Recently, I revisited the classic red movie "Reconnaissance of crossing the river". In addition to watching, I consulted some historical materials and learned about such a situation: the drama was mainly based on the relevant deeds of the Sanye 27th Army in the Battle of the River Crossing. Speaking of these deeds, it is impossible not to mention a figure named "He Minxue".
He Minxue (back row left) and He Zizhen (front row left) and other relatives took a group photo
Friends familiar with the relevant history may know that He Minxue is the elder brother of the chairman's wife, He Zizhen.
Long before Chairman Mao went to Jinggangshan, He Minxue participated in leading the struggle against the enemy in the Jinggangshan area. After Chairman Mao established the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area, He Minxue became a powerful helper under Chairman Mao, doing military and political work with Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo. Since then, He Minxue has studied in the war and gradually become an excellent military commander who is good at organization, good at planning, and good at field warfare.
During his military career, He Minxue served several times as the "chief of staff" of the army. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as chief of staff of the "Joint Resistance" Command. In the early days of the Liberation War, he also partnered with Ye Fei and served as chief of staff to Higashino 1. At the beginning of 1949, after the Huaihai Campaign, the East China Field Army was ordered to be reorganized into the Third Field Army, and He Minxue was transferred to the 27th Army led by Nie Fengzhi, serving as deputy commander and chief of staff.
Shortly thereafter, the central government decided to launch the Battle of the Crossing River, and the 27th Army, together with its 9th Corps, was organized into the Middle Group of the Battle of the Crossing River. They were ordered to assemble in Wuwei County, Anhui Province, and faced with the river crossing area from Lugang to Digang, the whole army began intense preparations.
Schematic diagram of the scope of the 27th Army crossing the river
As chief of staff, He Minxue especially felt a heavy responsibility, because this time they were facing not only the enemy, but also the gushing Water of the Yangtze River.
According to the previous situation, "the soldiers and horses have not moved, reconnaissance has come first," and all kinds of information such as the enemy situation and terrain detected need to be summarized here by the chief of staff, so as to prepare for the decision-making of the military commander.
However, this time, because of the existence of the "heavenly graben" of the Yangtze River, and the opposite bank is a well-fortified river defense position of the enemy army, it is very difficult for our side to send scouts to Jiangnan. However, it is still a pity to limit the means of obtaining enemy information to the long-distance reconnaissance of commanders and fighters on the north coast or to the limited amount of information transmitted from the south bank.
After thinking about it, He Minxue felt that he should still boldly try to cross the river reconnaissance, so he sent several excellent scouts to carry out small-scale attempts to cross the river, and finally gained some successful experience. Some scouts also collected a little leek greens from the south bank and brought them back, hoping to surprise Commander Nie Fengzhi.
Nie Fengzhi
Nie Fengzhi, who was still a little hesitant, was overjoyed after eating the vegetables on the south bank, but it was not that there were no such vegetables in the north, and there was really no shortage of leeks and greens, nie Fengzhi was excited that there was a possibility of success in reconnaissance across the river, which was also a surprise that He Minxue gave to the whole army.
With Nie Fengzhi's approval, He Minxue tried even more boldly, and he sent several reconnaissance teams in succession, one of which was a 7-man reconnaissance group of the 79th Division, and the leader of the group was the reconnaissance hero Qi Jinhu. The task of Qi Jinhu and others was to board a small island in the Yangtze River, the "Black SandBar," to find out the depth and defense of the enemy troops on the island.
They began their operations on a rainy night, and after successfully landing on the island, they were discovered by the enemy army, and Qi Jinhu and the two team members around them successfully lurked under the cover of two elderly couples. These plots are somewhat similar to those in "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River". Others are different. After more than 10 days of lurking in Xiaodao Mountain, Qi Jinhu and the three of them took advantage of a dark night to sit on a large wooden basin and returned to the north shore, which was simply more "wonderful" than in the movie.
A clip from the movie "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River"
Speaking of which, it's not over yet, it's just getting started.
Seeing more and more successful cases, He Minxue began to think bigger. He believes that sending individual soldiers or reconnaissance teams to conduct reconnaissance is all a small fight, and the information they have is not comprehensive or timely. It is better to send a reconnaissance brigade across the river, let them take the radio, and connect with the guerrillas on the south bank, and with the cooperation of the latter, continuously send the latest deployment of the enemy's river defense to the north bank, and at the same time further explore the enemy's deep deployment on the south bank, so as to provide intelligence support for the next action of our army after landing on the shore.
In response to He Minxue's suggestion, the leadership of the 27th Army discussed it, but for a moment they could not make up their minds; some people doubted the safety of the reconnaissance brigade, and some people worried about the impact on the overall situation; after all, such an operation was the only case among all the troops crossing the river, and they could not be careless, so they reported this plan to the headquarters of the 9 corps, and the 9 corps to the General Front Committee and the Central Committee.
Chairman Mao was looking at a military map
After studying this, Nie Fengzhi, He Minxue, and others decided to form this "advance river crossing brigade" composed of two reconnaissance companies directly under the military and three capable reconnaissance squads drawn from various divisions, which was about 300 people, equivalent to the configuration of a reinforced battalion. The captain of the brigade was Ya Bing, chief of staff of the 242nd Regiment, and the deputy captain was Murong Sirong, chief of the military reconnaissance section.
Schematic diagram of the reconnaissance operation route of the advance brigade of the 27th Army across the river
After 20:00 on the night of April 6, 1949, the advance river crossing brigade officially set off, and the whole team used a total of 15 small boats to cross the river separately by the main and deputy captains. After the two teams landed on the south bank, they quickly interspersed with the enemy rear and converged at Mujiating at the junction of Fanchang, Nanling and Tongling. As in the plot of "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River", the advance brigade quickly made contact with the nearby guerrillas, then moved again, and finally reached the former base area of the New Fourth Army, which was also the base camp of the guerrillas at that time, in the Yunling area of Jing County.
Relying on the cooperation of the Jiangnan guerrillas, the advance brigade obtained enemy information through various means and sent it to the headquarters of the 27th Army on the north bank through radio. According to General Nie Fengzhi's recollection, the advance brigade sent back an important piece of information, that is, the enemy added another army's troop allocation on the opposite bank of our 27th Army in an attempt to prevent us from crossing the river. Thanks to the intelligence of the advance brigade, unnecessary losses could be reduced.
A clip from the movie "Reconnaissance of crossing the river"
In addition to collecting enemy information, the advance brigade also undertook the heavy task of attacking the enemy's rear and covering the main force to cross the river. On April 18, after receiving the news that the 27th Army was about to cross the river on the 20th, the advance brigade immediately marched from Jing County to the riverside, and in accordance with the instructions of their superiors, they destroyed the enemy's power lines along the way, interrupted the enemy's communication, and gave the enemy a deterrent from the enemy on his stomach and back.
At the same time, according to the prior agreement, the advance brigade lit a bunch of bonfires on the mountain on the south bank on the night (the evening of the 20th) when the army crossed the river to show the way to the troops crossing the river.
Chief of Staff He Minxue sat in the 80th Division of the 27th Army that night, looked at the bonfire on the opposite bank, braved the rumbling of artillery, successfully stepped on the south bank of the river, and issued a red signal signal to the north bank symbolizing the success of the landing. The plot of the campfire and the signal light like this was finally slightly adapted and absorbed into the creation of "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River".
Mr. and Mrs. He Minxue
Speaking of this, it is necessary to mention the film and playwright Shen Mojun, who wrote the script of "Crossing the River After Hearing about the Deeds of the 27th Army's "Advance River Crossing Brigade" after hearing about the deeds of this "advance river crossing brigade" of the 27th Army, he made a special trip to Visit Murong (the deputy captain) (listened to the story for two months) and wrote the script of "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River".
In 1954, after the release of the movie "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River", it became a classic of a generation. And here in He Minxue, people have not forgotten his efforts to dispatch the "advance river crossing brigade". According to Li Liying, Mrs. He Minxue's wife, after the film was made, relevant leaders visited He Minxue and said very pertinent words: "Without Elder He, there would be no "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River.".
It was also in 1954 that after He Min learned from Beijing, he met Chairman Mao after a 20-year absence, and Chairman Mao was still as cordial as he was then, and after listening to He Minxue's experience over the years, Chairman Mao greatly appreciated and evaluated He Minxue, saying that he had "three firsts", one of which was "the first to cross the Yangtze River", which means that after the battle of crossing the river began, He Minxue commanded the 80th Division of the 27th Army to take the lead in stepping on the south bank of the river. This is Chairman Mao's greatest affirmation of He Minxue's efforts in the Battle of the Crossing River.
Chairman Mao
Main references: "Documentary of the East China Liberation War", "The Legend of He Minxue praised by Mao Zedong as a "Good Man"", "The Legend of the 27th Army in the Legend series of the Changsheng Army"