The beacon of youth

Chapter 6 The Courage of the Guard Company

Each of the three main brigades of the second column has an artillery battalion that has not been established for a long time. This time, including the artillery of the independent regiment, there are a total of four artillery battalions. Although they are all called artillery battalions, the three artillery battalions Compared with the artillery of the independent regiment, it is far behind.

The number of artillery in each of the other three battalions is only more than 20, which is the number of artillery of various models, sizes and calibers, and the artillery training level of the artillery manipulation is incomparable with the artillery of the independent regiment .

But in any case, artillery must be artillery, and the smaller the caliber, the stronger it is than before. It is very impressive to gather the strength of the entire column.

The artillery level of the newly formed battalions is still only at the level where the artillery can be fired, and the accuracy of shooting is not easy to mention.

There is no change. It is not easy for soldiers who have not studied for a few days to improve their tactical level in a short period of time. There is an old saying in the People's Liberation Army that "put bayonets on cannons." In case of inaccurate shooting, the calculation of the ballistic coordinates is not good, so I had to use the traditional desperate and melee spirit to push the curved howitzer to a close point and shoot directly at the target. This style of play is very shocking and the effect is also very good. , but the casualties are too high, and sometimes the target and the attacking artillery are destroyed at the same time, that is, the troops of the Eighth Route Army and the People's Liberation Army dare to do this. The important reason is that it is not a good thing to wipe out all the hard-earned artillery units in one battle.

Knowing the situation, Gao Xiang immediately dispatched his artillery command team to several other battalions to command the battle. To put it bluntly, he took over their command and let the artillery of the independent regiment take over the command. It's not that he doesn't trust the soldiers of other battalions , but the war is approaching, and there is no time to train them carefully.

Artillery is the treasure of every combat unit, and these artillery were also brought back by the soldiers with great efforts, so most of the commanders are veterans in various units, and the artillery command team sent by Gao Xiang is not so particular. , a considerable part of the personnel are still prisoners. Here is the captain of the security regiment captured by Ning Erzi in the previous stage. This guy turned out to be an artillery professional. Such a professional level is also very rare among the soldiers of the independent regiment. This time he was also sent out by Gao Xiang, but he was no longer a captain of the Kuomintang, but an expert of the Howitzer Battalion of the Independent Regiment.

Don't look at the qualifications of the commanders of the brother troops, but you have to be convinced. Whoever makes you not good enough, qualifications are useless when it comes to the real chapter.

Four artillery battalions, the total number of artillery exceeds 120, just looking at the posture is very shocking. It is not only the first time in the history of the second column that so many artillery can be assembled in one column, but also the entire For the first time in the history of the Field Army.

Rows of artillery were lined up quietly, with their black muzzles pointing obliquely at the sky, and all shooting elements had been calibrated, waiting for an order from the headquarters.

Gao Xiang, who had been waiting for orders by the phone, pointed the watch pointer on his wrist to [-]:[-] p.m., and finally heard Commander Wang's excited voice from the microphone: "Gao Xiang, start."

Gao Xiang, who received the order, shouted loudly: "Attention all guns, test fire two guns."

The two reference guns of the independent regiment that had been prepared a long time ago fired the shells out immediately.

After watching the battlefield countless times and calculating the data countless times, these two shells undoubtedly hit the target they most wanted to hit.

Looking at the shells that landed accurately, Gao Xiang shouted with a binoculars in his hand: "Attention all artillery positions, there are all of them, the height remains the same, the pitch remains the same, six shots per shot, and fire quickly."

Six of each cannon, adding up to more than 700, so many shells were shot out in about 1 minute, and three sixes were fired in a row. After throwing more than 2000 shells, Gao Xiang finally issued an order to let the artillerymen Breathing command: "Eight intermittent shots."

The concentrated fire of the artillery of the second column smashed the area to be attacked, and everything was blown to pieces. Thousands of shells were fired in a blink of an eye.

Gao Xiang commanded the artillery column to bombard the area where the soldiers were about to attack, and bombarded it back and forth.

According to the Kuomintang defenders guarding the south of Yan'an City, they suffered a lot. The artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army surprised them at the beginning of the bombardment. Can the artillery fire of the Communist Army be so strong?I remember that a year ago they were fighting over a few bullets and grenades, and the changes have been too great.

At the same time as the artillery attack of the second column began, the independent regiment also started operations against the natural danger Laoshan. When the battle plan was formulated, several combat battalions were in full swing. At the critical moment of regaining Yan'an, they wanted to be the commandos to attack Laoshan.

Among these battalion commanders and instructors, the most noisy ones were of course the third battalion commander Ma Changsheng and the fifth battalion commander He Cuihua. Everyone gave a lot of reasons to say that they are the most suitable troops.

Political commissar Wang Chengde had no choice but to let the head of the regiment Li Yonglai decide. Li Yong had been listening to the arguments of these veterans, and finally decided to use Ma Changsheng's third battalion, He Cuihua's fifth battalion to attack from both sides, and Ning Jinshan's fourth battalion to attack from the front. There is no such thing as a commando. Whoever goes up first is the commando. How the battle goes depends on your own abilities.

The first battalion, the second battalion, the reconnaissance battalion, and the supply battalion were used as reserves. Wei Gang's machine gun battalion was dismantled by Li Yong into three parts, and assigned to the three main attacking infantry battalions, as their battalion's support firepower. .

Li Yong made the first battalion, the second battalion and the reconnaissance battalion the reserve team because of various considerations. The first battalion and the second battalion are the two battalions with the strongest combat effectiveness in the independent regiment. They also suffered the most battle casualties in the previous stage, especially in Yulin. In the battle, the casualties of the two battalions were half over, allowing the two battalions to relax properly will also help them improve their combat effectiveness in the future.

Needless to say, the reconnaissance battalion does not have the heavy weapons of the infantry battalion, and mountain attack is not their strong point, so the battalion commander Zhang Jinsong did not compete with these infantry battalions for any tasks, nor would he compete with the regimental commander and political commissar. give them.

In the end, Li Yong proposed another plan. The most dangerous part of Mount Lao is the back mountain. There is no way to attack the back mountain, and the troops cannot be deployed. But we can't let the enemy idle. A sudden attack may have an unexpected effect, and at the very least, it can draw in the enemy's firepower and troops for a few main attacking troops.

As soon as Li Yong proposed this plan, someone stood up suddenly, who is it?Li Yuming, a veteran of the independent regiment when it was founded, a soldier from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and the company commander of the guard company, Li Yuming: "Regimental Commander, give this task to our company, and we will definitely complete the task."

This is the first time that Li Yuming has fought for a task at a meeting, the guard company, the main task is to protect the regiment headquarters and the regiment leader from losses, and they basically have no share in big battles.

After Li Yuming finished speaking, the reconnaissance battalion commander Zhang Jinsong also stood up: "Oh, I said Li Yuming, how did your guard company steal our mission? This kind of work should be done by our reconnaissance battalion. Give us a battalion and make sure to complete the mission."

Li Yong didn't say yes or no, he just looked at Li Yuming and asked, "Why do you want to fight for this task? How sure are you?"

"Captain, do you still remember that we just established the spy company to fight Panlong? Wasn't it me who went up from the back mountain at that time? I have experience in mountain climbing. Our guards have been practicing mountain climbing except for the third row. I am sure to climb up the cliff from the back mountain."

Li Yuming's guard company has three platoons. The first and second platoons are combat platoons, which are mainly responsible for the security tasks of the regiment headquarters. The third platoon is the communication platoon in the regiment. It is the core confidential unit of the independent regiment, although it is under the jurisdiction of the guard company in name In fact, the platoon leader, Li Jia, is in charge of it all by herself. They don't participate in most of the training of the guard company. Their training content is all related to receiving telegrams, so Li Yuming can actually command and train the first and second guards. Row.

Li Yong continued to ask calmly: "Is there any reason?"

Speaking of this, Li Yuming is also a little embarrassed: "Commander, our regiment has been established for so long. Except for the first few fights that our guard company enjoyed, we didn't get a single big battle after that. It’s boring, our guard company wants to do more meritorious service and contribute to the recovery of Yan’an.”

When Li Yuming said that there was laughter in the venue, Zhang Jinsong also grinned and said: "I said what's going on, it turns out that Li Yuming is jealous of our meritorious deeds, that's all right, I won't argue with you this time."

Li Yong: "Are you sure to go up?"

Li Yuming: "Team leader, I was not idle when you and the political commissar were observing the terrain. I watched it all. Although the back mountain is quite steep, it is incomparable with Panlong Town. We are sure to go up."

Two guard platoons, more than 80 people, all stood excitedly outside the gate of the regiment headquarters. These people were all selected from various units in the regiment. Most of them were soldiers from the border area like Li Yuming, and some were old Red Army soldiers and soldiers. The descendants of the red guards, they have a common feature, they are loyal to the army and the commander.

What kind of officers are there, what kind of soldiers are brought out, the training content of the soldiers of these two guard platoons is not only ordinary combat skills, but also practice mountain climbing with Li Yuming, whoever told our company commander to do this well, this time it can be regarded as a crooked attack .

These soldiers are very familiar with the commanders of the regiment. Li Yong can basically call everyone by name, and he knows most of their tempers and characteristics.

Li Yong standing in front of the soldiers did not shout any slogans, but said in a low voice: "The task is very dangerous and difficult. I know that you are not afraid of death. Show your courage and let the enemy know what Shaanxi is." Soldiers from the Ganning border area, come out."