Chapter 78 4. Chen and Su carefully researched countermeasures

On November 15, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek's "National Assembly" opened. In order to cheer up his "National Assembly" with military "victory", he drew up a four-way offensive plan for the East China Liberated Area, in an attempt to cut off Shandong and Central China. We will gather and annihilate our main force in central China, and "end the war in northern Jiangsu" before the end of the year. In early December, the enemy concentrated 25 and a half brigades, with more than 300,000 people, and launched an attack on the liberated areas in northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong from Dongtai, Huaiyin, Suqian, and Yixian counties in four routes.

Soon, our army detected and determined the enemy's 4-way offensive deployment: the enemy took Xue Yue, director of Xuzhou Sui Department, as the commander-in-chief.The first route, with five brigades of 65th, 83rd, and 25th divisions, was commanded by Li Mo'an, commander of the first appeasement area, and attacked Yancheng and Funing along the Tongyu Highway via Dongtai; the second route was organized by Zhang Lingfu's 74th The division will form 5 brigades with the 28th division, commanded by Li Yannian, deputy director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office, and attack Lianshui from Huaiyin; the 11th division of Hu Lian, another elite unit of Jiang, will join Dai Zhiqi's 69th division in the third route A total of 6 and a half brigades, under the command of Wu Qiwei, deputy director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office, attacked from Suqian to Muyang and Xin'an Town (Xinyi); The 9 brigades of the 59th and 77th divisions marched from Taizao to Linyi and Tancheng.It is scheduled to act simultaneously on December 13th.

"The enemy is murderous and fierce on the surface, but is there any place I can attack? Chen Yi analyzed that although the enemy's strength is hundreds of thousands, the enemy's strength is quite scattered. There are more than 100 to hundreds of miles between each road. The distance is convenient for us to concentrate our forces to separate and encircle and suppress; the enemy is not familiar with the terrain of our liberated area, most of them have just been severely hit by our army, and have suffered heavy casualties, so they dare not venture forward. Boldly advancing, the lone army goes deep. This can also create opportunities for our army to annihilate the enemy. Shall we concentrate our forces, choose another path, and fight a fierce battle first in the south of Longhai Road?"

Seeing Chen Yi asking for advice, Su Yu looked at the map carefully, pointed to the map and said, "I think that three of the enemy's four roads have just been attacked by our army, and they are more cautious in their actions. On the road in Suqian, Dai Ziqi is The Central Committee of the Three Youth League, boasting of being a young and strong faction, is Jiang's best friend. He is eager to capture Xin'an Town first, block Longhai Road, and grab the top spot. However, his Guangdong troops have not yet been attacked by our army. He is arrogant and reckless. Hu Lian Although Chen Cheng's 11th Division was Chen Cheng's housekeeping capital and one of Jiang's five main forces, but he had just been transferred to Suqian, and he didn't know much about our army's situation. In fact, except for the 60th Brigade and the rebuilt part of the 92nd Brigade, the rest of the division was improvised by Ma Liwu, Yin Maolin's old units, and the former 5th Engineering Regiment of the Ministry of National Defense. Two; third, the geographical location of Subei is conducive to our army maintaining the initiative. My opinion is to attack Suqian first. What do you think?"

After full discussion, everyone agreed with the opinions of Commanders Chen and Su.The Central Military Commission quickly approved the campaign. Through the enemy's attack on us on the 13th and 14th, our army found out the enemy's offensive deployment along the Suqian route: the reorganized 69th Division led the 60th Brigade and the 92nd Brigade 267th Regiment, the Reserve 3rd Brigade, and the 41st Brigade were the left wing. On the 14th, it has entered the Zhangshan, Luozhuang, and Shaodian areas, and the division headquarters is located in Renhewei; the reorganized 11th division is the right wing, and has entered the Caojiaji area.At this time, the enemy's first echelon reorganized all of the 69th Division and the main force of the reorganized 11th Division.

In order to seize the favorable opportunity, on the 14th, Chiefs Chen and Su made up their minds: to launch a campaign on the evening of the 15th, with 24 regiments, first annihilate the enemy's reorganized 29th Division in the area north of Suqian, and then take advantage of the victory to expand the results and seek Annihilate all or most of the 11th Division.The tasks of each unit are: The main force of the 9th column of Zhang Zhen and Rao Zijian continued to stick to the positions of Wuhuading, Yehaizi, and Lailong'an, attracting the enemy, ensuring that the main force of our army can encircle the enemy, and then cooperate with the main force to attack the enemy's reorganized 69th Division; He Yixiang and Ding Qiusheng The 8th Division, the first column of the 1st Column, and the 5th Brigade of the 7th Division respectively encircled and wiped out the enemy's 3rd Brigade in the Fengshan, Xiaodianzi, and Zhangshan Town areas. The main force of the reorganized 69th Division; the main force of the 1st column of Ye Fei and Lai Chuanzhu entered the enemy's depth between Xiaodianzi and Jingertou, cutting off the retreat of the reorganized 69th Division to Suqian and the connection with the reorganized 11th Division; The column assaulted from east to west, cooperated with the 1st column to cut off the connection of the reorganized 11th division, and participated in the annihilation of the besieged enemies.

After receiving the order, the troops moved in covertly at night, and arrived at the predetermined position at dawn on the 15th as planned, forming a situation of encircling and annihilating the enemy. Although winter in northern Jiangsu is usually late, in December, the wilderness by the Liutang River is already withered grass and yellow, reed flowers are flying white, and the scene is full of death.The prelude to the first winter battle on the East China battlefield kicked off here.