Snowy Forests

Author: Qu Bo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Time-honored, Red Classic, Passionate Performance, Heroic Legend! In 1945, after Japan's unconditional surrender, Chiang Kai-shek, the mortal enemy of the Chinese people and a traitor who harmed the nation, under the direction of U.S. imperialism, mobilized millions of U.S.-armed, U.S.-equipped troops who had not fired a single shot during the war and were solely prepared for anti-communist and anti-popular actions. He also mobilized the traitorous armed forces that had surrendered to the Japanese under his "" command, and used the Japanese Chief Commander of the invasion of China, Okamura Yasuji, as an advisor to his Japanese forces still partially armed, forming a fierce counter-revolutionary armed force under U.S. imperialist control, launching a frenzied attack on the liberation areas led by the Communist Party of China, which had endured a hard-fought, heroic struggle for eight years. The smoke of civil war spread across the country, and China faced the terrifying danger of becoming a colony of U.S. imperialism. The people, unable to tolerate Chiang's atrocities any longer, under the leadership of the great Communist Party of China, launched the great liberation war. Northeast China was the industrial base of our country. Chiang Kai-shek intended to use it to launch a pincer attack on our army from north and south, so he used U.S. naval and air forces to transport and supply the main force of the Kuomintang army to Northeast China. He also recruited puppet officials, police,, landlords, evil gentry, habitual bandits, and drug dealers in northern Manchuria to form hundreds of thousands of bandit armed forces, known as the "Central Advance Detachment," to cooperate with the main force of Chiang's army. At that time, our army was in a difficult situation of facing a strong enemy, being attacked from both front and rear, and fighting on two fronts. We had to withdraw a part of our main force to northern Manchuria to suppress the banditry, in order to consolidate the rear, protect the land reform, and mobilize the masses to fully support the front. After the banditry was largely suppressed, those determined counter-revolutionary bandit leaders led their remaining forces to retreat to deep mountains and dense forests, and organized underground "Advance Detachment" members to carry out assassination and sabotage, waiting for the time to rebel, and fighting our army on both ground and underground fronts. The bandits, in their last stand, became even more ferocious and cruel. Their slogans were "Rather squat on a mountain peak in prison than squat in prison and look at a mountain peak," and "A poor beggar kills one of us, and we will kill one hundred poor beggars." They fantasized about "waiting for the main force of the Kuomintang central army to move north, and waiting for the third world war and U.S. troops to come." They adopted "the tactic of using a fine knife to slaughter a pig," engaging in bandit activities, burning and killing in every village and hamlet they visited, their cruelty and ferocity beyond description. The blood debt of the Shalan Station and the massacre in Kultunbi were only a few of the many facts I witnessed. At that time, using large army units to deal with these shark-like and sparrow-like bandit groups had become ineffective. As we had analyzed at the time: using a large army to suppress small bandit groups was like using a howitzer to swat flies, like using logs and rocks to hunt sparrows, like using a fist to swat fleas, or like using a fishing net to catch shrimp—ineffective and inefficient. Even if our large army units had combed the entire forest like combing hair, the bandits would still slip through a crack, let alone the vast, boundless forests of northern Manchuria, which we could never fully comb. Therefore, the provincial committee and the military region studied new tactics for suppressing bandits and eliminating enemies, deciding to organize small teams to enter the mountains, carry out small-group actions, and combine investigation with combat. My fellow comrades and I took on part of this glorious and arduous task assigned by the Party. In the vast snowy forests surrounding Mudanjiang, from Suifenhe and Dongning in the east to Aborozhni and Weihé in the west, from Jingpo Lake and Emusuo in the south to Fangzheng and Tuchengzi in the north, we engaged in a struggle with bandit leaders such as Xu Jia's family, Ma Xishan, Zuo Shandiao, Li Delin, and Xie Wendong, who were known as several divisions of bandit forces.