Just when Chang Shenkai was very irritated about this matter, the Chief of Staff of the First Theater Command took the initiative to call and said that in order to save Zhengzhou, the First Theater Command requested the headquarters to allow them to dig up the Yellow River embankment and use water to replace troops.
to block the Japanese army's westward advance and thereby protect Zhengzhou.
After Chang Shenkai heard this suggestion, he pondered for a while. After drinking a few sips of boiled water, he agreed to the request of the First War Zone and asked them to dig up the Yellow River embankment immediately to save Zhengzhou.
However, according to Chang Shenkai's will and the original plan, the tunnel should be dug and released on the afternoon of June 4th, but the First War Zone did not expect something.
That is, the Yellow River was in a dry period at that time, so the water level of the Yellow River was very low. Therefore, although the army continued to dig for three days and three nights, the water flow was still not smooth and could not reach the ideal state at all.
Moreover, the Japanese 14th Division captured Kaifeng on June 5th, and then continued to advance westward. Even the Japanese light cavalry company broke through several blocking lines of the Chinese army and had already passed Zhongmu County.
Therefore, after Chang Shenkai learned that digging the Yellow River had not been completed, he personally inspected Huayuankou on the night of June 7, and then personally made a plan to dig the embankment.
He first sent a regiment of soldiers to set up a warning, pretending that the Japanese vanguard was about to arrive, so all the people within a radius of ten miles were forcibly isolated and were not allowed to watch.
Then 800 strong soldiers were selected and divided into five groups. Each group was divided into two groups: digging and moving. Each group worked for two hours and rotated in shifts.
Even at night, car headlights were used for lighting, working day and night. After several days of continuous construction, the excavation was completed on June 9th, but the water flow was still not smooth, but it would be very inconvenient to start the construction again.
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Therefore, Chang Shenkai directly ordered a platoon of flat-fire artillery to be mobilized, and then directly set up artillery to bombard the embankment. Because the earth embankment had been dug thin at this time, and the flat-fire artillery fired at close range, all the shots were hit, and six consecutive rounds were fired.
Seventy shots later, the gap was opened several feet further.
Moreover, it happened to be the time when the rainy season was coming, and the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the Shanxi and Shaanxi areas had been raining heavily for five consecutive days. Therefore, the water in the Yellow River rose sharply, and then the banks continued to open through new gaps.
The gap becomes wider and deeper as it rushes forward, so after the river water breaks free from the restraints of the embankment, it plunges down like a wild horse, surging and surging.
In this way, between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, from Huayuankou to the southeast, passing through Zhongmou, Weishi, Zhoukou, Yingzhou, and all the way to Zhengyang on the Huaihe River, the land for hundreds of miles becomes a land of muddy yellow.
Wherever the Yellow River water reached, trees, houses, bridges, roads, land, and crops were all wiped out.
The Longhai Road was immediately blocked. The Japanese 14th Division and the Japanese 16th Division, which were advancing alongside it in the south, did not expect that the Chinese army would dig up the Yellow River embankment and use water to replace troops, so they were suddenly submerged by the flood.
, killed countless people.
The remaining people who were alive all abandoned their tanks, heavy artillery, chariots, camps, and all their supplies, and hurriedly swam back to the highlands on the east coast.
Although it is said that after Chang Shenkai's "water replacement of troops" strategy was implemented, the Japanese army was stopped by the Yellow River water and immediately gave up attacking Wuhan from the Pinghan Line.
After they returned to Xuzhou, they went all the way south to Hefei to join other troops, and then launched an attack on Wuhan along the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, the "Huayuankou embankment breach" indeed bought valuable time for the Kuomintang government, and at the same time effectively stopped the Japanese army from advancing.
But this time the embankment burst, it caused hundreds of thousands of hectares of cultivated land in Henan, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces to be submerged, and the death toll was close to one million. After the Yellow River overflowed, dead bodies piled up and mosquitoes flew everywhere.
Then there was an epidemic of plague, so those who survived the flood did not escape cholera and dysentery.
Since then, the area at the junction of Sulu, Henan, and Anhui, as well as disaster-stricken areas such as Xuzhou, Zhoukou, and Suqian, have been called yellow flood areas. Three simple words, but a painful stroke in history.
Therefore, the entire plain area is like a purgatory on earth, and Chang Shenkai did not expect such consequences. Therefore, Chang Shenkai knew that he had committed a huge disaster after agreeing to break the dike.
It was dangerous, but it caused countless people to lose their lives and become homeless.
Even starting in 1941, Henan's crop harvests were bleak, and the national army stationed here forced grain requisitions. Therefore, the people in Henan could no longer survive. Tens of millions of people rushed to flee the famine. In order to survive, the bark of trees was cut.
Gnawing it all, exchanging children for a mouthful of food, the misery is indescribable.
However, in the face of the people who were filled with grief and anger but were unaware of the inside story, the Kuomintang government tried to blame itself entirely, telling the affected people that this was an evil act committed by the Japanese army.
Moreover, the evidence to blame the Japanese army had been prepared long ago. On June 9, Jiang Pixu drafted a telegram and sent it to Wuhan. The content was probably: The enemy used three fighter planes to blow up the Huayuankou.
They (the Kuomintang) are constantly repairing the river embankment.
Afterwards, the commander of the First Theater Command also sent a fake secret telegram to Chang Shenkai. The secret telegram pointed out: The Japanese army invaded the west, and our army resisted tenaciously. Therefore, the enemy failed to break through the offensive, so the Japanese army blew up the Huayuankou embankment with the intention of destroying it.
Our army's defense line.
As "evidence", the telegram was sent to Wuhan shortly after the embankment burst, and then the Kuomintang news agency sent the "evidence" as news to the world.
On June 11, the Central News Agency sent a telegram to report the already planned process of "Japanese troops blowing up the Yellow River embankment." Afterwards, under deliberate guidance, "Telegram", "Ta Kung Pao" and other newspapers strongly condemned the inhumane behavior of the Japanese troops.
This incident not only caused an uproar in domestic public opinion, but also attracted attention from all over the world, and the condemnation of the Japanese army reached a climax.
Although some reporters wanted to conduct on-the-spot reporting, they were probably afraid that the matter would be exposed, so the Kuomintang also did a very "thorough" job on this matter.
As early as when the embankment burst, the New 8th Division bombed nearby villages and forged "evidence" of the Japanese bombing site. Not only that, but the "materials" left behind by the Japanese bombing were also prepared. After some operations,
Next, it is "irrefutable proof" that the Japanese army bombed Huayuankou.
In the plain areas, countless people were killed and injured due to the bursting of the embankments, so the anti-Japanese sentiment reached a climax. The people spontaneously organized themselves and established the Red Society, guerrillas and other anti-Japanese teams. After the Kuomintang people realized this, they immediately
Deliberately contact these militiamen so that the army and the people can fight against Japan together.