On March 21, 1924, I was born in a peasant family in Dabaicheng Village, Qingyuan County, Hebei Province.

After the July 7 Incident, Japan invaded China, and soon his hometown fell. A relative of my family who was a deputy county magistrate in Lanzhou introduced me to a job, so I went to Lanzhou. In 1939, I had the idea of applying for a military academy and going to the front line to fight devils, and my relatives were quite supportive of me, but when I heard that the "infantry school" established in Lintao, Gansu Province, only recruited grassroots cadres of the active army, not local personnel, so I had to give up.

In October 1940, the opportunity finally came, has moved to Chengdu Kuomintang Central Army Military Academy (that is, Whampoa Military Academy), to Lanzhou to recruit the 18th batch of students, calling on young students to sign up, after graduation to serve the country to fight Japan, I heard the news immediately to apply for the exam, if at that time my cultural level was difficult to admit, but I still worked hard to take the exam, perhaps because of the urgent need for talents during the Anti-Japanese War, I played well in the exam, I was actually admitted. So, I marched from Lanzhou to Chengdu, Sichuan Province with the admissions staff, trekking through mountains and rivers all the way, enduring a lot of hardships, and walked for nearly a month to arrive.

The Whampoa Military Academy moved from Nanjing to Chengdu in 1937, and in 1938, the Chengdu branch was merged into the school, renamed the Whampoa Military Academy Chengdu School, until 1948, there were 10 cadets graduated from Chengdu, which was the period when the Whampoa Military Academy trained the most cadets in the mainland (more than 3,000 people per session). Chengdu school is divided into the north campus, the west campus, and the south campus, and the headquarters is in the north campus. At the gate of the north school field, a couplet sign of more than 3 meters high is erected, the right card reads "greedy for life and afraid of death, do not enter this door", and the left card reads "Promote and make a fortune, please go another way". The gate of the military academy faces south, is the main gate of entry and exit, and is located in the area of Baixia Road, Huangpu Road. More than 300 meters behind the gate is the second school gate, in the form of an archway, there is an auditorium at 200 meters behind the door, called "Zhongzheng Hall", speech parade and other activities are carried out in front of the hall.

During its 11 years in Chengdu, the military academy has successively carried out some major administrative and personnel adjustments. The original abolished student corps was re-established in the 16th, 17th, and 18th periods. From the preparatory class in November 1940 to the graduation of the artillery department of the 18th 2nd Corps in October 1943, I experienced the two periods of the former chief of education, Chen Jiji, and the successor chief of education (former chief of education of the Army University) Wan Yaohuang.

Before the official start of the school year, the candidates admitted to each examination area should be screened in a unified examination, and only those who pass can become official students and begin full-term training. Regardless of the length of schooling, the full-term training is generally divided into three stages: the first is enlistment education. It is the stage of basic education and training from an ordinary civilian (or student) to a qualified soldier, that is, to lay a good foundation for a soldier. First of all, individual soldier training, starting from taking a break and standing upright, to how to hold a gun, lie down, shoot, and throw bombs, etc., are the most basic military training. The second is subject-specific education, that is, students are divided into infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, baggage, communication and other subjects, and comprehensively learn the professional knowledge of their subjects. Finally, the education of officers (because of the regulations of the military academy, students who pass the graduation will obtain the rank of second lieutenant and become an officer), focusing on the development of organizational command and life management skills.

Those who fail the screening examination will go to the "enlisted student regiment" for cultural tutoring and "enlisted student education and training". I just failed the screening exam. I arrived in Chengdu in November 1940, and if I passed the screening examination, I would be assigned to the 18th No. 1 Corps. Because I failed, I was eliminated to the Xindu "Enlisted Student Corps" tutoring culture twenty or thirty kilometers away from Chengdu. Therefore, generally the students of the 18th Phase 2 Corps graduated after two years of study, but I studied at the military academy for 3 years before graduating, just because I took an extra year of cultural classes. Anyone who entered the Whampoa Military Academy to study knew that the "enlisted student regiment" was the most difficult to endure, and although the "enlisted student regiment" at that time mainly focused on remedial cultural courses, it also carried out "enlisted student education and training." For example, during the exercise, after the commander shouts "stand upright", the commander thinks that you have not raised your chest, so he will punch you in the chest, thinking that your legs are not together, so he kicks your leg from behind...... Most of these are imitations of the German and Japanese fascists' beatings, scoldings and discipline, and sometimes they are even very barbaric.

After a year of tutoring, I was finally admitted to the 18th Artillery Team of the 2nd Corps and began two years of formal study. This remedial experience not only enabled me to be successfully admitted to the main course, but also made me understand the principle of "God rewards hard work", which will motivate me in the next two years of study. The 2nd Artillery Corps where I belong is stationed in the West Field, and the Cavalry and Baggage Corps are also there.

On November 25, 1941, the first day of school, when we lined up in the west campus and sang the school song of "The Party Flag is Flying with the Angry Tide, This is the Revolutionary Whampoa ......", I felt full of ambition and passion, because I finally became a member of the Whampoa Military Academy! During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Whampoa Military Academy was the base camp for training anti-Japanese officers and soldiers, and the graduates of the military academy during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression were all sent to the battlefield of resistance against Japan. There are many aspiring young people who were admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy to fight the invaders and liberate their fallen hometowns, and I feel very proud to be one of them.

I was assigned to study in the 2 Corps Artillery 1 Team. The 1st artillery team I am in is divided into 3 district teams, and I am in the 7th class of the 3rd district team. The last one is Platoon, and I am in the 3rd place in the 7th class of the 3rd district team.

So, I began the first stage of education at the military school - enlistment education. The teaching methods of the military school were learned from Germany, which at that time was considered advanced in military affairs, and there was a German military advisory group in the school. Our life in a military academy is to be absolutely obedient to our superiors, and we are not allowed to ask why. In life, it is required to be neat, clean, fast and reliable. The daily work and rest time is subject to the horn sound of the school headquarters, and the trumpeters of each corps follow the blowing, which is very lively. Get up at 6 o'clock every day to tidy up housekeeping, wash your face and rinse your mouth, generally 15 minutes, and then gather for morning exercises. Breakfast at 7 o'clock. At that time, we were just in time for the most difficult period of the Anti-Japanese War from the end of 1941 to 1942, and the food was brown rice, which was often mixed with millet, beans, and even sand, etc., which some people described at that time as "eight treasure rice". Even this brown rice is available in limited quantities, and it is not open to eat. We ate in small classes around a simple dining table made of bricks and stones. The students are in the prime of life, and the physical strength of training is exhausted, so many students do not have enough to eat. The captain of our artillery team No. 1 is good, and he doesn't let the gang share the pot privately, and all of them have to be distributed to the trainees to eat, but I still can't eat enough.

Enlistment studies are broadly divided into two categories: disciplines and techniques. The basis of the discipline is the infantry drill class, shooting instruction, field service, etc., and the teaching method is that the teacher lectures, the students memorize, and then memorize after class. In terms of technique, there are single unarmed footwork, turning, formation change, as well as holding the gun, dismounting the gun, raising the gun, loading and returning bullets, loading and returning the bayonet, shooting, and finally marching intensively and evacuating the formation. In addition, there are courses such as solo combat movements in the field, marching camps, combat methods, and liaison services.

What impressed me the most about the military academy's enlistment education was that the Whampoa Military Academy's education method was the so-called "education from outside," that is, compulsory education was implemented, and everything that should be learned must be learned, and what was not allowed to be done was absolutely not done, and persuasive education was not emphasized, and those who violated the law were punished or even corporal punishment. Sometimes I don't know it, so I'm punished. At that time, we had to go to the North Campus every weekend for the "Premier Sun Yat-sen Memorial Week". I remember one Sunday, we marched to the headquarters of the North Campus Military Academy to participate in the "Premier Sun Yat-sen Memorial Week" activities, our team from the Caotang Temple in Chengdu to the headquarters of the North Campus Military Academy, round trip 20 or 30 miles, at that time the legs were straight and sore, but because the singing was not loud, the walking pace was not neat, back to the station was corporal punishment by the officer on duty, let our team run on the playground for an hour, our team of students ran sweaty, out of breath, at that time a classmate fainted on the playground. This officer on duty was praised by the school as "governing the army strictly". For these, we also have private grievances, there were also complaints at that time, and there were also incidents such as students abandoning school and running away. However, such rigorous and almost harsh training has also made us understand that it is not easy to learn excellent military skills, and we need to undergo arduous training.

One more thing that impressed. When we were about to transfer to a branch department at the end of our enlistment education, the education squad leader who trained us actually gathered the students of our class and indiscriminately slapped each of us with three boards, on the grounds that "enlistment education and training should be left with a profound memory." This really made us laugh and hate that squad leader very much. In the memory of our cadets, at the stage of "enlistment education" at the Whampoa Military Academy, there were almost no students who had not been subjected to corporal punishment.

Then he entered the stage of study by subject. I remember that in addition to studying the political courses of the Kuomintang Party history and the Three People's Principles, I also learned more about the professional knowledge of artillery and the combat training courses of artillery.

At that time, the captain of the 18th Phase 2 Corps I was in was called Wang Huaxing, and the captain of the 1st Artillery Team was called Zhang Fangtong. Zhang Fangtong is a native of Shandong and a top student who graduated from the 10th phase of Huangpu. Captain Zhang wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, he is always so energetic, this person is quite proficient in both theory and practical operation of various subjects in teaching, and he also has a very good set of military school management. Some students think that he is arrogant, but I think Captain Zhang belongs to the kind of person who pays attention to lectures and drills, and most of the students of our artillery team 1 and artillery 2 are very scared, in fact, I am in awe when I recall it now. In 1993, 50 years after graduation, Captain Zhang returned to the mainland from Taiwan to visit relatives and came to Beijing to visit us students. The students present laughed, and Captain Zhang laughed so much that tears flowed out of his eyes, and this scene is still vividly recalled.

Although our artillery team 1 and artillery team 2 are separated in life (referring to living and eating), they attend classes and train together, especially the technical basic courses and practical training courses of the artillery department, and the two teams are together, because the two captains have their own strengths, and the two teams can attend classes together, which can maximize the complementary advantages of the instructors. For example, Zhang Fangtong, the captain of the 1st Artillery Team, is a leader in the teaching of artillery drills in the military academy, while Xu Zelin, the captain of the 2nd Artillery Team, is famous in the whole school for his actual shooting operations in the artillery department, such as how to accurately and quickly load shells in battle, communication and command at the artillery field, and so on. Therefore, the cadets of both teams have been touched with the strengths of the two instructors, so that the academic performance of the two teams has always been in an excellent position among the military academies and branches.

The trainees also conducted tactical training in equestrian, driver, and roundabouts in car sets. For more than a year, we all know how to set a mule to pull a gun cart and which mule is not easy to train.

The final stage of officer education focuses on the development of management skills in organization, command and life. I remember studying economics, current affairs at home and abroad, and other courses, as well as staff operations, weapons, combat readiness, tactics, war history, topography, transportation, cartography and mapping, etc.

At the end of the whole term of study, the military academy will form a graduation examination committee with the higher-level business departments to conduct the graduation examination in a unified manner. I finished 10th in the artillery corps in my graduation exam, which is a big improvement from when I was in. On October 6, 1943, I graduated from the military academy and wanted to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War to show my career, but who knew that I was retained in school and served as the squad leader of the 21st second lieutenant. In May 1944, I signed up for the new 38th Division of the New 1st Army of the Indian Army, and began my career as a Chinese Expeditionary Force, and finally realized my desire to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War to kill the enemy and serve the country.

(Zhang Xizhen's dictation, Li Shi's collation, source: "Huangpu" 2016 No. 3)