In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, there is a well-known Red Revolution-themed museum - Jianchuan Museum. The museum is home to a large collection of precious cultural relics, the most attractive of which is a five-foot square white cloth made of the "Dead Word Flag", which bears witness to the history of blood and fire in a unique way, and deeply attracts everyone who comes to visit.
When the docent told the story of this historical flag, every visitor was deeply moved and burst into tears. So, who is the hand of this "dead word flag", and what kind of moving story is hidden behind it?
Whenever this "dead flag" is mentioned, we will recall the magnificent years of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In 1937, the July Seven Incident broke out, and Japanese imperialism invaded China in an all-out attempt to completely eliminate the Chinese people.
This has caused the mood of the Chinese people to be unprecedentedly high, and countless patriotic young people have thrown their pens into joining the ranks of resisting Japan and saving the country. Soon, this enthusiasm spread from Beiping to distant Sichuan Province.
Although Sichuan Province was not threatened by the invading Japanese army for a short period of time due to the solidity of the mountains and rivers, the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the Sichuan people was not diminished in the slightest.
In Qushan Town, Sichuan Province, there was a hot-blooded young man named Wang Jiantang, who loved the motherland, sang anti-Japanese songs, and led the students to chant anti-Japanese slogans. Wang Jiantang grew up in a family that has lived in Qushan Town, Beichuan County for generations.
His father, Wang Zhicheng, was a teacher who was not only proficient in the Confucian classics, but also had a broad vision and received new knowledge. Therefore, he just asked Wang Jiantang to follow him to learn some Confucian classics during the enlightenment stage.
When Wang Jiantang was fifteen years old, his father sent him to his uncle to study at Neijiang Middle School. Two years later, due to the war, he had to return to his hometown of Qushan Town and work as a teacher in a primary school in the town.
This young man named Wang Jiantang is burning with love for the country in his heart. Since childhood, he has been determined to serve his country by studying. However, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in 1937, the Kuomintang army was defeated and retreated, and the land of North China was trampled by the Japanese invaders, he was anxious.
From that moment on, he was always ready to give everything for the anti-Japanese struggle to save the country, like many patriotic young people. It happened that the local ** was gathering troops to fight back against the Japanese invaders, and many Sichuan children also formed an army and threw themselves into the anti-Japanese battlefield.
Unable to suppress his patriotic fervor any longer, he began to make contact in the town. Since he was a local intellectual, well-connected and prestigious, many patriotic youths gathered around him.
In the end, he managed to gather more than a hundred people.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a patriotic young man was elected captain, and he asked the local ** to go to the front line, and it was approved. His name is Wang Jiantang, and his team is called the "Anxian Characteristic Volunteer Team".
However, Wang Jiantang is only one of the many patriotic young people who took the initiative to ask for help, why did he become famous later? It turned out that this was thanks to his old father, Wang Zhicheng, who knew the righteousness of the people.
One day in the late autumn of 1937, in a heavy rain, the farewell meeting of the Anti-Japanese War in Anxian County began. Despite the cold weather, the villagers flocked to see off their sons, husbands, and young children in anticipation of their father's triumphant return.
Mr. Wang, 25, looked a little melancholy in the crowd, longing to say goodbye to his elderly father, but he knew that his faltering father, with his hair full of flash, could not cross dozens of miles of mountain roads to see him off.
Despite the sour feeling in his heart, Wang Jiantang still slowly moved forward with the troops. At that moment, a man who had arrived in a hurry grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt. Wang Jiantang was surprised and asked what was going on, and the person who came told him that he had been entrusted by Mr. Wang to deliver him a package.
Hearing the news, Wang Jiantang was overjoyed, and regardless of his weak image, he immediately opened the package. In addition to a few simple servings of dry food, there was also a flag made of white cloth in the package.
Wang Jiantang carefully unfurled the flag, and the big word "death" attracted his attention. The words on both sides of the banner deeply express the expectations of the old father Wang Cheng for his son.
a flag with ambition written on it; A poem about the sorrows of the nation. This is a parting gift prepared by the old father for his son who is about to go to the front. His support and expectation are evident in every handwriting, even though he may never see his son again.
His trembling hands and words of encouragement were full of deep love and loyalty to his country.
Wang Jiantang was a brave soldier who lived up to his father's expectations, performed well on the battlefield of resistance against Japan, and made many military exploits. In 1940, he had already served as a platoon commander and began to take on more significant tasks.
Once, he was ordered to attack the county town of Chaling in Hunan under the cover of night, which was a very difficult task, because the Japanese troops there were three times the number of their troops.
Despite this, Wang Jiantang still managed to lead his troops close to the county seat of Chaling. Due to the lax defense of the Japanese army, and Wang Jiantang learned a few words of Japanese and disguised himself on his military uniform, he and several comrades successfully infiltrated the city.
As soon as he arrived in the city, Wang Jiantang issued instructions to the troops outside the city, and launched an attack that should be combined with the outside and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese garrison.
The Japanese army was attacked by surprise and mistakenly thought that a large force of our army was attacking, and immediately fell into confusion and fled out of the city. It was only after leaving the city that the Japanese regrouped and were shocked to find that the number of troops attacking them was very small.
The Japanese squadron leader was furious and immediately launched a counterattack in an attempt to recapture the county seat of Chaling. However, they did not pose a threat to Wang Jiantang, who was defending our army in danger.
The next day, Japanese reinforcements arrived. In the case of insufficient troops, our regiment headquarters sent an additional company of people to let Wang Jiantang serve as the first company commander to command the operation. Despite this, the Japanese army still had a great advantage in terms of strength at that time.
The two sides fought fiercely for a day and night, Wang Jiantang was only wounded two, and successfully repelled the Japanese army, and the Japanese army retreated in embarrassment with nearly 100 people.
After this battle, Wang Jiantang became famous, became a role model for the whole army, and was awarded a first-class medal of honor, which also became the glory of his life.
Whenever he talked about it in front of his juniors, he would proudly say: "When I was a platoon commander, I once commanded 12 squads, which was even better than the company commander!" ”
Shortly after the battle in Chaling County, Wang Jiantang was promoted to deputy company commander for his heroic performance, responsible for the company's quartermaster logistics. Once, when he was paying for the army, he found that a silver dollar was broken, and in order not to let others suffer, he took out a good silver dollar from his pocket and exchanged it.
He was reluctant to throw away the broken silver dollar, so he put it in his pocket and forgot to take it off. However, what he didn't expect was that it was his act of kindness that ultimately saved his life.
Wang Jiantang's army once again stepped onto the battlefield, facing a strong Japanese defensive line. In the course of the charge, they suffered heavy losses due to a dense hail of bullets from the Japanese army.
Seeing his comrades-in-arms fall, Wang Jiantang was furious, and he only had the "Dead Word Flag" given by his father before he set out for the battle. He decided to rush forward with a determination to die and live up to his father's expectations.
Just as he was holding a gun and preparing to rush to the enemy position and fight with the Japanese devils with bayonets, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
He thought he would die on the battlefield, but unexpectedly found that he had only suffered minor injuries. So, he resolutely led his troops forward, successfully broke through the Japanese defense line and eliminated the enemy.
As the Japanese firepower weakened, the battle gradually approached the stage of hand-to-hand combat. At this point, he remembered that he might have been shot, but by this time the pain had lessened. Looking down, the bullet had pierced the left pocket of his jacket, and although the clothes were torn, he was not bleeding.
He reached out and touched it, and found that it was the broken silver dollar that had saved his life. Although Wang Jiantang swore to repay the country with death with the "Death Flag" made by his father as a token, he did not only have courage, but also had excellent wisdom in battle.
In the autumn of 1943, Wang Jiantang was promoted to company commander. His troops fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Hunan, and with tenacious perseverance they held their own line and were stationed on the shores of Dongting Lake.
The Japanese army was not fully prepared, especially in the number of boats crossing the river, so they collected boats while resting, and did not dare to risk crossing Dongting Lake for the time being.
However, while the Japanese army was waiting, they lost their precious fighters, which allowed Wang Jiantang to seize the great opportunity. He took advantage of this time to actively build strong fortifications and prepare them for battle.
However, the Japanese army was not idle during this time, although the local wooden boats were destroyed by our army in advance, they urgently dispatched advanced water crossing tools - steel boats. This landing craft is equipped with armor on the outside, which can withstand all aircraft and is difficult to pose a threat to them unless they are shelled by shelling.
After getting the new **, the Japanese army soon launched an attack.
In the evening, the Japanese dispatched a squadron of armored landing craft to attack the position of the company where Wang Jiantang was stationed. Although Wang Jiantang set up a machine-gun fire point, there was no heavy fire support, and the only mortars could not effectively cause effective damage to the high-speed moving Japanese landing craft.
Wang Jiantang ordered a counterattack, but the machine hit the Japanese armor to no effect, and mortar shells also fell into the water. The Japanese army made full preparations for this attack and brought in Jiangfang gunboats to suppress long-range fire.
The beachhead that Wang Jiantang had painstakingly built was quickly suppressed by enemy artillery fire.
Seeing the Japanese landing craft getting closer and closer, Wang Jiantang's heart was like an ant on a hot pot, and he was very anxious. He remembered the "Dead Word Flag" that his father gave him on his deathbed, and his heart was full of contradictions and struggles.
He understands that this may be his last battle, but he wants to defeat the enemy and return triumphantly to die for his father. At this critical moment, Wang Jiantang was in a hurry and came up with a clever plan.
He ordered the entire company to withdraw from the first line of defense, completely cede the tidal flat position to the Japanese, and then retreat 100 meters and set up a second line of defense in the jungle. This move made the Japanese mistakenly believe that our army had been completely suppressed by themselves, so after the landing craft docked, they swaggered ashore and prepared to assemble a team and launch an attack on our army's garrison.
However, this is the opportunity that Wang Jiantang has been waiting for. He was going to make the Japanese let their guard down and then launch a surprise strike. So, he launched an attack while the Japanese were forming a group on the wide beachhead without any cover.
His strategy succeeded, the Japanese army was taken by surprise, and our army managed to defeat the enemy.
Wang Jiantang unexpectedly ordered an attack, and the sudden attack caught the Japanese by surprise, and they hurriedly looked for shelter and tried to counterattack, but could not find the trace of the squadron.
Although the Japanese troops gradually regained their composure after a slight adjustment, the troops led by Wang Jiantang had firmly grasped the initiative in the battle. After a night of fierce fighting, Wang Jiantang successfully recaptured the beachhead and drove the Japanese into the water.
In this battle, Wang Jiantang once again won an overwhelming victory. He not only routed a squadron of Japanese troops, but also captured three steel landing craft, and the ** of our army was also relatively small.
For this heroic performance, he was awarded another Medal of Honor of the First Class. However, Wang Jiantang also made mistakes. Once, because of carelessness, he was attacked by Japanese soldiers hiding on the side of the road, and was almost stabbed in the heart by the enemy's bayonet.
After that incident, he learned his lesson deeply and became extra careful every time he fought.
He is a hot-blooded young man who has devoted his pen to the army and has become an excellent grassroots commander after being tempered by the war. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he relied on his courage and wisdom to make many military exploits and made great contributions to the motherland.
After the war, he bid farewell to his twelve-year military career and returned to his hometown. However, when he returned to his hometown full of joy, he found that everything was wrong.
His wife had already remarried, and his family thought he had died on the battlefield. But he did not regret his choice, because he knew that he was willing to give up everything for the sake of the peace of the Motherland.
After he returned to his hometown in 1950, his reputation as an anti-Japanese hero attracted many people to introduce his family, but he politely declined all invitations and never got married. He also did not accept the benefits offered by the local **.
In his hometown, he has never been offered a formal job and has to work as a coolie and odd jobs to make ends meet. However, he did not use his status as an anti-Japanese hero for his own personal gain, but has been living an ordinary life in the countryside.
In his free time, he likes to hold a book and read it carefully, indulging in it, and often sits all day. Although he had no heirs during his lifetime, he had a close relationship with the younger generations of his family, and occasionally when his descendants asked him about his experiences on the battlefield, he would say a few words.
But for his exploits, he is always modest and low-key, just a brushstroke, preferring to share what he saw and heard on the battlefield.
Wang Jiantang once revealed to his juniors that five experiences in his military career are worth mentioning. First, when he joined the army, his father Wang Zhicheng awarded him the "Dead Word Banner". Second, during the Anti-Japanese War, he twice won the Meritorious Service Medal personally awarded by Chen Cheng, the commander of the theater of operations.
Thirdly, when he was the platoon commander, he slapped the regiment commander because of the regiment commander's command error, and the regiment commander was very angry. But the division commander and the army commander came to intercede for him. Fourth, after he was stabbed in a careless accident, during his recuperation, he lived in the same ward with the famous writer Zhang Hatshui.
And the last thing was that he went to Tianjin to participate in the surrender ceremony of the Japanese army.
Wang Jiantang once regretted losing the "dead word flag" given by his father, although he was old and living in difficulty, he was listed as a low-income household and given a monthly subsidy of 15 yuan.
In 1992, this anti-Japanese hero who sacrificed his life for the country died of illness at the age of 80. Although the hero has left, the anti-Japanese spirit represented by the "Dead Word Flag" has been inherited by his nephew Wang Liexun and will never be erased.
Since he was a child, Wang Liexun has been full of yearning for the legendary stories on the battlefield of resistance against Japan told by his uncle Wang Jiantang. He said: "Uncle has always carried that flag with him, he is very familiar with it, he wrote more than 80 words in just over 10 minutes, I feel that he is holding his breath and doing it in one go." ”
After Wang Jiantang's death, Wang Liexun felt deep regret for the loss of this "dead word flag" that year. This second flag, drawn by Wang Jiantang himself, was buried in the ruins of the old county town of Beichuan in 2008 in Wenchuan and has not yet been found.
So, from 2015 onwards, Wang Liexun reproduced this flag according to **and**, and donated it to the Jianchuan Museum for future generations to admire. "Three generations of our family have inherited not only a flag, but also a spiritual strength.
I hope that more people will know the story of this flag. ”
The three generations of the Wang family have inherited not only a banner, but also the fearless spirit of the Chinese people. This spirit not only belongs to the Wang family, but also is a true portrayal of the heroic efforts of the Sichuan people in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During those arduous years, countless Chinese sons and daughters died heroically on the battlefield. Although the people of Sichuan were behind enemy lines, they never stayed out of the situation, but paid a huge price in order to strive for the final victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and realize the goal of independence and freedom of the Chinese nation.
The last words of Liu Xiang, the general of the Sichuan army, are a true portrayal of the spirit of the Sichuan army, "The enemy army will not withdraw from the border for a day, and the Sichuan army will not return to its hometown for a day." "The officers and men of the Sichuan army used their own practical actions to fulfill their promises before the expedition.
It is precisely because of them and countless heroes like Wang Jiantang that the Chinese nation was able to survive the difficulties at that most critical moment.
Wang Jiantang's "death" flag symbolizes the indomitable spirit of the Sichuan army, and the spirit of the Sichuan army will continue to be inherited. The spirit of the brave and fearless heroes is immortal, and history will always remember them.