Chapter 48 4. Powerful generals and favorable targets

According to the order of the 1st Appeasement Office of the Kuomintang, starting from late June, the Jiang army first launched an attack on Jiaoji Road, and then other Jiang troops also dispatched successively. By mid-July, the war spread to East China.Jiang's army attempted to capture central and southern Jiangsu first, and then with the cooperation of Huainan and Xuzhou reinforcements, they entered the Huaihe River and Huaihe River.At that time, the Central China Field Army had the 1st Division, the 6th Division, and the 7th and 10th Columns, which were raised by local armed forces. There were a total of 19 regiments and more than 30,000 people, while the KMT had 120,000 troops. The strength of the two sides was very different. , the Central China Field Army was at a disadvantage.Therefore, choosing an appropriate combat area and favorable combat forces became the key to winning the first battle of the Soviet-China Campaign.

At the combat meeting held in Hai'an, the heads of the military region discussed: "The enemy of Taizhou is closer to our Hai'an, and they are on my side, so they pose a greater threat to me. But Taizhou is a medium-sized city, and it is difficult to conquer it quickly. If you want to besiege its frontier strongholds and seek to wipe out the enemy, the terrain in this area is not good. From From Taizhou to Hai'an, it is a water network area with criss-crossing rivers and rivers. In some places, there are no bridges and it is difficult to pass through; to the south is a wide Yunliang River, which is difficult for large troops to move, and every village has water fairies, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack If we can't make a quick decision on this road, the enemies from Nantong and Jingjiang will take advantage of the gap and occupy Rugao and Hai'an..."

"Nantong and Baipu roads in the southeast are far away. If I go out to find and annihilate the enemy, the enemies in Taizhou, Taixing, and Jingjiang will inevitably advance in three directions. They may soon break through our blocking position and threaten Hai'an and Rugao... ..." Listening to the heated discussions among his comrades, Su Yu knew that he and his comrades had thought about the choice of which way to fight first in the first battle, so he stood up, pointed to the map and said: "It seems that the only way to go to Xuanjiapu and Taixing is the most beneficial."

The comrades stopped talking and began to listen attentively to Su Yu's speech: "Xuanjiapu and Taixing were both occupied by Jiang's army when the 'truce order' was about to take effect or had already taken effect. It is politically more advantageous for us to counterattack these two points." "The enemies in Xuanjiapu and Taixing are actually temporary garrisons. Although some fortifications have been built, they are far less solid than Taizhou and Nantong." "The enemies of Xuanjiapu and Taixing are the enemy's forward troops. There are only two regiments, which are relatively isolated and scattered, which is beneficial for me to annihilate them separately at the same time."

"The enemy along this road is the troops of the enemy's 83rd Division. The original designation of the 83rd Division is the 100th Army, which is Chiang Kai-shek's direct line of troops and one of the basic troops of Wang Yaowu, commander of the 2nd Appeasement Zone. It is equipped with American equipment and trained by American instructors. It has strong combat effectiveness. , but the weakness of this army is pride, a proud soldier is bound to be defeated, and he never dreamed that we would take the initiative to attack him." "The enemy on this road was wiped out by me, and the distance between the enemy in Taizhou on the northwest road and the enemy in Nantong on the southeast road was enlarged, and our army could turn back its forces, fight continuously, and open up the situation."

Su Yu expressed his opinion in one breath, and all the comrades nodded in agreement. After studying and discussing some details of the battle, the meeting formed the following combat deployment: The 1st Division attacked Xuanjiapu. After conquering it, the main force marched to the east of Xuanjiapu and assembled in a concealed manner, preparing to destroy the enemies who came to aid at the port and Diaojiapu. One brigade of the 6th Division attacked Taixing City, and the other brigade arrived in the northeast of Taixing, and cooperated with the 1st Division to destroy the port and the enemy who came to aid Jingjiang. The 3 regiments of the 7th vertical were responsible for attacking the enemy who came to aid from the direction of Taizhou, leaving 1 regiment to guard Dongtai.

After the deployment, Su Yu ended the combat meeting with this sentence. He said: "120,000 enemies attacked us with 30,000 people, and it was four against one. In this way, we returned it: six against one!" When dispatching troops, in order to clench his "fists", Su Yu restored the two old troops of the Central China Field Army, Tao Yong's 8th Column and Wang Bicheng's 6th Column, to their original designations.Tao Yong's division is the 1st division, Su Yu is concurrently the division commander, and Tao Yong is the deputy division commander; Wang Bicheng's division is the 6th division, Tan Zhenlin is concurrently the division commander, and Wang Bicheng is the deputy division commander.At that time, the two main divisions of the Central China Field Army and other troops with a total of 19 regiments and more than 30,000 people were stationed in Rugao and Hai'an.

Su Yu is familiar with his old army.He thought: Tao Yong is more flexible, we will use him in Xuanjiapu.Xuanjiabao is relatively close to the enemy's stronghold Taizhou, and the possibility of the enemy's reinforcements is high. The battle must be resolved before the enemy's reinforcements arrive.Wang Bicheng's troops have a strong blocking ability, so they used him in the direction of Taixing. Although the enemy's reinforcements may be less, it will take a lot of effort to attack this Gucheng.As long as Tao Yong can quickly resolve the battle and free up his hands, even if the enemy comes to help, we are not afraid, and we can fight a second time.

After mature consideration, Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin issued an order at midnight on July 10 to march towards Taixing and Xuanjiapu. (Su Yu: Talk on May 16, 1978)