Division Commander Zheng Qigui
On January 26, 1990, in the high-cadre ward of the 105th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Hefei, Anwei Hefei, an old man who was dying of cancer whispered: "I am about to meet the dead brothers of our 180th Division..." Smiling and closing his eyes, Anxiang left.
The flowers sent to him were Xu Xiangqian, Qin Jiwei, Li Desheng, You Taizhong, Xiang Shouzhi...
He was Zheng Qigui, commander of the 180th Division of the 60th Army to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Zheng Qigui, born in January 1914 in Shuanghe District, Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, to a poor peasant family, joined the Red Army in 1929 at the age of 15 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1932 at the age of 18.
Zheng Qigui fought bravely and made many military achievements, serving as a company commander, battalion commander, regimental commander, deputy brigade commander until the commander of the 180th Division of the 60th Army.
This famous general with 61 years of military experience and 59 years of party experience from the Red Fourth Front, won countless battles, and fought all his life.
In the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it was surrounded by nearly 100,000 troops of the enemy's four mechanized divisions, and as the commander of the division, he commanded this unit to create the most tragic breakthrough campaign to resist the United States and aid Korea.
The 180th Division of the 60th Army of the 3rd Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army has three infantry regiments under its jurisdiction. Its predecessor was upgraded from the Taiyue Military Sub-district And County Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to the Field Army, which experienced the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, with a large number of veterans and rich experience in actual combat, and was often used as a first-class main division.
The commander of the 60th Army at the time was Wei Jie, who served as the head of the special agent regiment of the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955.
Lieutenant General Wei Jie
Deng Shijun, deputy commander and chief of staff of the 60th Army, was a native of Tongjiang County, Sichuan, and served as the commander of the Mianyang Military Subdistrict after the liberation of Sichuan. He was the former commander of the 180th Division, and his sister-in-law Wang Hai was Zheng Qigui's wife. In 1955 he was awarded the rank of Major General.
Major General Deng Shijun
After the liberation of Sichuan in 1950, the 180th Division had just finished the banditry in western Sichuan at this time, stationed in Meishan and concurrently served as the Meishan Military Subdistrict, and Zheng Qigui was the commander of the 180th Division and the commander of the Meishan Military Subdistrict, preparing to do localization construction.
On the night of March 21, 1951, more than 11,000 people of the 180th Division were ordered to cross the Yalu River into the Korean War.
At the end of the fifth campaign in May 1951, at the 150-kilometer defensive front, the 180th Division was tasked with defending the enemy on the spot, and then retreating after the casualties had been transferred.
So the 180th Division carried out a cover mission south of the North Han River, attracting a locust-like enemy, and because the two wings were exposed, it was surrounded by 100,000 enemy troops armed to the teeth, becoming a lone army.
After more than ten days of brutal and fierce fighting, coupled with the bombing of the radio, the 180th Division lost contact with the corps and the military headquarters for three days, and the formation was disrupted during the retreat, and the timing was not chosen. Coupled with the fact that on three sides are enemy troops who are encircled and pressed together, and on the other side are rough rivers, the tragic and tragic breakthrough battle is unforgettable.
There are many details of the scene, which are impassioned and heart-wrenching:
When crossing the North Han River, the water level suddenly rose by more than 2 meters, and in the face of the gushing river, the female soldiers sang and cried, and the three regiments were swept away by the flood, more than 600 people, all of whom were young people under 20 years old!
Division Commander Zheng Qigui swore a blood oath: There will be a heart of death, and there will be no stealing thoughts. I am the commander of a division, and even if I die, I will go on the road with my comrades.
Han Qiming, the political commissar of the 539th Regiment, raised a gun to commit suicide, and before he died, he instructed his subordinates: You are still young, you must be a good soldier.
A man with an incendiary bomb in his body loudly ordered his comrades to "kill" his own warriors...
The wounded warrior in the cave detonated the explosives and died with the enemy...
Zhang Daohua, a 16-year-old female hygienist who rescued 7 wounded, was shot and blinded, and then climbed back to our position.
Some officers and soldiers persisted in guerrilla warfare in the mountains for more than half a year, and finally they were still captured...
………………
When the 180th Division made great sacrifices, although the division commander Zheng Qigui fought alone, he finally broke through successfully with deputy division commander Duan Longzhang and chief of staff Wang Zhenbang.
In the end, more than 5,300 people (including the wounded) were assembled and returned, more than 2,300 were wounded, more than 2,700 were sacrificed, and more than 3,000 were captured (including 1,710 repatriated after the war).
The 180th Division was besieged, and Peng Dehuai was worried about this, saying to Hong Xuezhi: "You come back soon!" Something happened to the 180th Division! "
Mao Zedong said: "What is the situation of the 180th Division of the 60th Army? I miss it. ”
Lieutenant General Wang Jinshan
After the battle, Wang Jinshan, deputy commander of the 3rd Corps (Chen Geng was the commander, but could not command due to illness), Wei Jie, and several military commanders were all called to Beijing by the chairman for questioning, and some people even reported that Wang Jinshan did not dare to fight.
The chairman listened to the opinions of Xu Xiangqian, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and other quarters, and asked Wang Jinshan to continue to command the 3 Corps in combat. In 1955, Wang Jinshan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
In September 1952, the Central Military Commission appointed Zhang Zuyu, commander of the West Sichuan Military Region, as the commander of the 60th Army, but in fact he was the former commander, and Wei Jie was his successor. In 1955, Zhang Zuyu was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
In the summer campaign of 1953, 2 years after the breakthrough, the 180th Division attacked the enemy's main position 949.2 heights in one fell swoop, annihilated more than 2,000 enemy troops, and crushed the Third Division of the ROK Army, pushing our army's position forward by more than ten kilometers, and finally won victory.
Xu Shiyou, the commander of the three corps who succeeded him, said: The 180th Division fought a turnaround battle, and the 180th Division was humiliated.
Mao Zedong also praised: I see that the 180th Division does not need to go to the Northern Wilderness, does not need to change its name, and continues to fight beautiful battles in Korea.
After returning to China, the division commander Zheng Qigui served as deputy chief of staff (deputy division level) of the Jilin Provincial Military Region, was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955, promoted to the rank of colonel in 1963, and returned to Hefei to recuperate in 1970 as the commander of the Baicheng Military Subdistrict in Jilin Province. In 1982, as an old Red Army, he enjoyed the treatment of deputy military.
Deputy Division Commander Duan Longzhang (1920-1971), studied in the Artillery Department of Nanjing Military Academy for two years in 1955, was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the same year, served as the director of artillery of the 12th Army in 1959, and died of illness in Shanghai in 1971.
Deputy Division Commander Duan Longzhang
Chief of Staff Wang Zhenbang was the only division-level cadre left in office when the reorganization resumed after the war, and was appointed colonel in 1955, promoted to colonel in 1962, and appointed commander of the armored corps of the Nanjing Military Region.
The political commissar of the 180th Division was Wu Chengde, who was born in 1912 and was a native of Xindai County, Shanxi. The 180th Division was later dispersed, and Wu Chengde led his troops to insist on guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and only 14 months later was captured by the American mountain search team, and he became the supreme general captured by the volunteer army.
After the Armistice in Korea, Wu Chengde was repatriated, but he was treated unfairly, expelled from the party and the military, and sent to a farm as deputy director. It was not until March 1982 that Wu Chengde regained his party membership and enjoyed the treatment of old Red Army and military-level cadres. In his later years, Wu Chengde returned to his hometown in Shanxi and spent his last days at the Yuncheng Dry Rest House.
Political Commissar Wu Chengde
For more than 60 years, all kinds of rumors about the 180th Division have been circulating among the people, such as "the whole division was destroyed," "the military flag was confiscated," and "the division commander was shot." In fact, these are all untrue claims and are false rumors.
After the war, all aspects were summed up, and at the very critical moment when the five battles were besieged, the division commander Zheng Qigui and the political commissar Wu Chengde were in the front-line command, still resolutely and faithfully waiting for orders, carrying out orders, and dealing with the situation on the spot was insufficient, resulting in missing the best time to break through...
This is also the eternal pain in the heart of the division commander Zheng Qigui and the ideological baggage that he has carried all his life, and he said before his death: The war is not won by us generals, it is won by the soldiers, absolutely, those good soldiers, those best soldiers in the world, we must always remember them.
The 180th Division, a heroic unit forged with blood and fire, covered the transfer of troops and corps with their huge sacrifices, in exchange for valuable combat experience on the Korean battlefield! It is a heroic force that we should always remember!