Zhao Dengyu (1898-1937), whose courtesy name was Shuncheng, was nicknamed "Xiaosaner". He was born on March 16, 1898 in a poor peasant family in Zhaolou Village, Heze County, Shandong Province. In early 1914, he joined Feng Yuxiang's army and served as platoon, company, battalion commander. After Wuyuan's oath in 1926, he joined the army in the Northern Expedition. In 1927, he was promoted to brigade commander. In 1928, he served as commander of the 27th Division of the Second Army. After being dispatched in 1929, he served as brigade commander. In 1930, he served as the Fourth Route of the Anti-Chiang Army.

The commander of the 25th Division of the Army. In 1931, he served as the brigade commander of the 1st Brigade of the 37th Division of the 29th Army. In 1933, he led his troops to defend the Xifengkou position in the Great Wall War, causing heavy damage to the Japanese army. In June 1933, he served as the commander of the 132nd Division and a preparatory member of the 29th Army's special party committee. On January 25, 1936, he was awarded the title of lieutenant general of the Army. In the spring of 1937, he was ordered to garrison Nanyuan, Tongzhou, and Hebei-central areas to defend Peiping. On July 28, 1937, he died heroically in the fierce battle against the Japanese attack on Nanyuan.

1. Go to the Great Wall to fight against the Japanese invaders

After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese invaders quickly annexed the three northeastern provinces and implemented the "mainland policy" to erode China, pressing forward step by step inside the pass. In early March 1931, a large number of elite Japanese troops were divided into groups to the passes of the Great Wall. Pingjin was in an emergency, and the Chinese nation faced another severe test.

In China, He Yingqin replaced Zhang Xueliang as the chairman of the Peking Military Branch in early March. Chiang Kai-shek gave him a brief "resistance and negotiated on the other hand". Seeing the Japanese invasion of the Great Wall, He Yingqin hurriedly dispatched troops to defend the Great Wall. He ordered Song Zheyuan's 29th Army to connect with Fangxifengkou, Luowenyu line, Shang Zhen's 32nd Army to join Fanglunkou, and transferred the 17th Army's Guan Linzheng troops to go north to join Fanggubeikou at Xingye. Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army deployed defenses at Dushikou on the flank, trying to confront the Japanese army with the Great Wall as a barrier.

The eyes of the people of the whole country are concentrated on the ancient Great Wall, and the hopes of the people of the whole country are placed on the Chinese army that rushed to the Great Wall at night to fight the enemy. Song Zheyuan, the commander of the 29th Army, received an order to defend the Great Wall in early March. After repeated consideration, this patriotic general, who was always known for his strict military discipline, decided to send Zhao Dengyu, the commander of the 109th Brigade of the 37th Division, to fly to Xifengkou as a vanguard, to block the Japanese invaders chasing the remnants of Wan Fulin, and to defend the Great Wall to the death, and not allow the Japanese army to move forward.

It is still a cold winter in the early March in the north. The mountains along the Great Wall are high and the wind is strong, but heavy snow is falling again. The slopes are steep and the road is slippery, and the march is extremely unfavorable. Zhao Dengyu was burned with a heart of fire and led the way forward. When the troops arrived at Santun Camp 60 miles away from Xifengkou, they met the remnants of Wan Fulin who had retreated. These defeated generals were thrown away and were in a mess. When asked about the strength of the Japanese army, they said: "Machine guns are better than cannons. Howitzers can blow up the mountain and flat cannons and howitzers can flatten the mountain. It is amazing, it is really amazing." Zhao Dengyu came from the bottom of his heart

Despising these defeated soldiers, he asked, "Why don't you fight to the death?" They said, "What are you fighting for? The officials have already run away by car." Zhao Dengyu could no longer bear the anger in his heart and shouted to all the soldiers: "As a soldier, it is a natural duty to protect the country and defend the territory. When the enemy is in front of him, only the heroic nature is to resist the enemy with death. Raising soldiers for a thousand days, using troops for a while, and the time to serve the country is to serve the country." Seeing that the chief general is so generous, all of them were excited. The fatigue of marching for a few days suddenly disappeared. The O'Ninth Brigade, like an iron stream, penetrated straight into the mouth of the Xifeng that was dangerously narrow in the peak.

On the afternoon of March 9, the 217th Regiment of Zhao Dengyu's army arrived at Xifengkou. The regiment commander Wang Changhai had been through the battle formation for a long time, but he couldn't help but take a breath. It turned out that the Japanese vanguard had seized the Great Wall highland in the northeast of Xifengkou on the morning of the same day and blocked Xifengkou with firepower. The situation was critical, and Zhao Dengyu ordered Wang Changhai to regain the commanding heights at all costs. The officers and soldiers of Wang Changhai's regiment climbed up the cliff with the spirit of killing the enemy for a long time and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army. The 14th Brigade of the Japanese army occupying Xifengkou was an elite force. They fought desperately with favorable terrain and advanced weapons. After several hours of hard fighting, the Japanese army, which had always regarded themselves as invincible in the world, was finally driven away.

The commanding heights were brought down. In this battle, both sides of the enemy and us suffered hundreds of casualties. Shi Zhengang, the battalion commander of Zhao Dengyu's army, was injured in the company commander Liu Shichang, and platoon commander Hou Fengming died bravely. However, the successful first battle greatly increased the majesty of the Chinese army. After the Japanese army was driven down the mountain, they were angry and mobilized planes and cannons to bomb the positions of the 29th Army. The artillery fire almost turned the entire highland into a Jiao Shi. Zhao Dengyu was a commander who had been in the battlefield for a long time. He realized that the enemy's advantage lies in aircraft and cannons. As long as the enemy lures the enemy into the eyes, we can use our army's advantages of strong melee combat capabilities and engage in face-to-face hand-to-face combat with the enemy, so that the enemy's artillery advantage would be difficult to work. So he ordered the use of the terrain and city

The battlements used as cover to avoid the enemy's artillery fire, and waited for the enemy's infantry to rush into the range of our army's firepower and then attacked hard. This move indeed worked. After the Japanese artillery fire bombed indiscriminately, they thought that the Chinese army had lost its combat effectiveness and organized infantry to advance to the mountain. When approaching the top of the mountain, the Chinese defenders' light and heavy weapons swept towards the enemy like a **. The Japanese army caught off guard, suffered heavy casualties, and were driven down the mountains again and again. Seeing that the Chinese army's combat effectiveness was so strong that they dared not underestimate the enemy, they mobilized a group of machine gunners, sneaked into the left side of Xifengkou, occupied the favorable terrain, and fired violently at the soldiers of the O9th Brigade guarding the city wall. The Chinese army suffered losses and casualties increased in the absence of hidden objects.

Deng Yu made a quick decision and sent elite troops to detour on both sides of the enemy's machine gun position. Unexpectedly, he eliminated all the lurking Japanese shooters. The Japanese army no longer dared to launch an attack, but mobilized a battalion of artillery and used the strategy of long-range artillery bombardment to launch a long-term shelling of the Chinese defenders. The soldiers of the 109th Brigade were suffering from greater casualties, and Zhao Dengyu always insisted on fighting at the forefront. Under the fierce bombardment of artillery fire, he stood proudly without fear, and constantly adjusted the hidden position of the troops to inspire soldiers to kill the enemy bravely. Seeing that the supreme commander was so brave and inspired, everyone fought bravely, and they killed the Japanese army sobbing and howling. The position was always in the hands of the Chinese army.

Relying on excellent weapons and increasing the bombardment of heavy artillery, the Chinese defenders encountered the most severe test. At dusk on March 9, the Japanese army concentrated a large number of heavy artillery to destroy the more than 20-meter-long fortifications built by the 109th Brigade with marabs. A large number of Japanese troops took the opportunity to swarm and attack the gap. All squads of the 9th Company of the 217th Regiment guarding the position were all killed. Another unit of the 9th Company immediately made up for the fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. The 29th Army trained its troops on weekdays, and the main subject of fighting with big swords, the soldiers rushed left and right with big swords. The Japanese army, who claimed to be good at stabbing, could not resist under the big swords of the 29th Army, and suffered heavy casualties, but relying on the large number of people and unwilling to retreat, the two sides were in stalemate and the sky was dark.

Zhao Dengyu knew in his heart that the Japanese army attacked Xifengkou had two main brigades, and the total strength of the puppet Manchukuo Army was more than 30,000, while he had only a few thousand, and the troops were very different. Moreover, the Japanese army had excellent weapons, arrogant morale, and arrogant. If it persisted for a long time, it would inevitably put himself in a passive situation. In order to take the initiative, Zhao Dengyu ignored his fatigue and ordered the two battalions of the 218th Regiment that had just arrived to attack in two directions at midnight on the 9th to attack Baitaizi and Caijiayu.

The Japanese army, both armed with light armies, rushed to the enemy's rear with big swords, and arrived at the attack site at around 2 a.m. on the 10th. With a command, the Chinese army descended from the sky like a magic weapon, and the big swords flew towards the Japanese army. The Japanese army never dreamed that someone would come in from behind like a natural danger and responded hastily, but it seemed extremely incompetent in front of the 29th Army's Big Sword Team. For an hour of fierce fighting, the 218th Regiment killed more than 500 Japanese troops and successfully seized Baitaizi and Caijiayu.

The Japanese army lost two positions and knew that they had encountered a strong enemy. By dawn on the 10th, all artillery fire was concentrated, covering thousands of infantry into echelons, and launched a fierce attack on the main position of Zhao Dengyu at Xifengkou and Tiemen Pass. The O9th Brigade did not give in inches of land and jumped out of the trenches to fight with the Japanese army many times. Zhao Dengyu led the army with a knife and supervised the formation, and personally led the secret service battalion to reinforce the flank positions. In the fierce battle, he was shot in his leg and blood flowed. He was wounded while commanding without retreating. The battle was until noon, O9th

More than 400 casualties were killed and soldiers of the brigade, and eight officers including Wang Baoliang, the battalion commander of the special agent battalion died heroically. The enemy rushed forward and the situation was at an extremely critical moment. Zhao Dengyu was determined to survive and die with the position, always standing at the forefront and inspiring his subordinates. At this most critical moment, the reinforcements of the 110th Brigade and the 113th Brigade of the 29th Army ran through more than a hundred miles of mountain road overnight, miraculously appeared at the entrance of Xifeng. The two armies met and the army was greatly promoted. The attacking Japanese army finally retreated.

Both sides suffered great losses in the two days of fierce battle. While Zhao Dengyu was thinking about good strategies to defeat the enemy, he sent an order from the military headquarters, ordering Zhao Dengyu to immediately organize suicide squads, detour to the enemy side, and launch a surprise attack on the enemy's artillery and main flanking positions. Zhao Dengyu was overjoyed when he heard the order and immediately made arrangements: Commander Wang Changhai of the 217th Regiment led four companies to attack the enemy's artillery positions in Caijiayu and Baitaizi; he personally led Dong Shengtang's 228th Regiment to attack Beitushan along the Great Wall, north and south.

After the enemy succeeded, the two groups advanced side by side to attack the enemy at Xifengkou. After receiving the order, the battalion commanders were ready to attack. However, their subordinates believed that Zhao Dengyu had injured his legs and should not travel far, so they advised him to stay in place to command. Zhao Dengyu stood up with a big sword as a staff, endured the severe pain and said: "Why can the general be afraid of the enemy in front of him? I swear to support the country with my body, what is this injury?'After saying that, he stood up resolutely and led his troops onto the journey.

The mountain was steep and the wind was strong, and the moon was bright and the snow was white. Two surprise attackers were carrying big swords on their backs, stomping the snow against the wind and snow, and galloping along the mountain road. Although Zhao Dengyu was hurting his wounds, he was not behind half a step and was always walking in front of the team. At midnight, the Big Sword Team entered Beitu Mountain. The Japanese cavalry troops stationed here did not expect that the Chinese army, which had fought hard for a day, would still have the strength to rush to attack from a long distance, and they all slept soundly. The Big Sword Team accidentally broke into the enemy's tent. Under the moonlight, they saw cold light flashing. The Big Sword Pole fell everywhere. The enemy's corpses were everywhere. Those who were lucky enough to die were scared and ran away with their heads. The Big Sword Team chased and wiped out all the small Japanese troops in a moment.

The third battalion, which attacked the enemy of the three families, was discovered by the enemy sentry when approaching the enemy camp. In an instant, gunfire sounds were loud, and the enemy troops woke up from their sleep and rushed to fight. Zhao Dengyu ordered the raid team to attack Hengchengzi and Beizhangzi's enemy. The Big Sword team members were ascending to the mountain with tigers, with unstoppable sharpness, and the big swords flew, and the enemy heads fell to the ground one after another. After a panic in the Japanese army, relying on their excellent weapons to fight with the Big Sword team members. A night of melee, more than half of the enemy troops were wiped out by dawn. As the main force of the Japanese army continued to come to reinforce from the avenue, Zhao Dengyu led the Big Sword team to retreat into the Great Wall at 2:00 pm after seizing a large number of confidential documents from the Japanese army.

Wang Changhai's troops who attacked Caijiayu rushed to Caijiayu before dawn, took advantage of their fierceness to rush into the enemy camp, exerted the power of the big sword to wipe out the defending enemy, and controlled the high ground around Caijiayu and Baitaizi. Soon it was dawn, and the enemy concentrated their troops to launch a counterattack against our army with heavy weapons. Hu Chonglu, deputy commander of the 217th Regiment, and Wang Fengzhi, acting battalion commander, all died in the melee. After the troops destroyed a large number of enemy arms, they retreated on the same route.

During this night attack, the 29th Army dispatched thousands of people, killed more than 1,400 Japanese troops, injured more than 1,000 enemies, seized a large number of guns and ammunition, destroyed countless strategic materials of the enemy, and at the cost of more than 1,000 people, they won the first great victory after the War of Resistance. The news of the good news came, and the people across the country were excited. Zhao Dengyu became famous all over the country. The Kuomintang Command awarded Zhao Dengyu the rank of lieutenant general, awarded the Blue Sky and White Sun Medal, and promoted him to the commander of the 132nd Division.

The tactic of the big sword fighting against the enemy trained by Zhao Dengyu was later used on the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, which made the Japanese army frightened. Later, a musician composed the "Big Sword March" based on the deeds of the 29th Army's Big Sword Team, and its lyrics quickly spread throughout the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War:

The big sword cut the heads of the Japanese heads,

Brothers of the Twenty-Ninth Army!

The day of the War of Resistance has arrived,

The day of the War of Resistance has arrived!

There are the Northeast Volunteers ahead,

Behind are the people of the whole country.

Our 29th Army is not the Gu Army.

Look at the enemy,

Eliminate him, eliminate him!

The big sword cut the Japanese on the heads!

Crash, kill!

On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out. Japan launched a full-scale armed invasion against China, and the people of the whole country hated the enemy, setting off a climax of resisting Japan and saving the country. The 29th Army where Zhao Dengyu was located was stationed in Peiping at the time. Late at the night of the day when the incident occurred, He Jifeng's Brigade of the 37th Division of the 29th Army guarding Lugou Bridge first fired the first shot of the national war of resistance. In the next 10 days, a large number of Japanese troops drove around Peiping and formed a siege against the 29th Army. "The black clouds pressed the city and wanted to destroy it", and the situation was extremely critical. Zhao Dengyu saw that Pingjin was in danger and was anxious. He was very anxious.

On the one hand, he stepped up training and repeatedly encouraged his subordinates to defend the motherland to the death; on the other hand, he repeatedly proposed to Commander Song Zheyuan to defend Peiping. In order to defend the ancient capital, Song Zheyuan transferred Zhao Dengyu's 132nd Division from Renqiu and Hejian to quickly reinforce Peiping. On July 22, Zhao Dengyu's vanguard arrived in Nanyuan, and on the 23rd, the 132nd Division entered Beiping City. When the people of Beiping heard that Commander Zhao, who had defeated the Japanese army at Xifengkou, arrived, they immediately became energetic. Patriot students from various universities and anti-Japanese groups in Peking went out to comfort the soldiers of the 29th Army and help build fortifications. The anti-Japanese sentiment was very high.

Just as the main force of Zhao Dengyu's army advanced to Beiping at night, the Japanese army launched a general attack on the Pingjin area. On July 26, he captured Langfang and pointed the finger at Nanyuan. That night, Yueqing, commander of the Japanese North China garrison, issued an ultimatum to Song Zheyuan, ordering the 29th Army to withdraw from Peking within a time limit. Song Zheyuan convened Feng Zhi'an, Zhang Zizhong, Zhao Dengyu, Liu Ruming and other generals to hold a meeting overnight, expressing his determination to respond to the battle and never surrender, "decided to defend Beiping and swear to live and die with the city", and also sent a telegram to the whole country. On the 27th, he formally rejected the unreasonable demands of Japanese imperialism and swearing to live and die with Peking.

After receiving the reply, the Japanese army advanced to Nanyuan on the evening of the 27th. Nanyuan, connected to Tianjin in the south and Beiping in the north, was the last barrier of the ancient capital. The headquarters of the 29th Army was located in Nanyuan for a long time. At that time, the 29th Army had less than one brigade in Nanyuan, a regiment of the 9th Cavalry Division and a teaching regiment, a spy brigade commanded by Tong Lingge, deputy commander of the 29th Army, a total of about 5,000 people. Due to the complexity of the system, it was difficult for this small number of troops to be unified. When the Japanese army began to advance to Nanyuan on the 27th, Song Zheyuan realized the strictness of the situation.

Jun, he urgently ordered Zhao Dengyu to be the commander of Nanyuan, and jointly command Nanyuan's defense operations with Tong Linge, and at the same time dispatched troops to reinforce Nanyuan. General Tong Linge, who was guarding Nanyuan, was preparing to fight with the Japanese army to die, and Zhao Dengyu were old comrades who had been working together for many years to fight against Japan. At this most critical moment, the two met on the front line of the battle. Zhao Dengyu said to Tong Linge with great enthusiasm: "Three brothers, the country is in danger, it is time for us to repay our ambitions and shed our blood. I swear to turn Nanyuan into the Xifengkou of the past, so that the Japanese can taste the taste of the 29th Army's Big Sword Team again."

In late July, in midsummer, when the night fell, the heat did not fade away at all. Zhao Dengyu and Tong Linge braved the heat of the summer to inspect the military situation and deploy defenses. The Nanyuan area is the end of the North China Plain, with a vast river of flat land and no danger to be taken. However, due to the sudden war, most of the positions did not even build fortifications and could only rely on the camp wall as a bunker. In the early morning of the 8th, the Japanese army launched a general attack on Nanyuan. On the unimpeded plain, the firepower of the machine guns was as dense as *, and the 29th Army suffered major casualties. Zhao Dengyu and Tong Linge also lost contact.

The patriotic officers and soldiers of the 29th Army did not retreat. Under the attack of fierce artillery fire, they fought desperately to fight the enemy with their lives. Some rushed to the enemy tanks with their hands. Some rushed out of the position and broke into the enemy group and cut the vengeful sword at the head of the Japanese. After the gunfight, there were bayonets that were so powerful that they were fighting against the mountains and rivers, and after the stabbing, they pulled the grenades and died with the enemy. Zhao Dengyu was red in his eyes, and braved the artillery fire, shuttled back and forth between the positions, commanding and fighting with the enemy. At noon, due to the huge gap in strength between the enemy and us, the Japanese army had broken through the 29th Army's defense line from the east, west and south directions of Nanyuan.

Zhao Dengyu fought hard while asking about Tong Linge's news with concern. In the afternoon, the messenger reported a bad news that made him sad. General Tong Linge, who had always been loyal and swearing to serve the country to the death, led the way in the fierce battle and died in the country. "Deputy Commander! Brother, Zhao Dengyu could not control his grief and whistled to the sky. At this time, he called more than 30 guards who followed him to his eyes and said passionately: "Captain Tong is one step ahead of us."

Let's go, what else can we think about? For several years, we have been shouting to kill the enemy every day. Now is the time." After that, he took the lead in rushing towards the enemy. The guards were excited, like a sharp arrow, shooting straight towards the enemy's large army. Fighting and fighting, the Japanese army was shocked and temporarily stopped attacking. At this time, the command center passed the order of all the defenders to gather in the Dahongmen area. Zhao Dengyu arranged to pay attention to finding General Tong Lingge's remains on the way to retreat, and took the lead in rushing towards Dahongmen. The Japanese army peeked out our army

In an attempt to use a machine gun to block the main road retreating to Dahongmen. In order to boost morale, Zhao Dengyu insisted on commanding on the car regardless of the dissuasion of his subordinates. This was tantamount to exposing himself to the enemy. When the car reached the Yuhe Bridge near Dahongmen, the car was blown up by the enemy with dense firepower. Zhao Dengyu was injured several times and stained his blood. The guards advised him to retreat to a safe place as soon as possible, but he refused. Instead, he led the suicide squad to counterattack the enemy. During the fierce battle, a shell exploded beside him, his double

His leg was broken, and the severe pain was accompanied by blood. He was almost unconscious. Seeing that he could no longer act, the messenger wanted to retreat behind him. He said to the messenger: "Don't worry about me! It was the duty of a soldier to die on the battlefield, and nothing worthy of sadness. But there was my mother in the city of Peking. Go back and tell her that loyalty and filial piety cannot be achieved. Her son died for the country, which is worthy of his ancestors. Let her rest assured." After that, tears rolled down, glared at the enemy, and stopped breathing. He was 39 years old.

In the battle of Nanyuan, thousands of people from the 29th Army fought to the death of the country under the inspiration of Generals of Tong and Zhao, and died heroically. The Japanese army also suffered major casualties. The battle of Nanyuan was shocking. The Chinese army, under Tong Lingge and Zhao Dengyu, wrote a heroic poem of the Chinese nation to resist foreign aggression with the feat of aura. When Song Zheyuan heard General Zhao's death, he beat his chest and cried: "I have broken my left arm, this hatred is irreconcilable!"

On July 31, the National Government posthumously awarded Zhao Dengyu as an army general. His life and deeds were published in the History Museum to demonstrate loyalty and martyrdom. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, at the request of people from all walks of life, the Beigou street in Xicheng, Beiping was named "Zhao Dengyu Road". General He Jifeng, under the order of General Feng Yean, moved Zhao Dengyu's loyalty to the bank of Lugou Bridge. This patriotic general who shed the last drop of blood to defend the motherland was buried in the forefront of the Chinese army's war of fighting against the Japanese invaders to launch a full-scale invasion of China.

On July 28, 1946, on the 9th anniversary of Zhao Dengyu's death and the first anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the people of Peking held a public memorial meeting in Zhongshan Park to mourn Zhao Dengyu and General Tong Lingge. The conference was presided over by Li Zongren, who highly praised the patriotic spirit of the two generals.
Chapter completed!