Speaking of bandits in the northeast, many people know the story of Yang Zirong and the mountain eagle. In the novel movie, the battle of wits between the bandit troops and the bandits is very exciting. So, what about the real Northeast bandits?
Outsmart Tiger Mountain
In December 1945, the second detachment of the third column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army was ordered to go to the Mudanjiang area to expand the armed forces and eliminate the bandits. The two detachments fought and walked along the way, defeated a large number of small groups of bandits, expanded the team along the way, and also collected a batch of good equipment. The team was reorganized into two regiments and a guard battalion, each with more than 1,000 men, three battalions under it, each with a machine gun company.
On the fourteenth day of the first month, a group was ordered to arrive in Ning'an County from Hailin, and the common people quickly came to report that the bandit leader Zheng Yunfeng led more than 1,000 people in Ludao Town, more than 90 miles south of the county seat, and another bandit leader, Ma Xishan, led three or four hundred bandits to Chunyang Town, more than 40 miles south of Ludao Town.
The two bandit teams are numerous and not far apart, and they can reinforce each other, which is very difficult to suppress. In particular, the town of Ludao is surrounded by primeval forests, and only one train lane is convenient for entry and exit, which is conducive to the defense of the enemy. However, the regimental commander believed that tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the first month, and the bandits are also going to celebrate the festival, and it is likely that they will let down their vigilance and can fight a surprise attack.
The troops set out overnight, and at dawn they had already surrounded the town of Ludao. Most of the bandits in Ludao were so drunk that they could not imagine that the bandit suppression troops would suddenly appear, and even the outer sentries were not arranged. The first battalion of the bandit unit was responsible for the main attack, and the third battalion guarded the main road to prevent the bandit leader Ma Xishan from coming to reinforcements. When the battle began at dawn, the first battalion fought relatively smoothly, and the third battalion encountered trouble.
Some officers and men of the Northeast Bandit Suppression Force
At that time, they followed Li Company Commander to ambush outside the railway tunnel mouth, which was the only way for the Maxishan bandits to come to reinforcements. Company Commander Li had already planted several explosive packages at the mouth of the tunnel and waited for the enemy to come. At 7 o'clock in the morning, there was indeed movement in the tunnel, and a small train slowly drove over.
At the order of Li Company Commander, the explosive package detonated, the locomotive and the front two carriages were overturned to the ground, and the bandits in the back carriages climbed out shouting and screaming, trying to resist. Zhou Yishan immediately operated a machine gun to strafe the tunnel, and the bandits had difficulty hiding in this narrow place, so they turned their heads and ran. The warriors rushed up and wiped out the remnants of the carriage.
The battle killed more than a hundred bandits, and the warriors were overjoyed. However, the battle in Ludao was not completely over, and the Maxishan bandit gang might still come to reinforcements, so it could not be taken lightly, and Li Company Commander ordered everyone to hold their positions and keep an eye on the tunnel entrance.
By noon, news came from the side of the first battalion that zheng Yunfeng, the leader of the bandits, had been captured alive and that most of the bandits had been annihilated. The warriors saw that the Maxishan Bandit Gang had not sent a second batch of reinforcements, thinking that they had abandoned the rescue. At this time, it was also noon, and everyone was hungry and took out the frozen dry food and nibbled it.
Suddenly, there was a gunshot on the opposite hill, and before everyone could react, the second squad leader was planted on the ground and sacrificed. Zhou Yishan thought badly and quickly shouted, "There are bandits!" Before the words could be heard, another gunshot rang out, and the deputy squad leader beside Zhou Yishan fell and died before he could get out.
Where is the enemy? While observing the opposite mountain, Zhou Yishan set up a machine gun, just pulled the bolt, a "bang" sound - Zhou Yishan's eyes came out of a choking smoke, it felt like his body had been punched hard, and he fell on his back on the position.
Li Company Commander quickly ran over and lifted up Zhou Yishan to check where he was injured. Zhou Yishan moved his limbs a little, feeling that there was no problem, and when he looked down, he found that the magazine on his chest was broken. I was so lucky I almost lost my life. Zhou Yishan sighed that the bandit's marksmanship was too accurate, and three shots were fired at such a long distance, and the guns were fatal and too dangerous.
At this time, Li Company Commander had already commanded the fighters to counterattack, and light and heavy weapons shot fiercely at the opposite hill to suppress the bandits who were ambushed there. At the same time, three rows encircled from behind the left flank, and one row and two rows slowly advanced towards the opposite hill. The bandits' firepower was fierce and their marksmanship was accurate, and several more fighters were shot and killed.
Just then, the three platoons had circled to the back and suddenly launched an attack on the bandits. The bandits on the mountain were caught off guard and fled into the dense forest. This time, more than thirty bandits were killed.
Bandit troops
After several battles, the Maxishan bandits suffered huge losses and hid in the mountains. For the bandit troops, the enemy is haunted, and it is even more difficult to catch them.
At the beginning of August, a crowd suddenly came to report that a band of bandits had appeared near Shanlintun and that they were rushing around for grain, which was very arrogant. The leader of the troops ordered the three battalions to set out to suppress the bandits. Commander Gou led the team to set off at once, and marched all the way to a river crossing point on the east bank of the Mudanjiang River.
There used to be a road bridge here, which was blown up when the Japanese surrendered and has not been repaired. The mudanjiang river surface is 50 to 60 meters wide, the water flow is very fast, and it is unlikely to pass by wading on foot. Therefore, commander Gou sent people to find six or seven small wooden boats from nearby, and let the eight companies take the boats first.
There is a large brown rice field next to the road on the west bank, which is lush and growing well at this time. Several small boats carrying soldiers from the Eighth Company had just arrived in the heart of the river, when suddenly gunshots came from the brown rice field, and some soldiers were immediately injured. Soon, bandits popped out of the buds and shot at the boats crossing the river.
Battalion Commander Gou was also in one of the boats, and he knew that he could not retreat at this time, so he shouted for everyone to row quickly and go to the opposite shore to occupy the position. Troops on the east bank also concentrated their fire and strafed towards the brown rice field on the west bank. Two or three hundred bandits had already rushed out of the bud and were lying on the shore desperately shooting at several boats, and the commander of the Gou battalion was unfortunately shot and killed.
Enraged, the soldiers shouted "Avenge the Battalion Commander" and quickly paddled to the West Bank in a hail of bullets and shells, where they exchanged fire with the enemy. After the small boat returned, the follow-up troops immediately boarded the ship and went to reinforce the Eighth Company. The bandits saw that there were not many people in the Eight Companies, so they rushed up and began a white-knife battle.
Although the Eighth Company was outnumbered, it did not retreat a single step, and insisted until the follow-up troops came ashore. The fighting power of this group of bandits was also very strong, and they relied on the cover of the brown rice field to fight fiercely with the bandits for three hours before escaping into the dense forest. In this battle, more than 50 bandits were killed, and more than 20 people were sacrificed by the bandit troops.
Captured bandits
More than 100 miles west of the town of Sharan, there is a seven-pole top mountain, where the masses report that a gang of bandits is entrenched. This gang of bandits was about a hundred people, and the leader of the bandits, Yu Qingshan, was fierce and fierce, and often led the team down the mountain to grab grain. In order to eliminate these bandits, the three battalions, under the leadership of Deputy Battalion Commander Liu, prepared to enter the mountains to attack the bandits.
Many battles with bandits have made the bandits realize that not all bandits are rabble-rousers, they are familiar with the terrain, and some bandits have accurate marksmanship. More critically, bandits are good at escaping, and once their sentry finds the situation, they will quickly notify others to escape, which is difficult to catch.
This time, the troops had found an old hunter who was very familiar with the nearby mountains and forests. The old hunter led everyone to avoid the road and went straight into the dense forest. The vast primeval forest, the towering trees block most of the sunlight, and the dead branches and leaves under the feet can be more than half a foot deep, making the march very difficult. The troops walked all day and stayed in the woods that night.
The next day, after another full day of walking, in the evening, a large tree suddenly appeared in front of me. The old hunter looked up and came back to Commander Liu and said, "Now that we have reached the Seven-Pole Peak Mountain, someone in front of me has come, so don't go on today." "It was late, and in order to prevent the grass from startling the snake, the troops rested in place and waited for dawn before moving.
After dawn, the soldier in charge of the reconnaissance returned to report that there was a nest of bandits in front of him. These bandits never imagined that the bandit troops would emerge from behind, so they had no defenses. Deputy Battalion Commander Liu immediately arranged the task, with machine guns blocking the gates of the bandits' houses, and the soldiers surrounded them. Several fighters crept over and threw two grenades directly through the window.
There were two loud noises, and the room was filled with screams. The warriors outside the door rushed up, kicked the door open, and rushed in to capture the bandit leader Yu Qingshan. Yu Qingshan obediently surrendered, saying that the bandits were divided into three quarters, and the other two were not far from here.
Under the leadership of Yu Qingshan, the warriors found the residence of the other two bandits, Yu Qingshan shouted in his throat, and the bandits inside obediently raised their hands and came out when they saw that the big boss had surrendered.
"Northeast Bandits"
The joy of victory did not last long, and the troops once again encountered an accident. In October of that year, Zhou Yishan, the former machine gun squad leader of the Seventh Company of the Third Battalion, together with some other soldiers, studied in the Lujia Village training team. One day they were suddenly ordered to assist two companies of the Second Regiment in suppressing bandits nearby. Therefore, Captain Qin of the training team led more than 40 people to the vicinity of Langang Town, and the instructor led more than 50 people to the Area of Gasgou. Of the entire training team, only the chief secretary stayed behind with seven or eight cooks.
Unexpectedly, after the training team set off, a group of bandits got the news and secretly killed Lujia Village. At that time, the remaining team members were paralyzed and did not even arrange the guard posts. When the bandits entered the courtyard, only the chief secretary heard the movement in the other room and secretly climbed onto the roof to avoid the disaster. Several other cooks, all killed by the bandits.
Taking advantage of the bandits' lack of attention, the chief secretary sneaked down from the roof and, with the help of the common people, changed into plain clothes and escaped from the village. He ran to Langang in one breath and reported the situation to Captain Qin. Captain Qin was very angry and immediately led more than 40 fighters to Lujia Village, trying to intercept the bandits.
Unexpectedly, the bandits had already prepared, and they only left a few people in the village as bait, and most of them were ambushed on the nearby mountain. Captain Qin saw from a distance that there were not many bandits in the village, and he was eager for revenge, so he rushed over with the team members. At this moment, the bandits who were ambushed on the hills on both sides suddenly opened fire, and Captain Qin was outnumbered and all sacrificed.
Zhou Yishan and more than 50 other people followed the instructor elsewhere and soon got the news. Everyone was also very angry and demanded to avenge their comrades-in-arms. The instructor borrowed a truck and selected more than 30 people to go to Lujia Village. Unexpectedly, halfway through, I encountered the second regiment of the bandit troops. After the deputy political commissar of the Second Regiment knew the ins and outs of the matter, he immediately patiently gave the team members work and let everyone calm down temporarily.
Indeed, if you rush to Lujia Village at this time, will you once again enter the enemy's ambush circle? The leaders of the second regiment urgently drew up a battle plan, and early the next morning, the troops were divided into two parts, one part attacking Lujia Village and the other attacking the outer highlands.
Cavalry of the bandit troops
But this time, the bandit suppression troops made full preparations, and the soldiers divided into several detours and attacked at the same time from several directions, encircling the bandits on the top of the mountain. The warriors roared angrily and rushed up, and the bandits, seeing that the situation was not good, scattered and fled, some of them were killed, and some of them directly raised their hands and surrendered. In this battle, more than 50 bandits were killed, and seven light machine guns and two heavy machine guns were captured.
However, the bandit team was not completely eliminated, and many remnants of bandits fled into the mountains, waiting for the opportunity to go down the mountain to do wrong. The task of suppressing bandit troops is still very arduous. Next, Zhou Yishan continued to fight with his troops to various places, searching for and suppressing the bandits, and after many battles, finally at the end of 1946, the bandits in this area were completely eliminated.
Bandits in the northeast began to develop from the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the people, and there were more and more bandits of all sizes, who were familiar with the terrain and fierce. Moreover, there are also many bandits who are experienced in actual combat, have good marksmanship and know how to strategize, which has brought great trouble to the bandit suppression troops. Therefore, at that time, it was really not easy to suppress bandits in the northeast.