File photo of Nie Zhengzhao. (Photo: China News Service/Hu Jiaxing)
(ECNS) -- Nie Zhengchao, who fought with the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the war against Japanese aggression, died at the age of 94 in his home in Tengchong, Yunnan Province, on Saturday.
Nie joined the army when he was 17 and later became a soldier in the No. 2 Reserve Division of the expeditionary force. He fought in battles in the Gaoligong Mountains and Laifeng Mountain in 1944, part of China's "Anti-Japanese Battlefield in Dianxi," the Chinese abbreviation for western Yunnan.
After the victory against Japanese aggression, Nie retired from the army and returned to his hometown in Qushi, Tengchong City.
In July 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEF) carried out a massive counterattack in Dianxi, launching two major offensives to capture Laifeng Mountain. The victory cost the lives of 10,000 CEF soldiers, according to Li Zhicai, a researcher at the Baoshan City Museum.