On the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there was an interesting thing: On the battlefield of Shangganling in 1952, the volunteer army found that a large number of American cans were filled with feces. What's going on here?
Meat toot chubby
There is such a cold gun hero, judging from the precious photos left on the battlefield, the 21-year-old is still a little childish on his face, and his fleshy face still has a thick smile.
However, it is such a small fat man whose appearance is not proud, but he is the "god of death" who makes the American devils feel frightened on the battlefield - Zhang Taofang.
Even after the end of the war, Zhang Taofang's shadow of the American devils lingered for a long time. It is said that as long as Zhang Taofang pulls the trigger, there is an American soldier who wants to die, this sniper who only sees bullets in the shadows and does not see his people, for the US army at that time, Zhang Taofang was the real Satan.
In the 2018 foreign media selection of the five deadliest snipers in the history of the earth, Zhang Taofang ranked first.
According to the profile at the time, the mysterious Eastern sniper was one of the deadliest snipers ever killed, killing 214 enemies with 440 rounds of ammunition in just 32 days, almost without a bullet and setting a record for the Highest number of Cold Shot Kills by Chinese Volunteers on the Korean Battlefield.
The most frightening thing is that he did not rely on the machine sight, and he became an sniper god with a cheap Mosin Nagant 1944 rifle.
M1944 Type 7.62 mm Mosin Nagant Rifle
Although the accuracy of the Mosin Nagant rifle is not bad, the gunfire is crisp, and the firing is clean and clean, it is also called water beads by the warriors. But even the designer himself could not imagine that someone had actually used this rifle to become an sniper.
And this godlike sniper king has also become the inspiration for Zhang Yimou's movie "Sniper", although the general movie will use exaggerated techniques, but the sniper's story is more than the movie.
Let's turn back the time to the battlefield full of smoke 70 years ago and appreciate the legendary heroism of this oriental sniper god.
Stills from Sniper
A life-and-death sniper who became famous in World War I
In the summer of 1952, a thrilling scene was being staged in Shangganling, North Korea.
At this time, there was no grass, no war, no blood in Shangganling, and it seemed to be a dead silence here, as if war had never swept through. However, under the calm of all these winds and waves, there is a hidden turbulence.
But at this moment, a sniper suddenly stood up from the trench, his butt locked on the target and pulled the trigger, all skillfully and quickly. Almost at the same time, a gunshot was also fired from the enemy on the opposite side. These two seemingly ordinary gunshots made everyone on the battlefield hold their breath nervously.
Because this is a master duel between two top snipers, the sniper opposite Zhang Taofang, code-named "Ghost", is the ace sniper of the US military. Because of the appearance of Zhang Taofang, the US military was panicked one by one, and even did not dare to go to the toilet, and even solved it in the can box, for fear that one accidentally died under Zhang Taofang's bullets, and this "ghost" was the US military's self-confidence to find a special way to deal with Zhang Taofang.
This "ghost" is a veteran of World War II, or a sniper commander, to have theory and practice. Regardless of the marksmanship and equipment, zhang Taofang, who is only 21 years old, is crushed, so it is not strange that the US military is full of confidence.
So who is better, "Grim Reaper" or "Ghost"? What the hell is going on here?
That day, Zhang Taofang walked towards sniper station no. 4 as usual, and suddenly there was a click above his head, Zhang Taofang instinctively lowered his head, and a bullet passed through his hair.
Although there was no danger, Zhang Taofang was still shocked into a cold sweat, not only this thrilling bullet, but also because there was a master hidden behind this bullet.
Zhang Taofang hurriedly lay on the traffic trench, put up his steel helmet with the butt of his rifle, and propped it outside the trench, trying to make the enemy target it. However, the "ghost" is not a waste of time, and this set of small tricks has not deceived it.
So Zhang Taofang could only change another method, he did not hesitate, suddenly threw off his coat and jumped out of the tunnel and pounced on the sniper station. At the moment when Zhang Taofang rose, it was followed by the fierce machine gun fire of the enemy army. Faced with bullets as dense as raindrops, Zhang Taofang's body was twisted and fell into the bunker.
Zhang Taofang's fake fall action made everyone think that he had been shot, but this was only Zhang Taofang's tactic: using himself as bait to lure the enemy to shoot, so that the enemy could expose the position, and at the same time make the enemy mistakenly think that he had been shot to paralyze the other party.
Sure enough, Zhang Taofang found an M2 heavy machine gun equipped with a scope between the two boulders, and it was not difficult to judge that the person hidden behind the machine gun was a "ghost".
After that, Zhang Taofang adjusted her breathing and covertly extended the muzzle of the gun to aim at the head of the "ghost", and the "ghost" also found Zhang Taofang, and the two shot almost at the same time.
The two masters between the electric light and flint completed a top-level life-and-death sniper, and the moment Zhang Taofang pulled the trigger, a row of machine gun bullets hit the ground in front of him, and he was thrown in the face by the splashed rubble. However, the bullet he shot steadily shattered the head of the "ghost", and the bullet of the "ghost" shot into the dirt against Zhang Taofang's scalp.
The difference is a gap between life and death, and this shot also made Zhang Taofang famous in a war, engraved in the sniper book of world history.
The machine aimed a thousand meters to snipe the American ace sniper, and the novel did not dare to write like this. However, this is a more wonderful line of life and death than the movie, Zhang Taofang herself is so understated:
When I was firing, the enemy's gun also rang out, and he was a little later than me. The bullets that had been fired exploded and hit me in the face, and I was fine now, and the enemy had fallen.
Such a thrilling scene that has entered the annals of history seems to be as easy and simple as eating and drinking in the mouth of this sniper king. However, the story of Zhang Taofang becoming a sniper is not simple, and his path to becoming a god is very special.
Zhang Taofang
"Three Big Burnt Cakes"
You must not think that this cold gun hero who is in the storm on the battlefield is most afraid of the enemy's bullets and cruel battlefields, but "three big burnt cakes", which must start from zhang Taofang's meeting when she just joined the army.
In June 1950, the Korean War broke out, and the so-called "United Nations Army" led by the United States sent troops to Korea, when American warplanes bombed Dandong and other places in the northeast of the mainland. These news reached the ears of Zhang Taofang, who was full of enthusiasm at the time, and he was very angry. However, at that time, Zhang Taofang neither became a soldier nor studied, but was just an ordinary cattle herding doll in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province.
In March 1951, the patriotic ambitions of the cattle herders finally had the opportunity to show their fists, and his hometown in Xinghua began to recruit soldiers, and the excited Zhang Taofang rushed to hear the news and was the first to sign up for the army.
Who would have thought that this little cowherd would become a famous sniper god in the future?
In October 1952, the 24th Army, to which the cowherd belonged, began to march to the Korean battlefield, and his 214th Regiment was stationed at Wonsan.
In order to strengthen the training and to enliven the atmosphere between the eggs of the recruits, the regimental headquarters decided to hold a whole-regiment target shooting competition. This game Zhang Taofang naturally will not miss, he is also full of confidence when he registers. Although he did not receive professional training, Zhang Taofang's grandfather had a shotgun and often used the shotgun to play with birds when he had nothing to do.
In Zhang Taofang's view, shooting targets is similar to hitting birds, birds can still fly, and targets will not move, which is nothing more than calming down, aiming, and pulling the trigger.
In that target shooting competition, Zhang Taofang "became famous in one fell swoop", but it was not a good name.
The rule of the target competition is that one person has three shots, and Zhang Taofang has the appearance to go up and shoot three shots, and everyone on the field dropped their jaws after these three shots.
At that time, the competition conditions were poor, but it was not as good as the current electronic target, which would be artificially raised a card, and a few rings would be raised. At that time, after Zhang Taofang finished playing, the cards raised were all a number - zero melon eggs.
Good fellow, who would have thought that the sniper's first shot was actually missed, all off target, which attracted the goodwill ridicule of other comrades on the field. And because the number zero resembles a burnt cake, the company commander at the time scolded Zhang Taofang for eating three large baked cakes, and in order to punish his marksmanship "dish", he directly transferred Zhang Taofang to the cooking class to help cook.
This is the story of Zhang Taofang's most feared and most humiliating "three big burnt cakes", and the scene at that time made this young man eager to find a seam to drill into.
But this is also strange to say, although Zhang Taofang was only a recruit egg at that time, but he had played shotgun before, entered the army and was trained, the gun off target was not his real level, was there something wrong with it?
Unexpectedly, this problem actually occurred on the gun. This Taofang used to use three or eight large covers, but after arriving in North Korea, it was all replaced by a Mosingana rifle, which is the gun of the "ghost" he later sniped.
However, at this time, Zhang Taofang had not yet adapted to this rifle that would make herself a god in the future, and this Mosingana was more powerful than the three or eight big covers, the recoil was also greater, and the barrel was shorter. Therefore, Zhang Taofang was not easy to use and unaccustomed to, which led to all three shots off target.
Since he is not used to it, let him use it until he is used to it. Zhang Taofang, who was assigned to the gang room at that time, was stimulated by the "three big burnt cakes", and sometimes often held the barrel of a gun in a daze, and one end was a whole day.
However, if there were no "three big burnt cakes", perhaps there would be no later sharpshooter.
According to Zhang Taofang's original comrade-in-arms Lü Changqing, once when he went to the toilet late at night, with the keen intuition of a soldier, he noticed that someone not far away was aiming at him with a gun. At that time, this comrade-in-arms could be frightened, but the person who aimed at him was actually Zhang Taofang.
It turned out that Zhang Taofang was practicing his gun assiduously, not practicing enough against the trunk of the tree during the day, and at night he practiced against the flickering candle fire, and that night he aimed at the horse lamp used by Lu Changqing's hand to illuminate. Not only that, when he contacted and aimed, he also hung a dozen pounds of sandbags on his arm to enhance his arm strength, and he held his gun when he ate and slept, and he was inseparable everywhere he went.
Soon, Zhang Taofang ushered in the opportunity to go to the battlefield, this time Zhang Taofang will be cared for by the god of fate?
Cold Gun Cold Gun Battle
Opportunities are always left to those who are prepared, and Zhang Taofang finally got the opportunity to show her talents under the continuous trial and error and the hard work day after day.
In January 1953, Zhang Taofang came to the 597.9 heights in Shangganling, practiced hard for so long, and finally went to the front line. In particular, the nearest sniper station is only more than 50 meters away from the enemy position, and as a far-sighted eye, he can even see the color of the pupils of the American devils on the opposite side.
Unfortunately, although the enemy was close at hand, the superiors ordered that no random shots should be fired. This order was given to avoid unnecessary casualties, after all, when our army fired one shot, the American tank fired a cannon, and the combat effectiveness was not at all on a horizontal line.
But the sniper king Zhang Taofang was born under this order, what is going on?
At that time, the enemy's artillery fire did not stop for a moment, and as long as they saw our army supplying the position or where the smoke was coming, they would certainly shell it.
The soldiers of our army were miserable, at that time, more than 30 degrees below zero, in this cold and frozen Shangganling, the soldiers did not have cotton shoes, in order to keep warm, they could only cut off the military blanket and hold their feet. Eating and afraid of exposure, do not dare to make a fire, can only a handful of food and a handful of snow, even hot water can not drink a mouthful, all day long cat in the cold and damp tunnel.
However, the painting style on the opposite side is completely different, and they have the advantage of having aircraft cannons, and they openly do exercises on the position, sing and dance in a strange way, line up to pee in the direction of the volunteers, and even lie in the open air in the open air in the sun, completely ignoring our volunteers.
This act of the coalition army was simply playing with fire, and this fire directly burned to the brain of Xu Shizhen, deputy company commander of the Ninth Company of the 355th Regiment. The volunteers could only choose to be patient in the face of the provocations of the coalition army, but this Xu Shizhen's notorious fiery temper, he could not bear it.
So Xu Shizhen sneaked into the tunnel with a Mosin Nagant rifle and dozens of bullets to touch the front of the line, found a suitable position for shooting, immediately raised the gun, aimed, pulled the trigger, and successfully killed an unsuspecting UN army under the operation of the clouds, and by the time the enemy sensed that he was going to counterattack, he had slipped to a safe place. Xu Shizhen slipped away after firing a shot, and then slipped away with another shot, killing 7 enemy troops alone in one day.
Xu Shizhen used a cold gun and cold cannon play, although he killed 7 enemy troops, but Xu Shizhen was very panicked after he returned, after all, this was an unauthorized action.
Unexpectedly, not only did the above not criticize him, but even Chairman Mao sent a special telegram to support him, and Pi Dingjun, commander of the 24th Army, also arranged for other shooting experts to learn from him to "put cold guns" in the forward positions, including Zhang Taofang.
Soon, the cold gun movement was fully promoted, and the volunteer army gradually explored a set of effective tactics:
In order to ensure the accuracy of shooting, the front line excavated and bred a large number of sharpshooters. And because Shangganling is covered with snow everywhere and can easily cause snow blindness, special investigators have been arranged for sharpshooters to operate in groups. To avoid exposing the firing position, the muzzle is also covered with mud and watered to reduce the smoke and dust raised after firing. Most cold gun games are held while the enemy is washing and ventilating, because this is the time when the enemy is least defensive.
However, at the time of the Cold Gun Movement, an sniper god was born.
The path of the Upper Ganling Sharpshooter
With hard training coupled with her innate farsightedness and strong learning ability, Zhang Taofang gradually opened her own path of aiming at the gods with her naked eye. There was no double mirror, the rifle was used, and there was nothing to do, but it was such a condition that Zhang Taofang still sat firmly in the position of the strongest sniper.
Although Zhang Taofang hit a wall when he first went to the battlefield, after all, he didn't even know what the advance amount was. Later, under the guidance of other team members, I knew that I should aim my head when I went up the mountain, and I had to aim at my feet when I went down the mountain, and after two weeks, Zhang Taofang finally had a head to enter the account.
However, this opening was not to kill or injure one or two enemies, but a total of 71 enemies, and only 240 rounds of ammunition were used. This news directly shocked the entire company, and the recruit egg who had missed the target three times on the field turned into a sharpshooter, and even Pi Dingjun, the commander of the 24th Army, could not believe it.
Skin is constant
So Pi Dingjun found a combat staff officer and asked him to bring the leather shoes that he was reluctant to wear to meet the sharpshooter for a while.
Soon, Zhang Taofang had an extra pair of leather shoes at his feet, and this combat staff officer returned empty-handed but happily closed his mouth, because Zhang Taofang simply and neatly killed on time under the watchful eyes of the staff officer, frightening the former arrogant and rampant coalition army into not daring to show his face, and even crawling back to the position, they crossed the cross and prayed not to eat Zhang Taofang's bullets.
However, this pair of leather shoes Zhang Taofang also wore once, and then this pair of leather shoes were stuffed with combat shell casings, a total of 211 pieces, and this pair of leather shoes also carried his full record.
After Pi Dingjun learned of these shell casings, he said to Zhang Taofang: You are from the 214th Regiment, and killing three more enemy troops is just a few times.
So Zhang Taofang returned to the sniper position to hit three enemies and gathered the 214 shells. The Coalition Army should be glad that Zhang Taofang was from the 214th Regiment, and if this number was four figures, I don't know how many American devils would have to be killed.
postscript
In 1953, Zhang Taofang was awarded the Special Meritorious Service of the Chinese Volunteer Army and was awarded the honorary title of Second-Class Sniper Hero. Hearing this, you will surely wonder, why is this premier sniper god not rated as a first-class sniper hero?
According to reliable sources, the reason why Zhang Taofang did not get the first-class honorary title was not because of marksmanship, but because this old man did not have a single injury on his whole body, and even the skin on his whole body was not broken, which was really full of blood to kill the enemy.
In a follow-up interview with Zhang Taofang's old man's son, it was learned that this sniper god suffered the final injury, and it was a child who played and fell.
In 1954, the Volunteer Army selected fighter pilots, and nearly 200 fighters in the 24th Army signed up, but in the end only Zhang Taofang was left, so the sniper god began his career as a pilot of the first generation of fighters in New China.
Beneath all the seemingly effortless successes are sweat and tears invisible to the world. Talented heroes like Zhang Taofang are admirable, but the ordinary but brave unknown warriors on the battlefield are equally admirable.
Thank you to all the heroes who spilled sweat and blood on the battlefield, who were born and died in exchange for the peace we have now hard-won.