Inside the headquarters of the PLA Xiamen Garrison Brigade, a medal flag was hung with the words "Resolute and Fearless." These four words tell the story of the glorious course of the unit in the Liberation War.
First, hit behind the enemy
At the beginning of 1947, the 7th Column of the Central China Field Army was ordered to be reorganized into the 11th Column of the East China Field Army, under the jurisdiction of the 31st Brigade and the Column Special Task Force.
In the summer of 1947, Li Mo'an, commander of the enemy's First Appeasement Zone, ordered Wang Tiehan, commander of the 49th Division, to be the commander-in-chief and mobilize the strength of eight regiments of the 105th Brigade, the 102nd Brigade, and the 26th Brigade in an attempt to annihilate the main force of the 11th Column of the East China Field Army in one fell swoop and occupy the coastal base area.
Chen Pixian, Guan Wenwei, Ji Pengfei, and others decided to adopt the "enemy's advance and we advance" style of play, and before the enemy launched an attack, the 31st Brigade, led by Hu Bingyun, deputy commander of the column, and the tiger's head flapped flies, in turn attacked the town of Sanyu in Nantong, and by hitting the enemy's flank, the enemy troops in the north were transferred back.
On July 1, 1947, Hu Bingyun led the 31st Brigade to forcibly march more than 150 kilometers for four consecutive nights, and suddenly went south in hiding. On the morning of 5 July, the 31st Brigade entered the area around the three towns of Bingfang, Nankan and Datong in Rudong County, and was ready to attack Sanyu Town.
At that time, the defenders of Sanyu Town were a security squadron, an industrial squadron and a "homecoming regiment", a total of more than 300 people, commanded by Tang Jingzong, the "model" district chief of Nantong County. Although the numbers were small, the enemy built two independent earthen mounds southwest of the town, in addition to 17 bunkers, and the fortifications were still very strong.
At 4 o'clock on July 8, when heavy rain suddenly fell and accompanied by strong winds, the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 93rd Regiment of the 31st Brigade, which was the main attacker, took advantage of the weather as a cover to suddenly launch an attack from the east of the town. Under the cover of the fierce storm, the attack went very smoothly. However, the enemy troops stationed in the independent tuwei southwest of the town resisted stubbornly with fortifications and bunkers, and the 2nd Battalion failed to attack three times in a row, and suffered heavy casualties themselves. At this time, Wu Senya, the commander of the 93rd Regiment, was annoyed and ordered the 82nd mortar to be pulled up for flat fire, destroying several pillboxes in a row, thus opening the breakthrough. At 10 o'clock, the commandos of the 6th Company took advantage of the fact that the enemy bunker was flat-fired by mortars, and the firepower was interrupted, and pounced into it to engage in a fierce battle with the enemy. At 15:00, the battle ended, the enemy army was completely annihilated, the enemy district chief Tang Jingzong was killed on the spot, and captured more than 10 light machine guns, 2 grenade launchers, more than 200 long and short guns, and more than 200 prisoners.
2. Counter-encircle the enemy
At the same time as the battle at Sanyu Town, Wang Tiehan, commander of the enemy's 49th Division, also invaded the coastal base area. Wang Tiehan commanded the troops to reconnoiter left and right, but did not find the main force of the East China Field Army. At this time, Wang Tiehan received an urgent order from Li Mo'an, asking him to lead his troops to return immediately. At this time, Wang Tiehan realized that he had pounced on the air, and only then did he know that Huaye 11 Column had gone south. Therefore, Wang Tiehan ordered the brigade headquarters of the 105th Brigade, the 314th Regiment, the 315th Regiment, the 102nd Brigade Headquarters and the 306th Regiment to rush to the Li Li Line and the Digging Horse Line at night; he also ordered a battalion of the 235th Regiment and the 237th Regiment of the 79th Brigade to preemptively block Xiaoyangkou; and finally ordered a reinforcement battalion to hold Wangjiatan.
It can be seen that Wang Tiehan reacted quickly, using his superiority in strength to lay down a network of heaven and earth, blocking the northward return road of the 11th Column and 31st Brigade of the East China Field Army, and pressing the 31st Brigade to the Qidong and Haimen Triangles between the Yellow Sea and the Yangtze River, in an attempt to encircle and annihilate our army. At this time, Chen Yi and Su Yu discovered the problem of the 31st Brigade, which was located in the rudong and Nantong areas, where the river canals were long and narrow, which was extremely unfavorable to the operation of the large troops. Therefore, Chen Yi and Su Yu immediately issued an order to Hu Bingyun to return to the north at the rate of fire.
According to the orders of Chen Yi and Su Yu, Hu Bingyun quickly discussed with Duan Huanjing, commander of the 31st Brigade, and Liu Yubiao, political commissar, and decided: The 31st Brigade took Changsha near Beikan, and then went north along the beach outside the Fangong Causeway and returned to the base area. So the 31st Brigade braved the sweltering heat and marched nearly 40 kilometers to Changsha on the evening of July 13.
But the next breakout was very dangerous. Because 5 kilometers north of Changsha is the Yellow Sea, and 6 kilometers west from the sea is Wangjiatan. Wangjiatan is a dangerous terrain, like a giant dragon mouth that relies on the Fangong Causeway to curb the beach. South of the di is Wangjiatan, with a reinforcement battalion of the enemy army, and to the northeast of the dike is an endless beach. The 31st Brigade's breakout operation was to advance west along the beach outside the Fangong Causeway, and it had to pass through the enemy-controlled Wangjiatan. Once discovered by the enemy, the Flank marching People's Liberation Army will have its back to the sea, have no power to fight back, and will most likely be completely wiped out on the beach by the enemy army.
Therefore, Hu Bingyun, Duan Huanjing, and Liu Yubiao decided to send a force to cover the operation of the large force, and this task fell to the head of the 3rd Battalion of the 91st Regiment.
Third, this task may not go back
On the evening of 13 July, the 3rd Battalion was already very tired after the rapid march, and the state of the troops was that as soon as the front stopped, the rear would lie down on the side of the road and go to sleep. At this moment, Yang Qing, commander of the 3rd Battalion, received an order to immediately go to the regimental headquarters to receive the task. Yang Qing mounted his horse and galloped to the regimental command post, only to see Zhou Jianping, commander of the 91st Regiment, and Zhu Qun, political commissar, sitting on the beach outside the embankment, pointing around the map with a flashlight.
Seeing that Yang Qing was coming, Zhou Jianping pointed to the map and said, "The enemy has really blocked us under this time." The brigade decided that the whole brigade would break through to the northwest from the beach outside the Fangong Causeway. Whether the troops can stand out safely depends on your 3 battalions to confuse the enemy, attract the enemy's firepower, and prevent the enemy from discovering the action of our main force breaking through from the beach. After the whole brigade has passed, you will be able to keep up with the large troops; if you are bitten by the enemy and cannot keep up with the troops, you will insist on retreating south before dawn, return to the Tonghai area to fight guerrillas, and find an opportunity to go north and return to the Dongtai Sancang area. This operation has a bearing on the safety of all the brigade's tens of thousands of people and the situation in the soviet union as a whole, and you must accomplish it well. ”
Yang Qing asked: "In case you can't keep up with the troops and return to the Ninth Division to fight guerrillas, the infantry company will be easy to handle, but the machine gun company of our battalion is inconvenient to move, is it not for the regiment to take it away?" As soon as Zhou Jianping heard this, he turned his face up: "I am not ready to take care of your whole battalion, where can I still take care of a machine gun company!" As soon as this sentence was said, Yang Qing immediately understood the severity of the situation and the arduousness of the task, and immediately guaranteed: "Rest assured, guarantee the completion of the task!" Political Commissar Zhu Qun continued: "Considering that you may have to go to the Ninth Sub-District to disperse and fight guerrillas, the regiment has decided that Chief of Staff Li Gan and Deputy Political Commissar Zhao Boying will act with you." ”
After returning to the battalion headquarters, Yang Qing issued an operational order: He himself led the 7th Company to advance along the Fangong Causeway, and after making contact with the enemy, the troops rushed up to seize the enemy's front-line positions; the 9th Company quickly expanded inside the embankment; the 7th Company and the 9th Company each had 2 counterweight machine guns; the 82nd Mortar occupied the firing position after the 9th Company's combat formation; and the 8th Company was the battalion reserve, hidden on the outside of the embankment. After receiving the enemy, everyone should make a posture of attacking the enemy with positive combat actions and fierce firepower; at all costs, we must attract all the attention of the enemy so that the enemy mistakenly believes that this is the vanguard of the breakthrough. The current situation is urgent, and only by sacrificing the minority can the majority be preserved.
They were all veterans, and after listening to the orders of the battalion commander Yang Qing, everyone understood that this task may not go back. But everyone replied in unison: "Resolutely complete the task!" ”
Fourth, fierce fighting
The Fangong Causeway, with a total length of 582 kilometers, was built during the Northern Song Dynasty. Along the Fangong Causeway to the northwest, the first checkpoint is Wangjiatan. The 7th Company 1 row was a row of sharp knives, and the warriors were all carrying good bayonets and marching quietly in the vast night. Suddenly, the sharp soldier squad found that there was a raised black shadow on the Fangong Causeway. 2 Squad Leader Sun Jianguo judged that this might be an enemy fortification.
So Sun Jianguo pounced on it first and made a gesture to the back, and the whole class understood that it would follow closely. The enemy sentry shouted, "What man?" Then he heard a shout: "Don't move!" Move and kill you! The enemy sentry was also bold, not only continued to move, but also raised his gun, which was knocked down by Sun Jianguo. The other warriors took advantage of the situation to catch up, raising their bayonets and throwing themselves at the enemy behind. The fierce white-knife battle ended in less than a minute, with more than a dozen enemy troops stabbed down on the levee. The rest of the rolling belt crawled to the ground and fled to Wang Jiatan.
The 7th Company immediately developed an offensive toward Wangjiatan, and the 9th Company also launched an offensive posture towards Wangjiatan at the same time. Two companies of various firearms fired together, and tracer shells sprayed at the enemy like strings of fire dragons.
The Wangjiatan defenders woke up from their slumber and hurriedly organized resistance. But in the case of caught off guard, I was occupied by my 7 companies and 1 platoon. Battalion commander Yang Qing immediately ordered the 7th Company to occupy the position to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
Before long, the enemy began to organize a counter-attack, and under the cover of fire, a large group of enemy troops slowly crawled from the field to the position of the 7th Company. Suddenly, the enemy jumped up and launched an attack on the position of the 7th Company, trying to drum down. What they did not expect was that the 7th Company had already prepared, and when the enemy jumped up, the soldiers immediately threw grenades. Immediately, even more unexpectedly, the officers and men of the 7th Company rushed directly at the enemy with bayonet rifles. Among them, the warrior Lu Wengao rushed into the enemy group alone, and fought with the enemy with a white blade in one of ten, one stabbed down five, and injured his left hand, lower abdomen, and thigh three times, and finally died heroically without support, and still shouted "Fight!" before the sacrifice. The enemy's first counter-assault quickly disintegrated under the bayonets of the Pla.Com. Soon, the enemy organized a second counter-attack. However, this time, the 7th Company did not fight the bayonet, and instead used continuous firepower to strike, and the enemy counterattack failed again. After two battles and two defeats, the enemy lost its will to fight and retreated to the defense of Wangjiatan's position, and did not dare to launch a counterattack again.
Fifth, the troops who dare to bayonet red are the excellent troops
In this battle, only 11 men were sacrificed by the 3 battalions, and 15 others were wounded, and three fierce battles were fought in a row for more than three hours, and the price paid was extremely small. It was also successfully completed, attracting enemy fire and covering the breakthrough of the whole brigade.
When the main force of the 31st Brigade passed through Wangjiatan about half an hour later. Yang Qing consulted with the regiment's chief of staff and deputy political commissar that at this time there were still three hours before dawn, and it was estimated that the enemy would not dare to come out again before dawn, and that he could withdraw his troops and immediately go after the large troops, and it was entirely possible to break out of the encirclement. So the whole battalion immediately set out to chase the large force from the beach to the northwest. At sunrise on the morning of the 14th, the 3rd Battalion caught up with the regimental headquarters and successfully returned to construction.
Before this battle, the situation of the 31st Brigade was extremely dangerous, but the final breakthrough was not dangerous.
Later, he was captured by the enemy and happened to participate in the Battle of Wangjiatan. So I asked them. The enemy prisoner said: "That night you scared us to death, you came so fiercely, as soon as you came up, you fought with bayonets, and we killed and wounded more than eighty people at this moment." From the officers above to the soldiers below, they were scared to death, and they had never seen such a fierce People's Liberation Army. The officials thought that you were going to open a gap in Wangjiatan and break through to the north, so we withdrew and held on, where did we dare to come out. It wasn't until the next morning that we found that you had broken out of the beach by the sea, and that's when we dared to drag the body back. ”
The Third Marshal said: "The troops who dare to bayonet red are the best troops." "That's not all right! This battle was originally full of dangers, but the People's Liberation Army came up and fought with bayonets, directly frightening the enemy's guts. This became the key to a smooth breakout.