Preferential treatment of prisoners and non-mistreatment of prisoners is the fine tradition of our army, which is written into the three major disciplines and eight points of attention, and our army has faithfully carried out this policy of captivity on the battlefield. But the prisoners mentioned here refer to the enemy troops who have completely laid down their weapons and surrendered to our army, but what should be done with those enemy troops who pretend to be dead and pretend to surrender and wait for the opportunity to return fire? The volunteer army encountered such a situation on the battlefield, causing no small number of casualties. The last two volunteer company commanders combined and decided that the enemy on the battlefield in the future, regardless of death or injury, would replenish their guns! But will the superiors agree to this?
On the night of November 27, 1950, the Battle of Chosin Lake began. The 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 239th Regiment, 80th Division, 27th Army, under the leadership of company commander Li Changyan and instructor Zhuang Yuandong, set out from Fengliuli and interspersed behind enemy lines. After the pre-war reconnaissance, the US military believed that there was no Chinese within a radius of 100 miles, so even the basic fortifications were not repaired, and even the sentries were roasting fires in the leeward at night, and they did not expect that the volunteers would fall from the sky.
The 4th Company went deep behind the enemy lines and charged hard, catching the American troops by surprise. The 4th Company first annihilated the L Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 31st Regiment of the US Army with the strength of one company, and then took the 31st Regimental Headquarters (the 31st Regiment and the 3rd Battalion Headquarters were also destroyed), and before dawn, the battalion headquarters of the 57th Field Artillery Battalion and the positions of Company A of the US Army were destroyed, and 12 105 mm howitzers were captured.
【The 4th Company was thus awarded the title of Combat Model Company】
Overnight, a regimental headquarters and two battalion headquarters of the US army were destroyed, a company of the US army was completely annihilated, 12 artillery pieces were captured, and the results of the 4 companies were worthy of fruitful results, but Li Changyan was happy and worried. These 12 guns alone were stronger than the entire artillery regiment of the 27th Army, but Li Changyan could not pull them away. Manpower is impossible, mules and horses they do not have, blow up and reluctant to blow up, just as Li Changyan received an order from his superiors: stop attacking and withdraw from the battle!
Receiving this order, Li Changyan was very puzzled, the casualties of the soldiers were not large, and now the morale was high, and they had to retreat instead of taking advantage of the victory to pursue, and everyone was not happy in their hearts. But the military order could not be violated, and Li Changyan could only order everyone to seize the time to clean up the battlefield, paying special attention to collecting biscuits, cans and ammunition.
[Li Changyan at the time of the 1955 title]
Prior to this, the 9th Corps had not fought with the US army, and Li Changyan did not personally understand the air superiority of the US army. But Shiji is very clear, and it is the world of the US military during the day! Now that it was almost dawn, the 4th Company must stop the attack and disengage from the enemy in order to preserve its strength and attack after dark. While the warriors were still collecting canned biscuits, the enemy plane arrived! Almost skimming over everyone's heads, shooting and dropping bombs at the same time, Li Changyan quickly led everyone to the nearby 1554 highland.
The American prisoners of war who had been captured took the opportunity to run away, some wrestling with the volunteer soldiers, and some picking up guns on the ground and shooting at the volunteer soldiers. The most infuriating thing is that in the night battle, many American soldiers lay on the ground and pretended to be dead, and now they have also climbed up and shot at the 4th Company from the flanks and backs, and many fighters did not fall on the way to attack, but now they fell under the black guns.
Before the gunfire stopped, the cannon sounded again. Some dead American artillery began to operate 105 howitzers to fire at 4 companies, the shell landing point was very accurate, even the single soldiers they did not let go, several guns aimed at a person chasing and fighting. After Li Changyan ran up the 1554 heights with 4 companies, he counted them, and in just a few moments, the casualties of the 4 companies exceeded last night's battle, and the instructor Zhuang Yuandong was sacrificed.
Li Changyan was angry, and scolded vigorously in Jiaodong dialect: "These American devils who are raised by the maid, pretend to be dead and surrender to fight the black gun, and the next time they are caught, regardless of death or injury, all the guns will be replenished." The crowd hid on the reverse slope for a while, and the 6th Company also ran over, and the 6th Company ran a little slower than the 4th Company, and the casualties were greater than the 4th Company. The commander of the 6th Company and Li Changyan sat together and scolded me incessantly, while discussing the matter of replenishing the gun in the future.
The news soon reached the ears of Zhang Zonghai, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, and Zhang Guimian, the instructor, both of whom were indignant, but the matter of replenishing the gun one by one was again against discipline, and if they really wanted to give this order, the two of them made another mistake. Finally, Zhang Zong patted his thigh for the first time and said to Zhang Guimian: "Old man, it is not okay not to make up the gun, without the gun our soldiers will die, and the enemy will survive!" Zhang Guimian replied, "I agree, I will be punished and I will carry it with you." ”
On the night of the 28th, the 2nd Battalion once again launched an attack on the 31st Regiment of the US 7th Division in Xinxingli, and before the attack, the battalion commander ordered: If the enemy is dead or alive, all guns will be replenished! This is probably one of the few orders given by our army, given by battalion commanders and instructors at the risk of violating discipline. We can give humanitarian treatment to the enemy who really lay down his arms and surrender, but the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, how can we judge whether the enemy is pretending to be dead and surrendering and wants to shoot a black gun? If it is not done well, it will cause unnecessary casualties to our soldiers, and at this time, the enemy is better off than us, and it is necessary to replenish the guns. In fact, the battalion commander and instructor were not punished for this afterwards, indicating that the superiors approved of this practice.