Xiufeng Mountain in Laodaohe, Changsha, once staged a brutal sniper battle
When the weather cleared up, I took the bus along Xiangjiang North Road, crossed the Liuyang River and the Laodao River, and arrived at Xiufengshan Park on the edge of Changsha North Second Ring Road in less than half an hour's drive.
Xiufengshan Park is a newly built leisure park in the north of the city. It occupies a small area, with a total area of about five or six hundred acres. The highest point is only more than 100 meters, but it is the highest in the north of the city. at.
From a distance, the Jinxia Landscape Tower built on the top of the mountain has become a landmark. The mountain is covered with very good natural forest vegetation. A mountain stream goes straight to the bottom of the valley, forming a small Xiufengtan.
It happened to be Sunday, and I happened to meet a teacher from an unknown school who was organizing outdoor mountaineering activities for students here. Judging from their age, they should be junior high school students. I saw the students holding guide maps and clock cards. According to the teacher's requirements, they divided into groups and started from different directions to find the dozens of card points to complete the competition.
The students’ passion and energy also infected us along the way, and we quickly reached the top without realizing it. Standing on a high place, you can look west to the Xiangjiang River. The Laodao River merges into the Xiangjiang River from here, and then flows all the way north.
The mountain road in the entire park is relatively gentle, with many steps built. There are also many small stools and tables along the road for resting, reading, playing cards, etc. Breathing the fresh air, winter sunshine, and quiet trails here on weekends is really a pleasure in the fast-paced life.
Wandering around, the "Laodaohe Sniper Battle Site of the Anti-Japanese Defense War in Changsha" attracted everyone. About eighty years ago, during the "Battle of Changsha" during the Anti-Japanese War, the area around the Laodao River in Xiufeng Mountain was used as a peripheral sniper range to prevent the Japanese army from invading Changsha.
The Laodaohe Sniper Battle took place during the Second Battle of Changsha in the autumn of 1941. General Wang Jiaben, the deputy commander of the 79th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the commander of the 98th Division, served as the commander-in-chief of Changsha's peripheral operations.
Wang Jiaben had participated in major battles such as the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanchang before. In every battle, he always took the lead and commanded well, killing countless enemies and making outstanding achievements. He was famous for his courage to fight and fight.
The battle at Laodaohe was extremely fierce. The 98th Division led by Wang Jiaben severely damaged the elite Japanese army. The 98th Division suffered thousands of casualties. This sniper battle delayed the Japanese invasion of Changsha and bought favorable time for the war zone to gather heavy troops in the urban area for defense. After the war, he was awarded for his meritorious service and was recorded in the records of military conferences as the "hard-fighting general Wang Jiaben".
On August 8, 1944, Hengyang City finally fell to the enemy after more than 40 days of fierce fighting. General Wang Jiaben was ordered to lead the 79th Army from the outskirts of Hengyang southwards to the front line of Lengshui Beach in Dong'an, southern Hunan, to stop the Japanese army.
On September 7, thousands of Japanese troops disguised themselves as friendly troops and farmers and launched a surprise attack on Wang Jiaben's military headquarters. He fought to the death with an enemy dozens of times his own and refused to be taken prisoner. In the end, he fought with the enemy on the bayonet and fell under the enemy's bayonet. He became the highest-ranking general who died on the bayonet battlefield in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War.
Times have changed, and with the development of the city, the former outer suburbs of Changsha have been integrated into the main urban area. In just over 20 years, this area in the north of the city has built a national-level logistics park. Modern logistics, cross-border e-commerce, urban industry, and trade markets are full of vitality, creating a living atmosphere that is "prosperous when you go out and quiet when you enter."