In March 1940, the Fourth General Brigade of the Sixth Detachment of the New Fourth Army met a japanese army on a narrow road in a village in Suining, Jiangsu Province.
In order to combat the arrogance of the Japanese Kou, the commander-in-chief Zhang Aiping (admiral in 1955), decided to eliminate this group of enemies and immediately commanded the troops to take the lead in occupying a small hill next to the village as his command position.
He then ordered Zhao Huichuan (Major General in 1961) to lead the 11th Regiment to build fortifications along the mountain, ready to cover the main attacking forces.
After the arrangement, he went down the mountain to command Zhang Taisheng (major general in 1955) to lead the first regiment to attack the small village.
This was the first time Zhang Aiping commanded the troops to fight the Japanese army, but in this battle, the troops were frantically resisted by the Japanese army and paid a considerable price of casualties.
Zhang Aiping was commanding the First Regiment to launch an onslaught against the Japanese army, when she suddenly heard a dense gunfire in the direction of the Eleventh Regiment.
Zhang Aiping was not at ease, and quickly ran along the sorghum field that was more than half a person tall.
Just out of the sorghum field, Zhang Aiping actually met the Japanese army head-on. This Japanese force, led by tanks, rushed straight to the position of the Eleventh Regiment. Enemy machine guns aimed at the position of the Eleventh Regiment and swept away.
Zhang Aiping was very worried about the casualties of the troops, but by this time it was too late to send a messenger to convey the order, so he personally rushed to the position of the Eleventh Regiment in spite of the dense rain of bullets.
"Evacuate! Evacuate! Retreat to the mountains! Zhang Aiping loudly ordered the regimental commander Zhao Huichuan.
After running over, he further explained: "Now, your whole regiment of troops quickly dispersed and transferred, do not talk about formations, the more scattered the better, people do not contact each other, run to the hill to hide!" ”
Zhao Huichuan immediately led the eleventh regiment to retreat according to Zhang Aiping's orders.
However, the troops had to pass through open land thousands of meters wide. On this open field, there are no crops, no trees, and nothing to hide from.
At this time, the enemy's machine guns were blocking this open land like a rainstorm.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Aiping was very worried in her heart. He had originally given this order so as not to inflict casualties on the troops, but now perhaps the casualties would be even greater!
However, if the troops were not ordered to retreat to the mountain, then the devil's tanks would rush over, and the consequences would be even more unimaginable. Weighing the pros and cons, I had to let it go.
Just after commanding the Eleventh Regiment up the hill, Zhang Aiping ran wildly all the way and came back to command the First Regiment, which was being attacked by the enemy on both sides.
"Enemy reinforcements are coming. Evacuate! Retreat to the mountain, the sooner the better, the more dispersed the better! He commanded.
Zhang Aiping only cared about ordering the troops to retreat, running back and forth on the battlefield, but it seemed that she had completely forgotten that she should also retreat quickly!
Now the troops had all withdrawn up the mountain, and the only people left on the edge of the small village were Zhang Aiping and the two guards beside him.
When the Japanese tanks saw that the large troops could not catch up, Zhang Aiping and his guards became their only targets and immediately chased after them.
The enemy tanks were chasing after each other and getting closer.
In order to command the troops to retreat, Zhang Aiping delayed the time of his retreat, and he was one step late. Now he used all his strength to jump over one field after another and run wildly toward the hill. But because he was too tired to fight for days, he really couldn't run.
"Commander, run!" The guard shouted at him vigorously.
"I can't run anymore. Let's go!" Zhang Aiping said.
The rumbling sound of tanks was deafening and the situation was critical.
Just when the tank was only thirty or forty meters away from Zhang Aiping and was about to be crushed, two guards stopped him and ran through the village and ran to a large deep ditch at the edge of the village.
They had just crossed the ditch, and the enemy tanks had reached the edge of the ditch. Zhang Aiping and the other three quickly found a cemetery to hide.
I saw the tank rumbling and roaring, and the machine guns swept around, but they just couldn't cross the ditch, maybe they didn't dare to cross the ditch.
Because they knew that if they fell into the ditch, they would become the turtle in the urn of the Chinese, and they would never come up again.
Zhang Aiping finally withdrew to the top of the mountain.
"Commander, you've finally come!" But it kills us! Zhao Huichuan was very touched by Zhang Aiping's last retreat.
however
As a commander, Zhang Aiping was anxious about the soldiers of the entire unit, and only then would she run wildly back and forth on the battlefield.
"Generals, dead officials", "Facing the enemy without harboring life, taking the lead in inspiring soldiers", Zhang Aiping regarded these ancient precepts as her duty.
He believes that if a unit wants to carry out a style of action like thunder and lightning, stopping like a wall, and being fearless, it must first set an example by the commander himself.
"How are the casualties?" Zhang Aiping asked with concern, he thought that when he crossed the open land just now, the troops must have suffered a lot of casualties.
However, Zhao Huichuan reported: "Not a single casualty was suffered. ”
"What?" Zhang Aiping couldn't believe her ears anymore.
The enemy was so fierce and the fire was so intense, that a regiment of troops, through such a large open field, had not suffered any casualties!
Zhao Huichuan's report deeply surprised Zhang Aiping and made him even more overjoyed. His heart was relaxed, and he threw the tension caused by the enemy's pursuit just now and the fatigue of running back and forth on the battlefield to the cloud of nine clouds.
Of course, what Zhao Huichuan said was the truth, and there were no casualties among the troops. In Zhang Aiping's view, this shows that the troops obey orders and move rapidly.
but
For Zhao Huichuan and the commanders and fighters of the troops, they were deeply impressed by Zhang Aiping's love for the soldiers, and at the critical juncture, they disregarded their own dangers, and first considered the "moral general" spirit of the commanders and fighters who were safe, as well as the command style of handling them on the spot and being resolute and decisive!
Over the years, Zhao Huichuan and others recalled this experience and still deeply sighed:
General Zhang Aiping is the rarest "moral general" among the generals!