Fan Tianen, born in 1922 in Tai'an City, Shandong Province, at the foot of Mount Taishan, is a typical Shandong Han, nicknamed Fan Bold and Fan Tiger.
Fan Tianen, the head of the regiment, was interviewed by the elderly
Fan Laohu joined the revolution in 1938, but there were not many opportunities for front-line combat. In 1950, Fan Tian'en became the commander of the 335th Regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Army, and he was pulled to the Korean battlefield and was a down-to-earth "rookie" regimental commander.
On October 19, 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army entered the DPRK and opened the prelude to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and after a week of preparations, on October 25, the first shot of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was fired, known in history as the first battle.
The operational deployment of the first campaign was as follows:
The leaders of the Volunteer Army were determined to adopt the tactics of flanking and backward detours combined with frontal assaults, and with the 38th Army advancing along the left bank of the Cheongcheon River towards Yuanli and Junyu-ri, cutting off the enemy's retreat route, and using the 40th, 39th, and 66th Armies to attack the enemy in person, first attacking the South Korean Army, and then annihilating the US and British troops as appropriate, and striving to annihilate the enemy in the north and south areas of the Cheongcheon River.
However, in the course of the operation, the situation of the 38th Army arose, which led to the disruption of the battle plan.
The 112th Division of the 335th Regiment led by Fan Tian'en delayed the fighters of the entire Thirty-eighth Army because of the unwarranted black regiment, resulting in a large number of enemy routs.
Peng Dehuai was very angry after hearing the news, scolded the commander Liang Xingchu, and ordered the 38th Army to make up for the dead sheep and launch a pursuit. Liang Xingchu, commander of the 38th Army, ordered Yang Dayi, commander of the 112th Division:
"Yang Dayi, you don't look for it again."
objective
You quickly arranged for people to march to The Corner Of the Army, capture Flying Tiger Mountain, cut off the enemy's westward escape route, and tell Fan Tianen of the 335th Regiment to let him take Flying Tiger Mountain and not be able to take his head to see him! ”
【Seize Flying Tiger Mountain】
This was a crucial battle, and at dawn on November 4, 1950, the 335th Regiment captured Flying Tiger Mountain.
On the day that the 335th Regiment occupied Feihu Mountain, the US 8th Army launched a fierce attack on Feihu Mountain on the same day in order to relieve its flank rear threat and open the north-south communication route, and the 7th Division of the South Korean Army and the US Army. From 15:00 onwards, the attacking troops, supported by hundreds of aircraft and more than 60 artillery pieces, carried out repeated attacks in dense formations.
People's Liberation Army Pictorial - Fighting on Flying Tiger Mountain
It was an unfair battle for Fan Tien's 335 regiment. To fight with several times the enemy in the case of an infinite difference in firepower (the reason why the infinite fire gap is because the 335 regiment only has rifles and grenades, not even a firearm, and the enemy has aircraft, cannons, and the world is different), but the soldiers are full of victory and know what they are fighting for!
Liang Renjiang, a five-company machine gun shooter, said:
"With one iron rod (rifle), a few hammers (grenades), and the number eleven (two legs), we can defeat the American devils." Because every shot we take, every step we take, or a drop of blood spilled on our position, we know how meaningful it is! ”
This is the voice of everyone in the 335 regiment.
Staying firm at Flying Tiger Mountain, in addition to fighting the enemy in blood, you also have to endure hunger, cold and fatigue. Although there were also North Korean compatriots who delivered grain and food during this period, but the most difficult time, every soldier had a stone in his mouth, because the stone could secrete some saliva, and it was not so uncomfortable to do, and it could also resist a little hunger.
From the occupation of Feihu Mountain at dawn on November 4 to the order to withdraw from the Feihu Mountain position at 23:00 on the 8th, the 335th Regiment held Feihu Mountain for five days and nights, even if it ran out of ammunition, it did not let the enemy move forward.
In this battle, the 335th Regiment has repelled 57 attacks by the US army and the South Korean Army company and above, killed and wounded more than 1800 of its prisoners, completed the task of blocking the attack, and won time for the re-completion of the strategic deployment, of course, the 335th Regiment also paid the price of sacrificing more than 700 people, and the leader of the 335th Regiment, Fan Tien Eun, also became famous in this battle!
【Blood Battle Pine Bone Peak】
The first battle was over, and the first battle was won, but the 38th Army could not lift its head because of combat mistakes, and the second battle was the opportunity for the 38th Army to be humiliated.
The various units of the 38th Army fought very bravely, but at the same time it was very difficult, and the 335th Regiment, which had just withdrawn from Longhu Mountain, had a hard time catching up with the main force, and before it could rest, it received an order from the division commander Yang Dayi to go straight to Songkuo Peak, where it blocked the American troops fleeing south.
Songkuo Peak is located in the northeast of Longyuanli, forming a full-fledged trend with Sansholi and Longyuanli. To the north, to the military Corner, to the northwest can reach the Price River. Its main peak is 288.7 meters high, extending from the top of the mountain to the east for about 100 meters is the road, which has very important tactical value, if it can control the road at Songkuo Peak, it will cut off the retreat of the US army.
Any description is pale, when the vanguard battalion and three companies of the 335th Regiment reached Songkuo Peak, a large number of American troops were already black pressed on the road!
Yang Wenming, a machine gunner of three companies and eight squads, opened fire first, and the extremely tragic battle of Songbone Peak began.
Blood Battle Pine Bone Peak
The 335th Regiment repelled five U.S. troops at SongkuoFeng, and the fierceness of the battle was witnessed by Wei Wei, a war correspondent who climbed Songkuofeng after the war, "Who is the most lovely person":
After the war, the company's position was completely shattered, and machine gun parts were thrown all over the mountain. The bodies of the martyrs took on various postures: some holding the enemy's waist, some holding the enemy's head, some stuck the enemy's neck, pressing the enemy to the ground, falling with the enemy, burning together. There was also a soldier, who was still clutching a grenade in his hand, and the body of the projectile was stained with brain plasma, and the American ghost who died with him, the brain plasma cracked and smeared on the ground. There was another warrior with half of the enemy's ear in his mouth. When burying the remains of the martyrs, because they clasped their hands together and held the enemy so tightly, they could not be separated, so that some of their fingers were broken.
People's Daily published "Who is the cutest person"
After the Battle of Songkuofeng, only 7 of the entire three hundred people were still alive, and they proved with blood and life:
People are in the position!
The importance of the Battle of Songkuofeng is self-evident, and it has a great effect on the victory of the entire second battle, the 335th Regiment is only a microcosm of the 38th Army, and it is precisely with a steel team like the 335th Regiment that the 38th Army can be shamed and play the prestige of the Banzai Army!
【Sticking to the Han River】
There is an iron law of war, that is, each has its own victory and defeat, and the attack and defense are mutually easy. If the Chinese Volunteer Army was on the offensive in the first three battles, the fourth campaign was forced to end the rest and enter the defensive stage because the newly appointed commander of the Eighth Army, Ridgway, launched a spring offensive.
According to the plans of the United Nations Army and South Korea, Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, saw the tricks and formulated a battle plan:
On the Western Front, a part of the troops were used to organize the defense and contain the main offensive groups of the "United Nations Army";
On the Eastern Front, a planned retreat was made, and when the "United Nations Army" was prominent and the flanks were exposed, the main force was concentrated to carry out counterattacks, threatening the main offensive groups of the enemy on the western front from the flanks and disintegrating its offensive on the western front.
Schematic of the Fourth Campaign
The key to the battle is that the western defensive forces must stick to the end of the strategic counterattack on the eastern front, the 38th Army has become a strategic defense unit on the western front, Peng Dehuai believes that the Banzai Army can do a good job in attacking, but also can do a good job in defense, the 38th Army officers and men also think so, but the process is very difficult!
Defensive fronts unfolded on the south bank of the Han River. The 335th Regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Army, under the leadership of Fan Tianen, was stationed on the 580 high ground on the south bank of the Han River, the Han River immediately thawed, the 50th Army had been ordered to retreat, only the 38th Army held out alone, and the pressure it faced could be imagined.
The small 580 heights were attacked by the enemy's crazy fire, and the enemy dumped more than 2,000 howitzers on the high ground every day, blowing up a large pit. In addition, there were more than 3,000 mountain artillery, mortars, and rockets fired in turn, and there were more than a dozen aircraft bombing overhead, and the entire mountain was blown bare, and the original tree could not be seen, and even the remains of the newly buried soldiers were blown out.
On February 14, 1951, a crucial moment, the strategic counterattack on the Eastern Front was in full swing, but the situation on the Western Front was even more severe. Liang Xingchu knew that success or failure lay in whether the 38th Army could hold the south bank of the Han River.
Suddenly, a telephone ringing made Liang Xingchu's sleepy brain wake up a little, and it was Fan Tianen who called directly to the military department, and the first sentence was:
"I want soldiers!"
Liang Xingchu knew that this Shandong Man would not open his mouth until he was forced to do so, but he still said to Fan Tianen:
"You Fan Tianen encountered difficulties, don't always cry bitterly, yesterday's army reconnaissance was not even given to you!"
The reconnaissance company of the army, that is the eyes and ears of the troops, without them, the troops will be blinded, but unless the last resort, who will make such a decision!
But Liang Xingchu still squeezed out a battalion for Fan Tianen, but this battalion only had a few dozen people, and it could form a reinforcement platoon! Fan Tian'en held out with the 335th Regiment until February 16, and only a few dozen people were left on the 580 heights.
At this time, seeing that he could not hold on, Yang Dayi also gave Fan Tianen more than a hundred trumpets of the mountain artillery battalion that had finished firing shells, with only one purpose, to hold on to the 580 heights. It's just that this hundred or so people lasted more than an hour and then went light!
Finally, the young soldiers of the regimental correspondence class were all on board, these were seventeen or eighteen-year-old children; the regimental culture instructors were also on, but none of them had ever taken a gun, and Fan Tianen taught them to shoot guns and throw grenades.....
Battle of the Han River
Finally persisted until dark, almost unable to hold on, division commander Yang Dayi came to call:
"The Eastern Front counterattack has been victorious and can be withdrawn!"
Fan Tian'en passed out at that time, as did many generals of the 38th Army. After a short rest, the 38th Army withdrew to the north of the Han River, the Han River blockade battle was over, and within a few days, the Han River thawed, and the Korean people sighed:
The volunteer army is so big!
Fan Tianen, the commander of the rookie regiment, from seizing Flying Tiger Mountain and fighting the Songbone Peak in blood to defending the Han River, fought all the hard battles of the 38th Army and became the model regimental commander of the Banzai Army. In the Who's Who of the Korean War published in Japan, he was the only regimental general!