◎ Three Hundred Anti-Japanese Soldiers Died at Ren...

◎ Three Hundred Anti-Japanese Soldiers Died at Renjiao,Wuyi

In May 1942,the Japanese invading army mobilized more than 100,000 soldiers and puppet soldiers equipped with a large number of tanks and trucks to carry out the mopping-up campaigns of “Iron Wall Encirclement” in the liberated areas of central Hebei Province and some areas of southern Hebei Province.They first blocked Fuyang River,and then carried out a comb-type “big mopping-up” on the west of Fuyang River.At dawn on May 21st,two companies of the 27th Regiment of the New Ninth Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei Province,under the leadership of Zhang Junfeng,Director of the Political Department of the Fifth Division of southern Hebei Province,transferred to Renjiao Village,Wuyi County,where they met some officers and soldiers of the Second Squadron of Wuyi County Brigade.Before they had time to have their breakfast,hundreds of the Japanese soldiers and puppet soldiers surrounded them from the south.Zhang Junfeng summoned his troops to break through the beleaguered encirclement northeast along the traffic ditch.But nearly a thousand refugees were crowded in the traffic ditch.In order to let the masses break through the encirclement first,they blocked the enemy on the spot and defeated the enemy four or five times.The Japanese aggressors,enraged by embarrassment,continued to arrange more soldiers and attacked repeatedly under the cover of planes,tanks and artilleries.From the morning to the evening,the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army fought with bayonets when they ran out of their bullets,killing more than 800 Japanese soldiers and puppet soldiers.However,due to the great disparity in military strength,nearly 300 soldiers died in a heroic way on the field of battle,and Director Zhang Junfeng also died for the sake of the country.(https://www.daowen.com)

After the battle,the local people gathered up the remains of the martyrs,buried them in the traffic ditch as their tombs,and built an earth mound of more than 100 meters,called Martyr’s Mound.In 1955,the county government built a martyr pavilion here,and in 1971,the Martyr’s Mound was expanded into a martyr cemetery.At every important festival,local young students,cadres and masses go to sweep the tombs to memorize these martyrs.