preface
The PLA's first sea crossing operation faced many difficulties, how did General Xu Shiyou accomplish the PLA's first sea crossing combat task?
Battle of Changshan Island
be
Xu Shiyou
In his lifetime, the general commanded the first sea crossing operation, and it was also the first cross-sea operation in the history of the People's Liberation Army. This was a huge test for the people's army in 1949, when Xu Shiyou's troops were all army and basically knew nothing about naval warfare.
According to the "Biography of Xu Shiyou": "
Xu Shiyou's troops have just experienced two major battles; the subordinate grass-roots regiments and battalion units are not complete, the attrition of each unit is very serious, there are few old backbones left in the grass-roots units, and most of the new members of the company are newly joined peasants or reformed Kuomintang prisoners
。 ”
The lack of personnel structure is what Xu Shiyou faced
The first big problem
。
Use the Army as a Navy envoy
This is still rare in the history of war, but General Xu Shiyou still firmly believes in his troops and resolutely accepts the cross-sea task arranged by the central authorities.
In July 1949, the central government ordered the Shandong Military Region to organize troops and liberate Changshan Island. After Xu Shiyou received the order, he took a group of staff officers and guards to Penglai to investigate Changshan Island.
Changshan Island, in the Bohai Strait north of Penglai, is the only way to march from land and sea to Shandong, and after the Kuomintang retreated to Changshan Island, many anti-landing positions and minefields were built here. When Xu Shiyou observed with a high-powered telescope in Penglai, he could even see several ironclad warships of the Kuomintang on Changshan Island.
According to the "Biography of Xu Shiyou", "Changshan Island is the gateway to the Bohai Sea, and the fishery resources are extremely rich and are known as the 'Pearl of the Bohai Sea'. Under the center is
Dead command
He demanded that Xu Shiyou retake Changshan Island at all costs. ”
For this naval battle, the soldiers still had a lot of pressure in their hearts, and when discussing the battle plan, as a deputy regimental commander who attacked Changshan Island, he told Xu Shiyou that the army would die nine times in the sea. Xu Shiyou seriously criticized him, saying that he had destroyed the morale of the army and asked him to have a positive and optimistic attitude.
Cross-service combat is the second major problem that Xu Shiyou faces
After inspecting the sea conditions, Xu Shiyou and a group of staff officers were at the headquarters to discuss what kind of operations should be used to cross the sea
vehicle
。 Comrades still have more ideas, some comrades proposed to remove the car engine and transform it on a wooden boat, but after experiments, it was found that
Only the engines of large American trucks can carry wooden boats with dozens of people
To this end, Xu Shiyou asked all the troops to use wooden sailing ships to cross the sea, but the troops needed more than 500 wooden sailing ships, and it would be difficult to raise them for a while and a half.
The lack of ships to cross the sea is the third major problem that Xu Shiyou faces
The heart disease of the warrior
Crossing the sea to fight has caused a slight change in the psychology of the soldiers. According to the "Biography of Xu Shiyou":
Most of the soldiers of the Shandong Military Region came from the mountainous areas and had never seen the sea, and many of them started to retreat and had the idea of returning home and demobilizing and living a peaceful life
When Xu Shiyou attended the political work conference on crossing the sea, an instructor of the cross-sea company reported to Xu Shiyou the situation of the soldiers. Warriors have three knots.
The first knot is that most warriors not only have never seen the sea, but also cannot swim, and are very resistant to fighting in the sea
。 Because they did not know the sea, they always believed that the sea was the territory of the "Dragon King", and there were "night forks" on the coast or on the island, so ordinary people could not go to the sea.
The second knot is that the warriors are tired of training
All day on the shore of the broken boat, walking back and forth, dropping bombs, boring and boring. In the land training ground, the place is big, and you can also take advantage of the fact that others are not paying attention, smoke a cigarette and relax.
The third knot is, "short-sightedness."
。 According to the "Biography of Xu Shiyou", "Many veteran soldiers were baptized by the Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Crossing the River. They believe that the enemy has been driven to a few islands where birds do not,
Even if they don't care, they will starve to death and die of thirst. Therefore, they are reluctant to participate in the sea crossing operation
The soldiers' heart disease will seriously affect the success or failure of the battle, and General Xu Shiyou attaches great importance to this, so he has made many consecutive inspections before the war to revitalize the morale of the army. Through class education, ideological correction, selection of pacesetters and other methods, to boost the morale of the soldiers.
Sudden typhoon
In August, the Bohai Sea is in the typhoon season,
Xu Shiyou had just raised 500 wooden sailing ships when he was blown down by the typhoon
。 However, this was also expected by Xu Shiyou, when the subordinate comrades reported to him that the ship was lost, he said: "The typhoon cannot blow away our determination to liberate Changshan Island, I order you to repair the ship within 10 days, and if you can't repair it, you will swim over with a wooden plank!" ”
This time, the scope of the typhoon was relatively large, and even several Warships of the Kuomintang in the waters off Changshan Island were affected, so they had to return to Hong Kong for reconstruction. In this way, the PLA is given a godsend
The warriors repaired the wooden boats and practiced naval combat skills, and after 5 days and nights, the warriors finally repaired 500 wooden sailing ships.
On the night of August 11, Xu Shiyou ordered a battle across the sea, in order to effectively contain the enemy ships, Xu Shiyou adopted a strategy of moving the tiger away from the mountain.
Ordered a brigade of fighters to pretend to attack the islands near Changshan Island, saw that the enemy was deceived, resolutely withdrew, and ordered the artillery to bombard the forward positions of Changshan Island without dead ends.
In the early morning of the 12th, the main attack regiment of the People's Liberation Army successfully landed on Changshan Island, and Xu Shiyou ordered the follow-up troops to accelerate their advance. According to the "Biography of Xu Shiyou": "
Xu Shiyou called in code: 'Only forward, not backward, after delivering the goods, Manager Xu invited everyone to drink.'
。 ’”
The naval battle of Changshan Island lasted 7 days, and the PLA fighters annihilated more than 1,500 enemy soldiers and liberated the entire territory of Shandong. It set a precedent for the People's Liberation Army to cross the sea.