In this rare battle to suppress bandits, the 1st Battalion of the 422nd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 423rd Regiment of the 141st Division of the 47th Army were ordered to encircle and suppress the bandits of Li Lanchu's subordinate of the 6th Provisional Division of Wuliandong Provisional Division, which were hiding in Songbai Field in Yongshun.
It is reported that Li Lanchu had ordered a rockmason to renovate the stone cave for a month before entering the cave, and each cave door was built into a rock wall several meters high, and there were also shooting holes. These 5 caves have been turned into 5 impregnable bunkers on the cliffs.
The core idea remains the same: it describes a rare battle of the 47th Army to suppress bandits in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, focusing on encircling and suppressing the bandits of Li Lanchu's department, and introduces the situation of the bandits carefully fortified in the cave.
Li Lanchu occupied Wulian Cave, hid the food of the people under the mountain, and called himself "be prepared for trouble, and make a comeback". Because of the inconvenient transportation in the mountainous areas, most of the anti-bandit troops can only use light **, and it is extremely difficult to conquer such a stronghold.
However, Li Lanchu didn't care about this, he smiled at Peng Chunlin, the "East Road Commander" who defended the nail hole: "Don't worry, sleep peacefully for a few days, and then go down the mountain to grab a handful when you have enough energy." ”
Peng Chunlin was a little worried about this: "Commander, the enemy's shells won't fly to us, right?" Li Lanchu said nonchalantly: "How could the enemy's shells fly to us?"
Besides, with Camp Commander Yao and Camp Commander Song, they went down the mountain to clear the road, and Wulian Cave was safer. However, Yao Wenqing, the bandit battalion commander he sent, was discovered by our army near Wangcun, and then fled back to Wuliandong.
After learning the news that Yao Wenqing was killed, Li Lanchu was very angry: "Battalion Commander Yao sacrificed himself bravely, and I swear to fight the enemy to the end!" He pulled the leader Li Youping aside, muttered quietly for a while, and went back to sleep in the cave himself.
Why did Li Lanchu send Li Youping down the mountain? It turned out that Yao Wenqing was killed under the blow of our army, and Li Lanchu felt that he was in danger, and was ready to send Li Youping down the mountain to try to join forces with Song Jiazhen's bandit department to flank our army's bandit suppression troops.
Li Youping disguised himself as a teacher, secretly descended the mountain, and came to the town restaurant. In a secret conversation with Song Jiazhen's company commander, the two met and parted ways near the Land Temple.
Unexpectedly, several gun-wielding people suddenly rushed out from the bushes next to him, and Li Youping knew at a glance that it was a plainclothes scout of our army, and as soon as he wanted to resist, he was held back by a submachine gun, so he could only obediently raise his hands and surrender.
Li Youping refused to tell the truth, and when asked about the strength of the cave, he also bluffed that there were 5,000 guns. After synthesizing information from all sides, the higher authorities decided to send the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 423rd Regiment of the 141st Division of the 47th Army to lead the detachment to carry out the task of attacking Wuliandong.
Before setting out for the expedition, Political Commissar Peng expressed concern and hope to Battalion Commander Duan, and he stressed the arduousness of the task, so he specially increased the support of the artillery company. He reminded Battalion Commander Duan that although the cave environment is bad, we must not forget our morale and the support of the masses.
Battalion Commander Duan was very grateful, and he said that he would do his best to complete the task. Eventually, a force of more than 300 people arrived at several small villages under the Wulian Cave, and a hard battle was about to begin.
Battalion Commander Duan led his troops to the foot of Wulian Cave Mountain, but they did not act immediately, but chose to besiege but not attack, and did not move, which made the bandits in the cave become restless.
Battalion Commander Duan led the troops to carry out a strong attack on Wuliandong, and in the face of the bandits' provocation, he remained calm and calm, and secretly sent people to reconnoiter the situation of Wuliandong. At 8 o'clock in the morning of 24 April, the troops were secretly in place, and the command post gave an order, and the battle to storm Wuliandong began.
Under the cover of 60 mortars and light and heavy machine guns, the fighters of the assault group of the 3rd battalion captured the first cave of Wulian Cave in only a few dozen minutes, which made Li Lanchu hurriedly order concentrated fire to suppress them.
At this time, our army sent someone to send a letter of persuasion, but Li Lanchu pretended to be calm. Battalion Commander Duan planned to use artillery bombardment or smoke to take the second hole, but found that it was not easy, neither from the bottom up nor with flat-fire guns could accurately hit the hole, and digging the tunnel was too time-consuming and laborious.
After some thought, Battalion Commander Duan decided to adopt the method of rock climbing raid. Wang Lushan, the deputy squad leader, quickly climbed the rock and shouted to the bandits in the cave: "Surrender immediately, it is possible to get leniency."
If we don't surrender, we'll blow up holes. The bandits hesitated, but the hole where the shooting was fired suddenly stopped. At this time, Li Lanchu realized that the situation was not good, and ordered the bandits in the third cave to shoot.
However, Wang Lushan was unfortunately shot and died. Seeing the sacrifice of the deputy squad leader, the fighters were extremely angry and picked up grenades and rushed to the hole. Seeing this, the bandit battalion commander trembled with fright and said, "Please be lenient with the troops, we are willing to surrender." ”
Eventually, more than 20 bandits laid down, and the second hole was occupied by the commandos. The soldiers took the captives to the third cave and asked them to shout to Li Lanchu: "Commander, we have surrendered.
Commander, they won't mess around, you come out quickly. "Li Lanchu knows that his crime is serious, and even if he surrenders, it will be difficult for our army to forgive him. He decided that he would choose to surrender at the last minute.
The assault team was too close to the third opening, resulting in the mortars and machine guns below the hill not being able to provide effective fire support. In the face of Li Lanchu's machine-gun fire, the assault team was helpless for a while.
In order to blow up the hole, one of the warriors of the demolition team chose to rush directly with the explosives bag. However, just as the warrior was only a few steps away from the entrance of the cave, a grenade was thrown from the cave, blowing up the rock on which the warrior had climbed.
The battalion commander quickly ordered to concentrate all firepower and fire fiercely at the pillbox at the entrance of the third cave, and the warriors of the demolition team took this opportunity to climb to the side of the top of the cave and use a rope to hang the explosive bag down, successfully blowing up the pillbox at the entrance of the cave.
Li Lanchu, who was stubbornly resistant, was deafened by the sound of **, and his left *** also fell into the pit in the chaos. By the time he came to his senses, the commando fighters had managed to enter the cave.
After Li Lanchu surrendered, the assault team launched a fierce attack on the fourth stone cave non-stop, and in the end, the bandits of the cave also raised their hands and surrendered under Li Lanchu's personal shouting.
During the attack on the final cave entrance nail cave,"Cyclops"Peng Chunlin blocked the entrance to the cave with a machine gun, which prevented the assault team from advancing. Deputy company commander Bi Fuxiang stood up, he did not hesitate to pull the explosives bag, and successfully blew up the pillbox at the entrance of the cave, but he himself was swept down the deep valley by the air wave of ** and died heroically.
Although Bi Fuxiang died heroically, the assault team finally attacked the nail rock cave and successfully captured all the bandits in the Wulian cave. Battalion Commander Duan then led his troops to participate in a new battle against bandits, and it was not until the end of December 1950 that the crackdown on bandits in Xiangxi was basically over.
After the century-old bandits in Xiangxi were eliminated, the local people wrote letters to the 47th Army to express their gratitude: "You have done what the gods can't do!" ”
We must deeply remember these heroic martyrs, whose deeds will always inspire us to move forward.