Chapter 227 7. Attack Qu Shounian and encircle and wipe out Huang Botao

On the morning of June 26, the 3rd and 8th columns abandoned Kaifeng and moved to Tongxu according to the scheduled plan, and the 1st, 4th, and 6th columns moved to the south of Qixian County and the east-west areas of Fuji.In the afternoon of the same day, the 45th Brigade of the Reorganized 5th Division and the Reorganized 68th Division regained Kaifeng. The Kuomintang Army Command judged that the East China Field Army "mainly moved southward and seemed to have no active intentions", so it transported the reorganized 25th Division and the 3rd Rapid Column to Teng County to relieve the siege of Yanzhou, and sent the reorganized 74th Division that had reached Dangshan Yunxin'an Town strengthened its defenses, and assigned the District Corps and Qiu Corps to Taikang, Fugou, Chenliu, Tongxu, and Weishi to "pursue and suppress bandits."In this way, "the main battlefield in eastern Henan was weakened" (The Third Department of the Southern Ministry of National Defense: "The Battle of the Central Plains Battle and Review"), providing conditions for the PLA to annihilate each.

Arrogant Qiu Qingquan marched in the direction of Tongxu with the main force, tailing the 3rd and 8th columns; the District Shounian Corps lingered after reaching the Tiefo Temple, Longwangdian, and Yuxiangpu areas in the northwest of Sui County.The two corps of Qiu and District formed a 40-kilometer gap.Su Yu and others seized the opportunity and issued an order to encircle and wipe out the Corps on the 27th before ascertaining the specific deployment of the Corps in the district.That night, the various units of the Assault Group targeted the Yindianji, Longtanggang, and Yuxiangpu areas and encircled them.

By the morning of June 29, the Huaye troops had surrounded the District Corps Headquarters, the reorganized 75th Division, and the New 21st Brigade in Longwangdian and nearby areas, and completed the division of the brigades of the enemy's 75th Division.At the same time, the enemy's reorganized 72nd Division was surrounded in the area around Tiefo Temple.Our Resistance Corps controlled the line from Qi County to Wangdianji, 20 kilometers west of the encircled enemy, and isolated the two Corps of Qiu and District. On the evening of the 29th, the Huaye Assault Group continued to surround the enemy's reorganized 72nd Division with a force, and launched an attack on the District Corps Command, the reorganized 75th Division, and the 21st Brigade with its main force. After two days and nights of fierce fighting, until noon on July 1st , Annihilated the 6th Brigade and the New 21st Brigade of the enemy's reorganized 75th Division.

On the afternoon of July 1st, the Qiu Corps in the west entered the Guanzhuang and Zhangge lines about 10 kilometers away from the District Corps under our continuous obstruction.The Huang Baitao Corps on the eastern front, reinforced the District Corps from east to west, and reached the Diqiudian area about 10 kilometers east of the besieged enemy's reorganized 72nd Division. The two enemy corps from the east and the west are coming together, and the situation is extremely tense. Whether to stick to or change the original plan of the battle must be decisive without delay.Su Yu showed great determination and courage. While speeding up his attack on the Shounian Corps in the district, he moved eastward with four columns, preparing to encircle and wipe out Huang Botao's Corps.

The District Shounian Corps was besieged, and Chiang Kai-shek was extremely panicked. On June 30, Chiang Kai-shek and Air Force Commander-in-Chief Zhou Zhirou took a plane to oversee the battle over Qi County, and threatened Qiu Qingquan with the threat of beheading to attack quickly and join the District Corps.Qiu Qingquan devoted all his strength, and with the support of planes, tanks and cannons, he frantically attacked our blocking troops.However, our support troops on the east and west lines withstood the enemy's attack, and never made the enemy's plot succeed. At 4 pm on July 1st, Su Yu issued an order to the Shounian Corps Headquarters in the general attack area.In the evening of the same day, the remnants of the enemy were wiped out, Ou Shounian was captured, and his chief of staff Lin Xixiang and the commander of the 75th Division Shen Chengnian were also captured alive.

The District Shounian Corps was annihilated, and had achieved its intended combat objective. It stands to reason that it should withdraw from the battle in time.And because our army has been fighting continuously, the casualties are relatively large.In addition, there was a long drought and no rain in the war zone, and the wells and rivers dried up. In the hot summer, the sun was exposed to the sun, and the troops were short of drinking water, unable to eat, and their physical strength gradually weakened.However, when Huaye had just settled the Shounian Corps in the district, Huang Botao's Corps in the east made rapid progress and had already arrived near Diqiudian, posing a great threat to our army's withdrawal from the battlefield from the east.Su Yu believes that if we do not strike the enemy forcefully, it will be difficult for our army to withdraw from the battle smoothly with a large number of wounded;Su Yu was determined to show Huang Botao some color, beat him paralyzed, frightened him, and then quickly evacuated.

On the evening of July 2, Su Yu issued an order to besiege Huang Botao.By dawn on the 4th, two enemy regiments were wiped out. On the 5th, Huang Botao's tank counterattacked and was repelled by our army; after dusk, I attacked again, and on the morning of the 6th, I wiped out more than one regiment of the enemy.Huang Botao's corps had two brigades in total, one fast column and one high police corps. Suddenly, more than one brigade was wiped out. They panicked and feared what would happen to Ou Shounian, so they hurriedly ordered the troops to shrink to the center of Diqiu. In a small area, clean up and burn documents and maps overnight to prepare for accidents.But when I woke up early on the 7th, I found that all the participating troops of our army had already withdrawn without a trace.The enemy generals were so angry that they were speechless for a long time.The Battle of Eastern Henan ended victoriously.