Where is the site of the Dongjiang Column and what is its historical background?

Huizhou.

Dongjiang Column

In the history of China’s Anti-Japanese War, there was a special unit that achieved brilliant results. This anti-Japanese armed force, which stood alone behind enemy lines in South China, received no direct support from the Party Central Committee during the eight-year war of resistance. During the difficult period, it did not even have a radio station. It only relied on radios to listen to Yan'an Xinhua Radio Station. information. This is the heroic Dongjiang Column.

In such a difficult environment, the Dongjiang Column independently developed and grew into an anti-Japanese armed force with more than 11,000 people. The battlefield it opened up behind enemy lines in South China became one of the "three major battlefields behind enemy lines." In 1945, Comrade Zhu De called the Dongjiang Column and Qiongya Column together with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army as "the mainstay of China's Anti-Japanese War" in the "Seventh National Congress" military report "On the Battlefields of Liberated Areas".

Order the Japanese invaders to surrender on the spot

Dongzong is one of the few Chinese armed forces remaining in Guangdong to persist in the struggle behind enemy lines. The South China Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps, the predecessor of the Dongjiang Column, mainly operated in the Huizhou area, which is also an important town for studying the Dongjiang Column. At the end of 2003, a new "Dongjiang Column Memorial Hall" was built at the foot of Luofu Mountain.

In the exhibition hall of the Dongjiang Column Memorial Hall, there is a long list of martyrs, with the names of 5,508 martyrs engraved on it. The director of the museum, Xiong Maochang, said that veterans often check the list of comrades. If there are any omissions or mistakes, they ask the memorial hall to correct them. Some people even came all the way from Hong Kong to see the names of their comrades, wiping their tears again and again and bursting into tears, which moved everyone present.

"The Dongjiang Column can be said to have started from scratch. Under the leadership of Zeng Sheng, Lin Ping, Wang Zuoyao, Yang Kanghua and other major leaders, it developed from scratch and from small to large." Party History of Huizhou Municipal Party Committee Director Ban He's words were full of passion.

Director He told us that after eight years of resistance, after several reorganizations, it finally developed into an anti-Japanese armed force of more than 11,000 people. According to post-war statistics, the Dongjiang Column fought more than 1,400 times, killing and wounding more than 6,000 Japanese and puppet troops, and contained the strength of two and a half Japanese brigades.

In the memorial hall, the reporter unexpectedly saw a photocopy of the order given by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De to Okamura Neiji: "For the Japanese troops in Guangdong, you will designate representatives from Guangdong to the Dongguan area of ??the South China Anti-Japanese Column to accept "General Zeng Sheng's order." Xiong Maochang told us that at that time, the Dongjiang Column, in the name of "Commander of the South China Anti-Japanese Column of the Anti-Japanese Army of the Chinese Liberated Areas," issued an order to Tanaka Kuichi, the supreme commander of the Japanese Southern Branch Expeditionary Force, to put him on the spot. surrender. This is the greatest affirmation of the achievements of the Dongjiang Column, which was isolated behind enemy lines and fought for eight years in the war of resistance.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the main force of the Dongjiang Column withdrew northward to the Shandong Liberated Area, and was later expanded into the Guangdong and Guangxi Column of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and incorporated into the three-field combat sequence.

"The scholar carries the gun", "The kid is good at fighting"

The heroic battle stories are still passed down by word of mouth on the banks of the Dongjiang River

Yuying Tower was originally just a building. This ordinary Hakka house with blue bricks, gray tiles and white walls is located in Danshui Town, Huizhou City, adjacent to the former residence of General Ye Ting. Back then, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps, the predecessor of the Dongjiang Column, had its headquarters located in this two-story building.

The staff told us that when the Yuying Building was being renovated, the workers found rifle bullets buried by the guerrillas under the eaves.

Looking through the information in the building, we found that the early leaders of the Dongjiang Column, such as Zeng Sheng and Wang Zuoyao, were college students, and many of them participated in the student demonstrations in support of the "December 9th" movement. There are also many international students in the team, including a large number of high school and junior high school students. No wonder the veterans of the Dongjiang Column have always been proud of being "scholars carrying guns."

"The little devil is good at fighting" is also a famous episode in the history of the Dongjiang Column. Today, there are still many battle stories passed down orally among the people: the five young heroes of the Dongjiang Column who died gloriously for their country, Liu Heizai, the captain of the short rifle team who shocked Hong Kong and Kowloon, the "tiger boy" Lin Wenhu who later became a naval combat hero, He is a legendary figure widely praised among the people.

The "Provincial and Hong Kong Rescue" shocked the whole country

Mao Dun called it the greatest rescue work since the Anti-Japanese War

Guangdong is the hometown of overseas Chinese, and there have been trips to Nanyang in history After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, many overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao supported the anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines through fund-raising, charity performances, charity sales, and donations.

According to incomplete statistics, more than 1,500 overseas Chinese and young people from Hong Kong and Macao in Japan came back to join the Anti-Japanese War. The famous Vincennes team and Kuala Lumpur team were all named after the places where the overseas Chinese originally lived. Many of them later served as important commanders in the Dongjiang Column. For example, Thai overseas Chinese Zhong Ruochao later served as the political commissar of the brigade. He was only married for three days when he died.

“It can be said that Nanyang, Hong Kong and Macao were the granaries and ammunition depots of the Guangdong Anti-Japanese War.” The person in charge of the Dongjiang Column Association said with emotion that the inextricable connections with overseas countries enabled the anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines in South China to Immediately after the fall of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Brigade was established to infiltrate Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Yang Qing and Chen Rui, who are in their eighties, were comrades in the Hong Kong and Kowloon Brigade. They are rarely excited when they recall those years. This capable team bombed the Japanese Kai Tak Airport and captured alive Tojo Masayuki, the senior spy leader of the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Force. For a time, the Hong Kong and Kowloon areas became a "cancer of security" in the eyes of the Japanese army.

What this team is really known to the world for is that they rescued more than 800 patriotic democrats from Hong Kong under the eyes of the Japanese under almost impossible circumstances, including He Xiangning, Liu Yazi, Hu Die and other elites from all walks of life, as well as the wife of Yu Hanmou, the commander-in-chief of the Seventh War Zone of the Kuomintang.

The "Provincial and Hong Kong Rescue" caused a sensation across the country, and was called by Mao Dun "the greatest rescue work since the Anti-Japanese War (it can be said to be the greatest rescue work in history)."

In addition, Hong Kong The Ninth Brigade safely escorted hundreds of international people to the rear areas, and also rescued 8 US military pilots, opening up the famous "Pilot Safety Channel." Among them, Captain Kerr of the US Air Force was hunted by thousands of enemies for three weeks and was successfully rescued by the Dongjiang Column. This legendary story was even included in the teaching materials of the US Fourteenth Air Force. In the history of China's Anti-Japanese War, there was a special unit that made brilliant achievements. This anti-Japanese armed force, which stood alone behind enemy lines in South China, received no direct support from the Party Central Committee during the eight-year war of resistance. During the difficult period, it did not even have a radio station. It only relied on radios to listen to Yan'an Xinhua Radio Station. information. This is the heroic Dongjiang Column.

In such a difficult environment, the Dongjiang Column independently developed and grew into an anti-Japanese armed force with more than 11,000 people. The battlefield it opened up behind enemy lines in South China became one of the "three major battlefields behind enemy lines." In 1945, Comrade Zhu De called the Dongjiang Column and Qiongya Column together with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army as "the mainstay of China's Anti-Japanese War" in the "Seventh National Congress" military report "On the Battlefields of Liberated Areas".