Today we will talk about the crime of the Japanese army in 1942 using many poison gas bombs against the village of Hokufu.
The village of Beituǎn (pronounced "Tan") is located in Dingxian County, Hebei Province (present-day Dingzhou City, Hebei Province), adjacent to the Shahe River and surrounded by water on three sides. This village was once the earliest anti-Japanese base area of our party in the county, and it has a good mass base, and can dig tunnels, repair fortifications, build grenades, and cast mines together, which is a "safe village" that everyone unanimously believes. In order to carry out the plan of going south with peace of mind, the Japanese aggressors wanted to turn China's north China into their rear base, but as the anti-Japanese forces continued to increase and strengthen, in order to deter our people, they intensified their suppression of Hebei and forced tens of thousands of people to build walls, roads, and bunkers for them every day.
Since 1941, the village of Kita Hitomi has carried out tunnel warfare with the Japanese army, and the tunnels have been continuously expanded, forming a communication between households and tunnels with surrounding villages, forming a complete tunnel network. On May 19 and May 23, 1942, our anti-Japanese forces relied on tunnels to eliminate nearly 300 enemy troops on these two occasions alone.
Beginning on May 1, 1942, Okamura Ningji, commander-in-chief of the Japanese army in North China, gathered tens of thousands of Japanese puppet troops, mobilized aircraft, artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles to carry out a "big sweep" of the Jizhong area, and implemented the "three lights" policy everywhere they went, and at the same time quietly made people think that they were not going to attack The village of Beixuan, thus gradually compressing the anti-Japanese forces to the village of Beixuan, hoping to exhaust the village of Beixuan.
The Japanese order instructed that poison gas could be used during the sweep and that smoke should be used as a cover to avoid international trouble
On the morning of May 26, 1942, the Dingnan County Party Committee received information that the Japanese army would encircle and suppress the village of Beiyan on the 27th, and soon the party and government organs were transferred, leaving only some people to block the enemy's protection of the people's lives and property, and the remaining fighters and militia soon began to build fortifications, lay mines, and other preparations for the battle. But why not organize mass transfers? Perhaps it was underestimating the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese army.
At about 6 o'clock on May 27, with the continuous sound of gunfire, nearby residents came to Beiyan Village to avoid the Japanese army. The Japanese commander Katsura Uesaka led more than 2,000 people to surround the village of Kita Hitomi from all sides with machine guns, cannons, grenades and poison gas bombs, and the soldiers and militia repelled the enemy's attacks many times in the earthen artillery tower at the entrance of the village, but in the end the defensive line was broken, and they also turned into tunnels and began to negotiate with the enemy.
The Japanese army rushed into the village and massacred the villagers, and the panicked villagers hid in the tunnels. After the enemy searched, but did not see more people who could be killed, under the guidance of the traitor, began to pay attention to the search underground.
The 1st Commander of the 163rd Wing under katsura Katsushi Uesaka was Shōsa: Yoshiro Ōe, who had been an instructor at the Japanese Xi Shino School (Poison Gas Training School), had hoped that by rounding up the anti-Japanese forces in Kitakata Village, he would receive the third-class Golden Tobird Medal, so he was particularly powerful. Dajiang Fangruo said: "We already know that the tunnels in this village are connected with neighboring villages, and we have formulated an attack plan. I ordered that all tunnel exits to neighboring villages be cut off, and after cutting them off, smoke screens, red barrels, and green gases were released into them, and they were placed in wells and under stoves. Later, I heard the sound of Chinese in the tunnels moving while wah-wahing. ”
Exhibits in the Beiyan Martyrs' Cemetery Exhibition Hall
The poison gas of the Japanese army was divided into three categories: one was the poison cylinder filled with sneezing agent, coated with a green sign band, called "green cylinder"; The second type is the poison canister filled with vomiting agent, coated with a red flag band, called "red barrel"; The third category is a cartridge filled with erosive agents, i.e. mustard gas or Louis gas, coated with a yellow band, called a "yellow cylinder".
They first found a few openings, then threw poisonous gases such as red and green cylinders into the cave, and at the same time sealed the opening of the cave with firewood, and then sealed the cave with smoke such as quilts, and guarded the opening of the cave, and as the smoke came out of the new tunnel opening, the enemy threw poisonous gas into the newly discovered cave entrance.
Although the tunnels were interconnected, they were soon filled with poisonous gas and smoke. Space in the tunnel was limited, and the crowd soon burst into tears, sneezing, and breathing difficulties. People who lack chemical knowledge have long been chaotic in the cave, scrambling around for the opening of the cave in a panic, and for a time there are relatives being scattered, some people are trampled, and in various cries and shouts, the poisoned people have a fever and dry mouth. Soon the noise disappeared, and people suffocated or vomited to death, which also made the tunnel, which was less than 2 meters high and 1 meter wide, more congested or unable to pass through by the human body.
Most of the people who died in the tunnels were women, children, and the elderly, Li Ju, a villager in Beilan Village, died with a baby in her arms and while eating milk; Wang Niu'er, who died with 2 children in front of her knees; and a woman who died with her hands holding two girls about ten years old.
Memorial statue
Those who are strong and lightly poisoned can only crawl on corpses because too many people are poisoned and killed in the tunnels. They climbed to the mouth of the tunnel and escaped through the fire, where the enemy was already waiting, and some of them were stabbed or shot, dragged to the square, and finally died of poisoning and thirst, some were tied to a tree and stabbed to death or cut off, and the women were raped and ravaged.
Well of flesh and blood
Wang Shangzhi's well, which was about 8 meters deep at that time, was larger and was also the entrance and exit of the tunnel. Nearly a hundred people who escaped from the tunnel were pulled to this well by the enemy, beheaded, thrown into the well, and burned with hay until it was filled, and this large well was changed into a veritable "well of flesh and blood". When people came back a few days later to clean the well, it was already stinking and rotten, and the well was directly buried.
Most of the veterans who withdrew to Japan at that time remained silent or denied the atrocities committed, and the following is the confession of katsumi Uesaka, the commander of the massacre, and the "reflection" of one of the important executors, Yoshinaka Oe.
The Japanese commander Katsumi Uesaka
On August 15, 1945, japan announced its surrender and was captured by the Soviet Union, imprisoned for five years, and then handed over to china by the Soviet Union. In 1956, at the Shenyang Special Military Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court, Katsumi Katsumi knelt down to the representatives of the villagers in Beiyan and cried bitterly, asking the court to hand himself over to Beiyan Village and let him be punished to pay for his crimes. In Katsumi Uesaka's confession, he said: "During the battle, the brigade used red and green barrel poison gas, combined with machine gun fire, to shoot not only the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, but also the residents who had lost their way to escape. In addition, the village was swept away, and many residents fled into the underground trenches and threw red and green barrel poison gas into the trenches to suffocate them. Some residents fled in confusion and pain, so they brutally shot and slashed the residents who ran out. ”
The Jin-Cha-Ji Daily denounced the Japanese military's poison gas atrocities
The 1st Commander of the 163rd Wing under Katsuru Katsushi Uesaka was Shōsa: Yoshihide Oe, a former instructor at the Army's XiShino School (Poison Gas Training School), had hoped that by besieging the village of Kitakata, he would receive the Third Class Golden Tobird Medal, so he was particularly powerful. He also confidently said that the siege and killing of Beiyan Village was his proud work, believing that the battle of Beiyan Village had dealt a very big blow to the Chinese anti-Japanese forces. After covering up, he finally said sadly: "Although we are targeting Chinese soldiers, we have indeed harmed many innocent people." I saw with my own eyes that a mother crawled out of the tunnel with her child in her arms and died soon after, and the poor child, not understanding that her mother was dead, was still snuggling up to her mother and crying and suckling. Those tragic scenes still appear often in front of my eyes to this day, and I often wake up from nightmares. ”
Statistics of the Beiyan Village Massacre
According to the records of the Beiyan Village Martyrs' Memorial Hall, in the "5.27" massacre, 24 of the 120 households in Beiyan Village were killed, and the number of victims reached more than 1,000, while the number of poisoned people reached more than 3,000.
Beiyan Village Martyrs Memorial Park
Unfortunately, in 1963, a flood caused by heavy rainfall flooded all the tunnels here, and although the tunnels no longer exist, the wounds caused by the Beiyan massacre to local villagers were difficult to heal.
According to China's incomplete statistics, there are more than 2,000 cases, causing more than 96,000 casualties (including at least 10,000 deaths). #国风大典 #
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