Chapter 104 8. Infantry fighting tanks

The smoke cleared, and the battlefield was filled with joyous scenes of victory.Soldiers and migrant workers are collecting spoils.Our military reporters saw more than a dozen trucks towing field artillery howitzers, and the shells were piled up to the top of the tarpaulin.Jeeps were loaded with all kinds of bullets, and there were several trucks loaded with rice and American-made cans, biscuits, candy, and the like. However, what made the soldiers most happy was that "Lao Jiang sent mountain artillery, field artillery, and tanks again."At this time, Su Yu took several staff officers from the headquarters to the battlefield for inspection, and saw cadres and soldiers cleaning the battlefield in the cold wind.Some commanded the captured soldiers to drive cars, some pushed and pulled cannons, and some were collecting weapons and ammunition.Many soldiers stood in the mud and gesticulated with their frozen hands to tell Su Yu how they fought tanks and captured prisoners, with proud smiles on their faces.

The following is Peng Deqing, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of the Central China Field Army, recalled how to fight tanks: Our army does not have many anti-tank weapons, let alone anti-tank experience, but soldiers armed with Mao Zedong Thought cannot be intimidated by any new weapons them.The "Allegro King" in the company, according to the characteristics of the tank, quickly compiled the Allegro "Ten Fears of Tanks", walking all the way, singing all the way: Comrades, listen to me, do you know how afraid tanks are? First, it is afraid of fire, and the fuel tank is afraid of explosion when it is hot.

Second, it is afraid that the trench is too big and cannot cross it with a thousand catties of strength. Thirdly, it is afraid of fighting at night, and it will go blind if the headlights are smashed. Fourth, it is afraid that we will get close, so too many guns are useless. Fifth, it is afraid that the track will break, and the cluster grenade will blow it up. Sixth, it is afraid of leaving the infantry, and has no choice but to lose support. ... Everyone clapped their hands rhythmically while listening. When the tenth fear was read, the Allegro King stopped the board at once: I don’t need to say the tenth, everyone will answer it together.

Immediately, there was a proud roar from the ranks: Tenth only it is afraid of me, never I - afraid - it! All companies generally organized anti-tank teams, and took advantage of the opportunity of marching to rest to hold "Zhuge Liang meetings" to study various methods of dealing with tanks.In the afternoon, I returned to the headquarters of the brigade from the 7th regiment, passing by the station of the 8th regiment, and the sound of soldiers discussing tanking came from the jungle.I walked quietly into the woods, and a deputy squad leader of the 8th company, Li Yaoqing, a well-known combat hero in the whole army, was waving his hands and speaking: "... Tank, we have seen it. No matter how great it is, it is just a living bunker."

"That's right!" Another soldier said, "No matter how many loopholes there are in the bunker, there are still dead spots, not to mention the fear of tanks!" "Also, the most important thing is that tanks are man-made, and man-made things can be cured by humans!" Li Yaoqing's resonant voice was again. The troops will start to move again, and the sky is getting dark.More than two hours have passed, and the 8th and 9th regiments advancing towards Zuozigou and Qiuhu respectively have no news. The 7th regiment attacking Wujiazhuang is being desperately resisted and counterattacked by the enemy.

The phone was cut off suddenly, no matter how much the telephone operator rang the bell and called, there was no echo at all, and the sound of cannons roared into one piece.Political commissar Wu Hongxiang and I were in a hurry, and the correspondent who was going to the front ran in and reported out of breath: "Tanks... the troops are with tanks... on the open ground..." "I'm leaving, political commissar, you are in charge here." Before the correspondent finished speaking, I said to the political commissar, and then ran out of the brigade headquarters and ran to the command post of the 7th regiment.

The enemy's tanks and howitzers were bombarding desperately, and the thick smoke and fire made the gloomy dark clouds in the sky red.The repulsed enemy infantry was regrouping for a new charge.A lot of tanks were driving back and forth on the open ground outside the village, their cold headlights kept looking at my attacking troops. In a burial field outside the village, I met the cadres of the 7th Regiment, who were studying the next battle plan: "We must first counter the tanks! If we can't counter the tanks, we will not be able to attack on the open land of Mapingchuan!"

After research, it was decided to take advantage of the enemy's counter-charge to release the tank first, concentrate firepower to destroy the infantry behind the tank, and organize an anti-tank team to bomb the tank with explosives and cluster grenades.At the same time, get in touch with the troops that have broken into the enemy's second Luzhai, cooperate internally and externally, and attack the enemy from both sides.Just after setting up the team, the enemy rushed up again. Another tank opened the way.The lights flickered and the motors rumbled.The political commissar and I wiped our eyes from time to time, watching the troops fight this steel monster.The soldiers held grenades and small packets of explosives, rolling forward under the flickering lights of the tanks.The enemy was desperate, several tanks spread out, and rushed towards us with a mass of infantry.The light and heavy machine guns ambushing on my left and right suddenly opened fire, killing the infantry behind the tank and rolling all over the ground.The tank lost the support of the infantry, turned around and ran away.The soldiers followed suit, and after a bang, a tank caught fire.

"Okay, hit!" "It can't run anymore!" The soldiers cheered. The battle situation developed faster than we expected. Just after dawn, the 7th regiment reported that it had captured Wujiazhuang, was continuing to fight north, and joined the 1st vertical of the brother army.At around 10 o'clock in the morning, with the sound of heavy motors, a team of tanks, artillery vehicles, and cars swam like a long snake through the mist.According to Commander Chen Yi's expectation, we have already arranged a "welcome" formation.As soon as the enemy tank team appeared, the soldiers ambushing on the road set the prepared sorghum stalks and haystacks on fire, and the road became a "fire road" in an instant.Seeing that the situation was not good, the tank began to be confused.From one road to several roads, leaving the road and bumping into the muddy ground.At this time, the brother troops also charged from all directions.The gun carriage turned over, the car caught fire, and the fast column couldn't move.An American 10-wheel truck stuck in the mud, with smoke coming out of its buttocks.The infantrymen, who were fully equipped with American equipment from foot to head, were blindfolded by the sudden blow, some hid under the car, and some hugged the howitzer barrel in a daze.Only the tank is still fighting desperately with its invulnerable iron shell.However, although the open land is large, how can it gallop!We saw through the binoculars that the soldiers of the anti-tank team were holding explosive packs and holding grenades tied with explosives, crawling towards the tank, and rolling towards the tank.Some clothes were burned by incendiary bombs. They rolled in the mud, extinguished the fire on their bodies, and continued to climb towards the tank.

A tank was lucky enough to break through the fire and fled to the west, about to break out of my encirclement.A soldier jumped up from the ground and rushed forward.The tank slowed down and was watching the road.This quick-witted and brave hero grabbed a handful of mud, jumped onto the tank, and threw the mud onto the lookout hole of the tank.The tank immediately became "blind".The enemy driver panicked and turned the turret hastily, trying to throw him off.The soldier grasped the hot gun barrel with both hands, and flew with the turret, as long as he let go, he would fall under the track.Seeing this extremely thrilling scene, the comrades were all sweating.The enemy's turret turned around a few times, but failed to throw him off. He lost his composure, opened the hatch and stretched out a gun to hit him.At this moment, the soldier had quick eyes and quick hands, and threw a grenade into the cockpit.There was a muffled sound, and black smoke rose from the tank.

"Li Yaoqing!" "Li Yaoqing!" There were cheers, and the name of Comrade Li Yaoqing, the deputy squad leader of the 8th company, was called in unison.It was he, the hero who created miracles, who said before the war: "Tanks are man-made, and man-made things can be cured by man!" His fearless spirit scared the courage of the enemy.The other two tanks, afraid of running into the second Li Yaoqing, hurriedly stretched out white handkerchiefs from the cockpit and surrendered automatically. In the cheers of victory, we joined forces with the brotherly troops.The gunfire gradually died down.There are tanks, cars, and howitzers dropped by the enemy all over the field, and you can't see the end at a glance.According to the captives, the 1st Rapid Column, known as the "Essence of the National Army" and "Diamond", was carefully cultivated by Chiang Kai-shek for many years and trained by the US Officer Training Corps.But I didn't expect that all the motorized troops of American equipment would be wiped out within 24 hours. After the battle, Chen Yi, Zhang Dingcheng, and Zhang Yunyi also came to the battlefield. Some captured tank soldiers said: "We have been fighting in India and Burma for three years, and we have been rushing forward. It’s so miserable.” Chen Yi laughed loudly after hearing this, and wrote a poem on the occasion: “The fast column moves like flying, and the return of India and Burma is self-advocated. The mud in the south of Lunan is unbearable, and the tanks are piles of scrap metal.” They came to a car. In front of the captured tank, Chen Yi jumped aboard, sat down on the top of the turret, and took a group photo with his colleagues. (Chapter 7, Section 4 of The Biography of Chen Yi)