Yang Yumin, a hero of the Anti-Japanese War: the famous chemist who abandoned his pen to fight against Japan died of illness in Taihang
Yang Yumin was born in 1889. In 1938, he participated in the leadership of the Jidong People's Anti-Japanese Uprising and served as director of the Political Department of the First Route Army of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. In 1939, he was summoned by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De to go to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to engage in military industry. On July 21 of the same year, he died of illness while following the headquarters to carry out anti-Japanese army "mopping up". He was 50 years old.
"The decisive battle between us and the enemy has come. I have been angry for many years and vow to serve the country with my death." These were the heroic words of Yang Yumin, a famous patriot in eastern Hebei, who vowed to fight the Japanese army to the end. He finally fulfilled his promise and died on the battlefield.
Yang Yumin, formerly known as Yanlun, with the courtesy name Canru and also known as Yang Shisan, was born in 1889 in a scholarly family in Yangtuanbao Village, Qian'an County, Hebei Province. He graduated from Tianjin Zhili Provincial Higher Industrial College in 1918 and served as chemical industry technician at Tianjin Zhili Provincial Industrial Laboratory. Went to the United States to study in 1920. He returned to China in 1923 and served as the chemical industry section chief of the Tianjin Zhili Provincial Industrial Laboratory. In 1928, he was employed as a professor at Hebei Institute of Technology. In 1931, the "alkaline sulfite reed pulp papermaking technology" was pioneered. In 1937, the July 7th Incident broke out, and Japanese imperialism launched a large-scale war of aggression against China. On July 30, the Japanese army captured Tianjin. Yang Shisan witnessed the tragic situation of the residents being displaced and subjugated. He ran around and called on everyone to devote themselves to the great cause of resisting Japan and saving the country. In the same year, he joined the North China People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Association as a member.
In March 1938, Yang Shisan, full of patriotism, resolutely joined the army and went to Jidong with his children Yang Xiaozhao and Yang Xiaotang (Yongjin), where he participated in the uprising led by the party and embarked on the journey of A new revolutionary journey. He lived at Hong Linge's house in Dibeitou Village, Zunhua County. Under the guidance of Li Chuli, he and Hong Linge secretly planned the uprising. He personally went to Luanxian, Leting, Fengrun and other counties to participate in secret mobilization work, and participated in *** The Hebei Rebian Special Committee held a military meeting in Tianjiawanzi, Fengrun County. Together with Li Yunchang, Li Chuli, and Hu Xikui, the leaders of the Jidong Party at the time, as well as patriot Hong Linge, and militia leader Gao Zhiyuan, he studied the preparations before the riot and related issues after the riot. Later, a meeting was held in Tuen Tuen, Luan County, and the Jidong People's Anti-Japanese Allied Army was established. Gao Zhiyuan was elected as the commander, Li Yunchang and Hong Linge were deputy commanders, and Yang Shisan was the director of the Political Department of the First Route Army under Hong Linge's department.
Because Liu Bingzhong, a traitor from Dibeitou Village, reported to the enemy, the Shaliuhe Puppet Police and Militia Group in Fengrun County suddenly surrounded Honglinge’s home and conducted an “encirclement and suppression” raid. Hong Linge and Yang Shisan directed the rioters to repel the pseudo-police, and then moved the team to Xiaolang Mountain in Yutian County. On July 7, 1938, more than a thousand Japanese and puppet troops from Fengrun and Yutian surrounded the riot team led by Hong Linge and Yang Shisan in Xiaolang Mountain. At that time, Hong and Yang only led more than a hundred people. Because the uprising was scheduled for July 16, the team members were scattered and hidden in various counties and villages, and they could not be notified of gathering in the hurry. It was raining heavily. Yang Shisan covered Hong Linge and led a small number of guards to break through to Shilituo, Yutian. He found Li Chuli, Yang Xiaozhao and Yang Shouking of the Second Corps, and led the team to support Xiaolangshan. After Yang Shisan sent away Honglin Pavilion, he fought with the enemy until late at night and moved to Lujiayu. The enemy followed in hot pursuit, and more than 1,500 Japanese and puppet troops from Fengrun, Yutian, and Zunhua counties besieged Yang Shisan in Lujiayu. On the third day, Hong Linge led the Second Corps to the rescue and broke out of the siege late at night. Yang Shisan believed that he had been exposed, so he decided to start the uprising on July 9 in advance.
At that time, most of the soldiers in the Anti-Japanese Forces were farmers who had just put down their hoes and picked up weapons. They did not know how to fight, and they did not know much about the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention". In order to improve the political quality of the Anti-Union fighters and learn the guerrilla tactics of the Eighth Route Army, Yang Shisan actively stepped up the political and ideological construction of the Anti-Union troops and sent more than 50 Anti-Union cadres to the Fourth Column Headquarters for training, so as to improve the political quality of this peasant armed force. and combat effectiveness continues to improve.
At the end of September, Yang Shisan presided over a meeting in Woluogu to convey the spirit of the military joint meeting held by the four columns of the Eighth Route Army in Jiujianfang. Attending the meeting were Li Chuli, Hong Linge and Yang Shouqing. Yang Shisan said: "The Qingsha tent has fallen, and the meeting decided that the anti-alliance troops would go to Pingxi for training." On the way to Pingxi for training, the anti-alliance troops were ordered to march westward to Pingxi for training. They were attacked by heavy enemy troops in Taitou Village near Mashen Bridge in Jixian County. Honglin Pavilion was heroic. sacrifice. Yang Shisan was lucky enough to escape, and the troops continued to move and advance toward Pingxi in a roundabout way.
When arriving at the Chaobai River, the westward path was cut off by the enemy. The Third Route Army headquarters decided that Yang Shisan, together with more than 20 cadres including Yinong and Maxi Shan, would go to Pingxi via another secret route.
In the spring of 1939, he was called by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De to go to the Eighth Route Army Headquarters in Taihang Mountain to engage in military work. In the summer of the same year, the Japanese army launched a massive attack on the Eighth Route Army headquarters in nine groups, and Yang Shisan followed the headquarters to move. On the way, his old stomach problem recurred again, and it was more serious than before. He had to lie on a stretcher and follow the guard troops in circles with the enemy in the Zhuozhang River area of the Taihang Mountains. Due to the long hours of climbing mountains and wading in rivers, sleeping in the open air, without getting good rest and medical treatment, and in the hot and rainy season of midsummer, his condition worsened day by day. On July 2, he contracted cardioplegia due to a cold and fell into a coma. During his illness, he babbled out fragments of words praising the anti-Japanese army, scolding Japanese traitors, and opposing friction. The heads of the headquarters such as Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and Zuo Quan were very concerned about him. They visited his condition every day despite the extremely tense enemy situation and busy work. He was deeply moved by the meticulous care shown to him by the head of the headquarters. He also deeply felt that the revolutionary aspirations were unfinished and the great cause of resisting Japan and saving the country was booming. It was exactly when the motherland and the people needed him, but he was tossed on the stretcher bed, anxious. . Zhu De learned that he still wanted to return to Jidong when he was seriously ill, so he comforted him and said: "Don't go back to Jidong. There is a war of resistance everywhere. Just stay at the headquarters!" Let him engage in industry at the headquarters.
On July 21, 1939, during the battle against "mopping up", Yang Yumin unfortunately died of illness in Shangyao Town, Licheng County, Shanxi Province. On October 2, 1950, martyr Yang Yumin was moved to the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Martyrs Cemetery in Handan City.