In early June 1945, the 35th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, known as the "Tiger Regiment", under the leadership of its regiment leader Wang Chenghan (who became the founding major general of New China in 1955 and was promoted to general in 1988), was ordered to attack the town of Dazhi in the east of Dengfeng County, in order to cut off the arm of the Japanese puppet army reaching out of the city.
Daye Town was the last stronghold of the Japanese army to reach outside Dengfeng City, and there was a wall of more than two inches high around the town, the wall was strong, there were artillery towers on the top, tunnels underneath, layer by layer of fortification, forming a dense fire net, and there was a wide and deep moat outside the wall.
Because the enemy occupies favorable terrain, is condescending, has good weapons and strong firepower, and is coupled with the poor weapons of the Eighth Route Army, lack of ammunition, and no artillery, it is difficult to approach the city wall.
Late that night, the second company and three platoons of the first battalion, led by platoon leader Zhang Zhenshu, took the lead in launching an attack on the enemy wall.
The warriors carried the ladder and used the cover of night to prepare to climb the wall. However, after the enemy found out, he immediately swept down the village with intensive firepower, and the three platoons suffered heavy casualties and had to withdraw from the battle.
Following the failure of the first sneak attack, the Tiger Regiment launched several consecutive strong attacks, but they were unsuccessful.
Commander Wang Chenghan ordered the troops to stop the attack immediately, and he said to the cadres of the battalion companies: "Sooner or later, the turtle in the urn will also be ours." If they cannot attack it for the time being, they will encircle the points to provide assistance, besiege the tired enemy, and then use the offensive battle to divide and disintegrate, not afraid that he will not surrender his gun. ”
The Tiger Regiment held a "Zhuge Liang Meeting" overnight with the participation of cadres of all battalions and platoons, and mobilized everyone to offer ideas and suggestions.
Zhang Zhenshu, the leader of the third platoon, said breathlessly: "We have fought so many victorious battles, but this time we were actually bitten by the weasel, and we got a shame, really nested!" Company commander, you give the order, for fear that the tiger will not enter the mountain, that the dragon will not go down to the beach..."
The second row of long deer Deshan was not highly educated, but he was thick and thin, interrupting Zhang Zhenshu's words: "How many victorious generals are there in the world?" What a fear of being bitten by a 'mosquito'! The enemy is well equipped, we are poorly equipped; the enemy's firepower is strong, and our ammunition is all taken from the enemy's hands; the enemy has strong fortifications, and we are fighting to attack the stronghold. We must defeat the enemy, we must fight with courage, and we must also fight with wisdom. ”
Wang Chenghan nodded and agreed, "Well, Deer Platoon Leader, just talk about your 'Fighting Wisdom'." ”
Lu Deshan smiled and said, "I'm a big old man, I can't read a pocket of big characters, what wisdom!" All I know is that when I was in the Taihang Mountains, there were troops who converted four rutted Taiping chariots into wooden tanks and pushed them to attack the Devil's stronghold. We can also drive an ox cart to the enemy's position a few times at night. ”
Then he added: "Some troops put an empty iron barrel near the enemy's stronghold, tied a rope, and pulled the rope, and the foreign iron barrel rattled and made a noise, so that the ghosts did not dare to sleep and shot indiscriminately." But that's a dead end, we can make a living, get a few cows, transform into 'earth tanks' to try. ”
Wang Chenghan nodded happily, "Not bad! I didn't expect that the deer platoon leader, the 'big old man', could come up with such a wonderful trick as the live cattle array, and he could try it! ”
When the local armed forces learned that the front-line troops were going to set up "live cattle arrays" and build "earth tanks," they immediately mobilized a few cattle from the peasants, and then transferred two four-wheeled trailers from the coal mines, converted them into "earth tanks," and rushed to the front line with cattle pulls.
In the dark of the night, several cows with bells suddenly appeared in front of the enemy's position. When the enemy heard the bell ringing, he couldn't figure out what it was, so he blindly opened fire.
The cattle jumped around when they heard the gunshots, and the more quickly the bell rang, the more fierce the enemy's shooting became, and the gunfire was continuous.
The "Live Bull Array" attack tactics worked, causing the enemies in the village to panic.
The four-wheeled trailer-modified "dirt tank" is also decent, with a cab and machine gun firing holes. The hull was covered with eight layers of watered quilts, which were tested by live ammunition to protect light and heavy machine guns.
Lu Deshan led two combat groups, carrying two light machine guns, and in two "earth tanks" quietly moved to the enemy's position, and suddenly launched a fire attack on the enemy.
When the enemy saw this behemoth, he panicked and fired light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and rifles at the same time, and there was another burst of random fire.
In this battle, the "living bull array" offered by Lu Deshan showed great might, and coupled with the sharpshooter's ammunition, the enemy did not dare to show his head.
In order to divide and disintegrate the enemy, the tiger regiment's enemy work group shouted continuously around the wall for several days and nights, causing the enemy's morale to collapse and panic for an indefinite day.
The Tiger Regiment besieged Daye Town for more than twenty days, and the combination of military strikes and the disintegration of the offensive heart made the defending enemy exhausted and the army's heart shaken, like a bird of fright.
After full preparation, the commander of wang chenghan regiment issued a battle order for the enemy to attack daye town in general.
After blowing up the wall of the village through the blasting operation, all the commanders and fighters of the Second Company and the Eighth Company of the Tiger Regiment split into two roads, faced the aftermath of the explosion, jumped on the breakthrough with rapid movements, attacked the enemy's position, and unfolded deep into the village amid the sound of charge and rushing.
After a fierce battle, the Tiger Regiment completely annihilated the enemy and did not miss a net.
Since then, in addition to the isolated strongholds of the Japanese army in Dengfeng County, the entire liberated area of Dengfeng County has been connected, and the Jishan Anti-Japanese Base Area has expanded to the east for more than fifty kilometers.
It is worth mentioning that Lu Deshan, who called himself "Big Old Man", played a vital role in the wonderful trick of "living cattle array" in the battle to conquer Dazhi Town, and made the first contribution.
Although Wang Chenghan, a famous general of a generation, was able to recruit good soldiers, he was able to be as good as a stream when the troops encountered difficulties, and it was also worthy of recognition that he could conscientiously listen to and fully adopt the suggestions of the grass-roots cadres under his command.
After the battle, Wang Chenghan promoted Lu Deshan to the deputy battalion commander of the second battalion, which can be said to be the third rank of the company (main platoon - deputy company - zheng company - deputy battalion).
Unfortunately, Lu Deshan, a promising cadre, died heroically in the early days of the Liberation War and failed to leave his name on the general star book of the Republic.