At the end of November 1944, the 2nd 5th Brigade of the New Fourth Army and the 512nd Regiment of the 171st Division of the Gui Army fought fiercely for several days in Dingyuan County, Anhui Province.
Meng Peiqiong, commander of the enemy's 512nd Regiment, made a wild statement that he wanted to annihilate the New Fourth Army in one fell swoop, so he dispatched 4 battalions of troops and divided them into two roads to attack Zhanjigang and Dong Daxuzi.
The commander of the Fifth Brigade of the New Fourth Army was the later founding lieutenant general Cheng Jun, whose military command ability was obviously unmatched by Meng Peiqiong. Under the command of Cheng Jun, the commanders and fighters of the Fifth Brigade broke through the enemy and placed the remnants of Meng Peiqiong near the Shangyang family.
Unexpectedly, the remnants of the enemy huddled in a tall green brick and tile house, and used a few machine guns to firmly block a large open area in front of the house, so that the New Fourth Army troops repeatedly attacked without success.
For a time, the battle reached a stalemate, and the scouts came to report that Cao Maoqiong, commander of the enemy's 171st Division, had sent heavy reinforcements and was expected to arrive at The Shangyang family at dusk.
This means that our army must take the remnants of Montpechon before dusk and completely destroy them, otherwise there will be more and more enemies and the situation will become more and more complicated!
Cheng Jun watched as the fighters of the attacking troops were once again crushed back by the enemy's machine guns, and of course he was very annoyed: this had already "wrapped the enemy dumplings", and he couldn't swallow it.
He thought about it, since conventional firepower did not work, there was only one way at the moment, and that was artillery attack.
Cheng Jun immediately sent someone to summon Wang Deyi, commander of the Mountain Artillery Company, and said to the green brick and tile house that was guarded: "Now that we have entered the moment of decisive battle, put up your 'treasure of the town brigade' and blast me with a breakthrough!" ”
What is the "Treasure of Town Travel"? It is sad to say that although the Fifth Brigade nominally formed a mountain artillery company, in fact, this company only has an old Krupp 75 mm mountain gun, known as "Grandpa Krupp".
This cannon has a long history, it first appeared on the battlefield in the German army during World War I, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, exiled to China, for the Kuomintang Lieutenant General Han Deloitte. By 1943, Han was defeated in a battle with the New Fourth Army, and the mountain cannon became the spoils of the Fifth Brigade of the New Fourth Army.
When Cheng Jun first saw this mountain cannon, he couldn't help but be disappointed--the cannon legs and gun body were about to fall apart, and they rattled when they shook; looking at the back and forth lines in the gun chamber, they basically had no traces; there were only a few shells left to match.
Cheng Jun said angrily: "This can be directly scrapped, take it for a fart!" Return it to the division headquarters, and we will later surrender it ourselves from the enemy! ”
Wang Deyi, an old artilleryman from the old army, had a special love for this old mountain cannon, and he repeatedly pleaded with the brigade commander Cheng Jun, which made Cheng Jun reluctantly agree to keep the cannon.
This attack on the Great Yang Family was fruitless many times, and Cheng Jun suddenly thought: That mountain cannon has not come in handy, why not take this opportunity to see if that "old guy" is really useful?
When Wang Deyi learned that the brigade commander had asked him to fire an artillery, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, but when Cheng Jun gave the order, he put forward a request: You are limited to hitting the target with one shell!
When Wang De heard these words one by one, he was stunned and did not know how to answer. Why? Because this request was too embarrassing for him.
The real reason why the veteran Wang Deyi was not without a grasp of the first blow was that among the gunners of the old army, there was a taboo passed down from generation to generation - "If the first gun hits the target, it will damage the yin morality, and the gunner will be punished." ”
This so-called "taboo" obviously contradicts the professional requirements of gunners to destroy enemy targets with artillery fire, but this is also determined by the background of the times and the cognitive level of the old army.
Wang Deyi himself is not highly educated, and since he joined the old army in his youth, he has firmly followed the practice of "the first cannon cannot be hit."
Later, he abandoned the dark to join the New Fourth Army and was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of the commander of the mountain artillery company, but he still did not forget the so-called "taboo" for the Krupp mountain cannon that had never been useful.
Now that it was the moment of decisive battle, the brigade commander Cheng Jun demanded in a very serious tone that he destroyed the target with only one shell, obviously without any negotiable death order, and Wang Deyi realized that it was time to break the taboo of the old army.
He personally selected the gun position and asked the artillery to set up the Krupp mountain cannon. To ensure that there were no mistakes, he then personally carried out a series of operations such as aiming and firing.
Due to the long age and no spare parts to replace, this old mountain cannon even lacked sighting equipment, and Wang Deyi could only rely on his own experience to aim at the target with a pair of naked eyes.
Of the few shells he had, he picked left and right to find the best one.
After stuffing the shell into the bore, Wang Deyi, with a mood full of anticipation and extreme nervousness, jerked the fire, and the old mountain cannon made a loud noise, followed by a dazzling fireball spewing out in a violent shaking!
When firing this cannon, Wang Deyi was completely in a mood of wanting to see it but not daring to look at it, hoping that the shell would hit it as soon as it hit, and fearing that it would hit the target.
When he heard a burst of cheers from his comrades around him, he immediately realized: the task entrusted to him by the brigade commander was completed!
Yes, Wang Deyi was indeed an extremely good gunner, and with only one shot he hit the target, blasting open a large hole in the green brick house that the enemy was holding.
Cheng Jun was overjoyed and shouted, "Well done! Wang Deyi, continue to bombard, blast it to a pulp! ”
Wang Deyi did not live up to his expectations, firing three more shells in succession, each of which hit the target accurately, and collapsed the green brick and tile house in one breath.
With Cheng Jun's order, the soldiers of the New Fourth Army shouted and rushed to the enemy position, and in less than half an hour, the battle was over, annihilating the enemy, and the enemy regiment commander Meng Peiqiong and his three battalion commanders were taken prisoner.
It was precisely because Wang Deyi broke the taboo of "the first break cannot be hit" that he turned the situation on the battlefield in one fell swoop, so that this battle set a new record in the history of the New Fourth Army: for the first time, 4 entire battalions of the recalcitrant army were annihilated.
After the war, brigade commander Cheng Junlian praised Wang Deyi: "Breaking the old taboo and making great achievements, only by taking this step can you be regarded as a truly qualified cadre of the New Fourth Army!" ”