After five o'clock in the afternoon, 18,000 soldiers and civilians who gathered from all directions worked together and finally successfully surrounded the remnants of the enemy's 37th Division, which had barely resisted for more than an hour and was killed by more than 1,300 people. 4,600
The frightened remnants of the army were crowded between the narrow Dingwang Lake and Xiaoyizhuang and Erlangzhuang. They looked at the seemingly endless battle flags and the high-flying flags of the model camp in all directions, and at the surrounding highlands.
There were light and heavy machine guns and several mortar positions. Looking at the surging troops and civilians, their psychological defenses completely collapsed. Thousands of officers and soldiers, who were almost desperate, finally chose to lay down their weapons and shouted for surrender.
Upon seeing this, the soldiers of the Model Battalion and the Second Regiment rushed decisively into the enemy group. In just one cross charge, they divided more than 4,600 enemies into four large pieces, and quickly took them to the flat areas on the east and west sides for search and reorganization. Then the engineer battalion and division
All subordinate units entered the battlefield and collected the weapons and ammunition left on the ground.
More than a thousand brothers of the Second Regiment brought more than a thousand prisoners to the broad grassland in the southeast. Before they could separate again to screen them one by one, more than 5,000 angry fellow villagers rushed forward frantically, regardless of dissuasion.
He picked up the sticks, poles, hoes, shovels and other objects in his hands and began to retaliate violently.
Seeing the enemy prisoners being knocked to the ground one by one by the angry villagers, with their heads bruised and bloody, Chen Zhibiao, the leader of the Second Regiment, just crossed his arms and looked at them coldly without saying anything to stop them. At first, the officers and soldiers felt quite embarrassed.
However, after seeing dozens of prisoners being beaten to death, they realized something was wrong. Colonel Zhou Dingcheng, the regimental deputy and instructor, stepped forward to ask Chen Zhibiao to intervene but failed. Seeing that the crowd was furious and was likely to get worse, he did not care about the following prisoners.
Suspected, he hurriedly commanded the officers and soldiers of each battalion and company to stop them with all their strength. It took a lot of effort to separate thousands of people from the captives who suffered heavy casualties.
Yin Jinan, who was standing on the hillside and commanding the overall situation, was shocked. He immediately ordered the signal corps to send orders to other departments to quickly escort the frightened prisoners who were about to riot away from the place. He ran down the hillside and mounted his horse and rushed to the west to ask Maogen, the captain of the Self-Defense Forces.
Uncle, please help dissuade and dissuade the masses so as not to cause another tragedy.
The kind-hearted Uncle Maogen gave the order to the captains of each village and town without saying a word. More than 1,200 self-defense team members with rifles on their backs rushed to the gathering places of the villagers in their respective villages and towns, and worked hard for more than half an hour.
, only then can the chaotic order be stabilized.
The statistics of each regiment and battalion were completed and the results were reported to Yin Jinan. Yin Jinan shook his head helplessly: In this riot, the commander of the 37th Division and more than ten generals who surrendered were beaten to death by the angry people, and their brains were turned into blood.
It was impossible to identify who was who, and more than 300 other captive officers and soldiers were killed and more than 500 injured, dozens of whom were dying and could not be saved.
Yin Jinan was very angry, but he was a good man and did not want to accuse Chen Zhibiao, the commander of the Second Regiment, who had suffered heavy losses in this battle, for not shouldering his due responsibilities. He could only order Xia Jian and Lu Guang to lead their troops to escort the prisoners to the mouth of Tonghe River and gather them there, and then cross the river overnight.
They were escorted to Wuhe County and handed over to the training team for centralized guarding. The two regiments were jointly responsible for the defense of Wuhe County and surrounding areas.
Late at night, An Yi led the division to Gupei Town and immediately held an emergency meeting. The task was soon issued: the engineer battalion once again took on the important task of transporting more than 1,800 injured brothers to Mingguang City in the south.
The corpses of the 1,298 brothers were sent to Tonghekou for burial. After the burial, Gu Changfeng's third regiment still had to stick to the front line of Liuxiang Town and closely monitor the enemy's movements on the north bank of the Huaihe River.
We will head to Wuhe County for rest tomorrow morning.
After the meeting, Yin Jinan thought about it and couldn't make up his mind. Finally, he worriedly told An about the fact that the Second Regiment allowed the people to beat to death the commander of the 37th Division and other 377 enemy people who surrendered, and injured more than 560 people.
Yi, asked how to deal with this matter.
An Yi was stunned for a while and said nothing more. Instead, he ordered Zhan Huanqi and Peng Jianqing to report the final statistical results to the General Headquarters and General Headquarters, and quietly counted the 377 people including the commander of the 37th Division.
Among the results of killing the enemy.
Yin Jinan, Yang Bin, Hu Jialin and others immediately knew that An Yi was trying to excuse Chen Zhibiao, so they suppressed their unhappiness and stopped mentioning the matter. Instead, they shifted the focus of the discussion to the next stage of the action plan and what will happen tomorrow.
To appease and repay the villagers, we will wait for the specific details to come up.
The next morning, Gupei Town was crowded with people and very lively.
An Yi, Yin Jinan, and Yang Bin accompanied Uncle Maogen and more than a dozen self-defense captains from the east to the west of the town. They pointed at the groups of pack horses and piles of seized materials on the roadside and chatted happily with smiles on their faces.
The streets were full of villagers with long-lost smiles on their faces, and groups of children gathered around the officers and soldiers of the Second Regiment who had stayed behind to ask questions. The bursts of laughter made the brothers of the Second Regiment feel a lot better after losing half of their comrades.
An hour later, An Yi and others, together with Uncle Maogen, arrived at the grain drying field in the town. Amid the deafening cheers of tens of thousands of fellow villagers, An Yi climbed onto a high platform made up of several large tables and solemnly saluted.
The villagers expressed their heartfelt thanks, and then An Yi waved back. Sixteen brothers from the logistics unit, led by Lao Chang, carried out four large boxes, placed them neatly in front of the high platform, and packed them one by one.
The lid of the box was opened, revealing the vast ocean inside, which immediately attracted bursts of exclamations from the villagers standing in front.
An Yi waved his hands and said loudly: "Fathers and fellow villagers, in order to express the gratitude in the hearts of the 11,000 living and dead officers and soldiers of our Revolutionary Army Independent Division, in order to make up for the damage caused to the villagers by this seven-day war.
Huge losses, after research by my independent division, I decided to pay 20,000 yuan in cash to the folks in each village and town to make up for the losses caused to everyone..."
There was thunderous cheers all around, and An Yi had to stop. Uncle Maogen saw that the excited villagers had no intention of shutting up, so he jumped up to the high platform and stood next to An Yi, pointing here and there, and raising his voice.
After a lot of scolding, the noisy villagers were restrained. Uncle Maogen apologetically signaled An Yi to continue speaking. An Yi smiled and solemnly announced again with a loud voice no less powerful than Uncle Maogen:
"In addition, after research by our independent division, we decided to reward the folks in each village and town with 500 pack horses, 1,500 long and short guns, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. All the seized materials accumulated in the towns will be handed over to Mao
The Self-Defense Force Corps organized by Uncle Gen is in charge and will be distributed to each village and town after statistics are completed.
In the afternoon, Uncle Maogen led the villagers to help us deliver the captured military supplies to Wuhe County, and then transported back the cloth, salt, farm tools and other materials that our army had prepared from Wuhe County to repay the villagers for their revolutionary support for us.
Army, the independent division’s full support! We will never forget the kindness of the folks...
The blood of the officers and soldiers of our independent division flows on this land. Our 1,298 outstanding revolutionary officers and soldiers sacrificed their young lives here in order to overthrow the warlords and unify the motherland, and they have been laid to rest here ever since.
On this piece of land, our blood and fellow villagers are forever connected! Our hearts are forever connected! Fathers and fellow villagers are our relatives..."
The thunderous cheers rang out again, and countless villagers shouted to the high platform to express their thanks, and loudly told An Yi to lead his soldiers to leave to fight in peace. The villagers immediately built tombs and monuments for the soldiers, and they will pay tribute to them from generation to generation...
An Yi on the high platform was choked and speechless, with tears in his eyes. He jumped off the high platform and walked quickly into the barn behind him. Uncle Maogen hurriedly jumped off the high platform to catch up with An Yi, who was out of control.
Yin Jinan burst into tears and followed him in. Among so many people, he was the only one who understood An Yi's pain at this time and the meaning of his words. In order for the 1,298 brothers who died in the battle to be safe,
Resting peacefully here, An Yi chose to keep all the captured materials; in order to compensate for the losses caused by his ruthless blowing up of the reservoir dam, An Yi was willing to spend 20,000 yuan and 500 pack horses as disguised compensation; in order to allow the villagers to
If you can treat your dead brothers kindly and don't destroy the resting place of these brothers who died in battle, An Yi is willing to give all your emotions and give as much benefit as possible.
Seeing such a touching scene, Yang Bin was worried that thousands of villagers would rush forward, so he quickly grabbed Bian Jinsuo, the young deputy captain of the Self-Defense Forces, jumped onto the high platform, and directed the villagers in each village and town to gather separately and wait for the Self-Defense Forces to arrive.
to announce various distribution and transportation matters.
At noon the next day, all the 1,298 brothers who died in this battle were laid to rest. A circular stone tomb with a circumference of 18 meters was erected with the efforts of hundreds of villagers to serve as a temporary tombstone.
An irregular boulder stands erected on the north side, and the tomb is located on a small hill behind the original Second Regiment position on the south bank of the Huaihe River, just facing the mouth of Tonghe River directly opposite the river bend.
Uncle Maogen and Uncle Bian, a respected village elder in Gupei Town, took An Yi and others to the hillside. They pointed at the 20 masons at the foot of the mountain and the slates shipped overnight. Uncle Maogen said emotionally.
:
"Don't worry, generals. We can carve the tombstone in five days at the latest. Uncle Bian has already chosen the auspicious day of the zodiac. It's on the ninth day. By then, the tomb will become magnificent. We will also carve the tombstone on the tombstone in five days at the latest."
There is a Zhangba stone tablet erected right in front, with the names of the five generals and the commanders of each regiment engraved on it, as well as the history of the seven days of fighting and the revolutionary army's deeds of being as close to the villagers as one family.
Bring your descendants to burn incense and worship. The heroic spirits underground will not be lonely. Generals, please feel free to go to war. When the country is truly unified, come back and see."
The words moved An Yi, Yin Jinan, Hu Hu and other more than a dozen generals to tears. Everyone sighed and returned to the tombstone. A platoon of officers and soldiers led by Lao Chang and dozens of villagers had already laid out three kinds of fruits and filled dozens of cups.
Bowl of wine.
An Yi and all the generals finished burning incense, picked up their wine bowls and knelt down neatly on one leg. Yang Bin, who was familiar with etiquette, read the eulogy loudly, and then paid homage to the heroes and heroines. Finally, more than ten generals and more than 300 officers and soldiers representatives
They all drank a bowl of wine, bid farewell to the villagers and left with tears in their eyes.
Lao Chang, who was last, led two warrant officers and placed two thousand cloth bags at the feet of Uncle Maogen and Uncle Bian, and ran away before these two affectionate elders could react.
Compared with Tonghekou, where the atmosphere is solemn and full of tears, the city of Nanjing is a sea of joy. A celebration parade of 100,000 people organized by the Central Party Committee is in full swing, celebrating the "Five River Victory" and "Five Rivers Victory".
The red banner of "The Great Victory of Bengbu" was raised high. An Yi, his independent regiment, and the Model Battalion became the heroes shouted by everyone. The names of Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi also resounded over Nanjing from time to time.
Among the 5,000-person parade at Southeast University, a large portrait of An Yi actually appeared. In the past few days, the Political Training Department of the General Headquarters specially selected the most exciting clips from the seven days of fierce battles of the An Yi Independent Division, and displayed them with great fanfare.
Published in newspapers and magazines, Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek sent out three commendations in succession, giving special commendations to An Yi, the First Army Independent Division, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Third Route Li Zongren throughout the entire army. It was still more than a month before he reached the age of two.
The eleven-year-old young general An Yi once again became famous all over the world. His status in the minds of countless young people and people from all walks of life across the country rose rapidly, and he became a model for the entire army to learn and worship.
It is a pity that all the officers and soldiers of the Independent Division, including An Yi, did not know that their reputation had become so loud. They were extremely tired and their hearts were very heavy. Since crossing the river, this outstanding unit has grown from 11,000 men to 11,000 men.
The number of troops was reduced to more than 7,600. Among them, more than 2,300 officers and soldiers were killed in battle, and more than 3,000 officers and soldiers were injured. More than 1,800 of them needed to be sent to rear hospitals for long-term treatment and recuperation. Each regiment and battalion was lightly injured.
Injured people can be seen everywhere.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, An Yi was very grateful after receiving a message of condolences from General Bai Chongxi and General Li Zongren. Bai Chongxi and General Li Zongren generously transferred a special train from Bengbu and specially instructed this special train to be used by the independent division to transport the wounded and supplies back to Pukou.
All military divisions must work closely together to ensure train safety.
After An Yi called back to express his thanks, he immediately led Lao Chang of the Logistics Department and more than 260 older officers and soldiers on horseback and rushed to Mingguang County, 45 kilometers south, to see off more than 1,800 injured brothers under his command. Lao Chang was responsible for
The division's temporary military station, Sanjie Town Station, took hundreds of injured officers and soldiers with them and returned to Pukou First Military Hospital for treatment. The brothers who had stabilized their injuries were then sent in batches to the old Nanchang base for treatment and rest. The director of the base, Lao Shoudao, received the call
After An Yi's urgent call, preparations have begun to welcome the sick and wounded arriving in batches.
An Yi's face was calm right away, but his mood was extremely heavy. His huge military achievements could not make him happy at all. Although he knew that people would inevitably die in war, and a qualified general should not be emotional because of this, he could not let go.
No less.
This was the first major battle that An Yi commanded completely independently since he joined the army. Under his superhuman knowledge and extraordinary courage, he achieved a miraculous victory, but it also resulted in nearly one-third of the unit's casualties. This young man
The general will not be able to get over this emotional high hurdle for a while, and his soul is far less optimistic and strong than his appearance...