Chapter 5 Chapter 05 Detour to the two wings of Shanghai, the Yuepu area returned to the hands of the people

On May 12, the battle to liberate Shanghai officially began. At the beginning of the battle, the progress was relatively smooth. On the 12th, the armies of the first echelon of the 10th and 9th Corps jointly launched a peripheral battle, detoured to the two wings of Shanghai, and pincer Wusong.The 29th Army of the 10th Corps occupied Liuhe on the same day and wiped out a battalion of the defenders; the 28th Army occupied Taicang and Jiading on the 12th and 13th, and wiped out more than 2,000 defenders; Occupy Xiangxiang and capture more than 1,000 people.The 9th Corps' attacks in another attack direction also succeeded frequently.The 20th Army occupied Pinghu, Jinshanwei, and Fengxian successively from the 12th to the 14th; the 30th Army, under the cover of the 20th Army, attacked Pudong Gaoqiao along the highway north of Hangzhou Bay, and occupied Nanhui on the 14th; Occupy Jiaxing, Jiashan, Songjiang, Qingpu and other counties, and stand by to attack the urban areas.

Starting from the Battle of Songhu, the 28th Army and 29th Army of the Western Front Corps (that is, the 10th Corps) attacked Liuhe, Taicang, and Jiading respectively, and the Kuomintang defenders fled. On the 13th and 14th, they launched an attack on the enemies of Yuepu, Liuxing, and Yangxing, but were met with organized and tenacious resistance by the Kuomintang army, and the PLA troops suffered heavy losses.At this time, the 10th Corps adjusted its attack deployment according to the orders of Su Yu and Zhang Zhen of the Third Field Army: the 29th Army was the main force, and the main forces were concentrated to attack Yuepu; the 28th Army was the main force, and the main forces were concentrated to attack Yangxing. .At the same time, it was ordered that the 99th Division and 98th Division of the 33rd Army were assigned to the 29th Army and 28th Army respectively to participate in the battles to capture Yuepu and Yangxing; He ordered the 97th Division to send a battalion to act as a combat alert on the left wing of the Corps in Liuhe to prevent the Kuomintang army from making a surprise attack on the PLA's rear.

The 33rd Army, its predecessor was the Bohai Column. In February 1949, this column was jointly organized into the 33rd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Lingbi County, Anhui Province, and the Zhang Kexia Department of the 59th Army of the Kuomintang who had revolted in the Battle of Huaihai.Under the 97th, 98th, 99th Division and the Mountain Artillery Regiment.Army commander Zhang Kexia, political commissar Han Nianlong. Zhang Kexia is an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China. He has been doing military work in the Kuomintang army for a long time and has made remarkable achievements. On November 8, 1948, according to the instructions of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, he and He Jifeng (also an underground member of the Communist Party of China. During the July 7th Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, he served as the commander of the 110th Brigade of the 37th Division of the 29th Army of the Kuomintang, stationed in Shenggou Near the bridge, the command post rose up to fight against the Japanese attack) and led more than 20,000 people from the 59th Army and 77th Army of the former Kuomintang to stage a battlefield uprising in Taierzhuang and Jiawang areas.This feat played a major role in the complete annihilation of the Kuomintang Army Huang Baitao Corps and the victory in the Huaihai Campaign.

On the night of April 21, the 33rd Army followed the 27th Army across the Yangtze River and entered Nanling from Digang.Later, he was ordered to advance eastward through Xuancheng and Guangde, chasing and annihilating the Kuomintang troops retreating from Nanjing and Wuhu to Hangzhou. At that time, it was raining continuously, the roads were muddy, the troops were crowded, and the enemy planes harassed them. The cadres and soldiers traveled day and night, desperately advancing forward, and encountered the Kuomintang army in the Shiligou-Jiepai section in the east of Guangde City.The 97th Division, 98th Division and the various units of the army quickly deployed to intercept the enemy.After 10 hours of hard work, more than 15,000 enemies were wiped out.

After the Guangde battle, the 33rd Army stationed in the Wuxing area to gather and rest, preparing to participate in the battle to liberate Shanghai.When the leaders of the Third Field Army decided to assign it to the 10th Corps, the task assigned by the 10th Corps to the 33rd Army was: immediately march eastward to assemble in Changshu, serve as the reserve team of the Corps, and do a good job in the Yuepu and Yangxing areas on the way. Get ready for battle. The 99th Division, a battalion of the attached army's mountain artillery regiment, took over the 29th Army's Yuepu southeast 21.7 Highland, Niujiaojian, Caojiazhai, Yinjiazhai, and Majinzhai positions on May 16, and then ordered the 297th regiment to attack Cao and Yin. The Kuomintang defenders of the two houses launched an attack, planning to break through the enemy's position from here, cut off the Yuepu-Baoshan highway, and cooperate with the main force of the 29th Army to attack and annihilate.

After the 297th regiment accepted the task, it immediately organized troops to launch an attack.In the heavy rain for several days, after two days and nights of hard work, 250 casualties were paid, but they failed to break through the Kuomintang defenders, and formed a stalemate with them, and carried out close operations on the spot. The 296th Regiment repaired fortifications on the 21.7 Heights, Baojiazhai, and Niujiaojian in the southeast of Yuepu Town on the left wing of the division. Baoshan, to ensure the retreat at sea, quickly mobilized troops, and with the support of planes and tanks, they counterattacked to the 21.7 highland.Shan Yong, the battalion commander of the 296th regiment, organized the 2nd infantry company to carry out a counterattack, repelled the attack of the Kuomintang defenders, and wiped out more than 30 people. At 7:30 on May 21, the Kuomintang army launched a counterattack against the position of the 1st Battalion of the 296th Regiment of the People's Liberation Army, the 21.7 Highland, in three routes, in an attempt to seize the highland.The 1st and 3rd infantry companies, which were tasked with defending the 21.7 highlands, carried forward the tenacious spirit of perseverance. In the case of the disparity in the strength of the enemy and ourselves, they fought and fought with the enemy.

After that, the Kuomintang army concentrated more than 300 people, and once again launched a fierce attack on the 21.7 highland, breaking through the defensive positions of the 1st company and the 3rd company, and penetrated into the depth of the battalion defense.The battle situation was urgent, and the leader of the 296th regiment immediately ordered Wang Rongzhao, the deputy battalion commander of the 1st Battalion, and Qu Chunyuan, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Company, to lead a reinforced platoon to cooperate with the 1st and 3rd Infantry Company to counterattack the intruding Kuomintang army.Under the difficult conditions of running out of bullets and throwing grenades, we carried forward the fighting spirit of bravery, tenacity, and hard work, and fought and killed the enemy with bayonets, gun stocks, shovels, and wooden sticks. After half an hour of fierce fighting, more than 100 enemies were eliminated. 1, destroyed 1 tank, and all regained the positions once occupied by the enemy.In this battle, Ge Zhendong, the deputy commander of the 1st Infantry Company, stood firm on the front line of defense, fought with the intruding enemy individually, and stabbed 4 enemies to death with a bayonet. Ge Zhendong still held his rifle tightly after the sacrifice , facing the enemy. The commander of the 2nd company, Qu Chunyuan, commanded a soldier to use the only American-made rocket launcher to interrupt the tracks of an enemy tank that broke into the position first, forcing the rest of the tanks to turn around and flee. Under the cover of firepower, Zhao Fulai, a soldier of the 2nd company, climbed onto the enemy tank holding a 20-jin explosive package. To prevent the explosive package from rolling off the tank, he covered it tightly with his body and blew up the enemy tank. Tank, he sacrificed himself honorably.

On the Puxi side, the People's Liberation Army continued to attack Yuepu, Yangxing, and Liuxing, and launched a series of tough battles. Relying on solid fortifications and supported by naval guns and fortress artillery fire, the Yuepu garrison formed a dense cross-fire network, desperately blocking the attack of the People's Liberation Army. In the early morning of the 13th, the attacking troops of the 29th Army charged bravely in the sea of ​​bullets and fire, and captured some forward positions in Yuepu Town. On the evening of the 14th, another three regiments attacked from the west, north, and east, and at dawn on the 15th, they occupied Yuepu Street.At this point has been fighting for nearly 40 hours.Under the cover of tanks, the Kuomintang troops retreating to the small southeast highland outside Yuepu Town launched five attacks in one day.At the same time, the Kuomintang sea and air force bombed indiscriminately, and Yuepu Town was reduced to ruins. The PLA still firmly held its position despite the casualties.

On the night of May 13, our army launched an attack on the outskirts of Yuepu Town immediately after capturing Luodian.Suddenly, the sound of artillery broke the silence, and the flames of explosives rose into the sky.Just five minutes after the battle started, one of my assault companies swiftly destroyed one of the enemy's mother castles. The enemy saw that I was coming very fast, and immediately increased their firepower.Among the bursts of crazy shooting, there was a sharp and rapid gunshot, which sounded particularly harsh.Does the enemy have so many heavy machine guns?The commanders and fighters of the fifth company attacking Xianghua Bridge couldn't help but have doubts.

The squad leader of the demolition expert pointed to an enemy bunker with the most powerful firepower in the front right and asked the company commander: "Commander, kill it!" The company commander nodded, and the first squad leader jumped out of the bunker with two soldiers.When they were approaching the bunker through an open field more than 100 meters wide, the cunning enemy fired flares.Suddenly, the dark field was illuminated like daytime.The soldiers lying on the edge of the ridge were discovered, and the enemies of the side fort concentrated their fire on them. The dense rain of bullets made them unable to lift their heads.Watching the gap between the enemy's shots, he was about to leap forward when a soldier was shot and fell down.When the squad leader saw it, he was furious.He stared at the enemy's shooting hole, jumped up, and rushed to the enemy's fort with a few strides. "Dynamite!" he yelled out of habit.But looking back, Xiao Sun, who was holding the explosive bag, was blocked more than ten meters away and couldn't get up!

what to do?In this moment, time is victory.To open the way forward for the company, we must hurry up, and hurry up!He looked up at the enemy's stream of bullets pouring out from the shooting hole, and quickly gained his wits. He raised his body and put it against the wall between the two shooting holes of the enemy's fort, and took out a grenade and plugged it towards the shooting hole.When he squatted down just now, he saw a flash of fire in front of him, "Boom—" the grenade exploded behind him.It turned out that the cunning enemy threw the grenade out of the shooting hole the moment it was about to explode.Seeing this, the squad leader became even more angry!Looking at the company waiting to charge a hundred meters away, and looking at Xiao Sun who was blocked by the enemy beside a field ridge and couldn't lift his head, he suddenly made up his mind.He took out the only two grenades around him, held them tightly in his right hand, unscrewed the cover, pulled the string, and at the moment when the tail of the grenade was smoking, he slammed it into the enemy's fortress.The enemy machine gunner was playing triumphantly, when he saw two iron guys pushing in, he tried his best to push it out with his hands, but he was firmly resisted by the first squad leader.Just hearing a "boom", the enemy's machine gun went silent, and a squad leader was thrown to the ground by the blast. As soon as he got up, he saw his comrades rushing forward under the leadership of the company commander.Regardless of his injuries, he jumped into the traffic trench, kicked open the iron gate, and shouted: "Hand in your guns and don't kill me!" Unexpectedly, the enemies in the bunker were already dead or wounded, and their guns had already been lost, so there was no need to hand them in. !He picked up a somewhat strange rifle under his feet, turned around and said to the company commander who rushed up: "Company commander, there are so many machine guns. Look, counterfeit!" The company commander took a look at the rifle and recognized that it was an American-made five-shot semi-automatic rifle, and suddenly realized: "Oh, 'five-shot rifle'. No wonder the sound is so loud, it sounds like a machine gun!" Send a step", hastily requested: "Company commander, send it to me!" Just as he was about to reach out to get it, he realized that his right arm had already been injured, and blood was flowing down the broken sleeve.When the company commander saw him, he felt distressed for a while, and hurriedly asked the hygienist to bandage him.But he said, "It doesn't matter, just scratch the skin, what are you afraid of?" As soon as he was bandaged, he followed the troops along the Yueshi Highway and rushed towards the enemy's Dacun stronghold. It was already dawn when Dacun was captured.In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, the forward command post ordered the suspension of attacks during the day.It's just that the Japanese-style nine-four mountain cannons of the mountain artillery regiment directly under the military headquarters are constantly bombarding the enemy in depth.Not to be outdone, the arrogant enemy also fought back with artillery fire.For a moment, there was a rumbling sound that shook the earth, and even the thousand-year-old ginkgo tree in the northeast of the town seemed to be shaken. At nightfall, the attacks resumed.Relying on the three auxiliary fortifications on North Street and the high-rise fortifications standing at the intersection, the enemy formed firepower from three sides, cross-fired, and desperately resisted.They thought that the firepower was strong and the fortifications were solid, and our army could do nothing for him.In fact, tough battles are what this army is good at.A certain battalion in charge of the main attack braved the enemy's artillery fire and pushed five heavy machine guns to the front at once, shooting at the enemy at close range.The shooters aimed calmly, strafed fiercely, and quickly suppressed the enemy's firepower.The blasters who had moved to the edge of the town a long time ago, saw that the enemy's machine gun had become a "soft guy", and immediately rushed to the town.In an instant, the deer village was blown up, the barbed wire fence was blown to pieces, and the concrete bunkers were sent into the sky by "earth planes" one by one.It took only twelve minutes to wipe out all the defenders of a company in the bunker group on the right side of the street. Taking advantage of our army's undecided foothold, the enemy immediately counterattacked desperately with tanks and armored vehicles as the lead.Soldiers don't have much practice in fighting tanks, and at first they only knew the frontal hard top.But machine gun bullets don't work on tanks.The soldiers were in a hurry, and small Zhuge Liang meetings were held on the battlefield.Everyone agreed that hitting it head-on was not the solution, and it should be hit on its side.The deputy platoon leader of the second platoon suggested that a "new weapon"-oiled cotton grenade be manufactured immediately.That is to bundle three to five grenades into a bunch, wrap cotton on the outside, pour kerosene on the outside, and blow up the fuel tank of enemy tanks. The "new weapon" was built, and the courage of the soldiers doubled.This time, they crouched behind a pile of sandbags at the street corner, and when the tank approached, they jumped out suddenly, stuffed the string-stretched cluster grenade at the junction of the tank's track and the runner, and then rolled on the spot—— fall.There was only a sound of "boom", bombing and burning, the track was broken, the fuel tank was on fire, and the first tank that the enemy relied on to defend Yuepu was reimbursed!There are also a few tanks that look wrong, you bump into me, I bump into you, turn around and run away.Seeing that the timing was good, the soldiers hurriedly followed the enemy tanks and rushed into the depths.That's good, the enemy's tanks have become our shields.They fought very hard along the way, conquering 82 bunkers in a row, and occupying all the streets of Yuepu Town. That night, Tang Enbo, commander of the enemy Songhuhang garrison, heard that Yuepu had fallen, and was furious.Because Yuepu is adjacent to Shizilin Fortress in the north, Dingjiaqiao Airport in the east, and Wusong near the sea and river in the southeast, if Yuepu is lost and Wusong is exposed, the escape route of the Kuomintang troops at sea is in danger of being cut off.Therefore, the commander of the 52nd Army was strictly ordered to "take back Yuepu immediately at all costs."The enemy commander was terrified when he received the order, and immediately gathered troops including four divisions, and fought back violently against our army from the east, southeast, northeast, and north of Yuepu the next day.Played for a day, no progress.The enemy was in a hurry, and mobilized heavy artillery to bombard my position.The enemy ships at Wusongkou also showed great power and bombarded Yuepu with naval guns.Soon, the enemy planes were dispatched again.The small town of Yuepu was bombed to the point where its houses collapsed beyond recognition. But my heroic People's Liberation Army soldiers can't be bombed or killed! A certain machine gunner, Lao Chen, dragged his machine gun and was hiding in a private house.Suddenly a bomb fell on the house, and the roof collapsed immediately.With sharp ears and quick hands, he heard the whistling sound of the bomb, and immediately dragged the machine gun under a table of eight immortals, but was not injured.After that, the table covered with broken tiles and broken beams became the machine gun bunker he relied on to hold his ground. Xiao Zhang, a telephone operator, is setting up a switchboard on a stove.A shell from an enemy ship flew in and blew up the house.Xiao Zhang was injured in his right arm and was buried among the broken wood and rubble.He scraped away the soil and saw that the switchboard was in good condition, so he endured the pain and insisted on being on duty until late at night. The enemy's indiscriminate bombing aroused the incomparable anger of the commanders and fighters.Under the personal command of the head of the regiment, countless machine guns and rifles formed the anti-aircraft shooting team.While those enemy planes were flying low and diving complacently, the regiment commander shouted and fired a volley. The enemy plane flying the lowest was hit by a revenge bullet, and with a "boom", the fuel tank caught fire.I saw it turned over twice and shook a few times, like a ball of fire falling into the field.Seeing the death of their accomplices, the rest of the enemy planes dared not fly low anymore, dropped the bombs indiscriminately, and went back to pay their dues. As soon as the enemy plane left, the battle for the 217 highland in Baojiazhai in the northwest of the town began fiercely.After repeated scrambles, a certain company of ours who was sticking to the front suffered most of the casualties, and some positions in the front were also occupied by the enemy.At this critical juncture, the commander of the third company stepped forward, adopted offensive and defensive tactics, and led the soldiers to counterattack the enemy from the flanks.Only a cry of killing was heard, and hundreds of soldiers jumped out of the trench.The bullets were flying horizontally, and the bayonet was cold, and the forward position was taken back in just one round.After a while, the enemy gathered more than 200 people to charge me in a row, trying to regain the position again, but they were all repelled by my brave fighters one by one.At this time, most of the soldiers had run out of bullets, and there were not many grenades left. With the cooperation of tanks, the enemy rushed to the high ground again, and the situation was very critical.The third company commander decisively ordered the concentration of grenades and organized assaulters to deal with tanks; others used bayonets, shovels, and butts to fight the enemy face to face.Sure enough, "meeting on a narrow road, the brave wins". After a heroic struggle, the comrades of the first and third companies not only repelled the enemy's charge, but also destroyed an enemy tank.The 217 Heights are still in the hands of our army. In order to implement the superior's campaign policy of "attracting the enemy's urban troops to the suburbs to destroy them as much as possible", detain the enemy who came for reinforcements, and try to destroy them, the army command post ordered the troops to withdraw from Yuepu.As a result, the enemy rushed back to Yuepu, and lied layer after layer, creating the myth of "Yuepu Great Victory" and publicizing it.In order to "boost morale", four truckloads of prizes were specially loaded from Zhang Huabang, and those silver dollars and cans were rewarded to "meritorious soldiers" according to military rank. From May 18th, the fighting entered a stalemate.The sound of guns and guns faded away, but the commanders and fighters did not rest.On the one hand, they adjusted personnel to replenish ammunition; on the other hand, they held meetings to promote democracy and sum up the experience and lessons learned in the battle.In response to the two major obstacles of house-shaped barbed wire and tomb-shaped bunkers, the soldiers researched and manufactured simple and effective "new weapons" such as "moso bamboo powder cartridges" and "dynamite launchers", and carried out pre-battle training activities extensively.They are determined to re-enter Yuepu, and then annihilate and defend the enemy! The longed-for moment had finally come.On the night of the 22nd, two red signal bombs rose into the sky, and the small artillery of our mountain artillery regiment and the front troops bombarded the enemy's fortifications together.Due to a lot of reconnaissance in advance, the artillery was fired accurately and fiercely, and the enemy was terrified. As soon as the aggressive charge sounded, our army stormed Yuepu in three directions.Due to adequate preparations and familiarity with the terrain, all the troops broke through the enemy's auxiliary fortifications and entered the town in one go.Facing the powerful offensive, most of the defenders in the town lost their fighting spirit and set fire to their houses while preparing to escape.Some stubborn enemies occupy the high room and shoot at me desperately.In order to suppress the enemy's firepower, I went to a certain fifth company on the edge of the town, set up a pursuit gun and was about to bombard the enemy's machine gun nest on a high building.No, you must be responsible to the masses!The instructor immediately ordered the shelling to stop, immediately organized machine gun cover, and led a platoon to rush in the direction of the crowd's shouts.Unexpectedly, they were attacked by flanking enemy fire halfway, and more than a dozen soldiers fell one after another.The comrades rushing to the front were about to stop to help their wounded comrades. The Communist Party member Lao Zhao waved his hands and shouted: "Hurry up and save the fellow!" The comrades in front gritted their teeth, turned around and rushed forward again. It turned out that more than 20 peasants who were arrested to repair fortifications and work as civilian husbands hid in a cave when our army attacked and the enemy was in chaos.Unexpectedly, a large firewood pile at the entrance of the cave was set on fire by the Kuomintang troops. They had nowhere to take their way, so they shouted in the cave.Needless to say, as soon as the soldiers arrived, they immediately rescued them.But the Kuomintang army shot desperately when they saw it.The soldiers had to fight back while fighting the fire.The rescued masses were so excited that they could hardly speak. At this time, the three armies all attacked the town street.While chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy, the troops organized fire fighting.Hearing that the People's Liberation Army captured Yuepu, many people also ran back to join the firefighting ranks.So our army advanced to the 2532 highland in the southeast of the town. The 2532 Highland is the commanding height of the Yuepu area.The enemy has set up ring-shaped bunkers and various obstacles and trenches here, and the open land is flatter and wider than other places.Obviously, the enemy regards this as a core position.Right now, they are trying to hide in a corner and wait for help. After our command post detected the enemy's situation, we decided to detour all the way to the right side and wedge into the depth of the enemy while the artillery fire was attacking; we waited for an opportunity to attack frontally.That night, the majestic cannon of the Mountain Artillery Regiment rang again.Before the artillery fire stopped completely, the second battalion of a certain unit that I was the main attacker launched a charge.Unexpectedly, due to the strong enemy fort and extremely thick soil, most of the enemy's firepower points were not destroyed.When I was approaching the enemy's forward position, the enemy suddenly suppressed me with intensive machine gun fire.The troops failed to attack, and the battalion commander clenched his fists in anxiety.Seeing this scene, the command post immediately transferred the pursuit artillery to deal with the enemy's mother fort.Selected machine gunners also used river ditches to repair bunkers and fired continuously at the enemy. The attack began again, with the battalion commander leading the charge.The machine gunners used their expertise to find the enemy's machine gun nest, and overwhelmed the rampant enemy with accurate and fierce firepower.The blasting team took advantage of the momentum and carried the "explosive launcher" as close as possible to the enemy fort.They found a favorable terrain and threw explosives one by one onto the top of the enemy's fort, blowing up the enemy's fort.The second battalion commander jumped up and shouted: "Come on!" The troops rushed up like a tide.The enemy was about to struggle desperately, when he suddenly heard gunshots from the left rear.It turned out that the troops ordered by our army to attack in a roundabout way also attacked, and they were even more panicked.He was hesitating, and was blown to death by the "feed" grenade, and fainted, and the rest hurriedly raised their hands and surrendered. In this way, our army captured more than 100 bunkers in a row and captured more than 300 enemies.2532 Highland was captured.At the same time, friendly troops went straight into the airport and wiped out the remnants of Yuepu Airport in one fell swoop.The Yuepu area has since returned to the hands of the people.