The site of the "Shangdacheng Japanese Artillery Tower" in the southwest corner of the Yaohai Wetland Park in Yaohai District, Hefei City, the red brick part is a water tower built after liberation.
The turret is about tens of meters away from the old Huainan Railway. The Huainan Railway is a special railway for the Huainan coal mine built by the Kuomintang government, which was completed and opened to traffic in 1935, starting from Huainan in the north and passing through Hefei to Yuxikou. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army invaded and occupied Anhui, and the Nanjing government ordered the entire railway to be blown up. After the Japanese army occupied Huainan, Hefei and other places, in order to frantically plunder the resources of coal mines, the railway was restored. After the New Fourth Army entered the Jianghuai area, it extensively carried out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and launched many sabotage operations on the Huainan Railway, causing great damage to the transportation of Japanese materials and personnel and dealing a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army.
To this end, the Japanese army built many pillboxes and artillery towers along the Huainan Railway, and sent heavy troops to guard the Huainan Railway. According to the local old man, the small bricks used in the turret were plundered by the Japanese army from demolishing the houses of the local people, and the cement masonry built the turret, and it can be seen from the firing hole that the walls of the turret are very thick, so it is very strong, posing a great threat to the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians who lack heavy weapons. At that time, the Japanese army was stationed inside, and it was difficult for small arms to inflict damage on it.
The turret does not look very tall, which may be the reason for the dirt slope piled up in the later period.
The Twenty Ports River Railway Bridge near the Turret
There should be many artillery towers left over from the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression along the Huainan Line, and the ruins of the Japanese artillery towers in Shangdacheng, which are located in the park, should be restored and made into an educational base for propagating patriotism.