In March 1948, the three major military regions of Jinji-Hebei Luyu, Taiyue and Jinsui, with a total of more than 53,000 people, jointly launched the Battle of Linfen.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is a very fierce urban offensive in the history of our army.
The Eighth Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region was the absolute main force in this campaign and also undertook the most important task of attacking the strongholds.
Among them, the 24th Brigade of the Column was tasked with attacking a very important stronghold outside Linfen City, the Xinglong Temple.
It is said that when Li Zicheng attacked Linfen at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he was shot blind in one eye and suffered a big loss.
Wang Yong, the commander of the Twenty-fourth Brigade, was a cautious commander who repeatedly studied the attack plan before the battle began.
After pondering and pondering, he always felt that the reconnaissance personnel did not have a thorough understanding of the terrain and enemy situation around the Xinglong Temple, and decided to personally go to the front to reconnoiter.
The battle was about to start, and Wang Gong, the chief of the operations section, felt that it was too dangerous to do so, repeatedly discouraged it, and said that he could go. But Wang Yong insisted on going.
After reaching the front, Wang Yong walked through all the untouched places.
Finally, he made a very bold decision to go to the front to reconnoiter the layout of the enemy's bunkers, intending to use this method to determine a most ideal offensive route.
Unexpectedly, just when Wang Yong was fully engrossed in observing the enemy bunker, the enemy hiding in the shadows suddenly opened fire, and with a gunshot, Wang Yong was shot in the head, and the glorious sacrifice was about to start the battle.
In fact, if it had not been for this accident, Wang Yong would probably have become a dazzling general star in the history of our army.
Born in 1915 in Laoting County, Hebei Province, Wang Yong followed his uncle to Kanto at the age of 3, and studied in Harbin No. 3 Middle School, Rotary High School, and the Department of Civil Engineering of Northeastern University as a teenager.
He was arrested and imprisoned by the Kuomintang after participating in the 129 Movement, and also actively participated in the anti-Japanese rescue activities.
It can be said that Wang Yong has both a relatively high level of education and rich experience in revolutionary struggle.
In the army, Wang Yong was strict with himself in combat and training, led by example, had a high prestige, and fought many beautiful victories.
Both Commander Xu and Commander Wang regarded Wang Yong as a beloved general, and the former once commented in his biography that Wang Yong was "a commander with both wisdom and courage and both culture and martial arts."
No one ever imagined that a 33-year-old brigade commander would be shot coldly by the enemy and fall on the position.
When the bad news came, the commanders and fighters of the whole brigade were extremely sad and indignant.
The commander of the Eighth Column, Wang Xinting (awarded the rank of general in 1955), was distraught and demanded that the soldiers turn their grief into strength and break through Linfen City to avenge the martyr Wang Yong.
At 5 p.m. on the same day, the battle against the Xinglong Hall officially began, and the artillery blasted the Dongguan city wall out of a gap of about 10 meters wide.
The soldiers of the Twenty-fourth Brigade rushed forward to kill, captured a bunker group of the enemy, and eliminated some of the enemy.
Just as they were about to continue their attack, they were blocked by the enemy with dense fire, and the attack came to a standstill.
At dawn the next day, Wang Xinting personally commanded his troops to continue the attack, but still failed to open the stalemate.
Since none of the troops could open the breakthrough, Commander-in-Chief Xu (Forward) could only order the siege to be temporarily stopped.
Subsequently, Commander Xu summoned the cadres of various brigades to a meeting to study siege tactics, and decided to change the way of playing and adopt the method of digging tunnels to advance the city.
At this meeting, Commander Xu specifically mentioned Wang Yong's sacrifice, and he said to the generals: "It is really sad to fight a Linfen and sacrifice such an excellent brigade commander! ”
Then he said to Wang Xinting, commander of the Eighth Column, "No matter what, we must conquer Linfen City!" If I can't fight, I will go to Wutai Mountain to become a monk! ”
Wang Xinting also made up his mind excitedly: "We must increase our efforts to attack the city, we can't take Linfen, and I will also go to Mount Wutai as a monk!" ”
At 4:00 p.m. on April 10, under the personal supervision of Commander Xu, the troops launched a general attack on Dongguan.
Under the command of Wang Xinting, the eighth column general opened the breakthrough of the siege through tunnel excavation and rushed to the head of Dongguan City in one fell swoop.
Among the units besieging the city, the commanders and fighters of the Twenty-fourth Brigade fought the most heroically and tenaciously, and with the sad and indignant mood of avenging Wang Yong, they rushed to the enemy position and became the vanguard of the siege.
Although the defenders in Linfen City were very stubborn and still tried to resist after being trapped in the city, Linfen City was finally completely conquered by our army on May 24, and the defending enemy was completely annihilated by our army.
Only then did Wang Xinting feel relieved and smiled and said to the crowd, "This is good, I and Commander Xu can stay in the army, there is no need to go to Wutai Mountain to become a monk!" ”
Although the battle ended in victory, Commander Xu could not let go of the death of Wang Yong, a beloved general.
In order to avoid such regrets again, he solemnly announced a new stipulation: From now on, all cadres at and above the regimental level who want to go deep into the front to inspect the terrain must first obtain the consent of their superiors.