Bian Guixiang, a soldier who sacrificed himself and dedicated his life to the country and the nation, used his life to interpret the duties and missions of soldiers. When his son brought his ashes home, he found three shrapnel in the ashes, which were left in his body from injuries he had accidentally sustained during the war years and testified to his bravery on the battlefield.
Although most people do not know much about Bian Guixiang's deeds, his bravery and dedication will forever be recorded in history. Born in Xianghe County, Hebei Province, he joined the army in August 1944 and was soon promoted to platoon commander for his bravery.
At the end of the Anti-Japanese War, he showed his incomparable courage and perseverance with one enemy and three enemies. In the War of Liberation, he took part in two battles against Longhua, one of which failed due to the lack of artillery power.
However, he did not give up because of this, but persevered to the end, and finally succeeded in liberating Longhua. His deeds, like Dong Cunrui, are one of the most outstanding heroic models of the Communist Party of China since the founding of the army, and his spirit will always inspire us.
In the battle of Longhua, in addition to Dong Cunrui's heroic deeds, there were many other heroes, such as Li Wanwan and Bian Guixiang. During the battle, Li Wanyu clamped the barrel of the machine gun with the two soles in his hand and sent the blasting canister into the pillbox, making great contributions to the capture of Moss Mountain and Longhua Middle School.
He was personally received by *** and Commander-in-Chief Zhu, and later served as division commander and chief of staff of the 55th Army. Bian Guixiang was also wounded in the battle, although he served as a demolition officer in the process of Dong Cunrui sacrificing himself to blow up the pillbox, and charged bravely with an explosive bag, but unfortunately he was hit by a bullet fired by the enemy's machine gun in the pillbox, and he had multiple gunshot wounds and a bullet in the head.
He was in critical condition when he was carried off the battlefield, but fortunately, after a doctor's skillful rejuvenation, he was eventually pulled back from the brink of death. It is said that while he was recuperating from his wounds, the frontline battlefield was still fierce, many migrant workers and ambulance workers died in the battle, and a shell near him almost injured him, but he remained unscathed.
Bian Guixiang suffered the most serious injury during the Liberation War, the bullet hit him directly in the eye socket, and the eyeball hung on his cheek, but he did not feel pain, but just felt in the way, so he removed the eyeball with his hand and continued to charge.
For his heroic performance in battle, he was awarded the honorary title of "Hero of Battle".
Li Wanyu served as deputy division commander in the 163rd Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Despite the fact that he did not have many military medals for many years in the army, he always said: "I only thought about destroying the enemy, without merit and money." ”
Whenever the organization wanted to give him a meritorious service, he would resolutely refuse: "I was born as a cattle herder, and it was the party and the army that raised me and made me grow into a revolutionary fighter. ”
Since 1953, he has been holding various positions in the army, such as chief of staff of the 1st Red Regiment and 1st Battalion, battalion commander, military training staff officer, regiment commander, etc. In 1979, when China was preparing to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Xu Shiyou was appointed commander-in-chief of the Guangxi Frontier Force on the Eastern Front, and at the same time, several units, including the 163rd Division of the 55th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, where Bian Guixiang was located, were sent to the front line to fight.
Bian Guixiang is no stranger to Vietnam, he went to Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 as a consultant to resist US aggression and aid Vietnam. Not only is he familiar with the enemy, but the enemy is also very familiar with him.
When the 163rd Division was assembled on the Sino-Vietnamese border, Vietnam's intelligence department already knew that during the counterattack against Vietnam, the Vietnamese army actually set up a loudspeaker in the trenches and shouted: "Destroy the 163rd Division and capture Bian Guixiang alive," "Whoever brings Bian Guixiang's head will be rewarded with $30,000,000," and "Fight Pingxiang for breakfast and fight to Nanning for the Spring Festival."
Even Bian Guixiang himself was curious, he had just arrived in Pingxiang, how could the enemy know. Later, after investigation, it was found that the leader of a supply and marketing cooperative, Pingxiang City, was a veteran under Bian Guixiang, when the 163rd Division was raising materials at the border, to the supply and marketing cooperatives to procure, learned that the purchased soldiers were from the 163rd Division, very happy, so he told people a lot of legendary stories about the 163rd Division and the division commander Bian Guixiang, including appearance and personality characteristics, and even what fruits to eat.
In this way, one spread ten, ten spread hundreds, and Bian Guixiang couldn't even hide it when he got to Pingxiang. What's worse is that at that time, the public security department also sent a report that Vietnam had sent ** to Pingxiang and was preparing to assassinate Bian Guixiang.
But Bian Guixiang was always unmoved and prepared for the war with all his might. It is worth mentioning that Wu Enqing, the political commissar of the 163rd Division at that time, was also a general who was in no way inferior to Bian Guixiang.
It is said that in November 1947, while fighting against Hou Jingru's 92nd Army, Wu Enqing was seriously wounded, and the people around him thought that he had sacrificed and prepared a coffin, but when he was buried, he heard a sound in the coffin.
Wu Enqing was pulled out like this and miraculously survived.
Bian Guixiang and Wu Enqing were both veterans of the Red First Regiment, who had made great achievements in battle and were strict in administering the army, and many soldiers were afraid of these two veteran leaders, calling the division commander Bian Guixiang "the black-faced division commander" and the political commissar Wu Enqing "not afraid of the sky and the earth, but afraid that the political commissar Wu would come to inspect them."
On February 17, 1979, Bian Guixiang commanded the 163rd Division to launch an attack on Tongdeng. The 12th Regiment of the Third Division of the Vietnamese Army defended Dong Deng, and the Third Division of the Vietnamese Army was also known as the "Venus Division", and the 12 Regiment was said to be known as the "Heroic Regiment".
According to the pre-war reconnaissance, the artillery first shelled the position of the 12th Regiment of the Vietnamese Army for 15 minutes, and then Bian Guixiang quickly ordered the three regiments to carry out a frontal assault.
Some of them took refuge in caves, others in the fortified French batteries. Although the French battery was a strong fortification, our soldiers poured a few barrels of gasoline into the skylight and ignited it with a flamethrower, and with a loud bang, the lid of the French battery was blown up into the sky, and the enemy defenders were all wiped out.
While Bian Guixiang was stationed, there was one more thing. In the battle of Dong Deng, our army captured a large number of enemies, and while waiting for the next battle order, Bian Guixiang suddenly received instructions from his superiors: "Release all the prisoners and return all the materials captured from the Vietnamese army!" ”
Bian Guixiang disagreed: "It's really a big joke in the world, **There is a reason to send the enemy prisoners back before the battle is over, they go back, pick up ** and the Vietnamese army again!"
This is clearly not taking the lives of our soldiers seriously! The 163rd Division, under the command of Bian Guixiang, attacked the city all the way, approached Langshan, and made great achievements.
In the counterattack against Vietnam, Bian Guixiang led the 163rd Division to set a record of destroying the enemy by all divisions, regiments, battalions, and companies of the whole army, killing a total of 5,293 people and capturing 38 enemies, ranking first among the 29 army divisions.
A total of 9,702 officers and men of the division were awarded meritorious service awards, the 488th, 487th, and 489th regiments of the 163rd Division were awarded first-class and third-class collective meritorious service, and 10 were awarded the honorary title of combat heroes.
Although Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, and People's Liberation Army Newspaper all sent reporters for interviews, Bian Guixiang refused without hesitation. He did not allow journalists to enter the division command post and did not allow journalists to enter the combat area.
He told others: "When a reporter enters a front-line command post, the leader will be busy receiving and reporting, which will affect his energy and the normal order of the command post. Besides, our task at that time was only to fight a good battle, not to make a good name.
The command post involves many core secrets, and if it is leaked, who will be responsible for this? The battle is not over, and there is no danger in our command post, what is there to write about?
If you want to write and photograph, you should go to the front line, and the officers and men will be the most worthy of reporting when they are born and die. ”
After the 163rd Division commander Bian Guixiang and political commissar Wu Enqing finished the counterattack against Vietnam, the superiors planned to ask for credit for him. However, Bian Guixiang politely declined.
He believed: "The soldiers fought bravely on the battlefield to kill the enemy, and the people would not have an opinion on how much merit they gave them." However, as a leader, if you also strive for merit, it is easy to give people the illusion of greed for merit.
As leading cadres, they should set higher demands on themselves, and striving for merit is the most likely behavior to corrupt the morale of the troops. I can't set this precedent. After the battle, Bian Guixiang was transferred to the deputy commander of the Hainan Military Region and retired in 1989.
As a result of the war trauma of his youth, his health gradually weakened in his later years. However, despite his growing physical weakness, he always kept in mind his military mission and named his son "Border Guard".
The implications are self-evident. On September 1, 2008, Bian Guixiang died of illness in the Guangzhou Military Hospital at the age of 81.