An old man in Xi’an recalled his childhood experience during the Anti-Japanese War: he missed two bombs

The 78-year-old Zhang Tianwei is a true native of Xi’an. He spent more than half of his childhood during the Anti-Japanese War. During those years of smoke and war, although Xi'an did not fall under the iron heel of the Japanese army, under frequent enemy bombings, the city was still full of rubble and the people were in dire straits.

Zhang Tianwei personally experienced the day when Japanese militarism surrendered. He always remembered that during the Anti-Japanese War, the Xi'an army and the people were united, fought against foreign aggression, fought for the nation and the country, and gathered a majestic anti-Japanese force in Xi'an.

An old man missed the bomb twice

On the afternoon of September 1, old man Zhang Tianwei sat in front of the bright window, recalling the time when he listened to the sirens and bombings. Years, everything seems to be right in front of you.

"During the Anti-Japanese War, my family lived in Kaitong Lane in the south city wall. The distance from the gate of my house to the root of the city wall was only 120 meters. The city wall was very thick, with many air-raid shelters inside, and there were telephone poles with lanterns hanging on it. "When the air raid siren sounded, a red lantern would be hung on the pole, which was a sign that Japanese planes were coming to bomb." The old man said that the days of watching lanterns drill into air raid shelters occupied a large part of his childhood memories.

When the old man was a child, he missed bombs twice and almost lost his life. "The most impressive one was when my neighbor's house was bombed. A huge explosion sounded in my ears. The bomb fell in the courtyard of No. 26 Kaitong Lane. My house was No. 23. My father was so frightened that his face turned pale, and my mother He picked me up and protected her. The tiles on the roof of my house were knocked down and the glass was shattered. Later I heard that the daughter-in-law of No. 26 was killed in the explosion. " /p>

Perhaps it was that tragic bombing that made Zhang Tianwei’s father see the cruelty of war. He later dug a very deep air raid shelter in his backyard, and it was a hole within a hole with a particularly complex structure and multiple exits. The largest hole is 40 square meters, and the smallest one has to be crawled to get in.

A later bombing verified Zhang’s father’s wisdom. "The second time I encountered a bombing at close range was even more thrilling. After hearing the sirens, our whole family got into the air raid shelter in the backyard. My father led everyone through the first big hole and went straight into the second hole. Later that time During the first bombing, the Japanese bombs dropped and directly penetrated the first hole. A piece of the roof of the cave collapsed and a lot of soil fell. If our whole family had been hiding in the first hole at that time, we would have been buried in the soil if we had not been killed. ." said the old man.

The old man’s personal experience was later corroborated in many historical materials. According to the archives of the Shaanxi Provincial Archives, Japanese planes first bombed Tongguan County on November 7, 1937, and began bombing Xi'an six days later. The Japanese Air Force had airports in Yuncheng and Linfen, Shanxi, and the Japanese planes took off less than half an hour later. Can fly over Xi'an. For more than seven years, the Japanese bombed Xi'an 145 times, dispatched more than 560 aircraft sorties, caused more than 10,000 casualties, and destroyed more than 43,000 houses.

Xi'an is "the rear of the front and the front of the rear"

The bombing caused Xi'an to be ravaged by the invaders. Compared with the occupied cities in neighboring provinces, Xi'an, which had never been captured by the Japanese army, was considered a relatively safe rear area at that time.

According to the "Xi'an Anti-Japanese War" compiled by the Xi'an CPPCC Cultural and Historical Materials Committee, the total population of Xi'an in 1936 was 208,800. After Taiyuan, Nanjing, and Wuhan fell one after another in 1938, the cities adjacent to Shaanxi A large number of people from Shanxi, Henan and other provinces and other occupied areas poured into Xi'an. Coupled with the relocation of a large number of factories and schools and the increase in garrison, the population of Xi'an increased sharply to 246,400. During the Anti-Japanese War, the number of refugees in Xi'an alone was more than 60,000.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Xi'an was a strategic military location in the northwest, a bridgehead connecting Yan'an, the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and other parts of the country. During the Republic of China, it was once designated as a companion capital by the government, and it was the most powerful rear to support the anti-Japanese front line. One of them is known as "the rear of the front and the front of the rear". Therefore, the Japanese army concentrated its firepower on bombing Xi'an. The increasingly intensive air raids not only made life difficult for the people, but also devastated the city's industry and commerce and depressed the economy.

In Zhang Tianwei’s memory, there were no high-rise buildings in Xi’an at that time. The highest point in the city was the clock tower, and there were not so many people on the streets. It seemed that the shops were always closed before dark, and the streets were desolate. scene.

Around 1942, Xi'an was bombed even more severely as the Japanese army occupied Shanxi and Henan and reached Fenglingdu, the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, to confront the Chinese army. Some highly modernized factories were repeatedly bombed by the Japanese army, causing serious damage. According to the "Record of Japanese Aircraft Bombing of Shaanxi During the Anti-Japanese War", during the three bombings on November 16, 18, and 23, 1938, "citizens were horrified to witness the tragic situation of dead and injured compatriots. As soon as they heard the alarm, they were at a loss what to do." , the young and old were frightened and rushed to avoid it... so that ordinary businessmen did not dare to do business in Japan."

According to available data, Xi'an's business was once prosperous before the Anti-Japanese War in 1934. Xi'an, with a population of 120,000, has more than 5,000 shops. However, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Japanese planes continued to bomb, and many factories and shops moved away and closed down. According to statistics, by the end of 1943, the number of enterprises in the city had dropped by 30%, and the number of stalls and shops had dropped by countless numbers.

Xie Shuwen, a staff member of the Xi'an Municipal Archives Bureau, researched many archives and historical materials from that year and found that when there was no sufficient capacity to use aircraft anti-aircraft guns to intercept Japanese bombings, Shaanxi Province at that time established an air defense command and organized various Level air defense organization command system, alarm class, security class, firefighting class, rescue class, engineering class, evacuation guidance class, light control class, etc.; at the same time, a publicity team was established to popularize basic air defense knowledge, aircraft identification methods, and anti-virus instructions to the public ( Methods for making simple gauze gas masks), air defense alarms, alarm bell identification methods, etc.; we also strengthened fire extinguishing, emergency repairs, and personnel treatment of buildings, roads, and residences when air raids occurred.

The Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Movements in Xi'an continued

On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng opposed the civil war and resolutely launched a military revolt, detaining Chiang Kai-shek who came to Shaanxi to supervise the war, and proposed "reorganizing the government, "Stop the Civil War" and other national salvation propositions. The "Xi'an Incident" was later peacefully resolved through the mediation of various international and domestic peace forces, which promoted the second Kuomintang cooperation and laid the foundation for the formation of the anti-Japanese national united front.

According to "Xi'an Anti-Japanese War Storm", after the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a message to the whole country, calling on everyone to build a solid Great Wall of the national united front. At that time, the Xi'an Municipal Working Committee of the Communist Party of China instructed grassroots organizations and party members to strengthen anti-Japanese propaganda and mobilization and organize mass anti-Japanese work. Under the leadership of the Municipal Working Committee, Xi'an's mass anti-Japanese and national salvation movement quickly took shape.

Anti-Japanese and national salvation groups such as the Longhai Railway Anti-Enemy Support Association, the Xi'an Local Team Headquarters of the Chinese National Liberation Vanguard, the Xi'an Students National Salvation Federation, and the Shaanxi Women's Solace Association were established one after another. Women also broke through their shackles and participated in the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement. Students from female teachers and midwifery schools took to the streets and went to the countryside to carry out anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda in the form of writing slogans, giving street speeches, teaching and singing national salvation songs, etc. Young students left the campus and went deep into factories, mines, and war zones to mobilize the masses to carry out anti-Japanese and national salvation movements.

In November 1937, the Xi'an Student Branch of the Anti-Enemy Support Association successively organized 4 batches of 65 rural work groups to go to counties in Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi to hold rallies, speeches, discussions, visits, etc. Promote the party's anti-Japanese propositions and help local people establish anti-Japanese and national salvation organizations, which greatly inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of the masses.

When the Japanese army bombarded the Shaanxi river defense positions along the Yellow River, the Xi'an team headquarters of the Democratic Pioneers mobilized more than 300 young people to join the army and go to the front line to fight the Japanese army. During the seven-year bombing of Xi'an by the Japanese army, various national salvation groups in Xi'an still actively carried out activities, which greatly inspired the morale of the anti-Japanese soldiers to fight the enemy bravely. Students also actively participated in providing condolences, caring for the sick and wounded, and rescuing people injured in the bombing, directly serving the Anti-Japanese War.

In addition, the Eighth Route Army Office in Xi'an sent 2,288 patriotic and progressive young people to Yan'an, the holy land of revolution, between May and August 1938 alone. According to incomplete statistics, at least 20,000 progressive young people were transported from the Eighth Office of Xi'an to Yan'an during the Anti-Japanese War. Almost all of these people later joined the torrent of national liberation. It strongly supported the establishment and consolidation of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia anti-Japanese base areas and developed a good situation for resisting Japanese aggression and national salvation in Xi'an.

On the day of Japan’s surrender, East Street was busier than during the Chinese New Year

In Zhang Tianwei’s memory, the Japanese bombing of Xi’an was the most painful memory, but on the day of Japan’s surrender, the smiling faces and noise of people on the streets of Xi’an The sound of gongs and drums in the sky was an unforgettable memory for him throughout his life.

"One day before Japan surrendered in August 1945, people in our Kaidong Lane, men, women, old and young, ran to the road, on the cliffs, and in front of their homes and looked up at the planes. Countless American planes, one after another, a group of A group of them flew from the east, flying toward the southwest, flying very low, and the propellers could be seen clearly. Some planes had all four propellers spinning, but I personally saw one with two propellers not spinning. " Later, he heard from adults that it was the return flight of American bombers after bombing the Japanese mainland.

Zhang Tianwei, who became a military fan when he grew up, looked through the information based on his childhood memories and found that the American aircraft he saw back then was the B-29 strategic bomber. This bomber, known as the "air combat fortress", is It was the main combat aircraft used by the US military in bombing Japan during World War II.

On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. That night, seven-year-old Zhang Tianwei was led to East Street by his fourth uncle. "From Kaitong Alley to Juhuayuan, you will reach East Street. That night, the shops and shop owners on East Street all picked out their gas lamps and turned them on to the brightest. The entire East Street was illuminated by gas lamps, and people greeted them with smiles. Congratulations to each other."

That night, when Zhang Tianwei was approaching the bell tower, he saw many US troops stationed at Xiguan Airport driving out in many Willis convertible jeeps and circling the bell tower. The smiling U.S. troops threw their boat hats high and kept cheering. Some people watching the excitement on the street boarded the US military's jeep, and everyone cheered and sang together happily. At that time, in addition to the sound of gongs, drums and suonas on the crowded East Street, there were also scattered gunshots celebrating victory.

In Zhang Tianwei’s impression, this lively scene lasted for several days. Everyone no longer had to live in fear. Children no longer had to be afraid of air raids and could play unscrupulously on the city wall.

Now 70 years have passed, and the little boy who was less than 8 years old has become a 78-year-old man. The old man's hearing is not very good now, but his thinking is extremely clear. He could even imitate the various rhythms of the air raid sirens back then. He said: "Those sounds seem to be in my ears for a lifetime and will never be forgotten."

The old man personally experienced the years of the Anti-Japanese War in Xi'an and also experienced After the reconstruction of Xi'an and the good times now, he now likes to make kites, the kind that has gear bites. A precision kite that moves every part when the wind blows. He likes to sit by the bright window and make his favorite kite. He said: "I didn't dare to imagine this kind of comfortable life when I was a child."

The war left many old people with a legacy that they will never be able to live with for the rest of their lives. The forgotten suffering also gives them a say in comparing their current lives. After the smoke clears, they are always more willing to say - remember history and cherish peace.