450 people including relevant leaders of the four groups of Yangzhou and Gaoyou, representatives of veteran fighters, veterans who participated in the Gaoyou campaign, government officials, people's armed forces, armed police soldiers, citizens, students, and volunteer representatives, stood solemnly among the people of Gaoyou On the square in front of the hero monument.
The leaders of the four groups of Yangzhou and the veterans who participated in the Gaoyou Campaign in front of the "Last Battle of the Anti-Japanese War Memorial".
Armed police soldiers presented flower baskets to the Monument to the People's Heroes.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan and the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Battle of Gaoyou. July 7 is the 78th anniversary of the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan. In the afternoon of the same day, about 450 people from Yangzhou City and Gaoyou City’s four groups of leaders, representatives of veterans demobilized during the Anti-Japanese War, veterans who participated in the Gaoyou campaign, government officials, people’s armed forces, armed police soldiers, citizens, students, and volunteers came to Gaoyou martyrs. The "Memorial Hall of the Last Battle of the War of Resistance Against Japan" in the cemetery participated in a memorial ceremony with the theme of "Remembering history, remembering martyrs, cherishing peace, and fulfilling the dream of China".
From December 19 to 26, 1945, the Battle of Gaoyou, launched under the command of General Su Yu, commander of the Central China Field Army of the New Fourth Army, was more than four months after the Japanese imperialists announced their surrender, and the Japanese government and the Japanese invaders in the Chinese theater signed more than three surrender letters. Months later, the Japanese and puppet troops who refused to surrender to Gaoyou City attacked and fought. This was the last city liberated from the Japanese by the People’s Army under the leadership of the Communist Party. It was the last battle against the Japanese invaders in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan. The New Fourth Army recorded the largest number of Japanese invaders annihilated at one time during the War of Resistance.
Gaoyou is located in the central part of Jiangsu Province, with Yangzhou in the south, Lianghuai in the north, the canal in the west, and the water network and Tianchou in the east. It is an important waterway transportation hub in northern Jiangsu and a battleground for military strategists in history. After the Japanese invaded and occupied Gaoyou on October 2, 1939, they have been heavily guarded and repaired several times to make them strong. On the 9-meter-high and 7-meter-thick Gaoyou city wall, 34 permanent machine gun bunkers were built. There are 8 large two-story or three-story bunkers, and there are shooting bunkers between the battlements. At the same time, there is a protective soil polder at the four gates of the city, and a guard post is built every 50 meters, and the outer slope of the soil polder is cut into steep walls.
According to historical records, Japan announced its unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945, and signed a letter of surrender on September 2 of the same year. However, the news was tightly sealed within the Japanese army. The Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek was conducting peace negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party. On the one hand, the Japanese and puppet troops were ordered not to surrender to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, to hold their positions and maintain law and order; on the other hand, they quickly mobilized troops to advance and attack our liberated areas in an attempt to force our party to surrender in negotiations.
Commander-in-chief Zhu De issued an order for the people's anti-Japanese armed forces to issue a notice to the nearby Japanese and puppet forces, restricting them to immediately surrender to our army. The Gaoyou Japanese puppet army relied on the fact that there were heavy troops stationed in the heights of the city, and the Kuomintang backed it, so it ignored our army's surrender. The New Fourth Army appointed Zhao Yunxiang, the former commander of the Fifth Army of the Puppet Army in the Battle of Yancheng (before the Battle of Gaoyou) to go to Gaoyou City to persuade him to surrender. He was "shown in the public" and threatened to "recover lost ground."
It was dark on December 19, 1945. The Central China Field Army of the New Fourth Army concentrated on the 7th and 8th Columns and 15 regiments of the Soviet Central Military Region. It launched a full-line attack on Gaoyou City within an area of 40 kilometers from north to south and 20 kilometers from east to west; December 25 On Japan, under the cover of powerful artillery fire, our army launched a general offensive in the rain. The 64th, 66th, and 68th regiments of the 8th column launched a fierce attack on Gaoyou City from the north, east and south directions. , To induce the Japanese army to break through the south siege desperately to carry out encirclement and annihilation. At 4 o'clock in the morning on the 26th, the Japanese Supreme Commander in Gaoyou, Yan Qi, finally surrendered, and the battle ended victoriously. At this time, Gaoyou City, which was occupied by the Japanese army for 6 years and 2 months, was finally liberated. After the victory of the Gaoyou Campaign, the New Fourth Army under the leadership of the Communist Party accepted the Japanese surrender and held a surrender ceremony.
From the evening of the 19th to the 26th, the Gaoyou campaign took only one week. Our army conquered the fortified city at the cost of injuring more than 400 people and killing more than 200 people, annihilating more than 5,000 enemies, of which more than 1,100 Japanese troops captured 61 artillery pieces. , 4308 guns, annihilated and captured the Japanese army, seized guns, ammunition, ordnance, is also one of the few in the anti-Japanese battlefield in Central China.
In order to let future generations remember this period of history and strengthen party history education, Gaoyou Civil Affairs Bureau invested more than 3 million yuan to renovate the auditorium of the city’s People’s Park and built the "Last Battle of Anti-Japanese War Memorial". Chen ZhanmianWith an area of nearly 500 square meters, the whole process of the Gaoyou campaign is displayed in the form of photos, objects, oil paintings, scenes, micro-films, etc. The memorial hall is divided into six exhibition halls: pre-war situation, tactics, battle process, surrender ceremony, magic weapon for victory, and meaning of the battle. . Among them, there are 76 pictures, 17 sections, 4 scenes, 1 relief, 1 sand table model, and 2 videos. The memorial hall showcased the excellent style of fighting, diligence and integrity of the soldiers of the New Fourth Army in various forms, as well as the moving scene of local party organizations and the masses of the people. The memorial was officially opened on December 26 of that year and opened to the outside world free of charge. It has now become an important patriotism education base, national defense education base, party history education base and clean government education base in Gaoyou. (Chen Yu)
