In this battle, the commander-in-chief was killed, but none of the army commanders, division commanders, and brigade commanders died, and Chiang Kai-shek was furious
On the frontal battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japan, many large-scale battles took place, which made the arrogant remarks of the Japanese army destroying China in 3 months come to naught. Of course, this is inseparable from the bravery of the officers and men of the nationalist army to kill the enemy and not fear life and death. And there is such a general, he is the general commander-in-chief of the group army, he could have sat in the command post to give orders, there was no danger, but he chose to use the most magnificent way to throw himself into the front line, determined to show the military soul of the Chinese soldiers, determined to use his own death to awaken more People! So there was a strange battle, the commander-in-chief was killed, and the commander, division commander, and brigade commander did not die.
In May 1940, in order to control the transportation line, the Japanese army eliminated the strength of the Fifth Theater of operations of the Nationalist Army and gathered 300,000 troops to launch the Battle of Zaoyi. At that time, only two regiments of the Kuomintang 33rd Army were stationed on the west bank of the Xiang River. On May 1, Zhang Zizhong, who was the commander-in-chief of the group army, personally told all the troops and generals: "The country has reached such a point that there is no other way but me and others to die for the country." I believe even more that as long as I can make this determination, our country and my nation with a history of five thousand years will never die at the hands of the Three Islands Of Bonu! The position is our graveyard, and the retreaters die! ”
Zhang Zizhong decided to personally lead his troops across the river to block the Japanese army. General Zhang Zizhong lived a simple life, never wearing only a native cloth military uniform, no different from a junior officer, but this time on the expedition, he was unusual, wearing a yellow military uniform, which surprised the people who sent off, and they later realized that their commander-in-chief was ready not to come back. For more than 10 days after that, Zhang Zizhong was a pioneer and fought a bloody battle against the enemy. The disparity between the enemy and us was extremely fierce, and the battle was extremely fierce, and Zhang Zizhong, a famous anti-Japanese general of a generation, and the remaining soldiers were besieged on a hillside.
The final battle began, General Zhang Zizhong was hit by 16 bullets, kneeling on one knee, holding a submachine gun in his right hand to support his body, the Japanese Third Squadron Commander Donno shot a bullet, hitting him in the head, but Zhang Zizhong still did not fall, the first class soldier Fujioka raised his bayonet and stabbed deeply, General Zhang Zizhong's tall body could no longer support it, and fell to the ground. The Japanese army lined up to salute Zhang Zizhong's body and escorted his body out of the battlefield. As soon as the general is gone, the tree drifts to zero! The Japanese army scrubbed Zhang Zizhong's body with alcohol, rushed to make a coffin, buried it, and erected a tombstone: "The Tomb of Zhang Zizhong, the Great General of China." General Zhang Zizhong's military virtue in the War of Resistance Against Japan was moved even by the Japanese army, which advocated militarism at that time.
Chiang Kai-shek was shocked to hear the bad news of Zhang Zizhong's martyrdom and was furious; he did not understand why only the commander-in-chief was killed in battle, but none of the deputy commander-in-chief, the army commander, the division commander, and the brigade commander died, and he did not know how this battle was fought. Where did he know that Zhang Zizhong's death was not a death in the ordinary sense, he was in Nirvana, and he wanted to inspire the people of the country with a heroic martyrdom. Chiang Kai-shek urgently ordered the Fifth Theater to retake Zhang Zizhong's remains at any cost. That night, Huang Weigang, commander of the 30th Division, led a death squad of several hundred people, bare-chested, attacked the Japanese army at night, entered and exited several times, and bravely snatched back the body of General Zhang Zizhong.
Zhang Zizhong's remains were transported to Chongqing overnight for burial, and Chiang Kai-shek personally greeted him and held a grand and solemn memorial ceremony, and he cried loudly. Zhou Enlai held a memorial meeting for General Zhang Zizhong in Yan'an, praising Zhang Zizhong for "fighting in the first war, Fighting Linyi again, Xuzhou in three wars, Suiju in four wars, loyal soldiers, and heroic spirit, which can be the soul of Chinese soldiers in the War of Resistance." Zhang Zizhong's wife Li Minhui was devastated after hearing the bad news, missed her husband Jun, went on a hunger strike and died, and the husband and wife were buried together in the foothills of Meihua Mountain in Chongqing.