Author: Old Streets and Alleys
Liao Zhengguo, the founding major general, joined the army as a teenager and was a veteran general who had been tested by the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. After his death, people sighed, and his legendary experience has been passed down to this day.
Liao Zhengguo was born in Xi County, Henan Province, and joined the Red Army at the age of 17. On the eve of the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he graduated from the Kang Da and was immediately sent to the New Fourth Army as the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Regiment of the 3rd Detachment.
In July 1939, the eastward column of the "JiangKang" launched an attack on the Chiang Kai-shek forces around Qingpu. In the process of pursuing and annihilating the enemy, battalion commander Liao Zhengguo rose up in pursuit and led 2 companies (2 machine gun platoons) to chase out more than 30 kilometers in one go. The crowd trekked until midnight, stopping in front of an empty flat land.
Liao Zhengguo looked around and found that the large flat land was surrounded by barbed wire, and there was nothing in front of him except a few small bungalows. Ask the guide to know that the original 2nd Battalion killed the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport under the control of the Japanese and puppets!
Liao Zhengguo
The officers and men of the New Fourth Army advanced forward
Prior to this, the Eighth Route Army had made a surprise attack on the Japanese-controlled Yangmingbao airfield. One did not do, two did not stop, Liao Zhengguo quickly made a decision: raid the Japanese airfield, burn the Japanese aircraft!
The local garrison laxated and gave 2 battalions of fighters. The commanders and fighters did not need a single shot to enter the airfield. Soon, the officers and men pulled out several sleepy ground staff from the bungalows. Seeing that there were no Japanese soldiers, Liao Zhengguo ordered the troops to disperse the search, and soon found 4 Japanese military planes on the tarmac. Just as everyone was discussing what to do, the searchlight near the airport suddenly shone. Immediately after, several hidden machine gun bunkers began to spew tongues of fire, and the whereabouts of the 2nd Battalion were exposed!
Liao Zhengguo knew that if the Japanese aircraft were not destroyed, the troops would probably be surrounded. He asked several fighters to find oil drums, pour them on the plane, and then light gasoline. Soon, these Japanese planes were reimbursed. Together with the fire, even the Japanese troops guarding the airfield could not distinguish the situation, and could only blindly strafe and did not dare to go out of the fortifications. Taking advantage of the enemy's chaos, the 2nd Battalion withdrew from the battle in time and returned to its garrison.
Although only 4 Japanese planes were burned, Liao Zhengguo's deeds soon spread throughout the streets of Shanghai. After Ye Fei learned of this, Yu Appreciative said: "There is Yangming Fort in the north and Hongqiao in the south, and Liao Zhengguo is really not bad." ”
Later, Liao Zhengguo lost an arm due to an accident and became another one-armed general of our army, but this did not affect his command of the operation.
In 1941, the fourth Battle of Fengli began. Before the battle, Su Yu, commander of the 1st Division, summoned Liao Zhengguo and asked, "How are you going to fight this battle?" ”
"Adaptable."
Su Yu said, "I don't want you to stick to it, as long as you fight for seven days and annihilate the enemy 1,000." ”
At this time, Liao Zhengguo had only one regiment in his hand. However, the strength of the enemy he had to face was more than 5,000 people, and the ratio between the enemy and us was 5 to 1. Even so, Liao Zhengguo nodded and took over the task.
Su Yu asked again, "What style of play do you want to use?" ”
The answer given by Liao Zhengguo was: sports defense warfare plus sparrow warfare. The reason why it is fought this way is because Fengli is located in the plain, the rivers are long, and it is easy to fight guerrilla warfare. During the battle, Liao Zhengguo cleverly deployed the "Sparrow Array", reduced the troops into pieces, fired a shot on this side, and fired a cannon on the other side, which not only made it difficult for the Japanese and pseudo-Japanese to move forward, but also always could not guess the intentions of the New Fourth Army. In the end, the commander of the Japanese brigade personally went into battle, but there was still nothing he could do in the face of the "sparrow array" laid out by Liao Zhengguo.
Liao Zhengguo led 4 regiments to fight for 7 days, not only achieved the record of annihilating more than 2,000 enemy troops, but also exceeded the task, which was affirmed by Su Yu.
Heavy machine gun positions for officers and men of the New Fourth Army
Su Yu during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Liao Zhengguo served as the deputy commander of the 20th Army of the Volunteer Army. After the victory of the Fifth Campaign, the 20th Army was ordered to rest. Liao Zhengguo was walking with officers and soldiers to a short distance from the Huachuan Bridge when he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire in the distance. He immediately judged that the situation of the war had changed and asked the various departments to circumvent it.
After getting out of the car, Liao Zhengguo listened to the staff officer's report while looking at the direction of Huachuan with a telescope. He raised his watch and looked at it, then asked the staff officer, "You count, how many shells have exploded nearby in this minute?" ”
After a while, the staff officer reported: "About 20 rounds. ”
Based on this data, Liao Zhengguo judged that the enemy had an artillery battalion near Huachuan. Then, he asked the staff officer: "Do you know the location of the American artillery position and how far away it is from Huachuan?" The staff officer shook his head. Political Commissar Liao said that the initial speed of the US howitzer is 650 m/ min, and the time to fly in the air after the shell is exported is about seven or eight seconds.
Afterwards, It turned out that Liao Zhengguo's judgment was accurate, and the staff officers were also impressed by his knowledge.
U.S. howitzer positions
The Volunteers charged
For Liao Zhengguo, the most dangerous moment of his life occurred in the second phase of the Fifth Campaign.
Changgu Peak was located on the left flank of the 20th Army, and the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division was defended here. Due to the premature loss of this place, the war situation took a sharp turn for the worse. In the next two days, the "coalition forces" broke through two important support points of the right wing of the 59th Division in a row.
The news reached the command post, and the atmosphere was suddenly extremely tense, there were only 6 kilometers left from the forward position, and Liao Zhengguo also knew that the troops could not retreat any further.
The commander of the 59th Division, Dekelin, called Liao Zhengguo and asked him to move to the rear, but was refused: "If you want to withdraw, your retreat, my command post is here!" ”
The commander of the 60th Division also called to persuade him to transfer, but he was also blocked back: "My command post is located here, when to transfer, you don't need to worry!" ”
It was because of Liao Zhengguo's determination that he gave the troops great encouragement. That night, the 59th and 60th Divisions held combat meetings overnight, determined to do their best to block the "coalition" attack, and all division commanders and staff officers personally came to the front line to command. After a bloody battle, the 20th Army finally repelled the "coalition army" and turned the danger into a disaster.
On April 16, 1972, founding Major General Liao Zhengguo died of illness in Nanjing. When Xu Shiyou learned the bad news, he looked up at the sky and sighed: "Why can't good people last long?" ”