When Su Yu visited Japan in 1979, a veteran of the invasion of China caught up with him and called him "the old chief". What happened?

From May to June, 1979, Su Yu, then a member of the the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), paid a one-month goodwill visit to Japan on the cruise ship Minghua as the highest advisor of the delegation of "China-Japan Friendship Ship". This is the first time that a large delegation with a large number of people and a high level has been sent since the founding of New China.

The itinerary of this visit to Japan is quite tight. The "China-Japan Friendship Ship" will go around the Japanese archipelago, calling at 1 port cities including Shimonoseki, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

A Japanese veteran who participated in the war of aggression against China was very excited when he read the news of General Su Yu's visit to Japan in the newspaper. He immediately decided to meet Su Yu.

But he chased Osaka from Tokyo and Nagoya from Osaka, but he was always a little late. Finally, he caught up with Kobe before catching up with the "China-Japan Friendship Ship" delegation.

When meeting General Su Yu, the veteran of the invasion of China gave a solemn military salute first, then held Su Yu's hand tightly and said, "Old Chief, do you still remember me?"

A Japanese veteran who once participated in the invasion of China, why did he have to meet Su Yu after chasing several cities, and he was also called "the old chief?"

this has to start from War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In 1935, Hideyoshi Yamada followed the Japanese Kwantung Army into the northeast of China, and then went all the way south to become Depth Charge, which invaded China.

On July 7, 1937, the Japanese garrison conducted an exercise near Lugou Bridge, falsely claiming that a Japanese soldier was missing and asked to enter Wanping County for a search, but the China garrison sternly refused, and the Japanese immediately launched an attack on Wanping Ancient City and Lugou Bridge. The defenders of China couldn't bear it, rose up and resisted, and the all-round war of resistance broke out. In the battle of Lugouqiao, Hideyoshi Yamada was commended by the Japanese Military Department for his outstanding performance. At this time, he is like an executioner stained with the blood of China people.

in January, 1939, in Wangjiayu village, Wuxiang county, Shanxi province, three Japanese prisoners, Lady Saya, Takeo Kobayashi and Yoshio Okada, took to the stage and announced on the spot that they would join the Eighth Route Army. Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, took the stage and shook hands with them one by one. They were inspired by the Eighth Route Army's captive policy and produced the first batch of "Japan's Eighth Route Army".

subsequently, this group of "Japan's Eighth Route Army" was expanded to seven people, and in November 1939, the first Japanese anti-war group "Awakening Alliance" was founded. Later, it merged with other Japanese anti-war groups in China to form the "Japanese anti-war alliance in China".

since then, this anti-war alliance has launched a propaganda offensive against the Japanese invaders, exposing the nature of the war of aggression by shouting before the battle, distributing leaflets, posting slogans, sending condolence letters and condolence bags, etc. These practices have played a special role in disintegrating the enemy and weakening their fighting will.

In the winter of 1939, Hideyoshi Yamada accidentally picked up a leaflet distributed by the anti-war alliance. After reading it in one breath, he suddenly felt guilty and had anti-war thoughts in his heart. He secretly hid the leaflet in his marching bag.

Soon, Hideyoshi Yamada found another leaflet distributed by the New Fourth Army along the way. The New Fourth Army is a unit composed of Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants and guerrillas who insisted on guerrilla warfare in 15 guerrilla areas in eight provinces (except Qiongya area in Guangdong province) according to the agreement between the two parties in 1937. In October of the same year, it was reorganized into the new Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

after reading this leaflet, Hiding it carefully in her body. Unexpectedly, this scene was actually seen by Hideyoshi Yamada's boss! The boss immediately ordered Hideyoshi Yamada to be arrested and tortured until he was raw, and then he was locked up and sent for strict supervision.

One day in 194, Hideki Yamada escaped from the Japanese military camp while the guards were not looking. After a long time of searching and searching, Hideyoshi Yamada finally found an anti-war alliance and joined them. This team joined by Hideyoshi Yamada is called "Japan's New Fourth Army".

Su Yu, then deputy commander of the Jiangnan Command of the New Fourth Army, learned that Hideyoshi Yamada had joined the anti-war alliance and decided to meet this person in person.

after meeting, they had a good talk. During the conversation, Su Yu learned that Hideyoshi Yamada was an artillery, with rich experience and superb technology. Su Yu has always attached importance to artillery operations, and is very good at mobilizing heavy weapons for large-scale offensive tactics, because it can not only deal a heavy blow to the enemy, but also reduce our casualties.

Therefore, Su Yu immediately invited Hideyoshi Yamada to join his own army, so as to make greater contributions to the fight against Japanese invaders. At this point, Hideki Yamada became a subordinate of General Su Yu.

In the next few battles, Hideyoshi Yamada fought bravely, and his skillful artillery control ability was also recognized by Su Yu. Soon, Su Yu appointed Hideyoshi Yamada as the artillery battalion commander and asked him to train the artillery of the New Fourth Army.

after the victory of the anti-Japanese war in August 1945, most members of the anti-war alliance returned to Japan one after another, and the alliance dissolved itself. However, Hideyoshi Yamada did not return to China, but stayed to participate in the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

Hideyoshi Yamada unreservedly taught his students what he had learned all his life, and taught them how to use and maintain the type 41 mountain gun, how to observe and aim, and how to cross fire. In the battle of Laiwu in 1947, the students taught by Hideyoshi Yamada annihilated most of the enemy troops in the pursuit of Li Xianzhou, and none of them suffered any casualties. In the Huaihai Campaign in 1948, the students he taught created the first case of our military attacking aircraft with wild guns, and made outstanding achievements in the Huaihai Campaign.

In the Korean battlefield, facing the aircraft and artillery of the US military, Hideki Yamada and his students fought bravely to kill the enemy and made many achievements.

in 1958, Hideyoshi Yamada returned to Japan because of the changes in the world situation. After returning to China, he never forgot the promotion of Su Yu's old chief.

Those who returned to Japan in the anti-war alliance had a hard time. They are regarded as dangerous red elements. They have been tracked and monitored by the Japanese police for a long time, and they can't find a stable job. They can only make a living by doing odd jobs. Some of them are still sweeping streets and burning boilers until they are 8 years old. Hideyoshi Yamada is no exception.

Despite the hard life, Hideyoshi Yamada took an active part in Sino-Japanese friendship activities, exposed the crimes of the Japanese invasion of China, and wrote a lot of articles in newspapers and magazines.

Things have changed dramatically. When we meet again decades later, General Su Yu didn't recognize Hideyoshi Yamada for a while. At this time, Hideyoshi Yamada immediately handed up his business card. Su Yu took the business card and looked at it carefully for a long time before suddenly realizing: "I remember, you were my artillery battalion commander!"

Hideyoshi Yamada quickly replied, "Yes! Yes! Yes! The memory of the head is really good! "

when they met this time, they talked for a long time. As he was leaving, Su Yu took out a brand-new shirt and tie from his suitcase and gave it to Hideyoshi Yamada. General Su Yu took Hideyoshi Yamada's hand and said, "This is a testimony of our friendship in fighting together on the same front!"

The reason why Hideyoshi Yamada respects the old chief Su Yu so much is that he is deeply impressed by the military talent of Su Yu, the "God of War".

General Su Yu has a genius-like keen perception of the battlefield, and is good at commanding large armies to fight, so he can be called a generation of God of War. He carried soldiers with great ingenuity, great appetite and great courage, and reached the highest level of "being a soldier like water" for military strategists. He made great achievements in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.

On November 6, 1948, Su Yu launched and commanded the Huaihai Campaign, which consumed 8, troops of the Kuomintang with 6, troops, completely shattered Chiang Kai-shek's plan to establish a "key defense" north of the Yangtze River, and wiped out the elite main force of the Kuomintang in the battlefields of East China and Central Plains. Huaihai Campaign is the campaign with the largest number of enemy fighters, the greatest political influence and the most complicated war style among the three major campaigns.

Mao Zedong commented: "Su Yu made the first contribution in the Huaihai Campaign". Liu Bocheng said: "Comrade Su Yu, with deep wisdom and courage, is excellent, victorious in every battle, and has the style of an ancient general. He is the best general of our army and a strategist of China.".

in 1955, Su Yu was awarded the rank of general, ranking first among the top ten generals in new China.