* * * Knowledge Network-official website of Leaders Magazine, 20 10-08-05 14:33 Author: Zhou Hualei
1September 8, 947, Guangzhou. Sun Liren stood under the memorial tower and said calmly and slowly, "I am standing in front of the tomb." .
Sixty years later, the dead man in robes said, "We can't bear not to build a cemetery for them."
1990165438+1October19. In Taichung, an old man who planted roses at home for half his life died. There were more than ten thousand mourners at the funeral.
People. An old professor at Fu Jen Catholic University said that it is probably impossible for Taiwan Province Province to have the same touching scene in the future.
This old man is Sun Liren, one of the "Top Ten Anti-Japanese Generals". He is called "Rommel of the East". In War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, he led a new army expedition to India and Myanmar, becoming the general who annihilated the Japanese army the most. 1955, Sun Liren was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to move to Taichung on suspicion of instigating a "mutiny".
He was placed under house arrest in No.1 18, Shangshang Road, Taichung City for 33 years.
On holidays, Sun Liren would come to the shrine silently and burn incense and paper for his dead men. Before his death, he had two wishes: First, he went back to his hometown in Anhui to sweep his parents' graves; First, after waiting for him for a hundred years, he was buried in the cemetery of the dead soldiers of the new army in India and Myanmar in Matougang, Guangzhou, and was buried with the soldiers.
In 2006, at the foot of Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, the new army's Indian-Burmese military cemetery was completed in September, 1947, covering an area of 40,000 square meters, located at today's Li 'an Road and Guangyuan East Road. The cemetery faces south, beside the mountain. That year, Sun Liren took a military plane around Guangzhou three times and found this land of geomantic omen. As time goes on, there are few cemeteries left. According to the textual research of scholar Lu Jiefeng, there are only the tomb gate, Jigong Pavilion and Memorial Tower. They are scattered in this village in the form of "three points and one line" and can no longer be distinguished.
Jigong Pavilion is under renovation, and the iron gate is locked. It will be transformed into a permanent market, and the Chicken Pavilion as a cultural relic will be protected with glass.
The eight-lane Guang Yuan Middle Road isolates the memorial tower in a certain unit land. While leading the way, the doorpost said that few people came here to sweep the grave. "Usually once a month, it is the old revolution to offer flowers and get excited."
Tomb-Sweeping Day, a cemetery that has been dead for 60 years, was laid with a wreath for the second time. More than 40 "veterans" over the age of 70 came from all over the country, Canada and the United States, and automatically formed a tribute group. They arrived in Guangzhou on April 2 to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers and General Sun Liren. Some of the veterans are already suffering from cancer; Some tremble with crutches and are supported by children; Some people spend a whole year's savings lavishly to get together in Guangzhou for two days.
There is a special person in the delegation, Mr. Jie Jun, who is the son of General Sun Liren and an honorary professor of chemistry at the University of Waterloo. Twenty years ago, in order to rehabilitate Sun Liren, he took the lead in negotiating with the authorities of Taiwan Province Province, and finally freed Sun Liren at 1988, but was also restricted to return to Taiwan Province Province.
On April 3, 2006, veterans stood in an aisle more than 2 meters wide, lined up neatly and looked dignified. At that time, Jie Jun, a "child soldier", paid tribute to the fallen soldiers in a unique way: the gray-haired and slender 70-year-old man bent down in tears and did more than 50 push-ups in a row. According to the military regulations of the new army, every soldier should do 100 push-ups every day.
The veterans stared silently at the memorial tower. They think of the days when they marched southwest in big trucks and sang military songs more than 60 years ago.
"Indian hand, British ass and China corpse."
"It is better to go into battle and kill the enemy than to be full of poetry." In the war-torn years of 1940, with such determination, 20-year-old Zhang Fulin left the normal school, went to Chongqing to join the army, and became a correspondent in the 38th Division led by Sun Liren.
At that time, there was a sad "Difficult Folk Song" circulating in Yunnan: Japanese artillery bombed our home, shot our father and scared away our dear mother. ...
1942 65438+1On October 20th, the Japanese occupying Thailand invaded the British colony of Myanmar, pushing the western part of Yunnan, with the intention of cutting off the "blood vessel" of China's anti-Japanese war, thus attacking China from the rear, hitting Chongqing and completely destroying China. According to the Sino-British agreement on the defense of the Burma Road, the China government organized100000 troops to go to the battlefield in Burma.
1942 April night 18, yenangyaung, Myanmar. The residual temperature of 43 degrees Celsius during the day has not subsided. Mr. Scott in Britain is falling into deeper and deeper despair. He hasn't drunk water for two days, and the rescue has been delayed. 7,000 British troops were trapped by the Japanese on the two hills of "50 1 highland" and "502 highland", just like turtles in a jar. The 38th Division received a distress signal from Britain, and British commander Slim said, "It can't wait until tomorrow. The troops have been without food and water for two days and two nights, and will soon surrender. "
When the number of the enemy was unknown, the 38th Division 1 13 Regiment decided to attack at dawn at 5: 00 the next day. On the eve of the war storm, no one can sleep. 19 at 4: 30 in the morning, the sleeping sky was dyed red by signal flares. Liu, the head of the regiment, immediately ordered-"Start the attack and cross the Pingqiang River!"
With the support of the powerful "April 7th" mortar, after 12 hours of fierce fighting, bodies piled up like mountains. The enemy suffered heavy casualties and the whole line was shaken. "The victory was won by courage." The veterans said, "In the life-and-death battle for positions and hand-to-hand combat, the commanders and fighters gave full play to their physical strength and combat power."
At the Battle of yenangyaung, Sun Liren's troops entered Myanmar less than a month ago and were outnumbered, creating a miracle in military history. Journalists from all over the world, including British Reuters, agreed that this was the first contest between the Chinese, British and Japanese armed forces at the same time and on the same battlefield in the past century, and the Japanese army won.
The new 38th Division recaptured yenangyaung, expecting friendly support and preparing to attack the enemy further. However, due to the British strategy of "abandoning Myanmar and protecting India", the Sino-British Coalition forces have collapsed. The task of the 38th Division to protect Myanmar became to stop the enemy and cover the British troops who lost their combat effectiveness and retreated to India.
After several days of hunger and cold, the 38th Division finally crossed the Arakan Mountains and uniformly entered the village of Solanum nigrum in India, where one or two thousand defeated British and Burmese troops and Vietnamese refugees were accommodated along the way.
After the first Burma War,100000 Chinese Expeditionary Force plummeted by nearly 60000, and most of them died of starvation. A poem says, "Ten thousand martyrs died in the battlefield, and fifty thousand ghosts were buried in the mountains." General Dai Anlan also died in this battle. According to Liang Jiayou, a graduate of National Southwest Associated University and translator of the 38th Division, those arrogant Japanese soldiers said that they always saw "Indian hands (surrender), British buttocks (escape) and China's body".
"This is not a battle, this is a massacre."
1942 in may, the Yunnan-Myanmar highway was seized by the Japanese army, and the only "blood vessel" in China was cut off. Burma occupied by the Japanese army is like a big wedge, which is inserted between British India and China from the south. The United States opened up a "hump route" across the Himalayas, and ventured to airdrop supplies to western China. But the most fundamental way is to break through the Japanese blockade.
The time is ripe to counterattack Myanmar. Indian troops stationed in China merged into a new army, which has jurisdiction over the new 38th Division and the new 22nd Division. Honest Zheng Dongguo was appointed commander, and Sun Liren was promoted to deputy commander.
1in March, 943, the 38th Division went to northern Myanmar to cut mountains and build roads, wiped out the Japanese troops entrenched in them, and covered the roads built by American troops. This is a terrible task: to return to savage mountain. Marching in muddy jungles and mountains, even mules and horses carrying mountain guns can't walk, and heavy artillery equipment needs soldiers to carry.
The Japanese army stationed here is the famous 18 division. It participated in the Nanjing Massacre and has always been invincible. Known as the "king of jungle warfare." And Sun Liren's 38th division has just been formed, fledgling.
New Ocean in the north and Yubang in Hukanghe Valley in the south are the battlegrounds for both sides. Sun Liren led the 1 14 regiment to the front line for several months, and completely occupied the jade list on 1944 New Year's Eve. 1 12 artillery company commander ding dixun still remembers it. When he captured the country and crossed the Longjiang River, the branches along the way were small notes left by the Japanese army on the way to escape. The handwriting on it is crooked: "China officers and soldiers, please stop chasing, Meng Guanzai!"
The 38th Division continued to pursue Meng Guan and Myitkyina. Mengguan is the heart of Kang Hu, with complex terrain, with mountains connected with water and water connected with mountains. When Sun Liren went deep into the front line to bid for the war, he grew a beard and vowed not to attack Mengguan or shave. Under the command of Sun Liren, the new 38th Division fought bravely and was inseparable, often winning battles, which drove the Japanese army to retreat and lose confidence.
Myitkyina is the worst and longest battle. The soldiers fought in knee-high mud, and the Japanese fought to the death, resulting in a stalemate. From May of 1943 to May of 18, Stilwell sent the US Air Force to attack Myitkyina on a large scale, until late at night in August of 1 04, when the "death squads" composed of Japanese troops attacked at the same time with the frontier troops, the Japanese army finally collapsed for 8 1 day.
Liang Jiayou wrote in his memoirs that in Myitkyina, the Japanese army was besieged and ran out of ammunition. After Major General Maruyama took all the wounded and women away on a raft, Japanese soldiers committed suicide collectively, leaving no prisoners.
The Japanese army tried to calm down on Rangoon Radio: "The zhina 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: "Go to Tokyo!"
The attack speed and powerful fighting capacity of the new army finally made it hard for the Japanese army to resist, and the originally close battle evolved into a big sweep of the Japanese army by China soldiers. After the Battle of Bamo and Nankan, the Japanese army was in shock and shouted: "This is not a battle, this is a massacre!"
According to the data reported by Phoenix Satellite TV, the new army annihilated 48,000 Japanese troops in the second war of entering Myanmar, and killed 65,438+0.8 million people, thus winning an all-round victory in the battlefield in northern Myanmar.
The old man at the foot of Gaoligong Mountain said that after several days of fighting, there was blood all over the hillside. In those years, the villagers called the mountain spring "Red River". When villagers in western Yunnan dug up land to build houses, they could also find the bones of Chinese expeditionary forces wearing straw sandals.
1945 65438+1On October 27th, China's West Yunnan Combat Army, China's North Myanmar Combat Army and allied forces joined forces at Mangya. The Sino-Indian Highway is completely connected with the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway, and the counterattacks in northern Myanmar and western Yunnan have achieved complete victory.
From1April 1942 to1April 3, 1945, the Chinese expeditionary force fought bloody battles for three years, and finally achieved a "disastrous victory" at the cost of twice the enemy casualties.
"Our division is the only force in Myanmar that has not lost the battle!" Speaking of this past, the veterans of the 38 th Division are still in high spirits.
Where there is a war, there is a cemetery.
1945 65438+ 10, Stilwell Road (China-India Highway) was opened to traffic. Lu Derun, a reporter of Ta Kung Pao in Taiwan, went to a wooden house on the Irrawaddy River to bid farewell to Sun Liren on the eve of marching with the army. General Sun is the only one in the room, and there is a hunting dog.
Lu Derun asked Sun Liren if he had any domestic goods to take with him.
Sun Liren pondered for a while and said, "If it's convenient for you, see if there is any money on the streets of Kunming and buy some for me."
When Lu Derun first heard the word "ghost money", he had not recovered.
"Ghost money is paper money burned when going to the grave." Sun Liren said with a wry smile, "It's not that I'm superstitious, but that I really don't know any other way to pay homage to those soldiers who died for our country." His voice became lower and lower. He said this intermittently and then turned his head away.
Lu Derun recalled afterwards: "I have interviewed many Chinese and foreign generals, and it is the first time for an emotional person like General Sun to see them."
There is an unwritten rule in Sun Liren's army: Wherever there is a war, a cemetery will be built. At that time, more than ten cities, from Myitkyina to Lashio and Casa, built cemeteries and monuments for the fallen soldiers of the New Army.
A soldier either dies in battle or goes back to his hometown. 1June, 945, the new army returned home with elephants and Japanese prisoners captured in Myanmar. There are tens of thousands of tombs of fallen soldiers, just as Sun Liren promised, "Evocation, return to the Central Plains, enjoy the Spring and Autumn Period forever, and dream back to Chang 'an Window".
1945 September 16, after the surrender ceremony in Guangzhou, Sun Liren, commander of the New Army, immediately set out to build a cemetery for the Indo-Burmese soldiers killed in the Anti-Japanese War. The cemetery is located in Matougang, Baiyun Mountain, Guangzhou, because "Guangzhou is a city that fights against invaders, and there are cemeteries of 72 martyrs and Liao He near Matougang".
The cost of the cemetery did not use a penny of the national government, but was voluntarily donated by all the officers and men of the new army. Sun Liren ordered 600 Japanese prisoners of war to "repay their blood with sweat" and "comfort the martyrs in Jiuquan". According to veterans such as Wang Bohui, the new army used an engineering company to escort 600 prisoners of war from the prison camp to the Shahe construction site every day. Soldiers of the engineering company stood around the construction site on guard. "The Japanese prisoners of war who built the cemetery were honest, worked hard and cooked by themselves at noon."
Two years later, the cemetery of the dead soldiers of the Indian-Burmese New Army was completed, which was spectacular.
There is a bluestone monument in front of the memorial tower, engraved with Sun Liren's calligraphy "Memorial Tower for the Soldiers of the First Army of India and Myanmar".
In the center of the memorial tower stands a bronze eagle. It is the soul of the new army cast by the shells that killed the Japanese aggressors. The bronze eagle weighs 1000 kilograms, guarding the graves of 27,000 martyrs.
On September 8th, 1947, more than 2000 people wore dark green military uniforms and black armbands at the dedication ceremony of the cemetery. Sun Liren stood under the memorial tower, like a straight pine tree, with no expression on her thin face. He said calmly and slowly, "I stood in front of the tomb, looking at the southwest, thinking of the robes killed in India and Myanmar." They are heroic, 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 funeral music sounded, the three Burmese elephants left in the cemetery seemed to be growled by the sad emotional contagion. There was a deep cry from the dull crowd.
Time is like a shahe flowing slowly through a graveyard. Over the past 60 years, the clear Shahe River has gradually faded out of people's sight and become a sewer and sewer in Guangzhou.
"A group of forgotten people"
"You can't bear to tell people about the unforgettable hunger, the impact of flash floods, the bites of poisonous insects and the painful night, but now the blooming trees have forgotten everything." Mu Dan wrote a poem in 1945, but one sentence became a prophecy.
After liberation, the new army scattered all over the country, and the cemetery was gradually deserted and nobody cared.
While the cemetery of China soldiers killed in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was devastated, Japan built a cemetery for Japanese soldiers killed in northern, and they even erected a monument for every fallen war horse. Zhang Fulin, who visited this cemetery a few years ago, said, "After seeing it, I felt very uncomfortable. I am so angry that I have to scold my parents! "
"A group of forgotten people died in the battlefield and died with the vegetation; If they win, it's still heaven and earth! " Bai Yang left words on a stone tablet of an Indian-Burmese army cemetery in Thailand.
1just after new year's day in 950, American general MacArthur sent a special plane to Taiwan Province province to meet Sun Liren, indicating that the United States intends to train him as the leader of the "regime" in Taiwan Province province. But this is just wishful thinking of the United States, and Sun Liren handed over the plot to Chiang Kai-shek. His loyalty also planted the seeds of tragedy for himself. 1955, Chiang Kai-shek put Sun Liren under house arrest on charges of "mutiny" for fear of being too successful.
Sun Liren became "the second Zhang Xueliang", and those servants were also implicated. According to Li Ao's record, "for more than 30 years, their souls have either gone to heaven, been killed, imprisoned or down and out." Liu, head of the 1 13 regiment, sells briquettes in Fengshan, Taiwan Province. Guo, an old family member who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was paroled in Taiwan Province Province when a train jumped out of the window and died "accidentally".
For more than 30 years, Sun Liren has been trapped in her "home" in Taichung and has never seen an outsider. When life is difficult, I support my family by planting roses and laying eggs. On sunny days, he fertilizes, prunes and waters the roses in the garden. Every family sometimes sells some flowers, which people call "general roses". He applied again and again to attend his daughter's graduation ceremony and even his wedding ceremony in the United States, but he was rejected again and again.
199 1 On the evening of February 20th, Bing Xin recalled, "It should have been thirty-three years, but it turned into a wasted year. How can it not make people sad? "
Zhang is a machine gun company gunner and platoon leader of the new corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. After being injured and dismissed in the Battle of Shahe in northern Myanmar, he fled back to Tengchong alone and was almost shot as a traitor. He never left any plot of that year in his memory. He just showed the visitors the action of machine gun shooting over and over again: "Dadada, this is the third shot …". He doesn't have an index finger, so he must demonstrate pulling the trigger with his middle finger.
1945 After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Fulin stayed in Mandalay, Myanmar as a Chinese teacher for more than 30 years. Zhang Fulin has never returned to the motherland for more than 60 years. Make a living by selling rice and ginger at home in the market. He also set up a stall to sell calligraphy, but no one has ever bought his calligraphy. In Myanmar, few people like China's calligraphy. His house is a bamboo hut with ventilation around it. He is looking forward to the day when China's anti-Japanese veterans and veteran comrades can once again March through Tiananmen Square with the cheers of people wearing mighty military uniforms and medals.
That glorious history has turned into a bitter history and is treasured in the hearts of every soldier. The legend of the new army has replaced history and is becoming more and more unfamiliar among the people. In the story, Sun Liren, who pursued humanitarianism, became an iron-blooded general and buried 1200 Japanese prisoners of war alive. The new military song "Our army should carry forward, unite sincerely and not bully" was interpreted as another version, "If you don't see me, the Han army will eventually die, and the crown will be weak ..."
June 5438+October 2006 10, when Lu Jiefeng, a scholar, visited the veterans of the New Army in Chengdu, their speeches were like a flood that burst its banks, scrambling to speak for themselves, which could not be stopped at all. Afterwards, several veterans said to her, "Happy! It's interesting to say! "
Lu Jiefeng said: "I think they have been suppressed for too long, they have no chance to express themselves, and no one wants to sit down and listen to them."
The world has not forgotten the new army. 1992 On the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Yeonpyeong Island, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher held General Liu's hand tightly in the lobby of Carlton Hotel: "Today, on behalf of the British government and people, I would like to express my deep gratitude and admiration to you." US President Bush also sent a letter to pay tribute to him.
On the morning of September 3, 2005, China president Hu Jintao delivered an important speech at the conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of the victory of China people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the world anti-fascist war: "The anti-Japanese troops led by the China Kuomintang and China's * * * production party respectively undertook the fighting tasks in front of the battlefield and behind the enemy lines, forming a strategic situation of jointly fighting against the Japanese aggressors." On September 4th, this speech was reproduced in full by People's Daily. On the day he got the newspaper, Zhang, a veteran of the 30 th Division of the New Army, read it word by word with a magnifying glass. Because laryngeal cancer can't speak, I wrote on a piece of paper in despair:
"All veterans will be awarded medals, that is to say, the state recognizes our resistance to Japan!"