The bandits are trapped in the cave and fly into the secret **, which is really sandy
In late July 1950, a reconnaissance platoon of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) anti-bandit unit successfully blocked the entrance to a cave. The bandits inside the cave were constantly strafing with machine guns.
At this critical moment, Wei Yulin, the hero of the bandit suppression and the platoon commander, was in a hurry, and he threw a bag of sand into the cave. The cave instantly fell into a dusty scene, which was an unprecedented "new style" in the eyes of the bandits, and they were terrified.
In the end, the bandits put down their **, disarmed and surrendered. In this battle, even Zhang Hailu, the bandit leader known as the "Emperor of Ningnan", became our prisoner.
On September 26, 1949, Ningxia was liberated, and the Ma Hongkui gang completely disappeared. However, thousands of remnants fled into the mountainous area of Ningnan, which is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, with dangerous terrain and inconvenient transportation.
These remnants colluded with each other, occupied dangerous mountain passes, killed people and set fires, did all kinds of evil, and were arrogant. In just a few months, the remnants launched 36 sneak attacks on passing troops, resulting in the unfortunate death of more than 170 cadres and fighters.
Among them, the remnants of bandits who were active in the mountainous areas of Tongxin, Haiyuan, and Guyuan counties at the junction of Gansu and Ningxia provinces were the most rampant. These remnants were divided into more than 20 groups, with the largest group numbering two or three hundred people, and the smallest group having thirty or fifty people.
Among them, Ma Shaowu, nicknamed "Nan Batian", and Zhang Hailu, nicknamed "Emperor Taishang of Ningnan", are the most powerful. Ma Shaowu was a native of Tongxin County, Ningxia, and in 1936, the Red Army's Western Route Army was attacked by Ma Shaowu's bandits in Tongxin County, and many soldiers of the Western Route Army were killed.
Ma Shaowu was ruthless, and the local people hated and feared him, and gave him the nickname "Nanbatian". In July 1949, Ma Shaowu led more than 200 bandits to attack a guerrilla unit of our army in Wangjiawan, Guyuan County, and more than 20 guerrilla fighters died.
A month later, the Ma Shaowu bandits attacked again, looting more than 50 rifles and a large amount of ammunition from the Ningbian District, the capital of Gansu Province, and two soldiers who served as guards died heroically.
In mid-January 1950, Ma Shaowu's bandits, who were entrenched in the Miaoshan area southwest of Gaoyazi in Tongxin County, robbed a caravan and stole more than 20 mules and horses.
Two days later, they ambushed a convoy of our army's camels on the road and snatched 33 camels, two light machine guns, one heavy machine gun, 70 rifles, and a large amount of military supplies.
A few days later, they robbed the Gaoya grain depot again, robbing more than 20,000 catties of wheat and flour, more than 450 stones of fodder, and more than 60,000 catties of forage. Subsequently, they snatched more than 50 young women from Gaoya and Yuwang towns and brought them back to the bandits' nest temple mountain for the bandits to take turns to spoil them.
The local people are living in dire straits and have fled one after another. In the face of the evil deeds of the bandits, the local people desperately hoped that the People's Liberation Army would send troops to suppress the bandits.
On January 26, 1950, the 1st Independent Division of the Ningxia Military Region of the People's Liberation Army, under the command of Chief of Staff Niu Huadong and Division Commander Huang Luobin, mobilized two battalions of troops, divided the troops into two routes, set off from Lingwu County, avoided the road, and marched more than 200 kilometers day and night along the mountain road, rushing to attack the bandits' Laochaomiao Mountain.
The elevation of the temple mountain is 1780 meters, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, there is an ancient temple on the top of the mountain, and the temple mountain is named because of this. According to the battle plan, the troops raided from the east, west, and north to strike a surprise blow at the bandits entrenched on Temple Mountain.
It was a gloomy night, so dark that I couldn't see my fingers. The troops hired three men to be their guides, and two of them turned out to be the eyes of the bandits, and they led the troops around the ravine all night before slipping away.
The bandits discovered the whereabouts of the troops at the top of the mountain and took the initiative to report to the troops. Despite the fact that the troops were the main force of the field army and were more effective than the bandits, they were still exhausted. However, the young gunner managed to destroy the bandits' firepower point with three shells, and the bandits were in disarray, and the cavalry company quickly attacked, blocking the only way for the bandits to escape.
With the cooperation of machine gun fire, the fighters armed with submachine guns and fought up the mountain. Half an hour later, the fighting ended, with more than 70 bandits killed or wounded, and more than a dozen more captured.
During the battle, the bandit leader Ma Shaowu and the bandit squadron leader Li Chengfu were seriously injured and climbed down the cliff along the rope and fled. In addition, more than 70 bandits escaped from the encirclement under the leadership of the bandit leaders Ma Qingyun and Li Shaojun and fled to the area west of Gaoya Town, and more than 20 bandits fled down Miaoshan and fled to the area around Yuwang Town under the leadership of the bandit leader Hao Fuxiang.
In this battle, the 1st Independent Division of the Ningxia Military Region of the People's Liberation Army successfully dealt a blow to the arrogance of the bandits and protected the safety of the people's lives and property.
After several days of pursuit, the anti-bandit troops successfully forced back the fleeing bandits, and the bandit leaders Ma Shaowu and Li Chengfu were like lost dogs, embarrassed. They first fled to the home of a wealthy farmer in Yangjiawan, but were soon tracked down by bandit forces.
In order to avoid being searched, Ma Shaowu and Li Chengfu were forced to hide in all directions**, and finally fled to the mountains near Chuankou Village in Guyuan County. In these nine cold days, the cavalry company of the bandit suppression unit braved the wind and snow and pursued for 7 days and 7 nights.
The warriors learned the lesson of the last time they looked for a guide, and always quietly detoured when passing through the village, trying not to miss any clues. It wasn't until February 10 that the soldiers were looking carefully in the ice and snow when they suddenly heard a gunshot in a cliff cave near the village of Shitang in Zhang'er, which was particularly harsh in the silent valley.
The warriors followed the sound and found a cave in the cliff, and a winding and steep path led to the entrance of the cave, and the snow on the path reflected clear footprints. One of the militiamen volunteered to go up to find the way, but unfortunately a bullet was fired from a cave in the cliff, and the militiaman fell to the ground, blood staining the snow red.
Two more fighters moved quickly towards the entrance of the cave with extremely skillful tactical movements, alternating cover, but the bandits in the cave were condescending, and the path was uncovered, and the two fighters were shot and killed again.
The attack of the bandit suppression troops was blocked, and the north wind howled, blowing unsteady on people's feet, and the temperature was so low that it turned into ice. The company leader stared at the hole hanging lonely on the cliff and frowned.
At this point, a little warrior turned purple from the cold, and he muttered to himself, "If only there were a bonfire." This sentence woke up the dreamer, and the company commander immediately called a few sturdy soldiers, climbed to the top of the mountain, found bundles of wood and tied them with thin wire, lit them, and slowly lowered them near the entrance of the cave.
The strong north wind blew the smoke into the hole, and in order to make the smoke more powerful, the warriors also had the ingenuity to stuff a lot of dried peppers into the wood. In the end, the bandits hiding in the cave could not hold on, and they wept and wept out of the cave in embarrassment, surrendering their guns.
In this way, the bandit leaders Ma Shaowu and Li Chengfu were arrested. In the cave, the soldiers also found a corpse, he was the village chief of Shitang Village, Zhang'er, who kindly went up the mountain to persuade Ma Shaowu to recognize the situation and abandon the darkness as soon as possible.
However, instead of listening to the advice, the stubborn Ma Shaowu became angry and shot the village chief, only to attract the attention of the bandit suppression troops who were carrying out a mission nearby.
After Ma Shaowu and Li Chengfu were successfully captured, the bandits were armed, and the bandits were leaderless, thus giving the bandit troops the opportunity to break them one by one. In mid-February, the anti-bandit forces wiped out Ma Qingyun's bandits in the areas of Haiyuan and Yancheng.
A few days later, another escaped bandit leader, Hei Fuxiang, was killed, and a few days later, the bandit leader Wang Yanfu led more than 100 bandits to surrender with guns.
Ma Shaowu committed a great crime, and was soon captured by the bandit troops. But Li Chengfu, the bandit leader who was with Ma Shaowu, actually released him after a short period of education.
Li Chengfu, nicknamed Li Dapaw, is extremely greedy and cunning. After the bandit suppression force released him, he had no intention of repenting, colluded with another bandit leader, Wang Yanfu, and took refuge in Zhang Hailu, the bandit leader known as the "Southern Batian".
In order to gain Zhang Hailu's trust as soon as possible, Li Chengfu took the initiative to invite Ying and led more than a dozen bandits including Yang Xuebao and Li Tongcun to attack a local district office. Unexpectedly, the anti-bandit troops had already taken precautions and set traps to wipe out these wicked people.
More than a dozen bandits including Yang Xuebao and Li Tongcun were all arrested, but Li Chengfu escaped. According to the confessions of the captives, the fighters of the anti-bandit unit came to the barber shop in a nearby town.
Li Chengfu is quite talented, and at the moment he is holding a razor and shaved the hair and face of the guest. When Li Chengfu saw the heavily armed fighters walking in, he immediately understood that he had been betrayed by his accomplices.
But he reacted quickly, first pretending to be pitiful, kneeling on the ground, and kowtowing to the fighters like a chicken pecking rice. And promise that you will never do anything bad again.
The soldiers wanted to take Li Chengfu away, but Li Chengfu put forward a condition, he said that he was a shaver, based on faith, and asked him to send the guest away first, and then go with the soldiers.
The fighters agreed to his request, and they stood by and watched Li Chengfu, giving his guests a haircut and shaved their faces. Soon, he completed the task, and then pretended to be pitiful and said: "I won't collect any money today."
The barber said to the soldiers of the anti-bandit unit: "Put down the butcher's knife, become a Buddha on the spot, do not kill everything, and give others a chance to regret it." Li Chengfu didn't speak, just knelt on the ground with tears in his eyes and kowtowed.
The soldiers relented and spared Li Chengfu again. Li Chengfu did not repent, and went up the mountain to become a bandit that night, and continued to do many evils. The anti-bandit troops had the patience to capture seven and seven columns, but the local people did not understand the practice of releasing Li Chengfu again, believing that this was a release of the tiger and returning to the mountain, and that they were too tolerant of those bandits who committed the most heinous crimes.
Under these circumstances, Chief of Staff Niu Huadong held an emergency meeting in Gaoya Town, and everyone unanimously agreed that Li Chengfusheng must be captured alive again and severely punished in order to dispel the concerns of ordinary people.
At this moment, the correspondent whispered a few words in the ear of Chief of Staff Niu, and Chief of Staff Niu's face changed and followed the guards out of the venue. There was a village cadre named Jin Minghao, who hid in a corner where no one was around, and said to Chief of Staff Niu: "Li Chengfu is now in his ** house in Gaoya Town."
Chief of Staff Niu asked curiously: "This is a matter of receiving awards for meritorious service, why don't you go up to the venue to talk about it?" Jin Ming said: "District Chief Zhang, who presided over the meeting today, is also the eyeliner of the bandits."
In order not to startle the snake, Chief of Staff Niu sent more than a dozen shrewd scouts to follow Jin Minghao to arrest Li Chengfu. Chief of Staff Niu himself returned to the meeting venue as if nothing had happened, and continued to preside over the meeting to suppress the bandits.
At about 8 o'clock in the evening of the same day, the scouts escorted Li Chengfu and appeared at the venue. District Chief Zhang, who presided over the meeting, turned pale and sat on the ground. The next day, the anti-bandit forces held a public judgment meeting in Gaoya Town, and countless victims rushed to the stage to accuse Li Chengfu of his crimes, and unanimously demanded that Li Chengfu be sentenced to death.
At noon, Chief of Staff Niu of the anti-bandit unit pronounced the verdict on the spot and shot Li Chengfu, the most vicious habitual bandit, on the spot. The people at the scene all applauded. The shooting of Li Chengfu also played a role in killing chickens and setting an example for monkeys, and those scattered bandits in groups of three or five went out of the mountains one after another to the rehabilitation point set up by the anti-bandit troops, surrendered their guns, and reformed themselves.
By June of the same year, Zhang Hailu was the only one left in the local bandit.
Zhang Hailu, a native of Hanjiaji in Linxia, Gansu Province, was once a brigade commander of Ma Hongkui. He is familiar with military affairs, terrain, and is good at winning people's hearts. Although it is on par with Ma Shaowu, it is recognized as more difficult to deal with than Ma Shaowu.
His bandits were skilled and erratic, marching at night, sometimes raiding four or five locations in a single night. They did not dress uniformly, and they were accustomed to breaking down into pieces and committing crimes in a scattered manner.
In the event of a large-scale operation, they will hide their guns and horses and mix them with the people. Their killing methods were cruel, and they once killed the younger brother of Township Chief Huang in Xishan Yao Township** and robbed a large number of supplies.
Later, he killed four village cadres in the Huangguchuan area, cut off their heads and hung them on trees. Although the bandit suppression forces attacked twice, they failed to achieve any results, and Zhang Hailu became even more arrogant.
But the cunning fox couldn't fight the hunters after all, and the bandit troops finally pursued them at Xingren Fort in Haiyuan County. The soldiers pursued for 8 days and nights, traveling more than 1,000 miles, and finally forced them back to Huangguchuan in Laochao Haiyuan County.
They were broken into pieces and fled into the nearby mountains.
In a certain area, the local militia cooperated with the anti-bandit forces to carry out a large-scale dragnet search, but because the search area was too large, the number of bandits arrested for two consecutive days was not large.
In the process, Wei Yulin, a 19-year-old reconnaissance platoon commander, discovered that bandits often choose to hide around water sources during the hot summer season, with keen observation and in-depth thinking.
Based on this discovery, he continued to search for the remnants of the bandits, and captured more than 50 prisoners in just one day. This successful experience was widely disseminated, and two days later, almost all of the more than 400 bandits under Zhang Hailu were arrested.
However, during the interrogation of the captives, it was found that there was no trace of Zhang Hailu and the other seven bandit leaders. After interrogation, the bandit leader confessed that Zhang Hailu was hiding in a cave in a nearby mountain, and this cave had water, so there was no need to worry about drinking water.
However, no one can say exactly where the cave is. In order to find Zhang Hailu and others as soon as possible, the anti-bandit force once again organized a large-scale search force. After three days of hard work, nothing was found.
On the morning of the fourth day, near noon, Wei Yulin led the soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon to search in a waist-high ravine of artemisia grass when they found a 10-year-old boy hiding in the grass with a basket on his back.
The basket contained six large cauldron helmets, which the boy claimed were for his own food, but his panicked expression as he spoke was noticed by the scouts. Wei Yulin kindly questioned the little boy and found out that he was actually forced by the bandits to deliver dry food every day.
In the end, the little boy admits that the pot helmets were given to the bandits in the cave. Through the clues of the little boy, the bandit troops found Zhang Hailu and others hiding in the cave.
This successful search once again proved Wei Yulin's observation and judgment. His experience and strategy not only helped the anti-bandit force successfully capture the bandits, but also showed us his bravery and wisdom.
Under Wei Yulin's repeated persuasion, the little boy was finally willing to lead the way to the scouts. They found a cave that was hard to spot, and the little boy asserted: "The bandits are inside." ”
The scouts took advantage of the terrain and surrounded the cave. Wei Yulin began to shout to the bandits in the cave: "You have been surrounded, now you can't fly with your wings, put down the ** and surrender, this is your only way out." ”
However, before the words fell, a dense machine was shot out of the mouth of the cave, and the bandits in the cave resisted stubbornly, and the fighters of the reconnaissance platoon threw several grenades into the cave, and immediately the smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and shrapnel flew sideways.
With his rich combat experience, Wei Yulin heard that the cave was not big. So, he commanded the fighters to throw more than 20 grenades, but the bandits still had no intention of surrendering.
Wei Yulin had an idea, wrapped a bag of fine sand and soil in his clothes, and shouted in a bluff: "You try the power of this explosive pack." As he spoke, he threw the bag of sand into the cave, and the cave was filled with dust.
He shouted again: "This explosive bag is damp, bring me another big one, I have to blow up the cave today." This frightened the bandits into disarray, and some cried and begged for mercy: "Please don't blow up, we surrender." ”
Eventually, the seven grizzled bandits walked out of the cave trembling with their hands raised. Wei Yulin shouted: "Is there anyone else? A surrendered bandit shouted into the cave with a sad face: "Brigade commander, don't hold on, it's better to die than to live, we are all starving to death, what can we do?" ”
In the end, Zhang Hailu raised his hand extremely reluctantly, walked out of the cave, and honestly became a prisoner.
Zhang Hailu's gang was completely eliminated, and more than a dozen of the most heinous bandit leaders, including Zhang Hailu and Ma Shaowu, were publicly executed a few days later. On the execution ground, the bandit leaders who were about to die were terrified, and their whole bodies trembled, and the arrogance of the past was long gone.