The heroic deeds of the five heroes of Wolf's Tooth Mountain are very well known to everyone, but few people may know who the leader of the heroes is.
He is Song Yulin, former deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region.
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1951, the US army was driven south of the 38th Line by the volunteer army, and the 198th Division of the 66th Army of the Volunteer Army was stationed in Shangluogu Village and Xialuogu Village near the 38th Line, and the division commander was Song Yulin.
February 5 is the Chinese New Year's Eve of the lunar calendar, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, the military-civilian party is still in progress. Division commander Song Yulin and political commissar Huang Lianqiu were partying with cadres and soldiers in the 594 Regiment, when suddenly, the military commander Xiao Xinhuai called:
"The U.S. army and Syngman Rhee's puppet army have already attacked Kaesong and Wuyin Mountain. The Volunteer Army Command ordered your division to rush to Wuyin Mountain with the fastest action to take over the defense of the Fifth Army of the Korean People's Army, stop the attack of the US puppet army, and ensure that our main force rested and had a good Spring Festival. ”
Song Yulin, Huang Lianqiu, and deputy division commander Wang Maoquan led the regimental commanders to immediately march towards Wuyin Mountain. Deputy Political Commissar Li Kai led the main force and then marched forward.
At about 11 o'clock that night, Song Yulin and others braved the wind and snow to rush to a small mountain village at the foot of the north slope of Wuyin Mountain. The houses in the village were blown up by enemy planes and were torn to pieces. Most of the villagers have retreated. Song Yulin and others found an unoccupied and dilapidated room as a temporary command post.
Not long after, the chief of the operations section, Lin Qian, sent a staff officer who had contacted the Korean People's Army back to report that the KPA troops had been transferred and that there were no troops to defend the Wuyin Mountain position.
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the village. It was then reported that the guard detachment had captured several plainclothes agents of the puppet army in the village. These agents were grabbing food at the villagers' homes, and because Song Yulin suddenly entered the village, the agents did not notice. In this way, the meal grabbed by these agents was not finished and they were taken prisoners.
Song Yulin learned from the interrogation that the US 2nd Division and Rhee's 8th Division had occupied Hengcheng, and at the foot of the mountain located on the south side of Wuyin Mountain, the offensive deployment had been completed, and it was expected that an attack on Wuyin Mountain might be made at dawn tomorrow.
This sudden appearance made the atmosphere in the command post suddenly tense.
The KPA had been transferred, and the 198th Division was on a rapid march overnight, and it would enter its position at the earliest around 6 o'clock on the morning of the 6th. Wuyin Mountain is an "empty city", once detected by the enemy, immediately seize Wuyin Mountain, and future battles will be more complicated.
However, due to heavy snowfall for several days, the US military has not yet clarified the defense of Wuyin Mountain, believing that the mountain is still defended by the People's Army, and the agents still think that the People's Army has been strengthened by the Volunteer Army. Therefore, Song Yulin decided to take advantage of the enemy's illusion to cause her command mistakes and turn the disadvantage into an advantage; first, she cleverly put the secret agents back, so that the enemy mistakenly believed that the defense of the people's army had been strengthened, or that the volunteer army had taken over the defense, and did not dare to act rashly; second, the guard detachment led by Jiang Wen of the 594 regiment led by The accompanying guard detachment, only two squads, immediately seized the main peak position in case of an accident. Third, a messenger was dispatched to inform the troops to speed up the march and to enter the position before dawn.
I don't know if the enemy was really deceived, or because of the bad weather, on the 6th, the enemy did not launch an attack.
Wuyin Mountain is an important gateway to the Arch Guard Hongchuan and Han Rivers, and controlling Wuyin Mountain can effectively cover the main force of the volunteer army to counterattack the enemy in front of it.
The 198th Division marched through a hundred miles and finally reached the foot of Wuyin Mountain at about 4 a.m. on the 6th. Before dawn, the units entered the designated positions one after another.
At about 7 a.m. on February 7, the enemy began to attack. Dozens of cannons fired in unison, and dozens of planes took turns bombing the Wuyin Mountain position. The entire Wuyin Mountain was shrouded in a black cloud, and nothing could be seen clearly inside the position. The fortifications were collapsed, blown up, and on fire. As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the enemy launched a charge under the cover of tanks. The US 2nd Division is the ace unit of the US Army and has strong combat effectiveness. The pseudo-8th Division was also quite effective in the puppet army. The enemy relied on superior troops and firearms, and the storm formation was very dense.
When the enemy reached the front of the position, all kinds of firearms of the 198th Division opened fire at the same time, and the enemy's position was full of blood and flesh, and a ghost cried wolf howl.
Immediately after the enemy's attack was repulsed, preparations for artillery fire began again, followed by a charge of the whole company and the whole battalion. In the morning, after more than a dozen repeated battles, the enemy was finally defeated due to heavy casualties.
On this day, the whole division repelled more than 20 enemy attacks.
The fighting on the 9th was extremely fierce. In addition to strengthening the preparation of artillery fire, the enemy concentrated the main target of the attack on several high ground in front of the main position of Wuyin Mountain. If the enemy controlled these heights, the flanking threat could be relieved and more troops could be deployed to attack the main position of the 594 regiment. During the fierce battle, Commander Jiang Wen reported: "The ammunition is almost exhausted, and the ammunition needs to be transported immediately!"
For several days, due to the blockade of the transport line by the US army, the delivery of ammunition has been a big problem, and the regiments have been in a hurry. The 594th Regiment was even more severe, and the ammunition of the troops holding the forward heights was quickly exhausted, and the support detachment, although it fought with the enemy several times, was eventually forced to withdraw to the main position due to lack of ammunition. At more than 3 o'clock in the afternoon, several high ground in the forward position were occupied by the enemy, but the enemy did not immediately attack the main position, but instead repaired fortifications.
Song Yulin came to the 594th Regiment, and Commander Jiang said: "The casualties are slightly larger, but mainly there is no ammunition, and the soldiers are very unconvinced." As long as I ammunition is given enough ammunition, I will be able to take back the position. ”
"Good! In a word, no matter how great the difficulties, I will send you enough ammunition. But before the ammunition arrives, it is to fight the bayonet, you must also suppress the enemy, and the main position cannot lose an inch!" Song Yulin said: "The enemy did not attack immediately, but instead withdrew the troops, there may be a conspiracy. Tomorrow's battle will be more intense. You must concentrate all your ammunition and take back the forward position tonight. ”
Returning to the division's command post, Song Yulin decided to mobilize all non-combatants of the division and immediately form a transport team to grab ammunition for the front-line troops. Deputy Division Commander Wang Maoquan personally took command. Soon a transport force of more than 100 people was formed. More than a dozen miles from the front, the road was blown up by enemy aircraft, and cars could not pass. The 6-mile hill road from the base to the top of the mountain is slippery with steep slopes. These ten miles are all carried by people. Form a fleet of transport armies on winding mountain roads.
Due to the timely replenishment of ammunition and the consolidation of the position of the 198th Division, on the 10th and 11th, the US army launched a larger offensive, but it was never able to advance a step.
During the battle, the warriors fought very tenaciously, many people were wounded several times and could not get out of the line of fire, the bullets ran out, they fought bayonets, bayonets stabbed, they smashed with stones, slashed with shovels, hit with fists, and bit with teeth. Some companies fought less than half a man. Before the counterattack, the 8th Company of the 594th Regiment had only 8 men left, and the 7th Company had only 6 men left, but they still held their positions.
In this way, the 198th Division stubbornly held out at Wuyin Mountain for 5 days and nights, dealing a heavy blow to the enemy, buying time and creating conditions for the main force to counterattack.
After tenacious defense, a major counterattack finally came.
On February 11, the commander ordered Song Yulin to lead the 198th Division to counterattack head-on at Wuyin Mountain, and the 196th and 197th Divisions slammed into the road south of Wuyin Mountain from Hengcheng to Wonju, cutting off the enemy's retreat route, cooperating with friendly neighboring forces, and striving to completely annihilate the enemy in front of them, the US 2nd Division and the Pseudo-8th Division.
At 7 p.m., the fighting began. Under the fierce counterattack of the volunteer army, left and right, the enemy was hastily defeated. The pseudo-8th Division lost control and ran like a sheep. The U.S. 2nd Division was also confused. But it was, after all, an old unit, more treacherous and cunning than the pseudo-8th Division. When the 198th Division, which found itself on the front, launched a counterattack and immediately began to retreat. Because the other four divisions of the Volunteer Army failed to insert themselves into the designated position in time and tightened the opening, the passage for the American army to escape was not closed because the mouth was too large.
Although the strength of the 198th Division, which counterattacked head-on, was small, it moved rapidly, and it was inserted into the form of the US army to fight with it, and the US army was overwhelmed. The U.S. army was desperate to escape, and the guns were thrown all over the mountain, and the sides of the 10-kilometer road were piled up with tanks, artillery, cars, ammunition and other supplies.
The troops reported: "There are too many prisoners to be taken care of. Commander Song Yulin ordered: "Let the prisoners take off their belts and shoes and concentrate on their care." ”
Many companies captured the enemy hundreds of times, and even a guard at the division headquarters captured more than a dozen American troops.
The pseudo-8th Division also fled southwest. It was then pursued by the 198th Division and intercepted by friendly forces, and was finally completely annihilated.
Fearing that a large amount of equipment would be obtained by the volunteers, the US military immediately sent planes to rush over and drop a large number of petrol bombs, burning the 10-kilometer road into a sea of fire.
In the defense battle of Wuyin Mountain and its counterattack, the 198th Division cooperated with friendly forces to annihilate all the pseudo-8th Division and the us 2nd Division, capturing more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, capturing more than 100 artillery pieces, more than 30 tanks, more than 1,000 cars, and a large number of light and heavy weapons and materials.
The Battle of Wuyin Mountain was a victory at the beginning of the Fourth Campaign. This victory crushed the enemy's attempt to advance northward into the "38th Line," covered the organization and unfolding of the campaign, and ensured the victory of the main mobile operation of the main force of the volunteer army. The officers and men of the 198th Division said happily: "Although I did not eat dumplings, I had a happy year!" ”