Yang Jingyu: The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Legend of Solitary Final Battle

Yang Jingyu: A Single Warrior Against an Army

On the afternoon of February 23, 1940, in a dense forest along the Mengjiang River in Mengjiang County, Jilin Province (now Jingyu County), Japanese forces and puppet Manchurian troops surrounded a single Chinese soldier—hungry, exhausted, and wounded by bullets. This soldier was thirty-five years old, nearly six feet tall, wearing tattered clothes, his legs covered with frostbite, cradling a rifle in his arms. He had gone without food for five days, surviving only on cotton wadding, tree bark, and grass roots, yet he continued fighting to his final moment. When Japanese bullets pierced through his chest and he collapsed into the deep snow, this soldier's last words were: "If all us Chinese people surrender, will China still exist?" This was Yang Jingyu, commander-in-chief of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army, a legendary hero who led his troops in bloody battle against Japanese invaders during the darkest days of China's anti-Japanese war.

What kind of wartime experiences did Yang Jingyu endure? How was he able to fight alone until the very end? What spiritual legacy did his sacrifice leave for the Chinese nation?

From a Henan Farm to the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army: Yang Jingyu's Early Revolutionary Path

Yang Jingyu was born with the name Ma Shangde on February 13, 1905, in a poor farming family in Qushan County, Henan Province. His parents were ordinary peasants, and the family's modest landholdings meant a harsh life. However, young Ma Shangde was an intelligent and diligent child, and his parents sacrificed greatly to support his education.

In 1923, eighteen-year-old Ma Shangde was admitted to the Henan Provincial First Industrial School in Kaifeng, where he studied textile technology. It was here that he was first exposed to Marxist thought. In the autumn of 1926, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League and transferred to the Chinese Communist Party the following year, beginning his revolutionary journey.

From 1927 to 1929, Ma Shangde led peasant movements in the Qushan area of Henan. He organized armed peasant uprisings, confiscating landlords' property and redistributing land while establishing Soviet regimes. The Qushan Uprising he led was among the earliest armed uprisings by the Chinese Communist Party in Henan. However, faced with superior enemy forces, the uprising ultimately failed, and Ma Shangde was captured and imprisoned.

In a Kaifeng prison in 1929, Ma Shangde endured severe torture but never betrayed the Party. While imprisoned, he persisted in his struggle and continued studying. Using a worn Russian dictionary, he taught himself Russian and studied Marxist-Leninist theory.

In the summer of 1929, after being rescued by the Party organization, Ma Shangde was sent to Northeast China, where he would experience legendary years of anti-Japanese struggle. After arriving in the Northeast, he changed his name to Yang Jingyu, taking the characters from the Zuo Zhuan (Chronicles of Zuo), meaning "bringing peace to distant lands and promoting virtue," aspirations that would define his entire life.

After September 18: The Fall of Northeast China and the Establishment of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army

On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army brazenly launched the "September 18 Incident," occupying all three northeastern provinces within just three months. Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army withdrew into China proper following Chiang Kai-shek's orders of "non-resistance," abandoning thirty million people in the northeast to the enemy's control.

However, the people of Northeast China did not submit. Countless patriotic individuals established anti-Japanese armed forces in the northeast. Various organizations emerged like mushrooms after rain, with names such as the "Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army," "Northeast People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association," and "Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army." At their peak, these armed forces exceeded 300,000 troops in total, continuing the fight against the Japanese in the northeast.

Yang Jingyu was one of the important cadres the Communist Party dispatched to organize anti-Japanese warfare in Northeast China. Beginning in 1931, he conducted anti-Japanese operations in southern Manchuria (eastern Liaoning) in areas such as Panshi, Hailong, Tonghua, and Huadian.

In January 1933, Yang Jingyu led the establishment of the "Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army 32nd Army South Manchurian Guerrilla Force," the first anti-Japanese armed force created by the Communists in Northeast China. Under extremely difficult conditions, he organized a guerrilla unit of several hundred soldiers, conducting guerrilla warfare in areas around Fusong, Linjiang, Jian'an (present-day Ji'an), and Tonghua.

In November 1934, Yang Jingyu's troops were reorganized as the "Northeast People's Revolutionary Army First Army," with Yang Jingyu as commander and political commissar. The force expanded to over 2,000 soldiers.

In February 1936, various anti-Japanese armed forces in Northeast China were unified and reorganized as the "Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army," or "Anti-Allied Army" for short. Yang Jingyu's First Army was reorganized as the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army First Army, with Yang Jingyu as commander and political commissar. Simultaneously, he served as secretary of the Communist Party South Manchurian Provincial Committee.

In July 1936, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army established its First Route Army, with Yang Jingyu as commander-in-chief and political commissar, directly commanding the First and Second Armies with a total force of over 6,000 soldiers, conducting anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare in southern and eastern Manchuria.

The White Mountains and Dark Forests: The Bitter Years of the Anti-Allied Army

The Anti-Allied Army's situation was far more difficult than any other anti-Japanese armed force in China proper. Why?

First, the geography was extremely harsh. Northeast China's winters dropped to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius. Anti-Allied soldiers camping in the forests frequently froze to death. Summers brought swarms of insects and epidemic diseases like malaria. In the deep forests, wild animals like wolves and bears constantly threatened soldiers' lives.

Second, they fought in complete isolation. The Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army in central China had Yan'an in northern Shaanxi as their rear area and other liberated zones for support. But the Anti-Allied Army was far in Northeast China, with contact to Yan'an maintained almost exclusively through radio and messengers—each telegram required crossing thousands of kilometers of enemy-occupied territory. The Anti-Allied Army had no rear area at all and struggled to obtain even basic ammunition, medicine, and supplies.

Third, the disparity between enemy and friendly forces was extremely severe. The Japanese Kwantung Army stationed over 700,000 troops in Northeast China, supplemented by over 200,000 puppet Manchurian forces and puppet police. The Anti-Allied Army at its largest had only 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, creating a ratio of nearly 1:20. Japanese forces not only had superior equipment but also established a tight blockade system with "strategic hamlets" (forcing peasants into walled villages), "consolidated households" (prohibiting peasants from living in mountain areas), and "three alls policy" (burn all, kill all, steal all). These measures made it difficult for the Anti-Allied Army to gain popular support.

Fourth, there was the problem of traitors. Due to harsh conditions and uncertain prospects, serious defections occurred within the Anti-Allied Army. Some officers and soldiers could not endure and defected to the Japanese, becoming "guides" for Japanese forces pursuing the Anti-Allied Army. Yang Jingyu's final sacrifice was directly related to betrayal by traitors.

South Manchuria Warfare: The Territory Yang Jingyu Created

From 1936 to 1939, this was the golden period of Yang Jingyu's military career. He commanded the First Route Army of the Anti-Allied Army in conducting countless guerrilla operations in the South Manchurian mountains, inflicting heavy casualties on Japanese and puppet forces.

Notable battles included:

The July 1936 Eight Valleys River Raid: Yang Jingyu commanded forces attacking the Japanese and puppet police station in Eight Valleys Town, Tonghua County, eliminating over 200 Japanese and puppet soldiers and capturing large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

The June 1937 Laoling Tunnel Sabotage: Yang Jingyu directed forces in ambushing a Japanese military train at the Laoling Tunnel on the Ji-Chang Railway (Jilin-Changchun), destroying a train loaded with military supplies and eliminating hundreds of enemy troops. This was a classic example of the Anti-Allied Army's railway sabotage operations.

The March 1938 Benxi Lake Attack: The First Route Army assaulted Japanese and puppet positions near Benxi in Liaoning, fighting through the night, eliminating over 200 enemies, and capturing large quantities of military supplies.

In the second half of 1938, Yang Jingyu commanded forces in continuous strikes against Japanese troops, winning over ten consecutive battles in the Linjiang and Jian'an areas. The Japanese Kwantung Army was forced to concentrate substantial forces in South Manchuria to encircle the Anti-Allied Army.

By the end of 1938, the Anti-Allied Army First Route Army had expanded to 15,000 soldiers, becoming the most active anti-Japanese force in Northeast China. Yang Jingyu's name struck fear into Japanese forces; the Kwantung Army repeatedly offered rewards for "capturing Yang Jingyu alive."

1939-1940: The Catastrophic "Great Sweeping Operation"

Beginning in the second half of 1939, the Japanese Kwantung Army launched an unprecedented "Great Sweeping Operation" against the Anti-Allied Army throughout Northeast China, concentrating over 70,000 troops in a devastating encirclement campaign against Anti-Allied forces in South Manchuria, East Manchuria, and North Manchuria.

This sweeping operation's brutality exceeded all previous campaigns:

Blockade and Starvation: The Japanese completely severed connections between the Anti-Allied Army and civilians. Any villagers providing food, intelligence, or medicine to the Anti-Allied Army faced execution, house burning, and family destruction.

Winter Pursuit: The Japanese launched offensives during the coldest season when the Anti-Allied Army was most vulnerable. While Japanese soldiers wore thick winter coats in the minus thirty or forty degree Celsius northeast forests, Anti-Allied soldiers wore tattered clothes.

Purchasing Defections: The Japanese extensively recruited Anti-Allied members with promises of high office and generous rewards. Defectors revealed the Anti-Allied Army's camps, movement routes, and communication methods to the Japanese.

By early 1940, Yang Jingyu's First Route Army had suffered catastrophic casualties under repeated Japanese attacks. By February, only fewer than twenty soldiers remained at Yang Jingyu's side. They moved through the mountains of Mengjiang County, but their movements were completely exposed to Japanese forces through traitor informants.

The Final Battle: One Man Against an Army

On February 18, 1940, the last two bodyguards at Yang Jingyu's side were killed by Japanese forces. From that moment, he became a solitary warrior.

For the next five days and nights, Yang Jingyu struggled in the deep forests of Mengjiang County in Jilin. His physical condition had severely deteriorated—his feet were blackened from frostbite, he had not eaten a single grain of food in five days, his thin clothes were in tatters, and he was bleeding from multiple bullet wounds. He sustained himself on cotton wadding, tree bark, and grass roots.

Despite all this, he still marched dozens of kilometers daily, using his rifle against pursuing Japanese and puppet forces. In Yang Jingyu's personal diary later confiscated by the Japanese, he wrote:

"I have watched too many comrades fall. But as long as I remain, the spirit of the Anti-Allied Army remains. I cannot fall. The Chinese people cannot fall."

At noon on February 23, in a forest area along the Mengjiang River in Mengjiang County, Japanese and puppet Manchurian forces finally surrounded Yang Jingyu. At that moment, a force of over 1,000 soldiers commanded by Ryutaro Kishitani, chief of the puppet Tonghua Provincial Police Administration, had him encircled.

The Japanese wanted to capture him alive. A translator shouted through a megaphone in both Japanese and Chinese: "General Yang Jingyu! Surrender! The Imperial Army will grant you high office and generous rewards! Do not resist anymore!"

Yang Jingyu did not respond. He reached into his pocket for his last few bullets, leaned against a large tree, and fired at the Japanese forces before him. His bullets struck several Japanese and puppet soldiers. But he too was struck by the dense enemy fire—bullets piercing through his chest, abdomen, and legs.

As he finally collapsed into the snow, according to Japanese witnesses: "General Yang Jingyu, in his final moment, still gripped his rifle, speaking in Chinese."

The Autopsy: Cotton Wadding, Tree Bark, and Grass Roots in His Stomach

After Yang Jingyu's death, Japanese military doctors performed an autopsy on his corpse. The Japanese could not believe that a man could have persisted in fighting under such conditions—so long without food and so severely wounded. They wanted to discover what Yang Jingyu had eaten to survive.

When the military doctor opened Yang Jingyu's stomach, there was not a single grain of food inside—only cotton wadding, tree bark, and grass roots. This discovery left all the present Japanese soldiers in silence. Even Ryutaro Kishitani, responsible for pursuing Yang Jingyu, was moved to reflection: "This is a true soldier."

Kishitani later committed suicide as Japanese forces faced defeat. According to reports, in the suicide note he left behind, he wrote: "China has soldiers like Yang Jingyu. Japan can never conquer China."

The Japanese severed Yang Jingyu's head and transported it to the Kwantung Army Headquarters in Changchun for public display. This was the Japanese military's cruelest form of retaliation against Anti-Allied commanders. But this also became a massive humiliation for Japanese militarism—a dead Chinese soldier they had killed proved through his life that Japan could never conquer China.

The Spirit of Yang Jingyu: An Eternal Legacy for the Nation

Yang Jingyu was only thirty-five years old when he died. His life was brief but brilliant. As one of the highest-ranking Communist commanders in Northeast anti-Japanese warfare, he demonstrated through his actions the tenacity and spirit of the Chinese nation.

Later, Anti-Allied research experts summarized several core elements of Yang Jingyu's spirit:

First, unwavering faith unto death. Yang Jingyu faced certain death without wavering for a single moment. He could have surrendered and received high office and generous rewards, but he chose to fight until his last bullet and final breath.

Second, will strengthened to the extreme. Five days and nights without food, multiple bullet wounds, feet damaged by frostbite, yet able to single-handedly confront over 1,000 Japanese soldiers—such willpower is extraordinarily rare in human warfare history.

Third, patriotic sentiment ingrained in the bones. His last words—"If all us Chinese people surrender, will China still exist?"—became a symbol of Chinese anti-war spirit. With his solitary death, he proved the survival of an entire nation.

Fourth, exceptional command ability. Yang Jingyu was not a brash warrior but an accomplished military commander with modern military knowledge and profound theoretical education. He commanded thousands of guerrilla battles in the white mountains and dark forests of Northeast China, causing the Japanese Kwantung Army considerable trouble.

The Echo of History

Six years after Yang Jingyu's death, Japan surrendered. Northeast China was liberated, and China's anti-Japanese war ended in victory. Yang Jingyu's hometown, Mengjiang County in Jilin, was renamed "Jingyu County" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, forever commemorating this hero.

Yang Jingyu's head was found in 1948, and his remains were reunited and buried at the martyr cemetery in Tonghua. Later, they were reinterred at the Yang Jingyu Martyr Cemetery in Changchun, becoming a nationally significant memorial site. Every Qingming Festival, countless people visit to pay respects to this Anti-Allied general.

Yang Jingyu's story has moved generations of Chinese people. His name appears in middle and high school history textbooks, in television dramas and films, and on exhibition boards in memorial halls. People repeatedly recount his story not only for his bravery but because he represents the spirit that still shines within the Chinese nation during its darkest hour.

He did not fight alone. Behind him stood thirty million compatriots in conquered territories; behind him stood four hundred million people unwilling to become subjects of a conquered nation; behind him stood the spiritual legacy of a civilization spanning millennia, one that would never surrender and would resist to the end.

This is Yang Jingyu, this is the hero of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army, this is the legendary battle of one man against an army. Over eighty years have passed. On the gravestone in Changchun, his photograph is engraved—a tall, handsome Northeast man with steadfast eyes. In the memory of the Chinese people, he remains eternally young, eternally fighting, eternally refusing to surrender.