Chapter 109 Chapter 13 The Battle of Laiwu: An Unprecedented Victory

After the battles of Subei and Lunan, although the Kuomintang army suffered heavy blows, in Central Jiangsu and Huaibei, as the main force of our Central China Field Army went north, the Central China Branch and rear agencies also voluntarily withdrew and retreated to the Linyi area.After encountering the tenacious resistance of our army, the Kuomintang army paid a high price of casualties, obtained several empty cities such as Lianshui and Yancheng from which our army voluntarily evacuated, and occupied the relatively affluent Jiangsu-Anhui Liberated Areas. The Kuomintang High Command believes that although they have lost several divisions, they have occupied a large area of ​​northern Jiangsu and pushed the main force of the Communist Army into Shandong. This is a strategic victory.Chief of Staff Chen Cheng said in an order at that time: "Although the national army suffered a little loss, it is really a great success in terms of the overall situation of the war." He also judged that "the Communist army is over." The Communist casualties must have been huge.Moreover, the troops have just been concentrated in southern Shandong, and many of them are local armed forces, and their combat effectiveness is not strong.Linyi is the capital of the Shandong Liberated Area, and the Communist Army must defend it with all its strength.

Based on these subjective judgments, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng formulated the "Lunan Battle Plan" to concentrate heavy troops and force our army to fight a decisive battle with them in the Linyi area.Chiang Kai-shek was worried about Xue Yue's command, so he sent Chen Cheng to Xin'an Town, north of Xuzhou, to dispatch troops. According to the "Lunan Battle Plan", Chen Cheng invented the so-called "tofu dregs" tactic, and his deployment is as follows: Reorganized 19th Army Commander Ou Zhen commanded 8 reorganized divisions and 20 brigades to form the main assault group. From Taierzhuang to Chengguan, he invaded Linyi in 3 routes: the right route was 6 brigades commanded by Huang Botao, and the middle route was 7 commanded by Li Tianxia. brigade, the 7 brigades commanded by Hu Lian on the left;

With the 12th, 46th, and 733rd Army 9 divisions commanded by Li Xianzhou, the deputy commander of the Second Sui District, as the auxiliary assault group, they went south from Jiaoji Road and went straight to the rear bases of the Shandong Liberated Area in Laiwu, Xintai, and Mengyin to form The situation of the north and south pinching. They not only concentrated all the mobile forces that could be concentrated on the East China battlefield, but also dispatched a large number of planes to bombard Linyi and other places indiscriminately; To prevent the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army from aiding the east or the East China Field Army from withdrawing to the west.

Chen Cheng thought he had a plan, and he declared proudly: "Even if the 300,000 horses are tofu dregs, they will blow up the Communist army to death!" The battle order of the 300,000 troops that made Chen Cheng self-righteous and extremely arrogant was as follows: Lunan Corps: Commander Ou Zhen.The right column, column leader Huang Botao, is in charge of the reorganized 25th division and the reorganized 67th division.The central column, column leader Li Tianxia, ​​has jurisdiction over the reorganized 83rd Division, the reorganized 74th Division, the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Heavy Artillery Regiment, and the 172nd Division of the 7th Army.The left column, column leader Hu Lian, is in charge of the reorganized 11th division.Shuyang, Xin'an Town and other rear reserve teams: 7th Division.Corps Reserve: Reorganize the 65th Division.Sui Department Reserve Team: Reorganize the 64th Division.A total of 8 reorganized divisions (armies) and 18 brigades (divisions).

Southward Corps: Commander Wang Yaowu, composed of 2 military ranks and 1 reorganized division.Reorganized 46th Division, Commander Han Liancheng, under the jurisdiction of the 19th, 175th, and 188th Brigades; the 73rd Army, Commander Han Jun, under the jurisdiction of the 15th, 77th, and 193rd Divisions; the 12th Army, Commander Huo Shouyi, under the jurisdiction The new 36th Division, 111th and 112th Divisions.Deputy Commander Li Xianzhou led the forward command post to follow the army, with a total strength of 9 divisions (brigades).