preface
In 1974, when Deng Xiaoping returned from Jiangxi to Beijing, You Taizhong heard the news and ventured to visit with Su Zhenhua and Li Da. When You Taizhong saw Deng Xiaoping, he was still the same as before, standing upright and saluting. When Deng Xiaoping saw this, he smiled and asked:
"How dare you come?"
You Taizhong replied:
"You will always be my old commissar."
Mr. Deng beckoned everyone to sit down and began an unfettered conversation, as if they had returned to the war years.
You Taizhong, who has an amazing memory
Born in 1918 in Guangshan, Henan, You Taizhong joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at the age of 13 and joined the Long March with the troops at the age of 18. Gradually grew into a tiger general. And gradually developed a unique personality in the battle, especially his 4 iconic moves. As he thought, 3 fingers pinched his forehead tightly; raising his hand to press the brim of his hat meant that he had made up his mind; taking off his hat meant that he was ready to charge in person; holding his cheeks in both hands and smiling to show that he had won the battle.
At the beginning of the Liberation War, when You Taizhong was the brigade commander of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, he lost the first battle when attacking Diaoyutai. Du Yide, the political commissar of the 6th Column, immediately called You Taizhong:
"Old You, didn't you hear that you are very capable of fighting, what happened this time, a Diaoyutai can't get down?"
After You Taizhong listened, he hung up the phone without saying a word and went straight to the front line. The warriors were encouraged to see the brigade commander personally on the front line; the battle began, and You Taizhong personally led the team to the front, and the warriors were overwhelmed, and soon broke through the enemy's defense line and entered the city.
During the battle, You Taizhong's right leg was pierced by a cold gun, becoming one of the few brigade commander-level wounded cadres during the Liberation War. In addition to being very brave in battle, his memory is also amazingly good.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, one day, You Taizhong's wife, Wang Xuechen, stood in front of the map of North Korea to test her husband, and she pointed to a place on the map and asked her husband what this place was. Then his wife asked more than a dozen places in succession, and You Taizhong answered with the same answer, without any mistakes.
Wang Xuechen could not help but admire her husband's amazing memory, because many of the Place Names in North Korea were strange characters, and many place names were translated into Chinese very strange, but You Taizhong, who was not highly educated, could completely remember these strange place names. In addition, You Taizhong's amazing memory is also manifested in learning.
In 1957, Yu Taizhong entered the military academy to study, where he never reviewed his homework in his spare time, but his grades in all subjects were excellent. When he saw that others were busy with the exam, he said proudly
"I see that everyone is busy, and the test is not good, I am guaranteeing 3 points, fighting for 4 points, and abandoning 5 points." ”
At the end of the course, Yu Taizhong was not sure, and the results of each subject were between 3 points and 4 points, none of which failed, but there was also no 5 points in one subject.
Every time You Taizhong went down to inspect the troops, he would ask each company a strange question—how many pigs there were. If the company commander answered incorrectly, whether he answered more or less, he would be severely criticized by You Taizhong. After that, every time You Taizhong left the troops, the secretary would quietly communicate to the troops:
"It doesn't matter how many people there are, the number of pigs must be counted clearly, and one more or one less can't be done."
Why is You Taizhong so entangled in the number of pigs?
It turned out that at that time, our country was in a difficult period, and the troops could only rely on themselves if they wanted to eat something good, so raising pigs in the army at that time became a strategic task. The peasant-turned-general was particularly concerned about whether the soldiers could eat pork, because only when the soldiers of the army had enough to eat and eat well could they better defend the country. During the war, the troops did not have the conditions to raise pigs, and now that the country is in a difficult period, and the troops have the conditions, it is particularly important to arrest this matter.
Smashing the Japanese "Sweep"
In 1943, in order to reverse the unfavorable situation in the Asian battlefield, the Japanese army began to carry out a "great sweep" of the Taiyue anti-Japanese base area, and rushed to the Taihang Mountain base area from several directions, including Nanguan, Jiexiu, and Pingyao. On October 15, thousands of Japanese soldiers attacked in the direction of Yuenan in 6 routes in an attempt to wipe out the military district's leading organs that had been transferred to the Nakajō Mountains. At that time, You Taizhong, who was the commander of the 17th Regiment of the 386th Brigade, was responsible for covering the retreat of the leading organs, and in the early morning of the 16th, You Taizhong successfully covered the transfer of the leading organs.
Subsequently, he decided to lead his troops back from the outside line to annihilate the enemy, and when the team drove to the Nine Valleys Mountain, it was dawn, and You Taizhong ordered the troops to hide in place. The Japanese army, thinking of a surprise attack on the Chinese troops, never expected to encounter an ambush by the Chinese army here, and an encounter began immediately.
Relying on the superiority of equipment, the Japanese army launched a siege against the 17th Regiment in three ways, and You Taizhong immediately asked the 3rd Battalion to take the lead in seizing the commanding heights of Jiugu Mountain, while he led the soldiers to kill the enemy on the front line. The two sides fought until 7 p.m., and the 6 japanese charges were repelled by You Taizhong's troops, and the Japanese army had to retreat first, temporarily hiding at the foot of the mountain and camping, waiting for the decisive battle of the Eighth Route Army the next day, but You Taizhong did not give them this opportunity.
Late at night, Yu Taizhong took advantage of the darkness of the night to quietly escape the Japanese siege and drive to the north of the Qugao Highway.
At that time, the Qugao Highway was an important transportation route for the Japanese army to transport materials, and You Taizhong decided to fight an ambush here to dispel the arrogance of the Japanese.
In early November, he ordered his troops to lay an ambush in a place called Mingling, and as soon as the units were ambushed, the scouts ran to report the situation, saying:
"There were more than 30 Japanese devils in front of me carrying several horse-drawn carriages toward Mingling." You Taizhong immediately issued an order to prepare for battle.
After a while, the Japanese devils escorting the supplies of 6 carriages walked to the ambush circle, and with a crisp military trumpet, the ambush troops of our army launched an attack, and more than 20 devils lost their lives before they could react, and the remaining devils threw away their armor and fled in a hurry. You Taizhong told the troops to collect the supplies and send them to the local people, so they immediately withdrew from the battlefield, and when the Japanese reinforcements arrived, only "chicken feathers in one place" were left.
After this battle, You Taizhong asked the troops to go to the nearby town of Longhua to rest, but he ran to the home of the villagers and inquired about the situation of the local Japanese army, and after understanding, he learned that the local Japanese army had all been dispatched, leaving only a group of puppet troops stationed. This was an opportunity for You Taizhong, who decisively ordered his troops to attack the enemy's strongholds, and the puppet army stationed there was no Japanese "sitting", like a scattered sand, and soon collapsed into an army. This battle surprised the Japanese army and made them panic.
Before they could return to Their senses, You Taizhong led his troops to the Shangge stronghold south of Qinshui. At that time, the Japanese army used this stronghold as a strategic point and constantly encroached on the base area of the Eighth Route Army, and You Taizhong had long been unaccustomed to this place, and this time it must be eradicated.
After inquiring, it was learned that there were only two squadrons of puppet troops stationed in this stronghold, and it was a godsend opportunity, and on the one hand, You Taizhong asked the troops to surround this stronghold, on the other hand, he led a company to launch an attack on the enemy's stronghold, without the Japanese puppet army like a lost dog, it persisted for less than half an hour before fleeing into the wilderness, and the famous local traitor Wu Zuokui had not yet captured the Eighth Route Army. By the time the Japanese army eased up, the Eighth Route Army was long gone.
You Taizhong led thousands of troops to "do whatever they wanted" in the rear of the Japanese army, completely disrupting the Japanese army's sweeping deployment, and finally making the Japanese army's "special roll sweep" plan "bankrupt". Subsequently, the Japanese army specifically noted in the report:
The 17th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army (Regiment Commander You Taizhong), please be careful, and never take the enemy lightly.
Blood Battle Ru River
During the Liberation War, Liu Deng's army jumped into Dabie Mountain, which was related to the direction of the entire war situation, but at this time, they had blocked the enemy and chased after them, and the situation was very critical, and You Taizhong, who was only 29 years old, used the strength of 1 brigade to carry out a blockade battle with 4 enemy divisions, which bought time for the depth of Liu Deng's army. This battle is the most brutal and bloody battle of ruhe.
In August 1947, after crossing the Shahe River, the zhonglu army of our army began to march towards the Ruhe River, at which time the enemy who had eased up the gods began to block and try to encircle Nakano near the Ruhe River. At that time, the enemy's strength of nearly 2 divisions in the front seized the dominant position, and more than ten divisions of the enemy pursued it, of which 3 integrated divisions were only a few tens of miles away from Nakano. When our army arrived at the Ru River, the ferry here had already been destroyed by the reactionary forces, and the situation was very critical.
Liu Bocheng made a judgment:
Whether or not the RuHe River can be crossed in a few hours is related to the success or failure of the whole operation and the overall situation.
Therefore, Liu Deng ordered that the idea of fortification should first send some troops to seize the position, and then the follow-up troops would build a pontoon bridge to cross the Ru River overnight, at which time the most difficult task of blocking fell on You Taizhong's shoulders.
After judging, You Taizhong decided that the enemy would first seize the big and small leigang near the pontoon bridge, so he led the 47th and 48th regiments to garrison, facing the strength of the enemy's 1 army, You Taizhong's heart was full of pressure, and he quickly ordered the troops in these two places to build fortifications.
Before dawn, the Nationalist army began to attack, and for a time the cannon was fired, and the dust of the position was blown up several meters high. The officers and men of the 16th Brigade began a deadly struggle, the commander was killed, and the next level was replaced. After a battle, there were only 2 or 3 people left in an average class, and at this time, You Taizhong looked at his watch, and it was only 8 o'clock. Thinking of fighting the enemy all day, he resisted using spare troops.
Soon the Nationalists occupied the outer positions of Xiaoleigang, and when the situation was critical, You Taizhong used spare troops and ordered all artillery fire to be fired at the front line positions. The nationalist soldiers who had just occupied the position were frightened by the fierce artillery fire and turned their heads and ran. Seeing that there was no hope of capturing Xiaoleigang, the enemy turned around and captured Daleigang, and as a result, he was also taught a lesson by You Taizhong. After a day of fierce fighting, about 50,000 people from the 4 columns south successfully crossed the pontoon bridge, making great contributions to advancing into Dabie Mountain.
After the war, You Taizhong left a deep impression on Liu Deng, who said many times after the war:
"You Taizhong is a warrior and a meritorious man."
And the intensity of this battle made General You unforgettable, and in his later years he recalled that battle with sadness:
"That day, it was very difficult! There are too many dead people, and many people die wrapped in blankets and buried..."