On July 28, 1937, Zhao Dengyu, a patriotic general who bravely resisted Japan, died at the age of 39. He led the Chinese army in a major defeat of the Japanese army at the Battle of Xifengkou. After the July 7 Incident, Zhao Dengyu, who served as the commander of the 132nd Division of the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, led his troops to fight to the death in Beiping to resist the Japanese invasion, and unfortunately martyred the country.
Zhao Dengyu (1898 – July 28, 1937), courtesy name Shuncheng, was born in 1898 to a poor peasant family in Zhao Lou Village, Heze County, Shandong Province. In 1914, he joined Feng Yuxiang's unit and was promoted from soldier to platoon commander, company commander, battalion commander, deputy regimental commander, brigade commander, division commander and other positions. In 1926, he participated in the Northern Expedition.
After the September 18 Incident, Zhao Dengyu advocated resistance to Japan. In 1933, during the Great Wall War of resistance of the Twenty-ninth Army, Zhao Dengyu was ordered to lead his troops to reinforce Xifengkou and Panjiakou, fought fiercely with the enemy, won victory, dealt a blow to the arrogance of the enemy army, and greatly increased the morale of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. In August 1935, the Twenty-ninth Army was transferred to the Beiping area for garrison.
On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out. The Japanese attacked Wanping City, and the Twenty-ninth Army fought back. At this time, Zhao Dengyu's 132nd Division was stationed in Hejian and Daimyo. After the outbreak of the "July 7" incident, Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered Sun Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the Twenty-sixth Route Army, to lead two divisions and the Thirty-ninth Division of Pang Bingxun, commander of the Fortieth Army, to the north, and the Ministry of Military Affairs secretly allocated 3 million rounds of gun ammunition from the Twenty-ninth Army to transfer the anti-aircraft artillery unit of the Gongluo Garrison Headquarters in Henan to Baoding and hand it over to Song Zheyuan, commander of the Twenty-ninth Army.
Song Zheyuan ordered the suspension of Feng's southern transfer, Shi Yousan's security forces deployed to Xiyuan, a regiment of Zhao Dengyu was stationed in Beiping, and Zhao Dengyu's division was concentrated south of the Yongding River. When a regiment of Zhao Dengyu's division reached the Tuanhe River 2 kilometers south of Nanyuan, it was intercepted by the Japanese army and suffered more than half of the casualties. Zhao Dengyu led the remnants and Tong Linge to defend the Nanyuan. At dawn on July 28, the Japanese attacked Nanyuan. Zhao Dengyu personally led his troops to wield large swords and charged at the Japanese army. The Japanese were so frightened that they fled backwards.
When Zhao Dengyu's troops were pursuing the enemy, they were bombarded by Japanese artillery, and Zhao Dengyu was forced to order his troops to stop advancing. Zhao Dengyu was afraid that the troops would be defeated and retreated, and urgently ordered reinforcements from the reserves; while he clutched the shell gun in one hand and charged forward with a large knife in the other. The officers and men saw the division commander personally charging into the battle, and their morale was greatly boosted, and they drove the Japanese army back for more than a mile with a single blow. Countless Japanese soldiers were killed by the Chinese defenders, and japanese corpses could be seen everywhere on the roadside.
Zhao Dengyu Road, Xicheng District, Beijing, in the upper right corner is the portrait of Zhao Dengyu (imposition photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Luo Xiaoguang
After nightfall, Zhao Dengyu saw that the threat in the air was lifted, and then ordered his troops to attack the Japanese army at night. As they approached the Japanese position, the Japanese fired several flares, exposing the Chinese army entirely. When Zhao Dengyu saw this scene, he did not flinch and led his troops to rush to kill. When he led his troops through the Dahong Gate, he was shot by Japanese machine guns, hit by five bullets, and immediately fell in the farmland. Zhao Dengyu's messengers saw him fall and immediately reported to Nanyuan, and Tong Linge, deputy commander of the Twenty-ninth Army, hurriedly led the teaching team to support the battle.
When his subordinates carried Zhao Dengyu on a stretcher and prepared to take him to the rear hospital, he hurriedly stopped: "I will not be well, it is the duty of a soldier to die on the battlefield, there is nothing to be sad about." It's just that the old mother is old and can't stand the panic, and asked the deputy commander to send someone to arrange it for me, and I don't have anything to worry about! After saying that, Zhao Dengyu's head was crooked, and he sacrificed heroically, only 39 years old.
The frenzied Japanese army continued to shoot at the Chinese defenders, and Tong Linge was also seriously wounded, bleeding profusely, and martyred. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, He Jifeng was ordered by Feng Zhi'an to go to Beiping to bury Zhao Dengyu and the remains of the anti-Japanese fallen soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Army on the banks of the Lugou Bridge, fulfilling the oath that "Lugou Bridge is the grave of the Twenty-ninth Army".
After the liberation of the whole country, zhao Dengyu's tomb was rebuilt with funds from the people's government, and it stood on the side of the railway bridge outside the east gate of the old Wanping City, which was more solemn and solemn. There was an endless stream of people who came to visit. The Beijing municipal government named the road on the east side of the White Pagoda Temple in Xicheng District as Zhao Dengyu Road, which is connected to Tong Linge Road in front of the National Culture Palace to represent an eternal memorial to the martyrs of the Japanese resistance.
[This article is from the People's Publishing House published "National Backbone - 100 Heroes and Model Figures Who Made Outstanding Contributions to the Founding of New China"]