Eve of the armistice
After the battle in Jixian County, our Eighth Division underwent a short rest in the area of Xi'an Xiaofengzhuang, Jixian County.
One day. Deputy Commander Zhang Yunyi looked me out and said to me: "Team Commander He, I have heard that the Eighth Division has a very good attack. Today I would like to talk about how you used explosives to attack."
I reported: "Hid some industrial and mining enterprises in the south of Shandong. Therefore, some comrades from our army who came from miners know about blasting technology. The leaders of our army absorbed their experience and promoted the use of explosives in the war. "
" When was the earliest use of explosives?" Deputy Commander Zhang asked anxiously.
"It was still at the end of the Anti-Japanese War. At the beginning, the troops had neither explosive nor thought of using explosives. Most of the bunkers that attacked the Japanese were bombarded with mortars and flat shots. However, because the bunkers built by the Japanese were relatively strong and our shells were very limited, the effect was not ideal. Therefore, since 1943, we organized a group of cadres and soldiers from Zaozhuang coal miners to study and test explosives to bomb the bunkers. Initially, they used black The colored explosives are relatively small in power, and the bundles are large and the portion is heavy, so it is very difficult for the blaster to deliver the explosives bag. Later, the searchers tried every means to steal yellow explosives from the Japanese mine, and at the same time they also used their connections to buy some. The yellow explosives were powerful, and it would take five or six kilograms of explosives to explode a bunker. At that time, there was less explosives, and getting dozens of kilograms of yellow explosives was like getting a treasure. "
" Can the blasting be successful? The key is in the capital?" Deputy Commander Zhang asked again.
I thought about it and replied: "To make the blasting successful, we must pay special attention to the reconnaissance in front of the enemy. That is to say, we must understand the enemy's fortifications and the distribution of troops. Therefore, the commander cannot stay away from the battlefield. He must personally go to the front of the enemy's position to understand the situation in order to make a clear decision. This was what Wang Shicheng did during his lifetime, which is also a characteristic of the Eighth Division's combat. At the same time, blasting must be combined with fire cover and assault, one by one, and one by one, so that It can ensure the success of the breakthrough."
In this conversation, I also said to Deputy Commander Zhang: "The bundling of explosive bags is also very important. If it is not tied well, the effectiveness will be poor. Our troops practice repeatedly by bundling explosive bags. Find a piece of adobe, insert a fake detonator, connect the fuse, wrap it with a cloth, and practice tie it with a rope. The technical movements of the explosive bags are also practiced repeatedly, and they are practiced several times in a battle, and they are constantly fighting and practicing. Therefore, the blasters are very familiar with the tactical movements. Practice, this ensures the success of delivering explosive packs.
After listening to my report, Deputy Commander Zhang believed that these experiences in attacking the toughest are very good. He encouraged us to use these experiences during the rest and recuperation to further improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Following the instructions of Deputy Commander Zhang Yunyi, during the rest and recuperation of Xiaoyizhuang, we implemented the policy of "learning war with war" and organized troops to carry out training activities. At the same time, in accordance with the policy of "learning war with war" and worked hard. The opportunity to expand the army's burden and replenish equipment. At that time, class education was widely carried out in the army to inspire the class awareness of commanders and fighters to figure out the issue of "for whom to join the army? For whom did the revolution". For a large number of Kuomintang soldiers captured after the battle in Jixian County, we deal with the prisoners' policies. The elderly, weak, sick and disabled, and those who are unwilling to stay, were paid for travel expenses and sent home. The young and strong soldiers who were willing to stay were supplemented to the army after short-term training, and the old led the new, making them a member of the new type of people's army. During this period, Comrade Ding Qiusheng, the political commissar of our division, also took office.
He was originally the director of the Political Department of the Shandong Military Region. Although he and I didn’t know each other in the past, I had long heard that he passed by Long March is an old cadre with rich experience in political work. He is approachable. His speech was very humble at our division's welcome meeting and expressed his desire to build the troops well with everyone.
At that time, under the strong political pressure of the people of the whole country to unanimously demand peace, after our party's negotiations and struggles, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party signed a "double-down agreement". In fact, Fu Jieshi was playing with counter-revolutionary two-sided tactics, engaging in fake peace talks and real civil wars.In January 1946, just before the armistice was issued, Chiang Kai-shek issued a secret order to his army to "advance starry night and seize strategic points", in an attempt to seize favorable positions in the attack on the liberated areas.
in Xuzhou area , the 51st and 77th Army of the Kuomintang, with the cooperation of the puppet army Hao Pengju's troops, launched an attack on Hanzhuang, Fengxian and Zaozhuang . The Feng Zhengwei Ministry of the enemy's 33rd Army invaded northeast from Xuzhou , Jiawang , and occupied our Huangqiutao Mountain Area.
In response to the enemy's attempt, our Shandong Field Army Command (hereinafter referred to as the Field Army) organized the battle in Yunnan (south of the canal) to threaten Xuzhou with favorable positions and smash the enemy's attack. This is a fierce battle on the eve of the armistice.
At that time, we had only one belief: we must never let the enemy occupy an inch of land in the liberated area and harm the masses in the base area.
Brothers' troops fiercely counterattacked the enemies in Hanzhuang, Fengxian and Zaozhuang. At the same time, our Eighth Division, according to the orders of the wild command, went south from Tengxian , passed Taierzhuang , and then entered the canal, Huangqiutao Mountain Area, South of Henan to counterattack the attack of Feng Zhixian Ministry. On January 11, there were only two days before the armistice order came into effect, and our division moved to Zaozhuang at night. Unexpectedly, it was discovered by enemy planes the next day. From dawn to around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, enemy planes were one after another, constantly conducting reconnaissance, strafing and bombing, which made our division unable to act. The purpose of enemy aircraft bombing so wildly is very obvious, and they are to stop our army from advancing in order to occupy more land in our liberated areas before the armistice order is issued. "We must never let the enemy's conspiracy succeed!" I ordered the troops to hide and organize air shooting while using the gaps in the enemy's aircraft to move forward gradually. After the enemy plane left at dusk, we immediately rectified our troops, entered the Huangqiutao Mountain area as planned for combat, and entered the battle towards the attack target.
The 23rd Regiment mainly attacked Quanyuan and seized the enemy's troops' mountain position. On the 13th, the last day before the ceasefire, the enemy organized forces to counterattack Tuanshan, trying to take back Tuanshan positions with all their might. My 23rd Regiment was nailed to the seventh position and launched a fierce battle with the enemy, repelling the enemy's many attacks. At this time, our reinforcements launched an attack from the enemy's flanks in time, and used the new force to enter the battle, smashing the enemy's counterattack and consolidating the Tuanshan position. At this moment, every hour and every minute are precious. The troops did not stop and pursued and defeated the enemy in one go. They occupied five or six villages in the southwest of the delegation, and finally firmly controlled the Huangqiutao Mountain area.
Under the counterattack and deterrence of our army, Hao Pengju, commander-in-chief of the Sixth Route Army of the Kuomintang, was forced to lead his troops to surrender, invade the enemy in Huangqiutao Mountains, and retreated in panic near Jiawang. Our army completely broke the enemy's attempt to seize strategic locations before the armistice.
At twelve hours at midnight, the armistice order came into effect, and our army immediately stopped all attacks. The morning after the armistice order came into effect, Chen Yi, the commander of , , rode a horse to patrol the various positions that our army was defending and came to the Eighth Division. When he saw me, he asked the first sentence: "How was the fight?" I replied: "The enemy suffered more than 400 casualties, more than 500 were captured by me, and more than 200 casualties in our army." Then, I spread out the map and reported to him the locations of the various positions that our division is now occupying. Afterwards, the troops gathered together, and Commander Chen rode on the horse and spoke to everyone. He said, "Why should we sign an armistice agreement? Because Japanese imperialism surrendered, the Chinese people longed for peace and hoped for construction." This is the unanimous wish of the people of the whole country.
Since an armistice agreement has been reached, we must abide by it and hope that the Kuomintang army will truly abide by it. He also said that it is not easy to sign this agreement, it was fought and made. It seems that it is one thing to reach an agreement, and it is another thing to truly abide by it, and it also needs to go through struggle. The future situation is to struggle again in peace. So, our policy is still to be tit-for-tat. All kinds of struggles must be carried out. He asked everyone to build our base areas well during the peace period, build our troops well, prepare for war, and welcome new struggles.
Armistice peace phase has arrived. The troops moved to the area west of Teng County and entered the 100-day training period.At that time, the national political situation changed a lot. At the political consultation meeting held in Chongqing, the plan for the peaceful establishment of the country was passed , and the plan for the reorganization of the army was passed. In response to this, the army's thoughts fluctuated for a while. Some believed that "we made too much concessions and surrendered to the Kuomintang!" Some developed a fantasy of peace, wanting to leave the team and go home or go to the city to have fun. In response to these issues, the 100-day training starts with political training, and conducts class education and education on "peace and never forget struggle". Free discussion, discussion on the theory of braids, and finally unified the understanding of political training, launched a large-scale military training, focusing on summarizing the experience of five months of the meter self-defense operation, and learning new war knowledge and improving blasting technology. However, just before the 100-day training was over, the civil war crisis was approaching. Chiang Kai-shek believed that the civil war was ready, so he betrayed his faith and tore up the armistice agreement, attacked the Northeast Liberated Area, and besieged our Central Plains Military Region, and siege us. It was so crazy and greedy, and it was too much!
On June 9, our division was ordered to join the battle in Zaozhuang. At first, the 20th Brigade besieged the enemy in Zaozhuang. After more than a month, the conquest failed and the 23rd Regiment was ordered to join the war. The two films conquered Zaozhuang with tactics of siege, tunnel operation, blasting and attacking, and wiped out all the defending enemy Wang Jimei, fighting against the reactionary invasion. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not retract his evil claws because of this. He believed that he had millions of troops, advanced equipment and sufficient ammunition, and launched a strategic comprehensive attack on all the liberated areas of our country.
It was from this time that our teacher began to withstand the severe test of a major strategic change. It should be admitted that at the beginning we lack sufficient estimates of the cruelty and hardship of this great fight. But it is precisely in this test and setback that our troops' combat capabilities have been improved.
