On August 1, 1942, Zhao Peixian miraculously survived from the guns of the Japanese army, and his return aroused the curiosity and suspicion of his comrades-in-arms. While his comrades were glad that he had survived, rumors swirled about how he managed to escape under the noses of the enemy.
In order to solve this mystery, the relevant departments conducted an investigation into the circumstances of Zhao Peixian's capture. To answer this question, we need to start with the Battle of the Hundred Regiments and the "May Day Sweep".
Zhao Peixian: Hero of the Battle of the Hundred Regiments] Zhao Peixian, born in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province in 1920, has a superior family background, he has not only received secondary education, but also received the martial arts influence of famous teachers, and is a young man with both civil and military skills.
In 1942, the Battle of the Hundred Regiments dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army's transportation lines, but the ensuing Japanese army's frenzied retaliation put the Eighth Route Army in a difficult situation. In this operation, known as the "May Day Sweep", the Japanese army adopted a large number of troops and new tactics that lasted for a long time, and the Eighth Route Army was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of equipment, numbers and materials.
Under these circumstances, Zhao Peixian, as a hot-blooded young man, resolutely joined the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and contributed his strength to resist the Japanese invasion. In late May 1942, 30,000 Japanese troops launched a surprise attack on the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, which was transferred to the Cross Ridge in Liao County, Shanxi Province, and Zhao Peixian was among them.
In this battle, Zhao Peixian was brave and tenacious, and interpreted the revolutionary spirit of "resisting Japan and saving the country, swearing to die unyieldingly" with his own actions, and became one of the heroes of the Hundred Regiments War.
At the age of 17, he resolutely joined the Red Army led by Liu Zhidan, and with his heroic fighting spirit, he made many outstanding achievements. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was transferred to the Field Political Department of the Eighth Route Army and served as the head of the confidential section.
However, just when he received a notice that he was about to serve as the deputy head of the enemy engineering station of the Taiyue Military Region, the battle of Cross Ridge broke out fiercely, and General Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, died heroically, and the rest of the personnel scattered to break through.
During the extremely arduous breakout, he was unfortunately captured by the Japanese due to running out of bullets. Along with him, there are more than 300 comrades such as Pei Yiping, director of the Luyi Drama Department, Zhang Youqing, secretary general of the Northern Bureau and secretary general of the forward headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Sun Yuting, political commissar of the Taiyue Third Army Division, and Peng Mengeng, youth member of the Northern Bureau.
The main reason why these people fell into the hands of the enemy was that they could not get enough rest and supplies during the long period of fighting, and many of them were not combatants.
Exhausted and exhausted, they unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. However, their heroic deeds and tenacity will always be remembered by the world.
Originally, the Japanese army hoped to obtain information from the prisoners of the Eighth Route Army, but they ran into a wall. These soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were extremely tenacious, and no one gave in to the Japanese army's use of threats, inducements, or harsh torture.
They would rather die than give in, and scolded the Japanese army. These heroic commanders and fighters were loaded into cars and sent to the so-called "Taiyuan Engineering Team" of the Japanese army. This "engineering team" is located in the north lane of Xiaodongmen in the northeast corner of Taiyuan, which used to be the station of the artillery regiment of Yan Xishan's Jin army.
There are several compounds in the Taiyuan engineering team, which are connected to each other, and there are about 4 meters high walls around them, and there are several power grids inside and outside the wall, which are heavily guarded. After the fall of Taiyuan in November 1937, the Japanese army transformed it into a prisoner of war camp.
Prisoners of war in the "engineering corps" not only lost their freedom, but were also forced to participate in various heavy manual labor, such as repairing artillery towers, building roads, and digging canals. Despite this, the living conditions here are extremely poor, living in rotten mats, lying on dirty floors, eating moldy food, and drinking rainwater.
Each room is only 50 square meters in size, but it has 70 prisoners of war, and everyone can only sleep on their side. What's even more unbearable is that they can't go out at night to relieve themselves, so everyone can only laze in the house.
As a result, the air inside is foul and smells all day long. It was the hot season, and there were mosquitoes flying and flies buzzing, and everyone was covered with pimples and itching.
To put it mildly, it's a prisoner of war camp, but in reality, it's hell on earth. At that time, people were looking forward to going out to work, at least to get some fresh air.
However, Zhao Peixian soon realized that something was wrong, and for several days, he and his comrades-in-arms were locked in the house, and no one asked them to go out to work. What the hell is the enemy up to?
Zhao Peixian's heart was full of doubts. From the fourth day, strange things happened. Every day, comrades are pulled out, and after getting into the truck, they never come back, and no one knows where they went.
The Japanese army brutally treated Chinese compatriots] Zhao Peixian's heart was full of questions, what kind of reputation are the Japanese doing? On July 28, 1942, the atmosphere inside the "engineering team" was tense, and the security was heavily guarded, and Japanese soldiers with guns were everywhere.
The "engineering team" door opened, and a convoy of trucks pulled out of it. In order to cover up the truth, the cars were tightly covered with tarpaulins. Several cars in front and behind were uncovered tarpaulins, and Japanese soldiers with guns were standing.
The dozen or so cars in the middle were crowded with prisoners of war of the Eighth Route Army, and their mouths were also blocked. From the tense atmosphere, Zhao Peixian felt that the Japanese army was going to carry out a brutal execution, and he thought about how to escape.
Just now, he was on the edge of the car, and by the jolt of the car, he deliberately rubbed the rope on his arm against the car. He used his eyes to communicate with his comrades, and also gestured to them with his arm, but failed to attract attention.
After about 30 minutes, they were pulled to a place overgrown with grass. As soon as he got out of the car, Zhao Peixian felt unusual, the air here was very pungent, like the stench of rotting corpses.
Is the enemy going to make a move? Zhao Peixian had a fearful guess in his heart. That's right, the enemy is going to make a move. Moreover, the Japanese army not only wanted to kill them, but also used these prisoners of war of the Eighth Route Army as "live targets" for assassination training.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan was under pressure to fight on multiple fronts, so it urgently recruited a large number of young students and even child soldiers.
On the battlefield, they lack real combat experience and are often unable to respond to unexpected situations. Half a month ago, the 14th Brigade of the 13th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade stationed in Taiyuan received a group of recruits from the Japanese mainland, totaling more than 260 recruits.
The brigade commander, Major General Tsuda Moriya, ordered them to conduct killing training in order to improve their combat capabilities. This training ground, which is the destination where Zhao Peixian and his comrades-in-arms were escorted, is located outside the small east gate on the outskirts of Taiyuan, called "Racecourse", facing the east.
In order to conceal the truth, they erected a 3-meter-high fence around the site. At this moment, Zhao Peixian and his comrades-in-arms had been forced to get out of the car, dispersed into several groups, and then lined up in a north and south line, with their hands tied behind their backs facing east, firmly fixed on wooden stakes.
Under the command of Captain Yoshiichi Sumioka and Lieutenant Motogo Koike, the Japanese soldiers of ** ripped off the shirts of the prisoners of war and drew circles on their hearts with a red pen. Immediately afterwards, a platoon of recruits, armed with bright bayonets, stabbed the prisoners of war in the heart, one by one, from left to right, in order.
The scene was horrible, with bayonets shaking and flesh flying. The wild laughter of the Japanese soldiers, the roars and screams of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army are intertwined, which is terrifying.
Exposing the brutality of the Japanese army] The prisoners of war were divided into five groups of about 15 people each. Zhao Peixian was placed on the far right of the fifth group. Luckily, his location was closer to the ravine, which provided him with an opportunity to escape.
Whenever a group of prisoners of war was assassinated, the Japanese officers would give lectures and explanations, and it would take about 20 minutes for a group of Japanese soldiers to reach the position of the fifth group of prisoners of war. Zhao Peixian observed the surrounding terrain in advance and worked out an escape route.
He once rubbed the rope off in the car, and deliberately squeezed in the middle when he got out of the car to avoid being discovered. When the Japanese soldier stabbed him with a bayonet, he flew up and kicked at the opponent's **.
He had practiced martial arts, which made the Japanese soldiers unbearable, and immediately fell to the ground and shouted. Then, Zhao Peixian broke the rope in his hand, which was his potential explosion at a critical moment.
Then, he ran as fast as he could to the northwest. There is a steep slope a few dozen meters to the northwest. Reaching the edge of the steep slope, Zhao Peixian rolled down the steep slope on the spot. At the bottom of the slope is a green gauze tent with no end in sight.
After entering the green yarn tent, Zhao Peixian disappeared without a trace.
Zhao Peixian escaped from the Japanese army at an astonishing speed, and the legend survived. Although his comrades-in-arms were happy that he had survived a miraculous life, some questioned his capture and escape and decided to investigate.
The results of the investigation confirmed that Zhao Peixian kept strict confidentiality after being captured, proving his innocence. In order to prove his innocence, he published an article in Xinhua** on August 21, 1942, exposing the brutality of the Japanese army against prisoners of war.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China's heroic soldiers dared to shoulder their responsibilities and struggle bravely at a time when the country was in trouble, demonstrating the indomitable revolutionary spirit of the Chinese people. This report records a heroic deed of Mr. Zhao Peixian in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
For the sake of the dignity of the country and the nation, he dared to stand up and challenge the atrocities of the Japanese invaders at the cost of his own life. Under strong pressure, the Japanese invaders had to stop the "live target" training and promised to send those responsible to a military court for punishment.
Mr. Zhao Peixian's heroic deeds are the pride and pride of every Chinese. Today, we still have to remember this history and carry forward the heroic spirit of Mr. Cho Pei-heon, so that our future generations can also feel the pride and pride of our country.