The Battle of Shangganling can be called the most tragic battle in the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and our army alone was a combat hero of the third class or above, and there were 12,347 people, including Huang Jiguang, Sun Zhanyuan, Niu Baocai, and so on.
The special meritorious man to be introduced today is named Yi Caixue, who is also a typical representative of one of them.
Born in 1930 in Jinsha County, Guizhou, Yi Caixue joined the army in 1950 and became a soldier in the 2nd Platoon of 3 Battalions, 7 companies, 135 regiments of the 45th Division of the Chinese Volunteer Army.
In 1952, Yi Caixue's platoon participated in the famous Battle of Shangganling. At that time, the enemy used 7 battalions plus 26 tanks to launch repeated attacks on Yi Caixue's position, and our position became a scorched earth under the bombardment of dozens of enemy artillery pieces, and could only rely on the tunnel to hold on.
In order to regain the position, platoon leader Sun Zhanyuan was designated as the assault platoon leader, and Yi Caixue was selected as the first demolitionist and began to attack the enemy's bunkers.
Under the cover of the platoon leader, Yi Caixue quickly approached the enemy bunker, and when there was less than 100 meters left, the enemy's 4 bunkers and 16 heavy machine guns and mortars concentrated on Yi Caixue, hitting him unable to lift his head.
At this time, Yi Cai learned that there was a large stone next to him, just enough to protect his head, he pushed the big stone while climbing forward while observing the enemy's situation, when he was more than 10 meters away from the enemy's first bunker, he threw out a grenade, and with the smoke of the gunfire, a leap rushed to the front of the bunker, fiercely inserted the grenadier into it, and then rolled to the side, successfully taking the first bunker, unfortunately, his foot was injured.
At this time, Yi Caixue was already completely exposed to the second and third pillboxes, and the platoon leader Sun Zhanyuan, seeing that the situation was critical, suddenly stood up and strafed the two pillboxes with machine guns, attracting the enemy's firepower, and Yi Caixue raised his head. Only then did he realize that he was in front of the middle of the two bunkers, and the two bunkers were only 6 meters apart, and that no matter which one he blew up first, he would be the target of the other bunker. However, there was no longer any longer to wait, the time for the troops to counterattack was approaching, and Yi Caixue decided to carry out continuous blasting!
He knew that by carrying out continuous blasting, he would most likely be injured by the first when he blew up the second one. But he couldn't manage that much, and suddenly a leap forward, inserting a grenadier into the second bunker, did not have time to lie down, and then threw three grenades at another bunker, and then another leap forward, throwing the grenadier into the third bunker. The two bunkers exploded one after another, and Yi Caixue, who was too late to hide, was instantly blown away by a powerful air wave, and his body was injured in many places and passed out.
Sun Zhanyuan saw that Yi Caixue had been blown away, and rushed over with a gun to prepare for rescue. However, the enemy's fourth bunker fired bullets, and Sun Zhanyuan's legs were instantly broken, however, he climbed to Yi Caixue's side with superhuman perseverance, and the sound of gunshots and Sun Zhanyuan's shouts woke Up Yi Caixue, who was seriously injured in the head and abdomen, but his limbs could still move.
The platoon leader endured great pain and asked him if he could do it, could he still blow up the bunker, and although Yi Caixue couldn't hear anything, he could guess what the platoon leader was saying, so he said loudly: "I can still blow up!" Then climb toward the fourth bunker. But crawling and crawling, suddenly heard a loud noise behind them, it turned out that 7 enemies quietly circled behind them, trying to sneak up on them, platoon leader Sun Zhanyuan pulled a grenade, and died with 7 enemies!
Yi Caixue roared, "Platoon leader, I will avenge you!" Holding the grenadier, he stood up desperately and rushed to the fourth bunker, the enemy may have been frightened by his position, 6 machine guns strafed at Yi Caixue, stunned that they did not hit him, and finally, Yi Caixue successfully blew up the fourth bunker.
But he did not expect that after the four bunkers were cleared, there would be enemies behind him, all of whom would pounce on him. Yi Caixue casually fished out two machine guns from the bunker and relied on the fortifications to strafe the enemy, and the enemy fell under his tongue of fire one by one. At this time, the troop charge horn sounded, Yi Caixue jumped out of the fortification, directly with the gun charged at the enemy, the enemy frightened to turn around and run.
In this battle, Yi Caixue not only blew up four pillboxes and cleared the obstacles to the advance of the troops, but also captured 14 light and heavy machine guns, 73 carbines, and two flamethrowers, and killed more than 120 enemy people by one person.
In view of his outstanding military achievements and his heroic and tenacious will to fight, the volunteer army gave him a special merit and awarded him the honorary titles of "Second-class Combat Hero" and "Wisdom and Courage Double Soldier", and the deeds were publicized throughout the army.
After returning to China, Yi Caixue succeeded Sun Zhanguo and was promoted to platoon leader, but due to the sequelae of the brain injury in the Battle of Shangganling, he was no longer suitable for working in the army, and later transferred to the local area and continued to exert his residual heat.
On March 6, 2005, Yi Caixue died of illness at the age of 75.
History Inn Author: Desert Sand