Chapter 242 5. Wang Yaowu's troops before the war

On August 5, Chiang Kai-shek convened the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th Sui District of the East China KMT and the Xuzhou "Suppression General" senior generals at the Nanjing Presidential Palace to hold an emergency meeting on the prevention of Jinan. After a short analysis of the situation, Chiang Kai-shek said: "The next goal of the Communist Army must be to attack Jinan. Jinan must never be given up. If we collapse at one point, we will not be able to withstand many points. Our party Some people in the country are very confused. They listened to the Americans, ignored Jinan, and went to Xuzhou to build a wall to stop the Communist army. This is really unreasonable! In order to defend Jinan and eliminate Chen Yi’s troops at the same time, we formulated a battle plan for Jinan.”

Then, Gu Zhutong, chief of the Kuomintang’s general staff, introduced the specific details of the Jinan campaign plan: “When Jinan was attacked, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 2 Sui District, led more than 100,000 Jinan defenders to defend Jinan to exhaust Chen Yi’s troops. At this time, about 170,000 soldiers of our 2nd, 7th, and 13th Corps in Xuzhou immediately went north, broke through Chen Yi's defense line in Yanzhou and Jining, defeated the East China Communist Army, and saved the national army in Shandong. passive situation." "In order to strengthen the defense of Jinan, the national army and local security brigades in the whole Shandong Province are under the command of the 2nd Sui District. The 57th Brigade of the 32nd Division in Qingdao and the 19th Brigade of the 83rd Division in Xuzhou will also be airlifted to Jinan immediately. In addition, the command headquarters also plans that if the situation in Jinan is critical, Xuzhou's reorganized 74th Division (reorganized after the Battle of Menglianggu) can be airlifted to Jinan. In this way, Jinan's defense will be greatly strengthened." Gu Zhutong used his baton on the map The location of Shandong Province was drawn in a circle and continued.

Guided by this battle plan, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 2nd appeasement zone of the Kuomintang, carefully deployed defenses in the Jinan area. Considering that Jinan is close to the Yellow River in the north, Maoling Mountain and Yanchi Mountain in the east, and the terrain is open in the west, he decided to narrow the defensive circle and focus on fortifications. , control a strong reserve team, and carry out a counterattack plan in a timely manner. Accordingly, Wang Yaowu quickly began preparations for the operation. In mid-August, he called Chiang Kai-shek, requesting that the reorganized 83rd Division in northern Jiangsu be airlifted to Jinan to increase defense.Request Nanjing to airlift a large amount of ammunition and food to Jinan, which can support 110,000 Jinan defenders for two months.He ordered all the ministries to strengthen their fortifications, dig trenches and traps for all important strongholds, set up deer villages and barbed wire fences, and practice night combat actions.At the foot of Qianfo Mountain, build an airstrip to prevent emergency use after the Xijiao Airport falls.Widen and heighten the sluice of the Xiaoqing River in the north of the city, and open the sluice to release water when the communist army attacks, turning the north of the city into a flood area to prevent the communist army from attacking.The residents in the city were organized into strong men, picket teams, stretcher teams, transport teams, etc. to assist the Kuomintang army in defending the city.Wang Yaowu inspected the positions everywhere and urged the troops to prepare for the battle. He was very busy every day. (Wang Yaowu: "Memories of the Battle of Jinan", contained in "Cultural and Historical Materials Collection" No. 18)

Chiang Kai-shek received a telegram from Wang Yaowu, and on August 27, he telegraphed Liu Zhi and Wang Yaowu: Airlift the 83rd Division to Jinan, and all of them will arrive within two weeks.Instructed that "Jinan's defense should minimize the defensive circle and guard the key points; control a strong reserve force and adopt mobile defense; pay attention to night defense and practice more frequently."In order to store sufficient food, Chiang Kai-shek dispatched four planes on August 10, loaded with French currency that was about to be invalidated, and transported them to Jinan.Wang Yao was ordered to use these banknotes to rush to buy food in the suburbs of Jinan and the rural areas on the edge of the liberated area.Wang Yaowu urged the various ministries to carry out the orders, and sent troops and military depot personnel to grab food everywhere with French currency.People in villages and towns within a hundred miles around Jinan were almost sold out of food, but the people only got legal currency that was like waste paper.The perverse behavior of the Kuomintang authorities aroused great anger among the people. They said: "If Chiang Kai-shek is not overthrown, our people will not survive!"

Although the reinforcements are limited, Wang Yaowu still controls 3 divisions and 9 brigades of the regular army, 5 brigades of the irregular army, plus a total of 110,000 special forces and security teams, with more than 300 artillery pieces, mortars, and 15 Japanese light tanks.These troops guarding a city of Jinan cannot be considered small. The urban area of ​​Jinan is divided into three parts: the inner city, the outer city and the commercial port, which constitute the basic defensive zone.The peripheral defense area starts from Hancang in the east, Changqing in the west, Zhonggong in the south, and Qihe and Luokou in the north.Wang Yaowu divided the outer area into two defensive areas, east and west: Cao Zhenduo, commander of the 73rd Division, was responsible for the defense of the east area from the Yellow River Iron Bridge to Qianfo Mountain, and Wu Huawen, commander of the 96th Army and commander of the 84th Division, was in charge of the defense of the west area from Luokou Town to Ma'anshan. With the 19th and 57th Brigades as the reserve team, the 4th Security Brigade guarded Qihe, and a security team guarded Changqing.The specific equipment is: use Qihe, Changqing, Zhonggong, Licheng and other counties and towns strongholds as warning positions, and if you can abide by the rules, you can retreat.Taking Que Mountain, Baima Mountain, Maoling Mountain, Yanchi Mountain, Sili Mountain, Qianfo Mountain, and Huangtai Mountain, the commanding heights in the suburbs of Jinan, as the key defensive areas, build bunkers, dig trenches, and arrange barbed wire fences and deer villages on the basis of the old fortifications of the Japanese and puppets. Form 160 support points and several defensive positions with a depth of nearly 10 kilometers.

Dig trenches of 6 meters in width and depth along the commercial port and the outer city in the urban area, serving as the first position; the outer city wall as the second position; and the inner city wall as the last line of defense.The mother-child fort and many firepower points were built on the city wall to form crossfire, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Wang Yaowu inspected many fortifications in Luokou, the airport, Qianfo Mountain, Yanchi Mountain, Maoling Mountain and other places in mid-September, and he was satisfied.He believes that the periphery can hold on for half a month, and the urban area can hold on for at least a month.He said to Cao Zhenduo, the commander of the 73rd Division: "It is extremely difficult for the communist army to capture such a strong fortification. If we can't defend it, it will be really useless."

Cao Zhenduo spoke even louder: "I never did such a good solid fortification during the Anti-Japanese War. We have completed the fortifications, so we are afraid that the communist army will not dare to come!" Wang Yaowu reached a tacit agreement with Chiang Kai-shek and Liu Zhi. If the communist army attacked Jinan , Wang Yaowu was in charge of holding on, and Liu Zhi commanded the three corps of Qiu Qingquan, Huang Botao, and Li Mi to go north for reinforcements. With 270,000 troops from the north and the south, they attacked the East China Field Army and fought a decisive battle. (Report of the Southern Ministry of National Defense: "Battle of Jinan")

However, while Wang Yaowu was happily waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, Liu Zhi was afraid that the 83rd Division would be transferred away, and Xuzhou would be empty, which would be unfavorable to him. He asked for a delay in transporting the 83rd Division under the pretext of transporting ammunition and communication equipment first.By September 12, only the 19th Brigade of the 83rd Division had been transported to Jinan. After September 10, Wang Yaowu received intelligence from various places, saying that the communist army was approaching Jinan, and the total strength was estimated to be 200,000.Seeing that the reinforcements could not arrive, Wang Yaowu was very anxious. On September 15, he went to Nanjing to ask Chiang Kai-shek for help.Wang Yaowu said: "Most of the communist army is approaching Jinan, and it is possible to attack Jinan immediately. The combat effectiveness of the communist army is indeed much stronger than in the past. Judging from their capture of Weixian and Yanzhou, they already have the strength and strength to attack fortified areas. Technology. Jinan cannot be defended without an additional division. We request that the 74th Division (reorganized after the Battle of Menglianggu) be transported to Jinan by air, so that we can hold on to Jinan.”

Chiang Kai-shek agreed to Wang Yaowu's request and dispatched the 74th Division to reinforce Jinan. At the same time, he instructed Wang Yaowu: The Communist Army's tactics are to fight and rush. As long as they are stable in the first few days, their offensive will be frustrated.Our army has prepared powerful troops to reinforce Jinan. If the communist army attacks Jinan, the reinforcements will advance quickly; when the reinforcements arrive in Yanzhou, Jinan will draw out two divisions to attack and defeat the communist army with a north-south attack.After receiving the instructions, Wang Yaowu felt relieved and flew back to Jinan in a hurry.On the night he returned to Jinan, the Huaye troops started fighting outside Jinan, kicking off the prelude to the Battle of Jinan.