Yuanziya Village Martyrs Monument
An inconspicuous Shandong rural area is known as the "First Anti-Japanese Village in China". Unlike other places, this Shandong village does not have too many scenery, and all it has is a memorial tower made of red stone. Behind this tower is the bloody battle of 242 martyrs. It is precisely because of their fighting that the Shandong village became famous as "China's first anti-Japanese village".
At that time, more than 1,000 fully armed Japanese infantry and cavalry surrounded Shandong villages. However, after a day of fighting, the Japanese invaders not only failed to capture the village, but also lost hundreds of soldiers despite their overall dominance. What happened?
Japanese Soldiers
The time goes back to 1941. At that time, old China was still struggling unyieldingly in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the Chinese people were actively resisting Japan all over the country. Yuanziya Village, Banquan Town, Linyi City, Shandong Province, is a base for Chinese people's spontaneous anti-Japanese activities.
Even before the Anti-Japanese War, the villagers of Yuanziya Village built a large fence with a height of 5 meters and a thickness of about 1 meter, completely surrounding the entire village to resist harassment by bandits and thieves. At the same time, the villagers of Yuanziya also spontaneously purchased steel guns, earthen guns and earthen cannons, and built forts on the four corners of the city wall, just like a large bunker.
The earthen artillery used in Yuanziya Village
During the Anti-Japanese War, most of the area to the west of Yuanziya Village was already a Japanese aggressor activity area, and Yuanziya Village and the area to the east were the activities of the Eighth Route Army. Because they were too close to the Japanese activity area, the Eighth Route Army soldiers could only strengthen the training of Yuanziya villagers and let them form an anti-Japanese self-defense force.
There is a puppet army stronghold not far from Yuanziya Village. The puppet soldiers in this stronghold often ask for food and supplies from Yuanziya Village, but they are beaten away by the brave Yuanziya villagers every time. However, this also made the puppet soldiers hate Yuanziya Village. When a group of Japanese aggressors passed by Yuanziya Village on a mission, the puppet army lied to the Japanese aggressors that there was an Eighth Route Army in Yuanziya Village.
Yuanziya Village Self-Defense Force
Subsequently, this Japanese brigade with a total strength of more than 1,000 people, carrying heavy artillery and heavy machine guns , surrounded Yuanziya Village in the early morning. After firing more than 20 artillery shells, the Japanese invaders began to invade Yuanziya Village. However, the 312 villagers of the Village Self-Defense Force are ready.
After the Japanese invaders stepped into the attack range, the villagers fired the cannon, killing more than a dozen Japanese invaders. Although the Japanese invaders later changed their tactics and once broke into the "village wall" of Yuanziya Village, the Japanese invaders were unable to expand their advantage under the bloody counterattack of all the villagers.
Yuanziya Village Defense Battle (Memorial Hall Effect)
If you don’t have a gun, use a knife; if you don’t have a knife, use a guillotine; if you don’t have a guillotine, use an iron hook or shovel. The father sacrificed his son and then attacked, and the husband sacrificed his wife and attacked. In such a bloody battle, 1,000 Japanese invaders failed to capture Yuanziya Village for a day.
When reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army arrived in the evening, the Japanese invaders chose to flee crazily. Post-war statistics showed that the heavily armed Japanese invaders who attacked Yuanziya Village were killed by villagers at 112 people. After news of such achievements came out, Chairman Mao personally wrote in Yan'an, praising Yuanziya Village as a model of anti-Japanese villages across the country. Such praise also made Yuanziya Village known as the first anti-Japanese village in China.
