When our Party's strategic decision to change from strategic defense to strategic counteroffensive was changed from a strategic defense to a strategic counteroffensive, the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, which borders China's northeastern border with China, declared its independence under the impetus of the United States behind the scenes, and the Republic of Korea was proclaimed. At that time, the ethnic contradictions between the North and the South of the Korean Peninsula were very fierce, so nearly a month later North Korea also declared its independence with the support of the big socialist big brother, the Soviet Union, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established. Originally, it was an internal contradiction between nations, but because of the intervention of US imperialism, the nature of the war rose to an international event. Just five months after the end of the civil war in China, the Korean leader secretly came to China and, at the request of the President of the Soviet Union, conveyed to our great man the plan to launch a war against South Korea, but at that time it was rejected by the great man, who believed that the time was not yet ripe, and the news of the war on the Korean Peninsula did not reach China. By the time China learned of the korean battlefield, the United States had openly crossed the 38th Parallel in an attempt to cross northeast China. In the face of the ambitious United States, in order to defend the security of our country and to safeguard the justice of the world, China sent troops to Korea to help North Korea against the United States, which is the great War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Among them, there is such a volunteer soldier, he is known as the "King of Chinese Snipers", once destroyed more than 200 US troops in a month, known as the "sniper god" by the Americans, who is he? How legendary was his life? What is the reason for being called "Death" by the enemy on the battlefield? How did he become the uncrowned king of the sniper world?
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The childhood life of the "sniper god"
In 1931, the nineteenth year of the founding of the Republic of China, on September 18 of that year, a major event occurred in northeast China that shocked both inside and outside, that is, the Japanese Kou blew up the South Manchuria Railway near Shenyang's Wicker Lake, and a train passing through this railway at that time was ridden by Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the warlords of the Northeast Feng clan. Zhang Zuolin was killed on the spot, in fact, this was a long-planned plan of the Japanese Kou, and then in the battle, because the Northeast Army was unprepared, it was eventually seriously damaged, and then in order to protect the people in the northeast from the war, the northeast young marshal Zhang Xueliang issued a "no resistance" policy, and the northeast completely fell. This is the famous "918" incident, and the "sniper god" Zhang Taofang was born in such a chaotic year.
Zhang Taofang
Although he was born in the distant southern city of Suzhou, at that time China not only had wars in the northeast, but the whole country was in a turbulent period, foreign powers wantonly oppressed the people in China, and Japan, a small country in the east, was trying to occupy our entire country. This era is destined to be unstable, because of the influence of the social environment, Zhang Taofang has been very sensible and precocious since childhood, and because she has witnessed too many wars and deaths, Zhang Taofang in the same year has raised a strong and courageous heart, and Zhang Taofang, who grew up in slavery and oppression, has never feared these hateful aggressors.
Zhang Taofang was born in a small mountain village in Jiangsu, her parents were farmers with their own duties, the poor in that era could not eat enough, Zhang Taofang's family was no exception, the family often worried about grain, and hunger was also a common thing. In order to support the basic life of the family, Zhang Taofang, who is still very young, already knows to follow her grandfather to go hunting in the mountains and forests, because the number of times she enters the mountains with her grandfather, coupled with the personality of boys, makes Zhang Taofang have a very big interest in playing with guns since she was a child. It is said that the children of poor families are precocious, this old saying to describe Zhang Taofang is still very appropriate, so in the face of sensible grandchildren, Grandpa is also very pleased, coupled with social insecurity, so Grandpa will take the initiative to teach Xiao Zhang Taofang how to use a gun.
Perhaps at that time, Grandpa's idea was very simple, just hoping that he could protect himself in the face of danger, he should not have thought that Zhang Taofang would become a sniper genius after many years. Under the guidance of his grandfather and Zhang Taofang's careful study, his marksmanship gradually became accurate, Zhang Taofang's family conditions did not allow him to go to school, but the little Zhang Taofang would always stare at his grandfather's shotgun in a daze. At that time, a seed that wanted to join the army took root in Zhang Taofang's heart, waiting for it to sprout and blossom in the future.
Childhood dreams finally come true
Time flickered, Xiao Zhang Taofang has grown into a young man, Zhang Taofang is 20 years old, that is, in this year, Zhang Taofang finally realized her dream and became a soldier. After successfully entering the team, Zhang Taofang and other recruits conducted short-term training, when China had decided to send troops to Korea to support the Korean war, and Zhang Taofang was in the procession. Although being a soldier was his dream from childhood to adulthood, in the first 20 years of his life, he basically did not have close contact with the battlefield, so the moment he arrived at the Korean battlefield, he understood what the real battlefield was.
Zhang Taofang training
The volunteer army has carried out five large-scale campaigns to aid Korea, and our army has gradually changed from strategic offensive to defense, although in the previous war, the Chinese volunteer army has won many victories, but the enemy army at that time was an economically and militarily developed American army, and the gap between the two sides can be said to be incomparable. Therefore, although the US army at that time suffered defeat, its attitude was still very arrogant, and it did not pay attention to the Chinese volunteers at all. At that time, Zhang Taofang personally watched those American soldiers lying on the ground and sleeping, and some American troops would even gather around to chat and play cards, and their purpose in doing so was only to humiliate our volunteer army, as if we were not their opponents at all, and our poorly equipped volunteer army was not worthy of their strict position.
In order to extinguish the arrogance of the enemy, the headquarters of our volunteer army at that time decided to carry out a special military operation, that is, the "cold gun and cold artillery" operation, when the superiors instructed to recruit a group of snipers within the volunteer army and form a sniper team to snipe and kill the extremely arrogant "United Nations Army" headed by the US army at that time. Therefore, when the sniper team was integrated, the operation was carried out immediately, and this operation once again proved that the key to victory was not equipment, and also allowed the US army and other troops to see the strength of the Chinese volunteer army. At that time, this volunteer sniper team successfully killed the "League" in only three months
Military Commander Pi Dingjun and the leather shoes given to Zhang Taofang
When Zhang Taofang came to Korea, the volunteer army organized this campaign entered a white-hot stage, and in order to boost morale, the military always held shooting competitions, because everyone had been trained before coming to Korea, so Zhang Taofang's marksmanship was not a secret. Young people always have a sense of pride, Zhang Taofang is very confident in his marksmanship, but he did not expect that when he really competed, he would lose his target in the process of shooting, and he would still be completely out of the target. The company commander, who was also very optimistic about him at that time, thought that he was vain and flashy, so after this, he was transferred to the cooking class, although this punishment was not light, but Zhang Taofang did not complain, but began to find his own reasons.
In the gradual exploration, Zhang Taofang discovered the reason why he was off target one after another, and it turned out that the accuracy of his marksmanship was related to the type of gun he used, and in general, he used a rifle with small recoil and lightness. However, in that game, he used a recoiled, heavy Mosin Nagant rifle, and when he found the real reason, Zhang Taofang made a decision, that is, he wanted to make good contact with shooting, so that no matter what gun was used, he could hit the handle. Therefore, Zhang Taofang began to shoot hard, not only that, in order to overcome the limitation of large recoil, Zhang Taofang also tied sandbags to her big arms to increase the strength of her arms.
Zhang Taofang (middle) with comrades-in-arms
After Zhang Taofang trained hard for half a month, the second target shooting competition held in the company began, and this time Zhang Taofang finally lived up to expectations and got a full score, in a shorter period of time than other participants. It is precisely because of Zhang Taofang's outstanding performance in this competition that the company commander decided to let Zhang Taofang, who has always wanted to fight and kill the enemy, go to the battlefield, and this time Zhang Taofang is full of confidence, and he firmly believes that this time there will be no small gains.
The first time he went to the battlefield, he was defeated
When Zhang Taofang confidently went to the battlefield to prepare for a big fight, reality gave him a basin of cold water, because this time Zhang Taofang did not have any gains, and he did not even touch a hair of the enemy. What was the situation at that time? In January 1953, Zhang Taofang's unit was sent to shangganling's position, where he was hidden in the spot where another volunteer army unit had ambushed three months earlier, when the martyr Huang Jiguang had died nearby. Zhang Taofang thought about those lovely comrades who sacrificed, and his heart was very angry, and he secretly made up his mind that he must avenge his comrades at this moment.
The elderly Zhang Taofang
In his later years, Zhang Taofang recalled the scene at that time, the enemy was only less than a hundred meters away from him, and even from the scope he could clearly see the enemy's colored eyes that were different from ours, and he said that he was ambushed in the grass at that time, and he could see the enemy clearly. Just when he thought that he would be able to successfully shoot the enemy, he fired, but he fired three shots in a row without any gain, on the contrary, he exposed his hidden location, in order to save his life, Zhang Taofang could only retreat unwillingly. Zhang Taofang, who had not been discouraged by the empty targets in the previous competition, but Zhang Taofang, who had achieved nothing in the first battle, fell into self-doubt, and he even felt that he was not suitable to be a blocker at all.
Just when Zhang Taofang was discouraged, an old senior sniper in the army pointed out his problem, and the old senior said that Zhang Taofang's marksmanship was no problem, but he was too rigid in the process of training, and he had to know that people are alive and can move at any time. Zhang Taofang's biggest problem is that on the battlefield, he does not see the enemy as a living person, but as a target that will not move, so that he cannot hit the enemy, because the enemy will move at any time.
sniper
The words of the old man made Zhang Taofang open up, so Zhang Taofang packed up his frustration, and in order to be a qualified sniper, Zhang Taofang began to explore and study the enemy's activities, the environment of the position, and the wind direction around him. Finally, under his continuous and hard work, he finally summed up a set of shooting methods suitable for himself, and Zhang Taofang gave him a name for the method he found - "three points of engagement". And the enemies at that time probably did not know that their nightmare was coming.
A brand new pair of leather shoes
After profoundly summarizing her own problems, Zhang Taofang enhanced the intensity and time of her training, and the effect was quickly revealed, and Zhang Taofang, who was fighting on the battlefield, felt more and more comfortable. In a subsequent war, Zhang Taofang almost did not have a bullet, successfully shot 7 enemies with 9 bullets, after that, Zhang Taofang seemed to be opened to the second pulse of Ren Dou, and successively achieved good results on the battlefield.
In less than a month, Zhang Taofang successfully sniped and killed 71 enemies, and when the results of the battle were returned to the military headquarters, the commander also felt very incredible, and even doubted the truth or falsity of this news. Because he believed that a new soldier who had just gone to the battlefield could not achieve such results, in order to confirm Zhang Taofang's true level, the military commander Pi Dingjun decided to conduct a special test for this sniper.
Zhang Taofang on the battlefield
In fact, as early as when Zhang Taofang's soldiers came to Korea, Pi Dingjun had heard of his name, but Zhang Taofang's results in the first competition could be said to be miserable, which made the military commander Pi Dingjun gradually give up paying attention to him. However, this time, the person who achieved this gratifying result was Zhang Taofang, which made Pi Dingjun focus his attention on Zhang Taofang's body, and the time during this period was only more than a month.
Therefore, Pi Dingjun arranged for someone to go to observe Zhang Taofang, and Pi Dingjun also asked the soldiers sent to hold an object, saying that if Zhang Taofang successfully snipped the enemy, he would give this thing to him as a reward, and if he could not do it, then bring the thing back. It turned out that the thing that Pi Dingjun let the soldiers hold was a new pair of leather shoes that he had always been reluctant to wear, of course, this pair of leather shoes was successfully delivered to Zhang Taofang's hands.
Because the soldiers sent by Pi Dingjun to observe Zhang Taofang at that time saw Zhang Taofang snipe and kill three enemies in a few minutes, Zhang Taofang did not wear the pair of leather shoes that the commander rewarded him, but carefully treasured them, because he knew that it was a proof of his sniper ability. After that, Zhang Taofang also developed a habit that every time he went to the battlefield, he would collect the shell shells that snipe the enemy and put them in those leather shoes. In just one month after being rewarded with leather shoes, the shells filled two leather shoes, and when the military commander Pi Dingjun saw the shells, he gave Zhang Taofang a special task.
American
Death has arrived
At that time, Pi Dingjun let the number of people count after seeing the shell casing of that shoe, and finally determined that there were 211, which meant that Zhang Taofang snipped 211 enemies, not only that, his results took only one month, this record directly refreshed the highest record of snipers on the Korean battlefield. At that time, the military commander Pi Dingjun looked at his shell shells and was stunned, and then he asked Zhang Taofang if he wanted to snipe the three enemies now, in fact, at that time, Pi Dingjun only asked tentatively. Unexpectedly, Zhang Taofang agreed without hesitation, took his weapon and ran out, and sure enough, Zhang Taofang returned after a while, and he handed the shell casing that was still warm to Pi Dingjun's hand, and Pi Dingjun patted Zhang Taofang's shoulder and smiled satisfactorily.
Zhang Taofang is like a god of war born out of thin air, and his sniping ability makes the enemy's "ace" troops very jealous and afraid. Zhang Taofang will ambush in a hidden place every day with dry food, waiting for an opportunity, and Zhang Taofang's sniper ability has brought deterrence to the enemy army. The enemy finally put away its arrogant attitude, no longer chatting freely, playing cards, and sleeping, but always maintained vigilance to prevent a headshot by the volunteer sharpshooters.
Zhang Taofang's ability waited for the unanimous approval of the wing, and soon he was promoted to the leader of the sniper squad, and in the subsequent wars, Zhang Taofang was always able to lead his squad to snipe important people of the enemy. With Zhang Taofang's example, more and more soldiers practicing sniping in the ranks of the volunteer army, so their sniper squads are also constantly expanding, and then many excellent sniper fighters have appeared in the ranks of our army.
Zhang Taofang has cultivated a strong heart in many battles, and even always says that his brain is not very bright, not only that, Zhang Taofang is also a natural farsighted eye, as a sniper his eyesight is not good at all. To have the current results, it is only because they have luck compared to others, Zhang Taofang feels that she is still not good enough, but the US military does not think so, they feel that Zhang Taofang is completely "defying" them. A sniper with a "bad brain and bad eyes" can kill them in minutes, which is simply the existence of the "god of death".
An American soldier who was captured by our army once said so, saying that Zhang Taofang was the god of death on the Korean battlefield, and as long as he was targeted, there was only one way to die. Moreover, he also said that Zhang Taofang, who can hiccup his head, will never hit his neck, which is simply the world's "sniper god"!
Enemy sniper
A contest of life and death
The presence of Zhang Taofang in the volunteer army is definitely a major threat to the US military, so the "sniper god" naturally became the focus of the US military to eliminate it quickly, and at that time, in order to solve Zhang Taofang's thorny "big trouble", the US side specially recruited a so-called "ace" sniper from their country, and the life and death sniper was immediately staged.
In the summer of 1953, even if the gradually hotter weather did not affect Zhang Taofang's combat operations, he still carried water and dry food as usual to find a suitable location for concealed sniping, and at this moment, the bullet grazed his head. As an experienced sniper, Zhang Taofang instantly felt the breath of the same kind, which made Zhang Taofang instantly vigilant, he understood that this was a provocation to him, otherwise if this bullet had not appeared by chance, he would have died here a long time ago. Zhang Taofang understood that the opponent was coming, in order to confirm his conjecture, Zhang Taofang slowly leaked out a little bit of his body, and at the same time the bullet struck again, Zhang Taofang understood that this was coming at him, and at this time the enemy arranged a special sniper against him.
In her later years, Zhang Taofang
This made Zhang Taofang, who had experienced hundreds of battles, nervous, he understood that if he did not take the other side down at this moment, he would have big trouble in the future, which would be very unfavorable to our army, and Zhang Taofang also understood that the sniper strength of the other side should be very strong, otherwise he would not have just tested himself at the beginning. Because the other party wants to make himself aware of his existence, this is a challenge to the direction of himself. When Zhang Taofang realized this, he decided to take a risk, he decided to use his body to induce the enemy sniper to shoot, and at the moment when the other sniper fired the bullet, Zhang Taofang immediately tilted his head. The sniper on the opposite side thought that Zhang Taofang had been killed, so he instantly relaxed his tense body, saying that it was too late and fast, Zhang Taofang suddenly got up and fired a shot steadily, but it was a pity that the other party dodged it.
As a result, the two sides launched a life-and-death contest for nearly half an hour, and finally in the moment when the enemy sniper accidentally exposed half of his head, Zhang Taofang immediately aimed and shot, and in one fell swoop, the enemy was finally successfully sniped by Zhang Taofang.
After the end of the Korean War, Zhang Taofang returned to China with the troops, and he made a decision that surprised everyone, that is, he applied for the selection of the pilots of the Mainland Volunteer Army, and was finally elected among nearly two hundred people, and then a generation of "snipers" became a real volunteer pilot, and Zhang Taofang's volunteer air force unit at that time was also our first generation of fighter air force units in China. Zhang Taofang continued to stay in the army and performed miracles as a pilot.
Air Force of the Chinese Volunteer Army
On July 14, 1976, Zhang Taofang's veteran army commander, General Pi Dingjun, was martyred during a drill due to the crash of the helicopter he was riding in, and at his personal funeral, a stranger who looked very spirited appeared, and at the moment of arriving at the spiritual hall, he knelt in front of the spirit of Captain Pi and cried bitterly. He cried at Commander Pi's coffin and said, "Your old men are late, Commander Pi, I've come to see you." Many people present at the time did not know who he was, but only speculated whether it should be the old subordinate of Commander Pi, or whether the reporters present at the time thought that the reporter recognized him, and he was Zhang Taofang, the king of Chinese snipers.
In 2007, Zhang Taofang died of illness, this year he was 77 years old, and he went to see his comrades-in-arms and veteran commanders with the glory and achievements of his life.
Video link: "Sniper" Zhang Taofang: Killed the US ace sniper in 3 seconds, and eliminated 200 US troops in a month