"Red Walk of the Second Artillery Corps Veterans"
Xuzhou City is the first glorious city in the country to win the "Double Support Model City", and the people of Xuzhou have a glorious tradition of loving the people and supporting the army. There are many military units stationed in Jiawang District, and the people's government attaches great importance to the work of double support, and has made unremitting efforts to grasp it, and has used various forms to regularly organize and carry out practical work in promoting the army to love the people and the people to support the army.
On August 1, 2024, a large-scale commemorative event of "Celebrating the 97th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" organized by Xuzhou Sanniu Agricultural Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. was grandly held in Xutai Village.
Next to Nonggu Road, directly above the wide and high gate archway, the newly painted "Xuzhou First Field" several large red characters are particularly eye-catching, and the threshold is hung with yellow characters on a red background: "Warmly celebrate the 97th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army!" The banners and slogans, the courtyard and the courtyard are cleaned and tidy, the vehicles at the door are parked in an orderly manner, and the people who come in and out are all smiling, a happy and peaceful festive atmosphere.
At eight o'clock in the morning, according to the agreed time, retired servicemen from Xutai Village and retired servicemen from Xuzhou of a certain unit of the Second Artillery Corps arrived one after another with excitement.
Speaking of the past and present life of the mysterious Second Artillery Corps, it is an extremely glorious strategic missile force of our army, and it is the predecessor of the Rocket Force.
China's missile forces have been covered with a veil of mystery since the first day of their formation, and many people have never heard of the Second Artillery Corps, and often occasionally people have heard of the Second Artillery Corps and only think that it is an artillery unit. However, there are some countries in the world that are extremely concerned, and they are doing everything possible to inquire about everything about this force. In that particular era, we were able to ensure the security of our country and territory only by taking extraordinary countermeasures. As an important cornerstone of the country and an important weight in the game of great powers, the secrecy work of the Second Artillery Corps is particularly important. Because secrecy is to save life, and secrecy is to ensure victory. For the sake of secrecy, when China's missile units were established, they were deployed together with missile positions in the deep mountains and dense forests, in the forests and snowfields, and in the desert Gobi. Even the base offices are hidden in small and inconspicuous places and ravines far from the county seat. And our generations of rocket soldiers have always strictly adhered to the requirements of secrecy, not telling their parents, not their wives and children, and many soldiers entered the mountains as soon as they joined the army, and did not leave the mountains until they retired. In some cases, it is often necessary to walk for several hours to go to the nearest villages and towns to the troops. But they have no regrets, because they know that they are the trump card weapon of the country and have done earth-shattering things, so what is this suffering? It can be said that silence and low-key are characteristic of China's Strategic Missile Forces, but this also leaves a lot of suspense and imagination for the outside world. Despite the rather difficult conditions, the Second Artillery Corps has always regarded absolute loyalty, absolute purity, and absolute reliability as the genes of its construction and development, and this political loyalty has been injected into the blood of every officer and soldier since the day it was formed.
Until the military parade to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1984, the Second Artillery Corps, which was hidden in the Gobi and hibernated in the mountains and forests, was willing to be an unsung hero, like a silent thunder, and was low-key and introverted. Our Strategic Missile Forces officially appeared in front of the world at Tiananmen Square. The whole world was shaken by this, which greatly enhanced the international status of the mainland and the sense of glory and pride of the masses of the people. It has further strengthened the determination of the Chinese people to promote reform and opening up, and strengthened their confidence and courage in standing on the world stage.
Walking into the hall of the First Field Live Business Center, there are several retired soldiers in the veterans' registration office who are busy registering personnel, distributing clothing, badges, and military commemorative tea jars. Some comrades-in-arms have been running around for a long time for life since the moment of separation in the barracks, and have not met for decades. A "comrade-in-arms!", a lifetime of friendship, hugging each other, unstoppable tears burst out of their eyes, and thousands of words suddenly came to their hearts, but they choked up and couldn't speak. The scene was very touching, and the feelings of comrades-in-arms were overflowing.
At nine o'clock, the retired soldiers put on new and unified clothes to look extraordinary, all of them were full of spirit, high-spirited, as if they were eighteen or nineteen-year-old little rockets, quickly boarded the bus, and went straight to the Xudong Resistance War Memorial Hall of the Huaihai Battle of Taipingzhuang, Xuzhuang Town, Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, and started the red journey.
Facing the rising sun, the wheels are flying, and the bus travels through the Nonggu Avenue with the fragrance of melons and fruits, and jumps over the Mashan Bridge of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal into the territory of Xuzhuang Town. Along the way, the beautiful scenery of the countryside, the idyllic scenery, the mountains and mountains are undulating, picturesque, beautiful, and you can't see the traces of the Huaihai Armageddon that shocked the world 66 years ago in this beautiful and rich land.
Before I knew it, the bus soon came to Taipingzhuang. A few hundred meters away from the memorial hall, the retired soldiers deliberately got out of the car in advance and marched forward in a queue to express their reverence for the revolutionary soldiers of their predecessors.
Under the guidance of the August 1 military flag, the retired soldiers were in high spirits, marched with neat steps, shouted the earth-shattering marching slogan of "1234", marched to the door of the Huaihai Campaign Xudong Resistance War Memorial Hall and stopped, lined up and pulled out the banner slogan "Red Line of Retired Soldiers of the Second Artillery Corps", and took a group photo with the memorial hall.
Xu Yuwen, director of the Xudong Resistance War Memorial Hall, warmly greeted him, and had already typed "Warmly welcome retired soldiers to visit and guide!" banners. The memorial hall eyebrow plaque black background gilt "Huaihai Battle Xudong Resistance War Memorial Hall" several big characters shining, solemn and eye-catching, the white marble statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in front of the door is located in the center, the military flag fluttering in the wind, the retired soldiers are lined up neatly, majestic and solemn.
The memorial hall of the Xudong Resistance War, located in Taipingzhuang Village, where the main position of the Xudong Resistance War in the Huaihai Campaign and the location of the front headquarters of our army, is the son of Xu Fengbiao, the special hero of the Huaihai Campaign, Mr. Xu Yuwen in order to fulfill the last wish of the heroic father, poured all his savings, invested 2 million yuan only to inherit the revolutionary legacy, carry forward the spirit of patriotism, and commemorate the tragic and large-scale Xudong Resistance War and built the red memorial venue. Since the establishment of the museum, the community has responded strongly, has been the attention of the military and political circles, and has also attracted extensive attention from social groups, and has organized many groups to pay homage to commemorate the activities, and the influence has gradually expanded, and it has become a famous red patriotism education base on the red cultural belt of the Grand Canal.
Zhao Yanqiang, a retired soldier, a military researcher, a member of Xuzhou Art 100, and the general manager of Xuzhou Sanniu Agricultural Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., volunteered to serve as the docent of the event, and he introduced to everyone:
From November 11 to 22, 1948, in the first section of the Huaihai Campaign, the Battle of Xudong was a large-scale blocking operation to annihilate the encircled Kuomintang Huang Baitao's Seventh Corps and block the enemy's Xuzhou Eastern Aid Group.
The Xudong Blocking Battle lasted 11 days, and the blocking position was wide and deep, with a combat range of 30 kilometers from north to south and more than 20 kilometers from east to west. Our army has invested 150,000 troops in seven columns and annihilated more than 17,000 people of the enemy's Kuomintang army's eastward aid group. The victory of the Xudong Resistance Battle ensured the smooth progress of our army's encirclement and annihilation of Huang Baitao's corps, and laid a solid foundation for the victory in the first section of the Huaihai Campaign.
The Xudong Resistance Battle's large number of troops, the fierce battles, the large number of enemies annihilated, the wide combat area, and the great influence have set a historical record for our army's blocking operations, which can be called the first of the three major blocking battles, and enjoys a high reputation and occupies a place in the history of military warfare in the world.
After listening to the brief introduction of the Xudong Resistance Battle, the veterans were all shocked, and under the guidance of the docent, they entered the exhibition hall in an orderly manner to pay homage to the Revolutionary Memorial Hall.
The memorial hall is divided into two floors of exhibition halls, the ground floor collects a large number of physical originals of historical relics for visiting and displaying, and the upper floor collects a lot of precious historical documents. Each exhibit records and carries that heavy history, the vivid photos of the heroes, the combat weapons that have been baptized by the fire of war, the tools used by the people in front of the people, and the old and yellowed documents and manuscripts, silently telling the people the historical story of the tragic and tragic war that shocked the world.
Under the vivid explanation of the narrator, those vivid heroes and touching heroic deeds are all moving. Scenes of war and heroic images appear in front of me, as if they have traveled through history and returned to the Huaihai battlefield where the flames of war were raging and the smoke of gunpowder was filled. Look, the flames are all over the place, and the battle flags are unfurled. Listen, the fierce sound of gunfire, explosions, charging horns, and shouts of killing is endless...... The two sides of the enemy launched a life-and-death tragic fight intertwined, the sword and sword shadow showed the heroic nature of the soldiers, and composed a heroic hymn that shocked the world and cried ghosts and gods!
The retired soldiers followed behind the commentator, with focused expressions and serious expressions, listening carefully and watching carefully, respecting the revolutionary predecessors, and infinite emotion rose in their hearts! We must inherit the revolutionary legacy, never forget the revolutionary history, carry forward the revolutionary traditions, and always maintain the heroic qualities of revolutionary soldiers.
On the way back, the veterans had just received the red education, and were full of pride under the inspiration of the heroes of the revolutionary predecessors.
In order to welcome the arrival of the "August 1st Army Day" retired soldiers' red line, the Xutai Sanniu Art Troupe also specially collected literary and artistic programs on related themes from all over the region, and carefully organized and planned a large-scale literary and artistic performance.
At 11:30 p.m., after the warm welcome speech of Zhao Yanqiang, general manager of Xuzhou Sanniu Agricultural Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., the host announced the official start of the theatrical performance. First of all, the wind band played the march of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the whole performance kicked off with the performance of the impassioned and powerful March of the People's Liberation Army. The program is rich in content, wonderful, climaxing, and cheering. There are dances, solo singing, melodramas, traditional martial arts performances, drum commentary, poetry recitations, instrumental ensembles, etc. You sang and I appeared on the stage, which caused thunderous applause from time to time, and in the laughter and laughter, the military and the civilian integration of the family, and the flowers of the double embrace bloomed to the sun.
The more than one-hour performance on the stage embodies the hard work and dedication of the cast and crew for nearly a month. Under the hot weather and with their love for retired soldiers, they presented a heavy gift to the "August 1st Army Day" with a high-level cultural and artistic performance.
The retired servicemen of Xutai Village come from all the heroic units of the whole army, and they are a glorious collective that is organized, disciplined, able to endure hardships, and able to fight. Over the years, whether it is flood relief or the outbreak of the epidemic, wherever there is danger and need, there will be our retired servicemen charging forward, withstanding severe tests, and many advanced and exemplary individuals have emerged. They carried forward the glorious traditions and fine fighting style of the troops, and interpreted with practical actions the heroic qualities of retired servicemen who will not fade after they have retired from the army. It has been well received by the broad masses of the people and has also been fully affirmed by the leaders at higher levels.
With the joint efforts of Xutai Village, it has been commended by the District People's Armed Forces Department and the District Military Affairs Bureau for two consecutive years, and awarded Xutai Village Double Support Model Advanced Unit, and six retired soldiers have outstanding performance and have been rated as outstanding retired soldiers.
New era, new journey. Under the correct leadership of the party, the retired soldiers of Xutai Village are actively participating in the construction of rural revitalization, and strive to continue to write a glorious chapter of double-support model village with the people.
Author: Zhao Yanqiang
On August 2, 2024
Zhao Yanqiang's personal profile:
Zhao Yanqiang, a retired soldier, a native of Xutai Village, Jiawang District, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, the head of the Sanniu Art Troupe, and the consultant of the Bulaohe Literary Society, likes literature, is good at painting, and loves his hometown. He has published many works and is one of the main advocates of "creating the culture of agriculture and tourism in the Ageless River".