On May 13, 1953, the Volunteer Army advanced to the area east and south of Jinhua and launched a summer counterattack against the so-called "United Nations Army" aimed at promoting an early armistice.
On the night of May 24, the 192nd Division of the 64th Army of the Volunteer Army, on orders from its superiors, launched a surprise attack on the American troops stationed on the south bank of the Han River.
Different from the early days of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the artillery units of the Volunteer Army at this time already had a certain scale and played a greatly enhanced role in assisting infantry units in attacking the enemy.
After the battle began, the commander of the 192nd Division, Chen Xinzhong (Major General in 1955), first gave orders to the artillery units to conduct a 20-minute artillery attack on the American positions, with the aim of destroying the enemy's surface positions.
According to the predetermined plan, it was said that 3,000 infantry would launch an attack and seize the enemy's main peak position in one fell swoop.
However, the recalcitrant resistance of the American army with sophisticated weapons and strong fortifications made the battle extremely fierce, and the communication between the command and the forward troops was suddenly interrupted.
In the absence of contact between the front and the rear, the progress of the battle can only be understood by the forward observation post.
During this period, the divisional command post constantly asked the three forward observation posts: What is the movement of the enemy and us? Whether our army has conquered the enemy's main peak position...
However, the response received made the division commander Chen Xinzhong frown, and the situation reported by the three forward observations was exactly the same: the infantry unit had not yet conquered the main peak position of the American army.
Generally speaking, in this case, it is necessary to carry out artillery support again, so as to increase the killing of the enemy and accelerate the course of the battle.
As far as the commanders are concerned, it is necessary to make a decision as soon as possible in accordance with the situation on the battlefield, otherwise it will not only delay the fighters, but also increase the casualties of our side.
At this critical moment, there was one person who had deep doubts about the practice of immediate artillery support, that is, Zhou Anding, the reconnaissance platoon commander of the second company of the first battalion of the 327th Regiment.
It is true that there is no sign of the enemy's main peak position being clearly occupied by our army, but will the battlefield be filled with smoke and dust, coupled with the limited perspective in the lookout hole, will it cause visual errors?
What's more, the enemy and we are still fiercely fighting, what if our army attacks the enemy's main peak position in this moment?
The more Zhou Anding thought about it, the more unsteady he became, and he deeply felt that this was an important matter involving the safety of thousands of officers and men of our army, and he must not be sloppy and must go to the position to verify it again.
To this end, he left the forward observation post and went to the enemy's front to observe the progress of the battle.
At this time, the enemy's shells fell on the side, and from time to time there were bullets passing by the ears, and there was a risk of injury or even sacrifice at any time. Zhou Anding, however, completely ignored it and struggled to leap forward, just to find an ideal angle of observation.
As he walked through the rain of bullets and bullets and climbed up a small high ground, he finally saw a detail that made him extremely excited - the continuous flashing of grenade explosions on the main peak position of the American army!
This is enough to show that the vanguard of our army has already attacked and is engaged in a fierce struggle with the enemy!
This also means a terrible thing, if our army continues to provide artillery support, it is likely to cause serious damage to our own people!
Zhou Anding was very anxious, but fortunately, he carried a walkie-talkie with him, and immediately reported what he saw to the staff officer on duty in the observation post: "Immediately inform the division command post that our army has attacked the enemy's main peak position, and we must not shell again, and we must not shell again!" ”
When Zhou Anding finished saying these words and was about to turn back to the observation post, an unexpected situation occurred - a shell fired by the enemy exploded next to him, and he immediately fainted after being hit by shrapnel...
When Zhou Anding woke up, three days later, he found himself seriously injured and lying in a bed at the Shenyang Army General Hospital.
Accompanying Zhou Anding was his comrade-in-arms Li Laiquan, who was sent by the army to escort Zhou Anding back to China.
Li Laiquan saw Zhou Anding wake up and happily told him one thing:
It was precisely because Zhou Anding promptly informed our army of the emergency situation in which it had attacked the main peak position that division commander Chen Xinzhong made the decision to terminate artillery support, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
Chen Xinzhong excitedly praised: "Zhou Anding only said one sentence, but reported an extremely important situation, which saved our army from a major casualty. ”
When he learned that Zhou Anding had fallen on the position, he immediately instructed the troops to snatch him back no matter what.
When Li Laiquan found Zhou Anding, he was covered in dust and blood, and he was seriously injured and his life was in danger. After emergency treatment at the division headquarters, Chen Xinzhong saw that he still had not woken up, and ordered a helicopter to be sent to send Zhou Anding back to China for treatment.
Zhou Anding listened to it, and he was so excited that he burst into tears and could not speak for half a day.
After nearly two months of treatment and recuperation, Zhou Anding's injuries gradually improved, and he insisted on returning to the front line to fight while his body was not fully recovered. After many applications, I finally got my wish.
When Zhou Anding returned to his original unit to report for duty, division commander Chen Xinzhong and regimental commander Sun Lianglin personally came to see him and told him that they had already honored him with second-class merit and praised him in the whole division. Chen Xinzhong also praised Zhou Anding in person: "It is not an exaggeration at all that you risked running to the front line to observe and reported the emergency situation in which our army has attacked the enemy's main peak position, and saved three thousand soldiers in one sentence!" ”