiding significance for launching mass armed struggles at that time.
During the long years of resistance against Japan, we were friends of other nationalities who fought with us. The United States Air Force took direct part in the war. Some planes were injured or crashed during the battle, and the pilots were rescued and cared for by our Taixing anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians.
After 1944, with the victory of the international anti-fascist struggle, China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was about to pass the most difficult period, and the dawn gradually appeared in the sky above the Taihang Mountain.
In late December, the Taihang Military Region informed us that an American friend was coming to the First Division, firstly, to thank the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians who had rescued American pilots; Second, as an observer of the allied forces, I learned about the anti-Japanese struggle in our base areas.
Mr. Whidesy, who came to the first division, was a Chinese expert, a big man, with a high nose, and a purr. Most of the Chinese language is mixed with foreign language, and the personality is relatively bold. On 23 December, I met with Comrade Yang Wei, Commissioner of the First Special Commission, and Comrade Wang Daren, director of the Sub-Regional Political Department, at which I briefed him on the situation of the enemy around the region and the struggle of our army. Whidesai expressed his heartfelt respect for the division's tenacious survival in such a difficult environment and its continuous attacks on the Japanese, saying "Amazing!" Terrific! ”
After the formal introduction, we told him stories about how to get into the grid and capture prisoners, how to jam Bühner's old soles on the tracks to subvert the enemy's train, how to cut the enemy's telephone line without affecting the masses, and how Whitsey's eyes widened. After a while, he exclaimed, "Good! "When the story was over, we became good friends.
The reception conditions are naturally limited, and the things are all native products, but we have a simple banquet very hot.
It's funny to say, I used our Chinese good trick to make this big foreign brother turn people upside down. At first we just exhorted to drink, what "toast to the friendship between China and the United States", what "toast to the final victory in defeating fascism", toasting him "to smoothly pass through the enemy's blockade", as soon as these words were said, he cried out with joy, "Oh-oh-dry!" "Uh-huh-oh-dry", the neck tilted down, and grimaced and went down again.
This American friend is indeed very bold. I said that he had a drink, and there was no ambiguity. Of course, I was not ambiguous and touched him with a large bowl. After a while, he was drunk.
Mr. Whidsay lived in Division 1 for several days, and I played basketball with him. At that time, we were addicted to playing ball, and we organized government cadre games on Sundays. Fight with foreigners, everyone is more energetic.
In addition to playing, I also took pictures of him, using the captured "Kadel". I'm afraid the machine is also a bit old, and it is not very flexible to make it in my hands, but I still cherish it. When we broke up, Whidesel gave me a pocket pistol. He said that these days in the First Division were the most enjoyable and inspiring days he had spent on his entire trip behind enemy lines. He sees us as his best friends in China.
The cadres and fighters of our first division also had a good impression of Mr. Whidesai, and his help in China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was sincere and friendly to Chinese.
Sadly, after Mr. Whidsey left us, he was tragically killed by the enemy in Division II. Later, I heard that his diary contained his impressions when he was in the first division and his personal impressions of me.