【Heroic War Weekly Look】Wang Fengying, a hero who crossed the river

Wang Fengying, female, was born in 1933 to a poor family in Baidian Town, living on a small wooden boat all year round. At the age of ten, she learned a set of boating skills such as steering, paddling, holding a pen, and rocking.

In late March 1949, the 28th, 29th, 31st and 23rd Armies under the jurisdiction of the 10th Corps of the 3rd Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the howitzer columns were assembled in the Jingjiang and Taixing areas, and the former committee of the branch extensively mobilized to raise boats to cross the river. At this time, Wang Fengying and his brother-in-law went to Jiangnan to do business together, and after returning to the ship, they docked the ship at Liuwei Port on the north bank of the river. Seeing that the nearby People's Liberation Army was preparing to cross the river and practicing boating combat skills, 17-year-old Wang Fengying was boiling with blood and took the initiative to sign up and asked the PLA to cross the river. However, the former migrant workers formed by the local people's government did not have her share. Therefore, Wang Fengying resolutely ran to the garrison of the troops, found a chief, and boldly proposed to use his own small wooden boat to send the troops across the river. The head of the unit saw that she was a little girl and refused to agree, only hoping that she would lend the ship to the troops. Despite the dissuasion of her brother-in-law, Wang Fengying ran to the headquarters four times a day to ask for help, repeatedly explained that her boating skills were good, and said the advantages of many small boats crossing the river, and showed her water kung fu. Finally, the chief granted her request. Wang Fengying happily joined the former migrant workers' detachment of the people in the old Liberated Areas, and was appointed by the head of the unit as the squad leader of the first batch of people's boats to cross the river, leading 12 small wooden boats to prepare to cross the river. At midnight on April 21, the Battle of the River Crossing began. Thousands of migrant workers in the Liberated Areas formed a mighty army of former supporters, relying on simple wooden boats, braving the rain of guns and bullets, escorting millions of male divisions through the Yangtze River Graben, and Wang Fengying, who was only 17 years old, was an excellent member of this army.

At Liuwei Harbor on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Wang Fengying took 12 advance boats full of warriors crossing the river, hidden in the night. At about 10:00 p.m., as soon as the order to cross the river was issued, the 12 advance convoys led by Wang Fengying immediately set anchor and sailed, taking the lead in going offshore. With the help of the northeast wind, the small wooden boat quickly paddled the waves and pointed straight to the south of the river, and a large number of boats crossing the river followed. The ship advanced to the center of the river, was discovered by the enemy, and one by one the flares took off, illuminating the river in the night. Immediately, the enemy dispatched warships to shell and aircraft to bomb, and the enemy's cannons on the south bank of the Yangtze River also opened fire on the river surface, the bombs fell around the ship, shrapnel flew everywhere, and columns of water several meters high rose on the river. Wang Fengying was desperate to pull the canopy, take the steering helm, and drive a leaf boat forward desperately. At the same time, our army fired ten thousand cannons in the north of the Yangtze River, and a cloud of flames rose up on the other side of the Yangtze River, which immediately suppressed the enemy's crazy firepower. Wang Fengying drove a small wooden boat full of 40 warriors and ordnance across the river, braving enemy fire to quickly break the waves on the south bank. When the ship approached the south shore, it ran aground and was stuck in the mud and sand, and could not advance, and the commander ordered the soldiers to disembark and wade. "Come with me!" Wang Fengying shouted, and the first one jumped into the waist-deep river, braving the rain-like bullets of the enemy troops on the south bank to lead the PLA soldiers to wade through the water. Wang Fengying's small wooden boat "reduced its burden" and took the lead in landing. Then, she led the shipwrights to carry the ammunition in the cabin to the front line one by one.

On this night, Wang Fengying did not close her eyes, and in the deafening sound of artillery fire, she tirelessly led the fleet to cross the Yangtze River six times, and her small boat successively transported more than 120 PLA soldiers, 12 small cannons and a lot of ammunition to the south bank of the Yangtze River. Her ears were momentarily deaf, her hands were blistered with blood, and the tiller had left blood palm prints, and her sweat-soaked clothes could squeeze out water.

At midnight the next day, Wang Fengying led the fleet to return to Jiangbei against the wind and waves. Suddenly, an enemy ship came from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and rammed towards the fleet, and the helmsman on Wang Fengying's ship panicked for a moment, and the small boat faced the danger of subversion. Suddenly, Wang Fengying rushed to the rear cabin with an arrow to grab the tiller, stabilized the ship with his skillful driving skills, and said loudly: "Don't be afraid, there are you when I am here!" After a while, four more enemy ships frantically pounced on Wang Fengying's fleet. At the critical juncture, Wang Fengying calmly and tactfully maneuvered with the enemy ships, and finally skillfully avoided danger, successfully broke through, and led the fleet to return safely to Liuwei Port.

After the battle of crossing the river, Wang Fengying was awarded the "Honorable Certificate for Crossing the River Front" and the "Honorable Certificate for Boatman Crossing the River," and the troops gave her special merits, commended her as a "hero of crossing the river," and awarded her a pennant with the words "Hero of Crossing the River, Wang Fengying.". On May 25, the Workers' and Peasants' Pictorial of Taizhou District of Northern Jiangsu Province and the Xinhua Daily (Central China Edition) introduced Wang Fengying's heroic deeds. In September, the Central Military Commission sent a letter inviting Wang Fengying to attend the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, but she was unable to make the trip due to excessive hard work in the Battle of the Crossing River, suffering from an illness, and was in the stage of convalescence and rehabilitation.

After the founding of New China, Wang Fengying was arranged to work at the State-run Hotel in Hai'an. In 1962, in response to the call of the state to streamline its institutions, she asked to return to her hometown to work as a farmer. In 1978, the state implemented a policy and arranged for her to work in the Wadian Commercial General Store. He retired honorably in 1989. In April 2005, Wang Fengying died of illness at the age of 73.

Source | Haian Daily

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