This day is the deadline for Shang Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 20 th Army, to offer a reward. Just the day before, on the morning of June 8, the Political Department of the New Eighth Division specially led the field service team to sing a condolence performance at the Huayuankou construction site, which made all the officers and men of the Second and Third Regiments of the New Eighth Division "more excited" and "not tired". Shortly after the performance, at 1 1, Shang Zhen once again sent Wei Rulin, chief of staff, to the Huayuankou construction site, bringing his solatium and reward: "If the water is released at 24 o'clock this evening, the bonus will be 2,000 yuan; If it is completed before 6 pm tomorrow, the bonus will be 1000 yuan. "
Since he was appointed as the head of the levee breach supervision and command, Shang Zhen ordered Liu Heding, the commander of the 39th Army under him, to be responsible for the levee breach, but the initial site selection of the levee breach-Zhao Kou's two executions and the successive failure of tunnel operations, as well as the situation of Kaifeng's fall, made Shang Zhen extremely anxious. Wei Rulin, who announced the reward in public, simply didn't go back to Zhengzhou, and stayed at the construction site to wait for the news of successful water release. That night, the officers and men of the New Eighth Division continued to dig and build a "very hard" dam at Huayuankou. Xiong Xianyu even recorded in detail the crude tools at that time in the diary of the Anti-Japanese War in the Second Historical Archives of China: round shovel, pickaxe, steel drill, laundry list, dirt dustpan and wooden pole. ...
At 6 o'clock on the morning of June 9, Wei Rulin should have waited for the first good news. Zhu Zhenmin, deputy commander of the New 8th Division, recorded in his diary: "From 6: 00 in the morning, the inclined stone foundation in the dike was blown up with explosives", which means that the destruction of the strongest part of the dike has been completed. Sure enough, more than two hours later, at 9: 00 am, Wei Rulin finally waited for the satisfactory result of returning to Zhengzhou to resume his life-"the breach project was completed and water began to be released". As the implementer of the levee breach project, Xiong Xianyu recorded his feelings of witnessing this moment-"emotional tension, tragic and tragic". This may be the simplicity of being a soldier, but the shock it can convey cannot be stopped in the past 60 years. When the reporter stood on the restored Huayuankou Dam and pursued this history again, what was repeated the most by different people was still tragic.
Local water conservancy experts told reporters that the width of the Yellow River levee was generally about 30 meters at that time, which was both a river embankment and a highway. Therefore, in retrospect, Xiong Xianyu recorded that the new 8 th Division chose a very clever way to break the dike. They first dug 50 meters wide at the top of the dike. "In this way, they can dig along the inclined plane, slowly descend, and it is not easy to collapse when releasing water. Moreover, even if they dig to the bottom of the river, they can still maintain the width of 10 meter, and the river can flow out by itself. " "In the middle of the dike, it is 3 meters wide for the time being, and then it will be dug at last", which can keep the east-west traffic smooth. More intelligently, "when they dig, they are divided into steps, which can accommodate many people to work separately at the same time." "The north and south sides of the embankment are started at the same time, and the soil is dug to the east and west respectively." Even with such scientific construction, it took the officers and men of the New Eighth Division two whole days and nights to complete it, "showing the hardness of the Yellow River levee at that time."
The first stream of Yellow River water spouted from the crevasse is not turbulent, and Xiong Xianyu described it as "the initial flow is very small". At 22 o'clock in the evening, the first war zone chief Cheng Qian sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek with a more specific description. After completion, the excavation is about 4 meters wide. The water situation has been closely watched. Only "one hour later", Zhu Zhenmin found that "due to water erosion, the breach expanded to more than ten meters, the water potential became more and more intense, and the main stream of the Yellow River gradually moved southward". At about 13 in the afternoon, Xiong Xianyu described the water potential as "Malik galloping" and "looking at a piece of Wang Yang from afar", but the breach was still "broken because of the urgent water potential".
Xiong Xianyu and Zhu Zhenmin's memory of this day seems to be slightly biased in one detail, that is, the weather. On June 9, Zhu Zhenmin recorded that it was raining in the afternoon. In Xiong Xianyu's diary, there is no trace of rain on this day. The second day after the breach, that is, in June 10, it rained: "It was dark in the morning. After breakfast, it was cloudy and suddenly it rained." This is also the most time that Xiong Xianyu wrote about the weather in his diary, because "this is really conducive to strengthening the breakthrough, blocking the activities of enemy mechanized troops and celebrating the weather." But this deviation actually does not prevent us from returning to that day, because there is also a secret telegram from Cheng Qian, which summarizes the water situation on June 9. As of 20 pm, "the excavation was washed away by water, reaching 40 feet, with a water depth of more than 10 feet and a wave height of three feet".
Through Xiong Xianyu's diary, it is still not difficult for us to figure out the contradictory and complicated feelings of the officers and men of the new 8 th Division. On the one hand, it is the joy of being "specially praised". Although the final release time has exceeded the "before 6: 00 noon" proposed by Shang Zhen, Shang Zhen obviously doesn't mind, and said that the new 8 th Division "rewarded hard" and "rewarded 2000 yuan". On the other hand, even though Xiong Xianyu's understanding in military logic is that "this move is intended to stop the enemy and save the overall situation, so he will make great sacrifices in order to win the final victory", he is still "heartbroken" when he sees that "countless people's houses and property have disappeared" and "it is expected that (the river) will spread to several counties in a few days".
"Replacing soldiers with water": Chiang Kai-shek's National Choice
Like monk Zhen, anxious Chiang Kai-shek waited for two unexpected news on June 9, that Huayuankou burst its banks and the main force of the first war zone withdrew westward.
In the afternoon 15, Cheng Qian immediately called to report the water situation after the breach of Huayuankou. At 22 o'clock that night, Cheng Qian called again.
Continue to report the water release: "Shuijing Town has become Zeguo, and it is expected that the water will reach the Longhai Line tomorrow morning." According to his deployment, the main force of the first war zone retreated to the west of the Pinghan line along the Longhai line or the Yellow River levee, and finally ended on this day. On this day, an article in Shenbao (Hong Kong Edition) said that when they withdrew westward, they also destroyed or demolished the tracks of the Longhai Railway. The title of the article is "The war is fierce and chaotic, and the enemy approaches Zhongmou after reinforcement".
Perhaps in Chiang Kai-shek's view, he can agree with this article that it is a "fierce war" rather than a "chaotic situation". He is the most influential decision-maker in the whole battlefield in eastern Henan. The deployment of the main force of the first war zone to the west was his instruction to call Cheng Qian on May 3 1, which also meant that the battle of Lanfeng was completely over, and the battle of eastern Henan with Lanfeng as the main body failed in a sense. The Battle of Lanfeng, which had greatly boosted the morale of China's army, caused the problem of internal deployment and coordination of the army. First, Chang Han, the commander of the 88th Division, disobeyed orders without authorization and abandoned Lan Feng. Then the Eighth Army ignored Xue Yue's orders and abandoned Shangqiu. As a result, not only did China's established plan to outflank the Japanese army from east to west fail, but the entire eastern front was opened wide and eventually failed, forcing it to retreat to the west. China's 200,000 troops failed to wipe out 20,000 people in dohihara, and even Chiang Kai-shek angrily called it "the eternal laughing stock in the history of war". This secret letter, which he gave to Cheng Qian on May 28th, is still kept in the Second Historical Archives of China.
For this order to retreat from the west, the troops in the first theater, who have great confidence and hope, are at a loss. Li Hanhun, the commander of the 64th Army, who volunteered to take part in the Battle of Eastern Henan, expressed this suspicion in his memory: "As for our order, we must complete the task on the Longhai Line by the end of May, both defending and turning in, fighting and retreating. Many of our troops fighting side by side should be said to be in the bureau, and sometimes they still can't figure out the command. "
They really didn't know that on the night of May in March12000, another important decision made by Chiang Kai-shek at the same time was to "replace soldiers with water" and burst its banks to stop the enemy. According to the Minutes of the First War Zone in Western Shandong and Eastern Henan in the Second Historical Archives of China, in June/kloc-0, Chiang Kai-shek presided over the Supreme Military Conference in Wuhan, and formally made a decision to burst its banks. The night before, the First Theater Command, the Kaifeng Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission and the Wuhan Central Military Region had held secret talks by telephone, and made the final decision on breaking the dike that night.
This decision was not easy for Chiang Kai-shek. As early as 1935, Falkenhausen, the general adviser of the German military advisory group hired by the China government, put forward strategic and tactical suggestions for resisting Japan to Chiang Kai-shek, including the argument of using rivers to resist the enemy. In the Chinese translation of this proposal preserved in the Second Historical Archives of China, Chiang Kai-shek criticized the paragraph "The last front is the Yellow River, and it is appropriate to carry out artificial flooding in a planned way to increase defense": "The last line of resistance". 1in July, 936, Falkenhausen put forward the proposal of breaking the Yellow River and blocking the enemy for the second time. Two years later, it was the defeat of the battlefield in eastern Henan that finally forced Chiang Kai-shek to make this difficult choice.
On June 9, when Chiang Kai-shek talked with foreign journalists about the current form of the war of resistance in Wuhan, he explained: "The key to the current war situation is not whether one city and one place can be held, but the most important thing is to choose favorable areas, on the one hand, to break the enemy's main force, on the other hand, to consume the enemy's strength in other areas and behind enemy lines as much as possible ... In the future, the war will soon be transferred to mountains and lakes." This seems to be more like a signal about a dam break.
Huayuankou: the final choice of Sanyi site selection
The dike burst on June 9 finally made Huayuankou, a remote area in the northern suburb of Zhengzhou, an indelible symbol in the history of the Anti-Japanese War. However, when Chiang Kai-shek set the strategy of "replacing soldiers with water", the first choice was not Huayuankou, but Zhaokou, 25 kilometers north of zhongmou county, less than a hundred miles away from Kaifeng and Zhengzhou. The initial dike-breaking operation was carried out by Wanfulin Department of the 53rd Army, and it was limited to releasing water before the night of June 5th 12.
Qu Changgen, a scholar who once focused on the study of the breach of Huayuankou, told the reporter, "First, it is estimated that after the breach, the river will follow the old road of 1843 (the 23rd year of Daoguang), along Jia Luhe, and pass through Zhongmou, Weishi, Fugou, Xihua, Taikang, Lu Yi, Taihe, Fuyang, Yingshang and Anhui. Second, because of the low terrain in this area, the water flow will be smoother. More importantly, because this waterway is basically in line with the current military situation, most of the Japanese troops are entrenched in this area. Once the yellow water is released, the Japanese army will be detained on this land. "
However, Zhao's breach was not smooth. According to the analysis of the canal root, this is because "the water potential of the Yellow River is overestimated in advance and the quality of the Yellow River dike is too loose, and the width at the beginning of the breach is too small". Later, 30 meters east of the first gap, a second gap appeared. "At the beginning, the water potential was rapid, and then the dike body collapsed and blocked under the surge of hydraulic power. Although there have been many rewards to encourage officers and men to step up dredging, they all ended in failure. "
It was not until 7: 00 a.m. on June 6 that Jiang Zaizhen, the new division commander of the 8th Division, and Xiong Xianyu, the staff officer, visited Zhaokou, only to find that "the failure of breaking the dike was not a lack of manpower, but an improper planning". Therefore, it is suggested to find another place in Zheng county, west of Zhongmou, and report it to Chiang Kai-shek for approval, which will be implemented that night. Qu Changgen said: "From yangqiao to Xingze, the terrain of Jiangzaizhen's defense zone along the river is also very complicated. Where should we choose?" On the way back to Shuijing Town, where the headquarters is located, Jiang Zaizhen and his entourage Xiong Xianyu repeatedly discussed that there are two places: Madukou in the east and Huayuankou in the west, because their terrain is conducive to water. But relatively speaking, Madukou and Zhaokou are not far apart, the enemy is easy to get close to, and time is not plentiful. Huayuankou and Zhaokou are 26 kilometers apart, and the terrain is favorable. So it was agreed at Huayuankou. " This analysis has also been affirmed by local water conservancy experts, because there is a saying in the Yellow River that "copper heads and iron tails make tofu waist". The so-called "tofu waist" refers to the area from Mengjin County, Henan Province to the Yellow River Estuary, which means that the waist where the Yellow River levee is located is as easy to be washed away by the flood as tofu. Huayuankou is on the waist of the Yellow River. However, the specific location of Huayuankou needs on-the-spot investigation.
According to Xiong Xianyu's memory, that night 10, Jiang Zaizhen and Wei Rulin, who came to inspect the work, discussed the next move and decided that Xiong Xianyu would be in charge of this matter. Bear was very excited when he received the order. At 24 o'clock at night, he led the company commander Ma Yingyuan, the battalion commander Huang Yingqing, and the chief of Henan Security Section of the Yellow River Committee Su Champion to the Huayuankou reconnaissance breach position by car. "In this night of" breeze blowing, the river gurgling, the moonlight hazy, the water level is difficult to distinguish ",they only rely on the four flashlights they carry to explore, and dare not blindly choose the site. That night, in the car, "six people stayed together and sat together." After dawn, a group of people went upstream from Huayuankou, looking for reconnaissance along the river, and finally decided to be near the West Walnut Garden of Guandi Temple. This is the bend part of the Yellow River, which is easy to release water. It can directly flow into Jia Luhe in the southeast, and then flow into the Huaihe River after passing through Zhongmou, Weishi, Fugou, Xihua and Zhoujiakou counties. More importantly, "the use of Jia Luhe can also prevent the infinite diffusion of water and appropriately reduce the harm to the passing areas". Xiong Xianyu was quite satisfied with his site selection, and recorded in his diary the appreciation of Wang, the head of the Second Regiment of the New Eighth Division, who was in charge of the construction at that time: "My brother's plan has contributed to the country and reduced the losses of the people. In the future, he will definitely marry a good wife and have more children ... If he goes further west instead of using Jia Luhe and Ping Han, he will probably become Zeguo. "
After the dike burst on June 9, some Japanese troops who broke into East China were flooded, some gave up because of injury, some were annihilated by the Japanese army, and some had to stop chasing and gather in the east of the Yellow River flood area. According to the old man An Qingfu, he saw the Japanese army flee in large numbers like wet fur dogs. Several wounded soldiers couldn't run, and they were tied to chairs by their companions, and they were as strong as pigs lying in the wheat field. After a while, they were doused with gasoline, then lit firewood and threw it at them. With a loud cry, flames burst into flames, and several wounded soldiers cried in their chairs, meaning that they could still serve the emperor. I also saw some Japanese soldiers with their heads down and afraid to look up. I don't know if these soldiers burned alive are deserters.
Dong's diary also described in detail the situation that the Japanese army was besieged by a sudden flood: "This is a river formed by the breach of the Yellow River, and the soldiers who walked in front of me crossed the river in the dark. I don't know which direction to go after crossing the river. I don't know which side is the shoal, but in short, we have to cross the river ... ""As soon as the soldiers find food, they hide it and enjoy it alone, just like a cat poking into a corner with a fish in its mouth. We wandered around looking for food. There were potatoes in the early fields, but they were eaten up in a few days. Pumpkin seedlings were cooked and eaten, but they were immediately robbed by teams. Soon there will be nothing to eat in the field. Our roads were cut off before and after the flood, and after several days, no food was delivered. "
Replacing trees with flowers: the secret truth
On the morning of June 9, after Huayuankou burst its bank and released water, a telegram prepared in advance was quickly sent to Wuhan by Jiang Zaizhen and arrived at Chiang Kai-shek's desk. The message reads, "At 8: 00 a.m. on the 1st (9th), three enemy planes blew up the Huayuankou River embankment, and the division was blocking it." At 10 that night, Cheng Qian's second telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, while reporting the water situation, specifically pointed out: "Publicity has been drawn up here, and the telegram to the effect that the enemy occupied me, continued to advance westward after Kaifeng, and fought a bloody battle near Zhongmou for several days, because our army swore to death.
Dead resistance, and the position is firm, the enemy finally failed, so he broke the embankment on the south bank of the Yellow River north of Zhongmou in an attempt to destroy our position and drown our army. "
In fact, the first war zone after being ordered and the troops carrying out the dike-breaking mission are very clear. "As a very urgent military measure, once the true feelings of Huayuankou burst its banks are leaked, the impact on the morale of the Chinese people can be imagined, and it will also damage the image and prestige of the China government." Qu Changgen analyzed, "Therefore, the first war zone has drawn up a strategy for external publicity in advance. First, the new 8th Division, which was in charge of the breach of Huayuankou levee, sent a military intelligence report to Wuhan from the scene when the breach was about to succeed, saying that the Chinese and Japanese armies fought fiercely in eastern Henan, and the Japanese planes bombed indiscriminately, which led to the breach of the Yellow River levee. Then the Kuomintang Central News Agency, as the national news center, announced to the world that the Yellow River levee was blown up by the Japanese army. "
The strategy of the first war zone is obviously exactly what Chiang Kai-shek wants. Two days later, on June 1 1, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed Cheng Qian and gave three instructions: to publicize the enemy planes to blow up the Yellow River levee; We must carefully check the flood situation as a front-line obstacle and improve our deployment and defense; And all departments at the front line must cooperate with the people to build dikes and guide water to flow southeast into the Huaihe River to ensure the traffic on the Pinghan line. Qu Changgen said, "In this way, it sets the tone for the external publicity of Huayuankou breach." At 9: 00 a.m. on June 1 1, the first telegram was sent by the Central News Agency from Zhengzhou, which "reported" the news of the Japanese bombing of the Yellow River levee for the first time. Under the guidance of the Central News Agency, China's major newspapers, such as Shen Bao, Ta Kung Pao and Republic of China Daily, have condemned the serious atrocities caused by the Japanese bombing of the Yellow River levee. Xinhua Daily, the production party in China, also joined the ranks of condemning the enemy's atrocities and called for relief for the affected compatriots. The news of Xinhua Daily on June 12 was entitled "Eastern Henan Battlefield: The enemy can't attack again and again, but the Yellow River levee has been set, and the enemy is trying to destroy our combat effectiveness" and "Eastern Henan Battlefield is gradually stable, and our enemy is deadlocked near Baisha". On June 13, Xinhua Daily published the news entitled "The enemy who committed Xinzheng has been repelled, but the violent enemy still burst its banks everywhere, and tens of thousands of victims gathered in Zheng".
The news that Huayuankou burst its banks quickly attracted the attention of all countries in the world. At that time, news from Reuters and the Associated Press showed that world public opinion almost unanimously condemned this atrocity of the Japanese army. However, the Japanese side has been trying to refute China's propaganda. Qu Changgen said, "As a result, the news war between China and Japan and the strange information released by some media made people feel that things were not that simple. Therefore, some reporters asked to visit and interview at the breach site, trying to find out the truth. "
Probably foresaw the social reaction after the news was exposed. On June 9th, when Huayuankou burst its dike, Shang Zhen ordered the new 8th Division to blow up the houses and trees near the Wang Xiaolong Temple and the breach with explosives, thus forging the scene of Japanese bombing of the Yellow River levee. When the reporter asked to go to Huayuankou for an on-the-spot interview, the new 8 th Division was ordered to fabricate a set of materials bombed by Japanese planes and forge a bombed scene. Qu Changgen said, "Later, people from the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China and the Central Film Studio came to Huayuankou to shoot news documentaries about the enemy's dike bombing and the gap between our soldiers and civilians to expand publicity." .
"Facts have proved that the propaganda strategy of breaking the dike, which was gradually implemented on June 9, effectively mobilized the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the people in eastern Henan on the anti-Japanese front." Qu Changgen said, "As the Shen Bao of June1/kloc-0 said:" The brutal and outrageous attack of the enemy can neither destroy our anti-Japanese war strength, but also increase my determination to kill the enemy. "Especially in eastern Henan, Peng Xuefeng described it in" Practical Experience of Plain Guerrilla War ":"Eastern Henan, northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu are the birthplaces of famous secret societies and guilds in history. If you are not careful, you will have a lifelong conflict, gather in every village, and everyone will go out, and a bloody tragedy will occur. "In addition, this area was brutally ravaged by the Japanese in the battle of Xuzhou. Therefore, after the dike burst, in the face of Japanese aggression, the people of eastern Henan organized themselves. " There are various armed groups such as guerrillas, watchmen, self-defense groups, the Red Cross, the Yellow Gun Association, and the Miao Dao Association. To defend their homeland, there is a commander within three miles and a captain within five miles. "
"More importantly, it mobilized the enthusiasm of the people in eastern Henan to join the army to resist Japan." Qu Changgen said, "For example, in Xinzheng, on June 1 1 day, the People's Self-Defense Force of the county, under the leadership of captain Xin Chen, actively assisted the 20th Division of the China Army to attack the Japanese army in Weishi, wiped out more than 20 people and seized two machine guns and more than ten rifles." The Kuomintang also recognized this. On July 24th, Bai Chongxi specially called Chiang Kai-shek, pointing out that the northern part of Anhui, which is connected with eastern Henan, is: "The folk customs are tough, and many people join the army. This time, many people were devastated by the enemy and organized armed self-defense and guerrilla warfare everywhere, which was effective from time to time and had a harmonious relationship with the garrison, with hundreds of thousands of people. It is also planned that "more than one division of the regular army will cooperate with the people's armed forces and be commanded by a special person in a unified manner, with a view to achieving tangible results, passively cutting off the enemy's north-south traffic, actively containing the enemy's forces, facilitating operations in the south of the Yangtze River and avoiding the enemy's occupation of the local Dingzhuang, with little cost. After that, the Kuomintang began to contact and assemble the scattered anti-Japanese armed forces in this area, and successively set up a number of "pan-regional anti-Japanese advance teams". At the same time, the Kuomintang military system also set up a special task force in eastern Henan to deal with the stubborn traitors and important Japanese and puppet figures in this area.
The articles in Shenbao (Hong Kong Edition) and People's Power of Henan Province on August 15 described it as follows: "Henan Province has a tough folk customs and the people's physique is very strong on average, so it is more popular for the able-bodied men in this province to enlist in the army. The recruitment of able-bodied men in Henan Province is not only conducted by the state according to law, but also by the ministries themselves. As of the end of last month, according to statistics, Henan Province has recruited at least 400,000 people. "
Flood of the Yellow River: A Local Brand for Diversion from the Yellow River
On June 9, Huayuankou burst its banks and released water. The four villages below the entrance-Shaoqiao, Shijiadi, Wangjiadi and South Cui Zhuang-were all washed away and disappeared until the Yellow River flood ended, and they never recovered. Fortunately, the residents of these four villages knew about the breach in advance and moved it in time, with no casualties.
This is just the beginning of disaster. The swift water of the Yellow River is beyond the control of any human power. After the yellow water comes out of the trough, it is divided into two turbulent flows in Henan. Yellow water in the west is the mainstream, which originates from Huayuankou, flows into Jia Luhe in Zhongmou, south into Weishi, Fugou and Xihua counties, then flows into Heying in the east of Zhoukou, then flows into Cihe and Shahe respectively, and finally flows into Huaihe River through Anhui Taihe, Fuyang, Yingshang and Zhengyangguan. The water source of the East Yellow River originated in Zhaokou, which was formed in mid-June when the water level of the Yellow River rose and broke through Zhaokou sluice. The yellow water in Zhaokou is also divided into two streams, one of which flows southeast to Zhuxian Town and joins the flood at Huayuankou; A stream bypasses the north of Kaifeng City levee, turns to the southeast, divides into two tributaries until Chenliu, one along Tiedi River and the other along Huiji River, then flows into the Wohe River, then flows into the Huaihe River in Huaiyuan, Anhui Province, and then flows into the Yangtze River from the Huaihe River through Hongze Lake, Baima Lake and gaoyou lake, forming a confluence trend, and then spreads to counties and cities in northern Jiangsu. The 26th diversion and dike burst in the history of the Yellow River caused harm all over 3 provinces and 44 counties, and the death toll was as high as 890,000. The breach of the Huayuankou dike has also become one of the three major tragedies in the history of the Anti-Japanese War, and it is also called the Changsha fire and the Chongqing air-raid shelter tragedy.
There is a passage in Henan Disaster Documentary that outlines the disaster map of the Yellow River flood area: "The residents in the flood area were caught off guard because they didn't know beforehand, and the dike suddenly burst, and the torrent followed; Property field road, pay tap water fee. At that time, the earth was surging and the cry was loud, so sad and painful that I couldn't bear to recall it. From time to time, people climb trees and climb houses, float trees and take boats to avoid lucky death, so they only save the rest of their lives, and most of them are short of clothes and food, which makes them shocked. Its immigrants are forced by hunger and disease, and they often die on the road and fill the gullies. Fortunately, they managed to escape and reach the other shore, but they all survived, worked hard to prepare calendars, and became refugees without drowning ghosts ... Therefore, they often betrayed their children and it was difficult to separate from them. However, the prices in the people's market are falling day by day, and the people who demand sales are becoming more and more ganged. Therefore, this desolate and flooded area is distressing and doubtful, and this is coming to an end! "
On June 9, Huayuankou burst its bank, which was also the beginning of the east-west confrontation between China and Japan along the border of the Yellow River flooded area. Qu Changgen said, "The Japanese army, which relied on mechanized military equipment to attack the Longhai and Pinghan lines, was forced to change its original strategy of going west and south along the railway line." On the one hand, it retreated eastward from Weishi, Zhongmou, Nanling, Tongxu, Chenliu and Si counties in eastern Henan, and moved to Henan and Anhui areas centered on Shangqiu and Xuzhou. "The war moved south to the vast lakes, swamps and mountains in southern Henan, western Anhui, northwestern Jiangxi and eastern Hubei, and the battlefield in eastern Henan gradually cooled down. The area around Wuhan has thus become a new battlefield for the war between the Chinese and Japanese armed forces. " In this way, the new Yellow River, which runs obliquely from Zhengzhou to the southeast and crosses the eastern Henan Plain, has become a military demarcation line, blocking the Japanese army from the east of the flood plain. China's army was holed up along the west bank, and built a "flood-fighting west dike" along the west of the new Yellow River, while the Japanese army also built a "flood-fighting east dike" on the other side. The deadlock lasted until 1944 when Japan launched a campaign to open up mainland traffic lines.
Judging from the local complex social situation, at the beginning of the formation of the Yellow River Flooding Area, eastern Henan was once a vacuum zone. After the war situation was basically stable, the Japanese army moved to other places on a large scale, and there were few local troops left. "There are only a few hundred enemies in Kaifeng, Shangqiu and Huaiyang, and there are only forty or fifty people in other counties. Even the enemy's Fu Xuanban, gendarmerie, etc. add up, there are only 3,000 people in eastern Henan. " We often drag some plastic dummy guns to do exercises. However, it soon formed a mixed situation of various forces, on the one hand, the Japanese occupiers and their puppet organizations and puppet troops, on the other hand, the rising guerrilla army of China, and other local forces with complex backgrounds and vacillating positions. Therefore, here, "the enemy's hoofs are rampant, traitors are arrogant, evil cats are everywhere, and bandits are springing up, making eastern Henan a very chaotic, chaotic and disturbing situation." Generally speaking, famous philosophers and wise men all moved westward under the fresh slogan of "armed escape" or "collective moving", and the rest were the people in trouble, the nationals party member and party member who worked with them, and a few administrative personnel. ".
When the Japanese army built the flood control east dike, the process was not smooth. According to Qu Changgen's analysis, "First, the water situation is unstable, and dikes often break and are forced to postpone. Second, it is located in the flood-stricken area of the Yellow River, and most of the residents left behind are old, weak and sick, so it is difficult to attract enough manpower. Third, under the propaganda and encouragement of China's anti-Japanese armed forces, the Japanese army did not dare to commit atrocities against the migrant workers who participated in the dike construction, otherwise they would go to the anti-Japanese armed forces. Fourth, the internal contradictions between Japan and the Puppet are intertwined, and the commanders and technicians in charge of construction are insatiable and want to profit from them. Jerry-building and self-enrichment are serious, which directly affects the progress and quality of construction. Fifth, there are obvious conflicts of interest in the villages inside and outside the built levee, and they are unwilling to block their homes in the levee. In addition, the staff of the puppet regime are basically locals, and there are practical difficulties in coordination, so the construction is often interrupted. " In this complicated situation, embankment construction was intermittent until 1943. The completion of the flood dike has restricted the flood passage and relatively controlled the floods in the Yellow River and the Wohe River.
Strangely, the Huangpan District once faded out of public view, and it was not until 1942 and 1943 that Huayuankou and Huangpan District regained media attention in the early morning and the locust plague in Henan. Soon after, it fell silent again. Qu Changgen said, "Judging from the logic of war and the law of propaganda, this seems to be the inevitable result." 1On February 2, 943, Chongqing Ta Kung Pao published an editorial written by Wang, "Look at Chongqing and Read the Central Plains", deeply sympathizing with the disaster in Henan and Anhui, and sharply criticizing Chongqing for "singing backyard flowers across the river" and the government's improper price increase for disaster relief. As a result, it was ordered to stop publishing for three days. Du Xing Daily, the temporary capital of Henan, reprinted this article and was suspended for three days. In the same year, Bai Xiude, a reporter from Time magazine, entered the Yellow River flood area and sent back the first report on the disaster by telegraph, which attracted international attention to the Yellow River flood area and won some assistance for the local people.
Today, the memory of the disaster has not been erased by time. Qu Changgen said that on May 27, 2002, when he went to Fugou County for a social investigation, Zhang Menggeng's mother of the county archives bureau could still clearly recall the situation of the Yellow River entering the village: "The family didn't escape, because my father believed that it would pass soon. Just in case, he moved valuable things to the highland at the head of the village, and three or four people moved with him." "But the Yellow River is getting bigger and bigger, the whole village is flooded, and even this highland is completely surrounded. After eating the cooked food moved here, the fire source is also used up, so we have to dry food. After dinner, we dug wild vegetables in the highlands to eat. When the wild vegetables are finished, we will dig out the mice in the field and eat them. No matter day or night, no one dares to sleep for fear of missing the opportunity to escape. " People have no language, sometimes helpless eyes touch each other, and even children have nothing to say. A few days later, the patrol search and rescue boat sent by the local government found them. "But the boat is too small, there are too many people, and it is far from a safe place. The key point is that there are many large eddies around the highland, and ships are afraid to approach. Ships came and went, and everyone suddenly despaired. Two days later, I found a boatman to pick them up in batches. " However, when he reached a safe place, "my father couldn't stand the famine and psychological torture these days and died in a few days."