Column "Automobile 16 Regiment - Oral History":
Tibetan Plateau "Iron Yak"
—— Dictate the historical context of the Sixteen regiments of automobiles that I know
(1950-1969)
Zhang Xiaodong
(Click to enter) Section 1: The Red Bloodline is the source of the power of the Sixteen Regiments of Cars
Session 2: March into Tibet to meet a new test
In the 1950s, in order to unify the motherland, liberate Tibet, and consolidate national defense, according to the instructions of Chairman Mao and the PARTY Central Committee and the orders of the chiefs of the Southwest Military Region, Liu, He, and Deng, the "16th Automobile Regiment)" was assigned to the 18th Army to build a road into Tibet. In the past ten years, this unit has overcome all kinds of difficulties and dangers, always fought at the forefront of the construction of the Kangzang Highway, tempered the red spirit of "one is not afraid of suffering, the other is not afraid of death" and "especially able to fight, especially able to endure hardships", and made outstanding contributions to the construction and opening of the Kangzang Highway.
Ordered to accompany the 18th Army to march into Tibet, it is the most magnificent chapter in the history of the 16th Automobile Regiment.
On January 10, 1950, Chairman Mao sent a telegram approving the dispatch of the 18th Army by the Southwest Military Region to the task of "marching into Tibet and liberating Tibet." Subsequently, he successively issued instructions on "marching on the one hand and building roads on the other" and "advancing on the road with his back", and personally formulated the policy of "marching into Tibet and not eating places".
In March 1950, the "First Regiment of Steam" marched from Chongqing to Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, in preparation for its march into Tibet. A little before this, the jianyang shiqiao training team received 450 former nationalist drivers of the liberation uprising, plus more than 100 local drivers and technicians recruited in Nanjing and Wuhan, and the whole regiment formed a technical team of more than 600 people. Under the unity, education, and transformation of the regimental party committee, this technical contingent has greatly improved its ideological consciousness and strengthened its organizational discipline; in the subsequent battles of building the Kang-Tibet Highway and "building Tibet for a long time," it has played an important role in accomplishing arduous tasks, cultivating professional and technical personnel, and providing important technical support for the Sixteenth Automobile Regiment. This technical contingent has been tempered and grown in the red furnace of the People's Liberation Army, and many people have joined the party and been promoted to leading cadres.
In order to carry out the glorious and arduous tasks entrusted by Chairman Mao and liberate the Tibetan people and support the 18th Army in entering Tibet, in March 1950 and March 1951, Premier Zhou Enlai twice approved the allocation of 200 Gies 151 trucks and 200 Gas 51 trucks imported from the Soviet Union to the "First Regiment of Gas"; these two groups of vehicles made the whole regiment newly equipped and greatly enhanced its transportation capacity, and together with the original vehicles, the total number of vehicles in the regiment reached more than 600 units, which was the largest and best equipped vehicle in the Southwest Military Region at that time. The strongest car unit. This was also the first time in the history of the 16th Automobile Regiment that the cars were reloaded (in 1956, the cars were returned to the logistics Chengdu garage for sealing).
The Southwest Military Region has even more vigorously implemented the decision of the Central Military Commission and promptly and timely issued instructions demanding that the troops of the whole region should give full support to the 18th Army in entering Tibet. Li Da, chief of staff of the Military Region, and Yu Qiuli, director of logistics, drew the best American "Dodge" trucks from various units, and in the past three years, they have successively set up 6 automobile regiments, which have been assigned to the troops entering Tibet in batches to carry out their tasks.
"The soldiers and horses did not move, and the grain and grass went first." On February 1, 1950, the Southwest Military Region established the "March into Tibet Support Command (referred to as the Branch Division)" in Chongqing, with Chang Binggui, deputy commander of the 18th Army, as commander, Xu Guangyi, director of the logistics department of the Third Corps, as the political commissar, and the chief of staff was He Yunong, deputy director of the Military and Political Department of the Southwest Military Region Headquarters. The "former commander of the branch division" was stationed in Xinjin, and had one engineer division, three automobile regiments (including the first regiment of steam), three animal power regiments, and more than 10,000 troops.
On April 13, 1950, under the command of Commander Tan Shanhe, the Engineer Column of the Southwest Military Region consisted of more than 20,000 people from 6 engineer regiments, 2 automobile regiments (including the 1st Regiment of Steam), 1 Animal Force Regiment, and most of the 158th, 162nd, and 157th Infantry Regiments of the 18th Army, as well as the engineering battalions and reconnaissance battalions directly under the army, as well as the first part of the Xikang Garrison and the two technical brigades of the local Southwest Highway Bureau, to begin urgent construction to repair the road from Ya'an to Ganzi. At this stage, the "First Regiment of Steam" was assigned to the road construction unit of the 18th Army, and fought on the front line of the dangerous "Erlang Mountain" on the first day of the highway into Tibet. The highway was opened to traffic on May 21 of that year, Kangding on June 17, and Ganzi on August 26 of that year. This was followed by an extension of the road to Manigango on 1 December.
(To be continued)
(Note that the illustrations in this article are from the Internet)
About the Author:
Zhang Xiaodong enlisted in the army in Chengdu in the autumn of 1963, and was a soldier driver of the second platoon and four squads of the 12th company of the 16th Automobile Regiment. After 5 years as a soldier, he retired from the army and started as a worker in the factory, and served as a propaganda officer, an editor and reporter of Sichuan Youth Daily, a director of the Office of the Sichuan Youth Daily, a reporter, deputy station chief and station chief of the Sichuan-Tibet Reporter Station of China Legal Daily, an organ of the Central Political and Legal Commission, and a director (senior reporter) of the Sichuan-Tibet Branch of Legal Daily. He has been engaged in journalism for more than 30 years, has written a number of works related to youth and the legal system, has won many awards, and has a strong interest in Tibet-related aspects.
Author: Zhang Xiaodong