Qiu Shaoyun’s life

Heroes who resisted U.S. aggression and aided Korea. He is born in the year of Tiger and is a native of Guan Jian Township, Tongliang County, Chongqing City. At the age of 23, he was captured by the Kuomintang army and served as a soldier. He joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1949 and the Chinese People's Volunteers in the Korean War in 1951. He served as a soldier in the 9th Company of the 87th Regiment of the 29th Division of the 15th Army of the Volunteer Army. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he participated in the fifth battle and the tactical counterattack in the autumn of 1952.

On October 11, 1952, Qiu Shaoyun's company assumed the assault mission during the counterattack on Highland 391 on the Pingkang front line in North Korea, and was ordered to lurk at the foot of the mountain 60m away from the enemy at night, waiting for the launch in the evening of the next day Raid. At 11 o'clock on the 12th, his hiding place was unfortunately hit by an incendiary bomb blindly launched by the enemy. In order not to expose the entire action plan of the army, Qiu Shaoyun endured the severe pain of the fire and remained motionless for 5 hours until he died. He sacrificed his life for victory in this battle. That night, the counterattack troops successfully captured Highland 391 and completely wiped out one reinforced enemy company.

After the war, the party committee of the army ratified him as a member of the Communist Party of China. The leadership of the Volunteer Army awarded him posthumous special merit and the title of "First Class Hero of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army." The North Korean government awarded him the title of "Hero of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea", the Gold Star Medal, and the First-Class Flag Medal. The hero's name is forever engraved on the stone wall of the main peak of Highland 391 and will remain forever.

The hero almost died in vain

For more than 40 years, Qiu Shaoyun’s heroic deeds have inspired generations of people. However, people don't know that such a shocking and weeping battle hero almost became an unknown hero.

For decades, many articles introducing Qiu Shaoyun’s deeds have avoided his history as a Kuomintang soldier. In fact, Qiu Shaoyun served as a Kuomintang soldier for one year and four months.

Qiu Shaoyun lost his parents when he was young and was left alone and helpless. When he was 13 years old, he began his life as a hired worker, and was later captured by Liu Yi's 18th Regiment of the Sichuan Army and became a soldier.

In December 1949, the People's Liberation Army marched into Sichuan and marched into the southwest.

After the Battle of Chengdu, the Sichuan Army collapsed. Qiu Shaoyun was added to the 9th Company of the 87th Regiment of the 29th Division of the 10th Army of the People's Liberation Army at that time. Two years later, the 29th Division entered North Korea to fight.

In October 1952, the famous Battle of Shangganling began. On October 11, Qiu Shaoyun was ordered to complete the latent mission only 300m away from the enemy along with his unit.

At noon the next day, the enemy fired several incendiary bombs into the latent area. The fire burned Qiu Shaoyun's clothes, shoes and socks until his whole body was burned, but he remained motionless until his death.

He was only 26 years old when he died.

After the battle, the company reported third-class merit to Qiu Shaoyun, and the matter seemed to have passed silently.

According to Qiu Shaoyun's former comrade Lin Bingyuan, he later recalled that the battle was summarized half a month after the battle, and he and Qiu Shaoyun's instructor Wang Mingshi went to the division to report. At that time, a director of the organizational department asked Instructor Wang to talk about a specific person or thing.

Instructor Wang then mentioned Qiu Shaoyun. He also said that during the pre-war mobilization before carrying out the mission, the soldiers were very excited and expressed their opinions one after another, but Qiu Shaoyun remained silent, so the company was very worried about him. So I talked to Qiu Shaoyun and told him many revolutionary principles. He also expressed his position to me: Even if he is hit by the enemy's bullet, the target will not be exposed. If the target is exposed, he will be a criminal of the revolution.

The next day, he submitted an application for joining the party to the party branch. In the application, he stated that he was willing to dedicate everything he had to winning the battle.

Unexpectedly, he sacrificed his life the next day, really trading his young life for victory in the battle.

After listening to Wang Mingshi’s introduction, the officer was very moved and said: Such a heroic act is so touching. Third-class merit is not enough, and special merit should be awarded!

Therefore, the Political Department of the 29th Division immediately submitted a report on Qiu Shaoyun’s special merit and submitted it to the Volunteer Army Headquarters for approval.

The report attracted the attention of the leaders of the Volunteer Army Command.

At first, some leaders believed that Qiu Shaoyun was just a special death during the war and could not be considered a hero. Third-class merit would be enough. But more comrades think that his strict discipline and self-sacrifice for the whole are commendable.

Later, the opinions were finally unified, and the minority obeyed the majority.

On November 16, 1952, the leadership of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army posthumously awarded Qiu Shaoyun the title of Special Meritorious Officer.

At the end of the same year, an army reporter named Zheng Dafan asked two questions about Qiu Shaoyun's death:

First, where did the incendiary bomb fall? Did he die from a hit on the head or was he burned to death bit by bit? Second, are there ditches around him? Who saw the whole process of Qiu Shaoyun's sacrifice?

Later, Qiu Shaoyun’s comrade-in-arms Li Chuanhu recalled: "Ke Dacai, Li Yuanxing and I were lying on his left, right and back respectively. The fire was really evil, burning from his legs to his legs. The incendiary bomb hit Qiu Shaoyun about 2 meters in front of him, and the incendiary liquid splashed on his body, burning him inch by inch, from head to toe. At that time, I was lying about 5 meters behind him and saw the fire burning bit by bit. Qiu Shaoyun was burned alive. When the fire burned his head, he was still alive. His head was squeaking and shaking while burning. I saw him raise his head and glance at me. There was a light in his eyes that I had never seen before, and then he buried his head heavily." Li Yuanxing and other comrades also proved that there is a small ditch 3 meters to the right of Qiu Shaoyun, if Qiu Shaoyun is willing. , just roll sideways to survive.

Faced with these supporting materials and witness descriptions, reporter Zheng Dafan was so moved that he wrote furiously with tears in his eyes.

On May 18, 1953, "People's Daily" devoted a full page to publishing his famous long newsletter "The Great Warrior Qiu Shaoyun". As soon as this article was published, it immediately aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad.

On June 10, 1953, the leadership of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army once again awarded Qiu Shaoyun the title of "First-Class Combat Hero", ratified him as a member of the Communist Party of China, and awarded him the "Model ***" "Youth League Member".

Fire Gold Steel

In October 1952, Qiu Shaoyun's troops accepted a glorious and arduous task: on the "391" highland between Pingkang and Jinhua , destroy the Li puppet army and advance the front south. Highland 391 is located more than ten kilometers northeast of Tieyuan on the right wing of Shangganling. The mountain is dangerous, long, narrow and isolated. The north and south peaks face each other, with a total length of 1,200m. The enemy was guarding a reinforced company on the high ground. They built a large number of bunkers on the high ground and laid out layers of barbed wire.

The biggest difficulty in capturing Highland 391 is that there is a 3,000m open space from our army position to the high ground. Impacting on such a long open ground will inevitably cause excessive casualties to the assault force and affect the victory of the battle. In order to pull out this poisonous nail and eliminate the Li Puppet Army on Highland 391, a certain leadership agency of our Volunteer Army sent a reconnaissance team to get a clear picture of the terrain and features on the highland, the enemy's firepower equipment, etc. On this basis, our military leadership conducted full discussions and research and decided to lurk several times the enemy's forces at the enemy's frontline the night before launching the attack.

The superior assigned this glorious task to the third battalion of a certain unit, where Qiu Shaoyun was located. The decision of the superiors was spread to the company. All the cadres of the Ninth Company were overjoyed and asked to be the vanguard.

On the evening of October 11, the gorgeous sunset dyed half of the sky red. Under the blossoming red clouds, the fully armed commanders and fighters of the third battalion gathered in Manshan District. Following the division commander's order, the latent troops shot straight towards the enemy's forward position like an arrow from a string. After a 20km journey, the soldiers arrived at the predetermined lurking area at 22:00. At 24:00, the troops were secretly lurking and ready. More than 570 volunteer soldiers were densely spread out in a line in the grass in front of the "391" highland. The Ninth Company's lurking post has advanced to 500m in front of the enemy bunker.

Qiu Shaoyun was lurking beside a weedy ridge on the east side of Highland 391, only 60 meters away from the foot of the mountain.

Qiu Shaoyun and his comrades used a high degree of vigilance to keep the hidden secrets within the enemy's fire circle. They were covered in camouflage grass from head to toe. When the breeze blows, the camouflage grass and wild grass flutter together, making it difficult for the enemy to detect.

Time passed by, the night was wet and cold, and during the day, the grass was stuffy and hot, and all kinds of insects kept burrowing into the soldier's trousers tied with cloth. The itching is excruciating. At this moment, Qiu Shaoyun was seen staring at his big black eyes, observing the surrounding situation. After a while, he looked up at the sun again. The time for the troops to attack was when the sun was setting. In other words, you have to spend the entire day under the enemy's nose. How long and difficult this time must be. But Qiu Shaoyun and his comrades were lying motionless in the chest-deep grass, waiting for the order to attack.

At around 10 o'clock in the morning on the 12th, something unexpected happened: a squad of Li Puppet Army rushed out of the trench with their bodies bent and crouched, and searched down the mountain. They hurriedly walked towards the lurking position of Qiu Shaoyun and his comrades. They shot blindly into the grass as they walked. Suddenly, the enemy in front staggered and stepped on the hand of Li Chuanhu, a soldier of the Ninth Company. He took a closer look and saw a group of volunteer soldiers lying around. He screamed in fright, turned around and took a few steps back, and fired randomly at the volunteer soldiers in the grass. The few people behind him didn't understand what was going on for a while. When they saw the big son being so frightened, they jumped back desperately.

At the critical moment, the soldiers' hearts were in their throats. Everyone knows that the enemy has discovered the lurking volunteers. If they are allowed to go back, this open space will instantly turn into a sea of ??fire...

The former enemy command post has been monitoring these enemies for a long time. When the enemy jumped back, the direct-aimed artillery that had been aimed at them had already been fired. Dozens of artillery shells rushed towards the 391 Highlands, forming tight walls of fire at the front of the enemy's position. In an instant, flames were billowing on the hillside of the 391 Highlands. The fire shot into the sky, the rocks exploded, and the soil rolled. All five enemies were swallowed up by the flames.

Soon, the enemy on the mountain threw two smoke bombs to indicate the target into the grass. As soon as the smoke rose, the enemy threw incendiary bombs randomly. Immediately, several fires ignited in the lurking area, and the wild grass crackled and burned, and the fire grew bigger and bigger. At this time, the enemy plane dropped another row of incendiary bombs, and one landed 2 meters away from Qiu Shaoyun, spraying gasoline and burning liquid in all directions and splashing on Qiu Shaoyun's legs. In the blink of an eye, the camouflage stuck in his leg caught fire, and the flames shot up and quickly turned into a ball of fire that enveloped him.

Behind Qiu Shaoyun was a ditch. As long as he took a few steps back and rolled a few times in the muddy water, the fire on his body was extinguished. However, as soon as he moves, the enemy will notice. At this time, Xiao Li, Xiao Zhang and Lao Wang who were close to Qiu Shaoyun became nervous. The three of them looked at Qiu Shaoyun, whose whole body was burned, and felt very uncomfortable. The fire burned on Qiu Shaoyun's body, just like burning in their hearts. They really wanted to rush over and help their comrades put out the fire. However, they suppressed the excruciating pain and did not do so. Because the enemy is observing the burning land through the telescope, as long as there is the slightest movement, the enemy will notice it. In this way, not only will Qiu Shaoyun not be saved, the latent plan will also fail, and the lives of more soldiers will be threatened. They followed Qiu Shaoyun's example, strictly abided by latent discipline, and waited for the moment of contribution.

At this time, the fire had burned from his legs to Qiu Shaoyun's head. He endured the unimaginable pain of burning his body and immediately handed the blasting tube in his hand to Xiao Li beside him.

Ten minutes passed, and Qiu Shaoyun was still lying there motionless, his hands deeply embedded in the soil, like a piece of high-quality gold steel, letting it be smelted by fire, like a huge stone clinging to the ground, strictly He strictly abided by revolutionary disciplines and did not make a sound until the last second of sacrifice.