Song Chengzhi’s bombardment of the city wall of Kaiyi County

In March 1948, Song Chengzhi commanded the 3rd Artillery Regiment to participate in the second Siping Battle, with 6 150mm howitzers attached to the 1st Column. Under the cover of the powerful firepower of our artillery, the 1st column infantry broke through the defense of the Kuomintang army and captured this important military town in Northeast China.

The Liaoshen Campaign began in September of that year. The Dongye Artillery Column was ordered by the headquarters to include the newly established 5th Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment, and the 4th Artillery Regiment responsible for the siege of Changchun. The Chariot Battalion and the Engineer Battalion set out from Yantongshan, Pinggang, Shaojieguo and other places in Jilin respectively and took trains to the Jinzhou area to participate in the battle.

The key to the Liaoshen Campaign is to capture Jinzhou, and Yixian is the northern gateway to Jinzhou. This obstacle must be removed first. Yixian has a tall and thick city wall, and ordinary explosives cannot be effective against it. Powerful artillery must be used to open the gap.

In late September, the main artillery force gradually arrived in the Yixian area. In order to effectively blast open the city wall, the artillery must fire as close as possible. After investigation, the artillery commander made a decision: the artillery position should be set up on the south bank of the Daling River, 500 to 2,000 meters away from the defending enemy. However, most of the artillery of the 3rd Artillery Regiment were heavy artillery, and it was difficult to cross the Daling River. Therefore, the position was placed on the north bank of the Daling River, more than 3,000 meters away from the enemy.

The artillery commander studied the situation of defending the enemy, consulted with the infantry commander, and decided to organize the main artillery force into three artillery groups. Among them, the 3rd Artillery Group commanded by Song Chengzhi took charge of 6 artillery batteries of the 3rd Artillery Regiment (5 howitzer batteries and 1 cannon battery) and 1 field artillery battalion of the 3rd Column Artillery Regiment, supporting the 3rd Column 8th Division in the northeast of the city. . Another cannon company from the 3rd Artillery Regiment was temporarily assigned to the 2nd Artillery Group in the south direction of the city.

Before 3 a.m. on October 1, each artillery group had advanced to the designated location and was ready to fire. The gunners were wiping their shells and waiting for the order for the general attack. The infantrymen were hidden in the forward positions, gearing up one by one and with high morale. They only waited for our artillery group to open the gap in the city wall and then launched a brave charge against the enemy.

The number of artillery units participating in the Yixian battle was unprecedented in the history of the Northeast Field Army. Fifty or sixty artillery pieces of various types were concentrated in the breakthrough direction in the northeast corner of Yixian alone. From grenades, mortars, infantry artillery to mountain artillery, field artillery, heavy howitzers, from battalion artillery, regiment artillery, division artillery, column artillery to reserve artillery, a magnificent and powerful artillery group has been formed. Many This was the first time I saw an infantry commander.

At 9:30, each artillery group of our army began to implement fire preparations. The three artillery groups were aimed at the predetermined targets and launched a fierce fire attack. Countless cannonballs flew straight into the city wall, causing the city wall to tremble. At 12:20, all three breaches were opened by our army's artillery. Among them, the 3rd artillery group commanded by Song Chengzhi exerted the powerful power of heavy howitzers and opened the largest gap in the city wall. With the loud sound of the charge horn, our infantry rushed towards the breach like a tide. Each artillery group transferred and extended its firepower in a timely manner according to the signal sent by its superiors, bombarded the enemy fire points on both sides of the breakthrough, and covered the infantry to launch an attack on the enemy's defense line. At the same time, each artillery group also concentrated part of its artillery to bombard some of the enemy's key military targets, such as the command post of the Bell and Drum Tower, the artillery position of Fengguo Temple, etc. Every time a target is discovered by the observation post, it immediately notifies the artillery group to destroy it.

Our army's artillery used powerful firepower to effectively cooperate with the infantry's attack. In only 6 hours of fierce fighting, all the Yixian defenders were annihilated. At this point, the "gate" to Jinzhou was completely opened, and hundreds of thousands of our troops marched southward along the railway to launch a massive siege of Jinzhou.