1. The bombing of Zhengzhou
February 14, 1938 was the darkest day for the citizens of Zhengzhou. At around 11 a.m. on the same day, nine Japanese bombers, escorted by six fighters, took off from Anyang and carried out a frenzied bombing of Zhengzhou.
On this day, it is the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival, and people are happily playing dry boats and stepping on stilts on the streets to celebrate the festival. Japanese planes dropped nearly 100 bombs in three groups on Zhengzhou's Guancheng District (formerly Zheng County), Datong Road, near the railway station, and Beiqianyuan Street. A bustling city turns into a living hell in an instant.
According to the memories of witnesses, countless houses, schools, hospitals and other buildings were shot and collapsed, and the city was in shambles. More than 500 people were killed and wounded, and for a time blood and flesh were flying, and even human limbs and broken arms were hung on trees and telephone poles. It took three days to dispose of the bodies of the victims.
That year, 14-year-old Zhang Tongyou witnessed the shameless atrocities of the Japanese invaders and Chinese civilians.
Second, the pen from Rong
On October 2, 1941, the Japanese invaded Zhengzhou. In just a few days, the beast-like Japanese invaders made several big ** such as Nanguan, Wulibao, and Shilibao. Everywhere you go, you do no evil. Some people watched their relatives being caught by the Japanese invaders and thrown into the water tank upside down and drowned alive.
At the end of October, the Japanese invaded Zhengzhou. 17-year-old Zhang Tongyou was unwilling to be a slave to the country, and resolutely chose the path of exile with the teachers and students of the school. Zhang Lao recalled: "In that era, during the war years, there was no longer my hometown, so I fled with the school. ”
He recalled the scene at the Zhengzhou Railway Station, and he still sighed. "The platform of the train station was crowded with people, and the people on the overpass still came one after another. As soon as the train entered the station, people squeezed desperately. After a while, the carriage was packed, and people climbed onto the roof, and no one was afraid to fall ......If there is a car, people don't ask where they drive, as long as they can escape from this place. ”
Zhang Tongyou, along with a few teachers and students who did not catch the train, could only brave the cold and endure hunger and walked in the direction of Xi'an.
After going through hardships to Xi'an, the teacher of the team leader informed everyone, "The school allows everyone to choose their own way out, if you are willing to study, the state will support you to study, and if you are willing to take the entrance examination to other schools, you can also find a job." ”
Zhang Tongyou and several classmates decided to join Rong and sign up for the Air Force. Everyone swore that they must defeat the Japanese criminals who bombed their hometowns and avenge the death of their fellow villagers.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the planes of the Chinese Air Force were extremely backward, and the Japanese occupied absolute air supremacy. The warriors of the Chinese Air Force fought against the enemy in the sky with superb technology and patriotic enthusiasm, and emerged ace pilots such as Gao Zhihang, Chen Huaimin, and Li Guidan, who were almost household names at that time. However, as the war dragged on, the Chinese Air Force suffered heavy attrition, and by 1941 it had fallen into a state of silence or even paralysis.
Zhang Tongyou successfully entered the air force in Xi'an, but he was stuck during the physical examination. Due to poor nutrition, physical fitness is simply not up to standard. The examiner advised him to do ground crew for two years and wait until he recovered.
Zhang Tongwen was full of hope to be able to go into battle to kill the enemy, but he was not satisfied with the work of ground guard and aircraft maintenance, and after a fierce ideological struggle, he still chose to leave.
A few days later, I happened to meet the enrollment of the military medical school, which does not have as high requirements for physical fitness as the Air Force, and it also serves the country by saving lives and helping the wounded. So, Zhang Tongwen, who was confused about the way out, applied for the military medical school, and soon, he got the admission letter.
The Xi'an Military Medical School that Zhang Tongyou entered had a two-year school system, because it was a military school, and after enrollment, he had to undergo three months of military training, and after enrollment, it was completely militarized management.
Just when Zhang was studying Xi school intensively, the world war situation changed dramatically, the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor, and the Pacific War broke out. The long-planned Japanese invaders implemented a southward strategy and frantically swept Southeast Asia, and the British and American allies were quickly defeated. Despite all their reluctance, the British troops who had been beaten in Burma had no choice but to ask China for help.
100,000 Chinese expeditionary troops set foot out of the country and rushed to foreign lands to fight and kill the enemy.
In the military medical school, the most talked about by the students was the expeditionary force, and they all hoped that after graduation, they could follow the expeditionary force to Myanmar and promote our country's prestige in a foreign land. Fortunately, Zhang Tongwen's squad was selected to become a reserve member of the expeditionary force.
However, the news that followed was worrying. The expeditionary force lost the battle, one part withdrew through the Savage Valley and suffered extremely heavy losses, and the other part was led by General Sun Liren to withdraw to India and became the "Chinese Army in India". However, neither the Chinese nor the Allies gave up, and the second expedition to reorganize the expeditionary force immediately entered the preparatory stage.
In order to meet the needs of the war, Zhang Tongwen's class added two courses, one is battlefield English and the other is chemistry**, both of which are taught by Americans. These two courses are extremely practical, especially chemistry**, although Chinese do not use it, but we must learn to prevent it, and know how to deal with it when the Japanese release poison gas.
3. Travel to Myanmar
After graduating from the Field Hospital of the Expeditionary Force, the school took the cadets to the Kunming Army Headquarters to report for duty. At that time, the horn of ** had already sounded, and the headquarters immediately assigned the cadets to the hospitals of various field troops. On the second day after entering the unit, Zhang Tongwen took a plane to the Burma theater with the personnel of the logistics unit.
Zhang Tongwen was assigned to the "Eighth Logistics Hospital" with the rank of lieutenant military doctor. The dean was a native of Northeast China named Wang Weijun, but other than that, he knew nothing about the local situation. Zhang Lao recalled: "It was not an urban area, it was in the mountains, no one had ever been there, they didn't dare to run out, the Burmese people didn't understand how to speak, and the hospital was under martial law at that time, ......”
Soon, they rushed to the front. The battle ahead was fierce, and they had to treat many wounded every day, and Zhang Lao recalled that in those days, three to five hundred wounded people came down every day, day and night, and cars pulled them over.
Zhang Tongwen's field hospital is still three lines of fire away from the front line of battle, and the first line is staffed by experienced veteran military doctors, who braved the flames of war to simply treat the wounded on the battlefield and organize stretcher teams to carry the wounded down. The second line can take care of checking the injury, rescuing the seriously injured, posting "injury tickets" for the lightly injured, and recording the cause and location of the injury. Zhang Tongwen's third line treated the wounded transported down from the second line.
The brutal war enabled Zhang Tongyou and his classmates to accumulate rich clinical experience, and their medical skills were rapidly improved. Zhang Lao recalled: "At that time, many of the wounded were wounded, but few were hit by bullets, because it was a mountainous and dense forest battle, and it was difficult to see the specific location of the enemy, so they basically threw grenades and bombs. "The shrapnel of this kind of explosion is scattered, the flesh is blurred, and the operation is much more difficult than that of a medium bullet. Zhang Lao said that he was scared at first, but he couldn't show it in front of the wounded soldiers, and he couldn't care about being dirty and tired.
Fourth, experience the surrender
After the fighting subsided, Zhang Tongwen's unit received an order to return to China. Zhang Tongwen and his comrades-in-arms came back on foot. There is a language barrier with the local people, they can't communicate, and they don't know where they have been. Anyway, everyone followed the big army, treating the wounded and sick as they went. It wasn't until Tengchong that Zhang Tongwen realized that he had returned to his motherland.
The troops marched along the Yunnan-Burma Highway towards Kunming. When he walked to Lufeng, Zhang Tongwen saw that the people in the city were happily setting off firecrackers and marching. He inquired with the locals and learned that the Japanese had surrendered. Zhang Tongwen was full of doubts, how come the common people know about it, but the army still doesn't know?
Back in the army, Zhang Tongwen told everyone that the Japanese devils had surrendered, and everyone was skeptical. By noon, the telegram came, and the Japanese devils surrendered!At that moment, the entire barracks boiled.
Japan surrendered unconditionally, but the task of Zhang Tongwen and his comrades-in-arms was not over. According to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the Allied High Command issued an order on August 17: all Japanese troops in Vietnam north of the 16th latitude unconditionally surrendered to the squadron. The First Front Army of the Chinese Army went abroad to Vietnam and surrendered. Commander Lu Han served as the commander of the surrender. This is the famous "transnational surrender" in history.
On 8 September, General Lu Han led 200,000 Chinese troops into Vietnam. Zhang Tongwen was fortunate to be selected as a military doctor of the guard regiment and experienced this historical moment.
Zhang Lao recalled that the commander of the First Front Army took our troops to Vietnam to surrender, and at that time they were all on foot and without cars. When I went to Vietnam, there was no place to live in the mountains, and the conditions were very difficult, but everyone was very demoralized and excited.
Mr. Zhang also recounted an anecdote in the local area. When they camped, the locals told them that the mountain had miasma at night. You can't live under the mountain, and when the night comes, the miasma will kill you. No one knew what the miasma was, and a few people didn't believe it and stayed in Emperor Yuan to sleep. In the middle of the night, there was a strange smell in the air, and the air seemed to have become thinner, and everyone hurriedly woke each other up and ran out to breathe. When everyone reached the top of the mountain, the air improved.
Those Japanese criminals who surrendered have long since lost their arrogance of the past, and one by one the army is untidy and disgraced. When the squadron arrived in Hanoi, the Japanese soldiers hurriedly stood upright when they saw the squadron, and they didn't dare to move.
On 28 September, the surrender ceremony was completed. The Japanese surrendered their guns, then returned to the barracks without being allowed to move, and waited for the squadron to escort them onto the ship and return to Japan.
After participating in the surrender ceremony, Zhang Tongwen was awarded the Victory Medal.
In 1949, when the Kuomintang forces were defeated, Zhang Tongwen's unit did not flee to Taiwan, but to the Golden Triangle region of Yunnan. When he walked to Duyun, Zhang Tongwen left the army and stayed to open a small clinic in the local area, which took root.
In 1984, Zhang Tongyou retired from Duyun County Hospital.
On May 21, 2023, Zhang Tongyou passed away at the age of 99.