The "Cold Gun Cold Gun Movement" is also known as cold gun cold gun warfare. After the Korean War entered 1952, the positions of the two sides entered a tug-of-war, and many units below regimental levels of the Chinese Volunteer Army launched high-density, low-intensity small-scale attacks and sniper battles against the Garrison of the United Nations Army. In this campaign, Chinese and North Korean snipers shot more than 13,600 people in four months, and the results were enough to rival a battle! During this period, many combat heroes emerged, and Zhang Taofang, a Taizhou Xinghua soldier known as the "sharpshooter of the volunteer army", killed and wounded 214 enemies with 442 bullets in 32 days, creating the highest record of the Chinese Volunteer Army cold shooting the enemy on the Korean battlefield, and writing the sniper legend of Chinese soldiers on the Battlefield of Shangganling.
Recently, the prototype of the protagonist of the hit movie "Sniper" is Zhang Taofang, the "King of Sniper". How did he create this miracle? What kind of story does he have outside of the movie?
The first signs
Zhang Taofang, the son of a poor peasant in Chenbao Township, Xinghua County, Jiangsu Province, experienced the cruelty of war in his early years, served as the leader of the children's regiment and the leader of the militia, but never fought against the enemy with real guns and bullets. In March 1951, he joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and in September 1952, he joined the 214th Regiment of the 24th Army of the Integrated Army to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
After entering north Korea, he participated in a two-month target training. In the first target assessment, Zhang Taofang's three bullets actually all went off target, so he was "assigned" to the cooking class.
Zhang Taofang, who has a strong personality, was very unconvinced, and asked the squad leader for advice on gun fighting skills, only to understand that shooting guns is a skill, and it is not enough to have enthusiasm, and it is necessary to rely on diligent study and hard work. Therefore, Zhang Taofang threw herself wholeheartedly into shooting training, and "the gun does not leave the hand" hard training and aiming. During the day, he practiced with a gun to the stones and trees on the mountain, one end was one or two hours; at night, the stars in the sky and the faint oil light in the tunnel became a good helper for him to practice, and he gradually cultivated a pair of "fire eyes and golden eyes", and even could see the insects on the blades of grass a hundred meters away. After several applications, Zhang Taofang returned to the sniper group.
At that time, the gun used by the volunteer troops was the Soviet M1944 Mosin Nagant rifle, which was called "water beads" by the soldiers because of its crisp gun sound and continuous firing like water droplets. The "Water Bead" is not a real sniper rifle, there is no scope, and the chamber is short, the recoil is large, and even if it is only a hair-like deviation when the bullet is discharged, it will be one meter away from the target 200 meters away. In order to improve the accuracy of shooting, Zhang Taofang made two sandbags to exercise arm strength, and later when he hung more than a dozen kilograms of sandbags on his arm, he could still pull the trigger without moving.
At the range, Zhang Taofang held a Soviet-style Mosin Nagant rifle, aiming at none, shooting a 10 ring. He said, "The crosshair is in my heart", the battlefield is a life and death struggle, especially when sniping confrontation, time is life, there is no second chance to start again.
Try the bull knife
In the autumn of 1952, Shangganling and its surrounding areas experienced an unprecedentedly tragic battle in the Korean War, the Battle of Shangganling, which lasted for 43 days and nights, and the two sides repeatedly fought for positions 59 times, and Huang Jiguang, a special hero and special hero who blocked the enemy's machine gun hole with his body and opened the way for the impact troops, emerged.
In January 1953, the 24th Army entered the Shangganling position, and Zhang Taofang's unit was defending the position of 597.9 highland where Huang Jiguang had sacrificed. At that time, the Panmunjom negotiations were in a stalemate period, the enemy and us were facing each other in front of each other, and the battlefield was full of killing opportunities.
On January 29, Zhang Taofang, full of enthusiasm for killing the enemy and repaying the country, stepped onto the sniper platform for the first time. However, there is still a certain gap between actual combat and target shooting, the battlefield is changing rapidly, and the variable distance between the shooter and the target, the uncertain height difference, the movement of the target, the psychological quality of the shooter and the sniper environment at that time are all tests for the sniper. The first sniper mission, Zhang Taofang did not succeed.
This defeat did not discourage Zhang Taofang, and in his spare time, he kept asking the old sniper for the essentials of battlefield sniping. Do not know how to measure the wind direction and wind speed, there is no help from the assistant, only with a "water bead", Zhang Taofang relied on her own thinking and talent, in the second sniper mission for the first time to achieve the "live target". On 10 February, 9 shots were fired, killing 7 enemy troops. The good news of meritorious service spread to his hometown of Xinghua, and the county magistrate personally came to the door to congratulate him.
Zhang Taofang and his comrades studied shooting tactics
After experiencing continuous learning, training and actual combat, starting from familiarity with the geomorphological characteristics around the position, studying the enemy's activity laws, estimating the distance of the road, and finding the ideal shooting point in the trenches, Zhang Taofang's sniper skills have matured day by day, and she has gained success in every battle. At the end of February, Zhang Taofang fired 247 bullets, killed 71 enemy troops, and published his advanced deeds of the 24th Army's "FireWire Newspaper" spread throughout the front line. Soon, he killed more than 100 enemies and became the number one sniper in the whole company.
With excellent results, Zhang Taofang was selected by the company to be sent to the regimental shooting training team for training. At the end of the training, the regiment leader personally assessed, Zhang Taofang did not shoot the target, but five shots shot down five birds, won the title of "sharpshooter".
Master duel
As a sniper with a god-like marksmanship, Zhang Taofang shot one life at a time, and did not hurry to encroach on the living forces on the enemy's positions, which brought threats even far more than some heavy weapons, which made the enemy feel quite headache. Under his leadership, the 214th Regiment set off a boom in sniper practice, emerging a number of advanced models who killed more than 100 enemy soldiers, the morale of the enemy army fell to the bottom, and fear quietly infiltrated the nerves of each enemy army.
One morning in early summer, Zhang Taofang came to the front of the position early as usual. Just walked into the traffic ditch, a sudden whimper, a bullet flew by, the sudden cold gun made Zhang Taofang break out in a cold sweat, the nerves suddenly tensed up, just wanted to look up, and it was a long shooting point. In order to test the enemy's situation, Zhang Taofang used a rifle to slowly push the steel helmet out of the traffic ditch to lure the opponent to expose the position, but the opponent did not fire a shot, which showed that the opponent was an experienced sniper.
In the rapidly changing battlefield of life and death, a good sniper must not only have excellent marksmanship, but also have the endurance and patience of ordinary people, as well as the calm quality in a critical state, and the courage and calmness of calmness. Zhang Taofang waited quietly and searched. Soon, he keenly caught an M2 sniper heavy machine gun equipped with a scope hidden between the stone crevices. At this time, the opponent also happened to find Zhang Taofang, and the M2 machine gun instantly spewed out a tongue of fire, and Zhang Taofang rolled around and hid back in the bunker.
Waiting is the best strategy for this moment, and every minute and second of silent waiting is full of thrilling atmosphere. Zhang Taofang quietly observed the movement while thinking about a new battle plan, and with the help of cover, he slowly moved his body to find a favorable opportunity. When the opponent fired a point shot at the right side of the sniper station, turning his gaze and muzzle to the left, Zhang Taofang stood up violently, the butt of the gun against the shoulder, and immediately fired. Almost at the same time, the opponent turns the muzzle of the gun and pulls the trigger. In the contest between masters, the victory or defeat is only in an instant. When Zhang Taofang's bullet passed through the opponent's head, the bullet fired by the opponent flew past his scalp, and the two top sniper masters completed the confrontation in an instant.
Later, Zhang Taofang learned from US media reports that she was sniping Colonel Ike, the "ace sniper" of the US military.
Chief's commendation
Zhang Taofang's impressive sniper achievements made his reputation as a "sharpshooter" spread rapidly in the 24th Army, and When the then commander of the 24th Army, Pi Dingjun, learned of his deeds, he was half-convinced, and specially arranged for the staff officers to take a pair of brand-new leather boots to the 214 regiment for field investigation, and also proposed that if they lived up to the name, they would give their leather boots to Zhang Taofang.
Military commander Pi Dingjun watched Zhang Taofang shoot
In the sniper position, Zhang Taofang lived up to expectations, easily killing 3 enemy people, the staff company praised, and also held a "boot awarding" ceremony in the company. Later, Commander Pi Dingjun personally went to the company to inspect Zhang Taofang, and he did not show any timidity, and was praised and affirmed by the commander.
In the battlefield of the sniper, life and death are only instantaneous, and there can be no slackness or impatience. Zhang Taofang has been in danger many times but retreated completely, which is not easy, and it shows his extraordinary sniper strength.
In May 1953, Zhang Taofang was invited back to China to attend the Second National Congress of the Chinese New Democratic Youth League, and Commander Pi Dingjun specially instructed him to make a trip to the military headquarters before returning to China. Zhang Taofang decided to carry the pair of military boots rewarded by the commander and give the commander 211 shell casings representing his killing of the enemy. When we got to the military headquarters, Commander Pi said, "You can't kill 211 enemies, you are the 214th Regiment, you have to fight 214!" After Zhang Taofang returned to the position, he killed 3 more enemies and successfully completed the task.
After the war, Zhang Taofang fought alone for 32 days, fired 442 times, and killed 214 enemy soldiers, creating the highest record for the volunteer army to kill the enemy coldly on the Korean battlefield. In 1953, Zhang Taofang was honored with special merit by the headquarters of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and was awarded the honorary title of "Sniper Hero of the Second Class", and the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK awarded the "National Flag Medal of the First Class".
In the spring of 1954, China selected the first batch of fighter pilots, and 198 members of Zhang Taofang's unit, the 24th Army, were registered, and he alone was successfully selected. He retired in June 1985. On October 29, 2007, he died in Weifang, Shandong Province, at the age of 77.
Zhang Taofang was instructing recruits on marksmanship
The baptism of war and the contest of life and death have tempered a generation of sniper gods. The mountains and rivers are eternally solid, and the heroes sing. Today, the Slovaks are gone, and the rifle that accompanies him is displayed in the Chinese Military Museum for posterity to remember.
In her later years, Zhang Taofang
Author: Pan Guoqin
Introduction: Pan Guoqin, is currently the director of the Party History Research Division of the Taizhou Party History Fangzhi Office, and the deputy secretary-general of the Taizhou Party History and Local Society and the Taizhou Archives Society. He participated in the compilation of "Taizhou Historical Memorabilia of the Communist Party of China" and "Seal of Qiangtai", served as the deputy editor of Taizhou Memory Magazine, and published many articles such as "Taizhou Ancient City River in the Chronicle" in Taizhou Daily.
Review, Release: Zhang Yizhe