Chapter 237 9. Inventory

The Battle of Xiangyang lasted 14 days. Our army annihilated the enemy's 15th appeasement area headquarters, all of the 104th and 164th brigades, and most of the 163rd brigade, captured more than 17,000 people under Kang Ze and Guo Xunqi, and killed and wounded 3,500 enemies.Recaptured Xiangyang, Fancheng, Laohekou, Gucheng, Yicheng and other towns, seized 4 chemical mortars, 1 field gun, 44 mortars, 10 60 guns, 43 small guns, more than 4,400 rifles, light There are 305 machine guns, 53 heavy machine guns, 10 cars, 123 mules and horses, 30.7 billion French currency, and a large amount of ammunition, food, and supplies.Our army sacrificed 779 people and injured more than 3,000 people.

The Battle of Xiangfan, from the selection of battlefields, the capture of fighters, to the deployment and command of the campaign, all embodies the tactical principles of our army's flexibility.Liu Bocheng said in the battle summary: "The victory of this battle is due to the fact that the enemy and our armies fought on the eastern Henan and Ping-Han lines, sucking away the enemy's main force, and Xiangfan was isolated. The Jiang and Bai bandits initially judged that we had no main force to attack Xiangyang. When the time came to attack, it was too late to send reinforcements....It is very similar to playing basketball, where the two sides restrain each other, and one person takes the opportunity to take advantage of the gap and shoot." ("Summary of the Xiangfan Campaign of the Central Plains Field Army", September 1948 8th)

6 Zong praised the bravery and tenacity of the troops in the summary: "In this battle against Xiangyang, the Li (Desheng) brigade contributed the most in our Zong. Starting from the 7th battle, each battle took on extremely difficult tasks. The cadres of the brigade and regiment came to the front line to command in person, supervised and inspected the pre-war preparations in a timely manner, and figured out their own ways under difficult conditions without complaining. Especially the 49th regiment "slashed three passes" and the 3rd battalion captured Pipa Mountain, breaking the enemy's mountain defense The gap in the system; the 2nd Battalion captured Zhenwu Mountain and opened up the corridor for me to attack Xiguan; the 1st Battalion broke through the frontier and played a decisive role in conquering Xiangyang City and completely annihilating the enemy. Its fighting morale was strong and its pre-war organizational preparations were sufficient. And the flexibility and firmness of combat guidance should be learned by all participating troops of our column." ("Summary of the Sixth Column's Xiangfan Campaign")

Commander-in-Chief Zhu De read Liu Bocheng's summary report, and spoke highly of it in his instructions on September 8: "This battle is a small model battle. Use equal forces to wipe out the enemies in the outer city one by one, and finally seize the main stronghold Xiangfan. The estimate is correct. The enemy's commander is not strong, his troops are few, and his combat effectiveness is weak, so he is determined to attack the city and win the greatest victory." On July 23, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a congratulatory message to the heads of the Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Field Army, pointing out: "This victory in the upper reaches of the Han River, followed by the two major victories in Kaifeng and Suiqi, will be of great help to the development of the Central Plains fighters." Since then, East China Cooperate with the two major field armies of the Central Plains, and turn into an active offensive on the Central Plains battlefield.The scale of operations has developed from the concentrated operations of several columns to the direct coordination operations of the two field armies.