Chapter 43 8. Comparison of troop losses between the enemy and us

The troops of the Central Plains Military Region successfully completed the campaign tasks of breaking through the encirclement of Jiang's army and successfully completing the strategic shift, and entered a new period of establishing new bases behind enemy lines and launching guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.However, whether the breakout campaign is successful or not depends on whether the troops maintain or basically maintain their strength after arriving at the destination.The Central Plains Army answered this question in the affirmative. According to the "Statistics of Existing Personnel, Weapons, and Horses in the Central Plains Military Region after Japan's Surrender (August 10, 1945)" made by the Central Plains Military Region on January 15, 1946 (Note: The original is currently in the Hubei Provincial Archives.):

There are 1691 people directly under the Central Plains Military Region, 12374 people in the first column (note: the original statistics are wrong, it should be 13374 people), of which: 1348 people directly under the column, 4291 people in the first brigade, 4725 people in the second brigade, and 3010 people in the third brigade People; 15,173 people in the second column, including: 933 people directly under the column, 4,207 people in the 13th brigade, 3,106 people in the 14th brigade, 4,002 people in the 15th brigade, and 2,925 people in the 359th brigade; 14,062 people in the Jianghan Military Region, including 985 people directly under the team , 3,868 from the Independent 1st Brigade, 2,748 from the Xiangnan Division, 1,626 from the Xiangbei Division, 4,835 from the Hongshan District of the Xiangzhong Division; 9,665 from the Eastern Hubei Military Region, including 1,860 directly under the team, 4,004 from the Independent Second Brigade, and 4,004 from the Eastern Hubei Division 1815 people, 492 people from Luo Liying headquarters, 1494 people from Luo Lijingguang headquarters; 7508 people from Henan Military Region; (Note: It should be 62,197 people).Excluding the demobilization of nearly 10,000 people before the breakout (Note: According to "Zheng Li" telegram on April 19, 1946: 8,000 people were demobilized, and 10,000 people were demobilized); according to the "Hankou Agreement" signed by the KMT and the Communist Party, the The train transported more than 1,000 sick and wounded, their family members, and accompanying medical personnel to the north. Due to the unreasonable obstruction of the Kuomintang, more than 740 people actually arrived in the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area; was ordered to move to Xiangxi), the 600 members of the Henan-Hubei Independent Guerrilla Detachment left behind by the Henan Military Region; plus those who were transferred to other liberated areas by various legal means and those who died in several self-defense battles, etc., actually participated in the The total force of the breakout was about 50,000.

The distribution of the approximately 50,000 people is as follows: more than 15,000 people from the North Road Breakout Force, (among them: 7,900 people from the 13th Brigade of the 2nd Column, 45th Regiment of the 15th Brigade, the Central Plains Bureau, and the organs directly under the Central Plains Military Region, 8,000 people from the 359th Brigade and the Cadre Brigade More than 13,000 people in the South Road Breakout Force (among them: more than 9,000 people from the 1st Column, 4,000 people from the 15th Brigade of the 2nd Column); 7,000 people from the 1st Brigade of the 1st Column; more than 6,000 people from the Jianghan Military Region; More than 6,000 people; more than 2,000 troops from the Henan Military Region.

After breaking out of the encirclement and arriving at the area ordered by the Party Central Committee to disperse and open up new base areas on the spot, what is the situation of the preservation of the troops of various troops?The basic facts are: after the 2nd Eastern Hubei Independent Brigade arrived at the Yexi River area on the border of Yue (West) Tai (Lake) on July 17, "casualties were about 100 people, except for the large number of non-combat casualties, a total of about 500 people." (Note: Wu Zhongcheng, Zhang Tixue, and Xiong Zuofang sent a telegram to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Plains Bureau, and the Central China Bureau, July 16, 1946.), the strength of the whole brigade was 5,500; the first brigade of the first column had 300 casualties, non-combat With a reduction of 1,700 people, the strength of "still one brigade, 5,000 people" successfully reached the Jiangsu-Anhui Liberated Areas. "Even the 100-odd cadre brigade entrusted to the brigade by the superiors did not fall behind" (Note: "A Thousand Miles of Iron Flow" Page 101, Sichuan People's Publishing House, 1986 edition.).

Among the breakout troops on the North Road, the Central Plains Military Region directly under the Central Plains Military Region, the 13th Brigade of the 2nd Column, and the 45th Regiment of the 15th Brigade, reduced combat and non-combat personnel by 2,100, and preserved about 5,800 troops.After the other cadre brigade and the 359th brigade on the North Road completed the strategic transfer mission, about 1,700 combat and non-combat personnel were reduced, and more than 6,500 personnel were preserved. After the South Route Breakout Troops completed the breakout mission, the 1st Column and the 2nd and 3rd Brigades lost about 800 combat and non-combat personnel, and the remaining troops were about 8,200 (Note: Wang Shusheng, Liu Zijiu, Zhang Caiqian to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Plains Bureau Electricity, August 1, 1946.).The other 15th Brigade (less than the 45th Regiment) that broke out on the South Road had more than 3,000 people. When it arrived in Northwest Hubei, it lost 700 to 800 people, and the number of preserved people was about 2,500.

Troops of the Henan and Jianghan Military Regions suffered very little loss during the breakout. After completing the task of breaking out, the troops of the Henan Military Region "entered the Henan-Shaanxi area to fight guerrillas, a total of 2,000 people" (Note: Huang Lin and Zhang Shuiquan sent a telegram to the Central Military Commission, August 1946 1.); when troops from the Jianghan Military Region arrived at Zhenping Niutaudian, there were "about 6,000 troops" preserved (Note: Luo Houfu and Wen Minsheng sent a telegram to the original Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, July 31, 1946.).

To sum up, at the end of the breakout campaign in the Central Plains, the Central Plains Military Region retained about 40,000 troops, accounting for about 83% of the total number of people participating in the breakout campaign; about 8,000 combat casualties and non-combat reductions accounted for about 8000 people in the breakout campaign. 17% of the total population. In addition, the number of non-combat attrition includes nearly a thousand people who were approved by the organization to transfer to various liberated areas in disguise during the breakout campaign, stayed along the way, and hid in various places after falling behind.If this part is added to the total number of people saved, then the vital force preserved by the troops of the Central Plains Military Region at the end of the breakout battle will account for more than 85% of the total number of people participating in the breakout battle.

Based on this, we can say that the breakout campaign of the troops of the Central Plains Military Region was a victory. In the entire Central Plains Breakout Campaign, the Kuomintang army directly used 11 reorganized divisions and 25 brigades with a total of 288,000 people to encircle and attack the Central Plains Military Region troops. With 25,000 brigades, as a mobile force to attack the Central Plains Liberated Area, plus more than 50,000 people from the south of Hu Zong who participated in intercepting the Central Plains breakout troops, the total strength of the Kuomintang involved in chasing and intercepting the troops of the Central Plains Military Region reached 15 reorganized divisions and 32 brigades, a total of 36 More than ten thousand people.The troops of the Central Plains Military Region successfully contained so many Jiang troops around themselves, which greatly supported other soldiers and civilians in the Liberated Areas to make preparations for counterattacking Jiang's attack.

In the breakout campaign, the troops of the Central Plains Military Region not only successfully contained a large number of Jiang's troops, but also wiped out the vital forces of Jiang's army.During the 35-day breakout campaign, the troops of the Central Plains Military Region carried forward the spirit of revolutionary heroism of our army "to overwhelm all enemies and never yield to the enemy". Facing an enemy seven times its own size and well-equipped, they fought bravely and turned to battle. Thousands of miles away, causing heavy damage to the enemy. According to statistics, in more than 100 major battles, a total of more than 10,000 enemy people were killed, wounded and captured (including 5,090 enemy regular troops).The specific situation of the breakout troops annihilating the enemy from all walks of life is as follows: the 13th Brigade, the 15th Brigade, the 45th Regiment, the 359th Brigade and the Cadre Brigade of the 2nd Column on the North Road fought 30 times from breaking through the Pinghan Road to Heishan Town, and wiped out nearly 4,700 enemies; The 1st Column (less than the 1st Brigade) and the 15th Brigade (less than the 45th Regiment) fought 21 times from Yanjiahe to Heyuji and wiped out more than 2,400 enemies; the 1st Brigade started from Baiqueyuan to break through Jinpu Road and fought 23 times , annihilating nearly 1,100 enemies; troops from the Jianghan Military Region fought 8 times from Liushuigou to Niutaudian, annihilating more than 600 enemies; the 2nd Independent Brigade in East Hubei fought 11 times from Fota Mountain to Wuhe Town, annihilating nearly 700 enemies; The troops of the military region fought 8 times from Miaowan to Gulugou, annihilating nearly 600 enemies; the Henan-Hubei border independent guerrilla detachment and the Jianghan detachment that remained behind persisted in the struggle, fought 3 times and wiped out more than 100 enemies.

In the breakout campaign, the troops of the Central Plains Military Region achieved a glorious record of defeating the strong with the weak, defeating the many with the few, destroying 8,000 self-inflicted losses and annihilating 10,000 enemies.