Chapter 298 16. The end of the Du Yuming Group

It was too late for Du Yuming's breakout plan to be implemented. At 24:00 on January 2, Su Yu issued an order to attack Du Yuming's group. The order pointed out: In order to implement the determination of the battle, when the enemy has not yet received sufficient food and ammunition supplies, and is exhausted, wavering and panicking, strive to quickly solve the enemy, wipe out Du Qiu and Li's bandits, and win the Huaihai Campaign. Divide and attack the remnants of the 13th Corps, compress the encirclement of the enemy, and then take advantage of the victory to expand the results and attack and wipe out the remnants of the Qiu Corps.

Su Yu's combat order clearly pointed out the combat missions and action directions of each vertical, as well as the problems that should be paid attention to in the coordination of each vertical, and at the same time gave the leaders of each attack group the power to formulate operational deployments according to the enemy's situation. On January 6, the general offensive of our army in Huaye began. Huang Shu, commander of the Ninth Army of the Li Mi Corps of the Kuomintang, recalled the situation during the general offensive of our army: "From January 6, the People's Liberation Army launched a comprehensive general offensive. All over the field. The Qinglongji of the 9th Army and the outer strongholds of Lizhuang and Lizhuang were all wiped out by the People's Liberation Army. The division and regiment commanders personally led troops to attack and could not regain their original positions. The People's Liberation Army approached the army and division command centers with tunnel operations. Du, Qiu, In this emergency situation, Li had to implement the breakout plan ahead of schedule."

On January 7, Du Yuming hurriedly deployed to break through.According to Huang Shu, the commander of the enemy's Ninth Army, in view of the lessons learned from the battle before January 6, Du Yuming assigned the task of breaking out of the encirclement to the two corps in turn. On the first day, the Qiu Corps attacked the PLA position from the line of Zhang Miaotang (the position occupied by Zhou Lang, the 200th Division of the 5th Army of the Qiu Corps), with Li Corps covering behind.Li Mi ordered the 8th Army and the 115th Army (formed temporarily in the encirclement circle, commander Si Yuankai, and belonged to the 13th Corps battle order) to serve as cover in Dahuang Village and other places, and the 9th Army moved to near Zhangmiaotang to prepare for Qiu The Corps took over the position of the 5th Army after the breakout was successful.

The next day, the Ninth Army crossed the position captured by the Qiu Corps on the 8th and continued to attack the People's Liberation Army, thus advancing alternately.Du, Qiu, and Li believed that such deployment avoided conflicts between the two corps. According to Du Yuming's deployment, Li Mi issued the 13th Corps' deployment and combat order to prepare to break through and transfer positions: "The 13th Corps moved its position on the 7th, prepared for attack on the 8th, and began to break through on the 9th. All armies formed commandos to attack and move forward." At that time, the 9th Army on the first day, the 64th Army on the second day, the 8th Army on the third day, and the 115th Army on the fourth day took turns attacking and covering each other.

However, the Li Mi Corps is the primary target of our Huaye army's decision to seek and annihilate.Under the powerful offensive of our army, Li Mi felt that the end was approaching, and began to flee before the breakout deployment was implemented.By 9 a.m., its positions in eight villages including Chenge and Mazhuang were forced to abandon their positions under the powerful offensive of our Huaye army, and the officers and soldiers stationed at the positions fled westward and southward in a panic. According to the deployment, the officers and soldiers who moved their positions at dusk also only fled for their lives, and fled to the defense area of ​​Qiu Qingquan Corps.

According to the memories of the generals of the enemy's 2nd Corps and 13th Corps, Du Yuming deployed to break out of the encirclement on January 7. However, on January 8 and 9, the two corps did not implement specific actions for breakout deployment at all. The enemy troops of the two corps were crowded in the small area of ​​the 2nd corps, while the commander of the corps and Du Yuming were thinking about how to escape. At dusk on January 9, Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan went to the headquarters of the 5th Army in Chenguanzhuang, ordered the troops directly under the headquarters and tanks and other troops to assemble west of Chenguanzhuang, under the command of Deputy Chief of Staff Wen Qiang, and fantasized about poisoning the air force on the 10th. Under cover, break out.

As soon as Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan arrived at Chenguanzhuang, PLA artillery shells followed them, and they quickly hid in the shelter.Li Mi and Xiong Xiaosan, the commander of the 5th Army, also came later. They all asked Du Yuming to break out at night that night, but Du Yuming still advocated breaking out during the daytime on the morning of the 10th according to Jiang's instructions. Li Mi, Qiu Qingquan, and Xiong Xiaosan all disagreed with Du's opinion. They believed that there was no hope of breaking through the siege during the day, and they believed that they could not wait any longer, and strongly advocated breaking out at night.Du Yuming couldn't help it, so he said: "If you want to leave, you go first, and I will stay here alone to the end, so as not to delay everyone!" gone.

Not long after Xiong Xiaosan walked out of the shelter, there was a loud sound of machine guns, cannons, and grenades all around. Xiong ran back and said to Du: "The enemy has already attacked the headquarters. We must make up our minds to break through, or we will not be able to get out if it is too late!" Du Yuming heard the sound of guns only on one side, and knew that Xiong Xiaosan was playing tricks on purpose, forcing him to decide to break out of the encirclement that night, so he said: "This is what your troops fought by themselves. Go out and have a look, why is this?" Qiu Qingquan understood that Du Yuming had already Seeing through Xiong's trick, he said: "Xiao San, let's go out and have a look!" Then he walked out with Xiong.It was not long before they were out that the gunfire ceased.

When Qiu and Xiong came back, they asked again that they must break out of the encirclement that night, but Du was stubborn, so he had to say: "Since we all advocate this, let's break out separately." But Li, Qiu, and Xiong all wanted to go with Du Yuming.Du said: "Isn't this letting the enemy catch them all at once? How can we be worthy of our subordinates if we go like this! Tell them to find their own way out." After Qiu, Li and others left, Du Yuming sent the last telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, saying: "The troops are in chaos and cannot last until tomorrow, so we have to split up to break through that night."

When the leaders of Jiang's army scattered like birds and beasts, the People's Liberation Army quickly inserted into the central position of Jiang's army with violent attacks, dashing, and fierce attacks, forcing the enemy to be unable to adjust everything, so those who were captured were captured, those who fled fled, and made a mess. group. By around 12 midnight, Li Mi's 13th Corps had all collapsed, and Qinglongji, Lu's hometown, Zhulouji and other places were all captured by the People's Liberation Army.The remaining routs poured into the positions of the 2nd Corps.

Qiu Weida, the commander of the 74th Army, who was on the position of the 2nd Corps, suddenly received a call from Qiu Qingquan, the commander of the Corps: "Li Mi's Corps has collapsed, and the Communist Army has occupied the throwing field. Please pay attention! Du Yuming has arrived at Huangzhuanghu to prepare for the assault." Let's go, I can't unify the command, please decide on your own." Since then, the phone has never been connected. Qiu Weida immediately summoned Wang Menggeng, the commander of the 51st Division, Wang Kuichang, the commander of the 58th Division, Changjiang Chonglin, the staff officer, and others to decide on the deployment of the breakout. It was hastily stipulated to break out at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night, and the destination of the assembly was Fuyang. At that time, Qiu Weida himself followed the main force of the 51st Division from Liuji to the southwest, but as soon as he walked out of the trench, he was blocked by the intensive firepower of the People's Liberation Army. The commander of the 51st Division, Wang Menggeng, was shot and killed on the spot.At dawn, the battle was over, and Qiu Weida himself was taken prisoner. Besides, Wen Qiang, the deputy chief of staff of the "Suppression General", received the last call from Du Yuming at 12 o'clock, asking them to go to the Fifth Army headquarters to act with him.However, when they arrived at the headquarters of the 5th Army under artillery fire, Du Yuming, Qiu Qingquan and the others disappeared. Feng Shiru, Du's confidential secretary, took out confidential documents from his briefcase, flustered. burn it quickly. The group of dragons had no leader, the general situation was over, everyone fled for their lives, and the troops broke up.Wen Qiang and others also followed the rebel army and fled towards the southeast corner. Due to the heroic fighting of all the commanders and fighters of the PLA, by 9 a.m. on January 10, Du Yuming's unit, the "Suppression General" in Xuzhou, was basically wiped out. The artillery of the People's Liberation Army was bombarding Liujixu from all directions, thick smoke billowed and dust rose into the sky. Wen Qiang, deputy chief of staff of the Kuomintang army, became a prisoner. Li Hanping, chief of staff of Qiu Qingquan Corps, became a prisoner. Qiu Qingquan, commander of the 2nd Corps, nicknamed "The Killing Devil", was shot dead. Xiong Xiaosan, commander of the 5th Army of the 2nd Corps, together with Gao Jiren, commander of the wounded 71st Army, Tang Huanan, deputy commander of the 71st Army, and others disguised themselves as wounded soldiers and escaped from the encirclement, and finally fled to Shanghai. After Li Mi, the commander of the 13th Corps, came out of the cover of the 5th Army in Chenzhuang, he saw that the position of his regiment had completely collapsed.Later, he fled to Qingdao at the end of January. Zhou Kaicheng, commander of the 8th Army of the Li Mi Corps, Huang Shu, commander of the 9th Army, Dian Longyun, chief of staff, Si Yuankai, commander of the 115th Army, and others all fled among the chaotic army, and finally committed suicide one by one. captive. The enemy's commander-in-chief Du Yuming led 13 adjutants and guards, first went west out of the village, and then turned northeast. Along the way, seeing the gunfire gradually stopped and the surroundings were silent, he went into the trench to hide.Adjutant Yin Dongsheng also shaved Du Yuming's moustache and put him in the uniform of an ordinary soldier, saying: "If you keep the green hills, you won't be afraid of running out of firewood." However, after putting on makeup, Du Yuming still did not escape Hua Ye's pursuit and was also captured.