Preface
At the end of early October, 1944, the Hebei-Residence Special Committee, the Administrative Office, Fengluanqian United County and other agencies held a meeting in Fengrun County's Guiyi Village.
The convening of this meeting was due to the analysis of the situation of the War of Resistance against Japan by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
The War of Resistance Against Japan has gone through fourteen years, and the Japanese invaders have ended on the land of China. With the changes in the international situation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China judged that the War of Resistance is likely to end within one to two years. In order to strive for greater victory, Chairman Mao advocated "putting down his burden and starting the machine" among the party cadres at a symposium for senior cadres in Yan'an in April of this year.
Picture | Zhou Wenbin
In order to better carry out work, the Hebei-Residence Special Committee decided to convene an enlarged meeting of the Party Committee attended by special, prefecture and county cadres to study and carry out in-depth development of the issue of rent reduction and interest reduction, and listen to reports on the issue of "renting reduction and interest reduction" between Fengluanqian and various districts in the county.
The scale of this meeting was unprecedented. Party members and leading cadres of the Jire Border Special Committee and subordinate and county leaders attended the meeting, including Li Yunchang, Zhou Wenbin, Li Zhongquan, Zhu Qiwen, Wang You, Ding Zhenjun, etc., and the total number of people reached more than 800, including the guards.
is this unprecedented conference and attracted the attention of the Japanese invaders. The
meeting was held until the evening of October 16th, and a message came directly broke the tranquility of the meeting.
"The Japanese army increased its troops in Fengluanqian in a large number of times, which may have an impact on the meeting." Zhou Wenbin, member of the Hebei Special Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, who presided over the meeting, immediately ordered the retreat to the Yangjiapu area in the south. That night, Zhou Wenbin led two platoons to evacuate to Li Zhuangzi, Ding Zhenjun, secretary of the district party committee and commissioner of the fourth region of the eastern Hebei region, led the fourth company to Xiazhuangzi. Lv Guang, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Special Committee, Zhong Ziyun, director of the Social Department of the Special Committee, Zhu Qiwen, director of the Administrative Office, and Liu Jingyu, company commander of the Special Committee 2nd Company of the 12th Regiment, led a platoon to Yangjiapu.
Picture | Yangjiapu Breakthrough Showroom
should have been safe and sound. If the enemy cannot figure out the truth, he actually dare not go rashly into the hinterland of the base.
But no one expected that in the early morning of October 17, the situation changed.
Dawn Battle
After the meeting, all leading cadres at all levels of the prefecture and county that attended the meeting retreated to their resident in accordance with the plan formulated in advance.
Just before leaving on the evening of the 16th, Zhou Wenbin, Minister of the Organization Department of the Special Committee, and Zhong Ziyun, Minister of the Social Department of the Special Committee, found Ren Yuan, then Minister of the Liaison Department of the Hebei Military Region, to study the future problems of the enemy's work.
After the talks, it was already 11 o'clock in the evening. Ren Yuan originally wanted to return to the prefectural committee headquarters overnight. Zhou Wenbin and Zhong Ziyun quickly stepped forward to hold him up:
"The march is very tired, it is difficult to get a ship crossing the river, and the enemy is often harassed, so it's better to have a good rest tonight and cross the river tomorrow."
So, Ren Yuan settled in a villager's home west of Yangjiapu with the special committee.
For Ren Yuan, who has been working in intelligence for many years, this night was not calm, especially the news that the Japanese and puppet troops were concentrating a large number of troops in Fengluanqian. Although the Japanese and puppet troops in eastern Hebei frequently swept, the concentration of such a large-scale force was unusual.
Ren Yuan, who had been working for a day, fell asleep with full of questions.
Picture | Ren Yuan
Maybe there was something I couldn't figure out in my heart. Ren Yuan got up from the bed before dawn. It was not clear at this time, and all the comrades were sleeping in the room. Ren Yuan originally planned to go back to the house to continue to rest, but the sudden gunshot broke the silence of the night.
"Bang, bang, bang"
A row of bullets directly hit the earth wall of Ren Yuan's yard. Ren Yuan immediately realized that the enemy had already touched it.
"The devils are here, prepare for battle."
Ren Yuan turned around and returned to the house to notify the guards and secretary. After the group was ready, they broke through to the south of the village without gunshots. Four or five miles away from the village, Ren Yuan met with Zhu Qiwen, the then director of the Hebei Administrative Office. He originally considered evacuating eastward with the Hebei Administrative Office, but thought about whether there were still comrades in the village, so he ordered the secretary and translator to evacuate with the Administrative Office. He led the guards and traffic officers to plunge into the village again.
In fact, just when Ren Yuan discovered the enemy situation, the guards had already exchanged fire with the enemy.
In the early morning of October 17, heavy fog was covered. The soldiers in charge of the guards were running along the street and collided with the people running out of the villages around Yangjiapu. Immediately afterwards, a fierce gunshot sounded in the west of Lizhuangzi Village. The enemy had already quietly touched the fog, preparing to launch a sudden attack while our army was unprepared.
Picture | Japanese Yangjiapu Battle Information
According to the subsequent investigation, the enemy who pounced on Yangjiapu this time was the main force of the Japanese Independent Eighth Brigade, with a force of about 2,700 people, plus the subordinate troops, a total of more than 3,000 people. Moreover, the enemy received information in advance and gathered such a large-scale force in order to swallow the party, government and military leadership organs in the eastern Hebei region.
At this moment, the sky was still unclear. The moment he heard the gunshot, Zhou Wenbin and Ding Zhenjun immediately got up and began to command the troops to fight. Considering that the enemy situation was unclear, Zhou Wenbin immediately sent investigators to the place where the gunshots sounded.
"The west has been connected with the Japanese, and there is no situation in the east, south and north yet?" The situation reported by the investigator after returning made Zhou Wenbin a little relieved. Although the situation was still very tense, Zhou Wenbin dared not delay. Considering that all the cadres of the meeting gathered in the villages around Yangjiapu, Zhou Wenbin and Ding Zhenjun discussed it and decided to adopt the suggestions of Liu Jingyu, a company commander from the local background, and retreat to the northern mountainous areas.
Just as the group moved along the foot of Mati Mountain in the north of Yangjiapu Village to Guiyi Village and Panjiayu, a bad news came again.
"An enemy appeared near Hejiaying in the east of the village, and an enemy was also found on Dongcheng Mountain opposite Mati Mountain."
At this time, the investigator also came back to report:
"Enemy was found in front"
Seeing that enemies were everywhere, Zhou Wenbin immediately Order:
"Order the troops to return and seize the mountain."
Zhou Wenbin and Ding Zhen's army divided into two groups. Zhou Wenbin led his team through the mountain pass and seized the commanding height of Mati Mountain. The fourth company seized Xicheng Mountain, west of Mati Mountain, and Ding Zhenjun led a squad to pounce on Mati Mountain to restrain the enemy.
At this time, Ren Yuan arrived to meet Zhou Wenbin, informed that there was no enemy in the south of the village, and suggested that the troops break through to the south of the village.
However, in such a chaotic situation, the situation around the enemy is unclear, and the direction of retreat and transfer cannot be determined for the time being. Zhou Wenbin and his party had to temporarily retreat to the mountain to seize the commanding heights everywhere, and guard against the enemy's attack.
In such a situation where the enemy is large and we are few, Zhou Wenbin made the final decision.
"Destroy files, completely lightweight, and prepare to break through."
Heroic sacrifice
At such a chaotic moment, Zhou Wenbin did play the role of the Divine Needle. His calmness brought hope to everyone.
But just as everyone was waiting for it, a bad news suddenly came.
"Comrade Ding Zhenjun died."
Ding Zhenjun was originally named Ding Kai, a native of Luan County, Hebei Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1934. He is a cadre with great experience in military and political struggle. He once led the anti-Japanese riot in the Hebei people in Luan County. More than 100,000 rebels fell from the sky and severely attacked the Japanese invaders.
As a cadre galloping on the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, Ding Zhenjun had already prepared for his sacrifice. On the eve of leading the people's anti-Japanese riot in Hebei, Ding Zhenjun left Luan County and left a letter to his old classmate Li Jianquan before leaving, which read:
"The anti-Japanese riot in Hebei is imminent... Years of running and calling for justice have begun to be fulfilled now. If you are in misfortune, you can take care of your family on your behalf."
pic | Ding Zhenjun
When Ding Zhenjun went to Fengrun County to have a meeting, he had not recovered for a long time and was very weak. However, when Yangjiapu was attacked by the enemy, he resolutely led the charge. The fourth company in the first area fought fiercely with the enemy to cover the transfer of the special committee. When he broke through to a slope, he was attacked by enemies from all sides. At such a critical moment, Ding Zhenjun still encouraged everyone:
" is victory. '
In the fierce battle, Ding Zhenjun was shot in the upper left forehead and unfortunately died heroically.
When he heard about the news of Ding Zhenjun's death, Zhou Wenbin was very sad. After many years, he couldn't help but sigh:
" (Ding Zhenjun) originally had hope of breaking out of the siege, but in order to rescue his comrades, he rushed into the encirclement several times, brave and fearless, and finally died heroically, at the age of 31. ”
Zhou Wenbin didn’t care about grief at this moment and continued to encourage everyone to protect themselves and take revenge in the future. After
, Zhou Wenbin and Liu Jingyu led the guard company to rush towards the foot of the mountain. After the company commander Liu Jingyu led his troops to break through the encirclement and reach the north of Lizhuangzi Village, but found that Zhou Wenbin did not follow the large army. rush out together, so he led his troops back.
It turned out that when the large army broke through to Beigou, it was suppressed by the enemy's firepower. Zhong Ziyun, the Minister of the Social Department of the Special Committee, was knocked down by the enemy's bullet. Ren Yuan saw it from afar and immediately sent correspondent Fei Xin to come forward to protect it. As a result, Fei Xin was hit by the enemy's bullet before he even got close to Zhong Ziyun.
In an instant, Ren Yuan saw Lu Guang, the propaganda minister of the Jidong Special Committee, was shot in the left shoulder. As soon as he stood up, he was shot in the chest and died heroically. What is even more sad is that his lover Liu Yufen went up to help her husband, but both were shot and died in a ditch.
is in Lu Shortly after the Guang and his wife died, Wang Shaoqi, Minister of Health of the Hebei Military Region, and Li Shan, Secretary-General of the Special Committee, died heroically. After Liu Jingyu led his troops back to Beigou, he found Zhou Wenbin in the melee. Liu Jingyu originally wanted to break through the siege with him, but Zhou Wenbin ordered:
"Don't worry about me, your task is to defend all organs and cadres. "
Liu Jingyu and Zhu Jungong, the company commander of the fourth company of the first district team, led the troops several times to charge, carrying out wounded personnel from the enemy's encirclement Song Zhe, the director of the county martial arts committee, Li Zhenzhong, the military district commissioner Lan Shan, Fengluanqian County Magistrate Zhen Yiming, and the machine gun of the fourth company, Bai Rongzhi and other wounded soldiers.
Just when Liu Jingyu led his troops back and was about to rescue Zhou Wenbin, he found that the commander who was commanding the breakout had been shot in the head and fell in a pool of blood. According to the survivors' recollection, Zhou Wenbin tried hard to seize the enemy until his death A 38-year-old Japanese invaders were shot and killed in a row.
Zhou Wenbin was originally named Kim Sung-ho. He was born on September 23, 1908 in Hongnandong, Yizhou County, North Do, North Korea. In 1931, he went into exile to China with his father and joined the Communist Party of China (some say that he came to China in 1914 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926).
According to Ren Yuan's recollection:
"Zhou Wenbin is loyal, caring for the masses, living a frugal life, and a simple style. He enjoys a high prestige among the cadres and masses in eastern Hebei. Everyone affectionately called him "Big Lao Zhou". "
The moment he saw Zhou Wenbin's sacrifice, Ren Yuan almost burst into tears.
pic | Martyr Zhou Wenbin's statue
After seeing the leader's sacrifice, Liu Jingyu was furious. In the slogan "Avenge for the sacrificed comrades", Liu Jingyu was seriously injured several times and eventually lost to the heroic sacrifice.
After Zhong Ziyun was seriously injured, he fell in a pool of blood. When the enemy searched after the war, he held his breath and waited until the enemy retreated before climbing out. In a semi-coma state, Zhong Ziyun crawled all night before being discovered by the seventeenth-status Minister of Social Affairs, Li Dongzhi, and survived.
Ren Yuan was shot in both arms and eventually fell into a coma due to excessive blood loss and was captured by the enemy.
However, for Ren Yuan, being captured by the enemy was both an unfortunate and a great blessing. It is precisely because of this that he completely solved the mystery of the battle between Yangjiapu.
The battle that suffered the most losses in North China's anti-Japanese war
When Ren Yuan woke up, he was already in the enemy camp, but what he cared about most was not his own safety, but a small notebook hidden in his pocket.
As a comrade who has been engaged in intelligence work for many years, Ren Yuan has many sources of intelligence. This small notebook contains code codes for important intelligence relations within the party and the military, as well as some secret contact points and locations, etc., which are all top-secret information. Fortunately, when he was captured, this deadly notebook was not found by the enemy, but it was obvious that if he kept it with him, he would be found by the enemy sooner or later.
Picture | Yangjiapu breaks through and dies in the martyrs
The enemy judges from their clothes that Ren Yuan is not an ordinary soldier, so he is ready to catch him and interrogate him carefully.
On the way back to Fengrun County, Ren Yuan endured the pain and took out his small notebook. Under the cover of his fellow villagers, he tore it and chewed it page by page, and swallowed it into his stomach. During his detention, Ren Yuan and the captured soldiers were tortured several times, but they always kept secrets strictly. Although
has the cover of his comrades, Ren Yuan still exposed his identity. He wanted to die several times because the enemy was closely guarded and could not succeed. Since he was unable to die, Ren Yuan began to consider using the information he had, pretending to cooperate with the Japanese and puppets to eliminate those who threatened our military base in the eastern Hebei region.
By chance, Ren Yuan accidentally learned the truth about the battle between Yangjiapu.
According to Ren Yuan's memoir "Red Agent Recalling the Past" written by him after the war,
After Ren Yuan pretended to cooperate in prison, the Japanese invaders were also much more polite to him. Once, a Japanese invader Qingliu, who was responsible for guarding, chatted with Ren Yuan. When talking about the battle of Yangjiapu, Qingliu said proudly:
"We got accurate information in advance."
pic "Red Agent Recalling the Past"
When Ren Yuan heard this news, he was surprised, but still asked quietly:
"Is it your intelligence front report?"
Qing Liu was proud and did not hide it at all:
"On the evening of October 15, we caught a reconnaissance squad leader of your Secretary Ding Zhenjun on the side of the railway, and found important information he gave to Hejiaying in Fengrun, Lubei, and attended the third-level cadre meeting."
Ren Yuan then suddenly realized that it turned out that the Japanese army had learned the news in advance as early as the break of the meeting. In order not to leak the news, they did not use the puppet army troops, but dispatched the independent Eighth Brigade with strong combat effectiveness and good equipment. Moreover, the Japanese army's original plan was to prepare to annihilate the head of the Eighth Route Army Li Yunchang's headquarters in eastern Hebei, but when they passed by Zuojiawu area, they were blocked by the Eighth Route Army and exposed, so they exchanged fire in the Yangjiapu area in advance.
During the battle of Yangjiapu, more than 800 cadres and soldiers from the Eighth Route Army in the eastern Hebei region were successfully broken through, only more than 120 were sacrificed, and more than 430 were killed, and more than 150 were captured. After hearing the news, Nie Rongzhen, the commander of the Jin-Cha-Hebei Military Region, said with pain: "The Yangjiapu battle was a rare and heavy battle in our army on the battlefield of anti-Japanese war in North China.”
pic | Nie Rongzhen
In February 1945, Ren Yuan was rescued and released from prison through the party organization. After the organization's investigation, Ren Yuan had a steadfast and unyielding struggle with the Japanese invaders in prison, so he decided to restore his party membership. Ren Yuan later returned to the eastern Hebei region to continue the revolutionary struggle. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the director of the Political Security Department of the Public Security Bureau of the Ministry of Railways.
Until his old age, Ren Yuan wrote his experience of fighting in Yangjiapu and his struggle in prison in his memoir "Red Agent Recalling the Past".
In the battle of Yangjiapu, many of the cadres who died were only of age In his early thirties, not only young, but more importantly, most of them have rich experience in revolutionary work.
Whether it is for the party, the people, or the country, their sacrifice is a huge loss.
For example, Wang Shaoqi, the Minister of Health of the Hebei Military Region, had a rich experience in military and political struggle. The famous Panshan United Village Team was formed by him. He often educated militias:
"If you carry out a revolution, you cannot be afraid of death, afraid of suffering, and if you encounter any situation, you must persevere to the end. Kill a Japanese devil to death, kill two people and earn one. Leave a bullet for yourself and cannot let the enemy catch them alive, and you cannot reveal the secrets of the party at any time. "
Picture | Wang Shaoqi
During the battle of Yangjiapu, Wang Shaoqi's identity was discovered by the enemy. The enemy specially called his old classmate who surrendered to the position to persuade him to surrender:
"Old classmate, surrender quickly! The Imperial Army appreciates your talents very much. As long as you can surrender, you can guarantee that you can be promoted to three levels in a row, with a monthly salary of 300. "
" Bah! "
Wang Shaoqi shouted disdainfully:
"Surrender and help Japanese robbers kill Chinese compatriots? You guys are really blind! "
The enemy failed to persuade the surrender. He was so angry that he surrounded him from all directions. After killing several Japanese invaders one after another, Wang Shaoqi pointed his gun at his head and shot the last-minute bullet, fulfilling his oath.
According to the recollection of the old cadres who were retiring from Fengrun, he said:
"After that battle, the bodies of more than 400 cadres and soldiers were buried together with tears in the local villagers, which formed the Yangjiapu Martyrs Cemetery. ”
In 1954, the Fengrun County Committee of the Communist Party of China and the County People's Government specially built the Yangjiapu Martyrs Cemetery to commemorate the martyrs who died in the battle of Yangjiapu. The martyrs Zhou Wenbin, Ding Zhenjun, Lu Guang, Wang Shaoqi and Lu Shan were all buried in the cemetery.
Although these heroes have gradually faded away, their achievements are always worthy of our memory.
