In this "ice-breaking trip", when Nixon met with the new Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, he suddenly mentioned two unfamiliar names - John Thomas Downey (also translated as John Downey) and Richard George Fecteau.
Nixon admitted that Donnell and Fecteau committed unforgivable crimes in China, but hoped that the Chinese government would leniently release the two prisoners.
Nixon said: "Mother Downey is 76 years old, and she hopes to see her son before she dies. Fecteau is ill in prison, and his relatives also hope that he will go home and reunite as soon as possible."
Premier Zhou listened to Nixon out of humanitarianism and to show the sincerity of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, instructed the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to release Donnay and Fecteau, who had been detained for about 20 years.
Who are Donna and Fecteau? What crimes did they commit in China and have been imprisoned for nearly 20 years? Why should President Nixon be allowed to intercede in person?
This all originated from the "espionage case" that shocked China and foreign countries in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and is now little known.
1. Destroy the US spy plane
It was General Tan Youlin, then the commander of the Northeast Public Security Army, who cracked this case.
was in the third year of the outbreak of to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and . Although General Tan Youlin did not go to the front line of the Korean battlefield, his defense work in the border areas between China and North Korea has not been easy.
One day, General Tan received classified information from the "Laoling Anti-Special Joint Command". The
intelligence stated: An American spy plane invaded my northeast airspace and flew over the airspace designated by me. Send someone to retrieve the empty rack.
(Tan Youlin)
Tan Youlin was overjoyed after reading the information, and resolutely said: "We must shoot down the American spy plane!"
then transferred to the air defense force stationed in Anshan and carried 18 anti-aircraft machine guns , and then transferred to the 84th Public Security Regiment to carry more than 10 light machine guns, and the Jilin Provincial Public Security Forces carried 6 heavy machine guns .
then personally served as the commander-in-chief of the operation, deploying troops into the Huanggou area to form a semicircular anti-air fire network.
has everything ready, just waiting for the "prey" to take the bait.
As expected, on October 28, of the same year, Tan Youlin heard a "humming" sound in the sky in the hidden command post.
He knows, the American spy plane is coming!
After a while, investigators came in to report the situation, which confirmed Tan Youlin's conjecture.
Tan Youlin immediately hid in the fortification to observe secretly. He saw that the spy plane was flying lower and lower. After flying two laps, it dropped a batch of supplies over the barren ditch and flew away.
(C-47 aircraft)
Several soldiers also hurried forward to check, and the supplies were guns and ammunition, communication equipment, daily necessities, canned bread and some money.
also found a black leather bag containing two command files.
Tan Youlin opened two documents, and the first order wrote: "The team has made outstanding achievements, the headquarters is extremely satisfied, and now they are sending material rewards, which will increase by $100 per person per month from now on." The second order of
wrote : "The headquarters decided to take Li Junying back to report at 21:00 on October 29th, and I hope to be ready to respond."
Obviously, this is a award order for people known as the "literary team" , an order in response to Li Junying.
, the "literary team" and Li Junying, are undoubtedly the spies that the United States planted inside our country.
Tan Youlin decided to take the plan and "wait for the rabbit" here the next day.
all the commanders in the northeast zeroUnder the severe cold weather of 20 to 30 degrees, I waited for more than 20 hours with the cold machine gun .
Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at the sky, not daring to blink, always ready to take down the U.S. spy plane in one fell swoop.
(attended for the arrival of enemy planes)
Time passed by one minute and one second, At about 21 o'clock in the evening, a roar of planes came, and a C-47 stateless American spy plane appeared in the sky .
Tan Youlin immediately ordered: "All anti-aircraft fire departments are carefully prepared."
saw that the enemy plane circled in mid-air for a few laps and dropped countless flares, illuminating the whole earth like daytime, and then the enemy plane dived downward. In the middle of it, it rose into the air again and flew towards North Korea. All the
troops were stunned. Could it be that we were discovered?
General Tan immediately gave instructions to the troops to reassure them, saying that this was a tactic adopted by a cunning enemy, just to detect the situation just now, and the real opportunity to respond will come again.
An hour later, the spy plane went back and forth.
It circled around and swooped down slowly. When it was only 200 meters away from the field, Tan Zhenlin gave an order: "Fight hard!" Loud and loud.
(Catch Donnay and Fecteau at the scene)
This sudden change made the C-47 dodge around like a headless fly, hit the top of a mountain, and crashed at the foot of the mountain. The
plane caught fire, and the pilot was killed on the spot. Two American spies who were lucky enough to escape from the cabin were caught by the police officers who had been ambush here for a long time.
And these two American spies are none other than Donnay and Fecteau mentioned earlier.
Two, CIA spies
Donnay and Fecteau are both spies of CIA .
CIA referred to as CIA, is also known as "CIA" in foreign movies.
It is one of the "four major intelligence agencies in the world" with the Soviet Union KGB , British MI6 and Israel's Mossad.
The main task of the CIA is to train and send spies to infiltrate other countries, openly or secretly collect information on local government, military, technology, terrorist organizations, etc., and transfer it to the US government.
At that time, it was in the white-hot stage of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Tang Nai and Fecteau were naturally responsible for obtaining my country's military intelligence and responding to tasks such as American spies within our country.
Donnay was originally a top student at Yale University in the United States. When he graduated, he was selected by the CIA to receive 6 months of special agent training in Suitland, Maryland and Columbus, Georgia.
(Donnell and Fecteau)
Subsequently, was sent by the CIA to a Japanese spy agency because of his excellent performance, where he specially selected some "Chinese" for training, and then arranged for them to go to Northeast China to engage in intelligence collection work.
In 1952, he successively selected 11 Northeastern Chinese from the CIA training class in Saipan, brought them to Chigasaki, Japan, and trained them in pistol shooting, blasting techniques, guerrilla warfare, and skydiving.
When the training was fruitful, Tang Nai arranged for these people to return to Northeast China.
These people were assigned to two teams, the one with Wen Shijie as the captain was called "Team Wen", and the one with Shen Hengnian as the captain was called "Team Shen".
Therefore, the object of the commendation issued by the spy plane mentioned above is exactly Wen Shijie's spy team.
And Fecteau was also admitted by the CIA in the same year, and then went to Ford Benning, Georgia, to receive three months of training in weapons, demolition, skydiving, and other training. After
, he was assigned to Seoul Airlines to use the air fetcher , and practiced the air fetch for three days.
Fectu was also assigned as Tang Nai's assistant to take part in this mission to the border between China and North Korea.
(Fecto)
It seems that the United States has been preparing for a long time for this spy plan to sneak into Northeast China to obtain intelligence! Before the
action, Fecteau's boss came to tell him that he would first drop the supplies for testing when he arrived at the destination, and then return to the original route to pick up people after an hour or so.
once hit the ambush and the plane is shot down, go to the designated place to meet, there is seaplane to meet them.
Even if the plan changes and is not accepted, he will try his best to return to the United States by himself.
In the unfortunate event of being caught by the People's Liberation Army, don't reveal your identity as a CIA, but tell the People's Liberation Army that you are only the pilot of Pan Am , who went to North Korea to pick up the cargo and was shot down.
The American side thought very well, but they were also misled by their own misfortune. Donnai and Fecteau encountered the worst situation and were captured by our army on the spot. After
was arrested, Donnay and Fecteau certainly would not confess easily. During the interrogation, they insisted that they were not spies, which was a misunderstanding.
After shocking the world, including the fact that American spies were arrested by our army, the United States still flatly denied it, insisting that these two people are just civilians.
(crash spy plane)
No matter how sophistry these spies make, they can't argue with hard facts.
Seeing this, some people may have been wondering, how did our army find the American spy plane in the barren ditch in the first place? Is it really just a coincidence?
, including Tang Nai and Fecteau, are also confused. How could such a secret operation be easily seen by the PLA?
In fact, Huanggou's arrest was not accidental, but our army planned and purposefully adopted the strategy of "leading snakes out of holes" to make them hooked.
There is one person to thank for this, and that is the person they are going to meet on this trip - Li Junying.
3. Counterintelligence operation
Isn't Li Junying an American spy? How can we turn our backs on helping us? In fact, in June of that year, Wu Hengmo, chief of the military training unit of the 84th Regiment of the Yanbian Public Security Bureau of , Jilin Province, received a report saying that the marks of the U.S. military were found in the north of the Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain in .
Wu Hengmo immediately led two platoons of troops to the Tianchi area to find out the truth.
At this time, Changbai Mountain was encountering a big snowstorm. Wu Hengmo and the soldiers marched to Laolangbu at the foot of Tianchi.
At this time, he found that Xishangang was originally a no-man's land, but there were wisps of green smoke, and immediately commanded the troops to outflank the past three ways.
When the spy's hiding place was accidentally discovered, Wu Hengmo brought his troops into a fierce shootout with him. Most of the spies were annihilated in the battle, and a small number were captured alive.
(catch the spy)
originally thought the counter-espionage battle had been won, but three months later, the Public Security Bureau of Yanbian District received another call:
A man wearing a Volunteer Army uniform and holding a pistol went to the Antu County Public Security Bureau The bureau turned himself in, calling himself Li Junying, a spy who was air-dropped in the Changbai Mountains by the "Free China Movement Headquarters" of the United States.
Wu Hengmo, Guan Yuehao, head of the 84th Regiment of the Public Security Bureau, and Yao Xin, the political commissar, participated in the investigation.
After Li Junying met the chief of our army, he revealed everything he knew without reservation.
He was originally from Liaoyang, Liaoning Province. He used to be the deputy head of the Kuomintang lieutenant colonel. Later, he fled to Hong Kong to join the "Free China Movement Headquarters".
This Li Junying is one of the Northeastern Chinese who was selected by Tang Nai for spy training on Saipan.
According to his account, in July and September, ten spy agents have been airdropped to Changbai Mountain, which are the "Team Wen" and "Team Shen" mentioned above.
And Li Junying belongs to the "Wen Team", the captain Wen Shijie's real name is Zhang Zaiwen, the deputy captain Xu Guangzhi, and the team members are Yu Guanzhou, Man Zhihui, and Niu Songlin.
Their main task is to establish a guerrilla base in in the northeast area of , carry out sabotage operations, and at the same timeGather intelligence, set up an airdrop field to continue responding to the airdrops of U.S. spy planes... Of course not
, because he got lost on Changbai Mountain and couldn't find a contact person. He was starving and cold in the snow, so he took the initiative to go down the mountain to seek help from the public security organs in order to survive.
Guan Yuehao and Yao Xin knew that the matter was of great importance, and immediately reported the situation to General Tan Youlin and Jilin Provincial Public Security Department .
General Tan was skeptical of Li Junying's confession, and was also afraid that his surrender would "scare the snakes".
However, Guan and Yao guarantee that Li Junying's surrender will be kept strictly confidential and will not be leaked. As for whether the information is true or false, we need to investigate, because the residents of and in Longxian County do respond that they often hear that there are planes over Laoling the "hum" sound.
Later, General Tan listened to the action plan of the two of them and agreed, and ordered Yao Xin to organize an elite counterintelligence team to first eliminate the "Wen Team" and then wait for the opportunity to annihilate the "Shen Team".
So the "Laoling Anti-Special Joint Command" was established.
(Tan Youlin's front-line commander)
includes Yao Xin and Guan Yuehao, Wang Jiren, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Public Security Department, Antu County, , and Helong County magistrates.
They set up their headquarters in Erdaogou Village, southwest of Lao Antu, near Laoling. They also mobilized more than 1,000 public security forces and militiamen to search the Laoling area.
The largest anti-espionage campaign since the founding of in New China was just the beginning.
4. "Leading snakes out of their holes"
can really be described as "intentionally planting flowers will not bloom, but inadvertently planting willows and willows for shade".
More than 1,000 soldiers searched the Laoling Mountains for many days but did not see any trace of the "Wen Team", but accidentally discovered the "Shen Team".
On October 3rd of the same year, after company commander Zhang of the Public Security Company discovered the situation of the enemy, he immediately led his team forward to surround the enemy.
"Shen Team" captain Shen Hengnian, whose original name was Luan Hengshan, was an exceptionally vicious spy. He picked up a machine gun and led his subordinates to start a fierce battle with our army. During the fierce battle of
, a public security soldier of our army was unfortunately hit by a machine gun and died honorably.
Luan Hengshan and others, who were desperately resisting, saw no hope of breaking through, so they raised their hands and surrendered.
That's it, our army killed one person, captured four people, and wiped out the "sinking team".
(CIA lobby)
However, for many days, the "Wen Team" always seemed to disappear in the forest and snow, and could not find any traces, but what I didn't expect was that in the end, it would still be "you can't find any place for nothing without breaking the iron shoes." time," they themselves appeared. Several members of
's "Wen Team" hid in the mountains for many days, and finally encountered the same problem as Li Junying: hunger and cold. The two team members of
couldn't bear it and had to go out to find food.
The two were walking around Yang's house, and they happened to be bumped into by the display of our army's search team. The two sides fought each other without saying a word. During
's pursuit, the search team killed Man Zhihui, a spy of the "Wen Squad", and successfully captured the captain Zhang Zaiwen, namely Wen Shijie.
Under some interrogation, Zhang Zaiwen betrayed all the team members.
With Zhang Zaiwen's intelligence, our army quickly grasped the location of the enemy's second camp - Shajingou of Chaigan Duozi.
Then, under the command of General Tan Youlin, our army quietly surrounded this place and occupied the commanding heights.
(middle: Tang Nai)
gave an order, the soldiers rushed in and captured a spy who was using the radio in the house. After interrogation, learned that he was the head of the "Wen Team" radio station mentioned by Li Junying. pine forest.
and the remaining two players Xu Guangzhi and Yu Guanzhou were not in the house. The
search team immediately spread out to carry out a carpet search around Shajingou.
Three days later, the two of them couldn't stand the hunger and cold. They went to the village to beg for food from the people, but they were tricked into the house by the brave people and captured them alive.handed over to the local police station.
So far, the two batches of spies airdropped to Northeast my country by the CIA's Atsugi spy agency in Japan were all captured by our military and civilians, and none of them slipped through the air. The battle of
to capture and annihilate the airborne spy is over, and Changbai Mountain has returned to its former calm.
But as the general in charge of this battle, General Tan Youlin thought of a deeper level.
As long as the Korean War has not ended, the United States will continue to airdrop other spies to the Northeast. Instead of passive defense, it is better to take the initiative to destroy their conspiracy from the inside.
So, a strategy of "putting a long line to catch big fish" emerged from his mind. Niu Songlin, the radio director of
's "Wen Team", also regretted his betrayal of the country, and hoped that he could make a contribution to the motherland and the people.
After discussing with the comrades of the "Laoling Anti-Special Joint Command", Tan Youlin decided to use Niu Songlin to send fake telegrams to the US spy agency to lure them into taking the bait.
Sure enough, the US spy agency was deceived by Niu Songlin's fake telegrams and airdropped awards for many times.
Later, Niu Songlin wrote in a telegram according to the command of the command: Guangdong border is very strict and cannot go to Hong Kong, Li Junying is now in the "literary team".
Soon, the CIA spy agency stationed in Japan sent a telegram back: Select the field and take Li Junying. When
saw that the American spy took the bait, the command asked Niu Songlin to send the coordinates of the empty field to the other side, and the coordinates were the empty field in Huanggou.
(the soldiers take a photo with the remnant machine)
This is the beginning of Tan Youlin's formation to shoot down the American spy plane and capture two spies alive.
Therefore, no matter how eloquently Donnai and Fecteau are, they can't be cleared of the crime. This was originally a trap set up by our army for them.
had the confessions of Li Junying, Niu Songlin and others, and there were both human and material evidence, Tang Nai and Fecteau could only wait obediently to be tried.
5. The Final Trial
Maybe readers and friends still have a question, why did Chinese people like Li Junying become spies of the United States?
is actually just like the identity of Li Junying introduced earlier. He used to be an officer of the Kuomintang. Most of these Chinese loyal to the CIA are "anti-Communist".
Former US Ambassador to China James R. Lilly is an American born in Qingdao, China. He can speak standard Chinese, and usually prefers to use his Chinese name Li Jieming .
Li Jieming is Tang Nai's classmate at Yale University , and they work together in intelligence work. After the outbreak of
to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, Li Jieming went to work in Taipei, China as a CIA spy, and became a partner with Mao Renfeng, the leader of the army and , and was mainly responsible for collecting intelligence on the New China and the People's Liberation Army.
In addition to using some fishermen on the islands between Taiwan and the mainland to obtain intelligence, Li Jieming also took some "anti-communist people" from the inland as spy training.
(Li Jieming)
And this is how Li Junying and others became CIA spies.
And Li Jieming also participated in the operation of the US military airdropping spies in the Northeast many times.
No matter the reason, it is unforgivable to be a US spy to steal national intelligence and sell national interests.
After the interrogation, the Northeast public security organs handed over a dozen criminals, including Tang Nai, Feiketu, Li Junying, Zhang Zaiwen, Xu Guangzhi, Yu Guanzhou, Niu Songlin, and Luan Hengshan, to the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China for trial. .
On November 23, 1954, the Supreme People's Court sentenced the dozen or so spies: Tang Nai was sentenced to life imprisonment, Fectu was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment 20 years; Xu Guangzhi, Yu Guanzhou and others were sentenced to death, Li Junying, Zhang Zaiwen and others were sentenced to death. , Luan Hengshan and others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Niu Songlin was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Once this case was pronounced, it shocked the world. The new China showed the world our tough counter-espionage methods.
Premier Zhou Enlai also praised Tan Youlin and othersMan did a good job with the case.
(Premier Zhou)
Life in prison is not easy, Tang Nai and Fecteau are thinking about returning to the United States all the time.
The Chinese government allows the two of them to send a letter to their home every month, and they also follow the highest standards for their diet.
Four years later, Tang Nai's mother and Fecteau's mother came to China across the ocean, just to see their son. During the
relatives' visit, the US government even slandered China for not implementing the "Geneva Agreement" and should release Donnell and Fecteau.
The Chinese government immediately counterattacked through the " People's Daily ", accusing the United States of secretly changing concepts and confusing American criminals in China as ordinary civilians.
That's it, 20 years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Donnay and Fecteau were only in their early 20s before they were imprisoned, and they were in their forties when they saw the light of day again.
Over the years, Donnay's mother, Mary, has been running around for her son. She and her relatives and friends have tried their best to write letters to the US State Department, hoping that they can negotiate with the Chinese government to release Donnay and Fecteau and return to China as soon as possible.
(Nixon)
But because Sino-US relations were in a state of tension at that time, the US government was powerless.
It wasn't until Nixon took office that everything changed.
In order to break the gap between China and the United States, Nixon repeatedly acknowledged the identities of Downey and Fecteau as spies in public, which is why Nixon made such a request to Premier Zhou during his visit to China. In the end, Fecteau was released from prison and returned to the United States, and Downey was released and returned to China in the second year of Nixon's visit to China.
And Li Junying, Zhang Zaiwen and others all got their sentences commuted because of their good behavior, and they were finally released from prison to start a new life.
[Summary]
The counter-espionage case in Changbai Mountain has dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the US imperialists who want to invade our territory, safeguarded the country's security and safeguarded the interests of the people. The largest counter-espionage case in the early days of
came to an end, but the task of counter-espionage was still not over.
In 2014, the National People's Congress promulgated the " Anti-espionage Law of the People's Republic of China ", which tells us that the road of counter-espionage still has a long way to go.
As long as the new China is prosperous and the people are strong, the imperialist conspiracy will never succeed! Edited by
: Thomas