Chen Yi and Su Yu in the Battle of Menglianggu
From May 13 to 16, 1947, the 270,000 East China Field Army commanded by Chen Yi and Su Yu, together with 450,000 people including Chiang Kai-shek's ace Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division, fought a decisive battle in the Mengmenglianggu area of Linyi, Shandong Province, and annihilated the 74th Division of Chiang Kai-shek's "head of the five main forces" in one fell swoop, killing lieutenant general Zhang Lingfu, which is the famous Battle of Menglianggu.
In the Battle of Menglianggu, our army won more with less and fought stronger with the weak. At that time, Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division was in the center, the 25th Division was on the left, and the 83rd Division was on the right. The 74th Division, known as the ace of the aces, participated in many battles such as the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Changsha, and the Battle of Changde, defeated the Japanese army many times, and once had the title of "Anti-Japanese Iron Army". The Japanese army was deeply afraid of this ace force.
Su Yu
The strength of the 25th and 83rd Divisions was comparable to that of the 74th Division. However, Su Yu adopted the method of fierce tiger attack and concentrated on attacking the strongest 74th Division. Chen Yi famously said at that time: We just want to have the courage to take the first rank of general from the middle of a million!
Before dying in battle, Zhang Lingfu wrote a suicide note to his wife Wang Yuling, who had just given birth to a son: The old father did not see him in Beijing, and he was in great pain! Hope to be kind. The youngest son wants to nurture him. Yu Ling's wife, now forever! ”
After the war, some people concluded that Zhang Lingfu had committed the taboo of abandoning the soldiers on the road and going up the mountain, otherwise he could break through. But in fact, no matter whether he went up the mountain or not, facing the wise general Su Yu, facing the Huaye soldiers who were united in their will, and facing millions of Yimeng people who sacrificed their lives to help each other, Zhang Lingfu could not escape the fate of being annihilated.
Zhang Lingfu's wife Wang Yuling and the child
The support of millions of Yimeng villagers was one of the reasons for the victory in the Battle of Menglianggu. In the Battle of Menglianggu, the wheels rolled and stretchers were like forests, and the people of Yimeng formed a vast army of former migrant workers. There are many touching stories, such as "Yimeng Hongjie" using milk to save the wounded.
Among them, 32 Yimeng women, tearing down their own door panels, building a "human bridge" in the river, and letting the troops of a regiment run through them, played a vital role in the Battle of Menglianggu. Today I will tell you about this little-known touching story in the Battle of Menglianggu.
On the evening of May 12, 1947, Li Guifang, the 22-year-old women's director of Aishan Township, received an urgent order. It is necessary to immediately organize personnel, find wood, and build a bridge over the waist-deep Wen River, and the troops have to cross the river in dark, only 5 hours.
Li Guifang was elected as the president of the Village Women's Rescue Association at the age of 14 and has a wealth of experience. She not only worked as a literacy squad leader, a military factory worker, a field hospital nurse, and other work, but also often led the women in the village to sew military clothes, make military shoes, transport military food, and deliver ammunition. In 1940, she was assigned to the Shandong Quilt Factory to be responsible for the work of the democracy movement. He traveled to dozens of villages, went from house to house, and mobilized women to sew military uniforms, make military shoes, grind noodles, and bake pancakes. In 1941, Li Guifang went to the Second Field Hospital of the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army as a nurse and took the initiative to ask to care for the remains of the martyrs.
Li Guifang
At that time, tens of thousands of horses had to cross the Wen River east of Aishan, but because they were not in one place, some places could be crossed by pulling their trouser legs, but a major road from Cuijiazhuang to Wanliangzhuang, the river was narrow, but the water was deep enough to reach the waist of the people, and undressing would delay the attack time. That's why he ordered the backup side to build a bridge.
The river section in this place is tens of meters wide, even in the usual 5 hours to build a bridge is also quite difficult, not to mention that several village men have gone to the front, only left behind women, there is no wood, how to build a bridge? Li Guifang thought about it for a long time, and felt that the method of cutting down trees and building bridges was not feasible, only to remove the door panel of the home as a bridge slab, use people as piers, and build a human bridge.
She hurriedly gathered her men to go door-to-door in various villages to inform them. Soon 32 women answered the call, and 4 people gathered on the river beach carrying a door panel. It was still some time before the troops passed, so 32 women conducted several drills.
The river was cold and bone-chilling, but everyone didn't hesitate to jump. Among them, there was a female cadre named Liu Yuemei who was in the menstrual period, and Li Guifang asked her not to go into the water, but she said that she could stand up and win the battle for the troops.
Li Guifang and others build a bridge
At about 9 p.m., the soldiers of the East China Field Army rushed toward the river. Li Guifang shouted, "Sisters, build a bridge!" Before the words could be heard, the women lifted the 8 gate panels and jumped into the river. The rushing waters of the river instantly flooded their thin bodies. But they were like 32 strong piers, firmly nailed to the cold and bone-chilling river.
A regiment, more than 2,000 soldiers, carrying ammunition, heavy machine guns, etc., was going to run over their thin bodies. Many soldiers could not bear to step on it, and Li Guifang hurriedly shouted, Comrades, for the sake of victory, advance!
It took a full hour for the troops to pass. During this period, Li Guifang constantly encouraged the sisters, shouting the password, "Listen to the order, turn back!" Shoulder change!" When the troops were finished, all 32 women were paralyzed on the river beach, unable to move. The soldiers who ran across the bridge went ashore and wrote the names of the women who built the bridge, such as "Li Guifang" and "Liu Yuemei" on the roadside rocks, and wrote down their exploits.
The Battle of Menglianggu turned the tide of the War in East China in one fell swoop. It thwarted the enemy's key attack on the Liberated Areas of Shandong and effectively coordinated the operations in northern Shaanxi and other battlefields.
However, many people learned many years later that some of the 32 Yimeng women who built a bridge on the Wen River were young women who were pregnant, and some were frozen by the cold river and left with lifelong disabilities and unable to have children. Among them, 19-year-old Liu Yuemei, due to serious physical injuries, sacrificed her young life.
After the Battle of Menglianggu, Chen Yi said: "I Chen Yi died in a coffin, and I can't forget the support of the people of Shandong for the revolution."