The Anyuan Coal Mine in Pingxiang, Jiangxi, founded in 1898, is very famous in the history of the Chinese revolution. The influence of the workers' movement in Anyuan Coal Mine was far-reaching, and there were also many Red Army generals. In 1921, when Chairman Mao inspected the Anyuan Coal Mine, a coal miner's child was very close to him, and many years later, this child became the founding major general, and he was Wang Yaonan, a famous engineer general in our army.
In 1911, Wang Yaonan was born in Shangli Town, Pingxiang Township, Jiangxi Province, nicknamed Dong Lingzi, and both his grandfather and father worked in the Anyuan Coal Mine. Shangli Town is a famous firecracker town, and the people almost every household does firecracker trading, ploughing the fields when the farmers are busy, and making firecrackers when the farmers are idle. Wang Yaonan learned the craft of mixing gunpowder and making firecrackers with his uncle from an early age.
Wang Yaonan
One day, Wang Yaonan followed his mother up the mountain to dig wild vegetables, and suddenly heard a loud rumbling noise from the bottom of the mountain, black smoke billowing, down the mountain to see, it was a powder magazine in the village that exploded, detonating another family's medicine storehouse, and most of the village was razed to the ground. Wang Yaonan's home was gone, and his mother had to take him and his sister to Anyuan to escape.
When they arrived in Anyuan, Wang Yaonan's family was reunited, and life was even more difficult, so Wang Yaonan followed his grandfather and father to the coal mine as a child laborer and learned to blast. The working environment in the mine is harsh, and wages are often deducted by the foreman, as are child laborers, who are often beaten and scolded.
If the workers were sick or injured, they would be driven away if they could not work, and it was difficult to survive, which was the tragic situation of the coal miners at that time. Many children who have inherited their father's inheritance have confessed their fate.
Wang Yaonan recalled that the coal mining cave was dark and cramped, and the adults could not stand up straight inside, so they could only crouch or lie on their sides to work, holding a small oil lamp in their mouths, and digging coal while crawling. When I went out, I hung a rope over my shoulder and dragged a mop with coal to climb out. There are also many child laborers in the underground, they have little strength, they can only drag dozens of pounds of coal at a time, and work hard.
In the Anyuan Coal Mine, Wang Yaonan's father's blasting skills were famous and carefully passed on to his son. Wang Yaonan, a young man, worked in the mine for two years and learned a lot of skills, filling explosives, loading detonators, and the proportion of medicine, and even the most difficult to master the blasting rear row and pit wood support were also familiar.
In the autumn of 1921, Chairman Mao was organizing a workers' movement and came to the Anyuan Coal Mine. On that day, Wang Yaonan and his father were firing cannon holes, and when they heard that Mr. Mao Runzhi had gone down the mine, everyone dropped their work to see the freshness. A miner said that since the coal mine was built, he had never heard of mr. teaching in the city wearing clothes and going down the well, and everyone was afraid of the obscurity of the miners, so they rushed to this point, and everyone admired Mr. Mao.
Chairman Mao explained a lot of truths to everyone and encouraged them to fight against fate and not to be at the mercy of others. Everyone listened intently. Wang Yaonan, who was only 10 years old, felt that Chairman Mao was very kind, walked over and prostrated himself on his knees, listening to the adults. When talking about being deducted from wages, Wang Yaonan said loudly: "Mr. Mao, we are also very bitter! ”
One of the miners stopped him: "Grown-ups are talking here, don't interject." Chairman Mao said, "Let him speak, let him speak." Child labor digging coal underground is even more bitter. I ask you, what's your name? Wang Yaonan said: "Since I was a child, everyone has called me Dong Lingzi, and I have a big name called Wang Yaonan." ”
Chairman Mao said, then we are all servants, when I was a child, my name was Shi Sanlingzi. Everyone laughed when they heard it, thinking that they could talk to this teaching gentleman, so you said a word about the coal mine. Chairman Mao listened, and then used the analogy of stones to unite the workers and form a big stone to resist oppression. Although Wang Yaonan didn't understand much, his heart was warm.
In the winter of 1921, the Communist Party opened a workers' cram school in Niujiaopo, Anyuan, and the miners went to learn to read and listen to the revolutionary principles from Mr. Teacher at night. Old workers learned to write slogans and carve leaflets, and Wang Yaonan and other child laborers also attended night school to help post slogans and distribute leaflets.
Later, Wang Yaonan and several other child laborers were selected as activists by the youth league established by the miners, and they established the Anyuan Road Miners' Children's Group according to the instructions. Under the leadership of the party organization, the children's group secretly carries out tasks that are inconvenient for adults to complete, such as going to the railway station to meet the leadership of the party organization, which is conducive to confidentiality work.
In 1922, Wang Yaonan participated in the Anyuan Coal Mine strike, and some small regiment members passed letters and posted slogans according to instructions, and cooperated with workers' pickets to patrol the mines and maintain order, which was very active. Three years later, Wang Yaonan took the oath to join the youth league in the mine.
In 1927, at the age of 16, Wang Yaonan threw himself into the revolution, participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and followed Chairman Mao to Jinggangshan. Techniques such as blasting that he learned in coal mines came in handy. In 1929, Wang Yaonan, then the platoon commander of the Red Army's special service battalion, led people to build a bridge in Xiangshui near Huichang, which was the first time the Red Army built a bridge. The following year, Wang Yaonan joined the party and subsequently formed the Engineer Company of the First Red Army.
As one of the few party members from the early stage of the revolution who came from a worker background, Wang Yaonan was also the founder of our army's sappers. During the Red Army's "anti-encirclement and suppression" struggle, Wang Yaonan repeatedly commanded the engineer company to carry out blasting tasks. For example, in 1933, during the Red Army's attack on Shaxian County, Wang Yaonan led people to dig a pit and blasted the city wall.
During the Long March of the Red Army, Wang Yaonan led the sappers and soldiers to build a bridge on the Du River with the fastest speed, which made a great contribution to ensuring the transfer of the main force of the Red Army. A red army chief said that as long as Wang Yaonan was there, there was no river that could not be crossed.
In the Battle of Tucheng when the Red Army crossed the Chishui River, Wang Yaonan used the blasting method to blow up the enemy's fortifications, which played a decisive role in the victory of the battle and won the commendation of the general order of the whole army. The list goes on and on. Wang Yaonan was also known as the "king of sappers" and "the king of demolition" in our army, and Chairman Mao said that he was an "expert in engineers."
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army paid more attention to engineer talents, so Wang Yaonan and his engineer units were competed for by the three main divisions, and finally Wang Yaonan was assigned to the 115th Division, serving as the director of the engineers, and also the commander of the engineer battalion directly under the division, responsible for battlefield preparation and base area survey tasks. The famous "Ping-type Guan Dajie" also has the credit of Wang Yaonan's engineer troops.
In the spring of 1938, Wang Yaonan's engineering battalion, along with the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, encountered an elite Japanese army at the mouth of the River in southwestern Jin, and a fierce battle broke out. Because Wang Yaonan laid out his positions in advance, dug fortifications and planted mines, he reduced the casualties of the Eighth Route Army, and finally repelled the invading enemy and won victory. When Chairman Mao heard about it, he praised Wang Yaonan one after another.
Wang Yaonan (left)
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang Yaonan made many meritorious achievements, and through his rich experience in blasting and excellent sapper technology, he summed up and improved tactics such as tunnel warfare and mine warfare, and popularized them into the battles of the whole army and various base areas. For example, when he was the director of the engineers in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, he organized the troops to transform ordinary tunnels into waterproof, anti-poison, and dug tunnels, which could also hide Tibetans and fight wars, and the effect was remarkable.
In previous battles, Wang Yaonan, as the commander of the sappers, always took the lead and fought in the front line. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wang Yaonan personally visited the front line many times to give advice and suggestions for the volunteer army's tunnel warfare and mine warfare.
In 1955, Wang Yaonan was awarded the rank of major general. He was the best general in China's modern military history at blasting and tunnel combat, and devoted his life to the post of engineer.