At dusk on February 13, 1953, a distinctive volunteer army unit was fully armored and interspersed into the small golden cave 20 kilometers away.
Before leaving, each of them handed over a blood letter to their superiors, and wrote their names, numbers, and home addresses in their collars and trouser waistbands.
This is a special unit with special tasks, known as the "Eighty Detachments", which is a reconnaissance elite carefully selected by the Volunteer Army Command from 3 group armies, with a total of 370 people, organized into 3 reconnaissance companies.
At dawn the next day, our army will launch a comprehensive counterattack against the enemy, and the task of the "Eighty Detachment" is to penetrate behind the enemy and cut off the enemy's reinforcement and retreat route.
The 370 soldiers were highly motivated and marched quickly towards the small golden cave located deep in the enemy's depths.
Unexpectedly, they encountered a disaster four hours after their departure -- due to the shameless defection of a combat staff officer of the People's Army, the situation of the volunteer army's interspersed operation was revealed to the enemy, and the "Eighty-One Detachment" was blocked by the US and ROK armies.
The enemy not only dispatched aircraft to bomb, but also sent heavy troops to intercept along the way, and after two hours of bloody fighting, although the "Eighty Detachment" was able to successfully break through, it paid a third of the cost of casualties.
More than a hundred comrades-in-arms died before they could go out of the army, which made the surviving soldiers extremely sad and indignant, and they made up their minds to resolutely complete the task, and finally arrived at the Linjin River before dawn, as long as they crossed the river, it was a small golden cave.
The enemy army had already deployed heavy troops along the river, and the entire river surface was tightly sealed by more than a dozen heavy machine guns. At this time, the all-round counterattack of our army has begun, and the "Eighty Detachment" must capture Xiaojindong as soon as possible. We can only "know that there are tigers in the mountains and prefer to go to the tiger mountains."
Although they adopted the method of splitting the way to break through, they never succeeded, but instead lost half of their troops, leaving only more than 100 people.
A platoon, led by platoon leader Zhang Guofang, launched several surprise attacks on the Linjin River Bridge. In the fierce battle, Zhang Guofang's legs were blown off by enemy shells, and most of the fighters in the whole platoon were killed or seriously injured on the spot, leaving less than ten people to move and fight.
The warrior Yu Shengchun saw that the platoon leader's legs were broken, and with tears in his eyes, he wanted to carry him forward, Zhang Guofang said: "You can cooperate with the deputy platoon leader to fight well, and resolutely fight across the river!" ”
Immediately after, he took off his watch and handed it to Yu Shengchun and said, "I can't go, you bring a letter to my wife, let her not worry about me..."
After saying this, he picked up his gun and lay on the ground and continued to shoot at the enemy.
After only a few minutes, Zhang Guofang and several wounded soldiers who insisted on fighting were heroically sacrificed. Extremely brutal fighting and expanding casualties have greatly damaged the confidence of the remaining eight cadres and fighters.
During the battle, Yu Shengchun asked the deputy platoon commander Huo Jianzhong how to fight next.
Huo Jianzhong said in a low mood: "You also see the current situation, the casualties are too large, the enemy's firepower is too fierce, or we can withdraw, at least we can bring the team back." ”
Yu Shengchun, who was flesh and blood, could not have imagined that the deputy platoon commander had actually wavered at a critical juncture, was this not a mistake of disobeying military orders? He said indignantly, "Deputy platoon leader, you can't withdraw no matter what!" Comrades-in-arms must not be allowed to sacrifice in vain! ”
"But just a few of us, how can we fight..." Huo Jianzhong was momentarily gagged.
"You don't think it's good to command, then I'll act as the commander and continue to complete the combat mission!"
Then Yu Shengchun gathered the six soldiers together and said, "Party members and regiment members rushed with me and insisted on fighting across the river!" ”
Yu Shengchun raised his arms at the critical moment, which greatly encouraged the six soldiers and expressed their willingness to fight to the end.
Yu Shengchun refused to give in, asking Huo Jianzhong to stay by the river with 2 fighters and take cover with machine guns, while he himself led 4 fighters to creep towards the enemy fort of the bridge.
After approaching the bunker, they adopted the strategy of attacking the west and the east, destroying the bunker with grenades and explosive canisters, and then the 5 people rushed to the bridge with lightning.
At this moment, Lin Xunqiang, a signal soldier of the company headquarters, also came with several soldiers to reinforce, and they worked together to fight against the enemy who guarded the bridge.
In the ensuing battle, Yu Shengchun and the warrior Bao Shusheng were slightly wounded, but successfully annihilated a reinforcement squad of the Rok army and captured the bridgehead fortress.
When Huo Jianzhong led 2 warriors to arrive, Yu Shengchun led a platoon to continue to advance towards the small golden cave attack.
Together with the company commander, they then took part in the battle to capture the headquarters of the enemy tank regiment, annihilating a platoon of the enemy.
Other personnel of the "Eighty Detachment" also arrived at Xiaojindong one after another, cutting off the enemy's reinforcement and southward escape route, so that the comprehensive counterattack instigated by the volunteer headquarters could be successfully carried out.
After a day and night of fierce fighting, the enemy army was completely defeated.
At the end of the battle, there were only 37 people left in the original 370 "Eighty Detachment".
What is unexpected is that Yu Shengchun, who stepped forward as the acting commander and performed the best in this battle, let Huo Jianzhong, who had made a mistake and deputy platoon leader, report his achievements to his superiors after the war.
That is to say, Yu Shengchun took the initiative to give up the opportunity to evaluate battle merits, which made Huo Jianzhong, who made a mistake at a critical moment, to be rated as a second-class merit.
Not only that, Yu Shengchun also gave up the opportunity to evaluate the third class merit to Bao Shusheng, a soldier who had not been in the army for a long time.
Several fighters who fought alongside Yu Shengchun confirmed that the Battle of Linjin Jiangqiao was commanded by Yu Shengchun and did not understand why he refused to do so.
Yu Shengchun did not tell the real reason why he gave up his merit until many years later: "First of all, it is a glorious tradition to let our troops make it possible to see merit; secondly, if the matter of Deputy Platoon Commander Huo's advocacy of retreat is made public, then he will inevitably be expelled from the party and punished by military law, which will affect the honor of our entire platoon." ”
Yu Shengchun's wish did not fail, and the platoon he was in was awarded the honorary title of "Heroic Reconnaissance Platoon" by the General Headquarters of the Volunteer Army.