Now we are here to stay, and we must die, but I want a chance. When I die, I will exchange more than 20 Japanese soldiers' lives.
Wife: Don't think of me coming back, and don't think of me as a whole corpse.
The child is still young, this is my suspense.
But you and I are both educated, I am fortunate to not have to worry about your future life, I cut the thread of my own life, you put away your tears.
farewell.
- Letter from an Unknown Anti-Japanese Soldier
We don't know his name. In this war, it's quite normal for an ordinary soldier's name to be forgotten.
We only know that he was a young man, married, had a wife, and had children. He and his wife were both highly educated. This is not unusual. When the Songhu War broke out on August 13, 1937, various universities in Shanghai of students are eager to sign up to join the army and join the fight.
Although they were immature and unfamiliar when they grasped the barrel of a gun, they were confident that their blood would become a steel bulwark to defend the ground under their feet.
When these young people with heroic dreams take to the battlefield, they will find that the distance between heroes and martyrs is shorter than the distance between life and death. The bullets that come over can decide whether a soldier becomes a bloody hero or another victim buried by the scorched earth along with his body and name.
When they choose to write a letter (some turn to their comrades who can write), they are already mortally speaking to those they care about, if they are destined to die here, it is their death as a gift to the living The last few words "just a few words".
unsung story
A soldier named Hu Guobing once fought side by side in the same trench as a college student with a higher education.
On August 23, the Japanese army landed at the same time from the vicinity of Zhanghuabang and Yunzaobang, and went straight to the weak point of the Chinese army.
The fighting continued from the early morning until 5 pm the next day, and the enemy's offensive became more and more violent.
"The day before, under the cover of the fortifications, we were not injured, and we often responded to the enemy, but later, the enemy's artillery fire became more and more fierce, and the sound of the guns almost deafened our ears, and only felt the head. Dazed."
Hu Guobing was worried that the college student around him was going to the battlefield for the first time and was not used to it, so he turned around and just wanted to remind him, but found that the college student was lying on the trenches, eyes closed, motionless, guns He has fallen beside him, his head is tilted to one side, and the blood on his forehead can't stop flowing down." Hu Guobing was shocked, and hurried over to take a closer look, only to find that he had sacrificed for a long time.
This day is the first day that Hu Guobing started at the age of 23.
A few days later, his own life was almost frozen at the age of 23.
Just as he changed his shooting stance, a bullet penetrated under his left eye and flew out from his right ear - "I felt a buzzing sound at the time, and as soon as my brain exploded, I didn't know anything."
When he woke up, the sound of gunfire had disappeared, the battle had ended for more than a day, and he had been in a coma for a whole day on the battlefield, with blood still dripping from his right ear.
In the next day and night, he gritted his teeth and climbed out of the position inch by inch, until when he was about to reach the Suzhou River, he met an old lady, "She saw me like this, so she found me They gave me some food to drink, and they simply bandaged my wounds, so I escaped death threats again and again.”
If the bullet didn't go straight through his eyes, but into the brain; if he didn't wake up after the battle, but lost too much blood in a coma; if it wasn't for perseverance, if he climbed out inch by inch On the battlefield, if he was not rescued by passers-by, then he would probably become one of the thousands of unknown soldiers who fell on the battlefield.
No one will know his story, and no one will hear from him the sacrifice of the college student soldier—he left no words, nor his name.
look at death
"Now we are here to stay. We must die, but I want a chance. When I die, I will exchange more than 20 Japanese soldiers' lives."
The battle that made Hu Guobing almost become an unknown soul took place at the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai, and the unknown soldier who wrote this letter had to try his best to stay behind the last fortress of the city, the Sixing Warehouse.
Standing on the banks of the Suzhou River, this tall concrete building is considered one of the strongest buildings in Shanghai. Yang Ruifu, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division of the defending army, described it as a "natural fortress". :
"Thousands of bags of grain are stored. The first, second, and third layers are wheat grains, and the fourth and fifth layers are cowhide and silk cocoons, all of which are very useful. From the first layer to the third layer, we made three The day was completed. The door of each window was closed, the sacks on the south wall were pushed five meters thick, and the doors on the north were built more than ten meters thick, from the floor to the roof. The fourth floor was not made of materials because of insufficient materials. In order to lure the enemy to consume a lot of ammunition, in fact, none of us live on the fourth floor. The fifth floor fortification was completed yesterday. The fortification on this floor is very good. It is much higher than the Bank of Communications warehouse occupied by the enemy. We can completely control the enemy. We have no choice."
This description gives the impression that this defender has the best chance of winning.
But in fact, as the unknown soldier wrote in the letter, "Death is certain to die" - when this defender entered the Sixing warehouse, it was already clear that they had nothing but what they had in their hands. , there will be no more supplies; there will be no more defenses but this storehouse; there will be no reinforcements but one another's brethren—they are alone.
At 0:20 on October 27, 1937, when the garrison went to the Sixing Warehouse, every soldier gave a firm and affirmative answer to the mobilization order issued by their regiment commander Xie Jinyuan. :
"Whoever wants to defend, raise your hand!"
Four hundred and twenty hands, all raised high, even if they knew that they were walking towards the doomed grave—this lone army made such a death-defying choice out of a sincere sincerity to protect the family and the country Hot blood, no one will deny this.
But they bear a more arduous mission, which is the responsibility assigned by the top strategic decision-makers: the war that broke out in Shanghai, the first international city in the Far East, has attracted the attention of the world, and the aggression and atrocities of the Japanese army have been clearly seen in the eyes of all countries. Down.
The image of a strong and unyielding China has begun to take root in the hearts of the international community.
The people of Shanghai resisted staunchly, and despite the huge sacrifices, they forced the snobbish international balance to stand by and favor the Chinese side of justice. International support means financial assistance and arms support, which is no different to China, which has insufficient weapons and equipment reserves. Charcoal in the snow.
Although the development of the war in Shanghai forced the Chinese army to choose to withdraw in order to preserve its strength, in order to maintain international confidence in China's war of resistance, it is necessary to create an image of an indomitable Chinese army that can boost international confidence.
And the heavy responsibility of shaping this international image falls on the lone army guarding the Sixing Warehouse.
This lone army may not be able to understand the importance of this mission, but their own belief in death is enough to support this mission.
It was almost a joyous mood that they marched toward the glorious and heroic death that had been foreseen.
To a certain extent, the flames of war surrounded by enemy groups have added a bit of blazing brilliance to the last glorious battle of this lone army, as described by a reporter:
"We looked into the past, it was a sea of fire, a sea of fire. On the sea of fire, when the wind was blowing, the waves of fire were like a flat and delicate red tapestry, but when the wind rose, the fire's And the waves rise. The waves of fire, surging, the sea of fire, rushing."
They stood on the upper floor of the Sixing Warehouse, looking north, they would see this sea of fire, "I am an island on the sea of fire, I am a lonely army of 800 people on this isolated island, they look south and see In the quiet dark night over there, there are thousands of stars-like lights, shining brightly in this dark night"—there is the concession, a fantasy fairyland floating in the flames of war and shining with the illusion of the floating world.
Today, it is crowded with refugees and journalists from all over the world. They all turn their attention to this isolated island in the sea of fire, whether nervous, excited, sad, curious, or excited, just like admiring A grand, three-dimensional and shocking war drama.
But the protagonists in this big play have no time to pay attention to the feelings of those audiences, because the gunshots rang.
just a few words
When the unknown soldier wrote this letter to his wife and children, the battle at the Four Lines Warehouse had been going on for a day.
He had brushed past death several times in the past day.
Just an hour after the lone army entered the Sixing warehouse, the Japanese army occupied the North Station Building where the regiment headquarters was originally located.
Three hours later, the first wave of enemies approached the Sixing warehouse.
The Japanese launched several rounds of attacks, all of which were repelled by heavy artillery fire from the defenders.
Although this day's battle successfully repelled the intruding Japanese army, the enemy's encirclement was getting tighter and tighter.
The saddest thing is watching the heroic sacrifice of his comrades.
The defenders of the warehouse saw a soldier hiding in a small house. He did not belong to the 88th Division stationed in the Sixing warehouse, but was a soldier who secretly stayed when the large troops were withdrawing.
He was as nimble as a monkey, crouching in the corner of a room on the second floor, aiming and shooting at the Japanese army--he relied on accurate shooting "to demand a lot of price from the Japanese soldiers"--"But in the end he didn't have anyone You know, it's probably buried in the fire cave" - also, no one knows his name.
Death is circling all the time, and soldiers are ready to capture their lives with a bullet, a cannonball.
The death and trauma of their comrades are also increasing sharply. They can only watch the wounded comrades groan in pain, "They died one by one, but we have nothing to do. Some of the wounded even asked their comrades to give him a shot, as soon as possible. End his suffering."
No one ever thought that they could walk out of this warehouse alive, just like no one thought that they could walk out of the warehouse and surrender—they were destined to be dead. In the past, it was the living who wrote eulogy and mourning for the dead, but They, as a group of people who are determined to die, write their last words to the living, which is no different from a letter from the dead to the living, because they firmly believe that when the other party receives their letter, they have already communicated with the other party. Life and death are separated.
"Don't write something nasty in your will for your wife, Pharaoh, I'm the fuck, it's me, I'm the dumbest in this camp, I'm illiterate, and the pen is heavier than the barrel of a gun. Pharaoh, you're done. A letter to your wife, and a letter to my wife. Write beautifully."
Not every soldier can write the poignant phrase "I cut the thread of my own life, you hold your tears" like the highly educated soldier.
Although some soldiers are literate, their literary talents are limited to things such as:
"When you are born in the world, you cannot help but die, and dying honorably is the true nature of a hero. Toyo planes have been here for a long time today, brother, I cannot help but die. You are filial to your parents."
Most of the soldiers of the 88th Division guarding the Sixing Warehouse were children of illiterate peasant families in the countryside.
As a soldier recalled many years later, when the troops went to their hometown to draw strong men, they were pulled away after winning the lottery, and they couldn't escape.
Many of them, like the soldier who shouted "the barrel of a pen is heavier than the barrel of a gun", can't even write their own names.
They can only ask their colleagues who can read and write letters to help their families, "nothing more than words of relief for their parents."
Then, bite your fingers and press your own handprints, just like when they were forced to put on their handprints.
The letters were gathered together, tied with rope, and thrown out the window when the sky was getting dark.
If they are destined to die here, this is their last letter to the living world.
will meet again
There is a plot in the movie "Eight Hundred". Two photojournalists came to the Sixing warehouse with a camera and filmed the daily battles of the soldiers in the warehouse.
Although this detail is vivid enough, it is fictitious - from beginning to end, never a reporter has been willing to go to the Sixing warehouse under the hail of bullets and leave the evidence that these warriors who are determined to die will die.
What we know about all the situations in the Sihang Warehouse comes from the oral accounts of the wounded soldiers who were sent out of the warehouse and the interviews and after-the-fact memories of the soldiers who were finally evacuated from the warehouse. After being reported and processed by reporters and writers, it was presented to the Readers and future historians.
At about 11 am on October 30, when the Japanese army began to bombard the warehouse with heavy mortars and flat-fire artillery, the defenders of the Sixing Warehouse received an order to withdraw directly from the military commander-in-chief.
The Japanese used intensive artillery fire to block the retreat of the lonely army.
The searchlights were turned on to track the lone soldiers who were trying to withdraw into the concession, and they were strafing.
Many lone soldiers died in the retreat, but many more survived across the line of fire.
According to the head of the regiment, Xie Jinyuan, in an interview, "I had a total of 420 soldiers, and when I retreated, there were 377 people. Among them, more than ten were martyred, and the rest were admitted to the hospital for treatment. middle".
No one knows whether the unknown soldier who wrote "I cut the thread of my own life, you put away your tears. Farewell" to his wife and children was among the 377 who survived or among the 43 who died.
His life and death, like his name and the letters that were bundled up and sent outside, were lost in the dust of history.
But we know that he once loved someone, had a family, fought bravely for his family and the land they lived in, and imagined him as an unyielding warrior with all his might, and imagined him with his wife in his arms, The appearance of the wife and father who caressed the child was equally amiable and lovely, and it was also written in the letter he wrote to the living with the consciousness of the dead.
How many lives and deaths in an instant, those who are famous, those who are nameless, those who write and those who are silent, have all come to their own or glorious, or silent, or heroic, or peaceful endings in this war.
Those who are fighting, unyielding, and forgotten are often gathered in the same person.
So, at the end, perhaps it should be quoting from a soldier who also cannot be named, who we know fell in love with a nineteen-year-old nurse, whom they met on the battlefield, admired each other, but He never confessed to the other party, so the soldier had to write down his longings in his personal journal.
We know that he has always been lucky, never won a lottery, and was called "Fu General" by his comrades. We know that in the last battle he described, the platoon leader Zhao of his company was killed, and the 4th company's platoon leader was killed. The company commander won the lottery, but there were only 80 people in the entire company. However, "the ammunition was insufficient and there was no backup." We know that in this battle, the company's platoon leader Yang was lying beside him. , probably about to be sawed." We also know that the lovely female nurse he deeply admired probably died in this battle.
On the last page of his diary, two Japanese soldiers rushed in and knocked him down.
We don't know the outcome of this unfinished battle in the diary, just as we don't know his name.
The only thing we know is that he is dead, because the diary was found in a bloody garment at a clothes stand in the refugee area, and according to the clothes seller: "It was peeled from the corpse of a soldier who was guarding Nanshi. "
Maybe we can't know any more about him.
But perhaps - this should be beyond doubt:
People who love each other will meet again - even if we don't know their names.
Attached:
Brother, I have used so many unbeautiful words
Poetry to mourn you,
Believe how bitter my heart and how hoarse my throat is,
You'll never come back, I know,
The blood of youth has been replaced by science;
The sadness of China will forever be in my heart.
Ah, don't be sad, I can't give you comfort when you are sad.
I thought about it a few times a day:
You have given all you have, brother who went with you
so too, give your life;
All that has been young; all the opportunities to come,
Possible prime work, old age wisdom;
possible love, family, children, and all that
The right to live, the joy; and the dispute of life!
You give so much, for whom?
you believe
How many people in China will be happy in the future
Your head is more important than yourself; the immortal
China's history needs to be permanent in the world.
You believe, you do it, and in the end you hand over everything.
I fully understand, why am I still crying for you?
Just because you were a child and left nothing for yourself,
When I was little I looked forward to your happiness, your safety in wartime,
Today you have no children to care about and need comfort and comfort,
And thousands of people in the country have forgotten, who did you die for!
——Lin Huiyin "Crying Third Brother Heng"
On March 14, 1941, Lin Huiyin's third brother, Lin Heng, died in the air battle in Chengdu.
In a letter to her friend Fei Weimei, she wrote: "My little brother, he is an excellent pilot, in an air battle, after shooting down a Japanese aircraft, the poor child himself was killed by He hit the head and fell off the building." Liang Sicheng hurried to Chengdu, collected Lin Heng's body, and buried it in an unnamed cemetery. The sword issued by the school was carefully wrapped in black cloth and hidden at the bottom of the suitcase.
He also brought back a piece of plane wreckage from where Lin Heng was killed. Later, Lin Huiyin hung the wreckage on the bedside of his bedroom.
Written by / Li Shanen