Author: Wind Shadow
In the artillery unit, there was a special function of the formation - the artillery reconnaissance squad. During combat, the artillery reconnaissance squad is active at the front of the position, providing the artillery with intelligence information such as targets, calculating distances, and correcting directions, and acting as a guide for the artillery, known as the "eyes of the artillery".
Hou Yu, a wu loyal soldier, was an artillery reconnaissance squad leader in the Battle of Laoshan.
In June 1985, Hou Yu from Wuzhong City under the Helan Mountains had served in the army for three years and was facing retiring and returning to his hometown. At that time, Hou Yu had already envisioned returning to his hometown to work and start a business, and was full of confidence. However, "there was an unexpected storm in the sky", the Vietnamese army was exhausted, playing with fire again and again on the Sino-Vietnamese border, agents crossed the border to harass, shot and killed our border people, looted property, and the war intensified, and Hou Yu's unit was ordered to participate in the round battle.
The company cadre talked to Hou Yu: "Hou Yu, our regiment is going to participate in the war, the company still has several demobilization quotas, you are enough conditions, is it demobilization or participation in the war, you think about it yourself?" ”
Demobilization – good for yourself and for your family.
Go to war – the road to blood and fire and even sacrifice.
No matter how Hou Yu is chosen, there will be no excessive interference and coercion in the organization. How to choose? Hou Yu thought and thought, feeling that people who were soldiers would leave when they encountered a war, and it would not be right to make a contribution, and it would also be a lifetime of regret and pain. Hou Yu finally submitted an application to the company, determined to join the battle.
After 3 months of training in battle, their class was rated as an advanced training class by the regiment.
In the Spring Festival of 1986, when thousands of families were reunited and toasted, Hou Yu led the soldiers in their squad and stuck to the frontier observation post.
Hou Yu's squad consisted of 5 soldiers, each with their own situation. The warrior Zhang Yonghong is from Ruicheng, Shanxi, is an orphan, Han Lei is a Gansu Jingtai, his brother is blind in his left eye, Xu Hui is a Gansu Jiuquan, and his brother abandons his family and runs away... Such a group of people really has a difficult scripture for everyone to read. Chinese New Year's Eve night, can everyone miss home?
"Thinking of relatives every festive season", this is the common sentiment of people. Hou Yu was the same, he was no better than the war, and his responsibility was greater than everyone else. They were facing the Vietnamese army, which was only separated by a mountain, and he knew very well that the more this special moment, the more vigilant they were to unite everyone to complete the task.
He put on the Spring Festival gifts sent by the command post, blessed everyone with water instead of wine, and vowed to "sprinkle blood on southern Xinjiang and serve the country faithfully."
At the forefront, water is the first need for survival. In order to ensure domestic water, soldiers often did not wash their faces or brush their teeth for several days. As for taking a bath, it was something I couldn't even think of. Down the mountain backwater, a trip to take 40 minutes, the mountain high road is steep, overgrown with weeds, take a wrong step there is a risk of mine, cliffs, snake bites, and from time to time by the Vietnamese cold guns and cold guns attack. Every time Hou Yu went in person, he would not let the others go.
Hou Yu's observation post, more than 200 meters away from the company command, was connected by only one sheep intestine passage, and was also exposed to the effective shooting range of the Vietnamese army. According to the superiors, the mountain is closed at 7:30 p.m. every night, and it is dangerous to cross this road at this time, not only will you be shot by the Vietnamese army, but you may also be mistakenly injured by your own lurking post. However, the information collected is observed every day, and it must be sent out in case of emergency. For such a dangerous thing, Hou Yu had to go by himself and not let the warriors go.
On July 20, 1986, Lao Shan encountered a rare heavy rain. Only one cat ear hole, 76 basins of water were taken out. The flood broke the road to the rear, leaving the class short of food and vegetables for 15 days, leaving it to rely on the remaining cans and bark. To remove the mud and stones from the landslides and landslides, the warriors scrambled one by one, but hou Yu stopped them. He knew that this was not just a matter of clearing the mud and rock from the landslide, but the most troublesome thing was that the landslide was mixed with mines and bombs. He did not let others get on, and he was alone in front of him to explore the way and clear mines.
After fighting for more than a year, 4 people in Hou Yu's squad made meritorious contributions, none of them were injured, and they were rated as "advanced artillery observation posts" by the group army.
On July 6, 1986, the Ningxia condolence group came to Laoshan. Hou Yu went down to the mountain to listen to Chairman Heberi's recorded speech and said to the comrades of the condolence group: "We soldiers of Ningxia nationality will never disgrace our hometown. ”
Indeed, Hou Yu did not disgrace his hometown, and after he took the position, he insisted on holding out for 1 year and 27 days, which was one of the officers and men who guarded the position for the longest time. In 1 year and 27 days, he has been at the forward observation post, braving the dense artillery fire of the Vietnamese army to observe many times, successively verifying more than 100 targets, finding 64 targets, and commanding more than 20 shots alone. It's not just a few Arabic numerals, but how many thrilling stories are contained in these numbers!
Story One: Vietnamese artillery chases after the butt
The observation post is the eye of the artillery, the eye of the shell, and the effect of each shell depends on the information provided by the observation. The first thing Hou Yu did after taking the whole class to the position was to go to the front to observe the enemy situation and determine the location of our artillery strike point.
To observe the Fortifications, Firepower Allocation and Personnel Allocation of the Vietnamese Army, they may be exposed to the Vietnamese Army's vision at any time and face danger at any time. Hou Yu had to observe with a telescope and hold a map to calculate and proofread. Vietnamese people are also strange, specializing in people with binoculars and maps. During the first week of fixed-point operations, Hou Yu let the Vietnamese shells chase them three times, once thanks to a boulder blocking the shrapnel. Once, Hou Yu was calculating the distance, when he suddenly heard the roar of the shells, hurriedly rolled into the bunker with the blueprints, although he was crushed by the earth and stone lifted by the shells, but he did not hurt his bones. Even more dangerous was the third time, when the shells that flew hit the trunk of the tree and exploded, and the comrades joked: "Squad leader, your life is really big!" ”
After the start of the pull-out operation, the forward observation task was heavier. The cunning Vietnamese used their concealed artillery positions to resist, which was the greatest threat to our army, and the sudden burst of fire left us in a state of defenselessness. Where the exact location of the enemy's hidden positions was, the superiors were very anxious.
No matter how cunning the fox is, as long as its tail is exposed, it cannot escape the eyes of the hunter. This secret was discovered by Hou Yu: "It's a direct-fire artillery position, keep an eye on it!" In order to accurately calculate the distance and position, Hou Yu disregarded the danger and drilled out of the bunker to observe the flight time of the enemy shells. From the time the enemy artillery was fired to the ground, he used the stopwatch to card the time, calculate the distance, and command the artillery of our army to shoot in time, quickly destroying the enemy artillery position and pulling out this dark nail. And just when Hou Yuka stopped watching, the Vietnamese shell exploded at a distance of 2 meters from his observation post, which was really mysterious enough.
The battle of "10.19" was the most fierce and brutal battle fought by Hou Yu's unit. In order to prevent our army from attacking, the Vietnamese army pressed down one shell after another. Next to Hou Yu's observation post, 147 shells fell, and all kinds of guns and cannons continued to howl. At Hou Yu's observation post, the telephone line leading to the front finger was blown up, and the reconnaissance situation had to be reported to the superiors through a roundabout line. Only when the situation is accurate and reported in a timely manner can we effectively suppress the firepower of the Vietnamese army, strike at the Vietnamese army, and reduce our casualties. Hou Yu had only one thought: "Suppress the enemy's artillery and ensure our smooth attack!" ”
The Vietnamese artillery fire was too dense, and sometimes the impact point could not be seen at the observation station, which made it difficult to accurately calculate the distance and orientation. Hou Yu rushed out of the observation post with the telephone, and while observing, he reported to his superiors. For errors, he used the method of adding or subtracting the ruler to direct the artillery to shoot. The frenzied enemy artillery group was finally wiped out by our artillery fire. The results were remarkable: a total of 3 wandering observation posts, two fixed observation posts, 4 small artillery positions, and two artillery (100 mm) positions were destroyed.
The commander of the artillery battalion grabbed Hou Yu's hand and said, "Our artillery reacts quickly and accurately, and it is up to you to put your eyes on it!" ”
Story Two: The company failed to replace Hou Yu from the position three times
Some people say that Hou Yu is like a nail, firmly nailed to the forward position. The Vietnamese army could not beat him, and the orders of his superiors could not transfer him, which was true. The superiors have a stipulation that they should be on duty and observe at the front of the position, and generally take a break after 8 months, which is also to maintain the combat effectiveness of the forward position.
At first, Hou Yu insisted on staying in the observation center for 3 months, and the company commander came and asked him to go down. Leaving the position is like losing the soul, Hou Yu does not dry, "Company commander, the situation of the defense zone in this area, I have 3 months of experience accumulation, more familiar than you, and then you have arthritis, running up is not as flexible as me, you are short-sighted, observation is not convenient, or let me stay here!" ”
Company Commander Meng Linsheng was angry and amused at Hou Yu's words, and said to him: "Xiao Hou, this is a regulation of the superiors!" Hou Yu was very stubborn: "After the battle, if the superior wants to punish me, he will punish me." ”
The company commander could not resist him, so he had to let him stay first, responsible for running "field" observation, fixed points, corrections. The company commander was responsible for checking the data and processing the situation reported by Hou Yu, and the two cooperated seamlessly.
Three months later, the company commander wanted to return to the company command post and a platoon leader came to take over. Since this platoon leader just came up, he was not familiar with the situation in the front, Xiao Hou said that he would stay behind, the platoon leader was not good at mastering, Hou Yu pestered him: "Platoon leader, don't be afraid, even the commander agreed to accompany me for 3 months, why can't I accompany you for 3 months?" If the company commander criticizes you after the battle, you say that I don't listen to the arrangement, and I will find the company commander to ensure that you pass the pass. The platoon leader had to acquiesce.
After the platoon commander went down, there was a deputy company commander again, and Hou Yu used the old method to find the deputy company commander. The deputy company commander already knew Hou Yu's details from the company commander and the platoon commander, and before Hou Yu could speak, the deputy company commander spoke first: "Hou Yu, what do you want to do?" ”
"The idea remains the same, stay and do it with you!"
"You've violated the law 3 times."
"As long as you can eliminate a few Vietnamese troops, you will be able to carry 3 punishments."
Seeing that his tone was so hard, the deputy company commander held out his right hand and said: "Don't say anything about punishment, gentleman's word, do what he says, we must destroy more Vietnamese troops, come, beat hands and high-fives!" ”
"Boom!" The two hands hit each other and the deal was made. Hou Yu did what he said, as evidenced by the battlefield record:
In August 1986, when it was raining heavily, Hou Yu stood in the rain for a day wearing pants and holding a telephone set, directing our shelling.
From October 14 to 20, 1986, Hou Yu was on duty for 7 days and 7 nights, of which 3 days and 3 nights did not close his eyes, and he ate 3 meals in 3 days.
In January 1987, the troops pulled out the point to fight, Hou Yu was on duty for 4 consecutive days, found more than a dozen targets, and commanded alone until the battle was completed.
Story Three: Bite the Vietnam Army Observatory
When he first took up his position, he was often shelled by the Vietnamese army. Everyone didn't think so at first, thinking it was a cold gun and a cold cannon. However, there were constant casualties in our positions, and the Vietnamese shelling was very regular and accurate, unlike cold artillery without targets. This made Hou Yu and his comrades-in-arms ponder a question: The Vietnamese army must have an observation post close to our position, which is convenient for observing the situation of our position, and reported the situation to the Vietnamese army; otherwise, why did their artillery strike so timely and accurately, and pose such a great threat to our side? Where did this pair of thief eyes of the Vietnamese army grow? To dig it up.
Hou Yu judged that what could be observed more clearly about our army's position was nothing more than a hill higher than our army's position. He began to conduct close reconnaissance and spot observation of several hills in the front, and for two months in a row, he often heard birdsong in the dense forest on the top of the hill to my left at night.
No ghost bird does not bark, the ghost is there. Hou Yu narrowed the reconnaissance range and concentrated on the top of the mountain on the left, and finally found this "fox hole". It turned out to be a big guy—the Camp Observatory.
Through careful calculations, Hou Yu reported the accurate situation to his superiors. Everyone has suffered a secret loss many times, and they have already held their breath, how can they let it go? Our artillery was angry, 20 shells flew over, the Vietnamese army was separated, and with a desperate howl and wailing, a battalion observation post went to the sky. The superior praised Hou Yu and his comrades-in-arms and said: "Your situation is timely and accurate. There was not a single chance for the Vietnamese to counterattack. ”
Story 4: 18 shells killed 5 enemy people and wounded 3 enemy people
On September 27, 1986, Hou Yu's artillery company was ordered to shell the Vietnamese army anonymously. The outcome of the shelling depends on the accuracy of the intelligence from the Observatory. Regardless of his safety, Hou Yu once again approached to observe and shoot. The artillery company used only 18 shells, killed 5 enemy people, wounded 3 enemy people, and destroyed 1 enemy observation post. After the war, it was found that the trail of the retreat of the forward Vietnamese army was left with blood.
Asked about the results of this battle, Hou Yu said that the Vietnamese army carried out special combat missions in groups of 3 people, and the 3 people were connected to each other with ropes, and when they encountered casualties, they pulled them back. Only as a last resort are the dead and wounded left in the positions. As for the success of these 18 shells, we can only calculate the Vietnamese corpses and wounds left in the positions, because the Vietnamese army will not make a table report on the casualties who were pulled back by the Vietnamese army.
In view of Hou Yu's outstanding performance and important contributions, the troops gave this outstanding squad leader a first-class merit!
Hou Yu, a first-class meritorious hero, retired from the army after the war and returned to his hometown to work at the Ningxia Electric Power Dam Power Plant. The picture shows that on March 29, 2021, when the power plant organized a party history education activity at the Martyrs' Cemetery, Hou Yu talked about the glorious traditions of our army and its participation in the war.
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