During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there was such a peculiar battle: the enemy's planes watched their troops being attacked head-on by the volunteers, but they could do nothing to the volunteer officers and men who were close at hand, and did not dare to bomb and strafe them at all, and finally helplessly allowed this elite unit of the British army to be defeated.
At the end of December 1950, the 446th Regiment of the 149th Division of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army, led by Deputy Division Commander Li Pingye and Regiment Commander Kong Qingcang, successfully broke through the Linjin River, and then took advantage of the night to be ordered to penetrate Seoul.
On the evening of December 31, when the 446th Regiment came to the place of Gaoyang, the three battalions that came to the front met the enemy in a narrow road and had to start a battle.
Fortunately, this battle was fought more smoothly, because the other side only had the strength of one company of the British army. After an hour of fierce fighting with the enemy, the three battalions crushed them in one fell swoop, killing and wounding 13 enemy soldiers and taking 10 prisoners.
By interrogating the prisoners, Li Pingye and Kong Qingcang had a very important piece of information: the Rifle Regiment of the Twenty-ninth Brigade, known as the "Ace Force" by the British, was retreating south along the road.
The 446th Regiment had a training unit commander named Wei Xiuhui, a very intelligent cadre, and after accurate measurements of military maps, he deduced that the British army should flee to the road west of Gaoyang at dawn the next day.
"Can't we take this opportunity to fight an ambush and annihilate this enemy?" Wei Xiuhui made suggestions to Li Pingye and Kong Qingcang and expounded specific operational ideas.
After listening, Li Pingye and Kong Qingcang both agreed, and then made corresponding arrangements: the first and second battalions set up ambush positions on both sides of the road in the target area, and the third battalion and the regimental headquarters were hidden and standby.
Based on this operational deployment overnight, the troops entered the ambush site and made full preparations for battle.
At dawn the next day, the enemy did appear, driving their tanks and cars south along the road under the cover of aircraft.
For the volunteer army, whose weapons and equipment are far inferior and whose strength is not superior, it is certainly very difficult to fight such a mechanized unit. However, Li Pingye and Kong Qingcang had already made up their minds and made proper arrangements.
When the British tanks that rushed to the front to open the way entered the ambush section, Li Guanglu, a soldier of the Second Battalion, led a combat team to hide at the bend in the road.
Although the tanks are menacing, they must slow down when they turn, and this is the best chance to attack them.
At this moment, Li Guanglu jumped up like lightning, quickly shoved the blaster in his hand into the tracks of the tank in front, and then pulled the fuse and flexibly jumped into a dirt pit outside the road.
With an earth-shattering noise, a thick cloud of smoke came out, and the tank in the front shook a few times and was paralyzed in place. The already wide road was thus blocked, and the tanks and cars behind could only brake urgently, triggering a series of rear-end collisions.
In the continuous collision, shouting, and scolding, this British army unit suddenly became a pot of porridge.
Don't attack at this time, let alone when! The soldiers of the second and third battalions of the Volunteer Army, who were ambushed on both sides of the road, opened fire on the chaotic enemy in unison.
After the volunteer soldiers hit the enemy head-on, they sounded the charge horn again, and launched a brave attack from the hillsides on both sides to the road, the momentum was like Mount Tai pressing down, and the firepower was like a storm, which killed the enemy and suffered heavy casualties.
The British commander saw this and quickly called in air support.
It wasn't long before several enemy planes turned around and flew in, ready to attack the volunteers. Ironically, however, at this time, the enemy planes found that there was no way to fire at the volunteers.
This is because after the volunteer army launched the charge, it had long been mixed with the British army, you have me, I have you. Although the enemy plane flew very low and could even see the figure of the volunteers clearly, they were afraid of hurting their own people, and they did not dare to bomb and strafe the volunteers at all, and could only circle at a low altitude in a hurry.
As soon as Li Pingye saw that the enemy planes were coming to join in the fun, he immediately ordered the fighters to aim their anti-aircraft machine guns at the enemy planes and shoot at them. After a few rounds of bullets were fired, although they did not hit the target, they frightened the enemy planes and scattered them, leaving their troops to flee for their lives.
The ambush ended an hour later, and the 446th Regiment of the Volunteer Army killed and wounded more than 125 British troops, captured 148 prisoners, destroyed more than 10 enemy cars and tanks, and captured a large number of booty such as cans, biscuits, candy, tobacco and alcohol.
The British rifle regiment was defeated, and the remnants of the enemy could only turn back to the north for a while, and then take a detour to flee south.
At this time, Li Pingye resolutely issued an order: In order to avoid retaliatory bombardment by the enemy, except for some companies left to quickly clean up the battlefield, the rest of the people all seized the time to disperse and hide.
This battle is known in the history of the Volunteer Army as the "Gaoyang Ambush Battle". The Headquarters of the Fiftieth Army gave commendations to the regiment, among which Li Guanglu, who took the lead in destroying enemy tanks and made the first contribution to the victory of the whole regiment, was awarded the glorious title of "Hero of Fighting Tanks".
Wei Xiuhui, commander of the training unit of the 446th Regiment, keenly spotted the fighter planes and proposed to ambush the enemy, which also played an important role in this victory, and was also commended by his superiors and promoted to deputy chief of staff of the 446th Regiment.