On March 27, 1947, Chiang Kai-shek's army mobilized as many as 20 regiments of heavy troops, marched in three directions, and launched a fourth offensive against our army stationed in the Linjiang area southeast of Jilin Province.
In accordance with the instructions of their superiors, the third column and the fourth column of the Liaodong Military Region of the Northeast People's (Main) Combined Forces adopted the strategy of luring the enemy to penetrate deeper, and laid down a "pocket array" in the area of Hongshi (砬) Zi (present-day Hongshi Town) southwest of Sanyuanpu, waiting for big fish to take the bait.
This is the "Four Guarantees Linjiang" of famous military history.
On April 1, on a front about 10 miles east of Hongshi (砬), the Twenty-third Regiment of the Eighth Division of our Third Column fought fiercely all day with the Eighty-ninth Division, known as the "Ace Division" of Chiang Kai-shek's army.
The enemy's Eighty-ninth Division, which was equipped with all American-style equipment, had just been airlifted from Southeast Asia to the northeast not long ago, and its arrogance was very arrogant.
When accepting the task, Zhang Xiaotang, the commander of the enemy's substitute division, issued a military order to Du Yuming, saying that he must "strike hard at the (communist) army and become a model for the northeast (national) army."
Under the command of battalion commander Wei Xueshu, the three battalions of the Twenty-third Regiment held their positions at the forefront of the whole regiment and repelled the enemy's attacks again and again.
When the battle was nearly noon, Zhang, the elder of the cooking class, led several cooks to deliver the hot meal to the position.
At that time, the commanders and fighters of the whole battalion had been fighting continuously for eight hours, and they were already hungry, and they were all elated when they saw the food delivered.
However, at this moment, the enemy came to make trouble, and under the personal supervision of the acting division commander Zhang Xiaotang, they launched a fierce attack on the positions of the three battalions.
Seeing that the situation was critical, Wei Xueshu's mind spun rapidly, nervously thinking about the strategy against the enemy.
When he saw the food basket picked up on the shoulders of Lao Zhang and the cook, his eyes suddenly lit up and he thought of a good way.
"Comrades, retreat immediately!" Wei Xueshu decisively gave the order.
"What? Fall back? Why not fight the enemy fiercely? ”
"Don't withdraw early and don't withdraw late, but withdraw when we are about to eat..."
After hearing this order, many soldiers did not understand and began to complain, and even some platoon cadres questioned it.
"Battalion commander, what about the meals we make?" Is it hidden or taken away? Elder Zhang of the cooking class asked.
"You don't have to hide it or take it with you, so you leave the food on the top of the mountain..." Wei Xueshu replied.
"Isn't that cheapening the enemy and making them eat for free?" Old Zhang was puzzled.
"That's right, let the enemy eat a ready-made meal!" Wei Xueshu replied with a smile.
"This... But..." Lao Zhang was not reconciled.
"There's nothing more to do," Wei Xueshu said emphatically, "listen to my orders and retreat the whole battalion!" ”
"Alas, it's a pity that this pot of fragrant pork stew noodles and a pot of sorghum rice have just been made!" Lao Zhang shook his head and sighed as he followed the warriors down the mountain.
After the battalion withdrew its position, the enemy rushed up the hill.
Wei Xueshu saw through the telescope that a commander-like man in the enemy group was shouting at the radio personnel, looking like he was reporting the results of the battle to the top.
When the soldiers saw the hot rice and hot dishes left on the position, they were excited, shouted, and rushed to eat.
After Wei Xueshu saw these situations, he couldn't help but smile on his face.
This puzzled the guard Xu Jinda, who said breathlessly: "Battalion commander, the enemy has seized our position and eaten all our food. ”
Wei Xueshu replied, "Don't worry about it first, there will be a good drama to watch later!" ”
After the enemy had eaten enough, he was bolder, and about a platoon of enemies rushed over with guns.
Zhang Qingcheng, commander of the Eighth Company, turned around and asked Wei Xueshu, "Battalion commander, you see, the enemy is also too rampant, even a platoon dares to chase us, I first cleaned up this group of dogs X raised!" ”
"No nonsense! Fire two shots and retreat! ”
"But I'm angry, this battle can't be fought!" Zhang Qingcheng lowered his head and ran back.
It didn't take long for Zhang Qingcheng to finally realize that the battalion commander had left food for the enemy, which was clearly a strategy to lure the enemy.
In fact, Wei Xueshu ordered the whole battalion to retreat not on its own initiative, but in accordance with the instructions of the regiment, at the right time to lead the enemy to the most favorable area and annihilate it.
Under the lure of three battalions and two pots of food, the enemy's Eighty-ninth Division was indeed successful, and when they saw our army retreating without a fight, they were even more overwhelmed and walked step by step into the encirclement set up by our army.
After dark, the enemy enters the preset ambush site of the three columns, the Demon Ridge.
Just as the enemy was marching on his toes under the leadership of Acting Division Commander Zhang Xiaotang, there was a sudden dense sound of gunfire and earth-shattering artillery around the valley. The troops ambushed on both sides of the Demon Ridge opened fire fiercely, causing the enemy to turn around blindfolded and began to scatter and flee.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiaotang plunged headlong into the "pocket array" jointly laid out by several divisions of the third and fourth columns of our army.
After more than ten hours, the battle was over, and a regiment of chiang kai-shek's eighty-ninth division and fifty-fourth division was completely annihilated by our army.
After Zhang Xiaotang was captured, he still couldn't understand why he had failed.
When he learned that the three battalions led by Wei Xueshu were the troops that retreated without a fight, he asked reluctantly: "We were going very well, we just rushed to destroy you, and we also ate a ready-made hot meal and hot dishes, how could we not expect that the whole army would be destroyed!" ”
Wei Xueshu looked at him with a dejected look on his face and smiled, "The ready-made hot rice hot dish is not delicious, right?" If you don't leave two pots of hot rice and hot dishes, can you obediently follow us into the encirclement we have set? ”
When Zhang Xiaotang heard this, he kept shaking his head and lamenting, "Alas! The contemptible people can also be regarded as having experienced hundreds of battles, but they did not expect that this time because of the temptation of a meal, the entire division was completely destroyed! ”
This was truly a peculiar battle in military history: the total annihilation of one division of the enemy was related to the two pots of food thrown down by the troops.