Chapter 217 5. Our army took three attacks to capture Dongguan

The Battle of Linfen was originally scheduled to start on March 10. On March 4, more than 2,000 people from the 66th Division of Linfen Yanxishan Division went out to disturb the Xiangling and Fencheng areas west of the Fenhe River. On March 5, our 13th column was ordered to cross the Fen River westward to fight, and on the 6th to occupy Xiangling County.At this moment, I "Qianzhi" learned from the deciphered enemy telegram that Hu Zongnan was annihilated by our Northwest Field Army in Yichuan, Shaanxi Province, with 5 entire brigades and more than 30,000 people. In order to save his defeat in the northwest battlefield, Hu Zongnan hurriedly transported his 30th Brigade to Xi'an by air and sent more troops to Luochuan, regardless of the danger of Linfen.In order to cooperate with the battle in the northwest battlefield, hold the enemy back, and cut off the escape route of the airlifted enemy, Mr. Xu decided to launch the Linfen outskirts operation 3 days in advance, that is, on March 7.Then ordered the 8th Column to seize the Yaomiao Palace Airport on the morning of the 7th, and then attacked the city from the south of the city; the 13th Column crossed the Fen River to the west, rushed out of the enemies who disturbed Xiangling, and then moved to the east of the city to capture Dongguan; The enemy, Taiyue troops in the north of the city.With a centripetal siege, first clear the periphery, pull out the moat strongholds, conquer Dongguan, strive to wipe out the main force of the enemy in the periphery, and then attack the main city.If the enemy in Jinzhong comes to the south to aid, they will first destroy and aid the enemy, and then attack the city. If the enemy does not come for reinforcements, Linfen will be conquered in one fell swoop.

After accepting the task, our 8th Vertical 24th Brigade marched day and night and arrived at Yaomiaogong Airport on the morning of the 7th. The 72nd Regiment of the brigade immediately attacked the airport with mortars. escape.The enemy's 30th Brigade, which was waiting to be transported by air, also fled back to the city. Except for Yin Yingzhou, the commander of the 30th Brigade, and 4 companies who were transported away before that, most of the brigade's troops were dragged in Linfen.At the same time, our 8th, 13th and Taiyue Military Region troops encircled Linfen from the south, east and north of the city.

After the main force of our 8th vertical captured the outlying strongholds such as Chaicun, Zhangguan, Qiaojiazhuang, Yaomiao Palace, and Caishi Village in the south of the city, it defeated the enemy's many counterattacks and consolidated the occupied positions.The troops of the Taiyue Military Region captured strongholds such as Gaohedian, North and South Jiaobao, and North and South Xiaocun in the north and east of the city. After annihilating the enemies west of the Fenhe River on the 13th, they returned in the rain on the 9th, took over the defense line in the east of Linfen City, and began the battle to remove the outer strongholds.By the 16th, the enemy's peripheral security was cleared and the city wall was approaching.In the peripheral battles, the CCP wiped out more than 1,500 enemies, destroyed Hu Zongnan's airlift plan, and won the first battle.

Seeing that the outer strongholds fell, Liang Peihuang hurriedly dispatched troops to concentrate the main force to defend the defensive strongholds around the city wall and the East Gate.On the other hand, our army obtained information from on-the-spot reconnaissance and the mouths of prisoners. The terrain to the north of the main city defending the enemy is slightly higher, the city wall is thinner, and the troops are weaker.Therefore, "Qianzhi" adjusted its combat deployment on March 10, and decided to carry out the main attack from the east and north of the city, with the south of the city as the assist direction.Then attack Dongguan and Electric Lamp Company from the east of the city with 13 verticals, 8 verticals (less than the 22nd brigade) attacked the city guard stronghold of Xinglong Temple (No. 8) in the north of the city, and 4 regiments from the Taiyue Military Region attacked the enemy guard stronghold east of the North Gate. The 22nd Brigade and the two regiments of the Taiyue Military Region assisted in the south of the city, and the troops of the Luliang Military Region were in Hexi to fight for aid or to block and annihilate the fleeing enemy.

From the 18th to the 22nd, our 13th and 38th Brigade dug three tunnels to blast the Dongguan city wall, but they were all destroyed by the enemy. On the 23rd, our army launched an attack across the board. However, due to the destruction of the pass-through tunnel, we had to use artillery fire to open a breakthrough. There is a steep gap, and the inner edge of the outer trench has not been completely destroyed. When the two assault regiments rushed to the bottom of the city, they were suddenly blocked by enemy fire, making it difficult to climb the city and had to withdraw. On March 26, the 38th Brigade attacked Dongguan for the second time, and two of the three tunnels were destroyed by the enemy. Although one was dug under the city of Dongguan, before the attack began, the secret passage for transporting explosives was collapsed by enemy shells, delaying the charging time. , It was not until 4 o'clock on the 27th that the charge was completed. During the blasting, because the charge chamber was not filled tightly, it failed to exert its due power. It only blasted a crack in the city wall. Open the gap and forcibly board the city.

However, due to the poor coordination of the infantry and artillery, when the first row climbed to the top of the city, they were accidentally killed by our support artillery fire, which increased the worries of the ascending troops and the follow-up troops, causing the defending enemy to take advantage of our army's hesitation and violently attack our army. In the counterattack, our army suffered heavy casualties, failed to consolidate the breakthrough, and failed in the second siege. In terms of attacking the 39th Brigade of the Electric Lamp Company, after 4 days of hard fighting and repeated fighting with the defending and counterattacking enemies, the enemy's 189th Regiment and 1 battalion of the 2nd Regiment for Supplementary Training were exhausted. After another 2 days of tunnel operations On the 30th, the blasting was successful, and the enemy's core position was captured in one fell swoop, and all of them occupied the stronghold of the electric lamp company.

However, in the north of the city, our 8th Vertical 23rd Brigade and 24th Brigade attacked Xinglong Temple and the No. 6 stronghold near the North Gate respectively. They all underestimated the enemy.Li, the casualties were heavy.In the end, although Xinglong Hall was captured, they were unable to gain a foothold due to the suppression of the enemy's firepower, and were forced to withdraw.The 41st Regiment of the Taiyue Military Region captured the No. 4 defense stronghold in the northeast corner of the city on the evening of the 23rd, and repelled the enemy's counterattacks many times.In the 47th Taiyue Military Region, in the nearly 10 days of combat, our siege troops fought bravely and tenaciously, and got a lot of training, but also exposed many problems. In order to sum up experience and fight again, March 31 , "Qianzhi" convened a meeting of cadres above the regiment to conduct research, and called on all troops to conscientiously summarize experience and lessons, use their brains, think of ways, and generally carry out battlefield summary and battlefield training.Mr. Xu emphasized that it is necessary to continue to solve tactical and technical issues such as infantry coordination, combat formation, small group movements, combination of firepower, blasting, and assault, and tunnel operations.

On April 1, after readjusting the combat deployment, our army concentrated its forces to attack Dongguan, with the 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column and the 37th Brigade of the 13th Column, two old troops with strong combat effectiveness and experience in attacking key points, as the main force to attack Dongguan. , and concentrated all artillery for support.After fierce competition, our attacking force finally controlled the outer trench and covered the tunnel operation.By the 9th, the 23rd Brigade had dug four blasting tunnels under the city wall of Dongguan by the Electric Lamp Company, and the 37th Brigade had also dug two tunnels.

After 2 hours of firepower preparation, the 3 tunnels of the 23rd brigade (1 spare uncharged) were successfully blasted at the same time, and 2 large gaps were blasted. The 37th Brigade failed to blast the tunnel. One part broke into the customs through the gap opened by the 23rd Brigade, and the other part forced its way to the city through the gap opened by the previous 38th Brigade.Except for Xu Qichang, the commander of the division, and a few remnants of the enemy who fled into the city, most of the enemies were wiped out, and Dongguan was occupied by our army.