In the years of the revolutionary war, "cold shooting to kill the enemy" has always been one of the traditional tactics of our people's army. However, before the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea," there were no full-time snipers in the history of our army's warfare.
In addition, due to the backwardness of weapons and equipment, especially the lack of guns and bullets, as early as the Red Army period, our people's army attached great importance to the training of shooting skills, paying special attention to cultivating "sharpshooters" to annihilate the most enemies with the least ammunition.
For example, the opening sentence in "Guerrilla Song": "We are all sharpshooters, and every bullet destroys an enemy", which is the best portrayal of our army at that time.
However, unlike snipers in foreign armies, the vast majority of the "sharpshooters" in our army are ordinary soldiers who have not undergone special sniper training, and most of the weapons they use are just ordinary rifles that can no longer be ordinary, such as the Three-Eight Big Cover, Hanyang Zao, Mosingana, and so on.
However, despite this, they have achieved a record that even professional snipers are deterred by their firm faith, superhuman perseverance and tenacious fighting spirit.
In the history of our army's war, there have been many "sharpshooters", such as Zhang Taofang, who is known as the "Sniper God of Shangganling", Yang Changshun, the "first shot" of the death squad, and the protagonist of our article, "revolutionary sharpshooter" Wei Laiguo!
Wei Laiguo was born in November 1925 to a poor peasant family in Ganzhan Village, Dongshan Town, Rongcheng City, Shandong Province.
He had a difficult life in his early years, the family had no land and no house, and his father also suffered from severe asthma and could not work well to support the family.
When Wei Laiguo was 10 years old, his father had to sell his 14-year-old sister for 180 yuan to a large family as a child bride.
The so-called "child brides" actually refer to young girls or baby girls raised by in-laws who are formally married when they reach adulthood.
However, despite this, the living conditions at home did not change much, and the young Wei Laiguo had just been in school for a year and a half, and then dropped out of school due to poverty.
At the age of 12, Wei Laiguo ran to work as a long-term worker for the landlord's family, and although he got up early and was busy every day, his salary for a year was only a mere eight liters of corn.
Later, because he could not stand the "abuse" of the landlord, Wei Laiguo ran out of the landlord's house to learn a plasterer.
But in fact, it is just a small worker for the mud water master, the skill has not been learned, and all the work done all day long is miscellaneous work.
At that time, when the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, his two uncles both joined the Eighth Route Army, and Wei Laiguo, who was only 14 years old, also signed up for the local young anti-Japanese vanguard under the influence of his uncle.
One day, a squadron leader of the Japanese puppet army named Wang Guoying brought people to the Wei lai country, forced them to hand over their two uncles who joined the Eighth Route Army, and threatened to arrest their only eldest grandson, Wei Laiguo, and take them to death.
Grandpa was so frightened that he did not dare to let Wei Laiguo go home, and the grandfather and grandson dug a hole in a ravine at the east end of the village to live.
Wei Laiguo saw his relatives being beaten and persecuted by the enemy, but he could only hide in Tibet and could not return home, and his heart was full of hatred and anger.
At the age of 16, Wei Laiguo resolutely joined the Shidao Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, and later joined the Communist Party of China.
Since then, Wei Laiguo has followed the people's army led by the party and fought everywhere, officially starting his revolutionary career.
In June 1946, with the support of US imperialism, the Kuomintang authorities openly tore up the armistice agreement and the CPPCC resolution, and ordered more than 200,000 troops to launch an attack on the liberated areas of the Central Plains.
Among them, the Kuomintang Fifty-fourth Army was ordered to land from Qingdao in an attempt to capture our Shandong Liberated Area in one fell swoop.
For this reason, the troops of the Jiaodong Military Region of the Shandong Field Army were ordered to rush to the front line to block the enemy's westward advance!
Wei Laiguo, then the platoon commander of the shooting team of the Eighth Regiment of the Fourth Brigade of the Shandong Military Region, accompanied his troops to block the enemy at Langezhuang, east of Nanquan Station.
The Nanquan Station mentioned here is located at the intersection of the three railways on the Jiaodong Peninsula and is of high strategic significance.
Whoever can occupy this place will be tantamount to controlling the transportation hub of the Jiaodong Peninsula to a large extent, thus directly affecting the course and victory of the regional war.
And if the enemy wants to occupy this place, he must cross the defense line of our army in Langezhuang!
On this morning, there was a dead silence on Langezhuang, and at about half past seven, the enemy's fierce artillery fire suddenly arrived, and their goal was very clear - the trenches and fortifications located west of Langezhuang suddenly burst into flames.
After the artillery cover was over, the strength of the enemy's two companies began to attack our positions.
After Lying on the bunker and observing the enemy's situation, Wei Laiguo raised the "Three-Eight Big Cover" in his hand, set the ruler, and aimed at the enemy without hurrying.
The bullets he fired seemed to have eyes, each of which hit the enemy's body accurately, one shot at a time, and knocked down more than a dozen enemies in the blink of an eye.
More than a hundred meters before the trenches of our army, it has become a veritable "death forbidden area".
There is a gun firing from our position, and every time the gun is fired, an enemy will fall to the ground while charging.
At this moment, the enemy has been deeply aware that there is a dangerous and deadly sniper hiding in the opposite position, and their offensive formations are gradually dispersed, and they are desperately drilling into the nearby crop fields in a vain attempt to interfere with our snipers.
However, this move did not cover their attack very well, and Wei Laiguo's bullets still named them one by one, and every shot was accompanied by an enemy's fall.
During the battle, the hygienist Cui Zhongqing followed Wei Laiguo closely, and every time he saw an enemy fall under Wei Laiguo's gun, he dropped a stone next to him - 22 shots, 16 enemies fell.
Soon, the enemy discovered Wei Laiguo, so he immediately organized a group of shooting experts to concentrate their fire and shoot at Wei Laiguo.
But Wei Laiguo was not afraid at all, and when the enemy fired at him intensively, he lay quietly in the trench, and waited until the enemy's gunfire was sparse, and then raised his gun to shoot.
However, the comrades on the side were still very worried about his situation, so they ran to him one after another and advised him: "Platoon leader, we will cover, you retreat!" ”
At this time, Wei Laiguo, who was fighting vigorously, was willing to withdraw, and he said to his comrades-in-arms: "Leave me alone, we will continue to hold our position." As soon as the words fell out, he knocked down a newly emerging enemy.
Although he could still withstand it, Wei Laiguo knew very well that it was not a way to fight like this, he only had one gun, and if he was tough on the front, he would definitely not be able to take advantage.
After a little thought, Wei Laiguo suddenly remembered that he had the whole platoon of soldiers take off their military hats, hang them on corn stalks and rifle strips, and then insert them on the ground to confuse the enemy.
This trick really worked, and the enemy saw these "soldiers" wearing hats and concentrated their fire.
In this way, the firepower that had originally gathered on Wei Laiguo's side was dispersed, and he did not hesitate to continue to press the bullets, shoot, press the bullets again, and shoot again...
The movements are methodical, and when the enemy appears, one falls. In the end, the enemy no longer dared to take the lead easily, but hiding in Tibet could only be beaten.
In this way, our army successfully stopped the enemy's advance!
According to post-war statistics: In this blockade operation, Wei Laiguo fired a total of 125 bullets, killing 110 enemies.
Soon, the news spread throughout the Fourth Garrison Brigade. Soon after, the brigade commander personally issued an order: Wei Laiguo was promoted to the commander of the 4th Company of the 77th Regiment.
However, this battle was only a battle in which Wei Laiguo "tried the bull knife", and in the next battle, Wei Laiguo led his subordinates to create brilliant records, especially in the "White Horse Pass Blockade Battle", Wei Laiguo and his four companies were even more brilliant.
At the beginning of 1947, the Kuomintang army brazenly launched a key offensive against our Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the Shandong Liberated Area.
In order to safeguard the security of the Shandong Liberated Area and at the same time cooperate with the struggle in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, our East China Field Army decided to launch the "Battle of Montai" to annihilate the reorganized 72nd Division of the Kuomintang defending Tai'an.
Among them, the second battalion of a certain unit of the Ninth Column of Huaye was ordered to go to Mengyin Baima Pass to block the reorganized 11th Division that was reinforcing Tai'an from the north.
Baima Pass, the second pass extending northwestward from the main peak of Mengshan Mountain, Guimeng Peak, is the only passage for the enemy's mechanized forces to enter Tai'an from the north of Pingyi.
In addition, the front of Baima Pass is Black Mountain, and the right front is Tiantai Mountain, and the road leading to Mengyin and Tai'an is sandwiched between the two mountains.
The strategic location of these two mountains is very important! The two mountains can both block the road under the mountain and support each other, forming a natural gateway to Baima Pass.
According to the deployment: Wei Laiguo's four companies were responsible for garrisoning Montenegro and Tiantai Mountain, the sixth company was stationed at Yuntou Mountain in the left front of Montenegro, the machine gun company was located in Montenegro, responsible for supporting Tiantai Mountain and Yuntou Mountain, and the fifth company was used as a reserve.
After the deployment was ready, Wei Laiguo felt a heavy responsibility, and he immediately conducted research and discussion with deputy company commander Wang Guotian to discuss how to resist the enemy.
Finally, it was decided that the second platoon led by deputy company commander Wang Guotian would hold tiantai mountain, and the company commander Wei Laiguo would lead the first platoon and the second platoon to hold the position in Montenegro.
The battle starts as scheduled!
At about nine o'clock in the morning, many soldiers of our army had no time to build up their bunkers, and the enemy army arrived!
The addendum Eleventh Division, known as one of the "five main forces" of the Kuomintang army, was well-trained and well-equipped.
After the battle began, the enemy planes began to indiscriminately bombard our Montenegrin positions, and in an instant, the entire Montenegrin positions were scorched with scorched earth and filled with gun smoke.
After the enemy planes finished bombing, the enemy's various light and heavy artillery shells roared again, and the shells rained down on our Montenegrin positions.
After the artillery cover was over, Wei Laiguo immediately ordered the whole company to enter the position. At this moment, a battalion of the enemy began to attack the Tiantai Mountain position.
Although the enemy was menacing, he did not take advantage of the situation, and just before he rushed to our army's position, he was hit by a fierce blow.
At about 10:00 a.m. on the 25th, the enemy began a new round of attack!
This time, the enemy summed up the bitter lessons of the past, decided to first bombard with artillery, then with bombers, and then after killing a bloody road, launch another attack.
After the bombardment, the enemy began to gather one battalion of troops to launch a fierce attack on Tiantai Mountain, and the other two battalions also began to attack the Black Mountain positions held by Wei Laiguo.
On the Tiantai Mountain position, deputy company commander Wang Guotian led the soldiers to repel the enemy's attack many times!
However, due to continuous fighting, there was little ammunition left and no replenishment, and the right arm of the deputy company commander of Wang Guotian was also seriously injured, and the battle was extremely fierce.
When ammunition was extremely scarce, Wang Guotian's company commander had to ask the soldiers to collect stones from the trenches and smash them fiercely when the enemy rushed up.
In the end of the battle, the stones on the position were thrown away, so he had to pick up his bayonet and rush out of the position to engage in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.
In the end, Wang Guotian saw that the ammunition was exhausted and the enemy was outnumbered, so he had to take the soldiers with the wounded on their backs and quickly withdraw to the Montenegrin position, ready to wait until dark to occupy the position.
At the same time as the fierce battle on Tiantai Mountain was in full swing, the battle situation of the Black Mountain position where Company Commander Wei Laiguo was stationed was not much better.
In addition to the heavy artillery bombardment, the Montenegrin positions were attacked by two battalions of enemy troops.
In the face of the swarming enemy, company commander Wei Laiguo ordered: Wait until the enemy enters the effective range, first use grenadiers to bombard, and then use guns to aim and shoot.
Wei Laiguo, who is worthy of being a "sharpshooter" and is well versed in the art of shooting, has indeed achieved great results in this move.
The enemy was suddenly bombarded by our grenadiers, and was immediately beaten to the point of dizziness, and the enemies who survived rushed into a ditch in front of our position.
This stupid act of the enemy provided great convenience to the shooters of our army, and as soon as they emerged from the ditch, they were killed.
In this way, using grenadiers to drive the enemy into the ditch, Wei Laiguo tried and failed many times! According to statistics, on the Montenegrin positions, as many as 94 enemies were killed by our sharpshooters alone.
By July 26, the blockade had reached its fourth day!
Seeing that Tiantai Mountain could not be attacked for a long time, the enemy decided to change the method of warfare, carry out a feint attack with a small number of troops, and gather heavy troops to attack Yuntou Mountain, in an attempt to use Yuntou Mountain as a springboard to capture Montenegro.
As a result, the enemy's plot not only failed, but suffered heavy losses, and on the sixth day of the battle, the enemy still failed to cross the Baima Pass position.
There was no way, the enemy finally had to give up attacking Tiantai Mountain and Yuntou Mountain, concentrate all his forces, and directly launch an onslaught on Montenegro, but all ended in failure.
In this battle, after seven days and nights of fierce fighting, the officers and men of our second battalion nailed the Kuomintang reorganized 11th Division to the front of the White Horse Pass and successfully completed the task of blocking the attack assigned by their superiors.
According to post-war statistics, in this battle, Wei Laiguo and the officers and men of the four companies repelled a total of 7 enemy attacks, killing and wounding more than 500 enemy prisoners.
Among them, company commander Wei Laiguo was a well-deserved "sharpshooter" who killed and wounded 92 enemies!
Because the officers and men of the four companies fought bravely and successfully blocked the enemy's attack, the column headquarters after the war also awarded the company the honorary title of "Model Company of Battle at Baima Pass", and the company commander Wei Laiguo recorded the first class merit.
Since then, the great name of the "sharpshooter" Wei Laiguo has soon spread in the Liberated Areas!
It is worth mentioning that when his glorious achievements reached the headquarters of the Shandong Military Region, Commander Xu Shiyou, who was known for his good marksmanship, was very happy, and he once said excitedly: "Good looks, good looks, the whole military region must learn from Wei Laiguo and the fourth company." ”
However, Commander Xu Cai, who has always loved talent, will not "give up on this," and he decided to publicize this sharpshooter under his command to the military regions.
Soon, his chance came!
Once, the East China Field Army held a meeting of commanders of various military regions!
At the meeting, Xu Shiyou trumpeted the "gods" of Wei Laiguo, saying:
"Our Shandong Military Region produced a Wei Laiguo, 125 rounds of ammunition, and knocked down 110 enemies. If each military region can produce one or two Wei Laiguo, then we can save the next arsenal of people to go to the battlefield! ”
When General Xu Shiyou said these words, he could not help but have a slight expression of pride and happiness on his face, and it could be seen that he was indeed very happy!
However, after hearing this, the heads of other military regions thought that he had drunk too much "bragging rights", and everyone did not believe it, and asked: "Is there really such a thing?" ”
Who knew that Xu Shiyou was anxious when he heard it, and said loudly: "Commander Chen (Chen Yi) and Deputy Commander Su are here, when did I ever make a joke by Monk Xu?" ”
Figure | General Xu Shiyou
At this time, Su Yu, who was then the deputy commander of the East China Field Army, said with a smile: "The Shandong Military Region did produce a sharpshooter called Wei Laiguo. Commander Xu's words are not false at all! ”
Mr. Chen also laughed and said to everyone:
"Wei Laiguo's deeds tell us that as long as our soldiers have a high degree of consciousness and exquisite technology, our inferior equipment will certainly be able to defeat the superior equipment of the Kuomintang and finally win victory!"
After the heads of the various armies returned home, they quickly conveyed the opinions of General Manager Chen, and soon after, the military regions of the East China Field Army set off a large-scale military training upsurge.
Figure | Marshal Chen Yi
Later, Mr. Chen went to the Central Committee for a meeting and reported to Chairman Mao on Hua Ye's work, which also specifically mentioned the heroic deeds of Wei Laiguo in annihilating 110 enemies with 125 bullets in the Langezhuang Blockade Battle.
After listening, the chairman was very interested, inquired in detail about Wei Laiguo's killing of the enemy, and finally said happily: "One person has destroyed a company of the enemy. ”
Then, the chairman added: If all the officers and men of the army could be like Wei Laiguo, the time for the liberation war would certainly be greatly shortened.
After receiving Chairman Mao's praise, Wei Laiguo's fame in the military became even greater!
In 1948, Wei Laiguo's hometown of Rongcheng County, Shandong, the county government specially asked craftsmen to make a large plaque, on which were engraved five gilded characters - "Revolutionary Sharpshooter".
On that day, the leaders, staff, and masses of the county government beat gongs and drums all the way, hugged back and forth, and hung this heroic plaque on the doorstep of Wei Laiguo's home.
On the eve of the founding of New China in 1949, Wei Laiguo was also elected as a deputy to the first plenary session of the NATIONAL COMMITTEE of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the presidium of the congress, and was cordially received by Chairman Mao.
During this time, there was also an interesting vignette!
One afternoon, Chairman Mao attended a meeting of the presidium. Chen Yi pointed at Wei Laiguo and introduced him: "Chairman, this is the Wei Laiguo I once reported to you, who used 125 rounds of bullets to knock down 110 enemies. ”
As soon as Chairman Mao heard this, he immediately extended his big hand to Wei Laiguo, who hurriedly stretched out his hand and held it tightly. The chairman smiled and asked, "Could you please talk about your opinions on the national flag and national emblem?" ”
At this time, Wei Laiguo was filled with tears of excitement, and he could not speak for half a day! However, it can also be understood that in the face of the great leader Chairman Mao, who can not be excited and nervous?
But what Wei Laiguo did not expect was that Chairman Mao actually knew his deeds and asked for his opinions on the national flag and national emblem, and had to say that Chairman Mao was really an approachable and amiable person.
After the new CPPCC session, on October 1, Wei Laiguo attended the founding ceremony of New China and followed Chairman Mao and other party and state leaders to climb the Tiananmen Tower together!
Later, Wei Laiguo, as a national combat hero and a first-class people's hero in East China, went to Beijing six times to participate in the National Day and climbed the Tiananmen Tower. Such a privilege is truly enviable.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wei Laiguo went to the Korean battlefield with his troops to work with the Korean people to jointly resist the aggression of US imperialism.
In 1952, Wei Laiguo was selected to study at the Changxindian Tank School in Beijing, and after graduation, he was assigned to the 263rd Tank Regiment of the 58th Division of the 20th Army of the People's Liberation Army as the deputy regimental commander, and then went to the 17th Accelerated Middle School in Nanjing to study culture for two years.
In the battle, Wei Laiguo was brave and tenacious, took the lead as a soldier, and won the unanimous praise of his comrades-in-arms with his own practical actions. When he was studying in school, he worked hard and achieved many excellent results!
In 1955, the first ceremony of awarding titles was held in New China, and Wei Laiguo was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was awarded the Independence Freedom Medal, the Liberation Medal of the Third Class, and the Medal of Honor for Independence Merit.
In 1958, Wei Laiguo was transferred to the Chief of Staff of the 264th Regiment of the Armored Corps Academy, and then studied for two and a half years in the seventh phase of the Accelerated Department of the Armored Corps Academy.
In fact, the reason why Wei Laiguo had to work hard to learn the knowledge of armored troops was because he had personal experience in the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
On the Korean battlefield, Wei Laiguo repeatedly saw the defeated enemy and was able to escape because of the cover of tanks. In addition, although our army was able to capture the enemy's tanks, no one could drive them, so they had to blow them up...
All these things deeply stung Wei Laiguo's soul!
As early as that time, he already knew that modern warfare, relying only on tenacious will and millet plus rifles, is difficult to win, and it is necessary to have advanced weapons and equipment, as well as multi-service cooperation.
Figure | Old hero of Wei Laiguo
Therefore, it is precisely because of such a tragic experience that he is determined to learn armor knowledge well and do his best to keep up with the pace of the times.
Soon, Wei Laiguo changed from a "sharpshooter" to a "tank pass", and performed well in training and military exercises, which was deeply appreciated by the leaders of the troops.
However, Wei Laiguo was not satisfied, and while learning the knowledge of tank armor, he also worked hard to learn the knowledge of artillery, engineers, anti-chemical warfare troops, aviation and other services, and constantly improved the military command ability of his composite army.
In the "dark" years, some people took the opportunity to slander and develop new weapons and equipment, and as a result, Wei Laiguo not only did not remain silent, but rose up against the wind and insisted on preaching on various occasions that "weapons are also important factors" and "bravery and technology must be combined."
Finally, the kung fu paid off, and during a test anti-airborne combat exercise, the commander of a certain motorized division was hospitalized due to illness, and Wei Laiguo was temporarily transferred to the military department to take command, and finally successfully completed the exercise task.
In July 1978, Wei Laiguo was transferred to the deputy chief of staff of the Headquarters of the Twenty-seventh Army, and in August 1982, he was appointed deputy commander.
In March 1985, Wei Laiguo retired from the post of deputy military commander.
After leaving the country, Wei Laiguo still maintained the true color of "an ordinary soldier" and never took pride in his achievements, during which he was often invited to give reports and speeches to organs, schools, and troops, and was deeply respected and loved by the people.
On May 16, 2014, Wei Laiguo officially completed his legendary life in Shanghai at the age of 90 due to ineffective treatment.
Or that sentence: Where there are good years, it is just someone who carries the weight for us! At the end of the article, let us pay the highest respect to the old hero of Wei Laiguo!