General Tong Yansheng
On the morning of June 17, 1938, the first detachment of the New Fourth Army ambushed the Japanese army in Weigang, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, and after half an hour of fierce fighting, killed and wounded more than 20 people below the enemy's Shaosa Doi, destroyed 4 enemy vehicles, and captured a large number of materials such as long and short guns, sabers, and military uniforms. This was the first battle in which the New Fourth Army entered the War of Resistance behind enemy lines in southern Jiangsu - the Battle of Weigang (also known as the Weigang Ambush Battle), which encouraged the anti-Japanese fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in southern Jiangsu and expanded the influence of the New Fourth Army.
The first shot fired at the Weigang ambush was Tong Yansheng, then the commander of a temporary combat company of a detachment of the New Fourth Army, who was awarded the rank of major general in 1955. Tong Yansheng (1911-1985), a native of Anfu, Jiangxi, joined the revolution in jiangxi in 1929 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1933. After the founding of New China, Tong Yansheng successively served as chief of staff of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, chief of staff of the Jiangsu Provincial Military Region, and deputy commander of the Jiangsu Provincial Military Region.
The site of the Battle of Weigang
Tong Yansheng threw himself into the revolution at the age of 18, was born into death, and made important contributions to the cause of the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation, to the construction of the jiangsu people's armed forces and the construction of coastal defense. After he was crippled by the revolution, he never made demands on the organization, set an example in hard struggle, diligence and thrift, and always maintained the original intention and true colors of a Communist Party member. It can be said that General Tong Yansheng really bowed down to the revolution and died.
One-armed and limp founding major general
Among the founding generals of new China, Tong Yansheng was the most seriously injured, and he was both a one-armed general and a lame general.
In the autumn of 1932, the Kuomintang reactionaries mobilized 10 divisions and 120,000 men to launch a comprehensive encirclement and suppression of the Xianggan Soviet area. Tong Yansheng's battalion, in order to cover the transfer of party and government organs, insisted on its position at the top of the hill and repelled 5 enemy attacks. At dusk, enemy reinforcements arrived and surrounded the hill. The battalion commander decided to organize a death squad, open the gap, and implement a breakout. Tong Yansheng joined the death squad, and they fought bravely to tear open the gap. The enemy hurriedly opened fire on the gap, and a shell exploded nearby, causing Tong Yansheng's left leg to be seriously injured and his calf bone to be exposed. In the harsh environment and without medical treatment, the wound was seriously infected. Tong Yansheng gritted his teeth, endured great pain, cut off the rotten flesh that had turned outward, and applied some herbs. It was hard to wait until his left leg could be moved, who knew that in the next battle, in order to cover his comrades, he was shot and wounded above his left leg knee.
Tong Yansheng in the war years
In the autumn of 1934, in order to break the enemy's blockade, Tong Yansheng joined the xianggan Soviet district behind the enemy's rear to advance the brigade, went deep behind the enemy to collect grain, and when he returned, he was surrounded by the enemy, and his left leg was shot again during the breakout, and the blood flowed continuously. Due to multiple bullets and lack of effective treatment, Tong Yansheng's left leg was left with a lifelong disability.
So, how did his arm hurt? It was in October 1944, when the New Fourth Army captured a large number of japanese-made quick-detonator grenades made by the Japanese and puppet armies during the battle. How is this thing used? Tong Yansheng, who was the political commissar of the regiment at the time, accidentally triggered it when studying the quick-detonation grenade in order to teach the soldiers how to use it. The rapid-detonating grenade exploded in his hand, the five fingers of his right hand were blown away, and he was amputated from his wrist after being sent to the hospital. After that, Tong Yansheng killed the enemy heart, and the wound returned to the army before it healed, and as a result, the wound infection worsened, so he had to do a second operation and amputate his right arm.
Revolutionary disabilities were denied special care
In the midst of the tense fighting, Tong Yansheng, who was then the director of the Political Office of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade of the New Fourth Army, was led by Wang Bicheng, commander of the Second Brigade, and Liu Peishan, political commissar, and married Xu Min, a female soldier of the New Fourth Army and an accountant of the Supply Department of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Brigade. On the day of the wedding, the comrades-in-arms said humorously: "Director Tong and Xu Min are really romantic when they get married, they don't have to wear red and hang green, set off firecrackers, and only listen to the sound of gunshots, cannons, and grenade explosions." ”
Tong Yansheng was with his wife Xu Min and his children
Tong Yansheng made great contributions to the revolution, suffered great hardships, and was also disabled by the war; after the founding of New China, he should enjoy special treatment, but Tong Yansheng refused to do so, and he took as much as the other major generals took, and he did not want any extra penny.
In the early 1960s, the country's economy encountered difficulties. In order to reduce the burden on the state, Tong Yansheng returned the cooks who were cared for by the organization, saying: "The country is so difficult, how can I still enjoy this kind of treatment?"
Not only cooking for himself, Tong Yansheng also took his family to plant a lot of corn, vegetables and turnips in the yard, self-sufficient. For these coarse tea and light rice, the children did not want to eat, Tong Yan made a fire, and said loudly: "It is good to have food!" I wanted to enjoy it at a young age, how could I be a revolutionary successor?! ”
One summer, Tong Yansheng's daughter fell ill and was hospitalized, and Tong Yansheng often walked to see her daughter. At tong Yansheng's level, there is a special car treatment, but he said: "This is my personal personal affair, and I can't use a special car." "One day the weather was particularly hot, and Tong Yansheng went out with a torn straw hat, and he was sweating profusely. You know, his left leg was injured, so he "limped" and went to the hospital.
At the same time, Tong Yansheng is helpful. A director of the management department of the provincial military district headquarters said that during the three years of natural disasters, the chief actively responded to the call of his superiors and built a shed behind his house to raise chickens, ducks, rabbits and other poultry and livestock. When these little beings grew up, he was reluctant to eat themselves, but let the attendants chop them into pieces and distribute them to their neighbors and poor households.
A director of the headquarters said, "At that time, there were many children in my family, and life was difficult, as long as Commander Tong made tofu, he was allowed to have a share of it, and whenever I ate tofu made by a one-armed person, my heart was warm." ”
The spirit of hard work must not be lost
By the 1980s, the living conditions were much better than before, but Tong Yansheng still maintained a hard and simple style.
In the summer of 1980, Tong Yansheng went to Shanghai for medical treatment. Once, during a meal at a restaurant, the waiter delivered food, and Tong Yansheng got up, and his old shirt, which had been sewn and patched up too much to be torn, tore a large hole. The two young people sitting next to them heard the sound of their clothes tearing, and they immediately cast surprised eyes, smiled and said, "Chief, your shirt should have been sent to the museum a long time ago!" Tong Yansheng smiled and said, "We old guys are poor people, and during the Red Army, I still wore women's clothes captured from the homes of local tycoons." "It's all the 80s, what are you doing turning over those rotten sesame seeds?" Tong Yansheng said seriously: "The times are developing, and I do not approve of being so poor all the time, especially you young people, eat better and dress better, I have no opinion, but we must not forget the revolutionary spirit of arduous struggle." ”
Tong Yansheng's shirt torn in Shanghai did not go unnoticed, and soon spread to the compound of the Jiangsu Provincial Military Region. Some people say that he "cuts the door", and some people say that he is "conservative", but the vast number of insiders praise him for being strict with himself, being hardworking and simple.
Victory Monument to the Battle of Weigang
In the winter of 1984, Tong Yansheng, who was terminally ill and had just undergone surgery, passed by Weigang in Zhenjiang, and endured severe pain and earnestly asked for one last look at this place where the battle had been fought. When he saw a monument about to be completed on a hill in the distance, he had tears in his eyes and mixed feelings. Half a year earlier, at the behest of General Su Yu and entrusted by the Zhenjiang Municipal Party Committee, he returned to Weigang, took his illness to the top of the hill where the Japanese convoy had ambushed that year, and selected the site of the "Weigang Battle Victory Monument" on the spot.
Tong Yansheng was awarded the Order of August 1 of the Third Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the Second Class, and the Liberation Medal of the First Class, and was a member of the Third, Fourth and Fifth National Committees of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese.
Tomb of General Tong Yansheng
On May 2, 1985, General Tong Yansheng died of illness in Nanjing at the age of 74. Overland Fang Lianglong