In September 1945, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region launched the Shangdang Campaign. During the campaign, the 386th Brigade, the main force of the Taiyue Military Region, was ordered to attack the outer county seat of Changzhi City, Lu'an Prefecture, the capital of the Shangdang Empire, Changzicheng.
Brigade Commander Liu Zhong (one of the 10 Tiger Generals in Yiye) and Political Commissar Zhang Zuliang held a meeting to study the enemy's situation after returning to Dongli Gao Village, south of Tunliu, where the brigade headquarters was stationed, and made careful and meticulous preparations for this battle.
However, the difficulties they faced were the limited ammunition of the troops. For example, a mountain gun has only 20 shells, and a heavy machine gun is 1000 rounds. Therefore, when Liu Zhong left the troops, he specifically emphasized that "the artillery attack can only last 10 minutes, and it must be successful at one time, and it must not fail."
In other words, we only have 'a scoop of water', and if we want to pour the 'white dog' to death, we must boil hot water to succeed. Tactically, let's call it a 'scoop of water' fight! ”
The blood of the commanders and fighters was boiling and they were discussing passionately"Ten minutes"with"A scoop of water"Everyone is expressing their determination and pushing the limits. On the evening of September 13, according to the battle plan formulated in advance, the 772nd Regiment first launched an attack on the enemy at Beiguan, but unexpectedly was blocked by a lonely and steep hill.
The mountain got its name from the fact that there is a temple on the top of the mountain"North High Temple"There is a strong blockhouse built on the mountain, which is an important fortification of the city of the eldest son. Standing on the temple, you can clearly see the pedestrians in the city with the naked eye, and the artillery fire can directly attack the street.
The enemy stubbornly resisted with the help of favorable terrain, and the 772nd Regiment failed to capture it four times in a row. The head of the regiment, Zhou Xueyi, was already furious and decided to launch another strong attack.
In the face of a stalemate, Liu Zhong kept thinking about how to break the confrontation between himself and the enemy. The 772nd Regiment is known for its ability to fight at night, and is known as the "Night Tiger".
Thinking of this, Liu Zhong decisively instructed Commander Zhou to take a night battle to destroy the enemy. Zhou Xueyi immediately selected a platoon of elite troops to carry out a "night attack" in the dark night. The enemy gradually relaxed their vigilance because they failed to resist the attack of ** for two consecutive days, and they did not expect that the 772nd Regiment would outflank them from behind at night.
Before they could react, the warriors of our army had already rushed in front of them, and they could only raise their hands and surrender.
After successfully capturing Beigaomiao, the 772nd Regiment immediately launched an attack on Beiguan, forcing the enemy to hurriedly withdraw to the city. At the same time, the 20th regiment from the plain area captured the Xiguan of the eldest son city with lightning speed, and used their unique hole-digging and wall-climbing skills to infiltrate the villagers' homes, and secretly transported the best ammunition from the hole to the edge of the trench by digging holes in the wall.
During his time in the Red Army, Liu Zhong developed the style of charging ahead and commanding from the front, and this time was no exception. He and political commissar Zhang Zuliang braved the enemy's constant artillery fire, arrived at the forward observation post of the 20th Regiment, and studied the strategy of climbing the city with the regiment commander Chu Daming and others.
At 17 o'clock on September 18, with Liu Zhong's order, two red signal flares pierced the sky in the sky, and the cannon roared and was deafening. The mountain artillery aimed at a target, attacked with a dense number of shells, and finally opened a gap in the city wall.
In the gap, light and heavy machine-gun fire suppressed enemy firing points. At this time, the warriors of the springboard group were not afraid, and after one fell, the other immediately took over, and quickly erected the springboard on the outer trench.
The fighters of the ladder group did not flinch, lifted the ladder, withstood the enemy's attack, stepped on the springboard, and successfully erected the ladder on the gap that was broken by the mountain artillery.
On the battlefield filled with gunsmoke, grenades hung all over their bodies, machine guns were in their hands, and the warriors jumped out of their bunkers, quickly climbed the ladders, climbed the battlements, and threw grenades at the enemy in the city, and the follow-up troops followed closely behind, fiercely strafing the enemy in the city.
Political Commissar Liu Zhong and Zhang Zuliang led the 20th Regiment to rush to the forefront, quickly occupied the commanding heights of the Bell and Drum Tower, and controlled the whole city. "10 minutes"，"A drift of water", mission accomplished!
The 772nd and 38th regiments also successfully landed at the north and east gates, and the enemy in the city fell into chaos, trying to make a final struggle, organizing several counterattacks.
With his calm command, Liu Zhong led the soldiers of the regiments to fight fiercely in the narrow streets. The fighters first used grenades as **, and then, in the smoke, rifles with bayonets on them, charged the enemy and captured the prisoners.
This sudden attack caused the timid enemy to panic and surrender. In the battle of Changzicheng, we captured more than 1,500 enemy soldiers, killed more than 500 enemy soldiers, captured all guns, ammunition and baggage, and even Major General Bai Yingzhan, commander of the enemy's advance of the third column, was captured alive.
Liu Zhong's brave command was fully demonstrated in the "Battle of a Scoop of Water", and the Battle of Changzicheng marked the shift of our army from guerrilla warfare to mobile offensive warfare and fortified fortifications, which was of great strategic significance.