On October 14, 1952, the world-famous Battle of Shangganling began, during the day the enemy attacked frantically with fierce artillery fire, and at night our 45th Division counterattacked with small units to restore the position lost during the day. In repeated tug-of-war, both the enemy and us paid a very high price in casualties. Cui Jiangong, then commander of the 45th Division, later recalled: "When there were no soldiers in front of me on the 17th, I called Qin Jiwei and said, Commander, I can defend, and I can't attack again." At that time, I only had 6 mobile companies left, and the other 15 companies that had gradually been put in were all crippled, and at least only a few people were left. ”
On October 18, the enemy launched a continuous onslaught against the 597.9 heights and the 537.7 heights with the strength of two regiments, and after a day of fierce fighting, our forward troops were finally forced to retreat into the tunnel due to heavy casualties, and the surface positions of Shangganling were completely lost for the first time. After Wang Jinshan, acting commander of the Third Corps, learned of this situation, he personally called Qin Jiwei, commander of the 15th Army: "Qin Jiwei, listen well, if you don't take those two hills back tonight, you just go home and herd cattle!" ”
Qin Jiwei was also angry, and quickly called Cui Jiangong with the same phone: "Tell you Cui Jiangong, you can't take back the position, you don't come back to see me!" Cui Jiangong, who received the death order, took out four companies and on the night of October 19, under the cover of artillery fire, launched a fierce counterattack against the enemy, and after a night of hard fighting, the lost surface positions were restored. Van Vliet was not willing to accept defeat, constantly mobilized troops to compete with our army, and after seven days and nights of bitter fighting, the surface positions of Shangganling were all lost for the second time, and the garrison of the 45th Division once again retreated into the tunnel.
At this time, Qin Jiwei no longer had any mobile troops available in his hands, and his guard company and the miscellaneous personnel of the military department had been sent to the front line of Shangganling, and there was no longer any extra personnel to support Cui Jiangong. Some people may say that the 15th Army does not still have two divisions? Why not adjust in the direction of Shangganling? This is because both the 44th and 29th Divisions are stationed in the Pingkang Valley, where the strategic position is as important as Shangganling, and if it is broken by the American army, the enemy will bypass the Five Holy Mountains and attack our flank. Therefore, although the strength of the troops in the direction of Shangganling was already stretched, Qin Jiwei did not dare to mobilize the two divisions in the Pingkang Valley.
Wang Jinshan, acting commander of the Third Corps, knew this situation, and he knew that under the cover of such fierce firepower of the American army, it would be very difficult for the 45th Division alone to hold Shangganling. He was determined to throw his 12th Army into the battlefield and fight Van Vliet to the end. On October 26, Li Desheng, deputy commander of the 12th Army, personally rushed to the headquarters of the Third Corps to accept the task. Wang Jinshan said to General Ai: "All the mobile troops that the 15th Army can put in have been used, but the enemy's offensive has not weakened, and our determination is to resolutely defend Shangganling and not give way to any land!" ”
"The Corps has decided to set up the Five Holy Mountain Battle Command Post under the unified command of the 15th Army, under which you will be responsible for the unified command of the units belonging to the 12th Army and the 15th Army fighting on the Shangganling Front, and the artillery will be commanded by Yan Fu, commander of the 7th Artillery Division. You have to pay attention to synergy. Wang Jinshan then instructed Li Desheng: "The battle situation should be reported to both the corps and the commander of the 15th Army, Qin Jiwei, that the battle was fought on their positions, and that they should obey their overall mobilization and command and do a good job of unity with each other." ”
Li Desheng, together with You Taizhong and Xiao Yongyin, was known as the Three Musketeers under Wang Jinshan, and had been fighting under the command of Wang Jinshan during the Liberation War, and was one of his most trusted generals. After accepting the task of supporting Shangganling this time, Li Desheng led 4 main regiments drawn from the 12th Army to set off urgently and rush to the front. After coming to the front line, Li Desheng found that the situation was much more serious than he thought. The forward positions of the Volunteer Army had been broken into loose soil, the surface fortifications had been completely destroyed, and under the strict artillery blockade of the enemy, the shortage of ammunition, food and water in our front-line troops was very common.
At that time, in order to block our army's support for Shangganling, the US military built more than a dozen blockade lines with dense artillery fire. There is no road in the front, supplies can only be carried on the shoulders, some soldiers are tired and vomit blood, and when they reach the front, they do not even have the strength to run through the blockade line, causing great casualties. In order to improve this situation, Li Desheng came up with a method of segmented transportation: After the car arrived at the Five Holy Mountains, there would be no road at the front, and at this time, from the regiment logistics to the battalion to the company, every 50 meters was a section, and several people were specially responsible for digging cat holes along the way, hiding ammunition, and taking advantage of the gap between the suspension of enemy artillery fire to quickly move forward.
After the implementation of this method, very good results have been achieved, the proportion of casualties in transport personnel has been greatly reduced, and there is sufficient ammunition on the front line. However, at this time, Li Desheng encountered a new problem, the forward position of Shangganling was narrow, the enemy's artillery fire was very fierce, and the more people went up, the greater the casualties, but there were fewer people and they could not defend the position. How to solve this problem? Li Desheng brainstormed and thought of the "small soldier group tactics". From the Five Holy Mountains to the forefront, the troops were lined up in several echelons, and the divisions and regiments had sufficient reserves to deal with the continuous attacks of the enemy.
The "small group tactics" have achieved excellent results: when the enemy's artillery fire is in a rapid attack, the number of personnel on our position is sparse, which greatly reduces the damage caused by the enemy's artillery fire; when the enemy's ground troops charge, our army's artillery, light and heavy machine guns, grenades, grenades, and explosive canisters can cause heavy damage to the enemy. At about 7 o'clock on November 2, the enemy launched a fierce attack on the 597.9 heights, and during the battle, 1 squad of the Volunteer Army's 91st Regiment, which held the No. 9 position on the east side of the front, used the tactics of small troop groups to repulse the enemy's 7 company and battalion attacks a day, annihilating more than 400 enemy personnel, and only slightly wounding 3 of themselves.
Under the command of Li Desheng, the participating units of the 12th Army, together with the 45th Division of the 15th Army, repelled hundreds of enemy charges, firmly held their positions, and won a great victory in the Battle of Shangganling. Qin Jiwei gave full affirmation to the role of the 12th Army in the Battle of Shangganling, saying: "The 12th Army is the guarantee for all victories in the Shangganling Campaign. Under what circumstances did the 12th Army enter the fighting? It was when the battle was the most intense and arduous, and the second echelon of the army could no longer fight, that they rushed to participate in the battle." After returning from Korea, Qin Jiwei and Li Desheng both held many important positions, Qin Jiwei served as defense minister, and Li Desheng's achievements were even higher, and he reached the rank of zhengguo.
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