Ma Erhu tells officers and men stories about the fine tradition
By Li Haibin

　　Ma Erhu, a combat hero, was reading articles on commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the victory the Anti-Japanese War when I met him. He said that that period of history would never be forgotten in his life. Then, the 84 years old man told us emotionally the stories about fighting against the Japanese invaders in those years.

　　"At midnight one day in the fall of 1944, the second platoon, which I belonged to then, of our troops escorted several local leaders to the Hanshen Village, which was 30 kilometers away from our Xishan Base Area, to attend a meeting. But less than 10 minutes after the meeting started, some Japanese devils nearby led a gang of puppet troops to besiege the courtyard where the meeting was held. Platoon leader Zhang Qingzhi immediately sent someone to inform the local leaders and at the same time organized everybody there to get ready quickly for fighting the enemies. Unfortunately, the machine guns of the invaders had sealed off the gate of the courtyard and nobody could get out. At the critical moment, an idea of protecting the leaders and the comrades-in-arms to break through the encirclement dawned on me. I tossed two grenades towards the enemies. By taking advantage of the panic the enemy got into, I ran out of the courtyard alone, firing at the enemies with two pistols while running toward the east end of the village along the enclosure.

　　However, the enemies refused to go after me and continued to fire at the gate of the courtyard with machine guns. In order to draw the enemy's firepower on me so as to cover the other comrades' withdrawal, I hid myself near a ditch and then shouted intentionally: "Commanders! Get away from here quickly please! Don't worry about me!" This trick worked and the enemies turned their guns around to fire toward my place.

　　In order to prevent the enemies from having any suspicion, I would fire a few shots here and then threw grenades toward the enemies there. Suddenly, I was shot by the enemy. But bearing in mind the safety of the commanders and other comrades, I clenched my teeth and kept on fighting until all the commanders and other comrades-in-arms broke through the encirclement. Then, I quickly got away and withdrew toward the farmland by taking the advantage of the gathering darkness.

　　The enemies spent 3 hours fighting us in the Hanshen Village but failed to get any one of us. At last, they had to go away empty handed and in low spirit. On the afternoon of that day, I made strenuous efforts to crawl back to the Yaotou Village near the Xishan Base Area and then got fainted at the roadside because of losing too much blood. Some local people found me and sent me to the hospital in the base. Before long, I was awarded the title of "Combat Hero".

　　On the eve of the final victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the higher authority ordered our company to attack the enemy's Huaqitou stronghold. On the first day, we failed to do the job and more than 10 soldiers were wounded due to the inaccurate information we got in advance. Then, three squad leaders and two new recruits volunteered to blow up the enemy's stronghold by suicide bombing, which I, as the company commander, commended them upon their spirit but turned down their offer.

　　On the second day, I led the platoon leaders and squad leaders to inspect carefully the terrain near the enemies' stronghold in the early morning and then divided the company into 5 groups in charge of different tasks such as covering the other groups by using firepower, sweeping mines, throwing grenades, demolition and assault, in accordance with their physical condition, fire arms and fighting experience. To make sure that it would not go wrong, I requested the higher authorities for firepower support. When things were ready, I immediately ordered the attack. After more than 2 hours' fighting, we succeeded in capturing the stronghold.