At the turn of the summer and autumn of 1946, the troops of the two major military regions of our army, Jin-Cha-Ji and Jin-Sui, fought fierce battles with the Kuomintang warlord Yan Xishan outside Datong City, Shanxi.
The 3rd Column and 8th Brigade of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, under the leadership of Deputy Brigade Commander General Song Yulin, were responsible for attacking nandamiao, an important pass outside the city.
The battle began at dawn and lasted for a whole day, but until dusk our army was unable to break through the Nanda Temple.
The reason for the ineffective offensive of our army is actually very simple, that is, the enemy has tanks to assist in the battle.
In the autumn of 1945, when the Japanese army announced its unconditional surrender, Yan Xishan received dozens of tanks from them, and at the same time incorporated the Japanese pilots, machine gunners, and gunners, retaining the original squad of the tank unit.
The vast majority of the commanders and fighters of the Third Column and Eighth Brigade are from the guerrilla background in Jizhong Province, and although they are good at tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare, position warfare and offensive warfare are not strong points, especially the lack of combat experience in fighting tanks.
What's more, at that time, our army's weapons and equipment were still relatively backward, there were no anti-tank weapons and heavy artillery at all, although there were a few mortars, and the shells were shot out at the beginning of the battle. By the time the enemy's tanks appeared, our army was powerless and had paid a considerable price in casualties.
General Song Yulin saw the soldiers falling in front of the enemy tanks' guns at the forward command post, and his heart was so anxious that he had to order his troops to suspend the attack.
He called a meeting of cadres to find a way to break the enemy tank formation. But the crowd talked for two hours, but never agreed on a feasible solution.
The weather was a little hot, which made Song Yulin's heart even more irritable, so he announced that he would temporarily suspend the meeting and take the opportunity to go outside the command post to breathe.
By this time it was completely dark, and the sound of gunfire could not be heard outside the command post, only autumn insects were chirping. Night shrouded the earth, and it was dark all around.
A breeze blew, song Yulin felt very comfortable, so she strolled forward, but her mind was still thinking about how to deal with the enemy tanks.
Because the night was too dark, everything in front of him was very blurry, Song Yulin, who was walking alone at night, had just stepped out of the room not far, and suddenly stepped into the air, fell to the ground with a thud, and fell to his head, and it took him a while to wake up.
He lay on the ground and touched it with his hand, only to find that the place where he fell was a drainage ditch. Fortunately, there was no water in the ditch, and the soil was soft, and he did not fall on his body.
Song Yulin laughed bitterly: "A small drainage ditch actually made me plant a big heel!" ”
He stood up, slapped the dirt off his body with his hands, and suddenly had a clever move, realizing a truth: Since a drainage ditch can make my big man fall hard, then why not use this principle to deal with the enemy's tanks? Although the tanks are fierce and powerful, they also lack flexibility, and if they dig a large ditch on the necessary road of the tanks, they will not be able to make them fall behind...
Thinking of this, Song Yulin Mao Sai suddenly opened up, and his heart was overjoyed: "Haha, I have found a way to break the enemy!" ”
He walked quickly back to the command post and gathered the cadres of the regiments and battalions to redeploy the battle.
Everyone wondered: The deputy brigade commander had just gone out for a few minutes to take a walk, how could he think of a way to deal with enemy tanks so quickly?
Song Yulin smiled and told everyone about the accidental fall just now, and then said: "In fact, we should have thought that digging a trench to block the enemy's tanks is the simplest and most practical way!" ”
Next, after discussion, they determined the specific implementation method: three battalions of troops were dispatched to dig a trench 1.5 meters deep, 3.5 meters wide, and 5 miles long in the night about 300 meters north of the Nanda Temple, and all of them were completed before dawn.
Song Yulin repeatedly stressed that it is not difficult to dig trenches, but it is difficult to be unaware when digging, which requires that the troops must be prohibited from shouting and smoking when they move, and they must maintain absolute silence.
Fortunately, on the same night, the stars and the moon were dark, the night was as dark as the bottom of the pot, and the enemy camped outside the four or five, creating the most favorable conditions for the commanders and fighters of the Eighth Brigade to dig trenches.
When the soldiers dug, they had another surprise, this area is all yellow soil, the soil is relatively soft, which makes the construction speed much faster than expected.
During the day, our army's tanks were frustrated and our comrades fell down, which made the soldiers turn the grief in their hearts into strength, and everyone raced against the clock to shake off their arms, and they were all completed an hour ahead of schedule.
Song Yulin was not at ease, and personally went down to the ditch to carefully check it several times, and then said happily: "Everything is ready, just wait for the enemy's turtle shell to come from the net!" ”
At dawn, the enemy took the initiative to challenge, and as the day before, they still let the tanks take the lead.
The enemy was obviously overwhelmed by the victory of the previous day and drove the tanks to rush forward unscrupulously, but they did not expect that the PLA had laid a trap overnight.
The front tank was defenseless, plunged headlong into the camouflaged trench and could no longer drive out, smoking hard behind its butt but unable to do anything about it.
At the order of Song Yulin, he organized powerful fire to shoot the enemy infantry behind the tank, causing them to retreat.
After this battle, the enemy no longer dared to send tanks to attack, so General Song Yulin commanded his troops to surround the enemy of the Nanda Temple, and the next morning he annihilated all the enemies.
When Yang Chengwu, commander of the Third Column of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, learned of the battle, he happily praised Song Yulin: "You fought this battle skillfully, and you were able to find a way to break the enemy overnight, and you turned defeat into victory, which shows that your head fell worth it!" ”
Reference historical materials: "Records of the Field Army Conquest of the North China Military Region", "Chinese Xiongshi , North China Field Army" and so on