On April 8, 1946, Wang Ruofei, Qin Bangxian, Ye Ting, Deng Fa and Mr. Huang Qisheng flew from Chongqing to Yan'an by plane. After Wang Ruofei and other comrades were killed, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other comrades wrote inscriptions for the martyrs, and Comrade Mao Zedong's inscription was: "Death for the people is still honorable."
After the "48" martyrs were killed, the author of this article personally participated in the aftermath of the work. This magazine publishes his memories to express our deep condolences to the revolutionary martyrs.
On the evening of April 8, 1946, Comrade Tan Zhengwen, member of the Standing Committee of the Jinsui Branch of the CPC Central Committee, Minister of Social Affairs and director of the Jinsui Border District Public Security Bureau, returned to the Public Security Bureau from a meeting of the Jinsui Branch (the Public Security Bureau was stationed in Xingxian County). After dinner, Comrade Tan Zhengwen told me (I was then Comrade Tan Zhengwen's confidential secretary and chief of the confidential unit of the General Bureau of Public Security) that today there was a US military plane that took some leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee back to Yan'an. The Central Committee of the Party in Yan'an called to inquire about the Jinsui area and found that the plane was not. He asked me to immediately notify the county public security bureaus for inquiries. When I heard this, my heart was unusually heavy and worried, and a bad omen made me dare not think about it deeply.
The next day, on the afternoon of April 9, a secretary of the district party committee of the Heichashan area of Xingxian County personally rushed to the Public Security Bureau and reported: Shortly after lunch on April 8, we heard the sound of airplanes, because there were very heavy clouds and fog in our area at that time, and it was snowing on the mountain, and it was raining under the mountain, and we could not see the plane. After a while, a violent explosion was heard on the Black Tea Mountain, and the sound of the plane disappeared immediately. At that time, the people in the surrounding villages were very panicked, and they didn't know what was going on on the Black Tea Mountain, and no one dared to go up to see it. The next morning, I took some militiamen to the Black Tea Mountain to check, only to see that the plane that flew yesterday crashed into the Black Tea Mountain. At first, we all thought it was the Kuomintang planes and personnel, and some people from the surrounding villages also went up the mountain to see it. Among the relics, we found a list of people who took the plane, including the names of Qin Bangxian, Wang Ruofei, Deng Fa, and other members of the Central Committee of the CPC Central Committee, as well as the name of Comrade Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army. After listening to his oral report, we were all extremely shocked! The death of so many central leading comrades together was an extremely tragic and unfortunate incident that had occurred since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and a huge loss to our party.
At that time, Comrade Tan Zhengwen immediately assigned Comrade Jin Zhaodian, director of the First Office of the Public Security Bureau, and Comrade Miao Fengshu, director of the Organization Department of the Youxing County Prefectural Party Committee, to rush to Heichashan to protect the scene of the accident first, not to ask the masses to enter the scene again, and to personally go to the scene to deal with it after he asked the Jinsui Sub-bureau for instructions. Then Comrade Tan Zhengwen rushed to the Jinsui Branch with the list. When he returned, he informed me to accompany him to the scene of the accident in Heichashan the next morning. On the morning of 10 July, we rode to Heicha Mountain with two guards, and on the way Comrade Tan Zhengwen told me: After arriving at the scene, we must first search for and identify the bodies of those central leading comrades, and second, we must investigate in detail the cause of the plane crash. Comrade Tan Zhengwen asked me which martyrs I was familiar with during the Yan'an period, and I said that I was familiar with Comrade Qin Bangxian, Comrade Wang Ruofei and Comrade Deng Fa. When I was studying Xi in Yan'an, I listened to the reports of Comrade Qin Bangxian and Comrade Deng Fa, and Comrade Wang Ruofei once gave us a lecture on "Basic Issues of the Chinese Revolution." Moreover, there is a big difference in their faces and body shapes: Comrade Qin Bangxian is tall and thin and wears short-sighted glasses; Comrade Wang Ruofei is very fat and has a round face; Comrade Deng Fa is shorter, not fat, and has a higher nose bridge; and I have seen a photo of Comrade Ye Ting, who is burly and taller than Comrade Deng Fa. Comrade Tan Zhengwen said that he only had some impressions of Qin Bangxian and Comrade Deng Fa. At three or four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, we rushed to the scene of the accident in Black Tea Mountain.
From the foot of the Black Tea Mountain to the place where the plane crashed two or three miles away, the mountain was full of dry weeds, the snow on the hillside had not yet melted, and the accident site exuded a strong smell of gasoline everywhere. After arriving at the scene, we first checked the place where the plane hit the rock, the plane did not crash on the highest main peak of the Black Tea Mountain, but crashed on the top of the side peak of the Black Tea Mountain, and hit the south face of a boulder on the south slope of the mountain, and the marks on the stone were very clear and obvious. If the plane had flown a little higher, it would have flown over this side peak. This large boulder is only 123 meters above the ground, about 5 meters wide and 8 meters thick. The stone was very hard, and after the plane hit, it didn't even have the slightest signs of shaking or cracks, just the marks of the collision on the south side. Immediately after that, we began to search for and identify the remains of the martyrs, especially the bodies of several central leading comrades, so that the remains could be temporarily concentrated in one place, so that it would be convenient for special guards at night to prevent the mountain wolves from damaging the remains of the martyrs at night. Comrade Tan Zhengwen found an old dilapidated house on the mountain, where he guarded the bodies of the martyrs and took some photos of the scene of the accident and the bodies of the martyrs. After some intense work, we were able to find the bodies of Comrade Qin Bangxian, Comrade Wang Ruofei, Comrade Deng Fa, and Comrade Ye Ting one by one and move them to the site of the dilapidated house. The bodies of the four martyrs were intact, their facial expressions were very surprised, and everyone's eyes were thrown out. Comrade Wang Ruofei's facial flesh and skin were somewhat broken, and Comrades Deng Fa, Ye Ting, and Qin Bangxian had broken limbs, and their faces and body shapes were easily recognized. The remains were all scattered in the bushes dozens of meters to the left and right of the wreckage of the plane, and they were thrown the farthest, probably sitting together at the time. When we gathered the remains of these four martyrs at the site of the dilapidated house, it was already dark, and we quietly guarded the remains of the martyrs in the dilapidated house with a very heavy heart.
On April 11, the genius dawned, and we began to search for and identify the remains of other martyrs. The bodies of Comrade Ye Ting's lover, Comrade Li Xiuwen, and his youngest son, Nanny, were very incomplete, and their upper and lower bodies were no longer in one place. The body of Comrade Ye Ting's daughter is still intact, but her limbs are incomplete. The body of Comrade Ye Ting's youngest son was intact, but his upper body was burned to a yellow. Some of the bodies were scattered on dead branches around the wreckage of the plane, and some were scattered among the miscellaneous trees on both sides of the wreckage. The body of Comrade Ye Ting's youngest son was hung on a tree branch. It looked like the four of them were sitting together. The bodies of Mr. Huang Qisheng, Comrade Li Shaohua, Comrade Peng Zhuozuo, Comrade Wei Wanhe, Comrade Zhao Dengjun and others were completely charred and blackened, and their faces and body shapes were completely unrecognizable. Mr. Huang's body was later identified by the medical staff when they found many traces of white beard when they washed the body. The bodies of all five of them were gathered near the wreckage of the plane. The four pilots of the American side were in the cockpit at the front of the plane, so the bodies were all crushed to pieces, most of them scattered near the nose of the plane, and a small part was thrown onto the north slope behind the mountain. Some of their severed feet and limbs were thrown into the grass dozens of meters away, and finally they were found one after another. There were a total of 17 people on board, including Comrade Qin Bangxian, Comrade Wang Ruofei, Comrade Deng Fa, Comrade Ye Ting, Mr. Huang Qisheng, Staff Officer Li Shaohua and Peng Zhuozuo, Comrades Wei Wanhe and Zhao Dengjun, Comrade Ye Ting's lover, daughter, youngest son and his nanny. There are 13 Chinese personnel and 4 American personnel.
The search, identification, and removal of the remains of the martyrs down the mountain were basically completed on the 12th. After this work was completed, Comrade Tan Zhengwen asked me to concentrate my energies on personally drawing out a schematic map of the plane crash scene at the scene of the accident, such as the situation where the plane hit the rocks, the distribution of the remains of the plane wreckage, and the scattered distribution of the remains of the martyrs. Then a draft of a special report on the murder of the "April 8" martyrs was drafted so that it could be reported to the Yan'an Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Jinsui Sub-Bureau.
Since April 11, people have been organized to carry the remains of martyrs to a village at the foot of the Black Tea Mountain. Some leading comrades of the Jinsui Border District Administration and the General Bureau of Public Security successively led medical, logistical, and security personnel to handle the aftermath of the martyrs' remains. The Xingxian special office and the county's party and government cadres also took part in the organizational work in this regard. The bodies of the martyrs were cleaned one by one, the wounds were seized, and the plastic surgery and embalming were carried out. The logistics staff and the local people soon set up a very serious and solemn mourning hall, and the bodies of the martyrs were placed in the mourning hall. The leading comrades of the Jinsui Border District Administration, the leading comrades of the Jinsui Public Security Bureau, and the party and government cadres of the Xingxian Prefecture and various counties all came to the mourning hall one after another with great sorrow to pay respects and keep vigils. Comrade Li Jingquan, secretary of the Jinsui Sub-Bureau and political commissar of the Jinsui Military Region, personally went to the scene of the Black Tea Mountain to inspect the scene after coming to pay tribute and keep the spirit. At that time, the "48" martyr killing incident became a major event that shook the Jinsui border area. The party and government organs of the Jinsui Border District organized a grand public memorial for the martyrs.
Comrade Jin Zhaodian, director of the First Office of the General Public Security Bureau, Comrade Di Fei, director of the Second Office, and other leaders were responsible for organizing the public security personnel of the General Bureau, sub-bureaus, and county bureaus to collect and clean up the relics of the martyrs. Because the relics of the martyrs are carried with them, such as pistols, watches, seals, badges, pens, glasses, photographs, fiat currency...... As well as watches, gold coins, embroidered tiger armbands, etc., it is not only necessary to mobilize the masses in the surrounding villages and collect many relics they have picked up in a timely manner, but also need to go to the scene to repeatedly and carefully search for the relics scattered in the grass. In particular, many important top-secret documents and cadre archives have been broken and scattered, and many people need to collect and sort them out one by one, and this is a very heavy and serious task. After many days of assault, most of the relics were collected and sorted out, packed into a whole bag of hemp, and later sent to the Yan'an Party Central Committee by plane.
At that time, in addition to Comrade Tan Zhengwen personally taking some photographs of the remains of the martyrs and the scene, the Jinsui Public Security Bureau also specially sent some photographers to take pictures of the whole picture of the Black Tea Mountain, the scene of the plane hitting the rocks, the wreckage of the plane, the appearance of some martyrs after plastic surgery, the mourning hall at the foot of the Black Tea Mountain, the public sacrifices of the masses along the way, and the airport escorting the remains of the martyrs to the plane. This complete set of photos was not only sent to the Yan'an Party Central Committee afterwards, but also kept by the Public Security Bureau.
After the aftermath of the "48" martyrs in Heichashan was basically completed, Comrade Tan Zhengwen told me on 17 April: The Yan'an Party Central Committee sent a telegram informing me that on 18 April, a US military plane came to the Lanxian airfield to pick up the remains of the martyrs and take them to Yan'an. The Jinsui Sub-Bureau has decided that you will accompany me by plane to personally escort the remains of the martyrs to Yan'an and make a special report to the Party Central Committee. He asked me to prepare the report and the schematic diagram overnight and take it with me.
The bodies of the martyrs were transported from the mourning hall at the foot of the Black Tea Mountain to Lanxian County, and dozens of miles along the way, archways to commemorate the martyrs were erected at the entrances of various villages, and village cadres, party members and the masses came to mourn the martyrs. A mourning hall and a public memorial archway were also set up next to the Lanxian Airport, and the bodies of the martyrs were transported to the Lanxian Airport and placed in the mourning hall. The party and government cadres of Lan County all went to the mourning hall to pay tribute to the martyrs.
Early in the morning of April 18, I rushed with Comrade Tan Zhengwen from Heichashan to Lanxian Airport, and we all saw those public memorial archways along the way. When we arrived at the airport, the US military plane was already waiting at the airport, and the bodies of the martyrs were first carried on board after a memorial service was held at the airport mourning hall. The US pilots began to demand that their bodies be transported first, but we did not agree, and we were the first to carry the bodies of several leading comrades of the Central Committee and the relatives of Comrade Ye Ting onto the plane, because the plane could not transport all the bodies at one time, and the remains of the remaining five Chinese and four American ones were left for the second time. After the remains of the martyrs were carried onto the plane, Comrade Tan Zhengwen and I said goodbye to the comrades at the airport with pistols and backpacks, and boarded the plane to escort the remains of the martyrs to Yan'an.
After the plane took off, it began to fly diagonally upward, and the bodies of the martyrs in the cabin were slid towards the tail of the plane, and after the plane flew to a certain altitude, the plane was relatively stable, and I sorted out the remains of the martyrs. After about an hour of flight, we arrived at Yan'an Airport safely. At that time, in addition to the leading comrades of the Party Central Committee and the families of the martyrs, the airport was crowded with people, neat and solemn, and a solemn atmosphere of grief and deep sorrow was condensed at the airport. The cabin door opened, and after several days and nights of intense and continuous assault work, I felt an unusual sleepiness. After Comrade Tan Zhengwen and I got off the plane, Yang Shangkun, director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, personally took us away in a jeep. In the jeep I was groggy and asleep. Soon after, the plane went to transport the rest of the bodies for the second time, and no random escorts were sent again.
At that time, after we investigated the plane crash site and the people in the Black Tea Mountain area, we made some analyses in the written report.
Judging from the results of the investigation at the scene of the plane crash, the plane crashed into the Black Tea Mountain and crashed, not after exploding in the air. Because first, the impact marks of the plane on the boulder on the side peak of the Black Tea Mountain are very clear and obvious. Second, the explosion and fire of the plane were caused only after it hit the mountain, and the wreckage of the plane was distributed in the area near the downhill area where the rock was hit, and the wreckage was neither too fragmented nor too scattered. Third, the body of the American driver was crushed into pieces in the cab, which was the case when the nose of the plane hit a mountain. Fourth, most of the martyrs' eyeballs were thrown out, which is the only case that can only occur when the plane hits the stone violently.
Judging from the results of the investigation of the weather conditions in the Heichashan area on April 8, when the plane arrived in the Heichashan area that day, the clouds and fog in the sky were very thick, and it rained and snowed on the mountain. It is very likely that the plane crashed into the mountain and crashed in this kind of rainy and snowy weather with dense clouds, because it could not see the mountains and rivers clearly.
From the results of our repeated searches of the plane accident site, we have not found any suspicious signs or clues of vandalism.
The plane was supposed to land at Xi'an Airport for refueling, and after a short stop, it continued to take off to Yan'an. Why did the plane fly all the way to the Jinsui Heichashan area? The reasons for this are not clear to us and cannot be analyzed. Later, I heard Comrade Tan Zhengwen say that he found a draft of a telegram among the relics, which was a report that the plane had lost its direction.