Chapter 56 "Zero Knock Brown Candy"

In mid-June 1951, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao agreed with Comrade Kim Il Sung based on the changes in the situation after the victory of the fifth battle, and put forward the guideline of "full preparation for protracted warfare and striving for peace talks to end the war."Based on this, the headquarters of the Volunteer Army decided to change the strategic policy from "mainly mobile warfare" to "active defense and protracted combat" in the military.That is to use the favorable terrain of North Korea to build solid fortifications, relying on the position to eliminate the enemy by combining defense and counterattack, and accumulate small victories into big victories.And buy time to improve our army's equipment and rear facilities, and consolidate the defense of the east and west coasts.Use this to accumulate strength, gradually change the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves, and finally defeat the enemy or use fighting to promote talks, combine fighting and talking, force the enemy to retreat in the face of difficulties, and strive for peace talks to resolve the North Korean issue on a fair and reasonable basis.

In order to complete the new strategic mission, the Volunteer Army Headquarters will place the 47th Army led by Commander Cao Lihuai and Political Commissar Li Renlin under the command of our 19th Corps.The Corps made new deployments according to its tasks: the 64th Army and the 47th Army served as the first echelon, and set up defenses in the Shangchengli, Gaozuodong, and Wuliting areas; the 63rd Army and the 65th Army served as the second echelon. The echelons were fortified in the east and west areas of Xinxi.The headquarters of the Corps is stationed in Fairy Cave. During this period, due to the ongoing negotiations in Kaesong, there is no major battle for the time being.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Director Chen Xianrui of the Political Department and I led the cadres to conduct investigations and studies in the army, and then held a political work conference to address the peaceful paralysis of the army after the Kaesong negotiations began, and the impatience of "fighting, winning, and returning home". The idea of ​​quick victory, as well as the fear of the enemy, complaints, and fear of suffering in the few troops who did not fight well in the first battle after entering the DPRK and suffered heavy casualties, proposed to repeatedly educate the war situation and the combat readiness of "active defense and protracted combat" so that the troops Recognize that war is a means of struggle, and negotiation is also a means of struggle. Fighting and talking are often intertwined.Talking is the result of fighting, and fighting is the basis of talking; only by severely attacking the enemy can we promote the progress of negotiations and win the struggle.I also pointed out that in order to realize the strategic policy, each unit must establish the tactical thinking of "actively destroying the enemy", actively carry out military training activities in front of the enemy, and rapidly improve the level of tactics and technology, just as Commander-in-Chief Zhu asked "bravery plus technology" to win battles .

After summarizing, celebrating, organizing, and replenishing soldiers and equipment, the army has a completely new look.Some units of the Sixty-Fourth Army did not fight well in the initial battles of the first phase of the five campaigns. By summarizing experience and lessons, they carried out mass "evaluation of command, casualties, and fighting spirit; comparisons of casualties, reductions, and The "three evaluations and four comparisons" activities of comparing combat actions and comparing prices made all commanders and fighters realize that the failure of the battle was not because the enemy was terrible, but because of our tactical shortcomings, and the enemy took advantage of it; although we were blocked and delayed by the enemy partially, The task was not completed on time, but the whole battle was victorious. The 15 armies of the Chinese and Korean People's Army wiped out more than 80,000 enemies.Through summarizing education, the fighting spirit was inspired, and the confidence of "actively annihilating the enemy" was established to dare to fight and win.During the mobile defensive operations from June to August, the army, together with its brother troops, smashed the enemy's "summer offensive", annihilating 6,110 enemies, capturing 336 enemies, and shooting down enemy planes. Twenty-three of them damaged twenty-five enemy planes and nine enemy tanks, a major victory.

After the failure of the enemy's "summer offensive", they were still unwilling to reconcile. In August and September, they launched the "autumn offensive". Kaicheng.According to the request of the superior, the party committee of our Corps decided to transfer the 65th Army to the Kaesong area to strengthen the defense of Kaesong; and then transferred the 63rd Army to the Changhedong and Huazangdong areas to prepare to cooperate with the 65th Army Attack the enemy who invaded Kaesong.The 47th Army is still fortifying the Yeyue Mountain and Tiande Mountains. Kaesong is the largest city in North Korea on the 38th parallel, the ancient capital of North Korea, and the meeting place for the armistice negotiations in North Korea at that time.The question of who belongs to Kaesong is crucial to the entire Korean War situation.In order to ensure the safety of Kaesong, in September 1951, Yang Dezhi and I personally went to the front line of Kaesong to study the combat plan with the cadres of the 65th Army.Our jeep traveled along the winding and undulating mountain road, observing the surrounding continuous mountain topography and landforms, and discussing the tactics of "strangling battle" against the enemy's indiscriminate bombing.

Yang Dezhi said: "The enemy is all superstitious about the effect of bombs. According to the statistics of the combat department, since entering the position defense, the enemy has dropped more than 7,784,000 bombs on the positions of our regiment. Our troops must destroy the enemy It takes a lot of money to hold the position. How can we change this situation? I think that North Korea has so many and high mountains that we can dig a bunker close to the hillside or high ground and poke a few holes when we are in defensive operations. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to observe and shoot the enemy secretly?” His idea coincided with mine.I replied: "Bourgeois military strategists like Ridgway are all weapons-only. They rely on aircraft and cannons, and we believe that the decisive factor in the outcome of a war is people, not weapons. But then again, Mao Zedong The chairman's strategic thinking is "preserve oneself and destroy the enemy". Fundamentally speaking, only by destroying the enemy can one effectively preserve oneself. However, under the powerful artillery fire of the enemy, if one cannot preserve oneself, how can one destroy the enemy? This is a dialectical principle. Relationship, your idea is very good. During the Anti-Japanese War, Comrade Yang Chengwu and I led the anti-Japanese struggle in the Jizhong Plain. The tunnel warfare created by the military and civilians in the Jizhong area could hide, fight, and walk. The Japanese devils were confused and ran away. This time we go to Kaesong to study with the leading comrades of the 65th Army how to learn and apply these historical experiences in modern warfare.”

Sure enough, after we arrived in Kaesong, the leading comrades of the army went to the trenches of the frontline positions together to inspect the anti-gun holes dug by the troops on the hillside behind the positions to prevent artillery.Study with everyone, sum up experience, and suggest that they transform the existing anti-blasting tunnels so that they can not only defend against artillery, but also station troops, observe the enemy's situation and shoot.Soon after, the army organized troops to carry forward military democracy, and used the wisdom and creative spirit of the masses to dig through and connect two adjacent blastholes to form a horseshoe-shaped double-mouthed blasthole. The anti-blasting holes are connected together to form a small tunnel, which can accommodate a squad, a platoon, or even a company.After Yang Dezhi and I returned to the Corps Headquarters, we were very happy to hear the report from the Sixty-fifth Army, and immediately reported it to Mr. Peng. Mr. Peng appreciated the experience from the masses and said, "This is a creation. I don't believe it. He Americans can smash through the earth!" Under Mr. Peng's advocacy and encouragement, all units set off an upsurge in building fortifications. With the successful development of positional defense warfare, the majority of commanders and fighters continued to play and improve in actual combat. Later, a defense system with tunnels as the backbone and support points was formed, which played an extremely important role in the protracted positional warfare.

In December 1951, I visited the Kaesong area again. I was very happy to see that the various units of the Sixty-fifth Army were building tunnels in full swing, and their positions were more consolidated.During the inspection, I participated in the cadre meeting held by the 65th Army.The cadre meeting lasted for eight days. It was an important meeting focused on summarizing the experience and lessons since entering North Korea and studying how to complete the task of defending Kaesong. I spoke before the end of the meeting.After summarizing the victories and main experiences and lessons of the 19th Corps since its entry into the DPRK, it focuses on the two issues of tactical level and leadership style that need to be solved urgently.I emphasized: "In order to defeat the enemy, our troops must not only have the qualities of bravery, tenacity, perseverance, fearlessness and iron discipline, but also must be proficient in tactics and technology, be proficient in the weapons in their hands, and learn to cooperate with various armies and arms. He is good at using our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses and achieve the greatest victory at the lowest cost. In order to fight a good battle, we must improve our tactics. This is an urgent task for the entire army."

After analyzing the erroneous thinking of some comrades who do not pay attention to tactics, I raised the question of how to improve the level of tactics: First of all, we must establish an active combat thinking and oppose negative thinking.Commanders at all levels are required to use their brains, plan carefully, study the situation, study the enemy, be good at finding the enemy's weaknesses, create the enemy's weaknesses, and attack the enemy's weaknesses. Don't wait for the enemy to find us, but actively find the enemy. Actively attack the enemy in various ways, and use all effective methods to deal with the enemy.The top must be active, and the bottom must also be active; the front must be active, and the rear must also be active; military affairs must be active, and political and logistical work must also be active.Never relax propaganda and agitation work, consolidate and improve morale, and actively carry out work to disintegrate the enemy.

Secondly, we must do a good job in the organization and leadership of learning tactics. Party committees at all levels should put the improvement of tactics and technical levels on their agenda, and organize all personnel, especially commanders at all levels, to study tactics in depth.Organizations above the regiment level should organize tactical study research meetings under the auspices of military commanders, and battalions and companies should set up tactical study groups to ensure the completion of study tasks.The political work organs must vigorously guarantee the improvement of tactics, and overcome the phenomenon of simply improving political sentiment through political education while ignoring the improvement of tactical skills.It is necessary to promote and ensure the study of tactics and techniques with the greatest force, and take the improvement of tactics and skills as one of the main conditions for selecting model party, league branches and outstanding party and league members, and call on all party, league members and heroes to improve tactics, Play an exemplary role in technology.In the pre-war training, we must actively carry out mass training activities of "mutual teaching and mutual learning, including teaching and learning"; in the work of combat mobilization and battlefield agitation, we must pay attention to combining tactics and technical requirements with political slogans.Finally, I particularly emphasize that improving the tactical and technical level of the entire army is our current serious political task, and all cadres in the entire army must be involved in tactical learning.Military cadres must learn tactics, and political cadres and logistics cadres must also understand tactics.Only by studying military affairs and understanding tactics and techniques can political cadres exert greater power in political work in battle.

The Political Department of the Corps printed and distributed my speech at the cadre meeting of the 65th Army to units above the regiment. Therefore, all armies carefully studied the enemy's combat characteristics on the basis of summarizing the experience of the five campaigns, and carried out extensive military training.The divisions and regiments also train cadres above and above in rotation in phases, focusing on solving the organization and command problems under modern conditions.For example, in offensive battles, encountering the enemy, breaking through, encircling and turning around, penetrating and penetrating, encircling and annihilating deep support points, etc.; Tank problems.The company adopts the method of teaching and learning, focusing on the five major technologies of shooting, bombing, assassination, blasting, and soil work, as well as offensive and defensive battle formations, movement under enemy fire, and the combination of firepower and movement.Through the training, the tactical and technical level of the troops and the organization and command ability of the cadres have been effectively improved, ensuring the implementation of the strategic policy of "protracted combat and active defense" in the stalemate stage and the tactical principle of "zero-knocking brown sugar" proposed by Chairman Mao. Concentrate the maximum force and firepower on the defensive position, choose a concealed attack starting position, use the tactical means of attack, ambush and counterattack, annihilate the enemy one at a time, constantly kill and injure the enemy's vital force, and capture the enemy's position one after another with the camera , just like a small vendor selling brown candy, knocking off small pieces of brown candy and selling them to children to eat (Chairman Mao’s metaphor for this tactic is so vivid, funny, vivid, and easy to understand!) Accumulate small victories into big victories.

After summarizing and training, the Sixty-Fourth Army, on the basis of establishing the idea of ​​"protracted combat", carried out the education of "proactive" tactical thinking, and advocated the fighting style of "actively fighting, taking the initiative, and being tenacious" among the troops.Repeatedly stated that only by annihilating the enemy can the position be held.Resolutely oppose the passive defense thinking of being passive and beaten in positional defense. In holding on to the defense, we must "fight for every inch of ground" with the enemy.During the five months they served as the defense mission of the Matian Line in Kaesong, on the one hand, they actively built fortifications and continuously consolidated their positions. More than 1,500, more than 1,400 various shelters and warehouses, effectively "preserving ourselves"; on the one hand, actively defending, using various flexible tactics, and infantry coordination, crushing countless enemy attacks, and taking the initiative to attack , destroy the enemy. On October 2, 1951, during the battle to defend Gaowang Mountain and Maliang Mountain, they relied on their fortifications to resist and repeatedly competed with the enemy for important positions. They fought fiercely for six days and nights and wiped out more than 2,650 enemies. , Take the initiative to withdraw to the second line.The troops performed very bravely in the battle.During the three days when the Seventh Company of the 571st Regiment of the army held on to the 216.8 highland, it repelled 23 attacks by the enemy 20 times as much as ours, and achieved annihilation at the cost of 26 casualties. The victory of the enemy's more than 700 men played a major role in smashing the enemy's "autumn offensive", and was awarded the honorable title of "First Class Hero Company".On November 4th, the army was ordered to counterattack the enemy, and it took only one day to recapture the Maliangshan position. enemy confrontation).In the counterattack, the commanders and fighters of the troops once again showed the fighting spirit of going forward and overwhelming all enemies.A month ago, the enemy occupied the 216.8 Highland at the cost of more than 700 casualties. In this counterattack, the 6th Company of the 572nd Regiment recaptured it in only 13 minutes. Captured sixteen enemies.After they captured Ma Liangshan, they rushed to repair and strengthen the fortifications immediately, and then turned to defend again.After 22 days of continuous counterattacks, the 64th Army wiped out more than 3,580 enemies and captured 64 enemies, winning the victory in counterattacking the enemy's "autumn offensive".The enemy army had to lament: "Ma Liangshan is the 'Sad Ridge' on the western front of the 'Allied Forces' (the so-called "United Nations Army")." After the 65th Army took up the task of defending Kaesong in September 1951, from the end of October to the first ten days of November, it successively carried out sweeping operations against the enemies occupying the west of the Shachuan River and the north bank of the Han River, advancing its position by 200 More than 80 square kilometers, controlling the favorable terrain on the north bank of the Han River and the west bank of the Linlu River and the Shachuan River, thus greatly improving the defensive situation of our positions.In the sweeping operation, the Communist Party members and youth league members led the masses to complete the attack tasks one by one with the exemplary actions of being desperate and brave.During the battle to capture the 163.3 Highland northeast of Kaesong on November 6, when Mei Huaiqing, a youth member of the 5th Company and 2nd Platoon of the 580th Regiment, inserted the blasting tube into the enemy's barbed wire three times, the blasting tube was fired three times because the barbed wire was on a high ground. slip down.In order to open the way for the follow-up troops to charge, like Dong Cunrui bombing the enemy's bridge, he resolutely held the blasting tube with his right hand and shouted "Long live Chairman Mao! Long live the Communist Party!" "Comrades, go!" Pulled the fuse and used The life of youth opens the way to charge.The Party Committee of the Army ratified him as a member of the Communist Party, and the Party Committee of the Corps awarded him the first-class merit and awarded him the title of "Explosive Hero" of the second class.There are cases like this in every army.Every time I hear the report, I passionately urge the troops to sort out the materials and report them in time, approve meritorious service and award them as soon as possible, publicize them quickly in the Corps, and report them to the Volunteer Army Headquarters as soon as possible.I often say to leading comrades at all levels: "If you don't do this, you will be sorry for the martyrs, and you will not be able to better educate the troops and inspire fighting spirit." After the various armies shifted to defensive defense, we urged them to conscientiously implement Chairman Mao's guiding ideology of "zero hits of brown sugar" to accumulate small victories into big victories, and generally deployed snipers, mobile artillery, reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, and ambushes at the front. Attacks and other small battle activities, with flexible and changeable tactics, attack the enemy mysteriously, and win big victories at a small price.The Sixty-fifth Army successively created successful battles such as ambushing enemy steamships, attacking Zoran-ri at night, and attacking Taoyedong at night.They also actively carried out "cold guns and cold guns" competitions to kill the enemy through regiment branches and clubs, organized soldiers to train shooting skills hard, and strived to become "special shooters", and many sharpshooters and sharpshooters emerged. On October 1, 1951, the mobile artillery of the artillery regiment of the 193rd Division took advantage of the opportunity when the enemy left the solid fortifications and was about to enter the village to harass or gather for exercises on the hills, and immediately set up the artillery to shoot. At 9 o'clock, the two cannons fired three times successively, firing 80 shells rapidly, killing forty or fifty enemies.Frontier snipers choose a more concealed and favorable terrain in the forward position that is easy to display firepower, observe from covert positions, and shoot and kill enemy officers and soldiers operating in the forward position at any time.The sniper team of the 4th Company and 7th Squad of the 577th Regiment stationed at Heights 100 wiped out nearly a hundred enemies in half a month in December 1952; During the six and seven months of the year, a total of ninety-one enemies were killed or wounded.The 63rd Army killed, wounded, and captured 1,239 enemies through more than three months of cold guns and small-unit combat activities, accounting for 38% of the total number of enemies wiped out by the army during this period.The magical marksmanship of the snipers made the enemy fearful. They squatted in the tunnels and bunkers all day long and dared not show their heads. They could not even eat or drink water during the day, and they were very depressed.Every time I went to the field to do research and see this kind of scene, and heard this kind of report, I couldn't help but think of the similar scene of the army and people in central Hebei besieging and forcing back the enemy's bunkers during the War of Resistance Against Japan. "Squeeze the ground" against the enemy and fight against the enemy for a long time until victory. Under the guidance of the central government's correct strategic policy and the correct command of its superiors, our 19th Corps participated in the fifth campaign from entering the DPRK to the end of November 1952, and wiped out a total of more than 144,200 enemies (including The record of the affiliated army is included), and withstood the training and test in the battle, and the military and political qualities have been rapidly improved.