Chapter 174 6. Brave "Hulu Team"

Among the troops crossing the river, there is a water militia hero from the "Du Balian" in the 7th district of Jiyuan County with a revolutionary tradition. They punted the troops and organized a gourd team to escort our army across the river in the rapids. The "Du Balian" guerrillas who jumped into the water before the boat started, with guns in their hands, clothes and bullets on their heads, and gourds and oilcloths under their armpits, showed their talents in the turbulent torrent.Some of them opened the way ahead, some guarded the boat beside them, and some fought with the rapids while shooting with light machine guns.Some gourds were pierced by bullets, and they were washed by the water to another place with a bunker to land. They bravely charged at the enemy and drove away the enemy on the shore at once.

The gourd team of the militia rides the wind and waves, comes and goes without a trace, and is a light cavalry along the Yellow River.In particular, the heroic gourd team of the Liuzhuang militia was warmly praised by the commanders and fighters of the army. In the Liuzhuang area of ​​Jiyuan County, gourd boats have a history of more than 300 years.In peacetime, people often fished in the Yellow River with a plate of gourds tied on their backs; in wartime, the militia gourd team often flew across the Yellow River, attacked enemy forts, seized enemy ships, and attacked the enemy mysteriously.

In August 1946, two Kuomintang planes landed on Youfangtan in the center of the Yellow River.The Liuzhuang militia carried grenades and drove a gourd boat, swam across the Yellow River late at night, quickly boarded Youfangtan, pried open the fuel tank of the enemy plane, and lit a fire that soared into the sky.When the enemy dispatched motorboats to rescue them, only the wreckage remained of the two planes, and the gourd team had long since disappeared. This time the army crossing the river came to Guanyang Ferry by the river, and found that the mountains were high and the valleys were deep, the water was fierce and the waves were rough, and it was difficult to cross for a while.Xue Pinghua, the company commander of the Liuzhuang militia, proposed to the troops: "We are familiar with geography and touch the water. We organize the gourd team to cross first, conquer the main fort of Yatou, and open the way for the troops on the water."

After this request was approved, the gourd team members were all gearing up and waiting to start. In the middle of the night on August 22, heavy rain poured down, and the turbid waves rolled in the Yellow River.With an order, dozens of Liuzhuang militiamen with guns and live ammunition and gourds tied around their waists jumped into the water, one by one, like speeding torpedoes, heading straight for the center of the river.Before swimming far, the enemy's patrol boat rushed over, and it was about to expose the target. At this critical moment, Calabash Captain Li Qingchang calmly led two soldiers into the water, swam up to the enemy ship, jumped onto the ship, and wiped out the enemy by surprise.At this time, the enemy on the cliff on the south bank heard gunshots and concentrated their fire on the water.

Suddenly, the gourd under the deputy captain Li Qingyu was hit by a bullet, and the river water poured into it, and the gourd boat was in danger of sinking immediately.Li Qingyu calmly covered the bullet hole in the gourd with one hand, raised his gun with the other to shoot, and continued to swim.Captain Li Qingchang picked up his machine gun and fired at the enemy, but due to the rough water and rough waves, he lost his balance and couldn't shoot accurately.A militiaman rushed over with a few strokes and used him as a gun mount. Li Qingchang put the machine gun on his shoulder, and when the bullets were shot out, the enemy's machine gun became dumb.Under the cover of the firepower of our main forces and militiamen on the north bank, the gourd team members quickly landed, climbed to the top of the cliff, fought fiercely with the enemy, and soon blew up the bunker on the cliff.At this time, the army on the north bank launched a general attack on the enemy, and the ferry raced to the south bank to quickly seize the beachhead.

After the victory in the battle of crossing the river, the army awarded a pennant to the gourd team of the Liuzhuang militia and a poem praising their heroic deeds: "Splashes on the head, feet on the waves, gourds on the waist and guns on the shoulders, galloping across the Yellow River, the stormy waves let fly .”