At dawn on November 23, 1945, Ye Jianmin (1955), commander of the Fifth Regiment of the Second Division of the Shandong Field Army stationed in Beizhen, Jinzhou, suddenly received a call from Zhang Yujian, the commander of the third battalion, saying that the whole regiment had been surrounded.
Before he could report the situation, the phone was interrupted, and it appeared that the three battalions had already taken the lead in the battle on the outskirts of the north town.
Ye Jianmin immediately reported the situation to Liu Xingyuan, political commissar of the Second Division, and Chen Guang, the acting commander of the 115th Division.
Then Chen Guang called and asked the Five Regiments to hold on to Beizhen, at least until dusk. At that time, he will lead several troops to attack together and eliminate the incoming enemy.
After receiving the order, Ye Jianmin immediately deployed for battle and made arrangements for the battalions and companies of the five regiments.
At this time, Liang Zhongyi, an enemy engineering officer of the regimental headquarters, rushed to ye Jianmin and quietly told Ye Jianmin: "Regiment commander, the situation is not good! We are already surrounded by enemies! ”
"How many enemies are there?"
"The enemy rushed towards the north town in three ways, and it was not very clear to see, a large area of dense density, and large-caliber artillery..."
Ye Jianmin immediately ordered Liang Zhongyi to report the change in the enemy situation to Commissar Liu Xingyuan.
Subsequently, Zhang Yujian, the commander of the three battalions, sent someone to report that the three battalions fought bravely and fought with bayonets with the enemy. It has now made a safe breakout and captured more than 20 enemies.
Ye Jianmin personally interrogated the prisoners and learned that the enemies were chiang kai-shek's 13th army and 52nd army, and that they were advancing to the first line of Beizhen, Xinlitun and dahushan and Montenegro respectively.
As soon as Ye Jianmin reported the situation to the division commander, the enemy began to attack with artillery fire.
Ye Jianmin rushed to command the five regiments to fight, and found that the enemy was approaching the high ground outside the East Gate, so he immediately ordered the special agent company to organize fire to stop the enemy from advancing.
At that time, the rearguard battalion of the Seventh Division was on standby on the mountain ridge, and When Ye Jianmin saw them, he said, "You are now under my command!" We must resolutely defeat the enemy! ”
"Yes!" The battalion commander immediately led the troops into battle on the ridge.
The enemy who attacked the Dongmen Ridge was overwhelmed by heavy fire, but the enemy's main force continued to the north and prepared to seize a high mountain in the northeast corner of the north town, in an attempt to open a gap in the north town and cut off the rear road of the five regiments.
Just when Ye Jianmin was about to report this emergency situation to the division commander, he found that the division commander Chen Guang and the political commissar Liu Xingyuan had both been transferred and their whereabouts were unknown.
At this critical moment, Ye Jianmin was in a hurry, completely lost contact with his superiors, and could not get the instructions of the division commander and the political commissar. This made him very embarrassed.
To make matters worse, there were more and more enemies, at least seven times as many as the five regiments, and the fire was getting fiercer!
Ye Jianmin realized that the Fifth Regiment was already under heavy siege by the enemy, and in this lonely battle against the enemy alone, the lives of the two thousand commanders and fighters of the whole regiment and the honor of this heroic unit were all tied to him.
He calmly said to the staff officers and guards: "We are already surrounded by the enemy, with no instructions from our superiors, no support from friendly forces, the situation is grim, and we must prepare for a big fight." Turn on the radio station, hoping to hear instructions from superiors or calls from fraternal units. It is necessary to maintain close contact with the three battalions at all times and to grasp the situation on the front line of the battle in a timely manner..."
Ye Jianmin eagerly waited for instructions from his superiors, but neither Liu Guangyuan nor Chen Guang's acting division commander could contact him, and Chen Guang's original statement that he would organize several units to surround and annihilate the enemy was also lost.
Ye Jianmin realized: Can't wait any longer, wait any longer, the consequences are unpredictable!
Under such circumstances, Ye Jianmin decisively made the decision to fight while retreating.
He ordered the first battalion to seize a high mountain in the northeast corner of the north town to intercept the enemy and cover the withdrawal of the second and third battalions.
The commanders and fighters of the first battalion immediately followed this instruction and engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. Under the cover of the first battalion, the second battalion withdrew from the battle after six hours of fierce fighting with the enemy at the North Town Temple at the South Gate.
The three battalions fought and retreated, and also quickly broke through from the north of the town, and destroyed a platoon of the enemy during the breakthrough.
The first battalion faced the attack of several enemy battalions, fought fiercely for a day, and after brilliantly completing the task of covering the breakthrough of the second and third battalions, it also successfully withdrew from the battle.
After the troops were assembled, under the leadership of Ye Jianmin, they advanced to Mash fort, where the rear personnel of the Fifth Regiment were located.
As the troops were marching, they suddenly found a group of men and horses also advancing in the direction of Marshburg.
Because of the twilight and the distance, I didn't know who they were at first. When I got closer, I finally saw clearly that this group of people and horses were enemies!
Ye Jianmin did not hesitate to order a battalion to open fire fiercely, causing the enemy to flee into the wilderness.
Later, it was learned that in addition to attempting to annihilate our Fifth Regiment at Beizhen, chiang kai-shek's Thirteenth Army and Fifty-second Army also sent a force of more than 800 people to rush to Mashburg in a vain attempt to attack the rear personnel of the Fifth Regiment and intercept supplies.
Unexpectedly, the main force of the five regiments broke through from the north town and rescued the rear personnel of the regimental headquarters.
At midnight, all five regiments arrived at the Baitu Border Gate camp, and the difficult breakthrough battle was finally won.
This battle was the first time that the Fifth Regiment of the Second Division had fought against chiang kai-shek's army equipped with US weapons after entering the territory of the northeast, and it was also under the critical situation of being caught in the heavy siege of the enemy army and losing contact with its superiors, and it was independently commanded and fought in isolation.
What is amazing is that the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment fought bravely and tenaciously, successfully broke through from the heavy encirclement of the enemy army, and turned the troops into a disaster, which was a victory worth celebrating.
After the war, Ye Jianmin told Wang Shujun, director of the Political (Governance) Department of the Fifth Regiment: "When the battle entered the most tense and critical stage, it was really the most difficult pain and anxiety to get instructions from the superiors. The troops were heavily surrounded by enemy troops, with neither instructions from their superiors nor the support of friendly forces, and could only make a decision on the spot and decide on their own actions..."
"Commander Ye, it turns out that your decision to decisively withdraw from the battle and organize your troops to break through immediately is correct..." Wang Shujun sighed.