Author: Hammer Jack
In February 1948, after successfully completing the first phase of the winter offensive against Chiang Kai-shek's army, the 4th Column of Dongye marched towards Liaoyang.
Liaoyang is an ancient city with a moat called "Prince River" outside the city. After jiang's army occupied Liaoyang, it immediately relied on the liaoyang city wall to repair the fortifications on a large scale, and the traffic trenches, light and dark fire points, barbed wire, and minefields did not fall. Not only that, they also dug a deep, wide outer trench outside Liaoyang City, and also built a barbed wire fence and minefield around the outer trench. Responsible for garrisoning Liaoyang were more than 10,000 people led by the Provisional 54th Division of Chiang Kai-shek's army.
With the protection of the city walls and trenches, coupled with the same American equipment, in the mouth of the commander of the Provisional 54th Division, Ma Ru, this Liaoyang is "iron Liaoyang", which is the "hard bone" that Dongye can't chew.
Those who came to gnaw down this hard bone were also the hard stubble of "Dongye"—the 4th and 6th columns under the unified command of General Wu Kehua.
Lieutenant General Wu Kehua (1913-1987), a native of Yiyang County, Jiangxi, served as the commander of the 4th and 6th Columns during the Liaoyang Campaign
These two columns were higashino's first-class main force. Lin Biao's ability to entrust such a heavy responsibility to Wu Kehua is enough to show his trust in him. And Wu Kehua also knew that if he couldn't take Liaoyang, he would not only face his subordinates without face, but also humiliate Lin Zong! Wu Kehua also firmly believes that he will be able to gnaw this "hard bone".
On January 30, after a night of forced marching, the 4th Column arrived at the Xiaojiahe and Emeizhuang areas outside Liaoyang, cutting off the city's connection with Shenyang and forming a siege of Liaoyang.
On February 2, the 6th Column also arrived at Balizhuang, southwest of Liaoyang City, according to its deployment. Subsequently, two columns began to "clear" the Jiang army's strongholds around Liaoyang City in turn: the 11th Division of the 4th Column quickly took the commanding heights east of Liaoyang City; the 10th Division took the Iron Bridge of the Prince River in the north of Liaoyang; and the 12th Division took the village of Efang. In this way, the entire three sides of Liaoyang City were controlled by 4 columns, and it was difficult for the Jiang army guarding the city to fly even if it was inserted.
After successfully capturing the peripheral positions, Wu Kehua immediately made arrangements: the 4th Column and the 11th Division (with 5 artillery battalions) launched a surprise attack on the east of Liaoyang City; the 6th Column (owed 1 division) launched a surprise attack from the southwest of the city; and the 28th and 30th Regiments of the 4th Column and 10th Division (with 1 artillery battalion) carried out a feint attack on the south of the city and the Liaoyang Railway Station, covering the 6th Column, and the 12th Division served as the reserve of the whole army.
The time of the attack was set for February 6, 1948.
In the early morning of the day of the attack, Wu Kehua and Peng Jiaqing stood together in the command post, looking into the distance with a telescope. Seeing that the command post was full of life, Wu Kehua jokingly said to Peng: "You see, old Peng, we launched an attack at this time, and the horse rut is estimated to be still sleeping!" ”
"In my opinion, he is still dreaming of his own 'iron Liaoyang' dream!"
"Then let's see how 'ironclad' he really is in Liaoyang!"
Seeing that the hour hand pointed to 7 o'clock, Wu Kehua waved a big hand: "The whole army is ready for artillery fire!" ”
In an instant, countless artillery shells ready to fire came out of the chamber, and smoke rose around the bombed Liaoyang City. Before Jiang Jun could realize what was happening, jiang jun fell into a sea of fire.
Lieutenant General Peng Jiaqing (right, 1909-1993), a native of Luling, Jiangxi, served as the political commissar of the 4th Column of "Dongye" during the Liaoyang Campaign
Following the opening of the exploded city wall, the Dongye warriors launched a surprise attack towards Liaoyang City
The smoke gradually dissipated, and Wu Kehua quickly saw from the telescope that the wall of the east gate had been blown open. Subsequently, the 4th Company of the 31st Regiment of the 11th Division, which was on a surprise mission, rushed to the city wall under the cover of Xu Jin's barrage of artillery fire. Soon, the bright red flag was planted in the east of Liaoyang City.
However, after completing the breakthrough task, the 32nd Regiment not only did not act as originally planned, but instead embraced the small opening at the same time as the 31st Regiment. The soldiers of the 2 regiments were crowded on the narrow breakthrough and were difficult to unfold.
Just as everyone was busy preparing to continue to advance, a dark fortress of Chiang Kai-shek's army "revived", suddenly firing countless machine gun shells, which brought down many fighters in an instant.
Seeing this tragic situation, Wu Kehua slammed into the wall of the command post in anger, and immediately shouted to the chief of staff Li Fuze: "Immediately contact Liu Jianqiu (then the commander of the 32nd Regiment) and ask him to quickly pull the troops back to the original road. ”
Subsequently, an impatient Wu Kehua rushed out of the command post and directly looked at the battle situation from the outside. At this time, the figure of a warrior appeared in front of Wu Kehua's camera: he deftly dodged the rain of bullets from Chiang Kai-shek's army, and after trying to get close to the enemy's fortifications, he immediately threw a grenade at the enemy, and when the smoke was not over, he rushed up with an explosives package, and immediately turned to leave after being placed under the enemy's fire.
After a loud noise, this "road blocker" blocking the offensive route of the 31st and 32nd regiments was completely "dumb".
Even Wu Kehua couldn't help but clap his hands at this soldier's outstanding performance. After a while, he turned his head and said to the staff officer next to him, "After the battle, we must find out who this warrior is, and I will personally reward him!" ”
Unable to contain his inner excitement, Wu Kehua immediately walked up to the dirt bag behind the command post. Repeated persuasion by the staff officers has not helped. When he watched the assault troops consolidate the breakthrough and then the reinforcements enter Liaoyang City like a tide, he couldn't help but smile heartily.
Subsequently, he received a report from the staff officer that the 4th and 6th columns had successfully broken through chiang kai-shek's defenses. After giving the order to "catch the horse alive", Wu Kehua seemed to remember something again, and immediately said to the staff officer next to him: "Go, find me the soldier who blew up the fire point of the city wall!" ”
By noon, the so-called "iron Liaoyang" had fallen into the hands of "Dongye". Ma Rui, commander of the provisional 54th Division, and Liu Jimin, deputy commander of the division, both became prisoners. The two were escorted to Wu Kehua's headquarters, and Wu did not even look at them a few times, but simply gave a few orders, and then asked the soldiers to escort them down.
What he really cared about was the warrior who blew up the fire point of the city wall. Soon, the warrior walked into Wu Kehua's headquarters. After some questioning, Wu Kehua learned his name: Fan Chuili.
Fan Chuili (1930-), a native of Haicheng, Liaoning, was a combat hero of the 41st Division of the 4th Column, and he was only 18 years old when he attacked the Battle of Liaoyang
The 4th Column generals planted their flags on the head of Liaoyang City, which had been reduced to ruins
Looking at the young face of the warrior, Wu took the initiative to step forward, took his hand and even praised: "This iron-hitting Liaoyang is, after all, a warrior who can't beat iron!" ”