International Friends in the War of Resistance Against Japan

During the difficult years of the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japan, many international friends came all the way to China, some directly to participate in the battle, some to the battlefield to treat the wounded and sick, some to the front line to faithfully report the facts of the war ...... Their dedication and sacrifice are remembered in the annals of the struggle against Japan, engraved on the monument of victory against fascism, and composed a heroic hymn of internationalism.

From August 1937 to June 1941, the Soviet Union sent a total of 3665 people to participate in the Chinese Anti-Japanese War, including 1091 pilots, more than 2000 mechanics, engineers and other aviation auxiliary personnel, and about 200 people died in the Chinese battlefield. Including bomber captain Kuryshenko. On August 14, 1939, Kuryshenko led a heavy bomber brigade to air strike Wuhan, which had been occupied by Japan, turning the Japanese airport into a sea of fire. When preparing to return, he encountered a Japanese fleet. Kurishenko's plane was hit by the engine and made a forced landing on the Yangtze River. Kurishenko was swept away by the river when he left the plane and died heroically. In memory of this internationalist fighter, in 1958, my country built the Kurishenko Martyrs Cemetery in Wanxian County, Sichuan (now Wanzhou, Chongqing). On March 23, 2013, in a speech at the Moscow Institute of International Relations, President Xi Jinping praised Kuryshenko, stating that "he sacrificed his life bravely on the land of China. The Chinese people have not forgotten this hero, a pair of ordinary Chinese mother and son who have been guarding his tomb for more than half a century".

The South Korea Provisional Government headed by Jin Jiu organized Korean patriots and successively established the "Korean Volunteer Team" and the "South Korea Recovery Army" in Wuhan, Chongqing and other places to actively participate in the Chinese War of Resistance. The Korean volunteers in Yan'an and other places also organized the "Korean Volunteer Army" to join hands with the local soldiers and civilians in North China to resist the crazy and cruel "iron wall encirclement" of the Japanese invaders ". From 1938 to 1944, a total of more than 30 volunteer soldiers shed their blood on the battlefield and gave their lives bravely. Zhu de, commander-in-chief of the eighth Route Army, pointed out in his eulogy: "their fighting spirit will always live in the hearts of the Chinese and Korean people fighting for freedom."

"What is the spirit of a foreigner, who has no self-interested motive, to regard the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people as his own? This is the spirit of internationalism, this is the spirit of communism, and every Chinese Communist must learn this spirit." The foreigner whom Mao Zedong praised was Bethune. In 1938, Bethune was sent by the Communist Party of Canada and the Communist Party of the United States, leading a medical team of three people to China. In the rear hospital of Wutai Mountain, where the Jinchaji military region is located, Bethune worked day and night, examined 521 sick and wounded in a month, and performed 147 operations in a row. During the fighting in April 1939, he and his medical team operated on 115 wounded in 69 hours in a small temple only seven miles from the front line. While rescuing the wounded, Dr. Bethune also compiled "Organization and Technology of the Field Hospital of the Middle Division in Guerrilla Warfare" based on practical experience, which provided great help to the training and growth of the Eighth Route Army medical staff.

Like Bethune, there are many international friends who carry out medical activities in China, such as Kotnis of India, Bell of Germany, Vladou of Poland, Fu Lai of Austria, Yangu of Romania, Kollige of Czech Republic, etc.

The anti-Japanese battlefield was very dangerous, but many foreign journalists went to the front line despite hardships, faithfully reported the facts of the Chinese military and civilian resistance, exposed the brutal crimes of the Japanese invaders, and introduced the heroic struggle of the Chinese people. In 1938, Hans Heber, a German Communist and famous journalist, arrived in Yan'an and interviewed Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Ye Ting, Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi. In September 1941, Heber rushed to the headquarters of the 115 Division of the Eighth Route Army in Binhai District, Shandong. He interviewed during the day and wrote at night. In just over a month, he wrote newsletters such as "Travel in the Japanese Occupied Area" and "The Eighth Route Army in Shandong". report. At the end of November of the same year, Heber met the Japanese army in Daqingshan with his troops. He insisted on fighting with the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. Unfortunately, he was shot and died on the battlefield. In 1942, in order to commemorate the martyr Heber, Shandong soldiers and civilians built a white conical monument for Heber in Linyi. The monument was engraved with Luo Ronghuan's inscription: "Run for internationalism in Europe and Asia, and fight against the Japanese invaders". In October 1931, Edgar Snow, a famous American journalist and writer, witnessed that China's territory was trampled by Japanese iron feet and thousands of Chinese people were killed under Japanese guns. In the book "far East Front", he exposed the atrocities of the Japanese army in China with infinite grief and indignation. In June 1936, Snow visited the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region and wrote a "Journey to the West" that caused a sensation in world public opinion, which greatly supported China's war against aggression. In October 1937, Smedley, a famous American journalist, writer and social activist, came to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi and became the first foreign journalist in the Eighth Route Army. She moved to various places with the Eighth Route Army headquarters, ate and lived with the Eighth Route Army soldiers, and fell in love with this army after less than half a year. In her words: "To leave you is to die, or to die." Her works such as "the Chinese Red Army is advancing" and "China is fighting back" publicized China's revolutionary struggle to the world and became immortal works.

In addition, during the war of resistance, some international friends came to China to participate in various constructions and created refugee areas in the enemy-occupied areas. For example, Louis Alley of New Zealand and George Heck of Britain participated in the economic salvation movement of "industrial cooperatives"; the refugee area for wartime civilian rescue founded by French godfather Rao Jiaju in Shanghai protected more than 300,000 Chinese refugees; and John Rabe, born in Germany, sought international assistance for Chinese refugees in Nanjing, saved the lives of 250000 Chinese civilians and wrote the world-famous Rabe Diary.

Source: Guangming Daily