preface
This is a slightly yellowed old black-and-white photo, which is a photo of the protagonist of this article when the troops were training during the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
01, juvenile awakening
In 1926, a new life was born in a poor peasant family in Yaqiao Village, Jiyuan City, and his parents named him Shi Keqin, because of the large number of sisters, the family was in a difficult situation, and life was very difficult, but even so, his parents still provided him with private school for several years, hoping that he would at least be able to read and hyphenate in the future and have a good way out.
Slowly grew up, he began to gradually pick up the burden of life, in order to reduce the burden of the family, only fourteen years old he went to the coal mine as a coolie, the coal mine work is placed today, is still a hard job, in that backward era, it is even more necessary to shoulder people to pick, the conditions are extremely difficult, but the helplessness of life, can only let them use the young shoulders to carry.
However, even this life did not last long.
In 1942, Jiyuan had been in the hands of the Japanese army for several years, life was already difficult, and the disaster was not alone, this year Jiyuan encountered a locust plague, the locusts in the sky covered the sky, they flew for a period of time, and the crops of the common people were swept away. The people want to cry without tears, countless people die of hunger, really hunger is everywhere, countless families are separated, dead deaths, fleeing the wilderness, like hell on earth!
Life was unsustainable, and in 1943, Shi Keqin followed some people in the village to leave his hometown to make a living. In October 1945, he joined the New Fourth Army in Wuyou Town, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, and began his years of military service.
02, blood stained Shao Bo
Shaobo Town, located in today's Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, bordering the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is a thousand-year-old town, in 385 AD, the famous politician of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Xie An built a dai here, also known as Shao Bodai (埭, earthen dyke), once prosperous for a while. Thirty kilometers to the north is gaoyou city, and in 1945, an unusually fierce battle took place in this area - the Battle of Gaoyou Shaobo, also known as the Battle of Gaoyou.
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, but the Japanese puppet army insisted on all the occupied strongholds, refused to surrender to our people's armed forces, and attempted to collude with the Kuomintang troops from the southwest rear to attack the New Fourth Army in central China. In order to completely eliminate the Japanese puppet army that refused to surrender, General Su Yu commanded the Central China Field Army and launched the Battle of Gaoyou Shaobo.
In order to cut off the way for the Japanese puppet army to flee south, on December 19, General Su Yu arranged for a part of his troops to attack Shao Bo first. Shi Keqin followed the troops and participated in the battle to annihilate The enemy of Shao Bo, in Shao Bo's Japanese puppet army totaling more than 2,000 people, originally thought that the Japanese army was already the end of the crossbow, the combat effectiveness would certainly not be too strong, but in fact, on the contrary, this battle paid a great price.
The combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is very strong, and our army and the Japanese army have repeatedly clashed, and both sides have paid huge casualties. Shi Keqin's company suffered heavy casualties, and in the end, their company ran out of bullets, and the company commander shouted: "Comrades, put on the bayonet and fight with the little devil!" At this time, they were also surprised to find that at this time, the Japanese troops who were confronting them suddenly calmed down, and then, the Japanese troops there seemed to be a leader who said something in Japanese, and then the Japanese army began to crack back the bullets, and then put on the bayonet, at this time they understood that the Original Japanese Army also wanted to fight with them with bayonets, and compete against each other. Then the two sides began to engage in hand-to-hand combat, a fierce contest of life and death unfolded, the Japanese army was very brave in combat, and the level of fighting bayonets was also higher than ours, Japan has developed rapidly since its Meiji Restoration, has a complete military education system, the combat quality of soldiers can be imagined, this battle bayonet down, Shi Keqin's company most of the soldiers were killed, after the battle, looking at the corpses of the soldiers lying on the ground one by one, the company commander, the instructor and the few remaining soldiers there howled and cried, grief-stricken, After a long time, the company commander still cried there: "Too miserable, too miserable... It's miserable..."
After the capture of Shaobo, our army moved its troops to Gaoyou, and after a fierce battle, on December 26, the Japanese army surrendered, and Gaoyou, which had fallen for eight years, reached the embrace of the people, and the seven-day Battle of Gaoyou ended.
03. Seven battles and seven victories
In June 1946, a full-scale civil war broke out, and in July, 460,000 regular troops of the Kuomintang army attacked the East China Liberated Area, of which Li Mo'an led 120,000 troops to attack the Central Soviet Liberated Area. As an outpost and granary in the Liberated Area of East China, the Central Jiangsu Liberated Area is bordered by the Yangtze River in the south, directly threatening nanjing, the capital of the Kuomintang, and thus becoming an eye nail that must be removed.
Since most of the Kuomintang troops are equipped with American weapons, our millet plus rifles certainly cannot be directly confronted by others, and our soldiers and horses are only about 30,000, and under the command of Su Yu, we flexibly use tactics and maneuver with the enemy. Most of Shi Keqin's troops are covert during the day and act at night, only in this way can casualties be avoided to the greatest extent and retake the lost places during the day.
"At that time, the Kuomintang was really middle-aged, with strong combat capability and fast action speed, and it was not long before the liberated areas of central Jiangsu were occupied. At that time, we had few people and many Kuomintang people, and the slogan we put forward was a war of self-defense! Shi Keqin recalled: "The head of the unit has always told us that when the Japanese are gone, Chiang Kai-shek wants to go down the mountain to pick peaches and swallow us up in one bite. ”
After nearly two months of fighting, 53,000 enemy troops were annihilated, a total of seven battles, which effectively dealt a blow to the enemy and smashed the conspiracy of the Kuomintang!
04. Battle of Menglianggu
Zhang Lingfu, graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy, was the commander of the 74th Division of the Kuomintang Reorganization. In March 1947, the Kuomintang First Corps, with the reorganized 74th Division as the core, began to attack Shandong, occupied the Lunan area in April, and in May, Laiyang, Mengyin, and Heyang fell into the hands of the Kuomintang army.
Zhang Lingfu's reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, with its US armaments and aircraft, artillery, and tanks, is bent on swallowing up our army in one bite, and in the face of an enemy armed to the teeth, we can only avoid its sharp edges first, preserve our vital strength, and then wait for an opportunity to strike at the enemy." Shi Keqin recalled.
Speaking of which, we are compelled to elaborate on the situation of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division. The predecessor of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division was the Seventy-fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army; during the Period of Resistance Against Japan, the Seventy-fourth Army participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Shanggao, the Battle of Lanfeng, and so on. In May 1946, the entire army of the Seventy-fourth Army was reorganized into the Seventy-fourth Division, with more than 30,000 people in the division, fully equipped with American weapons and equipment, because it was stationed in Nanjing Xiaolingwei and Gongwei Nanjing, known as the first division under the heavens and one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang.
Lianshui County, located in today's Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, in 1946, it was the hub connecting the Liberated Areas of East China and the Liberated Areas of Shandong, in order to drive the People's Liberation Army out of northern Jiangsu, on October 19, the reorganized 74th Division attacked Lianshui City in three ways, the first Lianshui Defense War, the two sides repeatedly fought, the battle was fierce, more than ten days ended, the enemy casualties were 7,000, I suffered 6,000 casualties, both sides suffered huge casualties, but finally saved Lianshui. In December, Zhang Lingfu led his troops to fight Lianshui again, and the two sides fought bloodily for more than ten days, and finally Lianshui and Lianghuai lost one after another, and the People's Liberation Army withdrew from East China.
On May 13, 1947, after various military deployments in the early stages, our army began to encircle the Seventy-fourth Division, and after four days of fierce fighting, Zhang Lingfu was killed in battle on the 16th, and the Seventy-fourth Division was completely annihilated. In the battle of Meng Lianggu, our army also paid a huge price, many positions were taken in a bloody battle with the white blade of the Seventy-fourth Division, Shi Keqin's company commander Shao Jiashun was killed, and Shi Keqin was also wounded in this battle.
05. Battle of Jinan
Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, the intersection of the Jinpu Railway (Tianjin to Pukou) and the Jiaoji Railway (Qingdao to Jinan), connecting the strategic points of East China and North China, north of the Yellow River, south of Taishan, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Wang Yaowu, commander of the Kuomintang Second Appeasement District, commanded the reorganized Ninety-sixth Army and three other reorganized divisions, totaling more than 100,000 people.
On September 16, 1948, our East China Field Army attacked Jinan, which was heavily guarded by the Kuomintang, and the Kuomintang urgently dispatched Xuzhou and Qingdao's army to the north to aid, and our army concentrated 140,000 troops to attack Jinan before the arrival of reinforcements, and Su Yu led 180,000 troops to block the reinforcements, which lasted for eight days and nights, completely annihilated 104,000 enemy troops, and some troops revolted, and Jinan was liberated.
In October, under the introduction of platoon leader Bai Changgen and squad leader Wang Guizhang, Shi Keqin gloriously joined the Communist Party of China.
06. Battle of Huaihai
In November 1948, the Battle of Huaihai broke out, which was a large-scale decisive battle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, with 600,000 of our army versus 800,000 Kuomintang troops. Chen Guanzhuang, Mill Zhuang, and Shuangdui Ji were the three most anxious locations in the war. Shi Keqin's unit (Huaye Fourth Column) participated in the Battle of Nianzhuang, and there were dozens of villages in the area around Nianzhuang, and more than 100,000 people and horses of Huang Botao's Seventh Corps were surrounded by our army.
Before Huang Botao's corps arrived here, the area was the place where the Kuomintang Li Mi troops were stationed, and during Li Mi's garrison here, a large number of military facilities were built and the defense was very perfect, especially in the vicinity of the mill village, two wide and deep ditches were dug, and there were also earthen walls on the edge of the ditch, making the mill village easy to defend and difficult to attack. Not far to the north of Nianzhuang are Youjiahu Lake and Daxingzhuang, where Shi Keqin's unit is responsible for attacking here, and the perfection and concealment of the enemy's military fortifications pose a great threat to the advance of our army, and every step forward must pay a huge price.
Our army adjusted its strategic deployment in a timely manner, constantly compressing the encirclement, Huang Botao was already ready to fight to the death, stubbornly resisted to the end, the two armies fiercely clashed for several days, the outlying strongholds of large tribes into the hands of our army, on the night of November 19, our army gathered heavy artillery to launch a general attack, on the 20th at 5:30 a.m. to attack The mill village, on the 21st attack on Youjia lake, another bitter battle, and finally the commander of the Kuomintang 40th Division was captured, in this fierce battle, Shi Keqin was also wounded.
The Battle of Huaihai was tragic, because it was Chiang Kai-shek's concubine troops, well-equipped and stubbornly resisting, and at the same time it was also a battle to determine the fate of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, who dominated China. After the battle, Hua Ye's fourth column awarded Shi Keqin a medal and a certificate of wounding, which made the young Shi Keqin's heart full of pride.
07. Battle of crossing the river
The Yangtze River, China's largest river, runs through China from west to east, and has always been regarded as a natural graben, and in Chinese history, countless dynasties and princes have relied on the Yangtze River to divide one side and interpret the storm. In 1949, when chinese history seemed to be about to stage this scene again, the Kuomintang saw that northern China had been completely in the hands of the Communist Party, and Chiang Kai-shek sent negotiators in an attempt to rule the river with the Communists.
At this time, after Shi Keqin was treated, he had recovered, and after returning to the army, the unit was reorganized, and the name was already the field army, which is the title of Erye and Sanye that we often saw in the film and television later, and the East China Field Army was the later Sanye. In February 1949, the Central Committee made a prejudgment that the Kuomintang might stubbornly resist to the end, requiring the troops to be ready to cross the river at any time and actively study the strategic and tactical issues in the process of crossing the river, so all the troops were training, especially the soldiers in the north who were not familiar with water, and stepped up training to make comprehensive preparations for crossing the river.
On April 20, Chiang Kai-shek refused to sign the Internal Peace Agreement, and the next day, Mao Zedong and Zhu De issued an Order to March Across the Country, and our million-strong army forcibly crossed the Yangtze River on the Qianli River, which stretched from the mouth of the lake in the west to the Jingjiang River in the east. At this time, Shi Keqin, like all the soldiers, had long been impatient, braving the enemy's guns and guns, fighting back bravely, no matter how high the waves blown up by the shells were, and no matter how bad the sails on the ship were burned, everyone had only one belief: "Rush forward with all your strength and fight across the Yangtze River!" On the 23rd, our army occupied Nanjing, and the National Government collapsed!
"At that time, the Kuomintang was no longer able to do it, had no combat effectiveness, was not as tenacious as it was at the time of the Huaihai Campaign, and we pursued them like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves!" Recalling the events of that year, Shi Keqin said, "I was the first to shoot at that time! "Shi Keqin is often proud of this, of course, I have a million troops crossing the river, we can't be sure who is the first shot, but the shot of overthrowing the National Government, sooner or later we will have to fire!"
After fighting the Yangtze River, they went all the way south to pursue the remnants of the enemy, marched to a certain place in the south one day, it was already late at night, they were ready to rest, but they found that there were people not far away, they immediately calmed down, through reconnaissance, learned that this is a Kuomintang team, defeated to this point, is about to camp, the investigator said: "Company commander, coincidentally, I just heard that the other side is also a ninth company." The company commander said, "It's really no coincidence that there is no book, today we will have a nine-on-nine company!" Comrades, in order not to be confused, all strapped white towels to their left arms and prepared for battle! "Then the gunshots rang out, and the other side made a mess...
"Another incident occurred in the process of continuing to go south, when our deputy squad leader captured more than 50 people at a time, and it was rumored that he wanted to record first-class merit, but later research believed that there was no battle merit, and second-class merit was recorded." Speaking of this, Shi Keqin smiled, and felt like he had returned to the combat life of that year, and there were also some unforgettable interesting things about everyone.
"Another thing is that the Americans have a concession in Shanghai, and after the liberation of Shanghai, they put on their own flag in the concession, saying that it was their territory, and we were not allowed to enter, and the chief issued an order, 'What age is it, still in the concession?'" Throw them out of me', we immediately let go of our hands and feet and rushed into the concession, and it was really angry at that time! Shi Keqin recalled.
08. Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
In June 1950, the Korean War broke out, in September the US army landed at Inchon on the west coast of Korea, in October Chinese Volunteer Army sent troops to Korea, just a year after the birth of the new China, before breathing hard, it will go abroad and fight against the world's number one enemy, the United States.
After the two battles with the US army, our army has seriously realized that without the air force, our army's front line is subject to the enemy, the casualties are huge, and the armaments and materials behind it are all destroyed by the US air force.
In order to change this appearance as soon as possible, our army selected personnel from among outstanding young people from all over the country and began to train its own air force pilots. Shi Keqin was also selected at that time, firstly due to years of combat and rich combat experience, and secondly, he may have benefited from a private school that he studied for a few years when he was young, and he was also considered a cultural person at that time. Shi Keqin was elected that night, he couldn't sleep, he thought to himself, since he left his hometown Jiyuan to come out and run around, seven or eight years, countless times of guns and bullets, I don't know if I can survive, stay up to this day, the founding of New China, the people should be able to live a peaceful life, they also want to contribute to the construction of the country in the future, live socialism, and in the future will come to communism, seeing that there will be hope in the future, the Americans bully to the doorstep, do not let us live a good life, how can we do, he beat us, we also have to beat him, so we fell asleep...
The next day they were first sent to the Air Force School for study and training, and after a while, they were sent to the Air Force Base to train while fighting. On the day Shi Keqin reported for duty, the head of the Air Force received them, and the chief said: "Comrades, the war is urgent, and we cannot let you come slowly at the school, or Chairman Mao's words, we must study war in war, and learn while fighting!" Then he asked Shi Keqin, "Boy, where are you?" Shi Keqin replied: "The chief of the report, I am from Henan!" The chief said, "Oh, Henan, what is your name?" "Shi Keqin." The chief was surprised: "Oh, Shi Keqin, hehe, we are very lucky!" My surname is also Shi, five hundred years ago, or a family, huh! Shi Keqin was very surprised, and he also laughed, and then the chief said: "Young man, do a good job, don't give us a disgrace to the surname Shi!" ”
"Our chief should be called Shi Lijing, and I don't remember where my home is." Shi Keqin recalled.
Immediately after that, they began to study and train intensely, and at that time they hired Soviet instructors, and because the US aircraft were relatively advanced, some of the aircraft left behind by the Kuomintang that we captured at that time in China were not only few, but also unable to compete with the advanced fighters of the US army. Later, four hundred MiG fighters were purchased from the Soviet Union to deal with American fighters, and after a period of training, our aircraft went to the sky to fight the American troops, and Li Han was the pilot of the first Chinese plane to shoot down the American aircraft. "Later Zhao Baotong, Liu Yulian, Zhang Jihui, etc., our people are also very remarkable, our pilots have only been driving for dozens of hours, and the american pilots are thousands of hours, very skilled veterans, shooting down their planes, very amazing!" Shi Keqin recalled the situation at that time and said so.
Shi Keqin's main task at that time was to defend the Yalu River Bridge and the small plump power station, as soon as they found the US military out, they also immediately acted, the above orders were conveyed to Shi Keqin, Shi Keqin then sent aircraft to meet the battle, at this time Shi Keqin, was already a mechanic of the Sixth Air Division (later transferred to the Air Force Headquarters), he was familiar with the performance of each aircraft, the number of fuel tanks, etc., he would choose the most suitable fighter to go out, without affecting the maintenance of other aircraft.
"The Americans were cunning, and in order to bomb us more, they loaded the auxiliary fuel tank with bombs. At first, we were nervous, because every additional bomb was one more threat to our Yalu River Bridge! But later, we also found the law, we counted the length of the American plane every time, to see how long their fuel tanks can support them to fly, so that we later know that they can only fly for forty minutes without a secondary fuel tank, and they can't fly for long, so every time the US military plane comes over, we will first observe whether the auxiliary fuel tank is filled with oil or bombs, and see the opportunity to act! Shi Keqin recalled.
After the bloody struggle of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was finally won, and the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in July 1953, ending the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. At that time, North Korea also issued honorary certificates and medals to the volunteers, the Korean text on the top was to the effect of: awarded to the War of Liberation of the Motherland for participating in the resistance to the US imperialist invasion; in the lower right corner is the seal of the Korean leader Kang Liangyu.
09. Reminiscing about the past
After the end of the war, the country began to build in an all-round way, and in 1966, Shi Keqin retired from the army and transferred to work in the Qinyang Grain Bureau, where he worked diligently for another twenty years until his retirement in 1985. After retirement, Shi Keqin often missed his years on horseback, and sometimes thought of some comrades who had fought and sacrificed, and often shed tears of sadness and tears.
In August 2019, accompanied by his children, he came to the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Pilots of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in Shenyang, looked at the names inscribed on the inscriptions, and thought of his comrades-in-arms who fought together in the past, and the old man was sad.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="121" > postscript</h1>
Shi Keqin's story is over, this is my uncle, this year has been 95 years old, now old, coupled with the early war wounds, now can only rely on a wheelchair to walk. Spring Festival we went to visit the old man's home, I know that the uncle's brain is still relatively sober, but the physical strength is not good, can not talk for a long time, I can only seize the time, the story that can be listened to record down, but the time is long, many things the uncle can not remember, I can only sort out the stories that the uncle can recall, thinking that it is a memory.
Throughout his uncle's youth, he was baptized by the flames of war, and he joined the Communist Party of China in 1948, and was awarded a total of one second class, one third class merit, and four fourth class merits, and served as a radio group leader and a special aviation division in the air force. In 2019, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state awarded him a commemorative medal for the 70th anniversary, and in 2020, the 70th anniversary of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was awarded a commemorative medal again.
Uncle has experienced countless times in his life, that period of time is always a moment of life and death, today we can enjoy the day of peace, can not do without countless benevolent people like the old uncle to fight in blood, on the occasion of this red story essay, I will sort out the story, I hope that such a story will be passed on from generation to generation, inspiring future generations!
About author: Zhang Tianyu, a native of Jiyuan, Henan. Working for Henan Yuguang Zinc Industry Co., Ltd., he loves traveling, reading, and writing in his spare time, and has published works in Jiyuan Morning News, Dahe Literature, etc.
Producer: Kong Fanru Li Sihai
Review: Liu Fan
Editor-in-charge: Wang Guanghou, Jiang Yan
Editor: Chen Li Li Yong
The content of this article is original, please indicate the source when reprinting: "Dahe Literature" (ID: daheliterature); Chief Legal Counsel: Cui Sufang of Henan Lingfeng Law Firm; Editor WeChat: dahewenxue2020