Chapter 296 14. The Mystery of Surrounding but Not Killing Du Yuming Group

After the Huangwei Corps was annihilated, Huaye and Nakano could have immediately launched the third phase of the Huaihai Campaign to annihilate the Du Yuming Group, but Mao Zedong pointed out that "the final annihilation will not be carried out for the time being". Why? Mao Zedong's strategic guiding ideology and relevant internal materials disclosed the facts at that time: If our army quickly eliminates all the rest of Du Yuming's clique on the Huaihai battlefield, the Kuomintang's overall situation will be shaken and it will inevitably be re-deployed.Chiang Kai-shek may use dozens of ships on standby in Shanghai to suddenly go north, and make a plan to pick up the enemies in Beiping, Tianjin, Tanggu, and Tangshan in North China.Therefore, how our army moves at this time on the Huaihai battlefield has a great bearing on the Pingjin campaign.

In order to cooperate with the battle of Pingjin, the Central Military Commission and Mao Zedong ordered our army on the Huaihai battlefield not to make final arrangements for the annihilation of the remaining troops of the besieged Du Yuming Group within two weeks.In this way, Chiang Kai-shek can see that his hundreds of thousands of troops are still there, and he will not immediately make a decision to let the troops in North China flee south, so that the goal of stabilizing the enemy troops in North China can be achieved. On December 11, the Central Military Commission and Mao Zedong clearly stated in the "Operational Policy on the Battle of Pingjin": "In order to prevent Chiang Kai-shek from making a quick decision to transport the enemies from Pingjin to the south by sea, we are going to order Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, and Su Yu to annihilate the Huangwei Corps Afterwards, the rest of the corps of Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang under Du Yuming's command (about half of which have been wiped out) will not be deployed for final annihilation within two weeks."

On the 14th, the Central Military Commission officially notified Huaye to besiege the various columns of Du, Qiu, and Li, and proposed to rest for a few days in the present position, only to defend and not to attack. . After Huaye received the instructions from the Central Military Commission, in view of the fact that the enemy had been madly attacking the south for several days, our army’s blocking task was relatively heavy, so he reported to the Central Military Commission that while blocking the enemy’s south, our army tried to take turns to rest in units of divisions, so that the enemy No respite.

On the 16th, the Huangwei Corps was completely wiped out, and the Bengbu Li Yannian and Liu Ruming Corps also stopped aiding the north. The trend of the Du Yuming Group's southward invasion dropped sharply. Therefore, Huaye decided to rest in the current position for 3 days and monitor the enemy in the encirclement with a small force. .However, the Central Military Commission considered that the division and encirclement of the enemy forces on the Pingjin battlefield was going on intensely, so it instructed Huaye that day: the columns surrounding Du Yuming's group could rest for 10 days, and then concentrate Huaye's full strength to launch an attack.The political offensive against the Du Yuming Group should continue.

According to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and Mao Zedong, in order to cooperate with the Pingjin Campaign, Huaye was transferred to the battlefield to rest from the 16th, and strengthened the siege of the enemy, launching a political offensive against the enemy; The Guoyang area rested and served as the general reserve team for annihilating Du Yuming's group, joining the battle or destroying the enemy who broke through according to the situation.If Li Yannian's corps commit another crime in the north, they can also be wiped out on the spot.In accordance with the order of the General Front Committee, all ministries of the Nakano drew up a half-month (until January 2, 1949) rest plan.

On the 17th, according to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and the order of the General Front Committee, Huaye deployed and rested for 10 days, and stipulated four central tasks during the rest period: annihilate the enemy if he broke through, study tactics, organize and launch a political offensive against the enemy. On the 22nd, the situation on the Pingjin battlefield developed rapidly.Our army has completed the task of dividing and encircling the enemy forces in North China, and the battle to attack and wipe out the encircled enemies has begun. On the 22nd, our army wiped out the 35th Army and 2 divisions of the enemy's main force in Xinbaoan.At this time, the 54th Army of the Li Yannian Corps in Bengbu had withdrawn to Nanjing, the possibility of the Li Yannian Corps' third northward reinforcement has been greatly reduced, and the Liu Ruming Corps had withdrawn to Hefei.Therefore, the Central Military Commission instructed Hua Ye: You can concentrate the entire army to rest for a whole day, recharge your batteries, rest until the beginning of next month, and it is more appropriate to start attacking around the 5th.

According to the instructions of the Central Military Commission on the 22nd, the Huaye Front Committee decided to extend the rest of the Huaye army for another 10 days after research, and began to attack around January 5. On the 25th, the Huaye Front Committee telegraphed all corps and columns to follow. As for the content of the activities during the rest period, the Huaye Front Committee proposed several points to the various verticals: first, strengthen the preparations for attack, mobilize deeply politically, summarize the experience of political offensive and military research experience, and adjust the deployment as appropriate; second, continue to consolidate Recruits, do a good job of melting captives; third, continue to take advantage of weather changes and enemy difficulties to launch widespread, effective, and various political offensives against the besieged enemy forces to disintegrate the enemy; fourth, strengthen the organization of the troops Sexuality and discipline education, pay attention to overcoming the phenomenon of disorganization and discipline; fifth, make up ammunition.

From the perspective of the Huaihai battlefield, suspending the attack at this time and switching to rest and reorganization is not only beneficial to improving the combat effectiveness of our army, but also beneficial to the final complete annihilation of the besieged enemies and the complete victory of the Huaihai Campaign.At this time, the weather in Xuzhou suddenly became cold, with wind and snow, and freezing weather. The enemies in the encirclement were cut off from food and grass, and they were starving.Prolonging the encirclement of the enemy army can take advantage of the weather and conditions to further cause various difficulties for the enemy, disintegrate their fighting spirit, and wear down their vigor, while our army can recharge its energy, wait for work, and make full preparations for the final attack. Less troop consumption, shorter time, strive for greater victories.