Chapter 25 8. Heroes from captive soldiers

Among the more than 17,000 people captured in this battle, one person later became a celebrity in the PLA, became a model for PLA soldiers to learn from, and joined the Communist Party of China with honor. He is a first-class hero who kills the enemy and a model leader— — Wang Keqin. Wang Keqin was born in Fuyang, Anhui in 1921.The family is poor, and the ancestors are tenants, and they have suffered all the sufferings of the world.In his young mind, the seeds of class hatred were deeply planted. In 1941, Wang Keqin was recruited into the 8th Company of the 79th Regiment of the 30th Army in the 11th Theater as a soldier by the Kuomintang Army.The following year, he was captured by the New Fourth Army.After release, he returned to the Kuomintang army. In October 1945, during the Battle of Pinghan, he was captured for the second time.Later, he was assigned to the 1st company of a certain regiment of the 18th brigade of the 6th column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army as a machine gun shooter.The new type of internal relationship between officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army who are equal and treat each other as equals made him feel at ease to serve in the People's Liberation Army.

After the Battle of Ping-Han, the 6th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army went south to the Jiaozuo area, and a campaign of complaining was widely carried out.Together with many liberation fighters, Wang Keqin accused bullies, landlords, and the Kuomintang army of enslavement and oppression, raising class consciousness.He said: "Now I really understand: being in the Eighth Route Army is for the poor, and being in the Central Army is for the rich." Fighting to the end for the liberation of the Chinese people has also helped the poor in their hometown to stand up.Since then, he has made rapid progress. In early September 1946, he was promoted to deputy squad leader in the battle of Dayang Lake in the Battle of Dingtao.Soon, he was promoted to monitor.

After Wang Keqin became the squad leader, every time a new soldier joined the squad, he would organize the whole squad to recall their hardships and help everyone raise their class consciousness.As a result, the morale of the whole class is strong, the new veterans are united, and they have a new look. Wang Keqin also paid attention to inheriting the glorious tradition of the PLA, patiently and meticulously carried out political and ideological mutual assistance activities within the class.In this way, it not only helps to change negative factors into positive factors, mobilizes the enthusiasm of the whole class to learn, train and fight, but also enhances the cohesiveness of the class.A soldier, after deserting for 4 days, returned to the squad automatically, and said in tears with shame, "I miss home, I want to go home and have a look. I walked home for two days, and the more I walked, the more uncomfortable I felt. I felt sorry for the squad leader."He treated me better than my parents, I was really reluctant to leave him, so I turned back.

Wang Keqin's military technical quality is good, he can shoot a variety of guns, especially good at machine gun technology, and is known as the "Machine (Gun) Master".He conscientiously practiced the teaching method of the People's Liberation Army about "Officers teach soldiers, soldiers teach officers, and soldiers teach soldiers" ("Selected Works of Mao Zedong", Volume 4, People's Publishing House, June 1991, 2nd Edition, p. 1175), within a week, It helps new soldiers learn to disassemble, combine and use machine guns, and some also learn to troubleshoot.Under the leadership of Wang Keqin, the shooting skills of the soldiers in the class have improved significantly.

Wang Keqin also paid great attention to imparting combat experience.He taught soldiers how to use terrain and features, dig machine gun positions, move under enemy fire, and how to maintain concealment when approaching the enemy.When the machine gun fired, he told the soldiers: "As soon as our machine gun fires, you should quickly go to the fortifications to hide, because you know that there are machine guns here, and the enemy will shoot." When the Kuomintang army artillery shells came, some soldiers always wanted to change Wang Keqin warned the soldiers: "Comrades, don't run away. Where the shell hits for the first time, it will never hit there the second time. Once you run, you will just catch up with the shell." Said: "The enemy wearing white clothes is the target for the plane. The closer we are to the enemy, the less the plane can bomb us." During a battle, the Kuomintang army blew the charge horn several times, but no one rushed forward. Wang Keqin said with confidence : "The enemy dare not fight the bayonet, we have the grenade ready." The whole class of soldiers felt: "Follow him to fight, not afraid of danger, and have a strange idea in my heart."

In life, Wang Keqin warmly cares for every soldier in the class.When new fighters were recruited into the class, he would organize old fighters to come out to greet them, and affectionately held the hands of the new fighters and said, "You are here! We have been waiting for you for several days" (United Daily: "About Wang Keqin's class "Introduction", December 21, 1946), making the new fighters feel like they have arrived at home. After the new fighters made up their shifts, Wang Keqin took the old soldiers to serve them meals, boil water to wash their faces and feet.A soldier had big scabies on his buttocks, and the pain was unbearable. Wang Keqin personally washed the sores and changed his dressings, and gave him meals, which moved the soldier deeply.During the march, most of the machine guns were carried by him and the veterans, but most of the fried noodles they brought were shared with others.In case of cloudy and rainy weather, he took the initiative to help the soldiers dry their clothes.When the troops camped, he first cleaned the villagers' houses, and then let the soldiers move in.The whole class of soldiers lives in such a collective, just like in a big revolutionary family, as close as brothers, and the relationship is very harmonious.

Wang Keqin not only set an example by himself, but also organized the whole class of fighters to carry out solidarity and mutual assistance activities relying on collective strength.There are 11 members in Wang Keqin's class, only 2 veterans and 3 party members, and the rest are new fighters and liberation fighters.According to the characteristics of each fighter in the class, he divided them into three mutual aid groups.And according to the different tasks, the team leader will be re-elected in due course.Those who are in good health are selected for marching, those with high skills are selected for learning, and those who are brave and experienced in combat are selected as team leaders.At the same time, adjust the personnel composition of each mutual aid group accordingly.Marching in the dark, he walked in front and led the soldiers with a rope, and the deputy squad leader was behind. If anyone fell, the comrades in the mutual aid team would immediately help him up without wasting any time.Before the battle, Wang Keqin asked the mutual aid team leader to ensure that they would not lose contact. Everyone should listen to the team leader’s greetings. If the squad leader died, the whole class should listen to the deputy squad leader’s command; , can not lose a wounded.When fighting, put forward the competition conditions for each mutual aid group: hand over the enemy's guns more; capture more prisoners and not search pockets; do not go to the line of fire for minor injuries, and do not cry for serious injuries; no matter how fierce the enemy's artillery fire is, they must cover the infantry's charge.On the battlefield, the squad leader is responsible for commanding, and the mutual aid team leader is responsible for communication; when advancing, the squad leader is in front, and the soldiers are behind; when retreating, the soldiers are in front, and the squad leader is behind.It is precisely because of Wang Keqin's exemplary role and the solidarity and mutual assistance activities that the whole class of soldiers united as one, and everything worked well.

In early October 1946, the 6th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, where Wang Keqin was in, participated in the battle of Long (Guji) (Zhang) and Fengji in the Battle of Juye. The task of reorganizing the 11th Brigade of the 11th Division of the Kuomintang Army in the Jiji area.One night, Wang Keqin's squad followed the troops to Xuzhuang, which was only 1 kilometer away from the headquarters of the reorganized 11th Division.After dawn, the artillery and planes of the Kuomintang army bombarded Xuzhuang indiscriminately.Wang Keqin led the whole squad to carry out combat mutual assistance, repair fortifications, and repel dozens of attacks by the Kuomintang army from morning to night. Not only did they annihilate a large number of Kuomintang troops, they also firmly held their positions and created conditions for the large troops to counterattack at night. , and there were no casualties.As a result, it has won the praise of the majority of commanders and fighters.Wang Keqin was rated as the first-class enemy-killing hero of the column and a model leader, and joined the Communist Party of China gloriously.The class he led was rated as a model class, and he was honored with the collective first-class merit.

When Wang Keqin and his class's exemplary deeds of solidarity, friendship, mutual assistance and mutual learning were reflected in the party committee of the 6th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, they immediately organized forces, summed up the experience of Wang Keqin's class, and promptly promoted it to the entire column.