Comrade Zhang Jifa, a veteran soldier of the Volunteer Army
Many years ago, it was fashionable to denigrate or more literarily say "reconstitution" heroes, so fashionable that many people were not ashamed, but proud.
Some "teachers" in the classroom like to "teach people tirelessly" in order to show "personality" and "close to the people". Even at the wine table, eating and drinking the heroic martyrs with their lives, in exchange for our happy life, there will be people who arrange paragraphs and insult the heroic martyrs. In this regard, we Henan people feel the most deeply, because I have gone because of this cup smashing, and they think that it is a pretense, "Mao Nen", and immature!
Today, when entertainment stars are trying to hit the charts as usual, they can easily become the hottest topic when they go shopping, eat ice cream, make a phone call, and a 95-year-old veteran soldier leaves this world forever, obscurity as if he had never been there. ‘
But in fact we should know:
If it were not for the great sacrifices made by such an obscure hero as him and the equally unknown martyrs behind him, where would we be today? Where can there be hope for our people? What better future for our children than we have today?
Why is the battle flag so picturesque? The hero's blood stained it red!
This veteran soldier is Zhang Jifa, the commander of the 7th Company of the 135th Regiment of the 45th Division of the 15th Army of the former Volunteer Army, and the prototype of Zhang Zhongfa, the company commander of the movie "Shangganling".
For many years, countless media have asked Comrade Zhang Jifa the same question, are you "Zhang Company Commander"?
Whenever this time comes, Comrade Zhang Jifa always denies it:
"I'm not Zhang Zhongfa, although we are only one word apart, but he is the hero in the movie. I'm just a veteran, please don't write about me, I'm really not the hero you're looking for. ”
yes! Is "the Communist Party fake again"?
Of course not!
Today, it may be difficult for us to understand the revolutionary heroes of that generation, and even some "smart people" will think that they are "stupid".
The volunteer martyrs return home
In recent years, I have read local literature and history materials and found that this is basically the case for that generation, but if you think about the living martyrs Li Yu'an and Comrade Jing Yuzhuo in "Who is the Most Lovely Person" written by Comrade Wei Wei, and Comrade Lei Baosen, the first combat discipline maintainer of human tank fighting, is this not the case?
Coincidentally, Li Yu'an, Jing Yuzhuo, Lei Baosen, and Zhang Jifa, four veterans of the Volunteer Army, all chose to hide their merits and names after being seriously injured, and Comrade Zhang Jifa was no exception.
After the Battle of Shangganling, Zhang Jifa withdrew from the high land, was already a seriously injured person with scaly wounds, and was urgently sent to the rear hospital for treatment, and then sent back to the motherland for convalescence. After many times of this, the troops lost contact with him, and he never wrote to the troops again.
In the words that old comrades love to say, this is called "don't cause trouble for the organization!" ”
At first, everyone did not know whether "Zhang Lianchang" was dead or alive? But his heroic deeds were sorted out and reported, and after publicity, they were quickly spread in the army and society. After the victory in the Korean War, Zhang Jifa's 15th Army withdrew from Korea and returned to the motherland, stationed in Henan Province. During the Spring Festival, when the troops carried out activities to support the government and love the people, a condolence group came to the Henan Provincial Rongjun School on the east side of the White Horse Temple on the eastern outskirts of Luoyang City to offer condolences, and accidentally learned that there was a company commander who had participated in the Battle of Shangganling.
Zhang Ji, a veteran of the volunteer army, told the children about tradition
Yo! He knows that we have to go and see who this veteran really is? As a result, everyone was dumbfounded, and it turned out to be Comrade Zhang Jifa, who could not be found. Only then did he return to his old unit and was promoted to regimental chief of staff.
Having become the chief of staff of the regiment, he is also a living hero, and he is also the commander of Zhang Company, who is famous throughout the country, has his style changed?
Once I went to the grass-roots procuratorial work, I happened to meet an old comrade-in-arms on Ganling, squatted in the pit together, ate apples, drank urine, and worked as an administrator in a certain camp, how many years have I not seen? Gu Shi also said, "Drunk on the battlefield, How many people will return to the battlefield?" "Don't you want to eat and drink a good meal?" He made a table of meals and wine, but Comrade Zhang Jifa waved his hand and said:
"Withdrawn, withdrawn, or Shangganling nibbled on compressed biscuits to eat fragrantly, according to the rules!"
To say more, the 15th Army is really a heroic unit, just the 135th Regiment to which Comrade Zhang Jifa belonged, on the first day of the Battle of Shangganling, at least 7 heroes and martyrs emerged, they were platoon leader Sun Zhanyuan and Li Zhenlin (both of whom were also fellow villagers in Linxian County, Henan), squad leader Yi Tingqiu, deputy squad leader Li Zhongxian, Niu Baocai, and soldiers Chen Zhiguo and Sun Ziming.
Statue of martyr Sun Zhanyuan in Zhanyuan Village, Linzhou, Henan
I read dozens of oral historical materials interviewed by Comrade Zhang Jifa and found that the old hero rarely mentioned himself when he talked about Shangganling and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, but he did not hesitate to speak kindly about his comrades-in-arms. Especially Comrade Yi Caixue, when I originally wrote about the martyr Sun Zhanyuan, I remembered this name. Many historical materials write about Sun Zhanyuan and also mention Yi Caixue, but only Comrade Zhang Jifa describes comrade Yi Caixue's combat process in the most detail.
It turned out that after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, this old hero who gave the old squad leader Sun Zhanyuan the second half of his life's leather shoes, and now his son and grandson continue to send them, were so brave?!
Well, I will not say more, let the historical materials speak, this is a reply letter written by Zhang Jifa to Guan Jie, a reporter of Shenyang Daily, asking Comrade Zhang Jifa to talk about the Shangganling he experienced, and about the heroes we know and do not know well.
"I have received your letters and newspapers, and I thank you very much for the trust you have placed in me. But I'm really not a hero, not the person you're looking for. If you put me in the newspaper as a hero, you will definitely make me uneasy.
Volunteer heroes are easy to learn
I am a native of Zanhuang County, Hebei Province, a child born into a poor family, who wants to eat and herd cattle. In 1945, he joined the Eighth Route Army, serving as a soldier, squad leader, platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, and deputy chief of staff of the regiment, and is now recuperating at the Qianyue Institute of Xinyang Military Subdistrict.
Because they were accustomed to bitterness from snacks, the combat life of the troops was no longer bitter, and they did not feel bitter. 'For the sake of the masses of the people to no longer suffer and live a good life, it is worth my sacrifice on the battlefield', this is a simple idea of my year. Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, I have never cried bitterness, nor have I ever been afraid. From the beginning of the meritorious service campaign in 1946 to 1950, the higher-level leading organs recorded me four times of special merit and one first class merit, and after the Battle of Shangganling, I was given special merit.
These are all the encouragement and encouragement of the party and the superiors to me, but I think this is what a people's disciple soldier should do completely, and there is nothing to make a fuss about.
In the Battle of Shangganling, our company successfully completed the combat tasks assigned by its superiors to hold out and counterattack under extremely difficult and difficult circumstances. Comrades all felt that Shangganling was very difficult, especially the 43 days of combat life in the tunnel. Yes, almost everyone in the tunnel had no water, no rice, no bullets for guns, no medicine for injuries. There are many difficulties in the tunnel, and I will tell you a little story about the lack of water:
Zhang Jifa and an Apple story
Earlier, we could grab some water in the tunnel, but later we couldn't even grab the water. Our instructors say:
All the cadres, the soldiers, the Communists, the members of the Communist Youth League, we must understand that the greatest difficulty before us now is the problem of water. Comrades must do everything in their power to fight against the lack of water. As long as the difficulty of water shortage is overcome, it is not a problem to hold the position and destroy the enemy! ’
At the call of the Party branch, the comrades tried all kinds of ways to fight against the lack of water, just like drinking urine, which was common in previous battles, but in the tunnels of Shangganling, it was different from the past. Here is something they are reluctant to drink and give to their comrades who are more difficult than themselves, especially some wounded comrades, who have removed their own pee and crawled to give it to the comrades who can participate in the battle, they say:
I was wounded too soon to complete the combat tasks entrusted to me by the Party, sorry to the motherland, sorry comrades!
But I will do everything in my power to support you to achieve victory, I have no special strength now, I only have this ability, although this is not hygienic, you will be able to fight with strength after drinking, you can win glory for the motherland, avenge us! ’
This is very simple to say, but the encouragement to the comrades is very great.
Stills from the movie "Shangganling"
At that time, to say bitter, it was the most bitter of the wounded comrades, who fought tenaciously before they were wounded, and some even got wounded several times without falling into the line of fire. After coming down, I endured pain in the tunnel that ordinary people could not bear, but no one cried out for pain, and no one cried out in pain. Hearing that there was a mission outside the tunnel entrance, the wounded got up, leaned against the wall of the tunnel, pressed the bullet into the magazine, twisted the grenade cover, one cartridge after another, and one grenade after another was passed outside to support the battle. Some of the wounded comrades took the initiative to stick to the mouth of the tunnel, and they lined up in a long line, the front fell down, and the back stepped up.
In this case, the uninjured comrades left their own urine to drink, and they felt that they were really too selfish, and they were really sorry for these wounded comrades. Therefore they gave their pee to the wounded comrades and said:
Rest assured, comrades, that we will be able to hold the tunnels, hold the positions, defeat the enemy, persist in the final victory, win glory for the motherland, and avenge you. If you believe I can do this, drink it, and if you don't believe it, don't look at it. ’
They did this both with determination and with incitement, and the wounded comrades were reluctant to accept it, but in order to trust their comrades-in-arms, they also accepted it. Sometimes the soldiers took their own pee and walked up to the company commander and the instructor and said:
'Chief, you have not received a little water for several days, and it is up to you to hold out until the final victory. If you can hold on to the command, we will certainly be able to hold out until the final victory, and we have no other way but to do so. Although this is not hygienic, it is more expensive than the most expensive tea in the motherland, which is a glorious tea! ’
The pee of the comrades, from white to yellow, from yellow to red, from red to purple red, and finally into purple-black sticky strips.
Due to the lack of water, the soldiers had a fever in their stomachs, many cracks in their lips, and the uninjured comrades put up the ammunition box, climbed up, and scraped down the damp mud on the top wall of the tunnel little by little and ate it.
In order for the wounded to get this thing, the soldiers put towels on the pit wall and wet mud for the wounded to eat. The wounded felt that they could no longer burden the uninjured comrades, so they put their mouths on the wall of the tunnel and inhaled to relieve the dry cracking of the mouths.
Later, the warriors thought of a better way, they used their mouths to blow on the wall of the tunnel for a long time, so that some small water droplets appeared on the wall, and then licked back with their tongues, wet mouths.
The Shangganling Tunnel in its real state
At this time, each of our comrades needs not only water, but also a lot of water. But it's much harder to eat something that's watery than it is to organize a war, like the details of the apples you see in the movie, that's a true story. The two apples caused a boiling in the tunnel, and the uninjured comrades unanimously agreed to give the two apples to the wounded, and when the wounded knew that there were only two apples, they agreed to give them to the uninjured comrades, because they were the only hope for the glory of the motherland. In the end, the two sides came to a transfer goal, and everyone agreed that it was most appropriate for the company commander and the instructor to eat.
In this case, the wounded and soldiers did not eat, and the company commanders and instructors could not eat. In order to eat this apple, the instructor said:
'Comrades, do not underestimate these two apples. For its sake, there may be the blood of comrades-in-arms, sprinkled on this transportation road. What we are now accepting is not the apple, we are accepting the chiefs and comrades of the rear, the concern and trust for us, the task of holding the position, destroying the enemy on the mountain, and winning glory for the motherland, and everyone must accept it as a gesture of completing the task. ’
He asked the hygienist to count how many people had divided the apple into pieces, one for each person, and had to complete the task. The warriors had no choice but to obey orders, what a sacred order in the military history of mankind!
In the tunnel, warriors take seepage water from the rock walls
Now let me tell you a few more heroes:
In one battle, our company accepted a counterattack assignment from the battalion commander. When the troops came out of the tunnels and moved to the front to make contact with the comrades of the Ninth Company, the instructors of the Ninth Company told us that the Positions No. 7, 8, 2, and 11 were lost that day. Observing these 4 positions before dark, the enemy had more than 3 companies of troops, and the situation after dark was unknown. According to this situation, the task of our company is to take back what positions are lost.
Everyone thinks the task is very difficult, and the counterattack war is actually an offensive war. According to the principle of offense, our strength is 2 to 3 times greater than that of the enemy, or even a little more. The current situation is that the enemy is 2 to 3 times larger than we are, so the task is quite arduous.
In spite of this, we are full of confidence, because we are the excellent sons and daughters of the great motherland, the soldiers of the volunteer army, and as long as our volunteer soldiers are there, we cannot give up an inch of our position to the enemy.
Of course, the enemy has more troops than we do, and we must be fully mentally prepared to win victory. In order to make the comrades realize that tonight's counterattack is different from the ordinary counter-attack task, and in order to surely take back the position, we tell the comrades:
Shangganling Hero Position
The enemy has a large number of troops and heavy firepower, and I hope that the comrades will have a kind of super bravery, super rapid speed, and tightly suppress the enemy.
In order to complete the task well, we propose: under the principle that minor injuries do not fall into the line of fire and serious injuries do not shout, serious injuries do not affect good people, and one person is responsible for the whole.
Thus, after the comrades had made clear the heavy responsibility of tonight's counterattack and made full preparations, we launched a charge against the enemy. The instructor shouted loudly with a broken voice, and the soldiers shouted in unison, and pounced on the enemy without turning their heads, and the result was that position 8 was successfully defeated.
When we fought position 8, the enemy on position 2 was already prepared, so we attacked twice, but because the enemy's firepower was too fierce, we did not attack it. At this time, Comrade Li Zhongguang, deputy head of our fifth class and a member of the Communist Party, told the comrades of the fifth class:
Today's combat mission is what we have applied for the approval of the chief, and we must open our mouths, let us fight even up, and the comrades cover me! ’
Volunteer soldiers who fought bravely
He held two explosive canisters and climbed up along the enemy's fire point, and when he climbed to the enemy's fire point, he pulled the strings of the two explosive canisters and jumped into the enemy's fire point with the blasters.
This fire point was a large pit blown up by planes during the day, surrounded by sacks and surrounded by firearms. Inside, 4 light machine guns, 3 heavy machine guns, two recoilless guns, and more than 20 American devils were blown up by Comrade Li Zhongguang, and the hero himself died with the enemy.
In this way, we seized a fortification on position 2 and planted a nail. Some of the enemy, with their strong strength, wanted to squeeze us down when we were not standing firmly. They fought back desperately, and most of our comrades who went up were armed with submachine guns, and the enemy rushed up in groups and were swept down by us one by one. With each attack, our men went up a little, and all the firepower was unleashed, and only by advancing could the enemy be thwarted.
In the process of advancing, when the battle was quite fierce, Comrade Changsun Zhanyuan of our second platoon was broken by a shell from the enemy. One leg had detached from his body, but he was still directing the battle from his position. The warriors said to him:
'Platoon leader, you're wounded, we're sending you into the tunnel, and we're going to make sure we get the job done.' ’
In 1992, the sister of the martyr Sun Zhanyuan came to visit her brother's grave
Sun Zhanyuan said: 'I am a platoon leader and a communist, and I cannot go down.' In order to avenge the Korean people, to drive the American devils back to their hometown, and to win glory for the people of the motherland, I sacrificed myself and Fought with the enemy on the battlefield! ’
He refused the help of his comrades-in-arms, fired more than 2,000 bullets with the enemy's two machine guns, and covered Comrade Yi Caixue to complete the continuous blasting mission. After losing his legs, he not only fired so many bullets, but also climbed forward nearly 200 meters with a machine gun. In order to surround us, the enemy shot more than 200 people from behind our right side. Sun Zhanyuan repelled the enemy's charge twice here, and when he was speechless, he assigned a soldier to come back and report the situation. When a large number of enemies came to him, he used the last grenade to kill the enemy. Comrade Sun Zhanyuan died heroically in this way, and around him lay more than 20 corpses of the enemy.
Comrade Yi Caixue, a member of the Communist Youth League of the fifth class, saw that their squad leader and deputy squad leader had sacrificed so heroically, and saw that their platoon leader was so tenacious, his eyes were red. He shouted and shouted, and used the tactical action of climbing and rolling to blow up 4 enemy fire points in a row, and when the third fire point was hit, a large number of enemy counterattack troops came up, and in order to cooperate with the troops to fight the enemy back, he jumped into a fire point, replaced the grenade with the enemy's 60 mortar shells, cooperated with the troops to counterattack the enemy, and continued to advance after the fight.
"Zhang Lianchang" in the movie "Shangganling"
In the process of advancing, he found a large point of enemy fire. He thought that a grenade could not complete the task, so he got an enemy machine gun and approached the enemy's fire point. He threw the grenade in and rushed up with his machine gun. With the sound of grenade explosions, he jumped into this fortification, where there were more than 20 enemies, two news machines, six or seven light and heavy machine guns, and the enemy was all killed by Yi Caixue, and the fire point was beaten down.
After 3 hours of heroic fighting, we took back all our positions, and the enemy retreated forty or fifty men from our positions, fifty or sixty meters. At about 100 meters, the enemy launched a charge against us with two more companies of troops.
We've been fighting for more than 3 hours, not to mention casualties. More importantly, the ammunition had been exhausted, and the warriors had taken up the enemy's weapons.
Comrade Yi Caixue saw that the enemy was charging at us, got a heavy machine gun in the fortifications, turned around and strafed the enemy. Before the two cartridges were finished, he was wounded by an enemy shell and the barrel of the heavy machine gun was also damaged, so he threw away the gun rack, picked up the gun, knelt on the sack and strafed the enemy. Another soldier, Wu Xiangen, got him 6 boxes of bullets and 6 bullet belts, he held the gun and did not let go, he kept hitting the 6 bullet belts, and cooperated with the troops to sweep back the enemy's counterattack. At this time, the clothes on Yi Caixue's body were burning, and the skin and flesh on his left hand were also stained on the heavy machine gun.
Poster of the movie "Shangganling"
Our seventh squad leader, who had been injured 5 times in a row, I told him 3 times and let him go into the tunnel to rest, he said:
I can't go down, in order to win glory for the motherland, to drive the American devils back to Panmunjom, I ask for your permission to fight on the position for another half an hour. ’
It was also at this time that a large number of enemies rushed to our positions, and they were about to engage in white-knife fighting, and if they did not know whether they could lose their positions. At this critical moment, our seventh squad leader rolled down the hill with two explosive canisters toward the enemy. The squad leader went down, and Zhou Taishu, a soldier of the seventh squad, also took two explosive canisters and rushed down towards the enemy group like the squad leader.
The enemy saw that there were only two people in our position, and felt that there was nothing wrong with it, and they all wanted to rush up and grab the live. When a large number of enemies came to us, the 4 explosive canisters of the two of them exploded in the enemy crowd, and the two comrades died heroically. Their heroic sacrifices guaranteed and inspired the victory of our white-knife fighting.
Such heroic warriors are not only in our company, but also countless in the entire Battle of Shangganling. I am not personally the person you are looking for, and the people I am talking about are the real heroes you are looking for.
Wang Lan, a hygienist in the movie "Shangganling"
You asked me in your letter, 'Is there really a singing female hygienist Wang Lan in the tunnel?' ’
The hygienist was there, but she didn't sing, she didn't have time!
Her name was Wang Qingzhen, but she was at the bandage at the bottom of the mountain. Since she was at the bottom of the mountain, when I made the movie, there was no her at first. But the soldiers didn't do it, they told the comrades in the film crew not to shoot her, and we didn't shoot either.
Wang Qingzhen's deeds were extremely touching, it was really earth-shattering and weeping ghosts!
She took care of more than 30 wounded and sick people alone, the wounded had a high fever and could not urinate, she was so anxious that she could not do anything, and finally sucked out the wounded with her mouth, she was a big girl under 18 years old at the time! In order to save the lives of her comrades-in-arms, she did the most difficult thing in the world, what a noble sentiment and a great realm! Can humanity's existing language express her spirit? I will never forget her, remembering that she was a soldier who joined the army in 1950 and worked as a propaganda cadre in the military logistics and political department after returning to China, and now she is also retired.
Comrade Wang Qingzhen
You should interview her when you have the chance, she is a great heroine. What hero am I? These comrades-in-arms of mine are the real heroes. If I call myself a hero, I am a political embezzler. ”
Since Comrade Zhang Jifa mentioned Comrade Wang Qingzhen, I will say two more words about this heroine.
In the Battle of Shangganling, the most famous hero of the 15th Army was the martyr Huang Jiguang. After Huang Jiguang's sacrifice, Wang Qingzhen participated in the convergence of the loyal skeletons. Now she is an old man, enjoying her life in the Xiaogan Army Rest Center in Hubei Province, and has just been awarded the commemorative medal of "50 Years of Glory in the Party" this year.
Comrade Wang Qingzhen and her "Glory in the Party for 50 Years" commemorative medal
Comrade Yi Caixue died in 2005 in his hometown of Guizhou Qianxi at the age of 75.
Martyr Sun Zhanyuan, the last wish before the sacrifice: "Put on a new pair of leather shoes, take a picture in front of Tiananmen Square, go home and marry a daughter-in-law, and you will be satisfied." ”
Comrade Yi Caixue in his later years
The martyr Sun Zhanyuan had no descendants, but Yi Caixue and his son Yi Xinqian and grandson Yi Yi relayed their wishes to come from Guizhou to Linzhou, Henan, lin county, which was the hometown of the famous "Hongqi Canal", just to send a new pair of leather shoes and let the children and grandchildren prostrate a few heads.
Urgent statement: Some people do not want me to talk about party history, do not want me to talk about heroism. It's okay, it's a big deal, originality is not "original". If you don't die of hunger, this leg is completely ruined, and I will continue to write.
Because someone always has to do something, the story of the hero also needs to be known to our descendants.
In addition, I don't advertise, nor do I bring goods, because I don't have time, and when I have that time, I would rather write more about a few obscure heroes and write more about the unknown history of the Party.