In late May 1949, the Ninth Corps of the People's Liberation Army,under the command of commander Song Shilun (the founding general), was ordered to launch an attack on the enemy Tang Enbo group, which was holding the town of Gaoqiao in Shanghai and the surrounding areas.
May 22 was the most delicate and complicated day of the fighting situation outside Takahashi. The positions of the front-line units of the Thirty-first Army were in danger several times, and many positions were broken by the enemy, and our army paid a heavy price before retaking them.
For several days, like Zhou Zhijian (the founding lieutenant general), the commander of the 30-first Army, Gao Rui (the founding colonel of the Ninety-first Division, promoted to major general in 1961) had to go to the position every day to observe the battle.
After fighting Zhou Pu, the Ninety-first Division became the second echelon of the Thirty-first Army. He realized that Commander Zhou Zhijian wanted to constantly compete with the enemy for positions and fight for strength, which would be detrimental to our army in the future, because the purpose of our army was to hit the port of Sancha and block the enemy's escape route, and if it was blocked here, it would definitely suffer losses.
On the way to the front line, Gurry and Zhou Zhijian meet. Zhou Zhijian was returning from his position, wearing an ordinary soldier's costume and covered in mud. Due to the bad situation on the front line, Zhang Zhijian's face was solemn, his eyebrows were locked, and he was also thinking about changing the tactics.
Gurry and Zhou Zhijian are old superiors and subordinates. In the Fifth Division that year, Zhou Zhijian was the division commander and Gao Rui was the chief of staff.
Gurry pointed to the warships cruising in the Middle Huangpu River and the tanks on the Linjiang Highway and said, "Commander, the battle cannot be fought like this." On one side is the blockade on the river, on the other side is the tank, the troops are not adapted, have no experience, so they will suffer losses! ”
Zhou Zhijian nodded and asked, "What do you think?" ”
Gao Rui confidently said: "Concentrate troops, break through the center, and directly hit Takahashi!" Then he explained his reasons.
"Okay!" Zhou Zhijian listened and pulled Gao Rui aside, "Don't go up, go with me to the Corps Headquarters." ”
Subsequently, he immediately reported the plan of "breaking through the central government and directly hitting Takahashi" to the commander of the Ninth Corps, Song Shilun (the founding general).
Song Shilun is an acute child, and the war has always been known for being decisive and quick, and he slapped his face as soon as he heard it: "Just do it, old Zhou, you will fight Takahashi tonight!" ”
Gao Rui was anxious to hear this: "Commander, it is now noon, the enemy's artillery blockade is so tight, it is impossible to see the terrain during the day to make pre-war preparations, nor can it mobilize troops to change combat deployments. ”
"Fight tonight!" Song Shi Chakra Command.
"There is no battle to fight, I really can't fight it!" Gurry said earnestly.
"I'm the commander of the corps, and I have the final say!" Song Shilun insisted on fighting.
"Tonight is not ripe to play, you can't be too hasty, and the manager's orders can't be obeyed." Gurry's strength also came up, although he was a subordinate, but in the face of the issue of principle, he refused to back down.
The two sides were deadlocked, and finally Gurry had to ask the political commissar of the corps, Guo Huaruo (the founding lieutenant general), for help and ask him to do the work of commander.
Through Guo Huaruo's mediation, Song Shilun finally agreed to postpone the attack on Takahashi until after May 24, and decided that the commander Zhou Zhijian would command the 30th Army and the 31st Army in a unified manner.
After the order was formally issued, Gurry was relieved, and then he took the initiative to ask for help, asking to lead the Ninety-first Division to undertake the assault mission. Zhou Zhijian readily agreed.
On the afternoon of the 23rd, Gurry organized combatants to go to the front of Takahashi to see the terrain. He was well versed in the wonders of Sun Tzu's art of war, "knowing oneself and knowing the other, never losing a hundred battles."
Among the many cadres of our army, Gao Rui is a very special commander. At that time in the Shandong Military Region, everyone who had dealt with Gao Rui knew that Gao Rui loved to read and think, and paid special attention to collecting ancient and modern Chinese and foreign military books.
At that time, there was a book called "Fear and Fearlessness" that was very popular in the Soviet novel, and there was a Red Army division commander who was very good at fighting. The soldiers used the division commander's name to give Gurry the nickname "Panfinov".
Xu Shiyou, commander of the Shandong Military Region, greatly appreciated Gao Rui, believing that although he was an intellectual who loved to read and think, he did not have the "stinky problems" of intellectuals, and especially praised him for fighting and not dying, which was no different from that of workers and peasant cadres.
The main reason why Xu Shiyou said this is that he appreciated that Gurry had two good habits: Before formulating tactics, he must take military cadres to the forefront to personally observe the terrain and enemy situation; when commanding operations, he was accustomed to approaching the command, and the closer the better.
Now, Gurry and his party sneaked all the way to 100 meters southwest of Gaoqiao Town, where the famous "Du Family Ancestral Hall" on the beach was located. He thought all the way and gradually formed a mature battle plan in his mind.
At the pre-war meeting attended by Zhou Zhijian, Rao Shoukun, deputy commander of the 30th Army, and other commanders, everyone unanimously agreed to Gao Rui's proposal to take Takahashi directly and the battle plan finalized by Zhou Zhijian:
The 91st Division, attached to the 274th Regiment of the 92nd Division and the Junshan Artillery Regiment, was responsible for the main offensive southwest and southeast of Takahashi. Among them, the 271st Regiment and the 274th Regiment carried out surprise attacks from the southeast and southwest sides of Gaoqiao respectively, and the 273rd Regiment was a reserve.
After the Gaoqiao position is attacked, all units should plunge into the direction of Sancha Port as quickly as possible, organize fire to block Wusongkou, and cut off the enemy's sea escape route.
In addition to the 278th Regiment guarding west along the Huangpu River, the 93rd Division attacked west of Gaoqiao to ensure the safety of the left wing of the main attack on Gaoqiao.
The troops of the 30th Army attacked from the east flank of Takahashi. The two armies act in unison and keep in touch at all times.
From midnight on May 25 to dawn on May 26, news of the success of the front line reached Zhou Zhijian's headquarters one after another.
By the morning of the 26th, most of the defenders of Takahashi were annihilated under the onslaught of our army, and the remaining enemies fled in the direction of Sancha Port. Subsequently, the thirty-first army and the thirty-first army joined forces to annihilate all this enemy, and immediately closed the Huangpu River estuary.
By noon on the 26th, the defenders of Pudong, including Gaoqiao, were completely annihilated by our army, and our army killed and wounded more than 2,600 enemy and captured more than 16,000 enemy.
At the post-war summary meeting, Song Shilun, Guo Huaruo, Zhou Zhijian, Rao Shoukun, and others unanimously concluded that the tactics of the central breakthrough, direct access to Gaoqiao, and quick battle and quick decision put forward by Gao Rui played a key role in the victory of this battle.
Song Shilun also deliberately found Gao Rui and said sincerely to this subordinate who was 12 years younger than him: "Comrade Gurry, your opinion of not refusing to fight on the night of the 22nd is completely correct, and I must admit that I was anxious at that time!" ”
It is worth mentioning that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Gao Rui was transferred to the Academy of Military Sciences by Marshal Ye (Jianying), and later became the vice president of the academy, training a large number of military cadres for our army.