Author:Junyi
At noon on December 13, 1948, Wu Ruilin, who was acting with the vanguard division of the Fifth Column of the Northeast Field Army, suddenly received an urgent telegram from Lin Zong, ordering "Avoid the scenic spots and monuments, open the passage from the west of Wanshou Mountain, and seize Fengtai ..."
Wu Ruilin
The Fifth Column of the Northeast Field Army belongs to a very young column in the Northeast Field Army. On March 31, 1948, the Fifth Column of the Northeast Field Army was formed in Liaoyang, and the first three divisions were upgraded by independent divisions. However, such a unit has become a unit with strong combat strength after the tempering of the Liaoshen Campaign. On December 11, the Fifth Column of our Northeast Field Army set out from Sanhe County in eastern Hebei and marched for 220 miles in two days and one night to seize the barrier strongholds north of Beiping City, Changping and Shahe. At this time, the troops had advanced to the area north of the Yuanmingyuan and east of the Hongshan Pass.
Fengtai in the telegram, which is geographically important, is the hub connecting the two major enemies in Pingjin, and it is also one of the largest military warehouses for the enemy in Peiping. By seizing Fengtai, we can cut off the contact between the enemy and the enemy in Pingjin, block the road for the enemy to flee south in Beiping, and complete the campaign encirclement of Beiping.
However, Wu Ruilin, the deputy commander of the Fifth Column, hesitated when he received this order, ordered the troops to stop advancing, and then called the heads of each regiment to the division headquarters. Wu Ruilin knew that this task was not simple, the enemy army in Fengtai had Fu Zuoyi's 101st Army, and at present he only had one division in his hand, and in order to capture Fengtai, he had to pass through the depth of the enemy. Rushing to action before the follow-up troops arrive is extremely risky.
While Wu Ruilin was pondering, the regimental commanders had already arrived at the division headquarters. After Wu Ruilin briefly briefed the regimental commander below about the enemy situation and our situation, he took out Lin Zong's order. Wu Ruilin transmitted the telegrams to the participants one by one, and everyone fell into thought after reading them. Wu Ruilin told everyone that everyone at the pre-war meeting could speak freely. The participants analyzed: Although the enemy still has an advantage in the local situation, it is already a bird of fright on the whole. At this time, we should not use the old routines of the past to guide the current operations, and we should abandon all conventional tactics and win by surprise.
In fact, the situation on the battlefield at that time was indeed the same. The sudden entry of the Northeast Field Army was greatly unexpected by Fu Zuoyi, and the Jiang Army in North China was caught off guard for a while and was in chaos. In the battle after entering the pass, the fifth column did not encounter a single resolute resistance, and along the way, like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves, it crushed the Chiang army along the way. At this time, Wu Ruilin also made up his mind that even if there was only one division, he would resolutely complete the tasks assigned by his superiors and seize Fengtai. Wu Ruilin and the regimental commanders immediately began to study the route of the march. To the west of Wanshou Mountain, from the Beigong Gate to the north, is a high ground with undulating hills. The enemy was on the high ground, and the vanguard had had several brief exchanges of fire in previous battles, and was facing off against the enemy.
According to the conventional way of playing, when encountering an enemy with a dangerous basis, it should be bypassed. However, if you choose to bypass it, it will take more time, so it is likely that you will not be able to complete the spirit of quickly occupying Fengtai as instructed by Lin Zong. At this time, Wu Ruilin looked at Guo Baoheng, the political commissar of the 372nd Regiment, who had come to the meeting, and asked: "Are you sure of the breakthrough from the Hongshan Pass?" ”
Guo Baoheng said: "It will take less than two hours to open the Red Mountain Pass. Wu Ruilin motioned for him to continue, "When we attacked the Hongshan Pass earlier, we took a prisoner, and according to the prisoner's confession, the supreme commander was a battalion commander. At the time of my coming to the meeting, we had a platoon of reconnaissance attacks, all of which were about to reach the enemy bunkers or not to find that the enemy had heavy firearms, which proved that the prisoners' words were reliable. If I had organized my artillery fire, I would have been completely sure that, on the basis of my previous experience in fighting in the northeast, I would have dealt a surprise blow to the enemy and quickly captured this position. ”
Wu Ruilin heard this answer, and had the confidence in his heart, and decided to use the tactic of ox knife slashing to take the Red Pass. In fact, in Noji's order, there was no mandatory stipulation on the time limit within which fengtai must be taken. However, everyone unanimously held that the order did not say that Fengtai was captured but that Fengtai was seized, and the word "grab" was really very useful. To rush is to be fast, and to crush the enemy before he understands our strategic intentions.
The officers and men of the Northeast Field Army have followed Lin Zong for many years, and they know very well that Lin Zong does not like to tie the hands and feet of the frontline commanders with dogma in his combat orders, and he is even more reluctant to stipulate a time for the troops to mechanically carry out them when he does not understand the actual situation on the front line. Therefore, measures are often extremely cautious in orders, and each word has a different meaning. The use of the word "grab" indicates the urgency of this task, but it does not make rigid regulations, but stimulates the fighting enthusiasm of subordinate officers and men with flexible orders. Similarly, the Northeast Field Army's run-in with Lin Zong had long been in full swing, and Noji's orders would certainly receive the most positive response when they reached the following.
Wu Ruilin reported the plan of action to the column headquarters on the one hand, and made preparations separately. At this moment, the political commissar of the column also arrived, and after he understood the whole plan, he did not hesitate, and only said one sentence: "Old Wu, let's start!" ”
By the time the troops were ready, it was completely dark, and the division command post signaled an attack. It can be seen that at this time, the tactics of the Northeast Field Army's four fast and one slow have been used to the fullest. Due to the limited space on the battlefield, the 372nd Regiment chose a company as the main attacking force, and the defenders on the hill had a battalion, while the attacking troops were one company, but Dongye had already rushed into the main offensive force six companies under the cover of my artillery fire, and it took only 20 minutes to take down the Red Mountain Pass held by an enemy battalion and capture the enemy battalion commander alive. After capturing the Red Pass, the next thing to do was easy, and the troops immediately turned into several roads all the way, quickly passing through the Red Pass, from between Qinglong Bridge and Yuquan Mountain, and rolling south. The entire attack was faster than the 2 hours anticipated before the war.
On the way of the fifth column's march, along the way, the enemy shouted horses and moved frequently. The prisoners captured by the regiments confessed that they had been ordered to concentrate on the outskirts of Peiping and that the troops were in motion. At this time, Wu Ruilin was also thinking a lot, afraid that the enemy had already learned his intentions. But Wu Ruilin immediately threw these ideas out, believing that no matter which aspect we conceived, it would require us to occupy Fengtai as quickly as possible.
Wu Ruilin immediately told the staff officers around him and quickly informed the commanders of the regiments that if the front started, the rear team would change to the front team and move forward towards Fengtai at a rapid pace! Heavy weapons and trucks, which are not conducive to the march, are all left behind, and those who are left behind must consciously rush to Fengtai, and when they meet their superiors, they will automatically accept the command and carry out the task. In combat, this kind of march that risks running chaotic formation is extremely rare, and Wu Ruilin knows the importance of time, even if it is a chaotic formation, it does not matter as long as it reaches Fengtai, it is a victory.
It was not all smooth sailing in the march, and it was not that it encountered resistance from Chiang Kai-shek's army. However, along the way, Jiang's army was too chaotic, many troops could capture a bunch of prisoners without firing a shot, and the airport warehouses along the way were the same as undefended. Seeing that the troops had the idea of beating rabbits with grass, Wu Ruilin issued another order that the troops should not stay. And told the troops to distinguish between the priorities and the order, and to lay down Fengtai, all of which was ours.
At that time, Jiang Jun had no idea that Dongye's speed would be so fast. At one o'clock in the middle of the night, the five columns of the vanguard arrived at Tamura Station in Peiping on the way to Shijingshan. Just as it was passing through the railway, a train rushed straight in. As soon as the train entered the station, the warriors rushed up, disarmed the enemy, and then plunged straight into Fengtai.
After a night march, Wu Ruilin led a division of the leading troops to Fengtai. At this time, it was discovered that although Chiang Kai-shek still had a large number of troops nearby, there was only one brigade in Fengtai. Wu Ruilin decided to stick a pole to the end and quickly seize Fengtai while the enemy's forces were scattered.
At this time, Wu Ruilin also did not care about the rest and adjustment of the troops, and ordered the troops who arrived to quickly start attacking, and as soon as the troops arrived, they immediately sent staff officers to coordinate and be ready to join the battlefield at any time. Finally, at 3 p.m. on the same day, the 370th Regiment first occupied the hospital, followed by the 372nd Regiment also occupied the Fengtai Railway Station. At this point, Fengtai, a strategic area of the enemy army, was completely occupied by our army.
Wu Ruilin quickly reported the news to Noji, and soon Noji sent a special urgent telegram. In his telegram, Lin Zong highly praised the results of the Fifth Column in seizing Fengtai. Mr. Lin said that you were a day and a night earlier than I estimated, and you played very well. At the same time, the Fifth Column was ordered to redouble its efforts and make full preparations to resolutely defend Fengtai, and as long as it fought for one day, the main force could arrive.
Wu Ruilin ordered that Noji's telegram be conveyed to all the commanders and fighters, and the morale of the whole army was greatly boosted, saying one after another: "Since we can seize Fengtai, we can hold it, and those who are not afraid of death will come and touch it." In the following battle, Wu Ruilin led his troops to crush the enemy's attacks many times in succession, and persisted until the arrival of the main force. At this point, all the foreign land passages of Jiang's army in Beiping were blocked by our army.
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