Chapter 360 8. The end of the "Steel Army"

Bai Chongxi's 7th Army is the trump card army of the Guangxi army. It is not only equipped with excellent weapons and equipment, but also has cunning and changeable tactics. It has always been favored and reused by Bai Chongxi.This army only lost one regiment after the PLA's million-strong army crossed the Yangtze River, and its strength was not affected. Bai Chongxi regarded it as a "firefighting team" to undertake the most important tasks. The officers and soldiers of the 7th Army are also pretentious and defiant, boasting that they are the "Steel Army", and posting leaflets everywhere saying "The Steel Army is tough, the Eighth Route Army dare not touch me".

However, after several days of fighting on Hengbao Road, the "Steel Army" became weak and chaotic. On the morning of the 10th, our army began to attack the encircled enemies.All troops are deployed in accordance with the decision of the field division, and launch attack operations against the enemy focusing on breakthroughs and annihilation.The 134th Division, 146th Division, and 158th Division attacked side by side from north to south. At 13:00, the 134th Division fought fiercely with the enemy's 176th Division in the south of Yanjiadian. By 20:00, the enemy's defense was broken through, causing the enemy's northern defense to collapse across the board. The 146th Division seized Tongluoping, Jieling and other places one after another, and arrived at Jiangjiachong at 16:00, defeating the defense of the 527th Regiment of the enemy's 176th Division. After the 158th Division broke through the enemy at Shizhu Bridge, it coordinated with the 134th Division to attack the enemy at Yanjiadian.

The 135th Division and the 121st Division attacked the enemy's 172nd Division from west to east.At this moment, the headquarters of the 172nd Division and its two regiments were blocked in a ravine in front of Lumen by the 404th Regiment of my 135th Division for a whole night. At 5 o'clock on the 10th, the 404 regiment launched a general offensive.At this time, the 403rd Regiment, which was approaching the main force of the division after being attacked by the enemy's tail when retreating from Tongluoping the day before, rushed to the Jingchong Mountain area to the east of Lumenqian. Actively cooperate with the 404 regiment to fight.As a result, the two regiments formed a flanking situation.Our army fought hard for 5 hours and wiped out the division headquarters and two regiments of the 172nd Division.After the war, the 45th Army issued an order to reward all the commanders and fighters of the 403rd and 404th regiments, and awarded the 3rd Battalion and 9th Company of the 403rd Regiment and the 1st Battalion and 1st Company of the 404th Regiment for "hard work in Jing Chongshan" and "bravely wiped out the enemy at Lumenqian" Each side of the pennant.

At the same time, the 121st Division defeated the enemy on the south side of Huangtupu at 8 o'clock on the 10th.The 119th Division, which attacked from east to west, and the 118th and 120th Divisions, which attacked from south to north, destroyed the enemy's defenses on the southeast and south.In the face of our army's powerful offensive, the enemy has completely lost the ability to organize resistance. In Ling Yunshang's words, "Every village and mountain is the People's Liberation Army, and the troops are attacked everywhere. It is really a net, and there is no way to escape. At this time, the troops are very chaotic and unable to escape." Command again."

The end of the "Steel Army" has come. On the 10th, the autumn wind was bleak and the drizzle was misty. Seeing that the situation was over, the remnants fled into the deep mountains and jungles.Our army immediately launched a search and suppression operation. Regarding the specific situation before and after the mountain search, a war reporter wrote: "...in order to search for these scattered bandits hiding everywhere, after the battle, our troops searched the mountain in groups of three and four non-stop day and night. For a while In the Wufeng Mountains, there were shouts all over the mountains and plains: "Give up your guns and don't kill!" and "Come out!" The voices of tens of thousands of torches were lit. Three, three, five, gray-faced prisoners were captured by our army from caves in all directions. In the house, in the pile of dead bodies, in the grass, in the common people's sweet potato cellar, in the pigsty, under the bed, in the cabinet... All the dirtiest and most hidden places have been pulled out one by one like a sparrow. So please take a look : These people who once raped and plundered and were used to oppressing the masses are now some covered with quilts and barefoot; There are so many different kinds of truths, it’s like a circus exhibition.”

"It's very interesting to say. It had been drizzling for the past few days, and the climate in the mountains was very cold. The group of white bandits' stray dogs were cold and hungry. Many people couldn't take it anymore and had to hand in their guns and surrender, but Some stubborn guys pretended to be dead in an attempt to evade the search of our mountain-searching troops. One night, when our army was searching quietly on the mountain, a soldier accidentally slipped and fell with one hand. But the other hand was placed on a hot and soft object. He quickly touched it with his hand, and it turned out to be a fat buttocks. So everyone immediately illuminated with a flashlight, and found a fat officer holding his head. He got under the dead body and pretended to be dead. Later, I took him back and asked him, but this guy was the chief of staff of the enemy's 176th Division. Another time, a battalion commander of the enemy also pretended to be dead, but the blood on his hands revealed his secret. I A soldier in the army deliberately said: "This man is dead too, let him be buried!" I know you're alive.' He said: 'Oh, I'm afraid you're buried alive!'"

One day our search team was washing their hands in a sand ditch, and suddenly found a person's head floating on the water in the grass by the river. Can't stop staring at them.At that time, they used guns to force the enemy to climb up, and then searched along the sand ditch, and found that twenty or thirty enemies were hiding in the water by this method.So our soldiers fished them out one by one like fishing.