【Hero War Week weekly watch】Zhang Motian fights

In late February 1947, in accordance with the decision of the Party, Government and Military Committee on the Southern Front and the instructions of the head of the First Sub-district of Central China, the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment and the Rugao County Independent Regiment were merged to form the Rujing Independent Regiment for joint action, which was internally called the "Rujing Regiment" (in fact, there was no Rujing Regiment system, and the two departments were not merged), and Xu Gan was appointed as the political commissar of the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment, and He Zheng was appointed as the chief of staff.

Beginning on 3 March, the Kuomintang army gathered two regiments of the 102nd Brigade of the reorganized Fourth Division, two battalions of the 105th Brigade of the Reorganized 49th Division, 6 brigades of the Provincial Security Brigade, 4 brigades of the County Security Brigade, and 18 battalions and more than 10,000 troops of the reactionary local armed forces in districts and townships, and carried out the third phase of "bloodbath and clearance" (also known as "March Hui suppression") and the combination of "hui suppression", "stationing and suppression" and "search and suppression" on the southern front, which was the largest scale since the Kuomintang army carried out the "cleansing and suppression." The most brutal one was about a month before and after, and its focus was on the Liangtai (Taixing, Taixian) areas north of the city (Taixing City) Huang (Bridge) Road, where the enemy blocked 431 kilometers of main roads, more than 50 internal roads, 831 kilometers, and built 368 strongholds, forcibly implementing the armor protection system, in a vain attempt to realize the conspiracy of eliminating the people's armed forces, establishing a reactionary regime, and drawing troops to reinforce the frontal battlefield before the end of March. The enemy adopts "hollow tactics," pours out of the nest, makes mobile attacks, moves day and night, pulls nets to strike together, and "will suppress" several or even a dozen roads to find armed decisive battles in our localities. He also openly pursued the bloody policy of "preferring to kill a thousand by mistake and not missing one", and frantically slaughtered our cadres, militia, and revolutionary masses, causing panic among the people for a while.

On March 24, the Rujing Regiment learned that the 102nd Brigade would "suppress" the western region of Rugao, and considering that the area east of the Rugao Longyou River was only stubborn, it inserted itself into the enemy-occupied area east of the Longyou River on the night of the 25th. On the 26th, a unit of the Rujing Regiment disguised itself as a regular Kuomintang army, outwitted the Zhujia stronghold, and at night forcibly attacked the Chemahu stronghold and withdrew from the battle, and the enemy also withdrew. Upon hearing the news, the 102nd Brigade rushed to the Hedong area and planned to attack together, such as the Jing regiment in the rain that night from the Hedong area to the Hexi area, and crossed the Ruhuang Highway overnight, staying overnight at the fork forest port on the west side of the Ruxin Highway, and the next day, the Kuomintang army followed the trail. On that day, according to intelligence, the enemy would attack the Rugao area again the next day, and the Rujing regiment would march west to Zhang Motian in the Yazhou area before dawn on the 28th.

After the troops arrived at Zhang Motian, they contacted the TaiXian leaders who remained where they were and insisted on the struggle, and the armed workers led by them. On the morning of the 28th, the 102nd Brigade of the Reorganized Fourth Division of the Kuomintang Army and more than 3,000 people of the Jiangsu Provincial Security Corps attacked the Rujing Regiment in five ways. In the morning, the enemy was found shooting at the west and south of the garrison, setting fire to the houses, and the masses "ran backwards." According to the intelligence of Tai County, the enemy only has more than 100 stubborns, and there is no other situation nearby, and the leading comrades of Tai County resolutely demand the annihilation of this stubborn force, and decide to attack the armed forces alone. At the request of the Taixian County CPC Committee and the local masses, political commissar Xu Gan, on the basis of the enemy's main forces attacking the Rugao area on the same day, credulously believed the information provided by Taixian County, believing that the four main companies of the two county regiments plus the Taixian armed engineering team had a total of more than 700 people, which was enough to deal with more than 100 local recalcitrants. So he ordered an attack, demanding a quick battle, annihilating this stubborn force in a very short period of time, and moving immediately after the battle, so as not to prevent the enemy from sending reinforcements.

The first and third two of the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment connected behind the enemy and found that it was Yang Stubborn (a regular Kuomintang army) who made a fierce charge and repelled the enemy's vanguard troops. However, the enemy's follow-up troops followed, and other enemies heard the sound of gunfire and flocked to it. More than 360 people from the two main companies of the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment were unfortunately besieged.

In the face of this situation, the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment was not afraid of danger, and the submachine gun squad of the vanguard unit immediately used submachine guns to strike at the approaching enemy, covered the retreat of the regimental headquarters and other troops, and used the river ridges and fields to deploy on the spot, organized light and heavy machine gun fire, and killed and wounded a large number of enemies who were encircled. When the enemy is approaching, the enemy is then given more damage with dense short firearms and platoon grenades. From about 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m., the battle was fought until about 5 p.m., and the enemy group charge was repeatedly repelled. After that, taking advantage of the weakening of the enemy's attack momentum, the Jing Regiment seized the opportunity to break through the siege in multiple ways in platoons. A platoon of the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment covered the breakthrough of the Independent Regiment, killing and wounding more than 100 Kuomintang troops, and the entire platoon was sacrificed.

Although Zhang Motian fought and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, the Jing regiment also paid a heavy price, with more than 100 casualties of the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment, deputy battalion commander Ji Fan, first company commander Wang Xixian, and third company deputy company commander Zheng Daofu and other heroic sacrifices, political commissar Xu Gan, deputy instructor Jia Qirui and other wounded.

The Rugao County Independent Regiment crossed the Hai (An) Tai (Zhou) blockade line that night and broke through to the Zishi (Hai'an) area. The next afternoon, the troops from the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment were gradually concentrated, and there were more than 250 people (including some cadres and fighters who did not leave the unit after being slightly injured), so the first and third companies were each organized into more than 120 people, and moved west to the Taixing area to meet the two Tai (TaiXian, Taixing) independent regiments. After that, according to the order of the sub-district, if the Jing Regiment acted separately, the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment merged with the Tai County Independent Regiment and the Taixing County Independent Regiment to return to Zhangjiaduo in the Yazhou area, and on the night of the third day, it was ordered to move to the Zishi (Hai'an) area for recuperation.

The Jingjiang County Independent Regiment moved to the Zishi (Hai'an) area and received cordial care from the leaders of the prefectural party committee and the military sub-district. Zhong Min, secretary of the prefectural party committee and political commissar of the military sub-district, went to visit. The sub-district organs made proper arrangements for the Rest and Rectification of the Jingjiang County Regiment. On April 2, a prefectural party committee held a joint meeting of the four counties of Rugao, Jingjiang, Taixing and Taixian on the southern line of Rugao, Jingjiang, Taixing and Taixian counties on the southern line, as well as the secretaries of the Zishi County Party Committee and the heads of the county leagues (historically known as the "Duntou Conference"). At the meeting, Zhong Min summed up the lessons learned from the March struggle against the "hui suppression", and the meeting decided to change passive defense to active persistence, transfer the sub-district party and government leadership center to the southern front, develop armed forces, and counterattack the Kuomintang army's "clean-up and suppression" operation.

On April 4, the main forces of the Soviet Union launched an offensive on the Li (Fort) (Tea) Line, and two battalions of the enemy's 49th Division in the Taizhou area withdrew from Sunjiazhuang and Yingxi strongholds to the east. Seizing the opportunity, the first prefectural committee led by Zhong Minqin led two companies of the special agent company of the sub-district, the Jingjiang County Independent Regiment, and one company each of the Rugao County Independent Regiment and the Taizhou Independent Regiment advancing into the Taizhou area on the southern front. On the evening of 7 April, the first and third companies of the Jingjiang Independent Regiment were organized into the second battalion of the southern detachment, and returned to the southern front with Zhong Min, political commissar of the sub-district, and Peng Guiqing, deputy chief of staff, and then moved to the southern front with high morale and continued to persist in the struggle against "cleansing and suppression."

Source | Haian Daily

Edit | Hu Jiao Tai Ying