Chapter 48 Liberate Zhangjiakou

The two days of December 8th and 9th were victorious in the battle, and the fighting spirit of my second vertical commander was even higher. "Letters of challenge" and "letters of challenge" came like a snowflake, and they all asked to be the main attack and assault mission to liberate Zhangjiakou.In particular, the Sixth Brigade is more eager to fight, because the main direction of the enemy's two breakouts was in the Fifth Brigade's position, and there was no major battle in the Sixth Brigade's position, which made the Sixth Brigade Commander Sheng Zhihua, political commissar Zhong Huanong, and all brigade commanders and fighters more eager to fight. .At this time, although our North China Field Army had successfully completed the combat mission of dividing and encircling the enemy forces in Zhangjiakou and Xinbaoan, and seized the main force of the Fu clique on the western front, the Northeast Field Army on the eastern front had just entered the pass and had not yet completed the battle against the enemy. Tianjin enemy's strategic encirclement.In order to prevent the Ping, Tianjin and Jiang forces from withdrawing southward, Chairman Mao instructed us to suspend the annihilation of the Zhangjiakou defending enemies, and clearly pointed out that the enemies of Zhangjiakou, Xinbaoan, and Nankou must not be destroyed, otherwise, the enemies east of Nankou will be forced to make rapid decisions. Therefore, the only way to defend Zhangjiakou is to adopt the policy of "encircling and not fighting".In accordance with Chairman Mao's instructions, our leaders at all levels immediately went deep into the troops, publicized and explained the combat policy of the Central Military Commission, resolved the impatience of the commanders and fighters, and guided the high enthusiasm for war into the pre-war preparations for annihilating the enemy in a down-to-earth manner. go.

It is a very difficult task to build three lines of defense in the cold weather and the freezing ground.The soldiers cleared the snow and dug down with a pick, leaving only a white spot on the frozen soil, just like a pick hitting granite.Some soldiers boiled water to scald it, poured it on the ground, a burst of hot air rose, most of it flowed off, a small amount of boiled water seeped into the surface, and when the cold wind blew, new ice was frozen; Dig a little, the progress is extremely slow.In the end, we had to use explosives to blast a hole first, then dig out from the top and bottom of the freeze, hollow out a section of the top and bottom of the freeze, and then use picks and stones to smash down the frozen soil to form trenches and bunkers. tactics".Some areas are suitable for building breast walls or bunkers. The soldiers carried stones, built a layer of stones, cultivated a layer of soil, poured water, and built up layers. The mud, stones, and water were frozen together to form a one-meter A parapet or bunker that is as high as one meter thick is as strong as reinforced concrete.For the positions near the railway, local materials were used, and the rails and sleepers were removed to repair the fortifications, which not only destroyed the enemy's railway traffic, but also repaired the fortifications, killing two birds with one stone.This is how we relied on the collective wisdom of the soldiers, pooled their wisdom and efforts, and quickly repaired the blocking position. The three lines of defense were like three iron hoops, tightly hooping Zhangjiakou.

The active support of the masses also played a major role in winning the battle.Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei is an old anti-Japanese base area, and the masses are highly conscious. We mobilized migrant workers to pay more than 1,000 stretchers and more than 400 pack mules.Migrant workers moved away from their hometowns to fight in Suiyuan with the army, and then moved eastward with the army, delivering food, cold clothes and ammunition in time, ensuring the continuous march and combat of our army, and making great contributions to our army. On December 21, our two major field armies had divided and surrounded the Fu Zuoyi Group in Zhangjiakou, Xinbaoan, Beihu, Tianjin, and Tanggu, completing the first phase of the campaign.In accordance with the strategic deployment of "strike at both ends first, and then hit the middle", the Central Military Commission decided to transfer the fourth column of the Northeast Field Army to Zhangjiakou in order to prevent Zhangjiakou from defending the enemy for reinforcements or fleeing when the new security forces were wiped out. The command of the Three Corps strengthened the troops surrounding Zhangjiakou.Based on this, the Three Corps re-adjusted its deployment: advance to the Ningyuan Fort and Yulin Fort areas with the Northeast Four Columns, and take over the defense of the southeast of Zhangjiakou undertaken by the First Column; The second vertical; our second vertical moved westward and concentrated on the new and old Yaozi and the east and west Hongmiao lines; the sixth vertical also commanded the third brigade of the first vertical to move to the northwest and northern areas of Zhangjiakou, forming a tighter encirclement. On the morning of the 2nd, the Second North China Corps launched a general attack on the Xinbaoan garrison. After 11 hours of fierce fighting, they wiped out the enemy's "ace" 35th Army and won the first battle.

The enemy's 35th Army was quickly wiped out, which shocked Fu Zuoyi. At 5:00 pm on the 22nd, he secretly ordered Sun Lanfeng, commander of the 11th Corps: "Immediately lead the Zhangshi defenders to break out of the encirclement and retreat to Suiyuan." Yuan Qingrong, commander of the 05th Army, unified command of the breakout operation.Besieged in Zhangjiakou for 25 days, the enemy's 11th Corps Headquarters, 105th Army Headquarters, and their subordinate troops learned that the 35th Army was wiped out, the commander Guo Jingyun was killed, the rabbit died and the fox was sad. They were even more terrified. How to sacrifice your neighbors, preserve your own strength, and escape the fate of being wiped out as soon as possible.

At dawn on the 23rd, the enemy began to break through.Its vanguard, the 259th Division (temporarily organized as the 11th Division), quietly broke out of Dajingmen in the north of Zhangjiakou, and was immediately blocked by my 1st Vertical and 3rd Brigade guarding Xidianzi and Chaotianwa, and a fierce battle broke out.At the same time, Yuan Qingrong ordered Wei Jinglin, commander of the fifth cavalry brigade, to lead the fifth and eleventh cavalry brigades to break out to the west of Zhangjiakou.They marched from Qili Teahouse to Laoyazhuang, Shenjiatun, and Yanjiatun. They were blocked by our 6th Brigade and 16th Regiment, and they turned back without fierce fighting.Afterwards, we learned that Yuan Qingrong ordered Wei Jinglin to lead two cavalry brigades to break through to the west and then turn to the direction of the Northwest Shangdu. Dajingmen broke through.But when Wei Jinglin's cavalry brigade was blocked by our second column, Wei Jinglin overheard Yuan Qingrong's phone call to Sun Lanfeng, and learned that Yuan Qingrong sent the 259th Division as the forward and had already left Dajingmen. They were asked to break through to the west in order to sacrifice the cavalry brigade to preserve the strength of the 105th Army. , So, led two cavalry brigades to turn to Dajingmen together.

When the two cavalry brigades arrived at Dajingmen, it happened that Jin Shuke, the provincial security commander, also led the security forces to abandon the city and fled to Dajingmen.People and horses competed to advance to Dajingmen, trampled each other, and became a mess.Dajingmen was an important pass of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1644), a gate was built here and became the north gate of Zhangjiakou.The city gate is two brick arches with stone foundations. The inner side of the coupon gate is only 6.8 meters wide and 13 meters deep; inside the city gate is a narrow street, and outside the city gate is a north-south road leading to Zhangbei. The ravine is called Zhenggou.There are towering mountains on the east and west sides of the ditch. The ditch is more than 20 miles long and more than one mile wide. On the east side of the ditch is the frozen Daqing River, and on the west side is a simple road leading to Zhangbei.The ravine is slightly wider in the south and narrows as it goes north.Six or seven miles north of Dajingmen, Xidianzi and Chaotianwa diverge into two ravines. The ravine to the north passes through Taolai Temple and Zhangbei, and the ravine that turns east passes through Wulahada and Gaojiaying. To Chongli.

At first, we judged that the enemy's breakthrough to the north was just a feint, and the main direction of the assault might still be our southwest, because the ravine in the north is narrow, while the terrain in the southwest is relatively flat, which is convenient for deploying troops. After a disastrous defeat, knowing that we had deployed heavy troops to the west and southwest, I changed my mind and chose the north, where our troops were weak, as a breakthrough point.However, just six or seven miles out of Dajingmen, the enemy was blocked by our first column, third brigade and sixth column from Xidianzi, Chaotianwa, Ulahada, and Taolaimiao, just like a group of people who had sneaked in. The fish in the fishing net are in a dilemma.

At this time, the direction for the enemy to break through to the north was clear, and the Corps immediately ordered that the four verticals from the northeast would follow the mountains on the east side of Zhangjiakou, and our two verticals would attack side by side from the mountains on the west side of Zhangjiakou from south to north towards the urban area and Dajingmen. The enemy was wiped out in the ditch outside Dajingmen.The commanders and fighters of my second column heard the fierce gunfire outside Dajingmen, and imagined that the brothers' troops were under tremendous pressure and paid a huge price. One point of pressure reduces one point of sacrifice.There are high mountains on the east and west sides of Zhangjiakou, and there are many cockroaches.On the west side, from Fenghuang Mountain and Taizi Mountain in the south to the north, there are continuous mountains until the West Taiping Mountain and Yuanbao Mountain on the west side of Dajingmen. The mountains are getting higher and higher, and the ravines are getting narrower and narrower.Therefore, the headquarters of the Corps is located on the West Taiping Mountain, overlooking the urban area of ​​Zhangjiakou and Dajingmen, as if it is in front of you.My second column followed the orders of the Corps and attacked along several ravines on the west side of Zhangjiakou.At this time, most of the enemy troops had gathered in the ditch outside Dajingmen. The mountains on the east and west sides were mostly stragglers who had broken up the enemy's formation. The security team, they were wandering around in the mountains like bereaved dogs. When they saw our army coming over, they quickly handed in their guns. Individuals who fled and resisted, we sent a small number of troops to quickly eliminate them.

The Sixth Brigade fought very bravely and pursued fiercely. By 6:00 pm on the 23rd, they had captured Ci'er Mountain, Wapen Kiln, and the Xibingying area to the north; Yuanbaoshan captured more than 2,000 enemies.then.The Fifth Brigade sent another battalion to pursue northward, captured the Dashihua Mountains, and blocked the enemy's passage into the deep mountains to hide in the small valley on the west side of Shunzhenggou. On this day, the snow was pressing down on the winter clouds, white catkins were flying, and the snowflakes fell on the sweaty clothes of the soldiers, and on the mountain tops covered with white snow.With the anger of revenge and the determination to wipe out the enemy, the soldiers forgot about fatigue, hunger and cold, trotted along the rugged mountain road, and rushed forward.

In the evening, the leading troops of the Fifth Brigade searched eastward from the south mountain of Yongfengbao along the small valley, and went straight to Pingmen, the northwest gate of Zhangjiakou.The small group of enemies guarding Pingmen occupied the city to resist. After several attacks, the vanguard of the Fifth Brigade wiped out the defending enemy, and immediately entered the urban area from Pingmen, turned to Dajingmen and charged.At this time, there were still a few stragglers fighting coldly on some hills on the west side. Ma Long, the commander of the fifth brigade, ignored the stray bullets and swished past his head from time to time.It happened that Li Tianhuan, deputy political commissar of the Corps, was passing by. Seeing Ma Long striding down the mountain, he immediately stopped him: "Brigade Commander Ma, Pingmen is still fighting, and the enemy on the mountain has not been completely wiped out. What are you doing in front?"

Ma Long replied heartily: "I will go to the front to direct and clear the way." Seeing his stubbornness, Li Tianhuan was both happy and worried, so he pulled him back and stood by the side of the mountain road directing the troops to rush towards Pingmen. At dusk, as the front quickly extended northward, our Second Column command post also quickly followed up the front line.Han Wei, Zhao Guanying, and Liu Guoliang and I passed the jellyfish palace mountain and went straight to the dajing gate.When I arrived at Dajingmen, I saw the troops of the Northeast Fourth Column and our Second Column chasing the poor along the main ditch like a raging tide.The Northeast Fourth Vertical has three divisions, with strong troops and a vigorous fighting style, making rapid progress.On the afternoon of the 23rd, they broke into the urban area of ​​Zhangjiakou and Dajingmen in several routes from the southeast and east mountains; the way to go.When our second column rushed to Dajingmen, the vanguard of the fourth column had already left Dajingmen to pursue and flee the enemy north. After a day of desperate assault and paying a heavy price, the enemy barely passed through the two passes of Xidianzi and Chaotianwa. Hada and Gaojiaying; most of the enemies who fled north were stuck in Taolai Temple again.More than 50,000 enemies fell into the siege of our army, like a turtle in a urn, rushing forward and backward, bumping left and right to no avail.Most of the cars, carriages, cannons, camels, supplies, and ammunition were abandoned inside and outside Dajingmen and on the Daqing River Beach.The officers fled to the north with light clothes, while the soldiers fled for their lives by throwing away their heavy equipment and ammunition. The officers could not find the soldiers, and the soldiers could not see the officers. ,a mess. Several leading comrades including Han Wei and I stood at the gate of Dajing, encouraging the soldiers to move forward courageously, and at the same time exhorting cadres at all levels to cooperate well with the troops of the four vertical brothers, quickly pursue and wipe out the fleeing enemies, and not to fight for the prizes.At this time, we felt that we hadn't eaten for a whole day, and we were both thirsty and hungry. Seeing a large pile of wooden boxes on the east side of the street, we took advantage of the situation and sat down to rest our feet.It was already dark at that time, and the sky was full of haze, so it was hard to see what the wooden boxes piled up here and there contained.Suddenly, a dog came out from behind, and the guards were about to chase the dog away. Zhao Guanying took a flashlight and was startled. It turned out that we were sitting on the shell box, not far from the many landmines and ammunition discarded by the enemy.Zhao Guanying hastily stopped the guards from chasing the dogs, fearing that the dogs would run amok and step on landmines.Fortunately, the dog saw the light of the flashlight and rushed into the houses on the west side.Everyone couldn't help but sweat.I joked with him and said: "Haha, the spirit of Marx is in the sky", which made everyone laugh.Zhao Guanying sent sentry guards here to prevent follow-up troops from stepping on landmines, so we went into a restaurant to rest for a while, and soon entered Gushi Village through Dajingmen, and set up the command post of the column in the first row of the village. In the civilian house, the command troops continued to charge forward, dividing and annihilating the enemy. The enemy was defeated like a mountain, and our army was invincible and unstoppable. Wherever the pursuers arrived, the enemy surrendered one after another.The company sent several soldiers to direct the prisoners to pile up weapons on the ground, and then sent the prisoners to the prisoner camp in groups like herding sheep.When the soldiers saw groups of prisoners passing by, they were overjoyed, and stepped forward courageously, trying to catch as many prisoners as possible and hand over their guns. After a day and night of encirclement and annihilation, most of the enemy had surrendered.At ten o'clock in the morning on the 24th, Yang Weihuan, the deputy commander of the enemy's 105th Army, saw that the situation was over, so he led a group of remnants to climb up the Beiying Dongshan by taking a small path, hoping to take advantage of this high mountain with a height of more than 1,000 meters and a steep slope of 60 degrees. recalcitrant.However, before they could catch their breath, they were discovered and surrounded by our Fifth Brigade and Thirteenth Regiment and the Northeast Four Verticals.The commanders and fighters of the 13th Regiment, with the support of the artillery fire from the fraternal troops, bravely climbed the mountain together with the comrades in arms of the Four Columns, and quickly suppressed the enemy with fierce firepower. With brave assault actions, they quickly captured the mountain and captured Yang Weihuan, the deputy commander of the enemy army, and the defeated generals who tried to escape the fate of destruction.It took only thirty minutes from the launch of the attack to the end of the battle.So far, the battle of chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy ended victoriously. Except for Sun Lanfeng, the commander of the 11th Corps of the enemy, who fled to Suiyuan with a few cavalry, all the more than 50,000 defending enemies in Zhangjiakou were wiped out. Ten thousand three hundred and ninety people.Our Second Column wiped out a total of more than 10,300 enemies, but only suffered 26 casualties, and achieved a major victory at the smallest cost. The smoke of the battlefield has not yet cleared. We stood outside Dajingmen, looking up at the four vigorous and simple characters "Dahao Heshan" on the lintel, which once again brought back a series of memories and reveries: It is said that these four characters are from 1927. Written by Gao Weiyue, governor of Chahar Province.For more than 20 years, the great rivers and mountains in Zhangjiakou have become an important place for warlords to fight for, and a barracks for the Japanese invading army to plunder our Chinese nation.In August 1945, shortly after our Jinchaji soldiers and civilians were liberated from the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Fu Zuoyi's troops to step into Zhangjiakou from under the plaque of "Great River and Mountain" at Dajingmen, and robbed the people of their lives. The fruits of victory, now, the great rivers and mountains have returned to the hands of the people, how exciting!At this time, the former migrant workers and the local people flocked to Dajingmen to help us carry the confiscated victories.A young man excitedly pointed to the piles of guns and smiled and said to us: "Hey, these guns are like sorghum straw, bundled in bundles and piles in piles!" The captive soldier with his neck shrunken and snowflakes all over his body said, "Look, the People's Liberation Army is like a sheep coffin, driving the sheep into the pen!" Look at the young man's red smiling face and his dancing joy Jin, it can be seen that he is as happy as we are.