As we all know, cadres at the military level are generally only responsible for planning, directing operations, and giving orders, and generally do not come to the front line to have face-to-face contact with the enemy.
What is less well known is that the founding lieutenant generals Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua, two founding lieutenant generals, once set a rare record in military history in a battle: as military commanders, they personally captured more than 300 prisoners when they were trapped in the enemy group. (Looking through military history, the example of military commanders and political commissars personally capturing prisoners cannot find a second one)
At dawn on December 9, 1948, three divisions of the 41st Army of the Northeast Field Army suddenly appeared on the Pingsui Line on the Huailai, Kangzhuang, and Badaling fronts, and fought the first battle of the Pingjin Campaign, the Battle of Kangzhuang and Huailai.
Within three days, the Forty-first Army cut off the enemy's "long snake array" and annihilated most of the 250th and 269th Divisions of the enemy's 104th Army, and was rewarded by the Corps. It was in this campaign that Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua set a record for personally capturing prisoners.
At midnight on December 10, the 361st and 363rd Regiments of the 121st Division seized favorable terrain in the Hengling Mountains, completely cutting off the enemy's way.
After the battle began, the soldiers of the 363rd Regiment bravely rushed to the most crowded place of the enemy and the carriages and horses. Like a sharp knife thrust in, light and heavy weapons quickly opened fire, suppressing the enemy who was trying to escape the mountain with fire at the bottom of the ditch.
Under the attack of the Platon's pursuit and blockade troops, the headquarters of the enemy's 104th Army and its subordinate units were defeated. The units of the 121st Division searched the mountains and took prisoners, and basically resolved the battle on the morning of the 11th.
In this pursuit and annihilation battle, the signs of the defeat of Chiang Kai-shek's troops have been vividly reflected.
As soon as the PLA officers and men inserted themselves into the enemy group, they found that the front, back, left and right were all black-pressed and crushed, and they were simply crowded and could not turn around. The PLA pursuing troops were like a pair of giant feet, stepping on the ant-like enemy swarm, frightening them to scatter and flee.
Hundreds of American cars, mules armed with mountain cannons, and countless enemy cavalry rushed into the chaotic infantry, turning them into a pot of porridge.
The situation at that time was: the enemy was in chaos, and our army was also in chaos. However, the enemy's chaos is to panic and choose a path when fleeing, and to wander around like a headless fly; our army is an independent operation and a flexible attack when taking the initiative to attack, but in fact it is chaotic but not chaotic.
More than 50 people of the Forty-first Army also followed the pursuing troops of the 121st Division and reached the edge of the Great Wall on the morning of the 11th.
Commander Wu Kehua, political commissar Mo Wenhua, deputy political commissar Ouyang Wen, chief of staff Li Fuze, and other commanders were originally on horseback, but at this time had to change to riding a horse. They carried radio and staff officers, as well as a guard platoon.
As the crowd marched forward, they saw that the road was littered with overturned vehicles and enemies who had been killed and frozen, and the units of the Forty-first Army were engaged in a fierce race to capture prisoners.
Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua and others led their horses up and climbed over the Great Wall. They came down the hill to check the procession, only to find that the personnel carrying radio and power generation hand-cranked motorcycles and a guard squad had not followed. Since the troops in front had already gone far, Wu, Mo, and the others could only continue to advance, and could not stop and wait for those who had fallen behind.
As the party was walking, they suddenly noticed that not far ahead of them was an enemy blocking the road, and machine guns were set up.
This sudden situation made the staff officer of the military department suddenly break out in a cold sweat: Oops! I didn't pay attention to it and strayed into the enemy group! If the enemy finds out that the senior commander of our army is in the ranks, the consequences will be unimaginable!
Commander Wu Kehua, political commissar Mo Wenhua, and chief of staff Li Fuze were not in danger, and they all looked at each other and nodded. Wu Kehua whispered to the crowd: "Don't panic, don't look around, leave them alone, let's go ours!" ”
Then we walked calmly in front of the enemy. Mo Wenhua also deliberately asked the enemy: "What part is it?" ”
The enemy replied, "Report sir, we are in the military department." ”
When the crowd rubbed shoulders with this group of enemies and walked out more than ten meters away, Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua suddenly whispered to the Wu staff officer next to them: "Go and hand over their guns!" ”
Staff Officer Wu understood and immediately pulled out his pistol and walked back, and Wu Kehua, Mo Wenhua, and others also stopped, pulled out their pistols and stared at the enemy's position.
At this time, the enemy was unaware of what was happening behind him, and was drinking water and eating dry food. Staff Officer Wu walked up to them and suddenly shouted, "We are the People's Liberation Army, we will not kill us if we surrender our guns!" ”
After a fierce battle, this group of enemies has long become a bird of fright, they are only thinking about how to save their lives, without any combat effectiveness, the gun in their hands has become a "blowing torch". At this time, he was shouted angrily by Staff Sergeant Wu, and he was so frightened that he did not dare to turn his head back and raised his hands to surrender.
When Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua saw this scene, they couldn't help but smile. Li Fuze, chief of staff, laughed and said, "The military commander and political commissar are really calm, so let's not be idle along the way, just use this method to capture more prisoners!" ”
It wasn't long before the guard squad and radio crews caught up with them and joined in the race to capture the captives. Because the enemy's army was confused, the forty-first army advanced all the way to capture prisoners, and basically encountered no resistance.
At first, they asked the captives to unload the bolts and give them to the soldiers. However, because the prisoners were more and more captured, the soldiers could not even hold the bolts of the guns, so they simply asked the prisoners to throw their guns on the ground and follow them empty-handed.
It was not until they encountered the company of the 1st, 21st Division escorting the prisoners that the military headquarters handed them over the prisoners. An inventory revealed that they had captured more than 300 captives along the way. Many people were surprised and said: "The commander at the military level personally captured the prisoners, which is really the first time I have heard that these prisoners have a big enough face!" ”
At dusk that day, the military headquarters arrived at Hengling, and the fact that the commander and political commissar personally captured the prisoners was a good story for a while.
[Note] This incident was recorded in the book "Memoirs of Mo Wenhua" published by the People's Liberation Army Publishing House in 1996.