Chapter 41 6. The South Road breakout encountered obstacles

The 1st Zong Wangshu voice that broke through the siege on the South Road did not go well.They acted on the night of the 25th, a day earlier than the Central Plains Bureau, but they did not go west directly through Pinghan Road, but went south in a circle. According to Wang Shusheng’s recollection at the meeting of high-level cadres of the Central Plains Bureau in Jincheng, Shanxi at the end of 1947: “When I received the order to break out, I led the first column and two brigades to set off from the Popi River on June 25. The railway caused the 2nd Zong to walk for 3 days longer. When we arrived near Yangpingkou, the enemy 185 brigade had already arrived and blocked us, so we could not pass. Another 1 day of detour, we arrived at Dawu Mountain We did not pass the railway until the evening of the 30th. We thought that the deployment of the breakout was not appropriate, and it was much more disadvantageous than the deployment of the 2nd column. When we detoured to Dawu Mountain, another enemy brigade arrived and intercepted us in separate routes. The next day we decided to fight the leading regiment first, and planned to defeat the enemy in the afternoon, and then pursue the victory and cross the railway. We started to move at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on the same day (30th), but it rained heavily and stopped until dark , we marched in two columns, but unexpectedly the road was narrow and slippery, the order was chaotic, and we fought and walked, which delayed a lot of distance. Min Xuesheng led two regiments to pass by our left side the next morning On the railway, the right column fell behind. Only the 6th Regiment passed two battalions, and lost one battalion. I walked with the 15th Brigade, 43rd Regiment and Zongzhi all night. At dawn, we crossed the river, and there was still a distance from the railway. For more than 10 miles, the enemy fired at us right in the enemy's ambush circle. At that time, the troops were in great chaos, with men and horses everywhere, and no one could stop them. No one obeyed the command, and they dispersed. With a few guards, the enemy came later, and the 4th regiment covering the entire column beat the enemy back from behind. We regrouped the team and prepared to cross the road. It was 11:00 am (31st). We fought with 7 regiments The bunkers and the enemy's garrison troops attacked the 10th Division of the enemy's reinforcements in Wuhan with 4 regiments, captured four bunkers in less than two hours, and defeated the enemy's reinforcements. At that time, our team was walking side by side at a distance of two or three miles. Later, the enemy's Armored vehicles came, and so did planes, we braved the enemy's artillery fire and strafed, and fought bravely and bravely across the Pinghan Road." (Wang Shusheng: "Central Plains Yizong Breakthrough and Passage")