In March 1945, under the leadership of Commander and Political Commissar Su Yu, the troops of the New Fourth Army's Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region launched an all-out counterattack against Gu Zhutong's recalcitrant army that invaded the Tianmu Mountain area, which is known in history as the "Second Anti-Stubborn Campaign of Tianmu Mountain".
Among them, the battle of our army for the 842 heights in the Area of Huangnigang is a key battle related to the overall victory or defeat, and it is also a very peculiar example in military history.
On the afternoon of March 7, when the headquarters of the Third Column, led by commander Tao Yong, entered Huangnigang near the Baofutan Temple, it met the 165th Regiment of the enemy's 52nd Division, which had begun to retreat, and the battle immediately began.
It was a very unexpected and extremely dangerous encounter.
Before that, Tao Yong sent all his troops to the front, with only the third battalion of the seventh detachment at hand, and only one battalion of troops to fight against the enemy's entire regiment.
In addition, the living conditions of our army in western Zhejiang were extremely difficult, the physique of the generals was seriously damaged, and the commanders and fighters were very tired after another night of rapid marching.
However, the enemy has eaten and drunk well, and after a full rest, he has long been full of energy, and his weapons and equipment far exceed those of our army. In short, the situation of our army is quite critical.
Tao Yong braved the enemy's bullet rain to personally command the battle on the front line, and he noticed that there was a high mountain northeast of Huangnigang (later called "842 Highland" in military history), and immediately ordered chen Guichang, commander of the third battalion, to lead the seventh and ninth companies along the foot of this mountain to cut off the enemy's waist; he also ordered Xu Boxin, an instructor of the third battalion, to lead the eighth company to seize the 842 heights and buy time for our army to mobilize troops to completely annihilate the enemy.
Under the leadership of Chen Guichang, the Seventh Company and the Ninth Company progressed relatively smoothly, and after a fierce charge, the snake-like enemy was cut off from it, leaving the enemy in a state of chaos.
However, the eighth company responsible for seizing the 842 heights encountered big trouble, and they rushed to the middle of the mountain to find that in fact, the peak had long been occupied in advance by a heavy machine gun company of the enemy, hidden behind a bamboo forest, and many enemies poured in from the back mountain.
When the eight connected near the bamboo forest, the enemy who was waiting for work suddenly opened fire, and the dense fire completely blocked the way forward of our army, and it became a big casualty, and lu Changyou, the instructor of the eighth company, also died heroically.
Xu Boxin calmly analyzed the situation between the enemy and ourselves, and realized that if the Eighth Company continued to attack the 842 heights in the current way, it would be equivalent to doing a rough job, and not only would it be impossible to complete the task, but it would also wipe out the entire company if it was not done well.
We can't fight like this, we have to find another way!
However, what exactly can be used to capture the peak of the 842 Highlands?
Xu Boxin repeatedly examined the terrain and noticed that there was a stream in the southeast of the mountain, winding down the mountain, and it seemed that the source was behind the mountain.
His eyes lit up suddenly: send some troops up the river, you must be able to touch the peak, from behind to give the enemy a fatal blow!
But he was also soberly aware that the enemy was very likely to send troops to garrison at the source of the mountain stream, and in order to achieve the goal of raiding the enemy, he must find another way to attract the attention of the enemy and make them relax their vigilance.
Xu Boxin is an excellent commander, he quickly thought about it, and immediately decided to implement a trick to "move the tiger away from the mountain".
He drew his elite warriors to form a commando team, ordered them to use covert and rapid movements, detoured back to the southeast of the 842 Heights, and then went up the creek, touched the peak, and launched a surprise attack from behind the enemy.
In order to mobilize the enemy in the front, Xu Boxin ordered the Eighth Company to attack the enemy at the top again, but he made a strange request: "Let's put on a drama in this attack, only allow defeat and no victory, only fake fighting and no real fighting, and quickly withdraw when we hear the enemy's machine guns!" ”
The commanders and fighters of the Eighth Company were puzzled when they heard this: Why did the war become a drama, and why was it still allowed to lose and not to win? I have been a soldier for several years, fought dozens of battles, and have never heard of such a ridiculous order!
But they saw the instructor's confident expression, the extremely firm tone, and understood that things were not so simple, so they all did what the instructor said.
So there was a very peculiar scene on the battlefield -
When the Eighth Company attacked the 842 Heights again, the whole team seemed a little loose. They fought and walked for a while, as if they were afraid of the enemy's firepower, and fought forward and hesitantly.
When the enemy's heavy machine guns began to spray bullets, the soldiers looked frightened and panicked, and they turned around and ran down the hill, and the whole army suddenly "collapsed".
Some of the fighters shouted as they ran, "Can't fight, the fire is too fierce!" "Run, the enemy is going to chase you down!"
The enemy at the top of the hill saw this chaotic scene, and at first only laughed at "the communist army also has such a bad time", and then the enemy commander felt that this was a good opportunity for him to fight a famous battle, so he ordered the troops to "go down the mountain to pursue the communist army and expand the results of the battle."
The carefully arranged tactics of commander Xu Boxin finally successfully mobilized the enemy!
Most of the enemy chased down the mountain, and the guard post guarding the source of the stream also relaxed its guard, so that the commando team sent by Xu Boxin successfully touched the top of the mountain after dozens of minutes of climbing, and quietly circled behind the enemy at the top.
When the enemy was triumphantly pursuing the eight companies that were "retreating" in front of them, the commandos, like heavenly soldiers, blew up the enemy's heavy machine guns in one fell swoop, removed the enemy's temporary command post, and stirred up the enemy on the top of the mountain into a pot of porridge.
Xu Boxin saw that the time had come, and decisively ordered the Eighth Company to turn around and kill him. The warriors had pretended to be defeated before, and they could not hold back for a long time, but now they could finally vent their anger, so they roared and rushed to kill.
In this way, our army launched a front-back attack on the enemy from the top of the mountain and halfway up the mountain at the same time, and the situation between the enemy and us was completely reversed!
At this time, Chen Guichang led the seventh company and the ninth company to come to the aid of the battle, and the whole battalion finally joined forces. Although there was only one battalion of troops, it exerted the momentum of overwhelming the mountains and the sea, and annihilated a regiment of the enemy cleanly.
After the battle, Tao Yong was full of praise for Xu Boxin's plan of "transferring the tiger away from the mountain" and promoted him to the chief of staff of the regiment.
Reference historical materials: "Records of the Conquest of the New Fourth Army", "Memories of the New Fourth Army", "Chronicles of the Characters of the New Fourth Army", etc