In the summer of 1967, the lotus leaves stretched and the cicadas chirped and the birds chirped. The scenic Wuhan East Lake Hotel also welcomed a special guest, who is the commander of the Fuzhou Military Region - Han Xianchu. Due to the recurrence of stomach disease and the unbearable pain, Commander Han Xianchu had no choice but to call a report to go home to recuperate and stay here.
In the adjacent courtyard separated from Han Xianchu by a wall, there were always staff coming in and out. This made Han Xianchu wonder, which chief lived next door? At this moment, the sparrows outside the window kept chirping, which upset Han Xianchu, who was tormented by stomach pain and couldn't sleep well. Then he took up his gun and waved his hand at the bird on the branch.
After a loud noise, although it did not hit, the birds were scared away. Without the annoying chatter, Han Xianchu could finally continue to rest. However, no sooner had he taken a sip of tea than there was a sharp knock at the door, and it was a guard standing in the doorway in panic, asking for the source of the gunshots. This made Han Xianchu wonder even more, suddenly drowsy, who was the mysterious chief next door?
Pictured| the great leader Mao Zedong
After Han Xianchu inquired about it, he knew that it was Chairman Mao who lived next door! As the supreme leader of the country, Chairman Mao has every opportunity, and many major decisions require the sacrifice of his precious personal time. But now, as the chairman is getting older and his insomnia is worse, he has to stop and recuperate.
After Han Xianchu knew the situation, he was also shocked, how could he be so impulsive! Because of a few sparrows, disturbing the chairman's rest, what can be done? Now that the chairman should be resting, I will go to make amends later. In the evening, Han Xianchu was about to visit the chairman with some fresh fruit, explain the reasons by the way, and apologize to Chairman Mao.
Unexpectedly, the chairman came to see him first. Not only did he care about Han Xianchu's physical condition, but he also brought mangoes, peaches and a bowl of baby fish. At this time, the guards around the chairman whispered to Han Xianchu: "The chairman sleeps relatively lightly, and because of the irregular work and rest time, when the chairman rests, we often even drive away the sparrows and cicadas in the courtyard, for fear of affecting the chairman's rest." Dare to fight birds around the chairman, except for your whirlwind commander, there is no second person who dares to snort! ”
Why is Han Xianchu called "Whirlwind Commander"? It was because Han Xianchu fought quickly and fiercely, won by surprise, and was invincible. Whether in the northeast, Hainan or neighboring Korea, under the leadership of Han Xianchu, the fighters were invincible, the VietnamEse war became more and more courageous, invincible, invincible, invincible, and made great contributions to the victory of the revolution and the establishment of new China.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the northeast region became a place of contention between the Kuomintang and the Communists because of its rich products, rich resources, and a good and complete industrial base, so the northeast became a common priority strategic goal of the Kuomintang and the Communists.
In May 1946, Han Xianchu participated in and commanded the Anshan (Shan) Hai (Cheng) Campaign, and successively occupied important towns such as Anshan, Haicheng, and Dashiqiao. This not only disrupted the Kuomintang's plan to attack Northern Manchuria and dealt a heavy blow to the hearts of the Kuomintang army, but also greatly boosted the morale of our army.
Subsequently, in the Battle of Xinkailing, Han Xianchu led the Tenth Division of the column to march day and night, marching non-stop for more than 200 miles, besieging and completely annihilating the Kuomintang Twenty-fifth Division, and creating the heroic record of our army annihilating a kuomintang division at one time on the northeast battlefield, which made our army's morale soar and rejoice.
In January 1947, Han Xianchu and political commissar Peng Jiaqing led four columns to remotely attack the Huanren, Fengcheng, Kuandian, and Saimaji areas, as well as key enemy garrison positions on both sides of the Andong and Shenyang railways. Through more than 50 battles, more than 40 Kuomintang strongholds were uprooted and more than 6,000 enemy troops were annihilated, basically erasing the Kuomintang's military strength in the region.
Pictured| Peng Jiaqing
In the summer offensive of the same year, Han Xianchu used only five regiments to conquer the meihekou and annihilate the nationalist 184th Division. A hole was torn in the Kuomintang front, opening up the north-south connection of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, dividing the Kuomintang defenders' positions, and breaking them one by one.
In the autumn offensive in September, Han Xianchu led the soldiers of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army on a long journey, unexpectedly took the Tiger's Den, annihilated the 116th Division and reinforcements of the Kuomintang 53rd Army, and captured the division commander Liu Runchuan. This campaign carried forward the fighting spirit of not being afraid of hardship and tiredness, as well as the fighting style of fighting quickly and making quick decisions and acting with vigor and vigor, and the "whirlwind troops" also became famous.
In 1949, due to the defeat of Kinmen, everyone paid special attention to the action of liberating Hainan. Han Xianchu responded positively and implemented the Central Military Commission's strategy for the early liberation of Hainan Island. In order to make up for the lack of experience in naval warfare, Han Xianchu personally visited the boatmen and fishermen to understand the local situation, comfort the people, conduct field research in many ways, and familiarize himself with and master the local terrain and hydrology and the laws of sea crossing operations.
During the study, Han Xianchu found that a small period of time before the valley rain every year, the Qiongzhou Strait was a north wind or a northeast wind, which was the most advantageous time to cross the sea and the best time to land on the island. If you land on the island with a downwind, you can reach the Qiongzhou Strait in one night, but once this period has passed, if you want to land on the island, it is a headwind.
At that time, the means of crossing the sea were basically wind sailing ships, mainly relying on wind power to move forward. Landing on the island against the wind was difficult to go up to the blue sky at that time, which was more difficult for cross-sea combat. Delaying is not just a delay in the fighter, it may even be another year of waiting.
A large part of the reason for the previous defeat was because most of the soldiers came from the north, the difference between the north and the south was large, and the poor water quality was also one of the problems, so Han Xianchu led the troops to practice the ability to cross the sea and make serious preparations for the battle on the island, to ensure that once the fighter plane appeared, they could march into the Qiongzhou Strait, plant the victory flag on the Qiongzhou Strait, and liberate Hainan Island.
However, the Kinmen Sea Crossing Battle was unsuccessful, and the soldiers had doubts and worries about whether they could successfully liberate Hainan Island as scheduled. In contrast, the Kuomintang defended Hainan Island with a total of about 100,000 garrisons, more than 50 warships and more than 30 aircraft, forming a three-dimensional defense system including the navy, air force and army - "Boling Defense Line".
Looking at our army, there are neither strong ships nor sharp guns, let alone planes, only simple wooden sailing ships. Under such a huge disparity in equipment strength, it is indeed a big test and challenge to break through the Kuomintang's solid defense system and carry out cross-sea combat operations. In this regard, Han Xianchu was very anxious, but he had no choice but to step up time training.
Picture | Han Xianchu
In February 1950, at the conference on the operation to liberate Hainan Island held in Guangzhou, Han Xianchu advocated that the sea crossing operation should be carried out before the wind direction changed, and pointed out:
"The means of crossing the sea available to us now are wind sailing boats, which cannot reach the Qiongzhou Strait against the wind. Only by relying on the monsoon wind before the valley rains to cross the sea, this is the most advantageous, as soon as one night to reach Hainan Island. If hainan island is not attacked before April 20, it will be delayed for a full year. This not only delayed the fighter planes, but also made it difficult for us to accomplish the strategic goal of liberating Hainan Island in a relatively short period of time. ”
However, the operational meeting finally decided to complete the operational preparations at the end of May and cross the sea and land in June. Although the meeting determined the time of the battle, Han Xianchu insisted on his own ideas and must prepare in advance. Immediately, a military party committee was convened to deploy the battle plan with the soldiers, but there was no mention of the determined combat time. He also ordered that the time of crossing the sea would only be advanced, not delayed, and that all preparations must be completed by March. At his insistence, on April 16, the Central Military Commission finally approved the launch time of the Hainan Island Campaign. At that time, the east wind was blowing on the sea, and the fighters came.
Taking advantage of the high black wind at night, Han Xianchu led his army to ride more than 300 wind sailing ships and follow the monsoon to cross the sea into Hainan Island. At 3:00 a.m. on April 17, the Fortieth Army rode on a wind sailing ship and, after many difficulties, defeated the interception of the Nationalist gunboats. After breaking through the sea blockade and reaching the sea north of LingaoJiao and Haikou, our army began to attack the Kuomintang beachhead.
The soldiers of our army were overwhelmed and quickly broke through the beachhead positions of the Kuomintang army and established a landing field. The "Boling Defense Line" formed by the famous Kuomintang general Xue Yue collapsed in an instant. After the success of the beach grab, it was a matter of course, Han Xianchu led his troops to break through the bombing and strafing of the enemy planes, quickly destroyed the enemy's battle headquarters, and successfully defeated the main force of the enemy army.
Subsequently, Han Xianchu commanded the fighters to take advantage of the victory to pursue and annihilate the Nationalist army on the island. On May 19, 1950, the People's Liberation Army attacked and occupied the Zhoushan Islands. At this point, all the southeast coasts of the mainland except Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu were liberated.
Pictured | on the Korean battlefield
As we all know, on the Korean battlefield, the Thirty-eighth Army fought bravely, like a sharp knife, fiercely stabbed at the key points of the United Nations Army, and played the resounding name of "Long Live the Army", which made the enemy army feel frightened and widely praised by the world. But what everyone may not know is that it was Han Xianchu who commanded the Thirty-eighth Army of the Volunteer Army.
During the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Han Xianchu successively participated in and commanded four campaigns; his use of troops was like a god, flexible and changeable, and he was always able to surprise the enemy and win victories on the battlefield, thus laying a solid foundation for the victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and making important contributions to safeguarding national security, smashing the ambitions of the UN army, and safeguarding peace and justice.
In June 1950, the Korean War broke out. Under the crushing strength of the "United Nations Army" led by the United States, the North Korean army was unable to resist. The United Nations army was full of strength and drove straight in, and in October of the same year, they attacked Pyongyang, North Korea, but they did not stop there, but advanced towards China, and their ambition to invade China was well known.
The United Nations forces illegally air raided some cities on the northeast border of the mainland, constantly creating friction, causing casualties and property losses on the mainland, in a vain attempt to encroach on the northeast border of the mainland. The mainland and North Korea are interdependent, and if North Korea is captured and controlled by the United Nations army, then the northeast of the mainland will face great danger.
At this critical juncture, although the new China that was just born was not so powerful, it still actively responded to the request of the North Korean government. The Chinese Volunteer Army, together with the Korean military and people, resisted the aggressors, defended the homeland, resolutely defended peace and justice, and safeguarded regional stability.
At the beginning of the second campaign, Han Xianchu, deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, took command of the Thirty-eighth Army. On November 25 and 26, it took only one day to capture Tokugawa, and the enemy forces guarding Tokugawa were annihilated. After analyzing the situation on the entire battlefield, the headquarters believes that this is extremely beneficial to the development of the process of the western front of the second campaign of the Volunteer Army, and it should take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand its superiority.
On the afternoon of November 27, Han Xianchu told the commander Liang Xingchu and others: "The next step will be more arduous, and we must not take it lightly. Among them, it is particularly crucial to insert into the three institutes behind the enemy's back, and it is very important to go deep behind the enemy's back, and we must be like a sharp blade to block the retreat path of the US troops. ”
Subsequently, the staff officers reported the situation in the three institutes, and Han Xianchu frowned after listening to it. From our army's current position to Sansholi, not only is the road far away, but on the way, it is necessary to pass through layers of enemy resistance. Our army was greeted by more than 300 tanks and more than 400 artillery pieces in three divisions of the US army. And we had only one division, a dozen mortars, and some anti-tank grenades.
This is a race between legs and wheels, a battle between rifles and artillery, and the difficulty is imaginable. Han Xianchu was silent for a long time, staring at Liang Xingchu and saying solemnly, "No matter what, you must win eighteen sets tonight." The 113th Division of the Thirty-eighth Army fought a battle against the water, abandoned camouflage, advanced lightly, and captured eighteen plates in the early morning of the next day, and adopted roundabout tactics to occupy Sanshouli interspersed.
After that, it occupied Longyuanli and engaged in fierce battles with the enemy army, cutting off the road for the AMERICAN army to flee south to the north to aid, annihilating the enemy in large numbers, thus shaking the enemy's entire offensive position, so that the United Nations army was gradually weakening in the second campaign, laying the foundation for the victory of the second battle.
Whether it was the campaign to liberate Hainan Island or the battle on the Korean battlefield, Han Xianchu always charged forward, had courage and strategy, and deserved the title of "whirlwind commander." On October 3, 1986, a generation of famous generals, General Han Xianchu, died in Beijing. Those heroic deeds on the battlefield of Han Xianchu, we will always remember!