0407 The Last Eight Hundred Heroes

The Sichuan army is considered to have come to an end for the time being.

Immediately afterwards, Fan Jianguo led Wang Liang, Ma Xiaogang and Sun Weimin to the outdoor exhibition hall - Chinese Veterans Handprint Square

The Chinese Veteran's Handprint Square covers an area of 3,000 square meters and is in a V-shape, meaning victory.

Each handprint wall is about 1.2 meters wide and 2.6 meters high, and the veteran's handprints are expressed with corroded tempered glass.

Fan Jianguo introduced Wang Liang and others: "This is the hand model of 3,810 anti-Japanese war veterans collected by our museum in cooperation with the Sichuan Provincial Veteran Cadres Bureau, and collected from the Sichuan Huangpu Alumni Association and some veterans of the Anti-Japanese War. ”

Wang Liang couldn't help but sigh: "It's not easy! The veterans were all in their prime, and it was their hands that wielded broadswords and spears, threw grenades, planted mines, and bombed pillboxes, and it was these hands that blocked the menacing Japanese invading army, turned the tide, turned the tide, and held up the future of the entire Chinese nation. ”

The significance of the construction of this Chinese veteran's handprint square is so far-reaching that future generations can see what the meritorious hands look like, which not only commends the patriotic warriors but also warns and inspires future generations.

Looking at these handprints, many of them are already mutilated.

Wang Liang knew that in order to obtain these handprints, Fan Jianguo had traveled almost all over China.

Fan Jianguo asked, "Uncle, do you remember the eight hundred heroes?" ”

"Aren't you, kid? Your uncle is not old and foolish, can I forget this? Wang Liang rolled his eyes, this little rabbit cub even tested himself.

On August 13, 1937, the Japanese army attacked Shanghai on a large scale, causing the August 13 Incident.

In the final stage of the battle, on the evening of October 26, more than 400 people of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division of the Army of the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army (800 heroes according to press propaganda) guarding the Dachang defense line were ordered to guard the Sixing warehouse on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek under the command of Xie Jinyuan, deputy commander of the regiment.

Under the heavy encirclement of the Japanese army, the 800 brave men guarding the Sixing warehouse fought alone for four days and nights.

The battle lasted until October 30, and after receiving the order to retreat, they broke out of the siege and retreated into the public concession, trapped in the lone army camp.

In 1941, Xie Jinyuan was assassinated by Wang's puppet agents.

In December 1941, the Japanese army broke into the public concession and captured the remaining 800 unarmed soldiers trapped here.

Fan Jianguo pointed to an incomplete handprint and said, "Uncle, this handprint is the last one left by the 'Eight Hundred Heroes'. ”

Wang Liang learned that some of the more than 400 captured people were transferred by the Japanese army to work in Xiaolingwei in Nanjing, some were sent to Yuxikou in Anhui Province to load and unload coal, and some were sent to the Japanese concentration camp in Papua New Guinea to do hard labor.

In the end, dozens of people escaped and returned to Chongqing, where they asked to re-enlist and reinstate, but were ruthlessly rejected by the Kuomintang authorities.

had to go incognito, disarm and return to the field.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the surviving lone soldiers from all over the country came to Shanghai one after another.

Under the care of Ling Weicheng, the widow of the head of Xie Jinyuan, the lone soldiers were engaged in porter work at the Dada Wharf at that time, and supported their lives with labor, and the '800 heroes' of that year were self-reliant and self-reliant.

Fan Jianguo said: "The name of the last strong man is Yang Yangzheng, and his real name is Yang Genkui. For decades, the veteran was afraid to use his real name until ......"

On December 4, 2010, it was very cold in Sichuan Province and there was a light rain outside the museum.

In the exhibition hall of the Songhu Battle on the second floor of the frontal battle venue, the narrator is explaining to the tourists: "On October 27, 1937, Xie Jinyuan, the commander of the 54th Regiment of the 88th Division of the Kuomintang, was ordered to hold the Sixing Warehouse on Guangfu Road in Zhabei...... Eight hundred officers and soldiers are known as eight hundred heroes......"

Just when the narrator said that '800 officers and soldiers are known as 800 heroes', suddenly, an old man next to her interrupted her: "It's not 800 heroes, only 397 people!" ”

The old man trembled, but his voice was particularly loud.

Everyone looked at the old man, only to hear the old man say lightly: "I was the one who guarded the four lines at that time. ”

Then the old man vividly recounted the details of the hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army at that time: "I grabbed a pistol, pinned four grenades to my waist, and rushed out with more than 40 people. A devil soldier stabbed me with a bayonet spear, and my head was deflected, and the bayonet opened a bloody hole in my left forehead, and I threw my gun and knocked him over......"

The old man spoke with a thick Sichuan accent, bringing the battle of seventy-three years ago back to life.

The old man called himself Yang Genkui, ninety years old, a veteran of the defense of the Sixing Warehouse.

Fan Jianguo, who rushed to the scene after hearing the news, deliberately said that the location of Xie Jinyuan's assassination was on the playground in order to confirm the identity of the old man, and the old man immediately corrected: "Not on the playground!" Not on the playground! I didn't have a morning exercise yet! ”

Yang Genkui continued: "At 5 o'clock in the morning on April 24, 1941, the regiment commander led the officers and soldiers to conduct the morning drill as usual. ”

"Who thought that they had already been bribed by Wang Pseudo to be traitors, and suddenly took out the daggers and iron pickaxes and other murder weapons that had been brought into the camp in advance, swarmed up, and stabbed the regiment commander in the chest and left temple."

The old man Yang Genkui said indignantly, "Commander Xie was seriously injured in many places, bleeding nonstop, and died an hour later, at the age of thirty-seven!" At that time, all the officers and men of our battalion wept bitterly. When the deputy Shangguan Zhibiao of the regiment saw this, he was also seriously injured when he stepped forward to arrest the murderer. The scum of the four nationalities were captured on the spot and handed over to the custody of the concession authorities. Later, all four traitors were sentenced to death!! ”

Fan Jianguo recalled and told everyone about the situation at that time.

In the 1931-1945 Group Sculpture Square of the Chinese Heroes, Yang Genkui found the statue of the regiment commander Xie Jinyuan, took off his gloves, took off his hat, stood upright, saluted and said: "Regiment commander, subordinate Yang Genkui, lieutenant platoon commander of the first platoon of the second company of the first battalion." At the end of the Anti-Japanese War, he retreated into the British Concession. I salute you. ”

In front of Chang Kaishen's statue, Yang Genkui bowed deeply and stood solemnly: "Chairman Jiang, your subordinate Yang Genkui saluted you......"

Yang Genkui saluted the statues of ***, ***, and Zhu De in turn.

Subsequently, in the Chinese Veteran's Handprint Square, the old man Yang Genkui left a handprint on his right hand.

The old man Yang Genkui held Fan Jianguo's hand tightly and said: "I saw the CCTV broadcast of "The Eventful Years", and I couldn't believe that there was a museum to commemorate the frontal battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, so I asked my nephew to bring me here. ”

As he spoke, Yang Genkui took out a small wooden box from his pocket and pushed open the lid, which contained three bronze badges.

They are the [Anti-Japanese War Victory Medal (No. 6716)], the [Zhongxing Regiment Army Zhenrong Medal of Honor Officer Certificate No.191] and the [24 Squadron 3909] badge.