Chapter 40 10. Leader in the martial arts field - Major General Li Desheng

During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there was a world-famous fierce battle on the center line of Korea, which was the Battle of Shangganling.The volunteer troops participating in this battle were mainly the 15th Army and the 12th Army. Qin Jiwei commanded the 15th Army and Li Desheng commanded the 12th Army. Later, Li Desheng served as the commander of the 12th Army.Later, Li Desheng served as deputy commander of the Nanjing Military Region, director of the General Political Department of the PLA, commander of the Shenyang Military Region, and political commissar of the National Defense University.Within the party, he also served as a member of the Politburo, member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and vice chairman of the party. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of major general; in 1988, he was awarded the rank of general.Among the generals of Erye, Li Desheng "comes from behind".Some people say: Qin Jiwei's name was made in Shangganling.And Li Desheng's name was also made in Shangganling.

On October 14, 1952, when the Battle of Shangganling started, Li Desheng's 12th Army had accepted the task of relocating and resting. But it's November 3rd.Wang Jinshan, acting commander of the Corps, called and asked Li Desheng to go to the Corps immediately to accept the task. Li Desheng rushed to the Corps Headquarters, and without saying a few words with Wang Jinshan, he entered the war room to listen to the situation briefing. Wang Jinshan has always been calm in commanding operations, but today he also seemed a little anxious. Pointing to the combat map on the wall, he said: "The situation in the Shangganling area is very serious. The enemy has invested an unprecedented amount of troops and firepower to attack the front of the Five Sacred Mountains. All the mobile forces that the 15th Army can invest have been used, but the enemy's offensive It has not weakened yet, and from all sources of information, the enemy will invest more troops in the later stage, and the battle will be more intense and cruel."

Wang Jinshan said: "Our determination is to resolutely defend Shangganling and not give up an inch of land! If the front of the Five Sacred Mountains is lost, the enemy will take advantage of the momentum to attack the Five Sacred Mountains and break through from our middle line. That will change the entire situation of the Korean War, and the consequences will be disastrous!" In this way, the 12th Army will no longer rest and reorganize, but will be ready to go into battle.Wang Jinshan said to Li Desheng: "You first use the leadership of the army to strengthen your command. In order to unify and strengthen the work on the front line of Shangganling, you are going to set up a combat command post on Wusheng Mountain. You will be in charge of commanding the 12th Army, 15th Army, etc. to fight on the front line. troops."

Li Desheng immediately stated that he would resolutely implement the orders of the Corps and command the battle on the front line.Wang Jinshan is the old leader of the 12th Army. He is very familiar with the situation of the 12th Army. He immediately studied the use of troops with Li Desheng.At that time, the 31st Division had all been pulled up, and then the 100th, 102nd, and 103rd regiments of the 34th and 35th Division's main regiments were all pulled up. After the research, Li Desheng did not return to the army, nor did he take any luggage. He only took a guard and rushed directly to Wushengshan. Go to the military headquarters, take orders, and set off quickly to intercept the troops! Now 3 regiments of our army are walking towards the rear. If you walk one more day, you will stay away from the front line for one day. You chase them by car and intercept them as soon as possible!"

Li Desheng rushed forward, while Zhang Jun chased back.Regardless of the danger of bombing and strafing by enemy planes during the day, Zhang Jun hurried on his way, found the 100th regiment, and intercepted the troops.Then he took a motorcycle to look for the 103rd regiment. On the way, he turned over into a ditch with the car and his people. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured. He got up and continued to drive, intercepting the 103rd regiment again. The 102nd regiment was intercepted by another combat staff officer of the military department. After receiving the order, the three regiments immediately turned around and marched towards the Shangganling battlefield in the starry night.

Li Desheng went straight to the front-line headquarters in a jeep, and he entered the enemy's artillery blockade area more than a dozen miles away from the front line. Along the way, there were flashes of shell explosions and shrapnel flying across the road. Sitting in the bumpy jeep, Li Desheng considered many issues from yesterday along the way.According to the battle situation, it can be clearly seen that the enemy's offensive has not weakened, the firepower is still very fierce, and the number of troops is constantly increasing. It is known that the enemy has invested the designation of 4 divisions, and the land and air firepower has penetrated dozens of miles deep into us. Such a large scale , not only for the positions of the two companies at the front of Shangganling?

After more than half a month of fierce fighting in our forward position, it has become a mess, and all the surface fortifications have been destroyed. How can the soldiers survive when they counterattack? The few remaining small tunnels are short of food, water, and ammunition, and cannot get in or out. How to solve food and drink, maintain physical strength, and replenish ammunition? From the frontier to tens of miles in depth, we climbed over the mountains and ridges, and enemy planes and artillery blocked it layer by layer. How to ensure the transportation of materials to the front? It takes several telephone operators to sacrifice a few telephone operators to pull a wire in the field, but it was cut off by a bombardment as soon as it was pulled up. How to keep the communication unblocked?

How to cooperate with artillery fire when counterattacking?How can we hold on to it?If there are too many people, they will be killed, but if there are too few, how can they defend? In order to reverse the passive situation, turn the enemy back, regain the forward position, stand firm and consolidate it, the task before Li Desheng is very arduous. On November 15, Li Desheng listened to Cui Jiangong, the commander of the 45th Division of the 15th Army, in the front-line command post, about the situation of the enemy and ourselves and the terrain. Li Desheng said to Cui Jiangong: "Old Cui, you are familiar with the situation. You must stay. I am Those who came alone, the comrades in the command post must also stay."

Cui Jiangong said humorously: "Deputy Commander Li, you will be the commander, and I will be the staff officer. I will give you whatever you want. The 'landlord' should fulfill the friendship of the 'landlord'! Besides, the troops of the 45th Division will come back after a rest." After understanding the situation, analyzing and researching, Li Desheng considered that the follow-up troops of the US military showed signs of entering the battle, so he suggested to Qin Jiwei, the commander of the 15th Army, to first consolidate the surface position on the 597.9 highland, and postpone the time to counterattack the surface position on the 537.7 highland Beishan to November 11. day.According to the repetitive and fast-changing characteristics of battles, in order not to miss the opportunity, the centralized command is emphasized, and multi-level command and decentralized command are avoided. In terms of tactics, small groups of soldiers are mostly used to fight against the enemy's herd tactics.

Nie Jifeng, the political commissar of the 45th Division, later recalled Li Desheng’s command in Shangganling and said: Li Desheng did not distinguish between them in employing personnel. Think big, get specific.Not only has the overall situation in mind, but also has a specific grasp of a tunnel, a position, and even a small group of soldiers; handle all aspects of the relationship well, and screw the cadres of the 31st Division, the 29th Division, and the 45th Division together.Due to the emphasis on the unity between brother troops, the foundation for combat coordination was laid. Without close ideological unity, there will be no close coordination in battle; without unity and coordination, there will be no Shangganling.In the Battle of Shangganling, we can fully see the unity and fighting friendship among the brothers. The 45th Division and the 29th Division jointly guarded a hilltop and shared a tunnel. When they launched a major counterattack against the 597.9 highland, they joined hands to attack a hilltop; Together with the 45th Division, they stood firm on the surface; in the battle to seize the 537.7 Heights and go north on November 11, the 31st Division attacked from the ground, and the 29th Division attacked from the tunnel to cooperate.They are closely united and provide a reliable guarantee for the victory of the battle.

When Liu Xuan, the former political commissar of the 31st Division, talked about the battle years of the 31st Division in Shangganling, he specifically mentioned Li Desheng’s command. He said: “Deputy Commander Li is a very comprehensive commander. He fights steadily and pays attention to tactics; You can talk to him. Combat is fine, training is also fine.” When it comes to Li Desheng’s style of seeking truth from facts.He also told a story: After our army launched a major counterattack in the Battle of Shangganling and regained the surface position of the 597.9 highland, the 93rd regiment was ordered to take over the defense of the highland held by the 45th division on November 5.While the troops were moving forward, the staff of the regiment's command post reported to Li Desheng that Yao Lifan, the deputy head of the regiment, was cowering.Faltering is a taboo in combat, especially for commanders, and it will bring serious consequences to the troops.After Li Desheng heard the report, he resolutely ordered Yao Lifan to be dismissed.At that time, the leading comrades of a regiment of the 45th Division who stayed at the regiment command post as an adviser felt that this situation did not match the actual situation, because he saw with his own eyes that Yao Lifan decided to suspend the advance of the troops when the troops suffered heavy casualties. Yao Lifan went to the front to inspect the terrain himself, commanded the troops to widen the distance, and leaped forward individually. How could this be said to be shrinking?He reported his opinion to Li Desheng, and Li Desheng immediately revoked Yao's punishment after verification. After Li Desheng led the main force of the 12th Army to accept the defense mission of Shangganling, he learned from the experience and lessons of the 15th Army's previous operations, extensively carried out military democracy, and came up with many new ways to defeat the enemy. First the ammo transport issue has been improved. The original ammunition depot of the 15th Army was more than ten miles away from the front line. Small-scale battles based on flat defensive positions did not consume much ammunition and could be handled. The enemy used a lot of long-range artillery fire and aircraft. From the front to our position, it was tens of miles deep, and the firepower was blocked layer by layer, and the blockade became tighter as we went forward.There is no road ahead, and it is all carried by manpower, long-distance transportation, and over mountains and mountains, which is long and tiring.In the transport troops, some soldiers were so tired that they vomited blood. When they reached the front, they were so tired that they didn't even have the strength to run through the blockade, causing a lot of casualties.In response to these situations, the 12th Army came up with a method of segmented transportation.Carriage by car behind the mountain, and then forward, from the regiment logistics to the battalion to the company, every 50 meters as a section, transported by several people, dig a few cat's ear holes along the way, hide the ammunition, and pay close attention to the gaps between the enemy's artillery fire. Ship it forward.This method works very well, greatly reducing casualties, and basically ensuring that there is sufficient ammunition for combat at the front. The problem of food in the forward positions has also been improved.Due to the fierce fighting, in the scattered positions, the soldiers who were blocked and isolated by the enemy, no one knew after losing contact with the company, and sometimes they had no food or drink, exhausted and unable to fight.In response to this situation, the 12th Army organized the food supply in a cave at the foot of the Five Sacred Mountains that could avoid enemy artillery bombardment. A dozen cooks were drawn from each company to cook the food day and night without turning off the fire 24 hours a day. Steamed bun.Steamed stuffed buns came out continuously, and a special transport team was organized to transport cooked food to the front without interruption, day and night, braving the artillery fire and snow.In order to keep warm, they were wrapped in cotton clothes. Considering the fierce battle at the front and it was inconvenient to eat together, they were packed in small bags. A bag of more than a dozen steamed buns and steamed buns was sent up with dozens of bags at a time. The cooks went to the battlefield to find people. , Throwing bags to the soldiers.If the water can't be transported up, they will send apples to quench their thirst and hunger. When the 12th Army accepted the task and went to the battlefield, all the fortifications on the battlefield were blown up, and there was empty soil everywhere, and one foot was knee-deep, and the surface fortifications could not be dug. How can we fight without fortifications?According to previous combat experience, only sacks of soil were used to build fortifications.Li Desheng immediately asked the staff to call the army: "Send 1,000 sacks!" The army sent the sacks quickly by car that night and transported them to the front.The communication problem has also been improved. At that time, the enemy and the enemy gathered heavy troops in the Shangganling area. The artillery fire from both sides hit these two small positions day and night. The telephone operator on the line went up and knocked out one by one. The casualties were too great, so the interrupted line was simply discarded, and the troops went up to fight back; the communication platoon followed up and pulled a new line.In the area slightly behind, as long as there is a conditional access, all the electric transportation lines are buried in the small soil ditch dug on the side of the trench.These measures have basically guaranteed the smooth communication between the regiment and the frontier.Of course, the telephony machine also played its due role, and it is generally equipped with companies and assault platoons. How to use troops?Although it is a tactical issue, it has an impact on the overall situation.The frontier position of Shangganling is narrow, and the enemy's artillery fire is unprecedentedly fierce. The more people go up, the greater the casualties, but we must hold the position, keep abreast of the enemy's situation, and be ready to repel the enemy's attacks of different scales at any time. What should we do? Regarding this problem, the 91st Regiment of the 12th Army quickly came up with an effective solution.After they entered the position, they carefully observed the enemy's activity patterns and the terrain characteristics of Shangganling, and felt that the main reason for the excessive casualties in the previous stage was the improper use of troops.Every time the enemy attacked, they sent too many personnel to meet the enemy, so that they were killed by enemy artillery fire.After accepting this serious lesson, the regiment decisively adopted a very special combat deployment adapted to this time and place: 9 infantry companies in the regiment, from the Five Sacred Mountains to the forefront, lined up in 9 echelons, making the division The regiment controlled a sufficient reserve team and ensured a steady stream of supplementary troops to deal with the enemy's continuous attack.This is not only the case with divisions and regiments, but even in the battle teams at the forefront, the battle team leader leads one person to defend the position, and masters a soldier to supplement at the back. When the enemy's heavy artillery fire hit, our position was sparsely populated, avoiding the enemy's superiority in firepower, and caused few casualties; and when a large number of enemies rushed to the position, our army's artillery fire, grenades, and blasting tubes played a major role, giving the enemy Devastating blow. When the regiment took over the defense, Li Desheng instructed them: "You must make the greatest determination and do everything possible to hold the position!" The 8th company of the 91st regiment occupied positions such as the main peak of 597.9, No. 3, No. 9, No. 10, No. 0, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6. Regardless of fatigue, the troops immediately seized the time to rush to repair the fortifications, using sacks, ammunition boxes, etc. Convenience equipment was built, some bunkers and traffic trenches were built, and sufficient ammunition was prepared at the same time. Not long after the 91st regiment took over the defense, the enemy launched a fierce attack on the 597.9 highland.First of all, we bombarded our position repeatedly with intensive firepower, fired nearly 100,000 shells, tanks drove to the foot of the mountain to approach and shoot, and more than a hundred sorties of aircraft bombed in turn, lasting for two hours.My position was full of gunpowder smoke, earth and rocks were flying, and all ground fortifications were destroyed.From 10 o'clock onwards, the enemy launched multiple and multi-stage fierce attacks on our positions with 5 battalions of troops.With the support of artillery firepower, our 8th company used troops according to the enemy's size and adopted the tactics of small soldiers to meet the enemy. The cadres and soldiers carried forward the brave spirit of fighting alone, and fought fiercely with the enemy for more than 7 hours. Only at the cost of 36 deaths and 59 injuries, they were killed. Injured nearly a thousand enemies. After the 12th Army took over the defense task of Shangganling, the artillery fire of Zhisi and Corps on the Shangganling area was also greatly strengthened.There are already 10 regiments and more than 170 heavy artillery pieces participating in the battle. This has played a huge role in bombarding the enemy's long-range artillery, curved artillery fire, and blocking the enemy's infantry attack.In particular, the anti-aircraft firepower is tightly organized. From the Deshan clam where the army's front finger is located to the entire Shangganling area at the front, a dense multi-layered fire net has been formed, frequently shooting down and injuring enemy aircraft. Shot down 5 enemy planes and damaged 17 enemy planes, making the enemy air force timid.In the Shangganling area, the number of enemy artillery correction aircraft became less and less, and other types of enemy aircraft did not dare to fly at low altitudes. This created an unprecedented condition for our army's vehicles to drive during the day, which ensured transportation and covered artillery. positions, supporting frontier operations. After November 5, the enemy was no longer able to launch a large-scale attack on Heights 597.9. On November 9th, the Military Commission and the General Staff sent a commendation telegram to the combat troops in the Shangjiling area.Zhisi immediately telegraphed the 3rd Corps and asked to "encourage the participating troops of the 15th Army and the 12th Army and the special forces units that cooperated in the operation to fight resolutely, strive for complete victory, restore and consolidate all positions, and then fight for greater damage to the enemy." In the first stage of Li Desheng leading the main force of the 12th Army to participate in the battle of Shangguoling, he focused on attacking the enemy who invaded the 597.9 highland.Except for the No. 11 position at the foot of the mountain between the 537.7 Beishan, the rest of the positions were restored and gradually consolidated by us. Li Desheng decided to move the focus of operations eastward to restore and consolidate the 537.7 Beishan position. In order to strengthen command, Li Desheng sent Li Changlin, the deputy commander of the 31st Division, to the front to personally control the 537.7 Beishan battle.Li Changlin is a veteran of the Red Army who joined the army in 1933. He has rich combat experience and a calm and steady command. The battle to counterattack the 537.7 Beishan is extremely difficult, because the main peak of the 537.7 highland in the south is occupied by the enemy, the Beishan is only more than 100 meters under the enemy's nose, the west is controlled by the firepower of the No. 597.9 highland enemy-occupied position, and the east is the enemy. The firepower is fired sideways, and this position is isolated and prominent, facing enemies from both sides.In addition, after the 3 enemies occupied the surface position of Beishan, they assaulted day and night, built relatively strong field fortifications, and set up a large number of obstacles such as barbed wire and landmines. Only a few tunnels were defended for me.Therefore, it turns out that 537.7 Beishan has a tough nature. In view of the above situation, Li Dexian and the leaders of the 31st Division decided to counterattack the 537.7 Beishan with 92 rounds and use part of the 9th company of the 93rd Regiment to counterattack the No. 11 position of the 597.9 Highland on the west side at the same time to contain the enemy and ensure that the 92nd Regiment attacked. Security on the west side.The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 93rd Regiment were used as reserves. The 3 companies of Han Wen's 2nd Division occupy the surface position of Beishan 537.7, and there are 2 companies in its depth as reserve teams.When Li Desheng deployed his troops, he concentrated 52 wild howitzers to bombard the North Mountain of 537.7; 16 wild howitzers to bombard the No. 11 position at the height of 597.9; and 13 wild howitzers to suppress the enemy's firepower on the South Mountain of Zhuzidong.Another forced right artillery group joined the battle. The "Katyusha" rockets were fired twice in 3 companies.After my successful counterattack, I will also use 6 howitzer companies to form a fixed blockade area of ​​1200 meters in front of the position, and block fire against the enemy's counterattack troops. With such a powerful firepower, it is unprecedented on the Korean battlefield to concentrate on a small position and destroy the enemy's supporting troops to counterattack. At 4:30 p.m. on November 11th, under our fierce fire attack and cover, the assault company of the 92nd Regiment rushed into the enemy's position in three ways, and fought fiercely for only 35 minutes. Outside the No. 9 position, there was another position firmly held by the remnants of the enemy. Our army seized all the positions at 537.7 Beishan in one fell swoop, and took over the troops who were struggling to stay in the tunnel.Our army immediately assaulted the fortifications overnight, preparing to meet the enemy's counterattack. Sure enough, the enemy did not give up. At dawn on the 12th, the remnants of the 3 regiments of the Korean 2nd Division, supported by more than 300 artillery pieces and more than 20 aircraft sorties, launched a continuous attack on our 537.7 Beishan.During the fierce battle, due to heavy casualties, I gave up the surface position and turned to the tunnel struggle. During the 4-day fierce battle, the 92nd regiment repeatedly competed with the enemy for positions, repelled nearly a hundred enemy attacks, and wiped out more than 2,900 enemies. While the 92nd Regiment counterattacked the 537.7 North Mountain, the 93rd Regiment 9 Company counterattacked the No. 11 position on the 597.9 Highland at 11 November. The 3rd Battalion Commander Zhen Shen personally went to the forefront to command the battle. He observed the terrain and the enemy's situation the day before the battle, and destroyed 19 enemy bunkers in succession with recoilless guns.When counterattacking the next day, with the support of artillery fire, the 9th company occupied the position in only 5 minutes, wiped out all the enemies, and eliminated the threat to the west of the 537.7 Beishan attacking force. On the morning of the 12th, an enemy battalion counterattacked frantically under the cover of artillery fire.My 9th company stubbornly resisted the enemy's attack with the tactics of small soldiers.The deputy squad leader Yang Guoliang's team repelled 21 enemy attacks and wiped out more than 400 enemies in one day and night. At the end of the battle, he was the only one left on the ground. On the night of the 12th, the 2nd company defended the 9th company, repelled more than 40 enemy attacks, and wiped out more than a thousand enemies. By November 20th, the enemy no longer dared to attack. So far, the 597 Li Heights have all recovered before the battle. situation. The record of the 12th Army in Shangganling is obvious to all. The 3rd Corps issued a general order to reward the 12th Army.The telegram stated: "You have just returned from successfully completing the blocking mission. Regardless of the hardships, you immediately participated in the battle for the front of the Five Sacred Mountains. Based on the existing victories of the 15th Army and under the coordination of powerful artillery fire, you fought back with high morale and defeated the enemy for several consecutive days. The 597.9 position stood still, especially on the evening of the 11th, and the 537.7 Beishan position was restored in one fell swoop. You fought bravely and tenaciously, repaired the fortifications quickly and well, and had flexible tactics. I hope you will continue to carry forward this small The fighting style of the group can not only hold the ground position at a small cost, but also kill the enemy in large numbers. We must persist in the battle until all our original positions are restored, and until the enemy does not easily attack the position." On November 17, Li Desheng sent the 106th Regiment of the 34th Division to Shangganling, replaced the 93rd Regiment and joined the 537.7 Beishan battle, and continued to compete with the enemy repeatedly for positions.Since the Battle of Shangganling started on October 14, after more than a month of fierce competition, the enemy suffered heavy casualties. The US 7th Division lost troops and had to withdraw from the battle. offensive.In view of this situation, Li Desheng gave the 106 regiment the task of fighting to the end.And ordered the regiment to change its tactics, concentrate its forces to guard the key points, concentrate on repairing fortifications, and improve combat and living conditions.On December 4th, the 106th regiment smashed the enemy's last fierce attack of more than two battalions, and the enemy was no longer able to carry out large-scale attacks on me. On November 28, the 31st Division of the 12th Army was ordered to transfer all the defense of the 597.9 Heights to the 15th Army. On December 15, the 106th regiment was ordered to hand over the 537.7 Beishan position to the 15th army.So far, the army has successfully completed the combat mission of participating in the Battle of Shangganling.With the end of the battle, the command post of the Five Sacred Mountains was withdrawn under the order of the 3rd Corps. Li Desheng bid farewell to his comrades in the 15th Army and returned to work in the 12th Army. Among the many military history books, the glorious achievements of the 15th Army in the Battle of Shangganling are praised more.Indeed, as the core backbone of the Shangganling War, the 15th Army quickly and timely concentrated its forces and weapons on the enemy's main attack direction after the start of the battle, fought bravely and tenaciously, frustrated the enemy's offensive edge, and thus laid the foundation for victory. The 15th Army has made great achievements.But the 12th Army should also be praised. After the 12th Army entered the battle, after tenacious defense, it smashed the enemy's final onslaught, consolidated the 597.9 highland, and continued to restore and consolidate the unnamed highland north of 537.7. In the human battle, our army won the final victory and established a meritorious service. The world-famous Battle of Shangganling is a shining example of the 15th Army and the 12th Army uniting and cooperating, living and dying together, and fighting the enemy side by side.Both units were the main force of the former 2nd Field Army. After the Battle of Shangganling, these two units became the famous ace troops in the People's Liberation Army.Similarly, Qin Jiwei and Li Desheng attracted national attention for their outstanding command in the battle of Shangganling. Later, they successively held higher positions and became important leaders of the People's Liberation Army.