The graduates of the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy will be like stars, such as Xu Shuai, Chen Geng, Wang Erzhu, Zuo Quan, Zhou Shidi, etc. on the CCP side, and more importantly, Hu Zongnan, Du Yuming, Guan Linzheng, Zheng Dongguo, Chen Mingren, Song Xilian, Yu Jishi of Chiang Kai-shek's concubines. Among them, Chen Mingren was recognized by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party as a famous general of the War of Resistance.
In 1944, Chen Mingren was promoted to the commander of the 71st Army, and led his troops to participate in the expeditionary force's counter-offensive against Yunnan and Burma, and after the Battles of Songshan and Longling, the troops had suffered heavy casualties: the remnants of the 28th Division could only be organized into one company; the 87th and 88th Divisions had less than 2,000 people per division. Chen Mingren consulted with Huang Jie, commander-in-chief of the 11th Group Army who succeeded Song Xilian: Let the troops take a breath and not use the 71st Army unless they have to.
In January 1945, several divisions of the Expeditionary Force besieged Huilongshan, but although supported by Allied aircraft, they could not be attacked for a long time, and casualties increased day by day. Huilong Mountain was the highest commanding height southwest of Longling, the gateway to the last major Japanese stronghold in China, Hatamachi, and the core position to prevent the Expeditionary Force from opening up the China-Burma Highway. Chairman Jiang asked Huang Jie to take the town before New Year's Day, open the Burma Road, and meet the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India, but it was now January, and Huilongshan had not yet been captured. Huang Jie was angry and anxious, and in desperation, he had no choice but to ignore the "Gentleman's Agreement" and even discuss the request to let Chen Mingren's 71st Army enter the battle.
Chen Mingren gladly accepted the order, that is, led more than 1,000 people of the 88th Division and some artillerymen to set off in the rain. At this time, at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the 11th Army Group, the US liaison officer was relaying to Huang Jie that due to the ineffective combat of the Chinese attack forces, the US Air Force would no longer send aircraft to assist and would not airlift supplies from tomorrow onwards. Chen Mingren's arrival allowed Huang Jieru to be saved.
Chen Mingren said: The 71st Army will arrive tomorrow, take over the defense the day after tomorrow, and attack on the third day! US Air Force Major General Hudge asked: What should I do if I can't take it down? Chen Mingren swore an oath of death and issued a military order: "If I can't fight, I will die on the top of the mountain!" ”
But Chen Mingren made a request: on the day of the attack, the commander-in-chief and the artillery commander were temporarily removed from their positions, and he was in charge of all the artillery and air force. This request was reported to Chongqing, but Chen Cheng objected, but Chairman Chiang Kai-shek granted Chen Mingren full authority and sent Huang Qixiang, deputy commander of the expeditionary force, and several American officers to the front to watch the battle.
After the troops arrived, Chen Mingren immediately summoned 3 regimental commanders for deployment, and finally he said: "I have already put my head in the command headquarters, you must strictly supervise the troops to fight hard, can not complete the task, raise the head to see!" ”
Chen Mingren's deployment was: the air force first bombed the Japanese positions in Huilongshan, then concentrated artillery fire to supplement the targets that the air force failed to destroy, and finally the infantry charged under the cover of the air force and artillery. One force was ordered to detour along the left hill to cut off the Japanese retreat into Burma; another force pretended to attack Santai Mountain, and the main force attacked the main position of HuilongShan from both sides of the Burma Road. In order to make the Japanese army misjudge, Chen Mingren let the infantry assemble on the side of Santai Mountain, and then used the air force to hover over Santai Mountain to confuse the Japanese army.
At 6:10 a.m. on the third day, the attack began. More than 10 bombers poured countless heavy bombs on the main position of Huilong Mountain, and at the same time bombed Santai Mountain. As soon as the air force bombing ended, artillery fire poured down on Santai Mountain, and the aviation troops also swooped down on Santai Mountain and exploded wildly, which lasted for 30 minutes. Riding on the bombardment, the feint troops launched a fierce attack on Santai Mountain.
The Japanese army was sure of the plan and hurriedly transferred the main force to the Santai Mountain side. When the time was ripe, Chen Mingren ordered the start of the attack on Huilongshan. The aviation unit immediately dispatched to bombard and dive strafing the Japanese positions in Huilongshan, and then more than 100 large and small guns bombarded thousands of shells at the Japanese positions.
Why is Huilong Mountain so difficult to conquer? First, the terrain is very dangerous, on three sides are cliffs, only one side can climb; second, the main force of the Japanese army's 1 elite brigade stationed on the core position, and its commander, Major General Miyazawa, is also a famous general in the Japanese army.
Under the cover of aircraft and artillery fire, the infantry launched a sea of overwhelming charges. However, due to the difficulty of climbing, it was difficult to carry out those who climbed up regardless of casualties, and the attack failed to work. The Japanese army was very tenacious and fierce, and after the fortifications were destroyed, they used bomb craters and shell craters as bunkers to fight desperately. On several occasions, I watched the infantry enter the Japanese position with difficulty, but suddenly some Japanese troops jumped out of the craters and rock crevices, and the officers and men of our army who rushed up were now out of breath, and after being cut down by the Japanese army, they had to retreat in defeat.
After such repeated killings, by 3 p.m., Huilongshan was still like a demon that could not be burned by thunder and fire, standing in front of Chen Mingren. The spectators at the command headquarters gradually became disappointed and doubted Chen Mingren's boastful "Haikou".
Chen Mingren gave orders to his subordinates to die, and at the same time personally led the combatable personnel of the military headquarters to the starting point of the attack. He found that the reason why the attack was crushed was that as soon as the artillery fire extended, as soon as the attacking troops rushed up, the Japanese counterattacked. He changed the way he charged, ordered the artillery forward observation station to advance to the position where the infantry was ready to charge, directly contacted the charging troops, and then commanded the artillery to change the previous regular attack, using intermittent firing of hours and hours, so that the Japanese army could not feel the law. Dozens of elite soldiers were also selected, under the cover of fire, crawled to the closest distance to the enemy position to hide and stand by, and when the Japanese army was paralyzed and neglected, it was unexpected and suddenly launched a charge.
The tactic worked. Chen Mingren commanded the artillery to bombard the main position of Longshan with two-thirds of the firepower, and one-third of the firepower pointed at the rear of the Japanese position and Santai Mountain, cutting off its mobile reinforcements, and when two-thirds of the artillery fire extended, the stormtroopers entered the Japanese position in one fell swoop.
Because Chen Mingren bravely came to the front and gave the death order to the three regimental commanders, the officers and men who attacked all cheered up and launched a fierce attack in multiple ways along with the stormtroopers. Accompanied by the sound of killing in the sky and the sound of military trumpets, the brothers of the 88th Division rolled up the hill like angry waves to fight with the Japanese army. At 5 p.m., the main Japanese position in Huilongshan was conquered.
Then, the attacking forces continued to expand their results to the left and right, and at 6 p.m., more than 1,000 enemy personnel were annihilated, and more than 100 remnants of the enemy who escaped from the town were also eliminated by the roundabout troops sent earlier.
The generals in the viewing room witnessed the wonderful performance of Chen Mingren and the 71st Army. U.S. Air Force Major General Hedge stared at the picture, his eyes full of envy and admiration, and muttered to himself: "Masterpiece! A true masterpiece! After a while, he turned sharply and said loudly to all the people in the viewing room: "It is our honor to see General Chen, and it is the pride of our life to witness this battle!" ”