Guardians of Memory: Veteran recalls front-line battles with Japanese invaders in S. China in WWII
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) and the World Anti-Fascist War. Winning the war is a great victory of the national spirit with patriotism at its core, a great victory achieved with the Communist Party of China (CPC) fighting as the central pillar, a great victory fought by the whole nation through solidarity and bravery, and a great victory for the Chinese people, anti-fascist allies, and people around the world who fought shoulder-to-shoulder.
To commemorate this historic milestone and its lasting impact, the Global Times has launched a themed series revisiting the great significance of the victory through three lenses: The “Guardians of Memory,” the “Witnesses of Struggle,” and the “Practitioners of Peace.” It underscores the importance of “learning from history to build together a brighter future.”
This is the fifth installment of the “Guardians of Memory” series, the Global Times spoke with several Chinese veterans of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The veterans, now in their nineties, shared their experiences of joining the Chinese military and bravely fighting Japanese invaders on the front lines decades ago. They are the witnesses to those turbulent years of war, and the living heroes who safeguarded national dignity with their own flesh and blood.
‘We captured all the Japanese soldiers’
In the summer of 1945, 17-year-old Chen Zuoming, a young soldier in the Dongjiang Column of the Guangdong People’s Anti-Japanese Guerilla, participated in a battle against the Japanese invaders that remains vivid in his memory to this day.
It was a surprise raid on a Japanese outpost, and Chen was the first soldier to charge into the stronghold.
The Dongjiang Column, where Chen served during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was a people’s army created and led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It was active in South China’s Guangdong Province, conducting guerrilla warfare in the vast enemy-occupied areas controlled by the Japanese and puppet troops. Recalling this raid 80 years ago, Chen, now 97, still clearly remembers almost every detail.
In July of that year, the Dongjiang Column received intelligence about a Japanese outpost located about 30 to 40 miles from its base. The outpost was manned by around 10 Japanese soldiers and equipped with a machine gun. It decided to launch an ambush. At around 4 am, Chen and his comrades stealthily approached the outpost, quickly surrounded it, and set up a perimeter.
“We used explosives to blow open the door. I was a new recruit and an assault team member at that time, so I was the first to rush through the gap created by the explosion,” Che recalled. “Once inside, we found the Japanese soldiers stunned and disoriented by the blast. We shouted, ‘Surrender and you won’t be harmed,’ and they surrendered immediately. We captured all the Japanese soldiers in the outpost and seized their weapons and ammunition.”
Chen told the Global Times that the battle was particularly inspiring for him, as it gave him a real sense of what it meant to be under fire, and boosted his confidence and courage in defeating the Japanese invaders.
Born to a poor family in a mountainous area of Zengcheng county in Guangdong in 1928, Chen described his childhood as one filled with hunger and turmoil. He never had a decent meal, wore good clothes, or even owned a pair of shoes.
To make matters worse, in October 1938, the fascist Japanese army landed in Guangdong’s Daya Bay, igniting the flames of war in South China. Chen witnessed Japanese soldiers burning villages, stealing food, trampling crops, and looting livestock. “They didn’t see us Chinese people as human beings at all,” he said, sighing.
What changed Chen’s fate was a then underground member of the CPC. The member taught at a local school during the day and told revolutionary stories to the children at night, promoting the ideals of resisting Japanese aggression and saving the nation. Under his enlightenment, the seeds of resistance took root in young Chen’s heart. One night, Chen and three companions walked barefoot over 10 kilometers of mountain trails, traveling all night to reach a base of the Dongjiang Column, and successfully became its soldiers.
In the Dongjiang Column, Chen served as a shock trooper, facing the Japanese army on the front lines. After the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen participated in the War of Liberation (1945-1949), shedding blood and sweat for Chinese people’s peaceful and happy life.
Reflecting on the past and the present, Chen said he felt deeply proud to have witnessed the founding, development, and present-day prosperity and strength of the People’s Republic of China. After retiring in 1993, Chen became a volunteer lecturer on revolutionary history, actively sharing his personal experiences of the wars in schools and communities.
“I want children to understand that, today’s peace and prosperity in China were through the bloody battles fought by countless martyrs, and are the result of the arduous struggles led by the CPC with the entire nation,” he told the Global Times.