Chapter 226 6. The Shounian Corps in the Annihilation Zone

When Kaifeng fell, the Kuomintang ruling group was greatly shocked, and public opinion in Nanjing, Shanghai and other places was uproarious. The "supervisory committee members" and "legislators" from Henan Province in Nanjing cried and cried. They first went to Chiang Kai-shek's official residence to petition, then knelt down at the residence of Chief of Staff Gu Zhutong and stopped Liuzhou, the commander-in-chief of "bandit suppression" in Xuzhou. Zhi "kneel down and cry bitterly" (Liu Zhi: "My Memories", Taiwan Wenhai Publishing House, 1982 edition).Strongly urge Chiang Kai-shek to recover Kaifeng and hold those who lost Kaifeng accountable.

On June 24, Defense Minister He Yingqin reported on the fall of Kaifeng at an interim meeting of the Legislative Yuan.When talking about the reasons for the rapid loss of Kaifeng, He Yingqin said: "The staff department is equipped with the strength of Kaifeng. There were originally 3 regiments of the national army, 6 regiments of the security team, and a temporary regiment of the national army, a total of 10 regiments. Originally at least It can hold for more than 10 days. It is estimated that our reinforcements will defeat the bandits along the way and reach the outside of Kaifeng City. It will not take ten days. A pincer attack inside and outside the Kaifeng area will definitely be formed. Unexpectedly, the bandits began to attack the city on the 17th and broke through the city wall on the 18th. , Street fighting happened, this fact is an accident. After the staff got the news, Chief Gu immediately flew to Zhengzhou, and the supreme commander also flew to patrol, hoping that the reinforcements would arrive as soon as possible. Finally, the bandits in Kaifeng City broke through too quickly, and the reinforcements rescued them It’s not enough, until the 22nd, the telecommunication in the city was interrupted, and the situation is unknown.” (Central News Agency South, June 25th)

In order to restore the decline and stabilize the morale of the army and the people, the Kuomintang Army Command strictly ordered the Qiu Qingquan Corps and the Liu Ruming Division of the 4th Appeasement District to speed up their advance to Kaifeng; The reorganized 72nd Division formed a corps, commanded by Qu Shounian, the deputy commander of the 6th Appeasement District, and detoured from the Minquan area to Kaifeng through Sui County and Qi County, reoccupied Kaifeng, and tried to force the East China Field Army to fight it. After analyzing the current situation, Su Yu, Chen Shiju, Tang Liang, and Zhang Zhen called Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, and the Central Military Commission at 19:00 on the 24th, proposing a plan to voluntarily abandon Kaifeng and annihilate Qiu and the district corps.It is believed: "After the Qiu and district corps reoccupy Kaifeng, their supply lines will be extended, and their forces will be dispersed. If the Qiu bandits attack the Wei (shi), Wei (chuan), and Yan (ling) areas again, we will wait for an opportunity to wipe out their left or As a defender, it is set to automatically give up Kaifeng on the 26th."

On the 25th, they also proposed to divide the connection between Qiu and District with the 3rd and 8th Columns after the Qiu Corps entered Kaifeng, and use the 1st, 4th, 6th, 10th, 11th Columns, Special Columns, and Guangdong-Guangzhou Columns , Annihilation of the District Corps in the south of Qixian County.If, after the Qiu Corps entered Kaifeng, the District Corps did not advance for a long time, then I would leap forward to the north and seek to wipe out a part or most of the District Corps in Min (Quan), Lan (Feng), Qi (County), Sui (County) )area. The Central Military Commission called Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Deng Zihui, Su Yu, Chen Shiju, and Zhang Zhen at 3 o'clock on the 26th, pointing out that Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi all judged that the East China Field Army would join forces with the Central Plains Field Army to reorganize the 18th Army and other departments, so Qiu Qingquan, The two corps of Ou Shounian "advance rapidly to the southwest from the lines of Minquan, Lanfeng, and Kaifeng in order to jointly attack our army, and Qiu's army defends Kaifeng with a part. Under this situation, Su Chenzhang is deployed on the line of Suiqi Tongxu (or this It is very appropriate to wipe out the enemy all the way. It is of course better if you can wipe out the 75th Division and the 72nd Division, otherwise it is also very good to wipe out the 75th Division. few."

At 9 o'clock on the 27th, the Central Military Commission called Liu, Deng, Chen, and Deng, saying that Su Yu's army had the opportunity to wipe out the enemy at any time in the current area, so it would be advantageous to find and wipe out the reorganized 75th and 72nd Divisions or any of them in the current area. .Then it can be transferred to the 74th and 51st divisions in Shangqiu and Dangshan, or to Guoyang, Mengcheng, Bengbu, and Su counties, all of which can be maneuvered.As long as the reorganized 18th Army does not move eastward from the Yellow Flood Area, Su Yu's army will have a wide maneuvering area ("Su Yu's War Memoirs", p. 558).The Central Plains Field Army is required to firmly restrain Hu Lian's corps.

At 17:00 on the 27th, Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, and Deng Xiaoping called Su Yu, Chen Shiju, and Zhang Zhen and reported to the Central Military Commission, agreeing to the above-mentioned operational plan. Attack the Wu Shaozhou Corps advancing north, and attract the 18th Army to return to aid." In order to realize the plan of dividing the Qiu, District Corps, and Qiujian District Shounian Corps, Su Yu and others formed an assault group with the 1st, 4th, and 6th Columns and the 11th Column of the Central Plains Field Army, and assembled in secret in Sui County, Qi County, and Taixian County. Kangjian and the Minquan area are preparing to implement a north-south attack to encircle and annihilate the district corps.The 3rd and 8th columns first moved from Kaifeng to Tongxu to lure the Qiuqiu regiment to go south, and then quickly moved eastward. Together with the 10th column built from the Shangcai area and the Guangdong-Guangzhou column in Qixian County, they formed a resistance group , Formed a blocking position west of Qixian County, isolated the connection between the Qiu Corps and the District Corps, and blocked the east aid of the Qiu Corps; entered the southeast area of ​​Zhengzhou with the 9th Column of the Central Plains Field Army, blocked the Sun Yuanliang Corps that might be aided by Zhengzhou East, and from there Side to contain Qiu Bingtuan.In addition, armed with the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region of the North China Military Region and the Henan-Anhui-Su Military Region of the Central Plains Military Region, they smashed the Xuzhou-Minquan section of the Longhai Road and directly cooperated with the field army in combat.