Beijing, 25 Nov (Xinhua) -- On 25 November, Xinhua Daily Telegraph published a report entitled "Those Thrilling Moments of Life and Death in the Battle of Shangganling."
Dandong Yalu River in autumn, a large river with wide waves, on the Yinghua Mountain on the riverside, the Memorial Hall of Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea stands quietly here.
"Advance heroically, plant the red flag on the liberated positions." In the memorial hall, a bullet-riddled battle flag is displayed in a display case. Nothing but victory, nothing for victory. The 381 bullet holes on the battle flag silently tell the 43 days and nights of the indomitable and bloody struggle of the Chinese Volunteers against a strong enemy. In November 1952, this battle flag, which made the enemy fearful, was planted on the main peak of Shangganling.
Why is the battle flag picturesque? The blood of the hero stained it red!
Sangganryeong, a small village located at the southern foot of Goseongsan Mountain in Kimhwa-gun, Gangwon-do, central Korea, adjacent to 597.9 Highland and 537.7 Highland Buksan. From October 14 to November 25, 1952, the extremely tragic Battle of Shangganling took place here.
In this battle, the soldiers of the Chinese Volunteer Army overcame great difficulties, were brave and tenacious, and were not afraid of sacrifice, and battle heroes such as Huang Jiguang, Sun Zhanyuan, and Hu Xiudao emerged.
On that day, the 21-year-old sacrificed his life to block the gunhole
"For the sake of the people of the Motherland, it is necessary to be at the forefront of the glorious battle ... If you do not make meritorious achievements, you will not go to the battlefield". This letter written by Huang Jiguang to his mother is full of the ambition of a man to serve the country. Just over five months after the letter was sent, in the Battle of Shangganling, Huang Jiguang blocked the enemy's machine gun muzzle with his body and opened the way forward for his comrades with his life.
On the night of October 19, Huang Jiguang's battalion was ordered to capture Heights 597.9. After capturing three positions in succession, the troops were blocked, and the organization of three consecutive explosions was ineffective. It was near dawn, and not taking the high ground could delay the entire fighter. At the critical moment, Huang Jiguang stepped forward, took the initiative to request the task of demolition, and led two soldiers to attack the fortification.
Huang Jiguang and his comrades bravely destroyed several enemy fire points in a row, but unfortunately, they were discovered by the enemy, countless machine guns sprayed tongues of fire, swept towards their hidden place, one soldier was unfortunately killed, the other was seriously wounded, Huang Jiguang's left arm was also hung up, but he still crawled forward tenaciously.
Seeing that the enemy fire point was getting closer and closer, Huang Jiguang aimed at the opportunity to throw a grenade at the enemy, but because the fire point was too large, only half of it was blown up, and the machine gun that had not been blown up stuck out of the remaining firing hole, and the charge of the volunteers was blocked again.
At this time, Huang Jiguang, who had been wounded in many places, leaned sideways, crawled to the dead corner of the bunker, pushed upward, fought up, blocked the enemy's flaming muzzle with his chest, and died heroically at the age of 21.
The young warriors opened the way forward with their lives, and the comrades-in-arms shouted "Avenge Huang Jiguang", angrily rushed up, and captured the high ground in one fell swoop. When cleaning the battlefield, they found that Huang Jiguang's hands were still firmly grasping the sacks around him, and his chest was tightly blocking the enemy's muzzle...
"Huang Jiguang!"
"To!"
Nowadays, the company where Huang Jiguang belonged to before his death routinely rolls roll calls every night, and when "Huang Jiguang" is called, all officers and men of the company will answer "yes" in unison to express their respect for the heroes.
On that day, the 27-year-old was blown off his legs and was still crawling to command the enemy
"When the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is won, I will buy a pair of leather shoes and go to Tiananmen Square to take a picture, and then go back to my hometown to marry a wife." With simple and simple wishes, 27-year-old Sun Zhanyuan could not wait for the victory of the war. On the first day of the Battle of Shangganling, his life was lost in the relentless fire.
On October 14, 1952, the Battle of Shangganling officially began. Sun Zhanyuan led an assault platoon to counterattack position No. 2 on Heights 597.9, and when approaching the position, his legs were blown off by enemy shells.
Seeing this scene, the soldier Yi Caixue hurriedly took out a first-aid kit from his body to bandage Sun Zhanyuan. Sun Zhanyuan pushed Yi Caixue away and ordered: "The battle situation is urgent, leave me alone, we can't stay here longer, the enemy's fire point has not been blown up, in order to win, you immediately go to blast the enemy's bunker, I will cover you!" ”
When the soldiers saw Sun Zhanyuan's face like paper, they all persuaded him to withdraw from his position, and he said firmly: "I am a member of the Communist Party and a commander, and I will never leave my post unless I complete the tasks assigned to me by the Party." "Sun Zhanyuan, with a strong will, crawled back and forth to command, covered Yi Caixue's blasting with a machine gun, and destroyed 3 enemy fire points.
Just as the assault platoon attacked position No. 2 and continued to advance in depth, the enemy suddenly counterattacked from the side of the position, and several comrades were killed. Sun Zhanyuan used the captured bunker to set up two captured machine guns to fire in turn, repelling the enemy's onslaught one after another. Subsequently, the enemy attacked again. With his comrades suffering casualties and running out of ammunition, Sun Zhanyuan endured great pain, crawled with difficulty, untied grenades from the enemy's corpses and continued to fight. When the enemy troops took the position, he sounded the last grenade and died with the enemy at the age of 27.
70 years later, in the Shenyang Martyrs' Cemetery, stone monuments stood solemnly, pines and cypresses were silent, and Sun Zhanyuan was buried here. The spirited young man who dreamed of wearing new leather shoes lost his legs before sacrificing; once dreamed of returning to his hometown, but slept in a foreign land; Although he did not see the day of victory in the war, he used all his strength, burned his youth and blood, and forged the foundation for the great victory of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea with his body.
On that day, at the age of 19, he repelled more than 40 enemy attacks
As the battle deepened, both the volunteers and the enemy increased their strength, and the battle for positions escalated. The volunteers numbered the important unnamed heights on the mountain separately for the use of artillery fire and operational command. Hu Xiudao and two comrades were responsible for holding position No. 3.
At dawn, the enemy attacked the position under the cover of aircraft and artillery. In an interview before his death, Hu Xiudao recalled that he was particularly nervous because it was "the first time to fight the enemy with real guns." Seeing that the enemy was getting closer and closer, with the order of the squad leader, Hu Xiudao desperately threw grenades into the enemy group.
"It wasn't until the squad leader grabbed my wrist that I knew that the enemy had been repulsed." Hu Xiudao said, "At that time, the supply of ammunition was difficult, and for so many years, I regretted that I wasted too much ammunition. ”
Before Hu Xiudao could catch his breath, the enemy launched another onslaught, and Hu Xiudao and his comrades fought back heroically, fighting for 3 hours in a row, repelling the enemy's repeated attacks. Due to the fierce offensive, the No. 10 position was no longer effective, and Hu Xiudao and his comrades immediately broke through several walls of fire and went to support.
At this time, platoon commander Guo Sandan also crawled over to support, but he did not expect that a shell exploded beside him, and the platoon commander died heroically in front of Hu Xiudao's eyes. "Hold your position even when you die" are the last words left by the platoon commander.
The platoon commander was killed, the wounded comrades were transferred again, and only Hu Xiudao remained in the position. In order to end the battle as soon as possible, the enemy drove the tanks over, hundreds of guns fired a volley, and the planes overhead began to bombard indiscriminately. In the face of the swarming enemy, Hu Xiudao held his breath in his heart and fought desperately. Relying on the few ammunition he had left, he fought back and forth between the two positions, like a violent wind, repelling more than a dozen enemy attacks.
At dusk, the enemy once again squeezed in all over the mountains. After Hu Xiudao threw the last grenade, he grabbed the gun beside him, jumped into position, and shouted: "The enemy is coming, rush, avenge your comrades-in-arms and win glory for the people of the motherland!" ”
Along with this roar, the surrounding positions simultaneously resounded with earth-shaking shouts. At the moment of the attack, the large army of volunteers arrived, the enemy fled again, and the battle was won. Later, according to the statistics of the front-line observation post, with the support of artillery, Hu Xiudao and his comrades repelled more than 40 enemy attacks.
Writer Yang Shuo once wrote at the end of his article "Heroes of Venus": "This 19-year-old young man vividly illustrates why the enemy has broken his head in North Korea. The enemy cannot attack Shangganling, let alone North Korea, because on Shangganling, on every front, we have countless figures like Hu Xiudao. ”
On that day, the 29-year-old used his life to connect to the "bombed" telephone line
"Picked up... Line...... Is it all through? These were the last words left by Jin Ershi.
On the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, wireless communication equipment was seriously inadequate, and the telephone soldiers responsible for ensuring wired communications played a vital role in ensuring smooth communication during the war. Telephone commands directly determine the accuracy of artillery shells and affect the combat effectiveness of volunteers.
In the exhibition area of the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, there is a scarred telephone line with more than 50 connectors. Behind this broken telephone line is a period of glory years.
After the Battle of Shangganling began, the company of the telephone soldier Jin Ershi was responsible for suppressing the enemy's artillery fire and supporting the front-line infantry to hold the two high grounds.
In the early morning of October 19, 1952, the enemy concentrated its fire on the positions of the volunteers and bombarded them fiercely. Just as the 20th Artillery Regiment of the Volunteer Army received the order to "prepare to open artillery," the telephone line was blown up, and the earpiece suddenly lost sound.
"Let me go!" At the time of emergency, Jin Ershi carried a single machine on his back, took wiring tongs, and ran out with his comrade-in-arms Li Changyou.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... Time ticked by, the command post anxiously waited for instructions from the front, and the comrades in the fortifications were also anxiously waiting for artillery support, and suddenly, the voice of the command headquarters was clearly heard on the phone: "Fire!" "A shell then exploded in the enemy camp.
The comrades-in-arms waited for a long time, and did not see Jin Ershi and Li Changyou return. It turned out that Lee Changyou had already died. During the battle, Jin Ershi's left leg was blown off, and he endured severe pain, dragged his broken leg, and crawled on the ground with two elbows. In the shrapnel-strewn ravine, he crawled more than 20 meters and connected three blown telephone lines. At the end of the battle, when his comrades found Jin Ershi, he was holding the telephone line in one hand and the wiring tongs in the other, unconscious at the third wire. Behind him, along the telephone line is a bloody road of more than 20 meters.
No one knows how he braved the enemy's rain of shells, dragged his broken legs on the uneven, cratered and rubble ground, crawled for more than 20 meters, and he used his life to connect this "bombed" telephone line.
The comrades-in-arms tearfully carried Jin Ershi onto the stretcher, and heard him say slowly: "Pick up... Line...... Is it all through? Due to excessive bleeding, the 29-year-old closed his eyes forever and was posthumously awarded the honorary title of "Special Meritorious Hero".
The "History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" of the 15th Army of the Chinese Volunteers recorded the following passage: "In the Battle of Shangganling, it became a common phenomenon to pull grenades, grenades, blast canisters, and explosive packs at critical moments and die with the enemy, sacrificing one's life to blow up enemy bunkers and block the enemy's gunholes. ”
"The intensity of the Shangganling Battle was unprecedented, and the artillery fire density was extremely strong, and this battle was not only a typical example of holding the defense, but also a typical example of inferior equipment defeating an enemy with superior equipment." Zhang Xiaoying, deputy director of the Memorial Hall to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, said.
Thousands of volunteer soldiers have inscribed their loyalty to the party, love for the motherland, and deep attachment to their hometown and relatives on the land of a foreign land, which profoundly proves and will continue to prove that an awakened nation that dares to fight for the glory, independence, and security of the motherland is invincible!