Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
MOSCOW/LANZHOU, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — More than 80 years ago in northwest China, the international anti-fascist "lifeline" laid through the fires of war witnessed the unity of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and National Salvation, as well as mutual assistance between China and other anti-fascist forces around the world.
In May of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his opinion article published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, paid special attention to the exciting past of China and Russia, which fought side by side and supported each other in the World Anti-Fascist War: “In the fiery years, large-scale deliveries of Soviet weapons to China and the reverse flow of strategically important cargo that was in great demand for the USSR were provided by a cross-border “lifeline” laid through the “dead” desert by the joint efforts of the two countries and played a significant role in mutual support for the fight against the fascists.”
THEY ARE ALL HEROES
Soon after the full-scale Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, China and the Soviet Union opened the Northwest International Transport Corridor. Lanzhou City (the capital of Gansu Province) became an important hub of this international "lifeline."
"At that time, China was in dire need of pilots and aircraft. The Soviet Union sent a volunteer air squadron, provided assistance in the form of weapons and equipment, which was very helpful," said Pan Jie, a junior researcher at the Lanzhou Branch Memorial Museum of the 8th Army.
“I want to volunteer to fly to China to fight,” Pavel Zhigarev, who later became the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force, addressed the command. He was later sent to China, where he participated in the command of the Soviet volunteer air detachment, mainly based in the city of Lanzhou. They were assigned many duties, such as transportation, reinforcement and training.
A joint photo of P. Zhigarev with his wife and daughter is one of the few of his pictures that have been preserved in the family to this day. Looking at the yellowed photo, P. Zhigarev's granddaughter Elena and her husband Konstantin Bobylev said: "He's getting ready already. This is, let's say, probably a farewell photo. I think, just in case, as usually happens."
P. Zhigarev's memories of China were passed down from mouth to mouth in the family. At that time, Soviet pilots were leaving from Almaty (present-day Kazakhstan) for Lanzhou. "The route was quite long, the tasks were difficult, and they had to fly over the plateau and the Gobi. The danger was obvious," said K. Bobylev. "They were all heroes. It was a miracle that they were able to get to China at all."
According to the memoirs of P. Zhigarev, the heroic Chinese people made unimaginable sacrifices and made incredible efforts to resist the Japanese invaders in the most difficult conditions. K. Bobylev said that if we take only the servicing of aircraft as an example, “they simply carried fuel on their backs, in their arms.”
Shipments of Soviet aircraft and pilots arriving to help China used Lanzhou as a staging post. Chinese pilots also trained in Lanzhou before heading to the front.
In order to destroy this transportation corridor, the Japanese invaders repeatedly attacked Lanzhou and other places. According to statistics, since 1937, the Japanese aggressors have carried out 1,081 sorties and attacked various parts of Gansu Province 71 times. In particular, Lanzhou was attacked 36 times, as a result of which more than 10,000 houses were destroyed, and more than 20,000 people were killed and injured.
Chinese and Soviet pilots carried out joint counterattacks. According to the victorious reports published in newspapers at the time, in the battles of February 20 and 23, 1939, Chinese and Soviet pilots shot down more than ten Japanese planes, which significantly raised the fighting spirit of the people. The heroic and tragic air battles near Lanzhou thwarted the Japanese invaders' plan to seize air supremacy in northwest China and cut off the international "lifeline."
FRIENDSHIP OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
In Lanzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing and other places, more than 2,000 Soviet pilots participated in the volunteer air squadron in providing assistance to China, and more than 200 of them gave their precious lives. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly told the story of Soviet pilot Grigory Kulishenko, who heroically fought against the Japanese invaders and died in China, about the Chinese mother and son who looked after his grave for decades, and about the Soviet air squadron that helped China in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
During one of her trips to China, Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Ekaterina Zaklyazminskaya visited Jiefang Park /Liberation/ in Wuhan. She was deeply moved to see the graves and monuments to Soviet volunteer pilots, carefully preserved by the Chinese for many years, and has since made the history of those joint battles one of her areas of research.
Recently, through lectures and other means, she has been introducing Russians to this international “lifeline,” specifically mentioned by President Xi Jinping in his opinion piece. According to her, this “lifeline” demonstrated the “friendship and mutual assistance in difficult times” between the two countries and ensured their final victory.
“LET’S MAKE JOINT EFFORTS”
From 1937 to 1941, the Soviet Union provided China with more than 1,200 aircraft and large quantities of weapons and equipment, while China in turn sent the USSR large quantities of agricultural products, minerals, and other important strategic materials. The land route through Central Asia to China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Gansu was the main transport line of the international "lifeline."
Chen Lu, a professor at the Taihu Institute in Wuxi, believes that this international “lifeline” was of great strategic importance. China received weapons support to contain the main forces of the Japanese army in a protracted war, and the USSR received strategic resources, while avoiding a war on two fronts.
“Let’s work together! We are not afraid of the high mountains, we are not afraid of the endless Gobi Desert, we are not afraid of the wind, frost, rain and snow…” In May 1939, the Xinjiang Daily, a newspaper under the leadership of the Chinese Communists at the time, published a special issue entitled “Provincial Road Conference”. A small column on the newspaper page was specially set aside for handwritten notes and lyrics of a song called “Road Construction Song” by the famous writer Mao Dun. The song called on all ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to work together to build the road. This is just one example of the enormous efforts made by the Chinese Communists to open the Northwest International Transport Corridor.
Since August this year, the Lanzhou 8th Army Memorial Museum has been hosting a themed exhibition on “Northwest International Transport Corridor during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” Yellowed invoices, engineering drawings, records of active donations from the public, as well as trucks, camels, horses, and sheepskin rafts captured in archival photographs have brought history back to life.
“These trucks delivered Soviet weapons and equipment to China, and brought back wool, sheepskins and other materials produced in abundance in the northwest of the country. Locals nicknamed them ‘wool trucks,’” Pan Tsz pointed out the exhibits.
As time goes by, everything changes. Gongxingdun Airport in Lanzhou, which witnessed the takeoffs and landings of fighter jets during the war, has now become a bustling area with skyscrapers and convenient transportation. The comprehensive free trade zone, international airport, international land port and railway border crossing in Lanzhou connect Gansu Province with the world. An important stop on the Northwest International Transport Corridor is Horgos in Xinjiang. It is currently an important port for the high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, witnessing the rapid development of the first cross-border free trade zone and a new era of “steel camels” — China-Europe freight trains — moving across Eurasia. The international transport corridor in the past is now an “artery of cooperation” and a “road of happiness”, which will definitely continue to write new stories of jointly advancing towards prosperity and common progress. –0–
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