"Taihang Wind and Bone" - Memoirs of Yang Yunxi 65

Break the city and attack Yan Xishan's old lair

It is expected that at 5:00 on April 24, the guns must be ready. From 5:30 a.m., by 9:00 a.m. the shelling lasted three and a half hours, opening 12 holes in the city. As a result, in order to show himself, Fei Mist ran to the front at this time (at this time my guns were in the flank advantage), and before I reached the position, he began shelling at 5:30. I saw him shout triumphantly, "Ready—let go!" It wasn't his right, and I said, "Be effective, aim and shoot." "The city walls were covered with black smoke from more than 1,300 cannons, and the cannons were fired in the pre-marked directions, and the guns of various units, mortars, and 60 cannon shells flew into the city like sparrows. The forward troops saw that the enemy fire was completely suppressed, and the city walls collapsed one by one, demanding a charge. The command post ordered the firing to stop, and when the smoke cleared, it was seen that the troops had climbed the city wall in the smoke. The city wall was opened 30 to 50 meters into an opening, and the bricks and soil that slipped down formed a slope. A platoon leader carrying an explosive packet was hit by his own bullet and killed by the explosion. The follow-up troops continued to advance, and fierce street battles began in the city. The artillery was preparing to shift their positions and enter the city to support, the red flag was raised in the drum tower, fluttering in the wind, and the evil yan xishan rule was over forever.

After the taiyuan city was opened, the troops were not allowed to enter the city, and except for the city defense troops, all other troops withdrew to the outside of the city. Before the battle in the city was over, I slept in the sun under the mound behind the gun position.

The next day, a few of me and I climbed up from the opening to the city and went down to the city, and saw that the city was full of shells, the cut wires were like vermicelli, the barbed wire was paved with a layer, and the houses near the city walls were in ruins. I walked down the road to the vicinity of the Drum Tower, which was already shaking sideways. Turning to the right, I looked at the Appeasement Office, empty, with a breath of death. Passing by an iron bull statue, the iron bull still looks very tough with its head on its back, but times have changed! From the drum tower to the south to the bottom of the southern city wall, I saw a pile of shells that had been blown up by our shells, like rolled pig ears, and I knew that they had a lot of shells and piled them on the gun positions. From the south gate to the city, I looked at the outline of Taiyuan City, and then turned from the south city wall to the east city wall, full of guns and abandoned fire points where the enemy had been blown up, shells, bullets, all kinds of guns, messy, making people feel that cleaning the battlefield was worried. Afterwards, I heard that the car was used to pull away and all fell into the Fenhe River.