74H Ghost Division: The Dongjiang Column/ 广东人民抗日游击队（东江纵队）国民革命军东江游击指挥所

The Dongjiang Fifth Column , known in full as the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Dongjiang Fifth Column , was an anti-Japanese guerrilla force led by the Chinese Communist Party during the war against the Japanese. The Dongjiang Fifth Column was active mainly in Huiyang , Dongguan , and Baoan along the lower reaches of the Dongjiang River in Guangdong , as well as in the Hong Kong and Guangzhou areas. In the later period of the war against Japan, the guerrilla zone was expanded to include the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong and the Hanjiang River basin. The East River Column was originally formed from several guerrilla groups established in 1938, including the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps, founded by Zeng Sheng, and the Dongbao Huibian People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Brigade, founded by Wang Zuoyao. These troops were given the name National Revolutionary Army from April to May 1939, and were reorganised into two brigades under the Dongjiang Guerrilla Command of the Fourth Front of the National Revolutionary Army (there were 12 Front in total, see picture below).

After the end of the war against the Japanese, on 30 June 1946, in accordance with the Chongqing negotiations between the KMT and the Communist Party, the Dongjiang Column retreated northwards to Shandong and was eventually incorporated into the People's Liberation Army.

THE BEGINNING:

After the capture of the lower Dongjiang River area, the CCP formed several guerrilla groups in Guangdong in October 1938 to try to stop the Japanese troops from making further gains: the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps, the Dongguan Anti-Japanese Troop, the Dongbao Huibian People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Troop, and the Guangdong Standing Troop of the Guangdong Standing Troop of Zengcheng County 3rd District, People's Self-Defense Corps, etc.

On October 13, 1938, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ordered the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Hong Kong Office of the Eighth Army Group to take steps to establish a guerrilla zone in the Japanese-occupied Dongjiang area. On the same day, Liao Chengzhi , member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Hong Kong Office of the Eighth Army Group, convened a meeting in Hong Kong with Wu Youheng , Secretary of the Hong Kong Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Zeng Sheng , Secretary of the Hong Kong Seamen's Work Committee of the Communist Party of China, Dongjiang. On 24 October, in accordance with the decision of the meeting, Zeng Sheng led dozens of men from Hong Kong to Pingshan , Huiyang , then set up the Huibao Work Committee of the Communist Party of China and borrowed 15 rifles from the local Kuomintang garrison and several other weapons from a local Communist Party group. On 2 December, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps was formed in Zhoutian Village with the approval of Wen Shumei, Brigade Commander of the 151st Division of the National Revolutionary Army stationed there.

On 7 December, the Japanese army was forced to retreat from Danshui town, and the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps retook Danshui town from the Japanese-held puppet army. By the spring of 1939, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps numbered over 200 men and over 120 weapons, after successful recruitment efforts brought in over 70 men from the Dongguan Anti-Japanese Group and 18 workers from the Taohua Datong cannery in Kowloon.

In the spring of 1939, these 200 men had to fight a Japanese force of over 500 men who landed in Daya Bay and occupied Kwai Chung and Shayu Bay, completely cutting China and Hong Kong off from each other. On 12 September, the guerrillas launched their attacks against the IJA troops with the aim of retaking Kwai Chung and Sha Yuyong, among other places. They had more than 30 major skirmishes behind them and by December 1939, the local Chinese guerrilla forces numbered almost 700.

Dongjiang column soldiers ambushing the Japanese

SKIRMISHES WITH THE NATIONALISTS:

In January 1939, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the KMT was held in Chongqing to formulate and put into practice the directives for the elimination of communism. Between December 1939 and the spring of 1940, the KMT launched the first wave of anti-communist purges (between the two factions since the formation of the Unity Front in 1937), which reduced the number of communist guerrillas in the region from 700 to 100. By 1940, the group had been fully reorganised through the efforts of the CCP Central Committee, and by the autumn of 1941 the group numbered 1 500, with an excellent fighting record thanks to training.

ENGAGEMENT IN HONG KONG:

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army attacked the United States army at Pearl Harbor and war broke out in the Pacific. On 8 December, the Japanese army launched an invasion of Hong Kong via the Shenzhen River and launched an air raid on Kai Tak airfield in Hong Kong. On 9 December, the 3rd and 5th Battalions of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas immediately mobilized and sent over 50 men to Hong Kong, led by Captain Huang Guanfang, who were operating near Hong Kong's Sai Kung and Kai Tak airports. By the end of 1941, more than 100 members of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas had entered Hong Kong and successfully engaged the enemy. In February 1942, the Guangjiu People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Brigade was formed, later renamed the Hong Kong-Kowloon Brigade, under the leadership of Captain Cai Guoliang and Political Commissar Chen Daming.

On December 9, 1941, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the South Bureau of the Communist Party of China sent urgent telegrams to the Hong Kong office of the Eighth Army Group and the leaders of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas, asking them to try to rescue celebrities and friends stranded in Hong Kong. Liao Chengzhi and Zhang Wenbin , according to a cable from the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China, have summoned the leaders of the Guangdong Party of the Communist Party of China and the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas to work out an evacuation plan. Within six months, the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas had rescued He Xiangning , Liu Yazi , Mao Dun , Zou Taofen , Hu Sheng , Ge Baoquan , Liao Mosha , Zhang Youyu , Qian Jiaju , Yu Ling , Ding Cong and other famous people from different areas of Hong Kong. In total, more than 2,800 people were successfully rescued by the guerrillas, including the commander of the Seventh Front Yu Hanmou and his wife Shangguan Xiande, Chen Rutang and other Kuomintang officials (!!!) and their families, and about 2,000 Hong Kong youths who then applied for transfer to the interior of the country to join the army and fight the Japanese invaders.

The 2 major evacuation lines from HongKong, used by the guerillas

They not only rescued their own, but also played a major role in rescuing the crews of downed US planes not only on land, but even closer to the coast! The rescued American pilots were transported to local hospitals if necessary, or back to their own American airbases. With the help of the US military, the communist guerrilla groups here successfully set up radio and weather stations, which provided the US Air Force with an extraordinary help in successfully attacking Japanese military targets in Hong Kong.

OTHER ENGAGEMENTS:

On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito submitted his unconditional surrender, and in Guangdong, Dongjiang Group launched a full-scale attack against Japanese soldiers and their Chinese servants who still refused to surrender to Chinese communist groups. By the end of September, the group had captured almost 60 villages on both sides of the Dongjiang River and had more than 11,000 fighters. During the war against the Japanese, the guerrilla group engaged the invaders and their local collaborators more than 1,400 times, killing and wounding 6,100 and taking 3,500 prisoners. Total casualties of the Dongjiang group were 2,500.

On 7 September, the NRA deployed several army groups and divisions to Dongjiang and Guangdong to begin the elimination of communist guerrillas, with a total of 70,000 troops.

EVACUATION:

On August 28, 1945, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Ruofei sent a delegation to Chongqing to begin negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek. On October 10, both sides signed the "Double Ten Pact" (short for "Double Ten Pact" to end hostilities between the two factions). With a second round of civil war already looming between the two factions, the CCP's policy of 'expand north, protect south' saw CCP troops south of the Yangtze River relocated north and some northern and central Chinese army groups relocated northeast. In practical terms, the above move was designed, in simple terms, to allow the CCP leadership to concentrate isolated communist groups in an area where there was no danger of smaller "pockets" being eliminated by NRA divisions with numerical and equipment advantages.)

CCP teams were successfully withdrawn from eight provinces, these were the following: Guangdong, Zhejiang , southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, central Anhui, Hunan , Hubei , and Henan . On 10 January 1946, the KMT and the CCP reached an agreement on a ceasefire and a three-member commission of inquiry (KMT, CCP and one US member) was formed to avoid further conflict. The only problematic incident was the withdrawal of the Dongjiang group, as the KMT was desperate to prevent the guerrilla group's soldiers from leaving the province. Another round of negotiations followed, and the guerrillas were eventually allowed to leave the port of Yantai unarmed, on board a 3,000-tonne US cargo ship. The journey was not uneventful, however, as the KMT government tried to obstruct the docking even here, and this was compounded by the hurricane that hit en route. Finally, at 16:00 on 29 June, the cargo ship was able to dock successfully in Mirs Bay, thanks to the efforts of Colonel Miller from Hong Kong.

CIVIL WAR:

In March 1947, the Dongjiang group was merged into the PLA and subsequently held their own in many subsequent battles.

A building still stands as a memorial to the fighters of the Dongjiang Fifth Column, although one of the former headquarters buildings is in a dilapidated state and closed off on TaiTong Road (and years ago it was successfully declared a protected monument, so the planned retirement home was eventually built in the building next to it). Built on the former site of Baishilong Village, the Chinese Cultural Relics Hall of Fame has become a key element of patriotic education and a red tourist attraction. In 2003, the White Stone Dragon Catholic Church, located in the museum, was declared a cultural relic protection unit by the People's Government of Bao'an District.