On October 19, 1952, in the Battle of Shangganling to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese Volunteer Army fought fiercely with the enemy army for 4 days and nights, suffering heavy casualties, but still could not capture the 597.9 heights on the west side of Shangganling. At the critical moment, Huang Jiguang, a signal officer of the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 135th Regiment of the 15th Army, stepped forward and destroyed the enemy's central fire point.
In the process, 21-year-old Huang Jiguang blocked the enemy's gun muzzle with his chest and sacrificed his young life. Before fighting this battle, Huang Jiguang was ready to sacrifice. Before leaving, he left all three personal belongings he had carried with him.
The first item was a letter sent to him by Huang Jiguang's mother from his hometown, which mentioned: "Jiguang, have you made meritorious contributions to the forefront of North Korea?" Is it a big feat or a small feat? ”
The second item was Huang Jiguang's notice of membership. Because Huang Jiguang did not have much literacy, this application was written by Xiao Liu, a cultural teacher, with a short content, but the words were sonorous: "Company commander, instructor, believe me, I want to defend the motherland and eliminate more enemies, I apply to join the Communist Party of China in battle." Applicant Huang Jiguang. ”
The third item was a small red cloth bag and a small handkerchief, which was a souvenir sent to the volunteer soldiers by the motherland's condolence group to the DPRK at that time.
Huang Jiguang put all these things into a small red cloth bag and handed them to the instructor for safekeeping, and before leaving, he deliberately left a message: "If you sacrifice, write a letter to tell my mother that her son was sacrificed somewhere, and let her know that her son has not lived up to her hopes and the hopes of the motherland!" ”
This "last word" before his departure finally made Huang Jiguang draw an exclamation point in the most tragic way in the Battle of Shangganling. This moment also freezes Huang Jiguang as an immortal hero in the textbook, but little is known about the moving details behind his unrelenting sacrifice.
01
Huang Jiguang was born on January 8, 1931 in a small mountain village called Facaiya in Zhongjiang County, Sichuan Province. The place is called "Facai Ya", but the villagers here are one by one dilapidated and poor, and they can't eat enough for many years.
The Huang family has been farming for generations, and the family spends their days pointing to a few acres of thin fields on their ancestors. Because Huang Jiguang's eldest brother was weak and ill for many years, the second brother was born dumb, and the two unhealthy children had already exhausted the family's savings. The birth of Huang Jiguang undoubtedly made the already troubled family worse.
After a year of such hard days, Huang Jiguang's fourth brother was born again. This year, there was a drought in Sichuan, there was famine everywhere, and his family's land could not support six people at all, so his father Huang Dezhong had to go to the landlord's house to do long-term work.
However, no matter how hard-working Huang Dezhong endured hardships, the landlord always tried to withhold the fruits of his labor. At the end of the year, after paying taxes and rents, there are no more than a few buckets of grain left, and the family still eats the last meal without eating.
In desperation, Huang Dezhong borrowed a carton of oil and a load of flour from the landlord Li Jicheng, hoping to sell some money through fried rice cakes to maintain the family's livelihood. But Li Jicheng was a special loan shark, and the lion opened his mouth and asked to borrow one carton of oil to pay back four cartons.
The following spring, due to the smashing of the business, Huang Dezhong not only failed to get four quintals of oil, but also fell ill from overwork. Li Jicheng seized the opportunity to seize a few acres of land from the Huang family, and also sent a group of people to eat, drink, and smash, and Huang Dezhong, who was already seriously ill, died in one breath. The eldest son also died of illness shortly after.
This year, Huang Jiguang was only 12 years old, not as high as the stove at home, but he was already able to skillfully help his mother to work in the fields and share the housework. In order to pay off his father's debts, he went to the landlord's house to work as the youngest long-term worker. During this period, Huang Jiguang washed and cooked, herded cattle and miscellaneous, not only suffered from oppression, but also often had to be beaten and starved.
At the age of 17, Huang Jiguang accidentally killed the vicious dog of the Jia Chang family, and the Jia Chief forced him to carry the dead dog to the countryside to show the public and guard the spirit for the dog. The tragic and absurd childhood encounter caused great insults to Huang Jiguang's personality, and also added to his hatred for the old society.
Because of this, in March 1951, after the news of Zhongjiang County's recruitment of volunteer recruits came, Huang Jiguang was the first to register. He deeply loves the motherland, which is now free of oppression and where the people are the masters of their own affairs, and is always eager to serve the country.
However, due to a long-term lack of nutrition, The 20-year-old Huang Jiguang was still rejected by the conscription cadres because of his short stature, but this did not dampen his enthusiasm for becoming a soldier and serving the country. Under the soft and hard bubbles of several times, the battalion commander was also impressed by the persistence of this small man and admitted him out of the box.
02
On the night of July 1, 1951, Huang Jiguang bid farewell to his mother and family and followed his troops across the Yalu River to the Korean front. Here he was placed in the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 135th Regiment of the 15th Army, and officially became a volunteer soldier.
In the boot camp, although Huang Jiguang is small and not very old, he has a flexible brain and excellent physical fitness, and he can learn everything in one go. After the troops were assigned to tasks, Huang Jiguang showed positive performance, not only always completing the prescribed tasks in advance, but also helping other comrades-in-arms from time to time.
Company Commander Wan Fulai attached great importance to this excellent recruit and arranged for him to serve as his correspondent. The job of the correspondent is often to pass on the order in the rain of bullets and bullets, nine deaths, but Huang Jiguang still completed the task many times excellently, and also made a third-class merit, he excitedly wrote this news into the family letter, the first to tell his mother.
In August 1952, the division film team went to the grass-roots company to perform condolences and broadcast the Soviet film "Ordinary Soldier". The film tells the story of the Red Army soldier Matlosov during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, who used his body to block the bullets fired from the bunker by the enemy in order to achieve victory for the troops, and tragically dedicated himself.
Comrade-in-arms Li Jide later recalled that on the way back to the camp after watching the movie that day, Huang Jiguang once said to him: "One person can save so many people and win the battle. ”
And just two months later, in the Battle of Shangganling, Huang Jiguang became a slur that he became The Chinese Matlosov.
In the early morning of October 14, 1952, under the fierce bombardment of more than 300 cannons, 27 tanks and more than 40 aircraft of the "United Nations Army", the Battle of Shangganling was launched, which was called "showdown operation" by the "United Nations Army". The enemy's intention was to seize the iron triangle between Cheonwon, Binh Kang, and Jinhua.
At that time, Tieyuan and Jinhua were already under the control of the enemy army, and only the Five Holy Mountains north of Jinhua were still controlled by the volunteer army. The two high ground on the mountain, one east and one west, are the two nails that our army has wedged south into the position of the "United Nations Army." If the enemy wants to capture the Five Sacred Mountains, it must first capture the 597.9 Heights and the 537.7 Highlands North Mountain.
In order to defend these two hills, the volunteers waged a fierce struggle against the enemy. On the evening of the 19th, the 6th Company of the 135th Regiment, where Huang Jiguang belonged, fought with the enemy on the 597.9 high ground. They intended to attack from the end of the mountain beam, but entered the enemy's bullet rain coverage.
The 6th Company could not retreat, fought to the death for several hours, and successively took the No. 6 and No. 4 positions, but suffered heavy losses. When it was time to fight the "hard stubble" No. 0 position, the entire 6 companies, counting Zhang Guangsheng, the battalion chief of staff, had a total of only 16 people left. And the division headquarters has issued a death order:
"The Eighth Company has already attacked the main peak position, and you must destroy Position 0 at all costs." Otherwise, at dawn the enemy will use this as a basis to pounce on me, and you will be attacked on your stomachs and backs. Fight it resolutely! ”
03
At that time, the enemy built three simple bunkers on the hill with sandbags, hidden machine guns, and ditches on both sides, forming a blockade line. If you want to retake this position, you must take this blockade line and blow up this bunker.
The company commander and the chief of staff finally decided to divide the remaining 9 fighters into three groups, each group of three people to blast the bunker. However, with all 9 comrades sacrificed, the bunker still could not be blown up, and the company commander Wan Fulai was anxious. Together with his instructor Feng Yuqing, he asked Chief of Staff Zhang Guangsheng for battle.
Before Zhang Guangsheng could agree, Huang Jiguang, who was hiding behind them, climbed up and said, "Chief of Staff, let me go up!" At the same time, Xiao Dengliang, a messenger of the 6th Company, and Wu Sanyang, a reporter of the 6th Company, also took the initiative to ask for battle.
These three soldiers were the same batch of Sichuan soldiers, with outstanding military quality, and were the most suitable candidates for the blasting mission -- in fact, there was no choice, and only these three soldiers were left in the six companies. Subsequently, the company commander immediately appointed Huang Jiguang as the squad leader of the sixth squad of the sixth company, and he took Xiao Dengliang and Wu Sanyang to carry out the final blasting mission.
In a rain of bullets, the three men cooperated with each other and alternately covered their way forward. With two "booms", Huang Jiguang and Xiao Dengliang blew up the enemy's bunkers on the east and west sides respectively, but Wu Sanyang, who was responsible for covering, was unfortunately shot and killed. Immediately afterward, Xiao Dengliang also fell in the rain of bullets in order to cover Huang Jiguang.
At this time, Huang Jiguang grabbed the last gap and rushed forward, but he was hit several times in a row and fainted in a pool of blood. Just when the instructor Feng Yuqing thought that the explosion had failed and was planning to make a desperate bet, under the enemy's flares, he saw Huang Jiguang, who was covered in blood on the ground, moving his body towards the bunker with difficulty.
Until he climbed to a distance of four or five meters from the bunker, Huang Jiguang once again stood up and threw his last grenade, and the enemy machine gun did not sound. With the smoke from the grenade, the company commander and instructor jumped out of the fortifications with their soldiers and shouted for a charge. However, halfway through the mountain beam, the machine guns in the bunker screamed again, and the company was suppressed on the empty hillside, in a dangerous situation.
At the moment of the thousand guns, the instructor Feng Yiqing actually saw Huang Jiguang, who was dragging a broken leg, holding the ground with one hand, and stood up violently and pounced on the enemy's gun. After two dull machine guns, they were completely dumbfounded. The soldiers in the back took advantage of this moment to rush to the position in one fell swoop, killing more than 1,200 enemies and effectively cooperating with the battle of the 8 companies to seize the main peak.
Huang Jiguang used his body to win valuable time and space for his comrades-in-arms.
04
The Battle of Shangganling lasted 43 days from October 14 to November 25. Huang Jiguang was killed on the night of October 19, and because the two sides of the battle have been in a fierce tug-of-war, Huang Jiguang's body has not been sent down. It was not until four days after his death that his body was recaptured by several hygienists under the cover of his comrades-in-arms and sent to the rear divisional health center.
At that time, the female hygienists of the health center, Wang Qingzhen, Guan Yizhi, He Chengjun and Zhang Xiangzhen, accepted the task of collecting the remains of the heroes. Because winters in North Korea are cold, with the lowest temperature reaching minus 40°C, Huang Jiguang's body was sent down as if it had been removed from a cold storage.
According to the recollections of these hygienists, Huang Jiguang raised his hands high at that time, and still maintained a posture of lying on the bunker to block the eye- He carried a yellow satchel on his left shoulder and a bullet-riddled kettle and flashlight on his right shoulder, his chest cavity had been torn apart by bullets, and the bullet holes were like honeycombs. The muscles were also knocked out by bullets, forming a large blood hole, and the backbone and thighs of the back were all broken.
Due to the long time of blood clotting, the blood on Huang Jiguang's clothes had long dried up, and the blood clothes were tightly glued to the body and could not be taken off at all. The hygienists present could not cry when they saw this, and they first washed the blood on the face of the martyr, and then soaked the bloody clothes with warm water to make the clothes leave the skin.
After that, Wang Qingzhen used scissors to cut the clothes piece by piece, soaked in hot water before slowly tearing them off. At that time, the most difficult thing was to put on a new military uniform for Huang Jiguang's body. Because his raised arm was so stiff that he couldn't put it down, the hygienists were overwhelmed.
Seeing this, several male comrades found four or five small gasoline barrels, hung boiling water with wire, and then used hot towels to apply for three days and nights, and the remains finally softened down, and the limbs could move, and they put on a brand new Chinese volunteer uniform for Huang Jiguang.
In March 1953, Huang Jiguang's body was transported back to China and buried in the Shenyang Volunteer Army Martyrs Cemetery, and in the same year, he was posthumously awarded the title of "Special Hero".
Deng Zhifang, a mother who was far away from home, suddenly sat on the ground after learning the news that her son had sacrificed himself on the front line. Not long ago, she also received a family letter from her son asking his comrades-in-arms to write: "My son has the determination to serve the people in battle, and he will not go to the battlefield without making meritorious contributions." ”
Deng Fangzhi did not expect that her son really could not go down the battlefield.
In April 1953, deng Fangzhi attended the National Women's Congress as a representative, and Chairman Mao personally received her, shook her hand, and said: "Hello Mother Huang, thanks to your good education of Huang Jiguang and educating him to serve the people." ”
Deng Fangzhi said excitedly: "The chairman is well educated and cultivated!" ”
After this meeting, Chairman Mao invited Deng Fangzhi to his home in Zhongnanhai twice, in 1955 and 1960. It is said that Deng Fangzhi is the only mother to receive such treatment.
In these three meetings, Deng Fangzhi always had a humble and grateful smile on her face, and even when she mentioned her son who died on the battlefield, she did not show a sad look. In this regard, Deng Fangzhi said:
"If I cry and see the chairman, and the chairman thinks of his son who died on the battlefield, won't he feel even more sad?" He is in charge of so many important things in the country a day, so I must be strong, keep smiling, and let the tears flow into my heart! Lest the Chairman be saddened by the circumstances! ”
Later, Deng Fangzhi also wrote to Chairman Mao: "After Guang'er's glorious sacrifice... Everyone affectionately called me 'Yellow Mother'. Everyone said they would like to be my children, and invited me to their factories, institutions, schools, and villages to play..."
Until 1965, Deng Fangzhi participated in the Chinese people's visit to the DPRK, and went to the place where her son fought heroically before his death. 13 years have passed, and this time, this septuagenarian mother, who has two white sideburns, finally can't suppress her thoughts of her son and cried.