In December 1946, in order to break the passive situation in the northern Jiangsu battlefield, the People's Liberation Army decided to launch the Subei Campaign. The first key to the battle is to take the commanding heights of the battlefield, the peak mountain. However, the 23rd Regiment of the 8th Division of the Shandong Field Army, which was in charge of the main attack, suffered repeated setbacks, and the situation gradually became unfavorable to our army.
However, at this time, the 24th Regiment of Assists made progress and captured the main peak of the peak mountain.
The deployment of the 24th Regiment was to take charge of the 3rd Battalion in the area south of the town of Zanshan to block and reinforce the enemy, with the 1st Battalion on the right and the 2nd Battalion on the left, and at 12 o'clock in the night, according to the signal sent by the regiment, to launch an attack from the northwest corner of Fengshan Mountain. The 1st Battalion was divided into two echelons, with the 3rd and 2nd Companies as the first echelon, commanded by Deputy Battalion Commander Yan Yaohua, and the 3rd Company was the main offensive task. The battalion reinforced the company with 3 heavy machine guns and 4 60 guns, and gave the 2nd Company a platoon of reinforced heavy machine guns. The 1st and 4th companies, as the second echelon, were ready to attack continuously.
Before the 3rd Company launched a charge, Zhang Futian, the leader of the 1st Platoon, led an explosive team to explode The Deer. When Zhang Futian and others touched the front, they found that the deer was not thick, and they could be opened by hand, and Zhang Futian was very flexible, so he did not use explosives to fry. When the 3rd Company secretly approached the enemy's trench through two open openings, it found that the enemy was shuttling back and forth in the trench and was abnormal, so together with the 2nd Company, it strafed along the trench with machine guns from the left and right sides, and combined with the political offensive, forced the defenders to surrender their guns and surrender. The two companies then continued to charge towards the summit. [1] In order to capture a support point for the enemy at the foot of the Northern Mountains, the 3rd Company first launched an attack, but the attack failed, so the 1st Connection replaced it. Guo Jisheng, commander of the 1st Company, observed that the enemy of a company was held in 3 encirclements, and the firepower was relatively strong, and the hard attack was likely to suffer losses. Therefore, Guo Jisheng led the commando team back to a small ditch southwest behind the enemy's flank, first organized 5 machine guns to suppress the enemy's fire in a fence, and then continuously exploded by the demolition personnel, and it took only 5 minutes to solve the enemy in the fence. Immediately, while using the prisoner's shouting, he detoured and took down the other two fences. [2] The 1st Battalion captured about 220 enemy prisoners. [3]
The 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment marched with the 7th Company as the vanguard, and when approaching the peak mountain, it found that there was an enemy stronghold at the foot of the mountain, and the battalion ordered the 7th Company to attack according to the instructions of the regiment, and the company captured the point with a swift and courageous movement and annihilated about a platoon of the enemy, killing only 1 person and wounding 2 people. Since the 7th Company was used to sweep away enemy positions, the Battalion was determined to take the 8th Company as the main offensive task, the 5th and 6th Companies as reserves, the 7th Company to standby, and the Battalion and reinforced the 8th Company with 3 mortars and 6 machine guns. [4]
After receiving the order, Wang Wenshan, commander of the 8th Company, advanced near the east side of Wu under the mountain while leading the platoon commanders to conduct on-the-spot reconnaissance. Although they entered the periphery of the enemy fortifications, due to the darkness of the night and the unfamiliar terrain, only the enemy was found to be defended, and the enemy's troop arrangements, firearms location, fortification conditions and the situation of the outer trenches were not clear. In order to bring into play the suddenness, Company Commander Wang Wenshan was still determined to launch an offensive, trying to reconnoiter while fighting, in order to break through the enemy's position and annihilate the enemy. At 22:00 on the 15th, the 8th Company decided to strengthen 2 light machine guns with the 1st platoon, serving as the main assault on the right wing, and the 2nd and 3rd platoons were equipped in the left echelon, ready to expand the results. The 4 light machine guns of the company and 2 heavy machine guns reinforced by the battalion were organized into a firepower group, commanded by deputy company commander Chen Fulin, to support the assault.
After the battle began, the demolition team of the 2nd Squad of the 1st Platoon first blew up the deer, opened a passage of about 2 meters, and after reaching the outer trench, ordered the ladder group to put down the ladder, because there was water in the trench, the ladder drifted away. The trench could not be passed, the defenders suddenly opened fire, causing about half of the casualties of the 1st and 2nd squads, and the platoon commander and company commander of the 1st platoon who led the commando team were also killed, and the first assault failed, at about 24 o'clock. According to the instructions of the battalion commander Sun Shoufang, Deputy Company Commander Chen Fulin reconnoitred and adjusted the deployment, from the 1st and 2nd platoons to attack side by side, the 2nd platoon attacked from the right to the west and slightly north of the siege, the 3rd platoon advanced with the 2nd platoon, the firepower group advanced to the center of the 1st and 2nd platoons, and the long ladder of the 7th Company was transferred up, and the second charge began at about 3 o'clock on the 16th. After arriving at the outer trench this time, the practice of getting down the ladder first and then getting off the ladder was adopted to prevent the ladder from drifting away, but due to the fire of the enemy, the casualties were still very large, and the deputy company commander Chen Fulin was also sacrificed, and the instructor continued to command. After crossing the first trench for about 10 meters, a second trench was encountered. Since the trench was under the direct control of one of the group fortifications, the instructors, under the cover of fire, took one of the group fortifications first, and then covered the other detachments through the second trench. A battle for the fortifications on the mountainside began, and finally the summit of Fengshan Mountain was reached before dawn. Sun Shoufang, commander of the 2nd Battalion, and Wang Guangli, the political and religious company, also climbed to the top of the mountain with the 8th Company. [5]
At 5:20 a.m. on the 16th,[6] although it was winter, there was not much time left before dawn. The 1st Battalion of the 23rd Regiment, which failed in three surprise attacks, suffered heavy casualties in 3 companies, especially the losses of cadres, and some cadres also wavered in their determination. The commander of the 8th Division sent Wei Xuecheng, the combat section, to find the command post of the 23rd Regiment and convey instructions to chen Shifa, the regimental commander, and Wang Liusheng, the political commissar, demanding that Fengshan must be taken that night. Wei Xuecheng learned that the regiment attacked the main peak several times in a row, but because of its poor organization, it only opened up a passage and failed to break through. Wang Liusheng asked Wei Xuecheng to relay to the commander of the division that the regiment was determined to carry out a surprise attack after careful organization and that it would definitely complete the task. [7] Wang Liusheng, the regimental political commissar, immediately rushed to the command post of the 1st Battalion and issued a death order, demanding that the 1st Battalion immediately organize an attack by all the forces of the battalion and seize Fengshan at all costs before dawn.
There were very few cadres left of the 1st Battalion, battalion commander Zhang Xianjun and deputy battalion commander Zhang Xingchang were already wounded, and after the re-division of labor, Zhang Xianjun was responsible for organizing the firepower (after the war, Zhang Xianjun was rated as the first-class combat hero of the 8th Division[8]), and zhang Ming, the deputy instructor of the uninjured battalion, gathered more than 40 people who were still able to participate in the assault in the occupied enemy artillery positions and reorganized, and the 2nd Company organized three squads (several people who could still participate in the assault in the 1st Company were merged into the 2nd Company), of which the Song Cangfu class was more complete, and the 3rd Company was merged into one squad , a total of four classes. The 3rd Company was commanded by Xuan Guangsheng, commander of the 3rd Company, and the three squads after the merger of the 2nd Company and the 1st Company, the 1st Squad was commanded by Platoon Commander Tang Jiyu, the 2nd Squad was commanded by Deputy Instructor Zhang Ming, and the 3rd Squad was commanded by Xiao Shitian, the former deputy political commander of the 2nd Company. The mission was divided into: Xuan Guangsheng's squad attacked from the same road to attract enemy fire, and Zhang Ming led the remaining three squads to detour up from the flank. The fire brigade was still placed in the front to shoot first to confuse the enemy.
Before the charge was launched, Zhang Ming made a brief battle mobilization and then led everyone to detour from the east. When the main force of the 1st Battalion Commando rushed to the second trench, it was detected by the enemy, and suddenly, the rifle machine guns and rows of grenades were fired, Tang Jiyu's platoon leader was sacrificed, and the soldier Gao Fenghai automatically acted as the squad leader to continue the attack. [9] At this time, Zhang Ming's head was also injured, and he endured severe pain, and with Gao Fenghai, Ma Yuncai, and Xiao Wei, he first climbed up the ditch cliff, rushed through the enemy's fire net, pounced on the top of the mountain, and solved the enemy's bunker. Together with the troops in the direction of the 24th Regiment's assists, the peak mountain was completely captured. [10] Zhang Ming joined the Eighth Route Army at the age of 14 and was wounded seven times in the War of Liberation, six of which were wounded in combat.[11] Zhang Ming led the charge at the Battle of Fengshan and made great contributions.
The 2nd Battalion of the 23rd Regiment set out on the afternoon of the 15th, with the 6th Company as the vanguard, and reached the southeast of Fengshan Mountain at 2:00 a.m. on the 16th. The battalion, with the 6th and 8th companies as the first echelon and the 5th and 7th companies as the second echelon, was placed on both sides of the road south of Fengshan to be responsible for reinforcements and blockades. It was also a coincidence that in the course of the blockade, about a platoon of enemy telephone soldiers were captured from Xiaodianzi north to the south of Fengshan to check the line, and the 6th Company used the enemy telephone platoon commander to communicate with the headquarters of the Pre-3 Brigade and the 9th Regiment defending the enemy at Fengshan according to my intentions. [12] According to Wang Liusheng, the political commissar of the 23rd Regiment, at that time, the enemy telephone soldiers were asked to order the Fengshan defenders to retreat in the tone of a brigade commander,[13] which should have played a certain role in shaking the confidence of the defending enemies.
At about 7 o'clock on the 16th, Yamano reported that the 8th Division had captured Fengshan, "4 heavy machines, 3 mountain cannons, 1 steel cannon, more than 10 light aircraft, and 300 or 400 prisoners"; on the 16th, according to the pre-3rd Brigade's report to the 69th Division, it was learned that "Zhou Yixuan, the commander of the Ninth Regiment of the Battle of Fengshan [Zhou Zhaoxuan], was killed, the six companies of the first battalion and the second battalion were exhausted, and the first battalion of the x regiment lost more than half." The statistical results of Fengshan reported at 5 o'clock on the 17th were: "3 mountain guns, 24 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 700 regimental commanders and below the capture regiment." [14]
Wei Xuecheng's diary on the 16th: "Fengshan mountain is the commanding height of the entire battlefield, the enemy will use the day to fight, we must hold on." The division decided that the Twenty-third Regiment and the Twenty-fourth Regiment would each leave a battalion to occupy the north and south lines of Fengshan Mountain, rush to repair the fortifications, and prepare to deal with the enemy attacking from the south, east, and north. The division was commanded by Wu under the mountain, and the three battalions of the Twenty-second Regiment were transferred to Wu under the mountain as a reserve." [15]
Sure enough, on the 16th, a regiment of the 60th Brigade of the 69th Division (Tan Regiment) and the 7th Regiment of the Pre-3rd Brigade, under the cover of artillery fire and aircraft, launched a counterattack from the east and south to Fengshan, desperately fighting for the mountain. "The Eighth Division, with the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth Regiment as the main force, plus the second battalion of the Twenty-third Regiment, and the strength of the first battalion of the Twenty-third Regiment, was stubbornly resisting the mountain, and from 10 a.m. to about 4 p.m., the enemy carried out four large-scale attacks." [16] The 8th Division, because it had fought few defensive battles in the past, after repelling two enemy attacks, suffered some casualties of its own, and some cadres began to cry bitterly. In order to stabilize the situation, in the afternoon, the division ordered the 9th Company of the 22nd Regiment to go up the hill to participate in the defense, and Zhang Chaozhong, chief of staff of the 24th Regiment, unified the command of the troops on the mountain.
Ding Qiusheng (a founding lieutenant general) political commissar of the 8th Division told Wei Xuecheng to write a letter to Zhang Chaozhong and to transfer cadres from various battalions, in which he wrote: "Holding on to Fengshan Mountain is of vital importance to the entire battlefield, we must hold our position at all costs, we are not allowed to take a step back, and anyone who retreats without authorization is immediately shot on the spot." [17]
Chen Shiyu, chief of staff of the mountain field who had gone to the command post of the 8th Division to understand the situation, asked Why Yixiang and Ding Qiusheng whether their troops were enough, and He and Ding all said: "We can hold Fengshan, and we still have a regiment (the reserve of the 22nd regiment) that is useless!" Chen Shiyu said in his recollection: "In the fierce battle, it is not easy to use their reserves, which is a manifestation of confidence in victory, and I also approve of their approach at that time." [18]
At about 2 p.m., the attacking Nationalist army was about one connection close to the top of the hill, at which time the mountain artillery company of the 8th Division opened fire, firing a total of six shells, which destroyed it and boosted the confidence of the defenders. At 4 p.m., the Nationalists attacked again, at this time the situation was most tense, because the defenders suffered heavy casualties and had run out of ammunition. The mountain guards took advantage of the gap between battles to collect ammunition from enemy corpses to prepare to resist the enemy charge. It was already dusk, and if it could repulse this counterattack, it would be able to hold its position, and the 8th Division ordered the 3rd Battalion of the 22nd Regiment to detour from the northeast side of Fengshan to attack the enemy's flank, and the attacking Nationalist army was afraid of being surrounded and collapsed. In this way, after a day of tenacious defense, Fengshan was always controlled by the 8th Division. [19]
On the 16th, it was learned from the telephone call of the Kuomintang army that "on the 16th, the Tan Regiment of the Chenhuang Brigade assisted the Wei Brigade in attacking Fengshan, and the battle lasted for several hours, with heavy casualties and difficulty in ammunition, and retreated to its southeast until youkai." [20]
At this point, the plan to split the Pre-3rd Brigade and the entire 69th Division has been successfully realized. Next, it will be seen whether the detour action of the 1st Column can cut off the entire 11th Division from the Pre-3rd Brigade and the entire 69th Division.
[1] "Offensive Battles of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against Unstable Enemies", pp. 9-10.
[2] He Yixiang, "Blood Road Xiongguan: My Conquest Career", People's Liberation Army Publishing House, 2002. pp. 200-201.
[3] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy," p. 10.
[4] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy," p. 10.
[5] "Attack Battle on the Main Peak of Fengshan Mountain", handwritten manuscript, the author's name is unknown, according to the explanation after the material, the author was the political instructor of the 8th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of the 8th Division at the time of the Subei Campaign, and the deputy regimental commander of the 190th Regiment of the 64th Division at the time of writing the materials. The materials were written on the manuscript paper of the General Higher Infantry School, copied by hand, and accompanied by two hand-drawn battle examples, which are estimated to be left over from the preparation of internal warfare example textbooks in the fifties. See also: "Attacking and Fighting of the Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against Unstable Enemies", p. 10.
[6] For a word "3:30", see Zhang Xianjun: "The Battle of Fengshan Mountain", A Collection of Battle Examples (During the Third Civil Revolutionary War) (3rd series), published Chinese the Military Academy of the People's Liberation Army, 1951, p. 74.
[7] Wei Xuecheng: Wartime Diary, self-printed. p. 49.
[8] The Great War of Subei, Communist Party History Publishing House, 2005. p. 434.
[9] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy", pp. 8-9.
[10] Zhang Ming, "The Battle of Fengshan", Selected Materials of the Battle of Subei, Edited by the Marxist-Leninist Teaching and Research Group of Huaiyin Normal College and the Literature and History Research Committee of the Suqian County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 1982. pp. 97-99.
[11] "Zhang Ming, An Outstanding Young Commander", Selected Materials of the Subei Campaign, edited by the Marxist-Leninist Teaching and Research Group of Huaiyin Normal College and the Literature and History Research Committee of the Suqian County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 1982. p. 142.
[12] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy," p. 9.
[13] Wang Liusheng, "Fierce Battle of Fengshan Mountain: Fragments of Memories of the Battle of Subei", The Great Battle of Subei, Communist Party History Publishing House, 2005. pp. 336-337.
[14] "Diary of the Battle of Subei". According to Wei Xuecheng's diary: "After a day and a night of hard fighting, preliminary statistics have captured more than 700 enemies, 4 guns, and dozens of machine guns."
[15] Wei Xuecheng: Wartime Diary, self-printed. p. 49.
[16] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy," p. 10.
[17] Wei Xuecheng: Wartime Diary, self-printed. p. 50.
[18] Chen Shiyu, "The Internal Counterattack and Galloping East China: Recalling the East China Battlefield in the First Year of the Liberation War (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)," May 1985. p. 54.
[19] "The Offensive Battle of The Eighth Yamano Division's Fengshan and Xiaodianzi Against an Unstable Enemy," p. 11.
[20] "Diary of the Battle of Subei".
Author of this article: Yan Kefu