Chapter 103 7. Wipe out the "Essence of the National Army"

On the evening of January 2, Ma Liwu was watching the Peking opera "Storm Pavilion" at the rear headquarters. Seeing that Yue Fei was about to be killed, he felt uncomfortable. At 22:00, our army launched attacks from all directions with an absolutely superior force. The 8th Division attacked Shangyan with the main force of the 22nd regiment.This is defended by a battalion of the 44th brigade of the 26th division, and the fortifications are relatively strong.Outside the village, there are soil walls, deer villages and prominent bunkers, and there are shooting holes on the walls.In the village, independent houses constitute the core fortifications, which can cross fire and fight steadily. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 22nd Regiment exploded three times in a row from the southwest corner, blasting away the Luzhai. The follow-up troops bravely broke through, occupied the breakthrough, and started street fighting with the enemy.

The enemy army entrenched the fortifications at the east end of the village to resist stubbornly, and several tanks came from the direction of Majiazhuang for reinforcements.But the tanks could not move forward by the ditch and could only fire at the village.Our army remained unmoved and insisted on attacking.The enemy army in the village finally couldn't stand it anymore, except for a few who fled, most of them were wiped out.Shangyan was occupied by the 8th Division.Seeing that the situation was not good, the enemy tanks turned around and retreated back to Majiazhuang. 1. Attack Bianzhuang from the east.The cannons of the Kuomintang army seized in the Battle of Subei played a role for our army at this time.At that time, the enemy resisted tenaciously with the position of a small hill, and the 1st vertical artillery was ordered to shoot.Gunner Qianglong was a former soldier of the 69th Division who had just been recruited into our army after the Battle of Subei.He cooperated with the observers and measured the distance of the enemy's position to be 3350 meters. He fired 8 shots in a row and hit the enemy's bunker.The veterans all applauded his superb technique.

1 Zong took Bianzhuang very quickly.The attacks of other units were also very fierce. By the early morning of the 3rd, the Luzhong 10th Division captured Pingshan, the 9th Division occupied Shichenggu, and the Binhai Guard Brigade occupied Shilongshan, completely controlling the commanding heights in the north. The enemies of Majiazhuang and Fushan were completely defeated. Under the control of our army's artillery fire.Tao Yong commanded the 1st Division to intersperse bravely, conquering villages and towns such as Hongshan and Lanling, and cut off the connection between Feng Zhian's Department in the south and the 26th Division.

After Ma Liwu learned that there was a fight ahead, he immediately contacted the Majiazhuang division headquarters by phone, but the phone had been cut off, so he had to use an intercom to contact Deputy Division Commander Cao. On the morning of the 3rd, Ma Liwu led two companies into a truck and was about to return to the front line. On the road, he met a reconnaissance unit and said that the battle ahead was fierce and it was extremely unsafe to travel.Ma Liwu had no choice but to return to Yi County to report to Xue Yue, requesting that the 26th Division and the fast column be withdrawn to Yi County.

After Xue Yue's permission, Ma Liwu used Li Yutang's command system to keep in touch with the front, and ordered the remnants of the 26th Division to retreat westward under the cover of a fast column. Ma Liwu's original retreat plan was that in case the battle was unfavorable, he would let the tanks patrol around the troops and cover the retreat of the troops along the road by truck.He called this tactic "meat and mud warfare". The flesh and blood of the communist army can never withstand steel tanks, and coupled with the cover of aircraft in the sky, the retreat can be successful.

Unexpectedly, the weather changed suddenly on the 4th, with rain and snow, and dark clouds.The planes of the Kuomintang Air Force could not be dispatched, and the remnants of the 26th Division and the fast column began to break out of the encirclement early in the morning.Our army intercepted the route of action of the Kuomintang army's retreat from the captured telephones, and Su Yu ordered the troops to attack quickly to encircle the enemy.The staff saw that the weather was too bad, so they came to ask Su Yu if there was any change in his battle plan? Su Yu said: "No change! This is God helping us. Rain and snow make the road difficult, and heavy equipment will be trapped there, making it even more difficult for the enemy to escape."

The troops of the Luzhong Military Region received the order and didn't even have time to eat breakfast. The soldiers grabbed two pancakes and ate while carrying guns while on their way.After leaving Zhuangzi, the sky was filled with thick fog like the cooker just opened the steamer cover, and nothing could be seen clearly in the vast expanse of whiteness.The rain and snow melted on the ground, and there was sticky and thick mud everywhere.In the marching team, only the sound of panting and pattering footsteps could be heard.From time to time someone fell down and got covered in mud.The team walked faster and faster, and soon came to the main road.When the fog clears, everyone will see that it is a spectacular scene that has never been seen before!

At this time, Tao Yong's 1st Division had joined forces with the troops of the 10th Lunan Division of the right column in the north, and occupied Simazhai, blocking the way for the enemy to flee to Yi County. In the north, the 8th and 9th Divisions of Shanye and the Binhai Garrison Brigade assaulted Majiazhuang, Taizitang, and Chenjiaqiao respectively; in the south, the main force of the 1st Huaye Division assaulted Zuozigou; The column was surrounded by a narrow area from Zuozigou to Leowzhi Lake. Leaky Lake is a depression eight or nine miles wide from north to south, with intersecting ditches, and it is a plain when it is dry. When it rains and snows, the land is as muddy and soft as a sponge, turning into a swamp.

The Kuomintang army broke through to the west in a panic. Tanks, trucks, and heavy artillery were crowded together, and everyone wanted to run away first.They couldn't wait to line up and drive along the road, but drove tanks and trucks into the fields on both sides of the road, and drove in three or four parallel lines.The trucks and tanks in the front quickly bogged down in the mud, and the ones behind were blocked, honking their horns.Infantry marched through the trucks and tanks, and the crowded Kuomintang army was in complete chaos. The troops of our army rushed into the enemy's position like tigers on the mountain with shouts, dividing and annihilating the 26th division and the fast column. Cao Yuheng, the deputy commander of the 26th Division, and the chief of staff led 7 tanks to the front and managed to escape the encirclement.The tanks behind were all stuck in the mud, no matter how much the driver increased the horsepower, the tanks roared and struggled, sinking deeper and deeper.The shooters kept turning the turret and firing around, but the tank had a large dead angle, and our soldiers quickly approached and came into close contact with the enemy.Some bombed tanks with explosives and grenades; Sorghum stalks, set fire to the tank.The driver inside couldn't take it anymore and had to climb out and surrender.

Seeing that there was no escape and no resistance, some wise Kuomintang officers ordered the troops to stop resisting and lay down their weapons.Among them, 26 divisions were worthless sacrifices.The deputy brigade commander Ding Zifu, the head of the regiment Wang Jingxing and others.Chen Weijin, head of the 239th regiment of the fast column, ordered to blow the rallying call and led the whole regiment to put down their weapons.These actions were approved by the officers and soldiers, thus avoiding that after 4 hours of fighting, by 15:00, all the 44th and 169th Brigades of the 26th Division of the Kuomintang Army, the 1st Fast Column Tank Battalion, the Engineer Battalion, the 5th Artillery Regiment, the Transport Regiment and the 80th A total of more than 30,000 people in the two infantry regiments of the brigade were wiped out by our army, and 24 tanks, dozens of American heavy artillery and more than 200 trucks were seized.The first phase of the Lunan Campaign ended successfully.