As soon as the spring of 1947, Zhu Rui, who was busy building artillery units in the Northeast, heard something that made him laugh and cry: Someone sued him in front of Chairman Mao.
According to these people, Zhu Rui's artillery troops "violate policies and are separated from the masses", which affected "unity among troops".
These problems are a bit subtle - To put it in a smaller way, it may be just trivial matters, but to put it in a larger way, the nature of this problem will become serious.
Therefore, Zhu Rui decided to write a report to Chairman Mao about his experience in the Northeast over the years.
Zhu Rui
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Chairman Mao and Zhu Rui took a photo. When the founding of New China, the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square was out of this. With the support of Chairman Mao, at the end of June 1945, Zhu Rui became the acting principal of Yan'an Artillery School. In just two or three months, the number of students in the artillery school has been expanded from 500 to more than 1,000.
Just as Zhu Rui was ready to train these more than 1,000 students to become backbone of Chinese artillery, at the end of September 1945, an order to march into the Northeast and prepare for the establishment of the Northeast Artillery School was sent to him. After receiving the order, Zhu Rui quickly packed his luggage and led more than 1,000 students to head towards the Baishan and Black Water.
"Architecture Marshal" becomes "Bad King"
Before Zhu Rui led the artillery school students to set off, what he heard about in the Northeast was like this: "The northeast is full of weapons, just waiting for us to receive it!" , "There are at least 6,000 cannons in the northeast, mules, horses and tanks are everywhere, and ammunition and equipment are piled like hills!" .........
6,000 cannons, what a huge artillery can build! This news made Zhu Rui feel excited. Halfway through the large army, he impatiently got on the car and took the backbone of the artillery school to the northeast.
After arriving in Shenyang, Zhu Rui immediately found the supreme commander of the Soviet army in the northeast, and put forward the requirement to receive Japanese artillery, ammunition and other materials.
Malinowsky hums haha, he just doesn’t respond positively. Seeing that Zhu Rui was so angry that he agreed verbally and asked Zhu Rui to contact the Soviet army's logistics department.
Marty Marshal Malinowsky
Seeing that Malinowsky relieved, Zhu Rui felt a little relieved. Since the large team of the artillery school had not arrived yet, Zhu Rui assisted the Northeast Bureau and started to take over Shenyang.
As the saying goes, "There are unexpected situations in the sky." At the end of November 1945, when the artillery school brigade arrived in Shenyang, the Soviet army's attitude also made a 180-degree turn. They refused to hand over the Japanese weapons to Zhu Rui on the grounds that they had an agreement with the National Government.
The Soviet army went back on their word, which made Zhu Rui's eyes furious, and he quickly found the Soviet army to coordinate. However, the Soviet army had begun to rush to load various materials with the car and took them away, and ignored Zhu Rui at all.
Just like that, more than 1,000 artillery school teachers and students entered Shenyang empty-handed and walked out empty-handed.
The huge gap between hope and reality made Zhu Rui feel extremely poor. Fortunately, when they moved to Fushun , they received 27 types of artillery abandoned by the Soviet army and were too old to build the racks of the Northeast Artillery School.
However, with these artillery shortages, the teaching work of the artillery school cannot be carried out at all. In addition, the Kuomintang army has begun to invade the Northeast on a large scale, and the artillery school must be transferred at any time. Zhu Rui simply dispersed the students to various troops, just to let them accumulate practical experience.
is like this, from the end of 1945 to the Northeast, to May 1946, the artillery school moved to Mudanjiang . For a full six months, Zhu Rui's artillery school in his dream was just a dream.
Although in October of this year, Zhu Rui was appointed as the artillery commander of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, he had neither soldiers nor artillery and was a veritable bare commander.
The severe reality made Zhu Rui anxious.At this moment, he remembered those days in Yan'an - doing it yourself and having enough food and clothing, why can't he build artillery with his own hands?
Zhu Rui quickly convened a meeting of artillery school leaders and put forward opinions on dispersing on the spot, collecting materials, and establishing a home business.
After listening to Zhu Rui’s speech, the cadres of the artillery school were a little hesitant. They said this -
"A lot of useful artillery were pulled away by brothers. Can they give it to us?"
"Yes, the people also have a lot of them. If they acquire it, our funds may not be enough."
"Do you report this to the central government? Let the next file of the central government support us, and it is also famous!"
...
these practical difficulties calmed down. He bit his back teeth, thought for a while, and asked: "How much gold is brought out from Yan'an?"
The cadre in charge of logistics answered: "A total of 297 taels, 1 cents, 7 cents. If all the students are recalled, people will eat and chew, it will probably not be supported for long..."
Zhu Rui interrupted his speech and made a decisive decision: "We can't wait any longer! All the students are transferred back, and the cadres lead the team, and they are all scattered to find cannons and shells! If you can pick them up, pick them up, buy them, and if you can, it's really not possible, just grab them!"
Zhu Rui's "rebellious" decision stunned the leading cadres present. No matter what they thought, Zhu Rui, who has always been gentle, had such a strong and domineering side.
Zhu Rui made such a decision, which really made him his hard work. During his transition to the Northeast, he saw it more than once. Due to the lack of parts and professionals, many brother troops often pieced together the parts of several cannons into one, and the remaining parts were discarded.
The cannons and shells that fell into the hands of ordinary people were simply rebuilt and turned into farm tools, kitchen knives, washbasins and other household items. The reality like
made Zhu Rui realize that if he did not make any decisions, these precious weapons and equipment might be lost in vain.
Under Zhu Rui's promotion, the entire Northeast Artillery School was broken into pieces, from leading cadres to kids and grooms to all scattered into the wilderness of the Northeast.
In the next six months, Zhu Rui and the teachers and students of Northeast Artillery School went from Suifenhe to Manzhouli , from Changchun to Hulin , as long as the Japanese army had stationed and fought, they all ran away.
Looking for cannons in the deep mountains and forests of the Northeast. The difficulties can be imagined.
According to General Kuang Yumin, who was then the vice principal of the Northeast Artillery School, in the winter of that year, the temperature in the Northeast dropped to minus 3 or 40 degrees Celsius. In the deep snow, people could not step on the ground and could only roll on the snow. If you are not careful, you might slide down the valley.
In such an environment, as soon as your hand is stretched out, it will immediately become numb. If you accidentally touch the cannon, a layer of skin will be immediately stained.
General Kuang Yumin
Even so, Zhu Rui and the teachers and students of Northeast Artillery School created a miracle - From the autumn of 1946 to February 1947, Northeast Artillery School collected more than 700 artillery pieces of various types, 65 tanks and tractors , and also excavated many secret warehouses of the Japanese army. From one of them, 150,000 shells were found.
Relying on these equipment, Zhu Rui forced to build 100 artillery companies, and the first modern artillery unit of the People's Liberation Army has shown its prototype.
Among the cannons they worked hard to collect, how many of them were taken from the brothers' troops were no longer verified. But what is certain is that many people must have opinions about their approach.
Although it caused unhappiness among the brothers, Zhu Rui firmly believed that his approach was not wrong. In his report to Chairman Mao and the Central Military Commission, Zhu Rui first sincerely stated that the artillery school did have the phenomenon of "rude attitude and hindering unity" in the process of collecting materials and equipment, which should be deeply reviewed.
However, Zhu Rui also emphasized that "follow the rules, stop eating because of choking, shrink your hands and feet, and cannot accomplish great things... If you blindly emphasize concentration and waiting, it will greatly harm ourselves and ruin big things! It is also wrong for someone to blame us for 'flying all over the sky'."
From this point of view, Zhu Rui's attitude is very simple - reflects seriously and resolutely refuses to change.
After receiving Zhu Rui’s report, Chairman Mao was very pleased. In his opinion, Zhu Rui, a great intellectual, finally got rid of books and dogmas and learned to start work from reality.
Therefore, Chairman Mao immediately instructed the Northeast Bureau to vigorously support artillery construction, and also encouraged Zhu Rui, hoping that he would continue to work hard to build the Northeast artillery troops into an example and benchmark for the People's Liberation Army.
Sword Forging and Sharpening
February 28, 1947, it was a commemorative day for Zhu Rui. On this day, the 6th Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army approached Dehui City and launched an attack on the 50th Division of the Kuomintang New First Army stationed here.
cooperated with the 6th Column to launch an attack, which was the two artillery regiments under Zhu Rui. This was also the first large-scale debut of the Northeast artillery troops. Whether the first battle of
can be successful directly affects the morale of the troops. Therefore, after the battle began, Zhu Rui personally rushed to the front line and observed the troops' every move from the telescope.
Artillery Column Position
However, the situation in the telescope made Zhu Rui's face look increasingly ugly -
Since our army has never had experience in large-scale artillery battles, the 6th Column divided 80 cannons into various attack areas when deploying firepower. On the surface, there were artillery everywhere, but in fact, it was insufficient everywhere.
What's more serious is that grassroots troops have no idea about how infantry and artillery fight together. When the artillery regiment bombarded the enemy bunker, the infantry did not take the opportunity to approach the defense line, but stayed in the fortifications and waited until the artillery finished shooting before launching an attack.
At this time, the Kuomintang army that was avoiding artillery in the bunker also emerged and relied on automatic firepower to shoot wildly at our army, which caused great difficulties in the attack of the troops and turned the originally expected annihilation battle into a stalemate.
The battle of Dehui was not fought well, which made the grassroots soldiers very unhappy. The infantry complained that the artillery was not accurate, and the artillery disliked the infantry and did not dare to attack boldly. They fought a lot of verbal battles on both sides.
These complaints also floated into Zhu Rui's ears, but he didn't have the heart to pay attention to these. The result of Dehui's Battle actually reminded him: 's formation of artillery is just a sword-making process. To enable the troops to truly display their combat effectiveness, more importantly, sharpen their swords.
The question is, how to sharpen the sword of the artillery?
Zhu Rui once again turned his attention to himself - He gradually realized that the tactics he learned at the Soviet Krasin Artillery School were based on the strong national strength of the Soviet Union.
The newly born Northeast artillery troops, regardless of the number of artillery and ammunition supply, cannot be compared with the artillery soldiers of the National Army for the time being. If you follow the regulations in the textbook in a straightforward manner, it is undoubtedly an imitation and will never achieve good results.
After careful thinking, in March 1947, Zhu Rui held the first artillery meeting in Hanjia Village, Shuangcheng County.
At this meeting, Zhu Rui proposed the three-point combat principles of artillery -
First. When artillery and infantry fight in concert, when artillery bombards the target, the infantry will start to move and approach the enemy. When the artillery hits or destroys the target, the infantry should immediately launch an attack with machine gun and small-caliber artillery, while the artillery should extend and shoot at the rear and wings of the target to maintain the continuity of firepower;
Second, when the artillery is fighting, it must insist on concentrating its firepower and use limited ammunition to strike the enemy's bunkers and fortifications in order to achieve the goal of opening the road for the infantry;
Third, and most important point, it must play its fast, accurate and fierce characteristics, abandon the standard tactics in textbooks, arrange the artillery positions very close to the enemy, aim directly, and strike quickly.
This tactic proposed by Zhu Rui is the famous "Hanging bayonets on cannons" .
close-range shooting is actually not a new tactic. Our army was widely used during the Red Army period and during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
But the artillery used by our army at that time was basically small-caliber guns such as mortar , mountain cannon , etc. Even the "Italian cannon" that Li Yunlong is regarded as a treasure, but it is actually the M1897 75mm mountain cannon developed by France.
These small-caliber artillery are lightweight and flexible in advance and retreat. They can retreat quickly after shooting to avoid being counterattacked by the enemy. Therefore, the risk of using close-range shooting is not high.
At this time, among the Northeast artillery troops, the Japanese 105 field cannon has become the main force, and there are even dozens of 150mm caliber Type 96 howitzers. Once these big guys weighing several tons are in place, it is almost impossible to quickly transfer.
Therefore, the tactic proposed by Zhu Rui is undoubtedly quite risky.
Japanese 105 artillery
However, according to the actual situation of the Northeast artillery troops, this tactic is the most effective - at this distance, artillery can hit the target without aiming. Not only did it directly increase the hit rate of the artillery several times, but it also directly avoided the biggest weakness of our army's insufficient ammunition.
Facts have proved that Zhu Rui's tactic is very correct. In the battles such as summer offensive and autumn offensive after Northeast Democratic Alliance, the artillery troops showed their might and beat the Kuomintang army to heavy casualties.
After many Kuomintang artillery soldiers were captured by our army, they expressed dissatisfaction: "Your artillery is so inconsistent!"
The Northeast artillery soldiers disdained this behavior of seeking face: "If it is not formal, it is not formal, and if you can win, it is a good way to fight!"
ending
In the three years in the Northeast, Zhu Rui was like sprinkling beans into a soldier, from nothing to something, from weak to strong, leading the Northeast artillery troops into a powerful army of hundreds of battles.
Even so, Zhu Rui still did not relax his requirements. Every time new equipment is put into battle, he has to go to the front line in person, observe the actual combat effectiveness of the artillery, and continuously improve the tactics of the troops.
On October 1, 1948, in the battle of Yixian County, the 150 howitzer of the Northeast Artillery Force was put into actual combat for the first time. In just one and a half hours, it blasted a gap of more than 30 meters long. The huge power of
heavy cannon made Zhu Rui very happy. In order to lay a solid foundation for the upcoming Jinzhou Battle, before the battle was over, he hurried to the foot of the city wall and observed the situation at the bombing point at close range.
Just as he and the guards were advancing along the wall, a nearby castle suddenly shot at them.
Zhu Rui lay down and avoided the first time, and then turned around to observe the guard's concealment. He glanced over and found that a guard was at the location of too high, so he reached out and pulled him over.
However, just such a small action detonated a landmine. The fragments of the mines hit Zhu Rui's heart impartially, causing him to die heroically on the spot.
The monument at the place where Zhu Rui died
Zhu Rui's sacrifice caused a huge shock throughout the army. The commander-in-chief of Yi County's battle, Han Xianchu , learned the situation, sobbed: "Zhu Rui died. The battle in Yi County was too unpretentious, and this loss was too heavy..."
Two days later, the central government also sent a condolence message : "... Comrade Zhu Rui made outstanding contributions in the artillery construction of the People's Liberation Army of China. His sacrifice today is actually a huge loss to the cause of the Chinese people's liberation..."
At the same time, the Central Military Commission ordered the Northeast Military Region Artillery School to be renamed Zhu Rui Artillery School to commemorate the "father of artillery" of the People's Liberation Army. Although Zhu Rui did not see the founding of New China with his own eyes, the people's artillery he created continued to grow and grow in the decades of his journey and made great achievements.
Now, this mantle of a powerful army of war has been inherited by the Rocket Force and has become a sharp sword to protect the country and the people.
Seeing the great power of the Rockets Force now, if General Zhu Rui has a spirit underground, he will definitely be able to smile!
