Chapter 163 5. Break through the natural danger of the Yellow River and take advantage of the victory to advance eastward

The Yellow River defense line, which the Kuomintang army claimed to be able to reach the "400,000 troops", was broken through. The five columns of the East China Field Army, which cooperated with the Liu Deng Field Army, launched an offensive on the line from Tai'an to Lincheng on Jinpu Road, which seriously threatened the attack on Shandong. The enemy's left flank and rear.In order to close the gap in southwestern Shandong, the Kuomintang Army Commander defended the strategically important Xuzhou and Zhengzhou. On the one hand, he ordered the 55th and 68th Divisions of Liu Ruming, who was in charge of the river defense, to shrink the reorganization of the 55th and 68th Divisions to gather Yuncheng and Heze to defend, and transferred the 153rd Brigade from Dangshan to guard Dingtao, to contain Liu Deng's field army; on the one hand, the 32nd, 58th, and 66th divisions were urgently reorganized from northern Henan, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, and together with the reorganized 70th division, they formed the 2nd Corps, commanded by Wang Jingjiu, and went north for reinforcements in an attempt to Forced Liu Deng's field army to fight against the water in the narrow areas of Yuncheng and Heze.

Based on the above-mentioned enemy situation, Liu Deng was determined to do whatever he could, and adopted the tactics of "attacking one point, attracting reinforcements, gnawing at one side, and defeating each one" (Liu Bocheng: "Thousands of Miles Leaping into the Dabie Mountains" and "Xinghuo Liaoyuan" Selected Edition No. 9, p. 6). Before the main force of the enemy's reinforcements arrived, they first attacked and annihilated the enemies in Yuncheng and Dingtao, and then concentrated their forces to annihilate the enemy Wang Jingjiu's corps in motion.

According to this deployment, the 1st Column cleared the enemies outside Yuncheng from July 3rd to 6th, launched a general offensive on the 7th, fought fiercely until dawn the next day, and wiped out the 55th Division and 2 brigades of the enemy defenders. The enemy Lieutenant General Li Mingya, deputy commander of the division, won the first battle of the battle. On the 9th, the 6th Column wiped out the enemies outside Dingtao, and launched a general offensive on the 10th, quickly wiped out the enemy defenders and reorganized the 153rd Brigade of the 63rd Division. The Liu Deng Field Army controlled the vast battlefield between Juancheng and Yuncheng from the Yellow River in the north, and Dingtao and Cao County on the Longhai Road in the south.

When the Liu Deng Field Army annihilated the enemies of Yuncheng and Dingtao, the Reorganized 70th, Reorganized 32nd, Reorganized 66th Division, and Reorganized 58th Division of the enemy Wang Jingjiu Corps were scattered over a hundred miles from Jinxiang to Liuyingji. On the lot, a long snake formation in the north-south direction is formed. According to the instructions of the Military Commission, Liu Deng decided to take advantage of the dispersion of the main force of Wang Jingjiu's corps to implement division and encirclement and annihilate them one by one.Advance to the southeast of Juye with the 1st column and cut off the connection between the enemy's 70th, 32nd, and 66th divisions; use the 6th column to go east through Zhangfengji, and cut off the enemy's 32nd and 66th divisions The main force cooperated with the 1st column to besiege the enemy of Liuyingji; the 2nd and 3rd columns were divided from Caoxian and Wenshangji areas to Xiejiaji and Yangshanji, and cut and wiped out the reorganized 66th Division; The independent 1st and 2nd brigades of the Henan Military Region entered the Wanfu River area to stop the enemy who might be aided by Jinxiang from the north.

According to this deployment, each column quickly arrived at the designated position at dawn on the 13th with a long-distance attack, and divided and surrounded the enemy's three divisions. Six camps. On the morning of the 14th, the 1st and 6th columns surrounded the 1.5 brigade of the reorganized 70th Division and the 1.5 brigade of the reorganized 32nd Division going north from Dushanji to the Sixth Battalion; at this time, the 2nd and 3rd columns were annihilating After reorganizing the first part of the 66th Division in Xiejiaji, the encirclement of the main force of the 66th Division in Yangshanji was completed.

Liuyingji is a small market town with only a few hundred households. Liu Deng judged that the enemy's two reorganized division headquarters and two and a half brigades have shrunk to the town, making it difficult to hold on.So they adopted the "surrounding three ques and one" style of play (Liu Bocheng: "Thousands of Leaps into the Dabie Mountains" and "Xinghuo Liaoyuan" Selection Nine, p. 6), opening up the net, leaving no way out, and laying out a pocket formation. On the evening of the 14th, the 6th Column launched a fierce attack from west to east on the enemy of the Sixth Battalion.Annihilated the headquarters of two reorganized divisions and two and a half brigades of the enemy. Lieutenant General Chen Yiding, commander of the 70th Reorganized Division, and Luo Zhedong, deputy commander of Major General Luo Zhedong, were captured. The battle of the Sixth Battalion ended successfully.