On September 25, 1937, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army concentrated its superior forces for the first time and successfully carried out an ambush against the Japanese army at Pingxingguan. History is called "Flat Guan Dajie". Among the few old photographs documenting a battle, a controversial man appears, who is General Wang Bingzhang.
Why is it said that General Wang Bingzhang's appearance in the photo of Pingxing Guan Dajie is controversial? Because, historically, General Wang Bingzhang did not participate in this battle, but why did he appear in the photo? Here, there's a story.
General Wang Bingzhang graduated from the radio school, and after joining the Red Army, he gave full play to his strengths and made many meritorious achievements. After the July 7 Incident, Wang Bingzhang was appointed chief of the operations section of the 115th Division. At that time, the commander of the 115th Division was Lin Zong, and the deputy division commander was Nie Rongzhen.
After the July 7 Incident, the Eighth Route Army decided to resist Japan. At the end of August 1937, in order to resist the Japanese in the east, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the 115th Division held a grand oath ceremony in the Yunyang Grand Playground. History is called "Mihara Oath Master". The next day, the 115th Division went to the anti-Japanese front. The troops crossed the Yellow River from Yumen Ferry to the east and reached the town of Zhichuan in Hancheng County. At that time, Wang Bingzhang, with the title of "Transportation Commander of the Eighth Route Army," went to Houma Station to negotiate with Yan Xishan's representatives and discuss railway transportation matters.
At that time, the Japanese army was frantically attacking, and Yan Xishan felt that the situation was grim and eagerly hoped that the Eighth Route Army would go to the front. Therefore, Wang Bingzhang went relatively smoothly in the negotiation process. After coordination, more than 10,000 officers and men of the whole division boarded the train from Houma Station, went north along the Tongpu Railway, and got off at Yuanping via Taiyuan. Wang Bingzhang took the last train, and he and his comrades in the same car got off in Wutai County and stayed overnight. The next day, a heavy rain caused a flash flood to block the way for the troops. At that time, Wang Bingzhang and others did not know the plan for the Battle of Pingxingguan, so they decided to stay overnight and wait for the flash flood to pass before continuing to advance. In this way, they missed the Ping-type Guanda Victory that shocked China and foreign countries on September 25, 1937. When Wang Bingzhang and his troops arrived at Pingxingguan, it was already September 26, 1937, and the battle had already ended.
After Wang Bingzhang rushed to the division headquarters, he reported to Lin Zong and Nie Rongzhen and briefly reported on the passage of negotiations with yan Xishan's representatives to transport troops by train. Mr. Lin was very satisfied with his performance.
Soon after, the news of the Eighth Route Army's major victory at Pingxingguan spread throughout the anti-Japanese battlefield. This victory broke the rumors of the invincibility of the Japanese army and greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese.
A reporter from the Kuomintang's "Sweeping Newspaper" also learned of the Eighth Route Army's victory in the battle at Pingxingguan. So they took the camera to the 115th Division's station, intending to make a news documentary.
At that time, Lin Zong was not impressed with the "Sweeping Newspaper", he said that it was a newspaper run by the Revival Society, and it was reactionary in its roots, so he did not want to receive it. Nie Rongzhen persuaded him, "They preach that it is a good thing that we have won the battle!" Therefore, Nie Rongzhen asked Wang Bingzhang to receive him. Because Wang Bingzhang had dealt with the Kuomintang army and had experience in dealing with them.
After Wang Bingzhang learned about the fighting on September 25, 1937, from Chief of Staff Zhou Kun and several staff officers, he went to receive a reporter from the Sweeping Newspaper. He took reporters to the scene of the battle to shoot, but the reporters were not interested in the shooting scene because the war was over. They asked to be in the position of the division command post during the battle, and let them shoot it like a movie according to the scene at that time. On the day of shooting, Lin Zong, Nie Rongzhen and others all came to the scene. Some of the cadres of the headquarters were very young at the time, and they were quite surprised by the filmmaking, so they rushed to join in the fun. The reporters took many pictures while making the film.
At that time, there were not many opportunities to take pictures, and Wang Bingzhang also took this opportunity to take a few photos, and they did not think of the historical significance of these photos at that time. Back at the division headquarters, he asked the reporter to develop the photos, and the reporter immediately rushed out a set and handed it to him. There were about 20 photos in this set, and after the reporter left, Wang Bingzhang distributed the photos to the parties. However, the film was never released, perhaps because the Kuomintang authorities did not allow the publicity of the Eighth Route Army. Most of the photographs were lost during the war years, and only a few have survived. After 1949, the relevant parties collected historical materials, and these photos were published as true portrayals of the battles at that time, and it just so happened that these photos were included by Wang Bingzhang. Therefore, people mistakenly believe that Wang Bingzhang participated in the Ping-type Guan Dajie. In fact, Wang Bingzhang did not participate in that battle.