Chapter 158 Duan Haizhou, a former brigade commander of the Eighth Route Army
"Take care, sir!" Kang Yongtu said solemnly, cupping his hands.
"Take care!" Duan Haizhou responded.
Looking at Kang Yongtu's retreating figure, Duan Haizhou felt mixed emotions at the moment. He was once a brigade-level cadre of the Eighth Route Army.
Taken together, Duan Haizhou was a legendary figure in the first half of his life. He came from a wealthy family and went to university in Peking. Later, he was influenced by patriotism and became a passionate young man who joined the army to serve his country.
In the year Duan Haizhou graduated, Shi Yousan founded the Thirteenth Route Army Cadre School in Xingtai, Hebei Province.
It stands to reason that Duan Haizhou's status as a college student is rare even in Whampoa Military Academy. I don't know what Duan Haizhou was thinking at the time. He ignored the good Whampoa Military Academy and chose this cadre school.
As a college student, Duan Haizhou was favored and cared for by the principal Shi Youxin, which also made Duan respect the principal very much. Many years later, although the two were once on hostile positions, Duan Haizhou was also courteous to the principal.
point.
Duan Haizhou had not studied in the cadre school for less than a year when his commander-in-chief Shi Yousan rebelled.
Sadly, this vigorous rebellion fell apart after only seven days. Shi Yousan left the country alone, and his principal had no choice but to dissolve the school and follow Shi Yousan.
Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared, it depends on whether you can seize them.
With the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, Duan Haizhou once again had the opportunity to serve his country.
After discussion with five friends from his hometown, he decided to organize a volunteer army to participate in the Anti-Japanese War.
Among these six people, Duan Haizhou received officer education at Shi Yousan's cadre school, and two of them had served as low-level officers in the old army, which formed the basis of a small-scale unit.
Immediately afterwards, Duan Haizhou relied on connections everywhere, and after obtaining 9 rifles, he raised the anti-Japanese flag.
Within a week, 30 people came to sign up one after another, including farmers who had studied kung fu and students from normal schools.
Duan Haizhou divided these people into two squadrons, and finally formed the "Anti-Japanese Volunteer Group".
Later, Duan Haizhou was introduced by his old classmate Hou Ruyong, and got in touch with the government commissioner stationed in SJZ, and received "military pay supplies" of three pistols and 200 yuan banknotes.
The army has been established, but it has no combat effectiveness. The regular army is vulnerable to the Japanese army, let alone this wandering army with only about 30 people?
So Duan Haizhou asked the chief of staff appointed by the Central Committee to help train the troops while continuing to recruit soldiers. In order to quickly expand the army, Duan Haizhou decided to let Zhang Guofa, director of the Political Department, solve the problem of troop sources.
Director Zhang really lived up to the expectations of Captain Duan. He took several propagandists to the counties and villages to lobby everywhere, talking about the nation but not the country. When he talked about the excitement, he even had runny noses and tears. Zhou was moved.
Neighbors from all over the countryside responded one after another, and even attracted a straggler regular army to join the team.
There are 7 soldiers in this regular army, and Duan Haizhou appointed them all as squad leaders and asked them to assist the Chief of Staff in training the troops. Gradually, Duan Haizhou's volunteer group grew from 6 to more than 60 people.
After the Japanese army was ordered to move the defense, Duan Haizhou led a volunteer army that had grown to about 300 people and broke into Wuqiang County in one fell swoop. He defeated the local puppet troops and seized several mortars and light machine guns.
The recovery of Wuqiang County made Duan Haizhou's name famous throughout Jizhong. The number of people who signed up to join the army suddenly doubled. Many of them came with guns and horses. Even more than 300 militia groups from Hebei County also came to participate.
Volunteer Army.
Duan Haizhou also used one of the soldiers who had done technical work in the arsenal to set up an arsenal. Half a month later, this small-scale arsenal had begun to manufacture landmines, mortar shells and grenades.
By early 1938, Duan Haizhou's troops had become the strongest group among the several guerrilla forces in Hebei, with more than 3,400 troops.
At this time, Duan Haizhou was no longer satisfied with Wuqiang County. Based on more than 300 people from the original Ji County militia group, he entered Hebei County to carry out guerrilla warfare. Another unit attacked the Japanese supply convoy on the road from Xianxian County to Jiaohe, causing
The Japanese troops stationed in Xian County were unable to receive supplies and were forced to withdraw. Xian County then entered Duan Haizhou's sphere of influence, and his troops suddenly increased to more than 6,000 people.
As Duan Haizhou's power grew, he gradually attracted the attention of surrounding guerrilla forces.
First, Zhang Yinwu, the commander-in-chief of the Hebei People's Army who was officially appointed by the central government, sent someone to contact him about the recruitment, but Duan Haizhou flatly refused.
But another strong guerrilla force was not so willing to buy into Duan Haizhou's account.
The commander of this unit is named Zhao Yunxiang, who was originally the deputy captain of the 29th Army Training Team.
After the 29th Army abandoned Pingjin, Zhao Yunxiang led the officers and soldiers of the training team to raise the anti-Japanese banner in Hebei.
Because they were developed by the regular army, Duan Haizhou's volunteer army could not defeat Zhao Yunxiang in terms of combat effectiveness or tactics. After Zhao Yunxiang's plan to recruit Duan Haizhou failed, he launched an attack on Duan's army. Duan Haizhou lost consecutive battles.
Even the newly acquired Xian County was lost.
Just when Duan Haizhou was in distress of defeat, an Eighth Route Army troop arrived from Nangong in the neighboring county.
Duan Haizhou had a deep impression of our Party when he was studying in Peking.
At this time, I was persuaded by members of our party in the army and decided to lead my troops to join the Eighth Route Army.
This move was warmly welcomed by Deputy Commander Xu of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army at the time.
In May of the same year, Duan Haizhou's "Anti-Japanese Volunteer Corps" was officially reorganized into the 129th Division Youth Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column in Nangong County, which is the Youth Column that appeared in the previous article.
Duan Haizhou served as the commander, and Li Jukui, the chief of staff of the then 386 Brigade dispatched by the Eighth Route Army, served as the political commissar.
Duan Haizhou divided the troops into three regiments, and also organized a teaching brigade, a guard battalion and a mortar company.
Duan Haizhou has since risen from a local armed commander to a brigade-level cadre of the Eighth Route Army.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! But the good times did not last long, and something made him worry again.
It turned out that his old principal Shi Youxin followed his brother Shi Yousan to develop his own armed forces in Hebei, and also obtained a regular army designation issued by the Military Commission.
As the relationship between Shi Yousan and the Eighth Route Army changed, Shi Yousan used Shi Youxin's identity as Duan Haizhou's principal to win over Duan Haizhou, who already had more than 10,000 troops, to "rejoin the army."
In this way, Duan Haizhou was in a dilemma. For Duan Haizhou, he had to accept the principal's invitation, but after all, he was a brigade-level cadre of the Eighth Route Army, so he left like this. He really felt sorry for the Eighth Route Army that supported him.
In addition, after he joined the Eighth Route Army, deputy commander of the 129th Division Xu Xiangqian and other senior generals treated him very favorably, which made him even more embarrassed to leave the Eighth Route Army.
After careful consideration, Duan Haizhou, after being ordered to lead his troops into northern Henan, used the excuse that his eye disease had recurred and went to the 129th Division headquarters in Nangong County to recuperate.
I won’t lead the army headquarters, right? Duan Haizhou may have thought too simplistically. After he recovered from his eye disease, he remembered the army he had formed by himself.
However, the army was in northern Henan and he was in central Hebei. Transportation between the two places was inconvenient, and there were Japanese and puppet troops in the middle. It was not easy to return to the army. After spending a month like this, the disappointed Duan Haizhou finally decided to go home to "recuperate."
After returning to his hometown, Duan Haizhou was not able to get what he wanted. Because after he returned home, those "old troops" who were opposed to joining the Eighth Route Army in the Volunteer Army came to him one after another, asking Duan Haizhou to raise the banner again and build up the army again.
At this time, I met Duan's old classmate Wang Wenhan who also sent someone to contact Duan Haizhou, saying that he had raised a force in Jidong, but his ability was limited. He hoped that his old classmate could help command and he was willing to be his deputy. In this way, Duan Haizhou
His heart became alive again, and then he wrote a "leave request letter" and sent it to the 129th Division Headquarters, officially breaking away from the Eighth Route Army.
After the news that Duan Haizhou had regrouped the army reached Shi Yousan, Shi once again sent his younger brother Youxin to recruit Duan into the group as the principal. So Duan Haizhou was reorganized into the 69th Army under the sincere "teachings" of the old principal.
Instructor of the 2nd Regiment, Duan is the leader.
In this way, Duan Haizhou changed from a brigade-level cadre of the Eighth Route Army to a regiment-level cadre of the National Army's regular army, and was later promoted to the commander of the Fourth Independent Brigade.
After Shi Yousan's death, he led his team to fight with Gao Shuxun, and later with Sun Liangcheng. Sun Liangcheng wanted to surrender to the enemy, so he led his team back to the Kuomintang District and became the first guerrilla column in the Hebei-Cha War Zone. Later, he defected to Tang Enbo. Not long after,
The team was reorganized into the 33rd Division.
So far, Duan Haizhou, a little man who only led 6 people in 1937, took only 6 years to surpass his colleagues who came from regular military academies and became a senior general of the national army.
Duan Haizhou's life was eventful. General Li Jukui, who served as political commissar for him, was awarded three stars in 1955. On the other hand, after Duan Haizhou's uprising, he transferred to Wanxian in the early 1950s.
Duan Haizhou was a patriotic general, but he still did not escape the limitations of history in his own time.