Authors: Ding Longyan (writer), Ma Fuke, Su Yingkui
The reason for the defeat of our battalion--- Don Jingtian (deputy battalion commander)
When it comes to the first camp, I feel chilled and want to cry!
In 1984, our battalion lost, but we are a well-deserved heroic battalion!
I have pessimism--- no one writes about us, let alone the truth, because the people in power at that time are still there, and the people who should be responsible for the defeat are still there.
In the 1979 counterattack, our first battalion was a heroic battalion, and the whole battalion made first-class meritorious service. After receiving a combat mission in 1984, the mood of the troops was very high.
Ever since we learned that our regiment had been entrusted with the task of attacking Laoshan by our superiors, our battalion believed that the task of the main attack was none other than ours. All of a sudden, the barracks were full of fortifications, practicing skills, and in the cold winter, Layue stripped naked to practice long-distance running, weight-bearing cross-country races, and they all thought that they could take on the task of attacking Laoshan, which was a glory on top of glory, and a lifetime opportunity. As soon as the new soldiers arrived at the unit, they immediately felt that a heavy responsibility was on their shoulders and that they were honored.
In mid-February, it will move to the standby area. The road conditions were not good, the huge convoy drove with the lights off on the foggy night, the soldiers put on white shirts on the side of the road and led the way in front of the car, hundreds of people were silent, and no accidents occurred.
When they arrived at the standby site, they were engaged in intense combat training, and cadres at and above the platoon level went out many times to reconnoiter the terrain and study tactics. Soldiers conduct comprehensive training during the day and weight-bearing training at night, specifically looking for steep slopes that cannot be climbed, and drilling in the dense forest that cannot be drilled, with a maximum weight of 140 kilograms, and the lightest is more than 70 kilograms. I can't remember how many mountains I crossed, how many people passed out on the road. Back at the camp, the fellows who were waiting at the intersection cried when they saw it. Every time a company comes back, it's a string of mud balls.
The cadres were even more tired, everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and during the day they sometimes fell asleep while walking, fell into a ditch, and woke up when they touched a tree.
Looking at it now, it is unscientific to over-fatigue the troops before the war. But at that time, we were not worried about this, but because we were afraid that the superiors would suddenly give an order--- stop fighting! In that case, the warriors will look for you desperately!
I finally decided to fight for it. The task given to the 1st battalion was to penetrate behind the old mountain, capture the 1072 heights, cut off the enemy's retreat, and block the enemy's reinforcements.
Everyone knew that this task was no less arduous than the main attack, and they all finally cleaned up the baggage, bundled the excess things into a square small mail bag, and wrote the home address. Each bag contains a suicide note.
At that time, I was a deputy battalion commander, and I had always been known for my "purely military viewpoint," but when the troops were facing the test of life and death, I still knew the importance of first finding out everyone's thinking and then conducting targeted political education.
I know very well that behind the comrades' strong desire for war, there are many "burdens", some of whom were urged back by telegram after three days of marriage, some of whom carried sealed telegrams of their father's critical illness, more family difficulties, and fiancées "blowing out the lamp...... At the pledge meeting, in the face of a raised fist, I really wanted to shout: "Long live comrades!" ”
At 7 p.m. on April 27, he began to secretly intersperse with enemy territory. I had an argument with the commander beforehand. He ordered three hours to reach the target, and I asked for five to six hours, but he disagreed, saying that I could not guarantee the whole battalion, anyway, I would go ahead, and the front would arrive on time.
On the map, this distance of one hour is enough. In fact, the distance is more than ten times more.
That kind of terrain is rare to see in the hinterland. One side of the slope, all above 60 degrees, it rained that night, the soil soaked soft, a kick and a slippery; After going up, it is dense bamboo, rattan, thorn bushes; Then go down the cliff, under the cliff is the abyss, you can only grab the rattan step by step and rub it down, on the mud mountain, digging the pit while walking, the feet are with iron yards, and the yard teeth pick the pit and then go forward......
In the forest, the soldiers first cut the bamboo with knives, and then squeezed through, and when a group of six or seven hundred people passed, the road squeezed out became a two-meter-wide mud ditch, and the ditch was full of sharp corners and bamboo root sticks. The people in front had blood on their hands, and the people in the back didn't know how many rubber soles were pierced, and some even had their shoes pulled out by mud, so they had to walk barefoot.
Our post-preparation was adequate, but overdone. The warriors were determined to endure great hardships and sweat profusely, but overestimated the limits of their physical endurance. Carry as many things as possible, one is afraid of not enough, and the other is afraid of falling behind, and the result is that everyone is overloaded. In order to be silent and anti-reflective during the march, everyone bandaged bayonets, pickaxes, shovels, kettles, etc. with cloth, which were stained with muddy water and increased the weight.
In order to march in the dark and not fall behind, we came up with the idea of lighting a little or a few points of phosphorescent powder behind everyone's helmet, and then pulling a string on everyone's backpack and being led by the person behind them...... However, these methods later proved to be ineffective.
After entering the forest, the rotten wood in the forest glowed everywhere, and there were fireflies floating one after another, which were mixed with the phosphorescent powder on the steel helmet, and the pre-war training was too tense, many people's eyes were not good, not only did not keep up with the people in front, but were led in the wrong direction by the rotten wood and fireflies.
On the way, some people fainted, some couldn't catch the rattan and rolled down, all kinds of reasons, so that the troops fell behind, one person was out of touch, and a large section of the back did not know the whereabouts of the front team, could not advance and retreat, could not shout and could not fire guns, so the problem came!
The sequence of the march was that I led one company in front, followed by three companies, the battalion headquarters, and the second company.
The beginning of a series of intersperses was successful. On the way, I heard the crowing of chickens and dogs on several high ground in Lao Shan, where there were no civilians, it was the position of the Vietnamese army, and the enemy never discovered us. When it was about to dawn, I saw the way clearly, and my heart was happy: I was on the right track!
The report came up later, but the second row and six shifts didn't keep up! When I heard it, it was like I had been stabbed. That is, I only took a little more than two platoons of troops, and most of the battalion fell behind.
As soon as I looked at my watch, it was almost time for us to prepare our artillery fire, and I could not go back to them, so I could only push forward desperately. I said to a few cadres that we would either take the 1072 heights and complete the mission, or we would die there......
Since most of the battalion did not come up, everyone's mood was a little flustered, and the last section still deviated from the direction and walked to the mountain beam across a deep ditch from 1072, and it was too late to return, so I decided to go to the ditch and go up again. The cliff is full of fine bamboo, and if we can't drill it, we will ride down the bamboo.
At this moment, all our artillery groups opened fire on the enemy. The enemy in the 1072 enemy alert position was awakened, and the first to spot us climbing down the bamboo, concentrated fire.
We had no choice but to meet the enemy's gunfire!
It was a little brighter, and I saw that each of us had had been torn to pieces by the thorns of the night, and some of us were naked.
There is also a heights 76 on the side of 1072 that are also shooting at us. I ordered the commander of a company to lead two squads to attack Heights 76 at the same time.
1072 had a battalion headquarters and battalion reserve of the enemy, and there were not many troops, but because it had discovered us first, and because it had strong fortifications and steep cliffs to rely on, it was condescending and ready to work, so that our attack was quite difficult.
The performance of the first and third platoons of soldiers I brought with me in this offensive battle is comparable to many famous battles in the history of our army!
My correspondent Chen Jiang, who was not yet eighteen years old, was a recruit who enlisted in the army that year, was wounded three times on the way to the impact, and finally died at the highest point in 1072;
Shen Shaokang, a heavy machine gunner, was wounded when he set up his gun, the deputy shooter died, and the enemy's three machine guns and a high machine kept shooting at him, and he shot under the dense fire net, and the gunfire never stopped, until the cartridge box he carried was finished, he had countless bullet holes on his body;
The eighth squad leader was thrown a few meters high by the enemy's artillery fire, and when he fell, he was ready to continue shooting at the enemy, but the bullets were all two or three meters in front of him--- he died, but his fingers still grabbed the trigger!
Our party members and cadres are all charging forward, the three platoon commanders are sacrificed, the first platoon leader is seriously injured, no matter how many cadres and soldiers, no matter how injured they are, none of them flinch, as long as there is a breath to rush up!
In the end we crushed the enemy in a few fortifications. Let's be honest, we didn't take down 1072 completely.
But this life-and-death struggle and fierce gunfire occurred behind the main peak of the old mountain after all, and it was undoubtedly a powerful response to the attack of our army, and it was a fatal shock to the defending enemy there, they no longer dared to seize the road from this direction and escape, and the enemy behind did not dare to reinforce the main peak through here, so the interspersed task of our first battalion was completed by these two platoons in place.
After the war, Zhang Gongxiu, commander of the Kunming Military Region, personally came to inspect the terrain and said: "The first battalion is worthy of being a great army!" ”
Later, I learned that many leaders of our division and regiment did not agree to the fact that our battalion was stuck in time jammed, and one of the leaders of the division said when inspecting the terrain: "Whoever said that he could be interspersed in three hours, then let him run empty-handed now and try it. ”
If we had advanced our penetration time by two or three hours, we might have been able to reach our target with the whole battalion, and perhaps we would have been able to rest and catch our breath in front of the enemy's formation. In that way, when we started shelling the main peak of the old mountain, the enemy was at 1072 with that little bit of force firepower, and it would take less than three minutes to beat it off! It's a pity, it's a pity!
What is even more regrettable is that the leader who should be mainly responsible does not blame himself and wants to push the responsibility down. To put it bluntly, he wants to pretend to be wrong and find a scapegoat.
I'm not saying that there is still a "culprit" to be caught today. The leader limited the interspersed time, but also in order not to expose the whole intention early, which has his reason. He misjudged the situation, but he also allowed it, there is no victorious general in the world.
I'm just saying that, after four years' absence, I would like to ask the leaders to investigate the combat performance of the first battalion again, truthfully restore its heroic nature, and wash away the charges imposed on some cadres......
Writer, I'm about to leave the team, I'm glad to see you write down my words, I don't know if you'll write it, I'm not hopeful.
I have also seen some of our war literature, which is written about successful battles, indomitable and invincible. Is it true that you writers will always write like this, and you will judge heroes by success or failure, and they are all winners and glories, and losers are ashamed? How far is this from the reality of the battlefield, please talk to the people of a few companies of our battalion......
I feel sorry for our leadership, but I also sympathize with it
--- Zhou Peiwu (cadre officer, platoon commander of the third company interspersed with operations)
It cannot but be said that this was a major defeat since the Laoshan Operation, but at the same time, it also demonstrated the spirit of our army in routing and not dispersing, and it was a very heroic chapter in the history of our army's glorious war.
Some of our leaders made mistakes in their pre-war decisions, but the bigger fault was in the post-war period. They were so angry --- understandable that they didn't bother to investigate what happened to this unit covered in enemy artillery fire.
They were too frightened and too hasty to show their style of managing the army strictly and clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments, and announced the dismissal and demotion of the deputy regiment commander and a large number of battalion and company cadres, including leading the first battalion to carry out this interspersed task, and also said that the deputy regiment commander would be arrested and severely punished!
It does. On the plane returning from the interview, the author met Luo, former director of the security department of the Kunming Military Region, who had been sent out to carry out the task of arresting Xiang Kunshan, but because some division and regiment cadres had objections, he went to the spot to investigate, and came to the conclusion that Xiang Kunshan and others had "inexperienced" responsibility for this defeat, but it did not constitute a crime, so he took back the arrest warrant that had already been filled.
What did the second and third companies and the first platoon do that did not keep up with the team?
Yes, they began to be scattered by artillery fire. In that earth-shaking valley, if you don't run, you can only wait for death. But not a single person in our battalion retreated, not a single person ran out of the narrow valley to find a place to hide--- and it was very easy. Because as long as you stay away from the march route and find a place to hide in the primeval forest, it will be difficult to find you whether you are friend or foe. None of us have defected to the enemy--- why do we always have to pull in a Wang Bin (about this Wang Bin, let's talk about it below)?
We, the vast majority of those who came out of the enemy's fire, even the seriously wounded, as long as he could crawl, crawled in only one direction--- where the gunfire was most intense.
The comrades of each company of the second and third battalions of our regiment, which attacked the heights of the main peak of Laoshan from the northeast sides, can testify that comrades of our first battalion were suddenly added to each shock formation, and the wounded of our first battalion and the martyrs of the first battalion were finally laid down on each high ground!
Due to the heavy casualties among the cadres during the first attack by enemy artillery fire, the communication equipment was almost useless, and most of our comrades fought for themselves, in groups, and in squads!
Where to fight? Because we were interspersed from the southeast corner of the main peak of the old mountain to its back, when our artillery bombardment began, we were between the intended target and the main peak of the old mountain, and when we were intercepted by enemy artillery fire and it was impossible to advance to the intended target, we heard the fierce gunfire from the main peak of the old mountain, and naturally went there.
The higher authorities also stipulated in advance that after capturing the intended target, if the enemy situation was not serious, they could launch an attack on the back of Laoshan with part of their forces. It was also said that whoever takes one of the three highest heights first is a hero. So everyone not only rushed towards the most intense gunfire, but also towards the highest point that towered above the clouds.
After capturing a high ground in Laoshan Mountain, the heroic Eighth Company of our regiment unexpectedly found that three martyrs of our Third Company were lying there, including platoon commander Qian Liuyun. In the trench in front of them, 15 corpses of the enemy lay in the tunnel. The comrades of the Eighth Company will justly prove that their bright red heroic company flag has the blood of our three comrades!
Qian Liuyun, a very handsome young man, before the war, his mother sent his fiancée to the army to get married. His fiancée is a fairy-like beauty. The whole company rejoiced at him: "Platoon commander, we are busy and happy for you!" ”
He said: "I didn't hear a poem that said, how many people fought in ancient times? You're having a good time, but what about the others? Maybe it's a lifetime of pain! "When he died, he clutched the picture of his fiancée tightly in his hand.
There is also Zeng Rongde, who was originally a platoon commander of the first company, a native of Kunming, who was punished for mistake and went down to the third company as a squad leader. He was a college student, and he always carried a small notebook and wrote when he had time, and I asked him, "What do you write?" ”
"Poetry!"
"Why do you have the bother to do this?" He said: "It's not good to be a soldier, you have to look at the face of your superiors, learn to write poems, and travel all over the world with a pen, and be free." ”
He grabbed one from the hands of the martyrs, rushed to the forefront, knocked down several enemies in a row, and kept the remnants of the enemy in a cantonment hole, shouting: "Koukong Songya", trying to catch him alive. The enemy did throw out a few guns, and when he approached, another shuttle came out of the hole.
When the follow-up comrades eliminated the enemy and rescued him, he finally said: "Blame myself...... Bookish...... Full. ”
Just our three companies, the heroes of our first battalion are enough to write a thick book.
Chen Hongyuan, have you heard?
He was in four shifts in a row, followed by six shifts, and fell behind. Separated from comrades during the shelling. He wanted to run to the mountains to look out and see where the troops were going, but he came to the back of one of the enemy's positions. He drilled through barbed wire, burrowed into enemy tunnels, and made a surprise attack on the enemy's position, killing 16 enemy soldiers one after another, destroying the command post and a radio station of the enemy's company, and finally wounding himself in the head and knocking out one eyeball. It was only three days later that he returned to his unit.
What's even more interesting is that he did not immediately report to his superiors, and only told such a thrilling story by chatting with the wounded and nurses in the hospital. Some people said that he was "bragging", but he was not convinced and cried angrily.
A nurse believed it and wrote a report on his behalf, which attracted the attention of his superiors. First he sent someone to the hospital to talk to him, and then sent an investigation team to follow the route he had drawn to inspect him, and the results were confirmed one by one.
The corpses of the enemy he killed in that tunnel, the smashed radio station, the smashed wooden box, the big yellow dog he killed, and the enemy company commander's dormitory that he had overturned were all left untouched, just because it had been congested with a mass of flies, and no one dared to enter it for the time being.
Chen Hongyuan was later awarded the title of Lone Hero by the Central Military Commission.
Chen Hongyuan is now studying in the Chinese Department of Yunnan University, and the author heard that he was busy with exams during his time in Chuncheng, so he did not bother.
There were also two recruits in the second company, who took turns carrying the wounded company commander to get lost in the forest and enter a Vietnamese village. The Yao people on both sides of the old mountain are dressed in the same costume, and they thought that when they got home, they asked an old man to find a cadre, but the old man nodded and left without understanding, and they saw a statue of Ho Chi Minh on the wall of the inner house, and hurriedly evacuated.
It was six days before they returned to the real country. The company commander had died on their backs, and their bodies had decomposed, but they never left the company commander behind.
A reporter later asked them, "Why is this happening?" ”
They replied, "Hello company commander!" ”
"Where's the good?"
One recruit said: "My mother misses me and cries day and night. When the company commander found out, he sent a letter to my mother saying, 'Mom, please rest assured, I will treat your son like a brother.......'
Another recruit said: "I was a little afraid of fighting, and the company commander said, 'Don't be afraid, you follow me, you will die before I die.'" ……”
The commander of the second company is called Wang Shitian, and the memories of these two recruits are worthy of deep thought by each of our cadres.
On that occasion I was the commander of the third platoon of the third company, and after the shelling, 25 people in my platoon participated in the attack on the No. 56 height, one of the main peaks ---of the old mountain, where eight comrades fell, and I myself was wounded four times.
The main casualties of the 1st battalion were not shelled by the enemy, but on the section of the road that was violently charged towards the main peak!
The leaders who came to an unfair conclusion to the first battalion are now retired. Four years later, I think they're already clear about what they're saying to me. I've heard that some leaders are very guilty and sad. I think this is unnecessary, and they should be honored and proud! Because, after all, this unit has been cultivated and educated by them for a long time!
Having said that, if they had been calmer, wiser, and more realistic, and had asked a pen to write down the defeat of the first battalion and its subsequent performance and heroic deeds, report it truthfully, and have the courage to take responsibility for the cause of the defeat instead of shirking it downward, what would have happened?
I think it is quite possible that the higher authorities once again awarded us the honor of the first battalion of "Heroic Battalion". The most appropriate title is: "The Hard-Headed Hero Battalion That Can't Be Broken!" "This is not a deception, it is not a strong argument, but a very fair and truthful evaluation of the first battalion. She deserves it!
If this is the case, why are so many heroes who appeared in the battle of our first battalion are unknown today?
Why don't the hundreds of survivors we have scattered around the country today dare to say that they are soldiers from a battalion?
How can we, a heroic unit that has made a lot of achievements in history and was one of the main forces of Liu Deng's army, not as brilliant as other troops that have participated in the war?
Why are our leaders being left out one by one?
I am not complaining about the leaders, but more deeply sorry for their plight and sympathy.
It is fair to say that in the past ten years of self-defense and counterattack, they have made great contributions!