On December 7, 1941, the Pacific War broke out, and on the morning of the 8th, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on Hong Kong at the same time, and Hong Kong, known as the "Pearl of the Orient", was swept into the raging war. Because the Japanese army was prepared, the British army rushed to the battle, and the defense of Hong Kong lasted only 18 days, and the British army was destroyed. On December 25, Governor Yang Muqi announced his surrender, and Hong Kong fell.
Hong Kong compatriots face a tragic fate, especially those who insist on resisting Japan, cultural and patriotic democrats, and their situation is very dangerous. The Japanese army wantonly searched for "anti-Japanese elements," set up checkpoints to search, and posted notices restricting them from reporting to the "Great Japanese Administration Department" or the "Reporting Department." These acts of the aggressors seriously threaten the safety of patriotic and cultural figures in Hong Kong.
At the same time that the Japanese army was invading and occupying Hong Kong, the CPC Central Committee and the Southern Bureau immediately sent a special urgent telegram to Liao Chengzhi, director of the Eighth Route Army Office in Hong Kong, and the Southern Work Committee: Regarding the fact that patriotic democrats and cultural figures are trapped in Hong Kong, they must find ways to rescue these cultural and democratic figures. Liao Chengzhi immediately organized the leaders of the party organizations at all levels in Hong Kong and the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas to rescue and evacuate them from Hong Kong.
The troops of Zeng Sheng and Wang Zuoyao of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas immediately took action, established liaison stations, and opened up communication lines. Beginning in early 1942, it lasted more than four months, and more than 300 cultural figures, including He Xiangning, Liu Yazi, Zou Taofen, and Mao Dun, patriotic democrats, as well as the families of Kuomintang officials, international figures, and other personnel, were safely escorted to the rear.
Behind the rescue, many unsung heroes have not been afraid of sacrifice and have shown the feelings of the Chinese nation at home and country.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out. On the morning of the 8th, the Japanese Navy, Army and Air Force suddenly attacked hong Kong's New Territories and Kowloon. At this critical juncture, Zhou Enlai successively sent urgent telegrams to Liao Chengzhi, director of the Eighth Route Army's Hong Kong office, and gave instructions: Many important patriotic democrats and cultural figures are stranded in Hong Kong, and they are the elites of China's cultural circles, and they must do everything possible to go all out to rescue them.
Liao Chengzhi received instructions and immediately summoned Zhang Wenbin, Liang Guang, Yang Kanghua, Li Shaoshi, and Yin Linping in Hong Kong to discuss the rescue methods, and said to Yin Linping: "This time it is up to you to carry the big banner, and your troops must immediately be ready to escort cultural figures and patriotic democrats." ”
On Christmas eve december 25, Hong Kong fell. At this time, bandits were rampant and enemy spies were everywhere, which brought greater difficulties to the rescue operation. The Japanese army has blocked the sea, set up checkpoints everywhere, strictly checked pedestrians, comprehensively checked the household registration, and tried every means to search for and arrest anti-Japanese people.
With a tight time, Yin Linping sent his right-hand man Li Jianxing to Hong Kong in Kowloon, and he must find Liao Chengzhi, Lian Guan, and Qiao Guanhua within three days. At this moment, Liao Anxiang was also assigned by Liao Chengzhi and hurried to Kowloon to report to Yin Linping to discuss the rescue work. So he and Li Jianxing risked their lives to cross the sea back to Hong Kong Island and smuggled Liao Chengzhi, Lian Guan, and Qiao Guanhua to Kowloon. In the early morning of January 1, 1942, Li Jianxing took Liao Chengzhi, Lian Guan, Qiao Guanhua and others out of the city from Mong Kok, crossed the kowloon Kai Tak Airport blockade line, and walked towards Sai Kung. By this time, the guerrillas had already hidden ambushes halfway up the road and were ready to meet them. When Li Jianxing picked up the secret code, met Huang Guanfang, Liu Heizai, and others, and immediately conveyed the instructions: "The great rescue operation has begun.", they came to the brigade headquarters and met Cai Guoliang, Li Jianxing solemnly said: The first batch of people who passed through is very important, no matter what happens, we must ensure their safety. Cai Guoliang also talked about the arrangements for armed escorts of Liao Chengzhi, Lian Guan, and Qiao Guanhua to board the ship from the set location under the Sai Kung QiLing on the eastern front, and to be escorted by the sea escort team to Dapeng Shayu Bay and into the Huiyang guerrilla zone.
The three of them successfully escaped from danger and evacuated Hong Kong, according to the established plan, the rescue route was arranged, the three of them acted separately, Liao Chengzhi went to Chongqing to report to Zhou Enlai on the rescue deployment work, and went north to Laolong to arrange traffic points, and Qiao Guanhua rushed to Shaoguan to sit in town.
Liao Chengzhi, Lian Guan, Qiao Guanhua, and others, under the cover of the guerrillas, evacuated Hong Kong first and quickly returned to the mainland to deploy methods and routes for rescuing cultural figures. Liao Chengzhi left Pan Jing'an, a confidential officer of the Eighth Route Army Office in Hong Kong, to contact every cultural person trapped in Hong Kong and inform them of the time, place, method, and route of evacuation in batches. The situation is very grim, and the most crucial step in rescuing the more than 300 cultural people trapped in Hong Kong at the fastest speed is to try to contact all the people to make immediate preparations for the transfer.
Through the secret contacts of Pan Jing'an and others, the guerrillas and traffic officers operating in Hong Kong and the Kowloon area quickly contacted a group of cultural figures according to the pre-agreed locations, and on the night of January 9, they brought the first batch of cultural people disguised as refugees to Causeway Bay, including Mao Dun and his wife, Zou Taofen, Zhang Youyu and his wife, Shen Zhiyuan and others. After the traffic officers made a code word to the boatman, they boarded a small boat and waited on the sea at night for the opportunity to smuggle. At three o'clock in the morning of the second day, taking advantage of the change of the Japanese sentry, the small boat quickly rushed through the enemy's sea blockade line, and just after dawn, it reached the Hung Hom pier in Kowloon.
Zou Taofen, Mao Dun and other first cultural figures withdrew from the most dangerous central area, at the same time, the situation on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon is not the same; every day, cultural people continue to transfer, hand over, transfer and hand over along the secret land and water communication lines opened by the guerrillas. The route of the rescue may be different, but the purpose is the same, that is, to move them to safety.
In the early morning of January 11, 1942, under the arrangement of He Dinghua, the traffic officer Mai Rong and others received Mao Dun, Zou Taofen and other cultural figures at the qingshan intersection, and they entered the Tsuen Wan section and came to a board shed in a vegetable garden, which was a temporary traffic reception station set up by Zeng Hongwen as "Big Brother Zeng" at the foot of Tsuen Wan Mountain.
Mai Rong and his guide took Mao Dun and his wife, Zou Taofen, and others to climb the mountain and walk on a small road, stayed overnight at the Yang Family Ancestral Hall in Huang Ni Dun, Eighteen Townships, Yuen Long, and the next day mixed with the refugees and went all the way north. After several days of walking on the dangerous line blocked by the Japanese army on the road, the group finally arrived near Lok Ma Chau, and once they crossed the Shenzhen River, they arrived in Shenzhen. Mao Dun and his wife, Zou Taofen and others, under the covert escort of the guerrillas, led by Mai Rong and their guides, as the first batch of western evacuation personnel, finally arrived at Baishilong Village in Longhuawei, when Zeng Sheng, Yin Linping, and Wang Zuoyao walked towards them, and everyone couldn't help but cheer!
Since there was no time delay in the middle of the way, under the arrangement of the brigade headquarters, Mao Dun and his wife, Zou Taofen and their party, escorted by the guerrillas, began to enter Zhoutian in Huiyang from Baishilong via Pingshan. In order to avoid the blockade of the Kuomintang reactionaries on the road, they could only move at night. All the way through Yonghu and Sandong, we finally arrived at the Huizhou transportation station "East Lake Hotel".
The rescue was carried out in an orderly manner, and for various reasons, cultural figures and patriotic democrats took different routes, such as Liao Chengzhi who took the direction of Sai Kung, and mao Dun and his party crossed the Shenzhen River at Tai Mo Shan to reach the guerrilla zone, but some people could not go this way, these people stayed in Hong Kong for a long time, and they were public figure film director Cai Chusheng, film actor Situ Huimin and others. At the moment of ensuring their safety, Liao Chengzhi proposed that they should not be allowed to take other routes, because they were afraid that they would be recognized by the spies in the middle of the road. For the sake of safety, under the contact arrangement of Pan Jing'an, another route was selected to transfer.
After the fall of Hong Kong, many patriotic democrats and cultural figures withdrew from Hong Kong, and Cheung Chau is an indispensable passage. In the escort and rescue of the underground party, guerrillas, traffic officers and local people, they included Situ Huimin, Xia Yan, Jin Shan, Wang Ying, and more than ten other people, because they were public figures, they were extremely easy to identify and follow, and liao Chengzhi and Pan Jing'an had already made arrangements for this public figure before leaving. They were evacuated via a sea route, smuggled directly from Hong Kong Island to Cheung Chau, then by boat to Macau, which then turned from Macau to the mainland.
In early January 1942, cai chusheng, Xia Yan and other people took a small boat and finally arrived at Cheung Chau Island. Through the secret arrangement of the guerrilla Chen Liangming, they were quickly escorted to Macau.
In mid-December 1941, shortly after Liao Chengzhi received a telegram to rescue the cultural people, the Huiyang County Committee of the Communist Party of China also received urgent instructions from its superiors, asking the county party committee to immediately make preparations and cooperate with the guerrillas to secretly escort the cultural people who had left Hong Kong to retreat and ensure their safety. With almost no delay, the Huiyang County Party Committee held an emergency meeting and decided to entrust the specific task to a 22-year-old young man named Lu Weiru.
After a careful planning by Lu Weiru, he cleverly dressed up as a Hong Kong businessman to enter the ancient city of Huizhou and set up a transportation station at the bustling East Lake Hotel on Shuidong Street. Together with Liao Anxiang, they secretly arranged to receive and transfer work, and soon groups of cultural people arrived at the traffic station of the East Lake Hotel, and Lu Weiru and Liao Anxiang arranged for them to leave Huizhou safely and eventually reach Guilin, Chongqing and other places through Laolong.
The Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas completed the task of rescuing and escorting cultural figures, and at the same time received the task of rescuing British prisoners of war at the Kowloon Kai Tak Airport.
Cai Guoliang received instructions to rescue the captured British troops with all his might, and gave the task of rescuing the British troops to the short gun team, and the guerrilla team led by captain Jiang Shui and others arrived near the Kai Tak airport for rescue.
At this point, this huge but hidden life and death rescue has quietly come to an end. The arduousness of this rescue mission, the scale of the rescue, the shortness of the time, and the number of rescue personnel cannot but be said to be a miracle in military history.
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Editors: Jenny Su, Zi Lin