"Although you have not become a hero who has made meritorious contributions to the enemy on the battlefield, but with your loyalty to the motherland and the people, you have not lost your ** and ammunition in nine days and eight nights, and climbed back to the motherland, and you are also a real hero worthy of the name! ”The person who said this was the then Vice President of the People's Republic of China, General **.
The person who listened to this was Xiao Jiaxi, a supply man who was in charge of the company's food procurement in the first battalion and one machine company of the 448th Regiment of the 150th Division of the 50th Army, who was recuperating in the General Hospital of the Kunming Military Region and was recuperating in the general hospital of the Kunming Military Region.
Writing this, many people may have questions, why did an ordinary company provider get the condolences of the vice president of the country?
Because Xiao Jiaxi is not an ordinary warrior, this is not because he has any background, but because his deeds are too inspirational and touching.
On the way to the 448th regiment to complete the task and retreat, encountered the enemy, Xiao Jiaxi's machine company was scattered, Xiao Jiaxi followed the instructor and several soldiers of the cooking class on the way to find the troops, and encountered a small group of enemy troops, in the battle, Xiao Jiaxi was shot in the hip, he decided not to be burdensome, let the instructor lead the soldiers to go first, and he was behind.
In this way, Xiao Jiaxi took a gunshot wound and began to look for troops alone.
But in the face of the enemy's search of the mountains from time to time, Xiao Jiaxi had no chance to show up during the day, and at night, Xiao Jiaxi, who couldn't find a way in the vast mountains and didn't know that the team was in the first place, decided to return to China alone.
Xiao Jiaxi went out day and night, looked at the direction of the Big Dipper, and went all the way to the north, because he only knew that the north was the motherland.
The gunshot wound on the buttocks became more and more serious, and the severe pain made him unable to walk, but at this time, Xiao Jiaxi, who was determined to return to China, crawled hard in the direction of the motherland.
Hide during the day, crawl at night, and crawl towards the motherland inch by inch.
Without food, he eats grass, and without good water, he drinks sewage from the rice fields. （At that time, the Vietnamese, in order to cut off the water source of our army, poisoned the river and even the spring water in the mountains
In this way, after the 9th day of his solo operation, Xiao Jiaxi finally crawled back to the motherland.
Xiao Jiaxi's deeds of crawling back to the motherland in 9 days and 8 nights quickly caused a sensation throughout the country once it was publicized.
Xiao Jiaxi was awarded the title of "First-class Meritorious Hero" and the title of "Iron Warrior" by the ** Military Commission, Xiao Jiaxi became a role model in people's hearts.
Xiao Jiaxi is lucky, but compared with Xiao Jiaxi, who is honored, those comrades-in-arms of his 448th regiment are a different scene.
Tien Phong Mountain, Vietnam.
A place that can't be found on the map.
But it became an eternal pain in the hearts of the 448th Regiment, the 150th Division, the 50th Army, and even the Eastern Front Command that commanded the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
On March 17, 1979, on Tianfeng Mountain, more than 200 cadres and soldiers of the 448th Regiment of the 150th Division of the 50th Army, who had been besieged for many days due to the lack of ammunition and food, were forced to surrender to the Vietnamese army under the leadership of Feng Zengmin, the instructor of the 8th Company.
Two days later, Fu Peide, deputy chief of staff of the 448th Regiment, who had also been besieged by the Vietnamese army on Tianfeng Mountain for many days, and the commander of the 8th Company with several soldiers were also forced to surrender to the Vietnamese army.
According to historical sources,On March 5, 1979, the Military Commission issued an order to withdraw troops from VietnamThe units participating in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam began to retreat and return to China in an orderly manner until the night of March 15, 1979, when the last unit returned to China, and the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was successfully completed.
But we can see from the time abovePart of the fighters of the 448th Regiment was captured on March 19, 1979, at this time from the return of the last unit of our armyFour days have passed
Why was the 448th Regiment still in Vietnam at this time, and such a serious situation of capture occurred?
This starts with the reason why they went into the war to fight.
The 448 regiment belonged to the battle sequence of the 50 Army.
The 50th Army has a long history, it was originally the 60th Army of the National Revolutionary Army founded by Long Yun, chairman of Yunnan Province during the Anti-Japanese War, and the commander Lu Han.
In the anti-Japanese battlefield, he participated in the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Nanchang, the Battle of Changsha and the Battle of the Southern Yunnan Border.
In the War of Liberation, this Yunnan army unit was used by Chiang Kai-shek and was transferred to the northeast to carry out the "banditry" operation, and the army commander Zeng Zesheng.
On October 17, 1948, the 60th Army rebelled in Changchun and was later reorganized into the 50th Army of the Fourth Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The 50th Army went south with the Siye Army and participated in the Western Hubei Campaign and the Chengdu Campaign. After the outbreak of the Korean War, the 50th Army participated in the war as the first batch of troops to enter the DPRK, and the 50th Army achieved remarkable results in the Korean battlefieldHe once created the feat of chasing down the British army all over the mountains. In the first battle into Korea, the 50th Army killed a total of 1 enemy troops10,000 people.
After returning to China for a short rest, the 50th Army entered Korea for the second time and undertook the defense of the west coast.
It was not until April 1955 that the 50th Army withdrew its troops from Korea and returned home.
In November 1964, the 50th Army was transferred from the northeast to Sichuan and was incorporated into the combat sequence of the Chengdu Military Region, under the jurisdiction of the 148th Division and the 149th Division, and later the 150th Division was formed by the Chengdu Military Region and incorporated into the 50th Army combat sequence.
So far,The 50th Army has three divisions, namely: 148th Division, 149th Division, and 150th Division.
Among them, 150 divisions are under the jurisdiction448 Regiment, 449 Regiment, 450 Regiment.
On February 17, 1979, in the face of Vietnam's step-by-step pressing, my country endured again and again, and finally, when it could no longer bear it, began to fight against Vietnam in self-defense.
The 50th Army went to the front to fight, which:
The 148th Division pinned down one of the enemy's main divisions on the Guangxi border, making it impossible to return to help.
The 149th Division entered the battle from Yunnan.
The 150th Division served as a reserve and was on standby to attack.
On March 5, 1979, after more than half a month of fighting, the purpose of punitive action against Vietnam had been achieved, * The Military Commission issued an order to withdraw troops, and the troops entering the country began to withdraw in an orderly manner.
After the 50th Army returned to China, as a hero who fought for the country, he was warmly welcomed by the masses along the way, and many people came back to receive awards for meritorious service and honor.
This made the 50th Division of the 150th Army, which did not go out to fight as a reserve, feel very uncomfortable and faceless. So they repeatedly asked the military headquarters to fight, asked to enter the country to fight, and trained the troops.
Because at that time, in order to prepare for combat, a large number of veterans with war experience were transferred into the country to fight, so a large number of newly recruited recruits were supplemented, and it can be said that most of the people in the 150th Division at this time had no real experience.
The military headquarters of the 50th Army also took this into account, so it asked the front-line command of the Guangzhou Military Region to fight, requesting that the 150th Division be allowed to enter the battle.
But at this time, all the troops were basically retreating, and there was no big battle to fight, so it was decided that the 150th Division would enter the countryCover the safety of the retreating troops on both sides of the road, as well as the clearance of the Vietnamese army.
On March 6, 1979, the second day after the withdrawal order was issued, the 150th Division was ordered to enter the battleHundreds of trucks carried nearly 110,000 soldiers, bumpy on the road pressed by the tank, advanced in the direction of Cao Binh, Vietnam.
The entry of the 150th Division into the battle made many recruits and soldiers very excited, and they were eager to make meritorious contributions and make bold statements.
But the real war does not depend on slogans, but on adequate preparation before the war and effective command in the war.
Before the 150th Division set out, it did not do a good job at this point in the pre-war preparations:
Most of the new soldiers had just been added to the 150th Division, and some of the soldiers of this company did not know each other, and because they had lived in a peaceful environment for a long time, the battalions and companies could not even find a complete map of the theater.
It was under such circumstances that the 150th Division went on the march.
Because the 50th Army had already withdrawn and returned to China at that time, the 150th Division was listed under the name of the 41st Army.
In order to coordinate the relationship between the 150th Division and the 41st Army, as well as to advise and supervise the 150th Division, the 50th Army was dispatchedWith deputy army commander Guan Huoming and deputy political commissar Hou Peijuand other deputy heads of military departmentsGarrisoned in the command group of the 150th Division.
The 150th Division entered on March 6, and on March 10, on the orders of the 41st Army, prepared to retreat.
But on the retracement route,Liu Tongsheng, commander of the 150th Divisionwith the garrison command groupGuan Huoming, deputy commander of the 50th ArmySerious disagreements arose.
Division Commander Liu and the main leaders of the 150th Division advocated that since the task had been completed, all troops should be quickly put together, and the front command of the 41st Army had also given a retreat route, so the 150th Division should quickly retreat and return to China to avoid unnecessary losses.
However, Deputy Army Commander Guan Huoming believed that the troops should be dispersed and retreated.
Because our army swept away the leaves of the Vietnamese army all the way, and there were a large number of materials left by the Vietnamese army on the retreat route. If the team is dispersed and retreats, the materials left behind by the Vietnamese army can be cleared to the greatest extent.
In the end, under the pressure of the garrison command group, the 150th Division decided to disperse and retreat home.
At this time, the 448th Regiment of the 150th Division, which was about 40 kilometers south of Gaoping, received an order to disperse the troops and retreat.
So the 448th regiment was divided into two:
The 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion led by the regimental commander formed 448Regimental command
The 2nd Battalion led by the deputy commander and the reconnaissance company of the regimental special service company formed 448Regimental Front Command (front finger).
Before the retreat, the 150th Division did win a few battles when many cadres and soldiers had no actual combat experience, and on the whole it performed well, and it also played a role in tempering the team in actual combat, and the morale of the team was greatly increased, but this was also bound to cause the team to have the idea of underestimating the enemy, and always thought that the Vietnamese army was vulnerable.
On the morning of March 12 (Many people say that the departure time of the 448th Regiment was March 11, but according to General Luo Yuan's research combined with the memories of many veterans, the departure time of the 448th Regiment's front command should be the morning of March 12), the front command of the 448 regiment (hereinafter referred to as the 448 regiment) led by the deputy commanderAnterior fingerMarching to the line of Tianfeng Mountain.
From morning to noon, the road was calm, and the front of the regiment did not encounter the appearance of Vietnamese troops, which also made the soldiers' tense hearts gradually relaxed.
When the troops reached Naga, the unprepared regimental front was attacked by a sudden attack by a Vietnamese army (Later, it became known that this unit was part of an elite unit that had just arrived from Hanoi to join the war
In the regiment with 448Anterior fingerIn the course of the battle, because there was no artillery support and the Vietnamese army felt that its strength was insufficient, it did not launch another attack on the front command of the 448th Regiment, but surrounded it but did not fight.
448 regimentAnterior fingerImmediately to 448Regimental commandSend a telegram to explain the situation and request for help, 448 regimentCommandAfter receiving the telegram, he immediately sent a telegram to the headquarters of the 150th Division requesting that the entire regiment be gathered and the 448th Regiment rescuedAnterior finger
After receiving the telegram, the 150th Division felt that the situation was serious, agreed with the 448th Regiment's rescue opinion, and prepared to send the 449th Regiment and the 450th Regiment to participate in the rescue work.
However, this plan was rejected by the garrison command group, who believed that there was no longer a large number of enemy troops in the area, the 448th regimentAnterior fingerEncountering only a small force of enemy troops, they are fully capable of fighting on their own.
In this case, the commander of the 448 regiment did not know the regimentAnterior fingerIn the case of specific circumstances, we can only bring back the troops we lead first, and always pay attention to the development of the situation.
During the siege of the former finger of the 448th regimentAnterior fingerThe leadership ordered the troops to seize the commanding heights and wait for rescue.
In the 448 regimentCommandThe call back said that there was about to be a time when reinforcements would arriveThe 448th Regiment made a step that seemed extremely wrong later, and this step directly led to the whole tragedy.
Heard the 448 regiment with a rescue orderAnterior finger, did not organize a team to actively reconnoiter and defend, but just stood by and passively waited for the arrival of reinforcements.
This gave the enemy enough time to transfer troops, and it was in the 448th regimentAnterior fingerWhen they were anxiously waiting for reinforcements, they did not know that they had been quietly surrounded by Vietnamese troops.
Until about 10 p.m., the 448th regimentAnterior fingerI haven't received itRegimental commandnews of reinforcements, so he decided to lead his troops to the north.
In the early morning of the 13th, the 448th Regiment marched through a night of rapid marchingAnterior fingerArrive in a valley near Langzhuang.
The troops were exhausted, 448 regimentAnterior fingerThe leaders also decided that it would be easy to be spotted during the day and that they would march at night.
At this time, the 448th regiment was at the bottom of the valley near LangzhuangAnterior fingerUnexpectedly, the Vietnamese army that was biting them to the death of the Vietnamese army followed all the way at this time, and quietly hid on the commanding heights above the valley floor near Langzhuang, and condescendingly monitored the 448th RegimentAnterior fingerEvery move.
At around 3 p.m., the Vietnamese army, which had already occupied the commanding heights around it, suddenly launched a fierce attack on the front finger of the 448th Regiment, which was waiting for rescue at the bottom of the valley.
The troops suffered serious losses.
The front fingers of the 448th regiment were fighting and retreating, and they were given to the regiment all the wayCommandA telegram was sent asking for help, but it was never contacted.
It was not until the evening that the 448th Regiment Front Commander contacted the regimental command, the 448th RegimentCommandSaid that reinforcements had been sent to the rescue.
At this time, the commander of the 448th Regiment was anxiously waiting for the second time for the division headquarters to give instructions for the rescue of the 448th RegimentIn the end, the division command group considered that our army had announced to the whole world that it would withdraw from Vietnam and that it could no longer send a large number of troops, so it only agreed that the 448th Regiment would send two companies to the rescue, and that it would be carried out at night.
The 448 regiment received instructionsCommand, quickly sent two companies, the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Company of the 8th Battalion, to the 448th RegimentAnterior fingerRescue near the besieged Langzhuang.
The 1st and 8th companies, under the leadership of Fu Peide, deputy chief of staff of the 448th Regiment, marched in the direction of Tianfeng Mountain.
When they came to the vicinity of Langzhuang, with the encirclement of the 448th regimentAnterior fingerThe Vietnamese army on the periphery encountered, and the troops quickly entered the battle. But 448 regimentRescue forcesSoon surrounded by divisions, ** miserable.
Why were the rescue forces surrounded by Vietnamese troops so quickly?
The main reasons are as follows:
First, the troops marched in a hurry, and the soldiers were very tired.
Second, the Vietnamese army is condescending and has the advantage of geographical advantages.
The 3rd, 1st and 8th companies were mostly new recruits and did not have any experience in jungle warfare at all.
In this case, the 1st and 8th companies, which came to the rescue, were divided and surrounded by the Vietnamese army and were quickly dispersed.
The 1st Company lost contact, and the commander of the 8th Company could not contact the 8th Company, so he could only organize a fight with the remaining fighters of the 448th Regiment, Fu Peide, deputy chief of staff.
At this time, Li Heping, the commander of the 1st Company, and Feng Zengmin, the instructor of the 8th Company, led the two platoons of the 8th Company and some of the personnel of the 1st Company to be about 200 people, and they were besieged halfway up Tianfeng Mountain, and they completely lost contact with Chief of Staff Fu Peide.
As an instructor, although Feng Zengmin had never participated in actual combat before entering the battle, at this time, with his excellent organizational skills and the ability to be good at ideological work, he and the commander of the 1st Company, Li Heping, led the remaining soldiers to continue to fight tenaciously.
They gathered the remaining ammunition, broke it into pieces, dispersed and blocked the attack, and resisted for three days in a harsh environment.
For three days and three nights, all the fighters basically did not eat or drink.
The rations and water that I brought with me before departure had already been eaten and drunk.
The spring water on the mountain cannot be drunk, because as we wrote earlier, in order to block the water source of our army, the Vietnamese army has poisoned the Vietnamese army wherever there is a water source on the mountain.
At this time, the living conditions of the fighters of the 1st and 8th companies who resisted on the mountain were extremely harsh:
When you are hungry, you can only feed yourself with wild vegetables and weeds;
If you are thirsty, you can only quench your thirst with the little dew you collect.
Under such circumstances, many fighters also suffered from serious dehydration, and their combat effectiveness was sharply reduced.
When the ammunition was exhausted and there was no hope of breaking through, Feng Zengmin, the instructor of the 8th Company, and Li Heping, the commander of the 1st Company, who were the highest-ranking officers in the special environment at this timeI don't want to see the soldiers starved to death, thirsty, sick and other non-combat attrition in vain
They decided to convene all the cadres at this time and hold a temporary branch meeting to discuss the way out.
At the branch meeting, Feng Zengmin proposedIf there is only one way to save the lives of all the warriors, it is to go down the mountain.
When Feng Zengmin said this piece of advice, many people bowed their heads and remained silent.
Because everyone knows very well what it means to go down the mountain, to go down the mountain means to surrender, it means to be captured.
For servicemen, surrender is the greatest shame.
At this time, Feng Zengmin would not have thought of this.
But at this time, as the supreme leader of this temporary force, heThe most important thing to think about is how to save the lives of these fighters to the greatest extent.
Making such a decision is tantamount to nailing yourself to the pillar of shame for the rest of your lifeIt may not be understood for the rest of your lifeIn the eyes of everyone, the word "surrender" will always be engraved on the face.
But in the end, Feng Zengmin still made up his mind.
On March 17, 1979, Feng Zengmin and Li Heping, the commander of a company, led more than 200 extremely weak cadres and soldiers to surrender to the Vietnamese army after the troops ran out of ammunition and food.
And two days later, he was also surrounded on the mountain8 Company CommanderwithFu Peide, deputy chief of staff of the 448th regimentWith a few soldiers, after 7 days and 7 nights of fighting with the enemy, he finally ran out of ammunition and food, and also surrendered to the Vietnamese soldiers.
And the 448 regiment, which has not been able to wait for reinforcementsAnterior fingerMost of the troops, with the exception of a small number of those who broke through and were captured, died heroically or were missing.
Why is it missing?
Because until now, the remains of many soldiers have not been found.
I once saw a reminiscence article about my country's ** interview with Vietnamese soldiers and local Vietnamese people at that time, some people said that they had seen many Chinese soldiers, after being surrounded by the Vietnamese army, some resolutely jumped off the cliff, and some held grenades and died with the Vietnamese army, the scene at that time was extremely tragic.
I think this may be the reason why many of our soldiers are "missing".
Of course, this is just my speculation, but these missing soldiers, who were all listed as martyrs in our country after the war, have their names placed in the memorial hall for future generations to look at forever.
After being captured, Feng Zengmin, as an officer of our army, was highly valued by the Vietnamese army, and they interrogated Feng Zengmin, hoping to get some secrets of our army from his mouth, but after all, nothing was found.
After three months of stubborn resistance in a Vietnamese prison, Feng Zengmin was exchanged with other soldiers to return to China.
On May 21, 1979, before the Friendship Pass, it was crowdedThe cameras rang non-stop, and under the witness of reporters from various countries, the ceremony of exchanging prisoners of war between China and Vietnam began.
Vietnamese soldiers went south.
Our soldiers went north.
The Vietnamese soldier had a red glow on his face and a calm expression.
Our soldiers were as thin as wood, and they were crying and crying.
Vietnam's mistreatment of prisoners of war was clearly exposed under the witness of journalists from various countries.
After returning to China, Feng Zengmin was finally sentenced because of some objective facts.
When he learned the result, Feng Zengmin was very calmWhen he made up his mind to make that decision a few months ago, he had already foreseen what he would find in the future.
At this time, there is no such thing as regret or no regret, because this is an objective fact after all.
Most of the soldiers who were "rescued" by Feng Zengmin and who had been captured with him continued to return to the army after the review.
Time passed, and the smoke dissipated.
Living in a peaceful environment, we have not experienced the cruelty of war.
But we should uphold an objective mindset to evaluate people and things in the past.
It doesn't matter if it's good or bad.