In the autumn of 1949, the Forty-seventh Army of the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army, under the command of the commander Cao Lihuai (who became a founding lieutenant general in 1955), liberated Dayong, Sangzhi and other counties in Hunan Province, and immediately transferred to the eastern Sichuan region, and together with the brother troops, pursued and annihilated the famous Kuomintang general Song Xilian's corps.
Although our army was victorious at that time and the situation was very favorable, the officers and men of the Forty-seventh Army were facing considerable difficulties in participating in the pursuit and annihilation battle in eastern Sichuan.
The fundamental reason is that the generals of the whole army have been marching and fighting continuously for several months, during which time they have not been fully rested. In particular, the operation from western Hunan to eastern Sichuan can be said to be people who do not disarm and do not stop.
For the officers and men of the Forty-seventh Army, whose fighting style is extremely tenacious, ideological problems are easy to solve, but insufficient material preparation is somewhat troublesome.
The enemy is desperately trying to escape, and our army must pursue with all its might. What is the all-out pursuit? The feet of the warriors, of course. However, due to logistical supplies, the Forty-seventh Army was seriously short of shoes, and some soldiers could only march barefoot.
In Yongshun, Hunan, the troops organized soldiers to beat straw shoes by themselves, but the grass shoes were too unwearable, and after the troops entered Longshan County, these grass shoes could no longer be worn.
After arriving at Sangzhi, the troops managed to get a batch of shoes to send down, and when they entered the river, the soles of the large troops had already been sharpened with large or small holes, and many soldiers could only tie up with rags, leather bands, rattans and other things to continue to wear.
In the pursuit of the enemy, it is often seen that the enemy officers and soldiers have thrown some waste products on the side of the road, among which the most popular among the PLA soldiers is shoes. If anyone can pick up a pair of shoes that can still be worn, it will become the envy of everyone and will be happy for many days.
After entering the territory of Sichuan, the problem of lack of shoes in the troops became more and more serious, which made the military commander Cao Lihuai very anxious.
It should be known that since ancient times, there is a saying that "shu road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the blue sky", Sichuan has many mountains, coupled with continuous rain for days, the roads are slippery and muddy, and many soldiers can only march barefoot.
On November 21, the 416th Regiment of the 139th Division of the Forty-seventh Army, led by regimental commander Lu Shiying (colonel in 1955 and promoted to major general in 1964), quietly advanced to the Edge of the Wu River with extremely concealed and rapid movements, and after some fighting, occupied the town of Baitao.
This move is very important, because the occupation of Baitao Town is equivalent to digging a hole in the Wujiang Tianjian on which the enemy relies as a barrier, opening a passage for our army to continue to advance.
In the next few days, the 416th Regiment sent some troops to firmly hold the town of Baitao, while the remaining troops advanced all the way and continued to pursue and annihilate the enemy.
At about 1 p.m. on the 25th, the reconnaissance officer suddenly rushed to report an important situation to the platoon commander Han Xi: Four boats on the upper reaches of the Wujiang River were heading towards the Baitao ferry, and on board were the emblems of the Kuomintang blue sky and white sun.
Han Xi was overjoyed, and immediately led his troops to blockade the ferry port and resolutely prevented the enemy ships from passing through here.
Not long after, four wooden boats did indeed sail down the river to baitao ferry, and a small number of Kuomintang soldiers were guarding the bow and stern with weapons, the cabins were covered with rags, and some of the corners and corners were still bulging, and it seemed that there were a lot of goods inside.
Han Xi concluded that although there were not many enemies on these wooden boats, they might not be small, so he asked the warriors to be ready for battle, and not a single ship could let it slip away.
When the enemy ship entered the firing range, Han Xi decisively issued an attack order, and the rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns in the hands of the soldiers all opened fire on the enemy.
The Kuomintang officers and men on the ship were suddenly and violently shot, and they were immediately panicked. They wanted to turn around and go back in the boat, but it was against the current, and the boat could not drive away quickly, but instead squeezed into a pile, and the more urgent it was, the more it could not run.
Han Xi saw that the purpose of teaching the enemy had been achieved, so he asked the soldiers to shout at the ship: "Immediately dock, surrender your guns and don't kill!" ”
The enemy took a look at the situation in front of him, and knowing that if he did not surrender, there would only be a dead end, or even a place to die, so he had to obediently drive his ship closer to the shore.
As soon as the ship docked, plausible plaguard soldiers jumped up and handed over their weapons. There were dozens of people on these four wooden boats, and in addition to the Kuomintang officers and men of the troops, some of the women were the wives of the Kuomintang officers.
When the soldiers entered the cabin to search, they found that the four wooden boats were actually logistics transport ships of the Kuomintang Seventy-ninth Army, which were piled with large bags of items.
After investigation, these items mainly include: two sacks of Guangyang, more than 6,000 pounds of fine rice, a large number of precious medical supplies, dozens of boxes of cigarettes produced in the United States...
What is even more surprising to everyone is that there are more than 45,000 pairs of rubber shoes on the ship.
Han Xi understood that these tens of thousands of pairs of rubber shoes were the urgently needed materials of the whole army, and immediately reported the situation of the seized items to the superiors.
When Cao Lihuai, commander of the Forty-seventh Army, learned of this good news, he was overjoyed: "Stepping on the iron shoes is nowhere to be found, and it takes no effort at all!" Great, this is really god help our army! ”
Not long after, these more than 45,000 pairs of rubber shoes, along with other captured materials, were distributed to all units of the whole army, which just solved the urgent needs of the generals of the whole army.
Reference historical materials: "Chinese The History of the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army", "The Record of the Southern Expedition of the Fourth Field Army", "The Last Battle of the Four Fields" and so on