Extended reading of the military song of the New First Army
The new army is back
***Shiwang - the official website of "Leader" magazine, 2010-08-05 14:33 Author: Zhou Hualei
September 8, 1947, Guangzhou. At the inauguration ceremony of the cemetery for the fallen soldiers of the New First Army in India and Myanmar, Sun Liren stood under the memorial tower and said calmly and slowly: I am standing in front of the tomb.
Sixty years later, the deceased souls said: "We cannot bear to not restore the cemetery for them."
On November 19, 1990, Taichung, a man at home The old man who had been planting roses for half his life passed away. At the funeral, more than 10,000 people took the initiative to express their condolences. An old professor at Fu Jen Catholic University said that there would probably never be the same touching scene in Taiwan in the future.
This old man is Sun Liren, one of the "Top Ten Anti-Japanese Generals", known as the "Rommel of the East". During the Anti-Japanese War, he led the New First Army on an expedition to India and Myanmar and became the general who wiped out the most Japanese troops. In 1955, Sun Liren was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to move to Taichung because he was suspected of instigating a "mutiny".
He was placed under house arrest in the courtyard of No. 18, Section 1, Shangxiang Road, Taichung City, where he stayed for 33 years.
During New Years and holidays, Sun Liren would silently come to the shrine to burn incense and paper for his dead subordinates. Before he died, he had two wishes: one was to return to his hometown in Anhui to visit his parents' graves; the other was to be buried in the New First Army Indian Burma Cemetery in Matougang, Guangzhou, "with the soldiers" after "a hundred years" sleep".
In 2006, at the foot of Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, the New First Army India-Myanmar Fallen Soldiers Cemetery was completed in September 1947. It covers an area of 40,000 square meters and is located in the area of today's Lianquan Road and Guangyuan East Road. The cemetery is close to the mountain and faces the south. In those days, Sun Liren took military planes to fly over Guangzhou three times to find this "treasure land" with a typical Feng Shui pattern. Over the years, not much remains of the cemetery. According to research by scholar Lu Jiefeng, only the tomb gate, Ji Gong Pavilion and Memorial Tower still exist. They are scattered in this urban village in a "three points and one line" posture and are no longer distinguishable.
Jigong Pavilion is under renovation, and the iron gate is locked. This place will be converted into a permanent market, and Ji Gong Pavilion will be protected by glass as a cultural relic.
The eight-lane Guangyuan Middle Road isolates the memorial tower in the land of a certain unit. While leading the way, Mengang said that few people came here to visit the graves. "It usually happens once a month, when old revolutionaries come to lay flowers and get excited."
On Qingming Festival, wreaths were laid for the second time in the cemetery, which had been dormant for 60 years. More than 40 "veteran soldiers" over 70 years old came from all over the country, Canada and the United States and took the initiative to form a salute group. They arrived in Guangzhou on April 2 and collectively saluted the fallen soldiers and General Sun Liren. Among the veterans, some are already suffering from cancer; some are trembling on crutches, supported by their children; some spend their entire year's savings extravagantly just to get together in Guangzhou for two days.
There is a special person in the delegation, Mr. Jie Jun, the adopted son of General Sun Liren and an honorary professor of chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Twenty years ago, in order to clear Sun Liren's grievance, he took the lead in negotiating with the Taiwan authorities, and finally Sun Liren was freed in 1988, but he was also restricted from returning to Taiwan.
On April 3, 2006, the veterans stood in the aisle more than 2 meters wide, in orderly queues with solemn expressions. Jie Jun, the "child soldier" at that time, paid tribute to the fallen soldiers in a unique way: The 70-year-old man with gray hair and a slender figure bent down in tears and did more than 50 push-ups in a row. According to the new military regulations, each soldier must do 100 push-ups every day.
The veterans stared at the memorial tower in silence. They recalled the days more than sixty years ago when they rode in large trucks and marched toward the southwest singing military songs.
"The hands of Indians, the buttocks of British people and the corpses of Chinese people"
"It is better to go into battle to kill the enemy than to be full of poems and books." In the chaotic year of 1940, with such a Determined, 20-year-old Zhang Fulin left normal school and came to Chongqing to join the army alone, becoming a communications clerk in the 38th Division led by Sun Liren.
At that time, a sad "Refugee Song" was sung in Yunnan: The Japanese cannons destroyed our home, shot and killed our father, and scared away our dear mother...
On January 20, 1942, the Japanese army occupying Thailand invaded the British colony of Burma and pushed straight into western Yunnan. They intended to cut off the Burma Highway, the "transfusion tube" for China's war of resistance, so as to attack China from the rear and reach Chongqing. Completely destroy China. In accordance with the "Agreement between China and Britain on the Defense of the Burma Road", the Chinese government organized 100,000 troops to rush to the battlefield in Burma one after another.
On the night of April 18, 1942, the Yan'an Qiang in Myanmar. The remaining temperature of 43 degrees Celsius during the day has not yet receded. British Commander Scott fell into deeper and deeper despair. He had been without water for two days, and help was slow to come. 7,000 British troops were trapped between the two hills of "501 Heights" and "502 Heights" by the Japanese army, like turtles in a urn. The 38th Division received a distress signal from the British. British Commander Slim said, "We cannot wait until tomorrow. The troops have been without food and water for two days and two nights and will surrender soon."
In When the number of enemies was unknown, the 113th Regiment of the 38th Division decided to attack at dawn at 5 o'clock the next day. On the eve of the storm of war, no one could sleep. At 4:30 in the morning on the 19th, the sleeping sky was illuminated red by signal flares. The regiment leader Liu Fangwu immediately ordered - "Start the attack and forcefully cross the Pingqiang River!"
With the support of powerful "47" mortars, after 12 hours of fierce fighting, corpses piled up like mountains. The enemy suffered heavy casualties and was shaken across the board. "This victory was won with courage." The veterans said, "In the life-and-death battle for positions and hand-to-hand combat, the commanders and soldiers exerted their physical strength and combat power to the maximum limit."
In the Battle of Ren'an and Qiang, Sun Liren's troops entered Myanmar less than a month ago. They were outnumbered and defeated many with a small number, creating a miracle in military history. Reporters from various countries, including the British Reuters, agreed that this was the first contest between Chinese, British and Japanese armies at the same time and on the same battlefield in the past century, and the Chinese army won.
The New 38th Division recovered Ren'an Qiang. It expected support from friendly forces and prepared to further attack the enemy. However, due to the British army's strategy of "abandoning Burma and preserving India", the Sino-British coalition forces have collapsed. The mission of the 38th Division to protect Burma became to block the enemy and cover the retreat of the British troops who had lost their combat effectiveness to India.
The 38th Division endured hunger and hardship for several days, and finally crossed the Arakan Mountains and entered the village of Kuilong in India in a uniform manner. Along the way, they took in one or two thousand defeated soldiers of the British and Burmese troops and Vietnamese refugees.
After the First Burma War, the 100,000-strong Chinese Expeditionary Force dropped by nearly 60,000, most of whom died of starvation and disease. There is a poem that goes, "Ten thousand loyal martyrs died on the battlefield, and 50,000 innocent souls were buried in the mountains." General Dai Anlan also died of serious injuries in this battle. According to Liang Jiayou, a graduate of the Southwest Associated University and an interpreter of the 38th Division, those arrogant Japanese soldiers said that what they always saw were “the hands of Indians (raising their hands to surrender), the buttocks of the British (escape), and the buttocks of the Chinese corpse".
"This is not a battle, it is a massacre"
In May 1942, the Burma Highway was seized by the Japanese army, and China's only "blood supply" was cut off. Burma, occupied by the Japanese army, was like a large wedge inserted between British India and China from the south. The United States opened a "hump route" over the Himalayas and took risks to airdrop supplies to western China. But the most fundamental way is to open up a way to break through the Japanese blockade.
The time is ripe to counterattack Myanmar. The Chinese troops stationed in India were merged into the New First Army, under the jurisdiction of the New 38th Division and the New 22nd Division. The honest and honest Zheng Dongguo was appointed commander, and Sun Liren was promoted to deputy commander.
In March 1943, the 38th Division went to the northern Myanmar region to open mountains and clear roads, eliminate the Japanese troops entrenched there, and cover the US road construction. It's a terrifying mission: returning to Savage Mountain. When marching in the muddy jungle mountains, even the mules and horses carrying mountain artillery cannot walk, and heavy artillery requires soldiers to carry it.
The Japanese army stationed here is the famous 18th Division. It participated in the Nanjing Massacre and has always been invincible, known as the "King of Jungle Warfare." Sun Liren's 38th Division had just been formed and was in its infancy.
Yubang, connected to Xinbei Yang in the north and Hukang River Valley in the south, is a must-win area for both sides. Sun Liren led the 114th Regiment to fight on the front line for several months. On the eve of New Year's Eve in 1944, he completely occupied Yu State.
Ding Dixun, commander of the artillery company of the 112th Regiment, still remembers clearly that after capturing Yubang and crossing the Dalong River, the branches along the way were covered with small notes left behind by the Japanese army during their retreat. The handwriting on them was crooked: "Chinese officers and soldiers, Please stop chasing, Mengguan!"
The 38th Division continues to pursue in the direction of Mengguan and Myitkyina. Mengguan is the heart of the Hukang area, with complex terrain, mountains and rivers, and rivers and mountains. While Sun Liren went deep into the front line to supervise the battle, he grew a beard and swore an oath, "I will not shave my beard until Meng Pass is captured." Under the command of Sun Liren, the New 38th Division fought bravely and elusively, often winning battles, forcing the Japanese army to retreat and become frightened.
The battle of Myitkyina was the hardest and longest battle. The soldiers fought hard in knee-high muddy water. The Japanese army resisted desperately, and the situation remained deadlocked. From May 18, 1943, Stilwell sent the U.S. Air Force to carry out a large-scale airborne sneak attack on Myitkyina, until late at night on August 1, the "death squad" composed of 104 Chinese launched an attack at the same time as the frontal troops, and the fierce fighting continued for 81 days. After a long time, the Japanese army finally collapsed across the board.
Liang Jiayou wrote in his memoirs that in Myitkyina, the Japanese army was besieged and ran out of ammunition and food. After Major General Maruyama watched Colonel Maruyama take away all the wounded and the women accompanying him on rafts, the Japanese soldiers committed suicide in groups. , and in the end not a single prisoner was left.
The Japanese army tried to calm down on Yangon Radio: "The Chinese army is homesick and very angry!"
At this time, the morale of the new army was greatly boosted, and the slogan of all the soldiers was: "Fight to Tokyo!"
The attack speed and powerful combat effectiveness of the New First Army finally made it difficult for the Japanese army to resist. The originally evenly matched battle turned into a large-scale sweep of the Japanese army by Chinese soldiers. After the battles of Bhamo and Namkan, the Japanese army was in shock and shouted: "This is not a battle, this is a massacre!"
According to data reported by Phoenix TV, during the second entry into Myanmar, the New Army annihilated the Japanese army 48,000 people, 18,000 people were killed, and achieved a comprehensive victory in the northern Myanmar battlefield.
The old man at the foot of Gaoligong Mountain said that a few days after the war, the hillside was full of "bloody water". In those years, the villagers called the mountain spring "Red River". When villagers in western Yunnan were digging to build houses, they could still find the bones of the Chinese Expeditionary Army wearing straw sandals.
On January 27, 1945, China’s Western Yunnan Combat Army, China’s Northern Burma Combat Army and the Allied Forces met in Mangyou. The China-India Highway and the Burma Highway were completely connected, and the counterattack in northern Burma and western Yunnan achieved complete victory.
From its entry into Myanmar in April 1942 to April 3, 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force fought bloody battles for three full years and finally won a "tragic victory" at the cost of twice the enemy's casualties.
“Our division is the only unit that has not lost a battle in Myanmar!” Speaking of this past event, the veterans of the 38th Division are still in high spirits.
Where wars rage, cemeteries are built
In January 1945, the Stilwell Highway (the China-India Highway) was opened to traffic. On the eve of the Ta Kung Pao garrison reporter's departure with the army, Lu Derun went to a wooden house by the Irrawaddy River to say goodbye to Sun Liren. There was only General Sun alone in the house, and a hunting dog.
Lu Derun asked Sun Liren if he had any domestic items that he needed to take with him.
Sun Liren pondered for a moment and said: "If you can see if there are any people selling ghost money on the streets of Kunming at your convenience, if you come across it, please buy some for me."
Lu Derun glanced at it Hearing the word "Ming Chao", he didn't come back to his senses.
"Mingchao is paper money burned when visiting graves." Sun Liren said with a bitter smile, "It's not that I'm superstitious, it's just that I really don't know any other way to commemorate those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. "His voice became lower and lower. After finishing these words intermittently, he turned his head away.
Lu Derun later recalled: "I have interviewed many Chinese and foreign generals, and this is the first time I have seen someone as emotional as General Sun."
Sun Liren's troops are well organized. It is a written rule: wherever wars are fought, cemeteries should be built there. That year, cemeteries and monuments to the fallen soldiers of the New First Army were established in more than ten cities from Myitkyina to Lashio and Kasa.
A soldier either dies in battle or returns to his hometown. In June 1945, the New First Army returned home with elephants captured in Burma and Japanese prisoners. Accompanying them are the bone graves of tens of thousands of fallen soldiers, just as Sun Liren promised, "Recall the souls and follow them, return to the Central Plains together, and enjoy the spring and autumn forever, the window dream of Chang'an."
On September 16, 1945, as soon as the surrender ceremony in Guangzhou ended, Sun Liren, commander of the New First Army, immediately started preparations for the construction of a cemetery for the fallen soldiers of the New First Army's India-Burma Anti-Japanese War.
The cemetery was chosen to be located on Ma Tougang in Baiyun Mountain, Guangzhou because "Guangzhou is a city that fought against invaders, and there are cemeteries of the 72 martyrs, Liao Zhongkai and Zhu Zhixin near Ma Tougang."
The cemetery fee did not use a penny from the National Government, and was voluntarily donated by all officers and soldiers of the New First Army. Sun Liren ordered 600 Japanese prisoners of war to "repay blood with sweat" and "to comfort the martyrs in Jiuquan". According to the memories of Wang Bohui and other veterans, the New First Army used an engineer company to escort 600 prisoners of war from the prisoner of war camp to the Shahe construction site every day. The soldiers of the engineer company stood on all sides of the construction site to be on guard. “The Japanese prisoners of war who built the cemetery were very honest and worked very seriously. , cook for yourself at noon.”
Two years later, the New First Army Indian and Burmese Soldiers Cemetery was completed, which was a spectacular sight.
A bluestone monument is located on the front of the memorial tower, engraved with Sun Liren's handwriting, "Memorial Tower for the Indian and Burmese Fallen Soldiers of the Army's New First Army".
There is a bronze eagle stationed in the center of the memorial tower. It is the soul of the New First Army and is made of the shell shells that shot the Japanese invaders. The bronze eagle weighs more than a thousand pounds and guards the bone mounds of 27,000 martyrs.
On September 8, 1947, at the inauguration ceremony of the cemetery, more than two thousand people dressed in dark green military uniforms and black veils on their arms. Sun Liren stood under the memorial tower, like a straight pine tree, with no expression on his thin face. He said calmly and slowly: "I stand in front of the tomb, looking to the southwest, and I miss those soldiers who died in India and Burma very much. They are heroic and majestic. , as if they were right in front of me. I miss them all the time, and I will mourn them forever.”
The veteran recalled that when the mourning music was played, the three Burmese elephants left at the cemetery actually looked like them. Also infected by the sadness, he roared several times. Low sobs resounded from the dull crowd.
Time is like a sandy river flowing slowly through the cemetery. Over the past sixty years, the clear Shahe has gradually faded out of people's sight and has become the sewers and smelly ditches of Guangzhou.
“A group of forgotten people”
“You cannot bear to tell others about the deep-seated hunger, the impact of the mountain torrent, the bites of poisonous insects and the painful night. Now it is the Xinxin trees that have forgotten everything." Mu Dan's poem written in 1945 actually became a prophecy.
After liberation, the New First Army scattered all over the world, and the cemetery gradually became deserted and no one cared about it.
While China’s cemetery for fallen soldiers of the Anti-Japanese War was suffering devastating damage, Japan built a cemetery for Japanese fallen soldiers in northern Myanmar. They even erected a monument for each fallen war horse. Zhang Fulin, who had seen the cemetery a few years ago, said: "After seeing it, I felt more than uncomfortable. I was so angry that I wanted to scold my father and mother!"
"A group of forgotten people, who died in battle, were separated from the grass and trees." We will die together; even if they win, there will still be no tolerance between heaven and earth!" Bo Yang left words on a stone tablet at a Chinese-Indian-Burmese military cemetery in Thailand.
Just after New Year's Day in 1950, American General MacArthur sent a special plane to Taiwan to pick up Sun Liren, expressing that the United States intended to train him to become the leader of Taiwan's "regime". But this was just wishful thinking on the part of the United States. Sun Liren forwarded this conspiracy to Chiang Kai-shek in its entirety. His loyalty also sowed the seeds of tragedy for himself. In 1955, Chiang Kai-shek was afraid that Sun Liren would be too successful and would overshadow his master, so he placed him under house arrest in Taichung on the charge of "mutiny".
Sun Liren became "Zhang Xueliang's second", and those old officials and subordinates Pao Ze were also implicated. According to Li Ao's record, "for more than thirty years, their souls have either passed away to heaven, died in the execution ground, or been imprisoned." Prison, or poverty." Liu Fangwu, leader of the 113th Regiment, sells briquettes in Fengshan, Taiwan. His former relative Guo Tingliang, who was serving a life sentence, died in an "accidental" accident after jumping out of a train window when he was on parole in Taiwan.
For more than thirty years, Sun Liren was trapped in his "home" in Taichung and never saw anyone else. When life was difficult, he relied on growing roses and raising chickens to lay eggs to support his family. On sunny days, he fertilized, pruned and watered the roses in the garden. The family sometimes took some flowers to sell, and people called them "general roses." He applied time and time again to attend his daughter's graduation and wedding ceremonies in the United States, but was rejected time and time again.
On the evening of February 20, 1991, old man Bing Xin recalled in "Memorial of General Sun Liren": "The thirty-three years that were supposed to be great have turned into wasted years. How can we not... Is it sad and infuriating?"
Zhang Desan was originally a machine gunner and platoon leader of the New First Army Corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. After being injured in the Shahe battle in northern Myanmar and being dismissed, he fled back to Tengchong alone and was almost killed. Shot for being a traitor.
He no longer has any plot from that year left in his memory. He just demonstrated the action of shooting a machine gun to visitors over and over again: "Da da da, here are three rounds...". He had no index finger, so he had to use his middle finger to demonstrate pulling the trigger.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Zhang Fulin stayed in Mandalay, Myanmar and worked as a Chinese teacher for more than thirty years. For more than 60 years, Zhang Fulin never returned to his motherland. The family makes a living by selling rice and ginger in the market. He also sets up a stall to sell calligraphy, but no one has ever bought his calligraphy. In Myanmar, few people like Chinese calligraphy. His home is a bamboo hut with ventilation from all sides. He looked forward to the day when China's anti-Japanese veterans and comrades could once again put on their mighty military uniforms and military medals, and march through Tiananmen Square in formation under the cheers of people.
That glorious history has become a bitter history that remains in the heart of every soldier. The legend of the New First Army replaced history and became more and more legendary among the people. In the story, Sun Liren, who pursues humanism, becomes an iron-blooded general who buries 1,200 Japanese prisoners of war alive. The military song of the New First Army, "Our army wishes to advance, we are sincere and united without deception" is interpreted in another version, "If you don't see me, the Han army will end." , Weak crowned prisoners, please grow your tassel..."
In October 2006, when scholar Lu Jiefeng went to Chengdu to visit veterans of the New First Army, their speeches were like a flood that burst the embankment. They rushed to talk to themselves, Can't stop it. Afterwards, several veterans said to her: "It's so happy! It's so happy to say it!"
Lu Jiefeng said: "I think they have been suppressed for too long. They have no chance to express and no one wants to sit down." Come down and listen to them.”
The world has not forgotten the New First Army. In 1992, on the 50th anniversary of the Ren'anqiang Campaign, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher held the hand of General Liu Fangwu tightly in the lobby of the Carlton Hotel in Chicago: "Today, on behalf of the British government and people, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you. Deep gratitude and admiration.” U.S. President Bush also sent a letter to express his respect.
On the morning of September 3, 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered an important speech at a meeting commemorating the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War: “The leadership of the Chinese Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China The anti-Japanese armies were respectively responsible for the tasks of frontal battlefield and behind enemy lines, forming a strategic posture of jointly fighting against the Japanese invaders." On September 4, the full text of this speech was reprinted by the "People's Daily". On the day he got the newspaper, Zhang Mengxuan, a veteran of the 30th Division of the New First Army, took a magnifying glass and read it word by word. Since I had throat cancer and couldn't speak, I wrote desperately on the paper:
"All veterans will be awarded commemorative medals, which means that the country recognizes that we are anti-Japanese!"