Author: Shi Qian
When the RB-57D aircraft crossed Jinan and continued to enter the direction of Beijing, Commander Liu Yalou and Deputy Commander Cheng Jun of the Air Force entered the command post. Seeing that the RB-57D planes flew from Jinan to Cangxian County, our fighters followed the attacks one after another without success, so they ordered the fighters of the Beijing Military Region's Air Force to withdraw from the battle and hand over the combat tasks to the surface-to-air missile units to complete.
Judging from the analysis of the route from Jinan to Cangxian, the RB-57D is likely to be from the direction of Beijing due south, through the fire range of a battalion into Beijing.
In the minds of Liu Yalou and Cheng Jun, of the five battalions defending Beijing, the combat effectiveness of one battalion was the strongest. Because the cadres and fighters of the first battalion were selected from the whole air force and the quality of the personnel was high; it was the first phase of the training of the troops, and it was taught by the Soviets themselves. The battalion fired two consecutive targets in less than half a year, fired five missiles, and hit the target four times. Compared with five battalions, of course, one battalion is more certain than other battalions. Today's RB-57D aircraft most likely passed through the range of fire of this battalion. The two men pinned their hopes on the first battalion, appeared confident, and their eyes were tightly fixed on the position of the first battalion, waiting for the news of the victory of the first battalion.
After the RB-57D aircraft flew through Cangxian County, the flight direction gradually changed, especially after flying to Tianjin, when it was 100 kilometers away from the second battalion, its course changed significantly to the southeast direction from Beijing, possibly through the fire range of the second battalion into Beijing.
The eyes of Liu and Cheng shifted from the position of the first battalion to the position of the second battalion of Zhangjiawan Airport.
Knowing the other and knowing oneself is the first element for a commander to command a war. At this time, Liu Yalou had never been to the second battalion, and he did not know much about the situation of the second battalion, and whether the second battalion could shoot down the RB-57D aircraft was still innumerable in his heart.
Liu Yalou asked Cheng Jun, "How is the second battalion's loading training going?" ”
Cheng Jun said: "The second battalion's loading and training has also done a good job; the whole battalion has achieved excellent results in the examination; although the missiles have been deflected and the target aircraft has not been shot down, that is because the antenna transceiver produced by the Soviet Union has connected the two threads of the scanning motor of the azimuth antenna to the wrong position, and it is not a problem of their combat readiness, shooting command, and combat operation." The battalion commander, Yue Zhenhua, was an old anti-aircraft artilleryman who had served as battalion commander, regimental chief of staff, and regimental commander, led troops to fight on the Korean battlefield, shot down enemy planes, and was relatively calm and flexible in operational command. ”
In fact, Cheng Jun understood Liu Yalou's meaning by asking him if the Second Battalion was sure of taking down the enemy plane. But after all, this is the world's first use of surface-to-air missile combat, no one has any actual combat experience to learn from, and as a result, no one dares to say too much in advance, so Cheng Jun did not answer Liu Yalou's question positively and positively.
The trajectory of the RB-57D aircraft on the chart table, extending from the southeast direction of Beijing to Beijing little by little, was about to fly to the fire range of the second battalion, and the fists of Liu Yalou and Cheng Jun were also tight, waiting for the battle report of the second battalion to come from the air force command post of the Beijing Military Region. At this time, the staff officers in the Air Force Command Post also saw the mood of the two chiefs, and everyone looked at the commander's eyes, and the command post was silent and deadly, and even the sound of the double bell horseshoe needle on the chart table "ticking" was heard very clearly.
Suddenly, the Air Force Command Post reported to the staff officer in the direction of the Air Force Command Post of the Beijing Military Region: "The Second Battalion fired three missiles and won the first battle!" One RB-57D aircraft was shot down, and the wreckage of the enemy plane crashed into the town of Anping and the area around Hexiwu in Hebei Province. ”
Liu Yalou and Cheng Jun were very happy to hear that the Second Battalion had shot down the RB-57D aircraft, and immediately ordered the North Air Force to call the Second Battalion to capture the pilot and look for the wreckage of the aircraft, and reported the results to it.
At this time, Liu Yalou was not very familiar with Yue Zhenhua, and he was still not on the right number from his face, because the commander and battalion commander of a ground unit did not have outstanding typical deeds, and the opportunity to contact the commander of the air force was very rare.
After Liu Ya got out of the car, Yue Zhenhua saluted and introduced himself. Liu Yalou shook Yue Zhenhua's hand and said, "Congratulations, you played very well!" Deputy Commander Cheng and I watched the RB-57D fly in the direction of your battalion in the command post, and pinched a handful of sweat for you, worried that your loading and training time was short and could not be beaten. As a result, you fought very well and came with a banner to win. ”
Liu Yalou inspected the various parts of the aircraft one by one. Finally, walking to the body of the pilot who fell to his death because the parachute rope was cut by the wing, Yue Zhenhua handed the pilot's ID card to Liu Yalou to see.
The pilot's name was Wang Yingqin, 27 years old, captain, and his place of origin is unknown. The ID card contained a photograph of a beautiful woman, presumably his wife or girlfriend, and a small amount of dollars.
While looking at the wreckage of the plane, Liu Yalou said to Yue Zhenhua: "This guy, relying on the superiority of altitude, has repeatedly infiltrated me for in-depth reconnaissance and bullied us for a year. Today, he vainly went to Beijing to catch straw, and you beat him down. ”
After seeing the wreckage of the plane, Liu Yalou said to Yue Zhenhua: "Okay! Go to your battalion, see your comrades, and listen to your report on the battle. ”
Yue Zhenhua was a wise man, and he knew that a combat battalion, especially a combat battalion of a ground air defense unit, had the opportunity to personally report to the commander of the Air Force. In order to give the commander of the air force an understanding of the basic situation of the second battalion and leave a good impression on the commander, he led the commander in front of him in a Soviet jeep, and wrote a report in his head.
Liu Yalou came to the second battalion and entered the command post of the battalion. Chen Huiting, a training staff officer at the battalion headquarters, is drafting a "Detailed Report on The Battle" and organizing a maplet to draw a map of the battle course. Seeing that the battalion commander had come in with the Air Force commander, he hurriedly put down the paintbrush in his hand and reported to the commander:
"Comrade Commander: The Command Post of the Second Battalion is preparing the Battle Details and drawing up a map of the battle course, asking the Commander for instructions. Chen Huiting, a training staff officer. ”
Liu Yalou stretched out his hand and shook Staff Officer Chen's hand and said, "Good young and capable staff officer." This is the case with staff work, which is busy preparing for battle before the war, implementing the commander's orders and instructions during the war, and reporting on the battle after the war. You've worked hard! ”
Staff Sergeant Chen replied, "The chief is hard. ”
When doing the work of the staff officers, we must understand the intentions of the chief, and the battalion commander led the commander to the command post, certainly in order to report to the commander on the course of the battle, he immediately packed up the stationery on the drawing table, asked the commander to sit at the drawing table, poured a cup of tea and brought it to him, and then retreated to the reporting table of the reporting staff to listen to the battalion commander's combat report and record the commander's instructions.
He began with the RB-57D aircraft coming to land from Wenling, the time and distance the aircraft flew, what combat orders he gave, and what combat preparations the troops made until the missiles were launched to knock down the enemy aircraft.
Liu Yalou listened to the report on the battle and seemed to be unfinished. Then, he said to Yue Zhenhua, "Tell me about the work that your battalion did from the beginning of your training until the end of the battle, which was crucial to the victory of the battle. ”
This was exactly what Yue Zhenhua had planned to report to the commander along the way. After a little thought, he said: "In general, this battle is how the Soviets taught us how to fight." Under this premise, I think that our battalion has grasped several things correctly and played an important role.
"The first thing is to mobilize the commanders and fighters of the whole battalion to seize time with the enemy and learn the skills to defend the National Day." Soon after our battalion arrived at Changxindian to start training, on June 14, the RB-57D of the US-made Chiang Kai-shek Gang entered the reconnaissance and harassment over Beijing. ”
Yue Zhenhua cited several examples of cadres and fighters studying hard, which made Liu Yalou very moved.
Liu Yalou said: "You have grasped it very correctly, and using the enemy to mobilize is more convincing than our own mobilization!" Without bitter pay, there is no sweet harvest. Without the desperate efforts of the installation and training, there would not have been such a rapid victory in battle, and I hope that your battalion will also maintain and carry forward this spirit of revolution and hard work in the future. ”
"The second thing is not to have any illusions about the enemy, the only thing is to be ready for war at all times." Yue Zhenhua said, "At 18:00 on October 5, the special combat readiness period for the grand ceremony of defending the tenth anniversary of the National Day was lifted, and the superiors informed the troops that they could take a holiday to rest. Many battalions and even the families of cadres in the second battalion are scattered in Beijing, and they have never gone back from the time of the training, and they are all looking forward to visiting their homes during the compensatory leave after the National Day. For this reason, the party committee of the battalion held a special meeting to rationally match and arrange them one by one in turn according to the specific conditions of the personnel to be rested, so as to ensure that the troops can be put into battle at any time. Therefore, in this battle, although the National Day combat readiness period has been lifted, there is no shortage of people in the main shooting command posts and combat operation posts, and they are all elite soldiers. ”
Liu Yalou said, "Good! As soon as you undertook the task of combat readiness, you inherited and carried forward the glorious tradition of unremitting readiness in air defense operations. This party committee is running well, and when it comes to the point, it is grasping a big thing, which is also a key move. ”
"The third thing is that the weapons and equipment should be in good combat condition at all times." Yue Zhenhua said, "When we conducted a functional inspection of the weapons before dinner the day before the war, we found that the transceiver car was malfunctioning and could not fight. The ground-to-air missile battalion is a gun for the whole battalion, and if one vehicle fails, it means that the whole battalion cannot fight. Is it overnight exclusion? Or wait until you go to work the next day and then exclude it? After the company reported it to me, I ordered them to be eliminated overnight, and not to sleep without troubleshooting. Because the troops had only been studying for three months, the technicians had low ability to troubleshoot, and they waited until it was almost dawn before they could troubleshoot. Within hours of troubleshooting, an enemy briefing from the RB-57D was received. If you wait until the next day to work and then troubleshoot, today's battle will not be able to be fought, and the fighter will be delayed. ”
Liu Yalou said: "Do not rule out the fault and do not sleep, your rule is well established, this must become a system to adhere to." ”
"The fourth thing is that commanders must thoroughly understand the operational principles and policies of the superiors and not be interfered with by human errors in the middle links." He reported to the battalion staff officer how he had dealt with it before the missile was launched, misreporting the order of the command post of the group to wait, and how he had handled it. After Liu Yalou listened, he was shocked and said, "How dangerous! Deputy Commander Cheng Jun and I were still completely unaware of such a big disturbance in the middle of the command post. At the most critical moment, you have a clear mind, quick thinking, correct reasoning and analysis, the right determination, and the enemy plane, which is the product of a clever commander. ”
Yue Zhenhua said: "This shows that the professional quality of our combat service personnel is not high, and we must accept this lesson and do a good job in the training of combat service personnel." ”
Liu Yalou said: "You are right, you must accept this lesson." The characteristic of your battalion is that the whole battalion has one gun, and any mistake in any link will cause many difficulties to the commander's combat command, and even the battle will not be able to fight. ”
Finally, Yue Zhenhua said: "There is another key task that is grasped by the superiors. This is live-fire targeting. Our battalion did not shoot the target well, the commander may already know, and I will not elaborate. Although the target was not well shot, it could be tested that there were major hidden dangers in weapons and equipment. The commander may not yet know the severity of its consequences. I calculated according to the situation that appeared on the shooting range, if we did not shoot the target this time and entered the position to fight, then this battle, not only can not defeat the aircraft, but also three missiles will fall near the Beijing Railway Station, one of the top ten buildings of the National Day, which will not only suffer heavy losses, but also cause extremely bad impact at home and abroad. The consequences are unimaginable. Therefore, I suggest that leaders must use their own equipment to shoot a target once after the new weapons are equipped with troops in the future, so as to prevent future troubles. That's the end of my debriefing. ”
Liu Yalou said: "If I didn't listen to your report, I didn't know that there might be such serious consequences." At that time, if we did not hit this target in order to save a few missiles, we would pay a hundred times a heavy price than several missiles. In the future, when the new weapons are equipped with troops, they must first shoot targets and then fight wars, and this must be stipulated as a system. ”
Yue Zhenhua's report was concise and clear, grasped several key issues, and did not take long to clearly explain the battle experience and basic experience, and left an extremely deep impression on Liu Yalou's thinking.
Liu Yalou said: "Your report was concise and concise, and you grasped the substantive issues. The party committee of the second battalion is a party committee that grasps important matters, the leading body of the second battalion is a leading body that concentrates on work and prepares for war, and the troops of the second battalion have a valuable spirit of revolution and hard work. Your command, composure and flexibility, determination and decisiveness. Our surface-to-air missile forces still need to be developed, and you are seed troops, who have fought another battle and are tasked with sending talents to the surface-to-air missile forces. I hope that you will work hard to do a good job in the building of the troops and create new glory for the second battalion. ”
Before leaving the second battalion to get on the bus, Liu Yalou said to Yue Zhenhua: "In Beijing, at the side of the party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, for the first time, the aircraft was shot down using anti-aircraft missiles, and the marshal and the leaders of the headquarters will definitely come to see the wreckage of the plane and come to your second battalion for inspection, and you must do a good job in organizing and receiving the aircraft." ”
Since then, the Second Battalion and Yue Zhenhua have hung up their numbers in Liu Yalou.
About author:Shi Kui, history teacher at colleges and universities, history researcher. He has been cultivating the history of the Party, the Military and the History of War for a long time. History lovers are welcome to exchange criticisms.