Chapter 86 4. Two steel troops face the sea

With the war imminent, Han Xianchu, commander of the 40th Army, seemed extremely busy. It was his own wish to let his troops take the lead, but problems followed.Facing the sea, this small tiger general had a difficult time. The acquisition of ships was completely unexpected and progressed rather slowly. It turned out that the Kuomintang army transported all the ships there before fleeing to Hainan Island, and many ordinary people who could build wooden boats were also captured by them. The number of broken wooden boats left on the seaside was very limited, and it was impossible to fulfill the requirement of transporting 10,000 people at a time.

Although the Corps transferred some ships from Guangzhou and other places, their performance was not good. Some of them broke down halfway before they even reached the front, and some had too little horsepower to be useful. There is no other way, the 40th Army and the 43rd Army can only rely on their own efforts and build their own wooden sailboats. So a huge shipbuilding and ship requisition work was launched in the two steel armies. It was Han Xianchu who moved quickly.At the Party Committee of the 40th Army, he almost gave orders to the divisions. He said: "The boats we have now can only be used for the training of about one battalion. To solve the sea crossing tools by ourselves, we have to set up an organization to collect boats and boatmen, from the army to the division to the regiment, we must establish corresponding institutions at all levels, if we can’t get the boat, I will ask you teachers.”

Commander Han's face was already dark, and it became even darker when he said this, and people were a little scared.Not many people stood up to express their views. After a while, a teacher said: "Now the people on the coast are afraid of death. When the people we sent entered the village, they hid." "What is the reason?" "They are afraid that if they lend us the boat, the national army will come back to deal with them in the future." "This kind of worry is unnecessary. As long as our army fights over, the Kuomintang army will of course have no chance to come over. This issue must be clarified to the masses."

"The boatmen are also a big problem." "As much as you can find, of course, the more the better." "They are afraid of dying in vain." "We need to formulate a policy to reassure them that if they die, our party's government will take care of their bereaved families, and we must assure them that everyone who participates in work will be paid daily wages." "How much to send, please give us a clear number, Commander." "How about one ocean per day for each boatman tentatively?" People raised their hands in agreement. Han Xianchu went on to say: "This amount is not small, we have to ask the Corps for instructions."

A teacher waved his hand: "What are you asking for instructions? The common people here are not the common people when we fought Liaoshen. It is impossible to push the wheel. The whole family supports us at no cost. Besides, Guangyang is linked with life. There are not many people who want to earn this money." , should be honored immediately.” "Yes, this requires us to do the work. I heard that some of the people you sent have bad attitudes and simple methods. How can they achieve results? We must pay attention to military-civilian relations. This is our lifeline." He stopped here, looked around at everyone, and continued: "The divisions must send some capable cadres to the masses to carry out political mobilization and explain to them the policies of our Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army. Education, now we have some people who say strange things, if the ideological problem is not solved, we can’t talk about winning the battle.”

The problems encountered by the 43rd Army were basically the same as those of the 40th Army. The glorious history of this army is even longer. It was born in the flames of war and grew up in the flames of war.Its predecessor was formed by the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army developed by the Nanchang Uprising, the 7th Division of the Shandong Military Region, the 3 regiments of the Bohai Navy Region, and the 19th Brigade of Jireliao. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the predecessors of the 43rd Army were ordered to go to the Northeast to be incorporated into the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army. In October 1946, the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army and the 7th Division of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army were jointly organized into the 6th Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army.After the Liaoshen Campaign, it was changed to the 43rd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

This is a main force of Siye. It has fought from the Songhua River in the northeast to the Leizhou Peninsula. It has experienced hundreds of major battles and wiped out nearly 200,000 enemies. Li Zuopeng, the commander of the army, is also a young general who is good at fighting tough battles.When he led the whole army and the 40th army to form a cross-river unit and came to South China, he was in high spirits. The fighting spirit of the commanders and fighters was still very high when Guangdong and Guangxi were liberated. However, after the task of liberating Hainan Island was completed, some people in the army spoke strange things. .

Some division cadres also said: "Revolution, revolution, the revolution has lasted for 20 or 30 years. This time it can be regarded as the end of the real revolution. It has reached the bottom of the sea." These people came from the northeast in one breath, and they were not afraid of death in the hail of bullets, but they were afraid of the sea. Someone said openly: "Today I eat fish, and tomorrow fish will eat me." When they marched to Guangzhou, there was such a catchphrase among the troops: "One month, one thousand miles, and the end is when you hit Guangzhou."

After taking Guangzhou, the Party Central Committee entrusted them with the task of liberating Hainan. Therefore, some people said: "The bottom leaks, the revolution will sink to the bottom." They may not have thought much about it in the past wars, but the situation has changed. The People's Republic of China they fought for has been established. In China, except for this island, there are no guns heard anywhere else. What I saw was the people who built the new country.In this special environment, it is understandable that people who have been baptized by war yearn for a better life and peace.

But war is not a child's play. If the minds of the combatants are not unified, how can they win the battle? Next, both the 43rd Army and the 40th Army carried out political and ideological education among the troops based on the actual situation. Han Xianchu went to each regiment successively to explain the revolutionary principles to everyone. Judging from the pre-war training of each unit, there are indeed many problems. For example, some people feel dizzy as soon as they get on the ship. It is impossible to adapt everyone to the sea in a short period of time. A head of the regiment said: "We can't always focus on saving lives. We need to create a miracle of defeating enemy warships and planes on wooden sailboats."

The head of the regiment said: "We don't have planes or warships, and some people worry that we won't be able to get there." Han Xianchu said: "As the leader of the regiment, you should explain the favorable situation of the naval battle to everyone, and cheer up the soldiers." "I accept criticism, please tell everyone a few words, Commander." "If you want to talk, you gather everyone together." The head of the regiment gathered the two battalions training on the beach in a harbor and asked the commander to speak. Han Xianchu stood on a simple earthen platform, waved his hands and said, "I'm here to check on your military training, and I didn't intend to speak, but I felt very impressed after watching it for a while, so I just said a few words." The soldiers began to applaud, and the sun was setting, and the beach was shining with thousands of rays of light. Han Xianchu waved his hands and said: "The Central Military Commission called on us to carry the revolution to the end. Where is the end? It is not Guangdong, nor Hainan. Only when the enemies in China are completely and completely wiped out can we say the end. Some of you are worried In my opinion, it is a lack of confidence to fight across the sea. The enemy has nothing to fear. The most terrifying enemy is our own lack of courage. In this sea battle, courage is very important. We must dare to challenge with wooden sailboats and enemy warships. It's revolutionary heroism." The soldiers were excited. Han Xianchu went on to say: "I believe that you can accomplish the task of crossing the sea well. The people of the whole country are looking at us. Comrades, don't relax. Work together to fight to Hainan and report the good news to Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee..."