In November 1949, after our army launched the Southwest Campaign, the 108th Regiment of the 36th Division of the 12th Army of the Second Field received an order from its superiors: before the main force of the whole army arrived, it was necessary to cross the Wu river and take the river mouth directly, and complete the task of cutting off the enemy's retreat route.
At that time, our army was like a broken bamboo and victorious, and Song Xilian had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to the west of the Wujiang River.
The treacherous terrain, continuous mountains, and the Wujiang River as a natural barrier made it an excellent place for Song Xilian to defend and difficult to attack.
To this end, he laid out a new defensive line on the river line from Pengshui to Gongtan, which was about two hundred miles wide, in an attempt to hold on to the danger and block the advance of our army into the southwest.
On November 18, after marching 120 miles, the soldiers of the 108th Regiment finally reached the weak point of the Wujiang Defense Line, Lijiawan, which was only 10 miles away from Gongtan.
That night, Yu Fukun, the commander of the 108th Regiment, learned through interrogation of the prisoners that the enemy on the opposite shore was a regiment of regular troops that had just moved to defend.
Due to the depth and rapid flow of the river, it was impossible to wade in vain, and the ship had been dragged to the opposite shore, Yu Fukun decided to take advantage of the enemy's unfamiliarity with the situation and unexpectedly sneaked to the other side and seized the ferry to carry out a forced crossing.
At dawn the next day, the 108th Regiment approached the bank of the Wu River in hiding.
On the one hand, Yu Fukun, the regimental commander, arranged the firepower of the whole regiment and organized three battalions of sailors to row and seize the boat; on the other hand, he ordered the first battalion and the second battalion to wait for an opportunity to smuggle across the ferry upstream and downstream of the ferry port, and cooperate with the three battalions in a strong attack.
At about 9 a.m., the scouts reported that three small boats were in the hands of the enemy at the crossing on the opposite shore.
Yu Fukun was very happy to hear this: as long as the sailors of the three battalions could swim over and seize these three small boats, then the problem of the whole regiment crossing the river would be solved.
At the same time, the three battalions selected seven warriors who crossed the river, including Jin Zhong, Shi Shixi, and Hong Youchang.
These seven warriors faced the gushing river and the awe-inspiring cold wind, and had no fear. Under the command of Yu Fukun, braving the thick fog, the warriors split into two groups to take action.
The first group of four people, but they did not swim far after launching the water, but they were swept away by the turbulent whirlpool and lost contact.
Subsequently, Yu Fukun ordered the second group of three people to go into the water. The three warriors in this second group were the last cards in Yu Fukun's hand, and if they could not successfully cross the river, the whole regiment would be in an extremely difficult situation!
At that time, most of the soldiers of the 108th Regiment came from the north, and they were very familiar with water, and it was even rarer to be able to defeat such a dangerous river as the Wujiang River.
Although the soldiers rushed to complete the task, showing a fearless revolutionary spirit, this mission was not to blow up bunkers, and it was impossible to perform this difficult task without considerable proficiency in water.
Therefore, this second group of three people is the last force mastered by Yu Fukun to break through the Wujiang River, and success or failure is in one fell swoop!
Yu Fukun looked at the three soldiers who were preparing to go into the water, calmed his anxiety, and said to the warriors: "Comrades, the large troops behind are waiting for us, whether we can cross the river and completely destroy the enemy on the other side, the whole regiment will count on you." You guys must come back! ”
Under the attention of the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment, the three warriors once again jumped into the cold river and gradually disappeared into the thick fog.
After a while, there was a dense gunfire on the other side of the river, and the soldiers of the 108th Regiment all sweated for the warriors, and Yu Fukun's regimental commander raised a hanging heart to his throat.
Time passed by second by minute, hundreds of anxious eyes searching the foggy river, and people felt that time passed very slowly.
Suddenly, in the billowing fog and gushing water, a small boat flashed faintly toward the shore, and the warriors cheered.
It turned out that in the second group of warriors, two people died, leaving only Shi Shixi. In the case of the sacrifice of his comrades and the blockade of enemy fire, Shi Shixi, a soldier, showed unusual composure and calmness.
Braving the rain of bullets and bullets, he fought with the rapids and whirlpools, experienced a thrilling test of life and death, and finally swam to the other shore and successfully recaptured a boat!
When Shi Shixi returned from the boat, Yu Fukun excitedly clasped his hands and said, "Good! At this critical moment of success or failure, it was you who saved the whole regiment! ”
At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, under the cover of regimental and battalion fire, the 8th company of the 3rd Battalion of the 108th Regiment, which was responsible for forcibly crossing the Wu river, began to board a boat to cross the river.
In the afternoon of the same day, the three battalions of the 108th Regiment all crossed the Wu River, seized the ferry ports and key points on the other side, and captured a number of ships, creating conditions for the main force to cross the river.
In the end, the Wujiang Defense Line, which Song Xilian painstakingly managed, was completely destroyed under the multiple strong attacks of the People's Liberation Army's westward marching army, and the enemy army collapsed completely.
This is actually a surprising coincidence in the history of our army:
Fourteen years ago, Liu (Bocheng), chief of the general staff of the Red Army, took the lead in sending troops to break through the encirclement and blockade of hundreds of thousands of Chiang Kai-shek's troops, and finally broke through the natural danger of the Wujiang River and opened the passage of the Red Army to Zunyi.
Fourteen years later, Liu Shuai's troops (it was he who was the commander of The Erye of the 108th Regiment) broke through the Wujiang Natural Danger and opened the passage for the People's Liberation Army to advance into the southwest.
It can be said that Shi Shixi, a soldier, saved the whole regiment and played a great role in breaking through the natural dangers of the Wujiang River, thus contributing to this amazing coincidence in military history.