"Taihang Wind and Bone" - Memoirs of Yang Yunxi 57

Participated in the Battle of Jinzhong

In June 1948, near the end of the Battle of Linfen, I, Li Wentong, Xu Huijin, and Wang Mianqing left the school and reported to the frontline troops in Linfen. At that time, the headquarters of the Fifteenth Column (i.e., the later Sixty-second Army) reported to report, and most of the troops who had attacked Linfen had left the battlefield. We reported to a large village seven or eight miles north of Linfen. A young senior staff officer assigned Li Wentong and Xu Huijin to work in the radio station at that time, because they were telegraphers when They were in Hu Zongnan's army, and they were also in charge of radio work after liberation. Asked what I do, I said, "Observer." He said, "You go to the artillery company as a platoon commander." "To tell the truth, although I understand some artillery theory, I have not directly engaged in artillery, which is a bit timid, but I have to go." At that time, the artillery company had only one Japanese open-frame mountain gun in one row, and two 120 mortars in the second row. Pei Xia was the company commander, although I had never done artillery, the Japanese opened a Type 944 cannon, and the original artillery regiment was Yan Xishan's type 1 and 3 mountain cannons, so let's learn from the soldiers.

During the morning exercise the next day, Company Commander Pei Said, "Come on." "It means to test me. I am the Eighth Route Army educated by Mao Zedong, seeking truth from facts, and if I don't understand it, I don't understand it, and I can't pretend to understand it. I said, "I haven't made this kind of cannon yet, so please do it first, and I'll study it." "The cannon is still six large pieces, they operate me to observe the movements, and when they rest, they ask them about the order of division of labor and tasks of the gunners in each part, and soon they will master it." A few days later, I began to set off, passed the Hongtong Locust Tree, the Taer Mountain of Xiangling, crossed Hanxin Fort, and arrived at Jiexiu. The weather here is about a month worse than linfen, the wheat is only yellow, and a few are cut down on the field. We slept in the rolling field and felt cold at dawn.

Eliminate pro-trainers

Moving forward, after June 20th, we entered Jinzhong, and the battle began. The night march, leaning on the east mountain side of Jiexiu and Pingyao, is a big dirt slope. Some of the animals are physically strong and do not appear to be anything. Some sweaty and tired, no strength, really "road remote know horsepower." "There were a few mules that were still screaming in their mouths when they set out last night. Heaven dawned and sweated profusely. Along the mountain side of many unilateral roads and along the mountain villages, there are many cave dwellings, and the masses are looking at the openings in the walls and on the top of the kilns, including the old woman's face is smiling. Many people said, "Go beat them up and arrest Yan Xishan!" ”

Marching to the eight towns, ordered to run, mules and cannons began to run, and heard the gunshots in front of them. After walking a few miles, there was a large town in front of me, Hongshan Town, where the enemy had a battalion to defend, and the bunker was very strong, and it was an important town along the mountain that stuck my attack. However, after a few blows, the enemy abandoned his position and fled when the artillery arrived. Less than a mile down the slow slope north of the town, the battalion commander's horse was also killed.

We didn't stop and continued to pursue. One night of marching until dawn, the plains were filled with the sound of gunfire, and the fighting was so intense that bullets whizzed under our feet. Then shouts rang out: "Catch the live, surrender the gun and don't kill!" Don't move! The crowd, in the dark yellow wheat field, chased after it, rushed over, and for about half an hour the gunshots and shouts calmed down. Most of the pro-trainers were annihilated, and the rest of the remnants sneaked into ZhangLan Town.

Our superiors ordered us to unload our guns and rest, and the troops sat down to eat some dry food. The column headquarters informed us to look at the artillery, and when we arrived at the battlefield, there was a large row of black-pressed type 36 mountain guns, and there were 36 of them, which were captured from the pro-trainers, and they only tried to escape, and they did not hit a single shell, so they handed them to us. I was matching the accessories of more than 20 guns, Zhu Gang let away 4 guns, I looked at it, selected 4 guns with no shortage of parts, let the soldiers pull over, put them in our company. Then, hurry up and find the mule, saying that it has been pulled away by the troops, and the column has a lot of opinions. The commander of Liu Zhong's column said to Zhu Gang: "Divide the artillery, and the people in the artillery company will also divide it." Then Zhu Gang said, "Give us the platoon leader?" Commander Liu said, "Good. ”