Clips of the Battle of Crossing the River

As the sun set, the battle to cross the river was about to begin. The troops quickly boarded ships and sailed from the inland river to the Yangtze River, stopping at designated locations and waiting for attack orders.

When a squad of the "Jinan First Regiment" of the 27th Army of the Ninth Corps accepted the mission, the correspondent mistransmitted the command "Sail the ship upon command" as "Sail the ship immediately". Upon hearing this, the squad leader immediately ordered: "Let's go! Hurry!"

The six boatmen rowed the boat as hard as they could, quickly exiting the inland river and sailing towards the other side of the Yangtze River.

The surrounding soldiers didn’t know what was going on and thought the general attack had begun! They started to move one after another, chasing after each other, all wanting to be the heroes on the first boat to cross the river.

Hundreds of boats in the group were all in darkness, sailing silently towards the south bank.

The leader of the army saw that there was still no time. The arrow had already left the string and it was too late to stop it. Be adaptable!

When we were still more than a hundred meters away from the other shore, the enemy on the shore noticed something moving and fired flares. Immediately, the river bank was illuminated like daylight, and countless ships were seen cutting through the waves and coming in waves. He fired in a hurry.

The leader of the army ordered the artillery to extend the artillery fire to suppress the enemy's firepower.

In an instant, artillery fire was fired from the north bank of the Yangtze River, and shells flew to the other side. The bunkers along the river were blown to pieces amidst the deafening roar. However, the remaining enemies were still resisting stubbornly, with light and heavy machine guns firing wildly at the troops crossing the river.

The soldiers leaned down and used engineering shovels to help paddle. Only the helmsman could not bend down and still shook the oar with all his strength.

The first boat to set off was indeed the first to reach the south shore. They quickly set up a long ladder on the rocks on the shore, and 20 soldiers bravely jumped ashore. However, the boss of the ship was shot and died.

After occupying the beachhead, Squadron 5 fired three signal flares. Regiment leader Wang Jingkun's ship was arriving at the center of the river. When he saw the signal flare, he quickly reported to the division headquarters via a walkie-talkie: "The food is done! The food is done!" This meant that they had landed.

There was an episode after the war. During the merit review, the incident of the first boat crossing the river was reported to Army Commander Nie Fengzhi. He said: "The orders were conveyed incorrectly, which almost affected the entire campaign. How could it be possible?" "Does it count as meritorious service?" However, the result of the discussion still gave them the title of hero as "the first boat to cross the river", because there is nothing wrong with victory.

In this battle to cross the river, the people enthusiastically supported the battle. They knew that only by defeating the enemy can they live a good life. Therefore, when they heard that the army needed boats, they all gave the fishing boats that their families depended on for survival to the army.

The shipyard was busy working day and night to build ships. Enemy planes bombed frequently, so everyone sank the built ships into the water. The enemy planes could not find their targets and had to fly away.

With a boat, there are also boatmen, and three fathers and sons signed up at the same time. In this battle, the father and brother died, and only the younger brother survived. People asked him if he regretted it. He said that he didn't regret it. The People's Liberation Army conquered the world for us poor people.

The most famous one is Sister Ma Mao. She was only 14 years old during the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River. When she signed up, people thought she was too young, so she was not accepted. However, when the battle started, as soon as the ship left the shore, Sister Ma Mao used her pennies to support herself and jumped onto the ship. Then, he helped his brother row the boat.

The enemy's shells continued to fall, and the explosions raised water columns. Some ships were overturned, and some were blown to pieces. The northern warriors did not know how to swim and struggled in the water. When Sister Ma Mao saw this, she jumped into the river to rescue the soldiers.

During the fierce battle, Sister Ma Mao's arm was injured. However, she simply wrapped it up and still refused to leave the battlefield. She drove a boat across the Yangtze River six times and sent the People's Liberation Army across the river three times.

Later, Sister Ma Mao’s heroic deeds were published in the newspapers. Chairman Mao also knew about it and received her cordially.