After the 100,000-strong Communist Party troops broke into the Kwantung region one after another, when grassroots cadres like Zhao Xingyuan were working hard to "consolidate the troops," the Central Committee and the Northeast Bureau were of course concerned about the strategic issues in the northeast.
The first is "preemptive occupation". For this reason, the central authorities decided to fight a big battle in the Jinxi area, and the Northeast Bureau sent people to Yingkou to command and deploy defenses, believing that as long as the land and sea passages on the southwest and southwest sides were blocked, they would be able to "occupy the opportunity first." As a result, Shanhaiguan was not blocked, Jinxi was not blocked, and Yingkou was not blocked -- the Kuomintang army could not be blocked at that time.
And then came the "Last Battle". The Chongqing negotiations, Marshall's mediation, and the Central Committee to the Northeast Bureau, some people believe that China's peace is coming, and what is currently being fought in the Northeast is the "last battle". Some people think that it is impossible for the Kuomintang to coexist peacefully with the Communist Party, and that the war has just started, so how can it be the "last battle"?
It was against this background that the battle of Sand Ridge in mid-February 1946 began.
Shaling is a small town in Panshan County, Liaozhong, with a highway leading to Yingkou and Haicheng in the south of the village, and a levee of the Liaohe River in the east of the village. Garrisoned in Shaling is the 66th Regiment of the New 22nd Division of the New 6th Army of the Kuomintang, and there is also a division training battalion in nearby Majiadian, with a total of more than 3,000 people. The attacking force consisted of 6 main regiments of the 3rd and 4th columns, as well as 1 artillery regiment, all of which were mountain artillery and field artillery.
The army and firepower are absolutely superior, and the town is full of mud walls and grass houses, and there is no danger to defend. Before the war, the leaders of the Liaodong Military Region and the column said: This is the last battle before the arrival of peace, and the last battle is a meritorious service, and the release of shells is victory!
As a result, after more than two days of fighting, it could not be defeated, with more than 2,100 casualties and more than 670 enemies.
Later, there was a song, which was compiled by Mo Wenhua, the political commissar of the 4th Column, called "Fighting a War and Fighting the New 6th Army":
Eat cabbage hearts when eating vegetables,
The war was fought exclusively against the New 6th Army.
Choy sum is sweet and nutritious,
Annihilation of the New 6th Army meritorious service.
Comrades, hurry up and compete,
Annihilation of the New 6th Army meritorious service.
The New 6th Army is one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, and the New 22nd Division is the trump card among the trump cards, known as the "Tiger Division", an expeditionary force with equipment and equipment in the United States, and has made great achievements in opening up the Yunnan-Burma Highway. After arriving in the Northeast, he was even more arrogant, and he didn't take Tubalu in his eyes at all, which really made his opponent suffer a lot, and even Mao Zedong paid attention to it. Lin Biao had concentrated his superior forces several times and wanted to eat this "tiger division", but he did not succeed.
Where do you know what a "tiger master" is on the 17th and 8th roads of the Shaling Battle, and regard it as a "stubborn". As soon as the gun rang out, he threw a grenade and rushed up and shouted, "Surrender the gun and don't kill," and the battle was almost over. Why is this "stubborn" firepower so fierce, still tenacious, and will not retreat. Our cannons, drawn by big mules and big horses, looked very majestic, but most of the shells were crooked, and some of them even hit their own positions. (After the war, someone said: "Artillery has spies, and they specialize in fighting their own people!") The enemy's artillery was so fierce and accurate that it exploded in the crowd, and the chemical mortars hit a large area, blackening the snow. Some of the shells even exploded a few meters above their heads, and their lethality was particularly great. 8 years of Anti-Japanese War, how can the little devil have this level and firepower?
After the war, some people said that the soldiers of the new 22nd Division were all college students.
The 1st Battalion was in Ding's shack to provide reinforcements, the 1st Company was in front of the village, the 2nd Company was deployed outside the village on the right, and the 3rd Company was in reserve.
Ding's shack is located about 15 miles southwest of Shaling, and it is a village of dozens of families. The 1st Company had put up a platoon in the village in advance, and the 1st Battalion had not yet arrived there when the enemy's vanguard had already arrived. In the ice and snow, I saw the cannon fire flickering in the distance, and the cannonballs flew into the village with a whistling whistle, and a grass house burst into flames. The 1st platoon of the sentry fought and retreated, and ran out of the village.
It was planned to set up a defense outside the village. As soon as the battalion commander Nanfang An saw this situation, he immediately ordered the company to drive the enemy out of the village. Company commander Zhao Changfu carried a shell gun and led the 1st platoon to rush up, and the 2nd platoon also turned around and rushed back.
The enemy, who had entered a reinforced platoon in the village, did not find the 1st Battalion that had arrived, and did not expect that the Eighth Army would fight back. At that time, the enemy was very arrogant, especially this "tiger division", and he didn't pay attention to Tubalu at all. The noisy people were all with southern accents, and they were burying their pots to cook, and when they suddenly saw the communist troops rushing up, they wanted to operate their guns, or smooth the muzzles of their guns, it was too late.
Company commander Zhao Changfu was originally the deputy company commander of the 3rd Company, and was transferred to the 1st Company more than two months ago, and was the 10th company commander experienced by Zhao Xingyuan after he became the Eighth Road, and the second partner after becoming an instructor. This man is upright, brave in battle, witty and decisive. In the middle of the day, the creaking sound of dozens of people stepping on the snow could not be concealed, nor was it hidden, so they swept up to the enemy like a gust of wind, and blasted grenades to drive the enemy out of the village. When they reached a cemetery outside the village, the enemy opened fire, and mortar shells flew like old geese in the clear sky. Zhao Changfu shouted to lie down, and a shell knocked him down, and one of his legs was blown off.
The Ding family's shack to send reinforcements was Zhao Xingyuan's first battle after arriving in the Northeast. In this first battle, he saw too many "firsts", and the most impressive thing was the fierceness and intensity of the opponent's firepower, especially the artillery fire.
The Japanese shelling was sometimes round by round, sometimes by row. This "tiger division" is put together one by one, and the fried point is either horseshoe-shaped, or plum petals. Boom, boom, boom, smoke, dust, shrapnel flying sideways. The caliber of that cannon is also powerful. The sky froze, the shells fell to the ground, and the earth trembled, like an earthquake, which was particularly shocking. The chemical mortar fired incendiary bombs, and the snow-white earth burned black in an instant. As soon as the air-burst bomb exploded, the shrapnel was like hail and torrential rain.
After the company commander drove the enemy out of the village with two platoons, he led another platoon to pursue the cemetery, and after withdrawing, there were only five people left in the first platoon -- the attrition was basically killed and wounded by enemy artillery fire.
I don't know how the enemy discovered the battalion command post, and several shells came over, and the battalion commander, instructor, and deputy instructor (lack of deputy battalion commander) were all wounded.
Panshan County is the lower reaches of the Liao River, known as "the nine rivers are springing down", every rainy season, the flood overflows, and most of the villages build the waterproof dam around the village. The same is true of the Ding family's shack. The dam was more than 1 meter high, and the enemy was behind the dam, in the shape of a battalion. Lined with white snow, dark green steel helmets flashed in the sun, and from time to time officers peered into the village, organizing their forces and preparing to attack after the shelling.
Zhao Xingyuan's fighting method is to disperse the troops and concentrate the firepower, and the second is to put the enemy closer to fight.
We don't have artillery, the enemy's cannon is simply doing whatever he wants, unscrupulous. That can't wait to be bombed. Every house has a courtyard wall, made of adobe, one person is high, two feet thick, and one person is more than ten meters away, hiding behind it. No matter how fierce your artillery fire is, you can only hurt me with one shell. Use a bayonet to poke some holes in the wall, frontal and sideways, to form a crossfire. Some also have two layers, which can be shot vertically and horizontally. If necessary, people can also concentrate, estimate that the enemy is about to shell, and then quickly disperse.
More than 1 mile away from the dam, the villagers were all vegetable fields, crop fields, and swampy fields, covered with snow and ice, which was not conducive to attacking. At the beginning, the enemy opened fire when they reached about 200 meters, but they could not attack, and most of them retreated under the cover of artillery fire. Just put it about 100 meters and hit it again. In this way, as soon as the gun goes off, the enemy is pressed there, and there is no way to advance or retreat. Zhao Xingyuan organized a few top shooters, and he also took a 38 big cover to shoot the "target" lying on the snow one by one. It was dark, and when I fought back, I found more than 30 corpses lying on the snow.
Repelling the first attack, Zhao Xingyuan found that the enemy was indeed well-trained and extraordinary. When attacking, he is very brave, good at using terrain and features, charging and lying down at a good time, and his movements are also skillful. The most important thing is that when retreating, the formation is not chaotic, alternate cover, the gun is accurate, and it is easy not to lose the weapon. It's just that the southerner, who is small, wears a Japanese coat and American big-toed shoes under his feet, and is fighting in the ice and snow for the first time, and looks a little bloated and bulky.
Many of the enemy, armed with Tom-style submachine guns, fired loudly, and smashed the earthen wall of the farmhouse courtyard into a honeycomb. This is the first time Zhao Xingyuan has seen Tom style. There is also a "big eight", an American-made semi-automatic rifle, which is longer than the Tom type and shorter than the 38 big cover, and hits 9.03 mm bullets, with a fast rate of fire and strong penetration. Zhao Xingyuan still doesn't know its official name, because the magazine is pressed with 8 bullets, and everyone calls it "Big Eight". However, the best was the Canadian machine gun, the new 22nd Division was equipped with one per squad, and two and a half were captured by the 1st Company (one of the barrels was broken). This kind of gun is especially suitable for fighting in cold areas, about minus 30 degrees, and other guns can't fire, and it still quacks - that's a story for later.
Some articles (including my previous writings) say that the attack in the battle of Shaling could not be attacked, and the reinforcements did not stop—no, the Ding family's shack was stopped, although it was impossible to reverse the decline of the battle in Shaling.
Of course, it does not prevent Zhao Xingyuan from making great contributions once.
The reason for his meritorious service was said in general terms at that time, saying that he was fighting in the Ding's shack. "Outstanding Performance" -- Anyone who knows the facts knows that this "performance" is, of course, "outstanding" the command level and ability of a company commander.
In Mengjia Village, more than 50 people were killed or wounded in the first company, and more than 70 recruits were recruited in the battle, and only more than 40 veterans were recruited. After breaking through the eastern part of the country to Liaoyang, the Shandong troops and the Jireliao troops were combined, and the first company reached more than 130 people, which was relatively full. The same is true for the 2nd and 3rd companies. The Ding family sent reinforcements in a shack, nominally one battalion to another, while the new 22nd Division had about 150 men per company, and many veterans of five or six years received the salary of a platoon commander. Not to mention that they are all American-style weapons, as well as artillery companies, machine gun companies, so many heavy firearms.
During the mobilization in Shandong, it was said that they would go to the northeast to "receive weapons", and they were "new weapons", and all the good guns were left to the Shandong troops, and about half of them broke into the eastern part of the country with their bare hands. Where can you get to the Northeast? It's not nothing, the newly expanded troops in the northeast have, all Japanese-style equipment. There is an indignant saying that "new recruits have new guns, veterans have old guns, and many have no guns". After the compilation, there are more people, all the guns are complete, and nearly half of the three or eight big covers, how can there be such good equipment after the establishment of the company? As soon as the Ding family's shack caught fire, they found that the one in their hands was called a new weapon, and even the bottom fire of the bullet casings scattered on the snow was red, green, and green, so beautiful, I had never seen it.
The army is inferior and the weapons are even inferior, but the battle is won, this is the so-called "use of the magic of the art of war, with one heart".
The key to this "clever application" lies in the commander's improvisation, adapting measures to local conditions, and making use of his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses.
On the way in, instructor Li Shuzhen said: After this battle, whether it is war or peace, the task of these grassroots troop leaders is to lead the troops to fight and fight the war well. In Shandong, we are fighting in the mountains, and here we are in the Great Plains, and the terrain has changed, and our fighting style must also be pondered, and it cannot be set in stone.
Battalion Commander Nanfang Andao: Yes, the terrain, climate, and mass conditions are different from the past, and the opponent has also changed. I heard that this enemy is an expeditionary force, full of American guns and artillery, but I don't know what its characteristics and qualities are, and we must feel its temper in this battle.
When Zhao Xingyuan, who is good at fighting with his brain, didn't hear this, he was thinking about this opponent who had never dealt with before, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but ponder. Because these two immediate superiors had always taught him that, his dependence and respect for them was deeply rooted in his previous victories.
As a company instructor, in the last battle of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhao Xingyuan showed for the first time the organizational and command ability of a grassroots commander. In the first battle of the Liberation War -- the Ding's shack to provide reinforcements, in the face of a completely new opponent, he was able to command the company to fight such a good battle in the overall passivity, especially after the battalion commander and company commander were both wounded, and there is reason to believe that he will more fully display this style in future battles. At the same time, it is also a note on the first national heroic model meeting after the founding of New China, Xiao Hua, deputy director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, called him "a comprehensive hero with both civil and military skills".
[Zhao Xingyuan was born in January 1925, a native of Shandong, joined the Eighth Route Army in July 1939, joined the party in June 1940, and successively served as a soldier, squad leader, platoon leader, instructor, battalion commander, regiment commander, division commander, deputy army commander, political commissar of Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region, deputy commander and political commissar of the brigade garrison area. In 1988, Zhao Xingyuan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general by the Central Military Commission and retired in 1990. He died in Dalian, Liaoning Province on July 13, 2016 at the age of 91. Zhao Xingyuan was elected as a deputy to the 2nd and 3rd National People's Congress, an alternate member of the 9th, 10th and 11th Central Committee, a member of the 12th Central Committee, and a member of the 8th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 】