Chapter 7 6. Liu Deng commanded troops to move 8 times

Liu Deng's army is about to attack Changzhi.Changzhi used to be the base of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army. It was a heavily fortified city. The city wall was more than 3 feet high, with deep ditches and high fortifications outside the city. At this time, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were very anxious.The Battle of Shangdang was scheduled to be fought for only one month, and it has been fought for nearly 20 days now. If Changzhi City cannot be attacked for a long time, the gates of Pinghan and Tongpu will be opened, and trouble will be serious by then. On September 20, Liu Deng issued an order: "Determined to fight bravely and quickly to capture Changzhi City, and finally wipe out the enemies who invaded Shangdang."

On the 22nd, Liu Deng set up their headquarters in Beitianhe Village, 10 miles southeast of Changzhi City.At the same time, all troops were ordered to complete the laying of the telephone line around the city before the evening of the 24th.From September 10th to 22nd, Liu Deng had changed his command position five times since he began to fight in Tunliu, and his footprints spread all over Changzhi City. Liu Bocheng, who is familiar with the art of war, is very interesting in the formation of the Shangdang: the Taihang column is placed in the south, the Taiyue column is placed in the northwest with the left hand, and the southern Hebei army is placed in the southeast with the right hand.

So what about the north? It turned out that this was another pocket formation, a desperate stance.This time when fighting Changzhi, Liu Bocheng's method of attack was "encircling three ques and one", besieging its east, west, south and south sides, queing its north side, leaving no way out, and setting up pockets in the dark.If Yan Xishan came to help, or if Shi Zebo couldn't withstand the strong attack and break through to the north, it would be in line with his idea. On September 24, Liu Deng's troops had captured many places in the city pass, and were scheduled to start attacking the city that night.At this time, Yan Xishan couldn't bear it anymore and sent troops to reinforce him.Intelligence report from the front: Yan Jun's 3 divisions, 7,000 people, are heading south along the Bai (Gyu) Jin (City) line, and have reached the south of Zihong Town. It is judged to be reinforcements for Changzhi.

Liu Bocheng, who was commanding the battle in Beitianhe Village, was overjoyed after receiving the report, and his eyebrows that had been locked for many days suddenly relaxed.He said to Political Commissar Deng: "Okay, it's here." Liu Bocheng walked to the battle map and carefully calculated the time from Zihong Town to Changzhi.He once again fell into deep thought: should we attack the city first, or send reinforcements first? Let's attack the city first, for fear that the reinforcements will attack my back; attack the reinforcements first, and fear that the enemies of Changzhi will flee.

In the moment of decision-making, if you are a little careless, you will lose everything. For four whole days, Liu Bocheng kept thinking and weighing.At the same time, he was also observing and watching the actions of the reinforcements.What puzzled him was why Yan's reinforcements moved so slowly?They only walk twenty or thirty miles a day. On September 28, Liu Bocheng finally made up his mind: fight to aid the enemy first.He exchanged opinions with Deng Xiaoping, and Deng Xiaoping agreed: "You can only take care of one end first, and take care of both ends, and don't care about one end."

On the same day, Liu Deng issued the "Order No. 7 of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region Combat", stipulating: When aiding the enemy advances to Changlong and Shangcun towns, resolutely eliminate them in the field, and at the same time eliminate those who may come out of Changzhi to meet or break through. enemy. Liu Bocheng ordered, and Chen Zaidao commanded more than 10,000 troops with the southern Hebei column as the main force to continue to attack the city.Of course, it was a feint attack, and the bigger the momentum, the better; the reinforcements were divided into left and right wings, the right wing was commanded by Li Da and Chen Xilian, with the Taihang column as the main force, with about 10,000 troops; Around 10,000 people.

As soon as the order was issued, Liu Deng suddenly received a report from the reconnaissance troops ahead: It turned out that the reinforcements were not 7,000 people from 3 divisions, but more than 12,000 people from 5 divisions. Unmoved, Liu Deng still decided to attack the city with 10,000 people and 20,000 to help.The determination and lineup to play aid remain unchanged. On the evening of the next day, Liu Deng transferred his command position to Huangxian Town so that he could command troops to fight for aid. But at this time, the reinforcements changed their course again. After contacting me, they took up positions at Laoyeshan and Mopanao, and did not leave.

Liu Bocheng thought that this was not a bad thing, so he set up another pocket formation: with Chen Xilian as the right wing and Chen Geng as the left wing, storm Laoyeshan and Mopannao, open a hole on the way to the north, leave a way for survival, and change the right wing team After the 17th Division and the Independent Detachment (30th Regiment) tailed the enemy for reinforcements, they intercepted and wiped out the enemy when they fled.This has another advantage, that is, it prevents the reinforcements from joining forces with Changzhi's defenders. With proper deployment, Liu Deng's headquarters moved for the seventh time, from Huangxian Town to Zhongcun in the northwest.

On October 2, the main force of the reinforcements encountered Yan Xishan's reinforcements in the expected area.Yan Jun's firepower is very strong, but Liu Deng's troops are short of ammunition, so they dare not shoot easily. This day and night, Liu Bocheng, accompanied by Li Da and Chen Xilian, inspected the frontline troops.When Liu Bocheng heard that the gunshots from the front line were very sparse, he couldn't help being stunned for a moment: Isn't that how the gunshots from the large corps battles should be like this?Chen Xilian said: "There are too few bullets now, and each veteran only has 5 bullets. Everyone is trying to find a way to capture prisoners. If you capture a prisoner, you can get more than 200 bullets. They each carry 300 bullets, 100 for themselves, and 200 bullets. Send it to Changzhi."

Liu Bocheng said happily after hearing this: "No wonder the enemy's reinforcements are moving so slowly. It turns out that the burden is too heavy. Well, it's a lot of money to wipe out this enemy." After two days of fierce fighting, Liu Bocheng was shocked again. It turned out that the previous two reports were inaccurate.The reinforcements sent by Yan Xishan were neither 7,000 nor 12,000, but 8 divisions with two artillery regiments, totaling 20,000.The commander-in-chief is Peng Yubin, deputy commander-in-chief of the 7th Army, and the deputy commander is Hu Sanyu, commander of the artillery of the 2nd theater.

Another outburst. 20,000 vs. 20,000, with such a big disparity in equipment, how to fight this battle? Time did not allow them to hesitate.Liu Deng made a decisive decision and changed his deployment. From the 10,000 besieged troops in Changzhi, he transferred 6,000 people from Chen Zaidao's South Hebei column to rush to the aid battle. Liu Bocheng lifted the weight lightly. At this time of great urgency, when he called Chen Zaidao to give the order, he actually said to Chen Zaidao in a joking tone: "Let's not chew on this bone in Changzhi, let's eat the bone in front of us first. Chen Geng said to Chen Zaidao in a joke. Chen Xilian is in Mopannao, and the two of them have already held down the enemy's thighs, so hurry up and go north from the middle avenue. The enemy is surrounded on all sides, and a general attack will soon be launched, so prepare to attack as soon as possible." The "pocket array" remained unchanged, and still left an opening for the enemy in the north to prevent the enemy from fighting trapped beasts. On October 4, Liu Deng moved his headquarters forward for the eighth time to Taiping Village in order to directly command the aid battles at Laoyeshan and Mopanao. After fierce fighting, by the evening of October 6, Yan Xishan's 20,000 reinforcements were all wiped out except about 2,000 who fled to Qinzhou.Commander-in-chief Peng Yubin was killed, and dozens of senior officers including Hu Sanyu, deputy commander-in-chief and artillery commander, Guo Rong, commander of the 46th Division, Zhang Hong, commander of the 49th Division, and Li Peiying, commander of the 66th Division, were arrested.