Chapter 359 7. Fierce and cruel Huangtupu battle

After Yesi's order was issued, all the troops took action immediately, and a battle to chase and intercept Bai Chongxi's main force began.Xiao Jinguang recalled: "In the next few days, my various armies competed with the enemy in a competition of perseverance, style, and speed. At that time, we thought that it would be impossible to encircle the entire enemy, but As long as our army can capture a large group of enemies and encircle and wipe them out, we will be able to win the battle. Therefore, I ordered all troops to do their best to overcome all difficulties and obstacles. Cooperate, coordinate closely, and fight the battle of annihilation."

At about 1 o'clock on October 7, the main force of the 135th Division located behind the enemy was ordered to enter the Shizhu Bridge line, and happened to meet the four divisions of the Bai Chongxi Division who were preparing to move southward from the Guandi Temple, Yanjiadian, and Huangtupu.Relying on superior forces, the enemy attempted to wipe out the 135th Division in one fell swoop.Without fear, our army actively and tenaciously dealt with the enemy in the mountains and jungles, intercepting and flanking the enemy everywhere. The commanders and fighters of the 135th Division fought bravely, effectively slowing down the speed of the Kuomintang army's southward retreat, and created favorable conditions for annihilating the enemy. At last, on the night of the 7th, our troops pursuing the enemy from the front and turning around on both wings would retreat to the west of the Hengbao Highway. The Kuomintang army seized.

On October 9, our armies from all walks of life continued to compress and encircle the enemy in accordance with the combat deployment of the field division and the Corps.At dawn on this day, the 135th Division, which was ordered to transfer from Shizhu Bridge to the south of Huangtupu, entered the Guanjiazui area in the northwest of Lumen.At noon, the head of the division conveyed instructions from his superiors: The enemy on the Hengbao line retreated in an all-round way. I have the task of blocking and flanking the enemy, and asked all regiments to immediately choose positions and prepare to block the enemy.At about 14 o'clock in the afternoon, the cadres of the 405th Regiment Battalion and above who were looking at the terrain on the front line of Shanmu Chong suddenly found that the enemy was passing in a marching column on the road from Huangtupu to Wenmingpu.The commander of the regiment made a decisive decision, reported to his superiors, and organized troops to intercept.This enemy is the headquarters of the 7th Army of the Guangxi Clique and the 172nd Division.The 405th regiment rushed down from the Shanmuchong position with 9 companies and went straight to the headquarters of the 7th Army.The 404th Regiment intercepted the 172nd Division on the south side of Lumen Front.

At 16:30, the 405th Regiment inserted the 7th Army Headquarters and its directly subordinate teams into several sections in its first attack, and then wrestled with the enemy.The combat forces of the 7th Army are mainly guard battalions, transport battalions, and engineer battalions. Among them, the guard battalion is the most tenacious. Most of them are veterans from Guangxi, with the best weapons and the most loyal to Bai Chongxi. Escaping is naturally a desperate resistance. Combat is quite intense and brutal.Every field ridge, every ditch, every wood and house must be fought over and over again until it is hand-to-hand combat before it can be occupied by our army.

In the battle, the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the 405th Regiment performed the best.They first crossed a ditch that was half as deep as a person, and criss-crossed the enemy group, fighting on their own, repelling the enemy's many counterattacks.Afterwards, the whole company was divided into combat groups in twos and threes, and rushed wherever there were enemies and gunshots. The enemy was fighting stubbornly in the woods, and the soldiers surrounded them on all sides. A dense grenade blasted the woods into fire, and the enemy's flesh and blood flew everywhere.Seeing the enemy's heavy machine gun, our soldiers immediately flew forward, killing the enemy shooter with a few bayonets.

The morale of the whole company has always been high. None of the 33 lightly wounded retreated from the line of fire. When dozens of seriously wounded were carried off the line of fire by the health workers, they still waved and shouted incessantly: "Comrades, avenge us!" !” In the end, all the cadres of the company and platoon were sacrificed, and only one of the 12 squad leaders remained, but the soldiers were fearless. Yang Guifeng, a soldier in the 2nd platoon, shouted slogans and acted as the platoon leader automatically. He commanded the last 7 people in the platoon, captured 7 positions in a row, captured 5 enemy officers, and more than 20 prisoners.Lin Shaoyun, the last shooter in the machine gun squad, had his legs broken and was still sitting on the ground with a machine gun in his hand to shoot at the enemy.

At the end of the battle, there were only 21 bloody soldiers left in the three platoons of the company.At 24 o'clock in the fierce battle, the 405th Regiment annihilated the enemy's 7th Army headquarters and most of the directly subordinate units at the cost of 324 casualties, killed, wounded and captured 1,257 enemies, and fought a straightforward battle of annihilation. ("Compilation of Historical Materials of the 45th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", Episode 3, compiled and printed by the Political Department of the 45th Army Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on August 1, 1950)

After the war, the head of the 45th Army said in the commendation order to the regiment: "In the battle of Huangtupu, where the main force of the White Bandits was wiped out in the Qibei Campaign, our 405th Regiment was led by the 135th Division, Wei Tongtai, the head of the regiment, and Jing Jing, the political commissar. Under the command and leadership of Comrades Jian and Deputy Head Han Huaizhi, Chief of Staff Zhang Wei, Director Zhou Wen, and Deputy Director Zhou Zizhen, the mobilization work was specific and in-depth, the troops were in high spirits, resolutely executed orders, and worked hard to create honor. Huangtupu actively grasped the opportunity of battle, the cadres took the lead, and moved very quickly. With the posture of a fierce tiger attacking a flock of sheep, they attacked from multiple directions and charged with grenades. All of them were wiped out, thousands of enemies were captured, and the leadership and command organization of the so-called "Steel Army" was destroyed. A special order was issued to reward the whole regiment once, and the 1st Battalion of the regiment twice, and the regiment's "Tiger" The pennants of "Fighting the Flock" and "Brave and Tenacious" of the 1st Battalion are on each side to show the glory of victory."

While the 405th Regiment was attacking the headquarters of the 7th Army, the 404th Regiment intercepted the enemy's 172nd Division in front of Lumen, north of Huangtupu, and immediately surrounded and prepared to attack the enemy. Since the headquarters of the 7th Army was wiped out first, Li Ben, the commander of the army, escaped alone, and the besieged enemies were leaderless, and there was chaos.