Chapter 334 2. Determination of the policy of Fumei Campaign

On July 6, 1949, in an elegant and simple small building in the ancient city of Xi'an, a meeting of the main leaders of the Frontline Committee of the First Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Northwest Bureau was in progress. Outside the house, the scorching sun was shining so hot that the ground was scorching hot, and a gust of wind rolled up waves of heat, rushing into the house. In the room, in front of a long table, sat around the heads of the First Field Army, the heads of various corps, and the principals of the Northwest Bureau. Wisps of smoke rose from the cigarettes, cigarette holders, and pipes in their hands.

Standing in front of a military map against the wall was a burly man with a stern face, twinkling eyes and two thick black eyebrows. He was Peng Dehuai, the commander and political commissar of the First Field Army.Sitting beside him was a big man with a thick black mustache holding a pipe. This was He Long, commander of the Northwest Military Region. Peng Dehuai was analyzing the battlefield situation with the help of hand gestures in his sonorous voice with a strong Hunan accent. "Given that our army only has a relative advantage on the northwest battlefield, although Hu Zongnan's general situation is over, he still has to fight a trapped beast. The two horses of Qingning and Ningxia have not been hit hard by me, especially the fighting power of Qingma is still relatively strong. Therefore, It is difficult to annihilate the main forces of the Hu and Ma cliques in one battle, they must be separated, prioritized, concentrate their forces, and annihilate them individually."

After a pause, Peng Dehuai thought for a while, and then said: "Although Hu and Ma have put on a joint combat stance now, there have been deep contradictions between Hu and Ma, and between the two horses for a long time. Be wary, look close to each other, in joint operations, they all try to preserve themselves, sacrifice each other, deliberately keep a certain distance, grab a hand when it is favorable, and run away when it is unfavorable. Whoever is attacked will be unlucky, and no one will take their old capital. Go rescue each other." "Then," Peng Dehuai said in an emphatic tone, "should we lead the horses and fight the horses first and then the horses, or should we lead the horses and fight the tigers and the horses first and then the horses? This is the primary issue in our upcoming battle. Whether it can be correctly selected The goal of the campaign is the key to the smooth development of the entire campaign."

What will happen if you lead the horse and fight the horse first and then the horse?Now the two horses are constantly retreating, and the troops are spread out and deployed on the broad front, but in order to fulfill the agreement between Hu and Ma, they will not retreat far away from Pingliang for the time being.Although the configuration of the two-horse group is convenient for our army to intersperse and divide and annihilate each of them, it also has a disadvantage: if I attack with three corps head-on, the enemy will resist steadily. , If I use the two wings to outflank, because the front is wide and the movement distance is long, it is easy to be spotted by the enemy, and it is not easy to wipe out the enemy quickly.Under such circumstances, if our army pursues the two horses to the northwest, there are several possibilities for the actions of the Hu Zongnan Group: one is to fully assist the horses, attack our flanks and rear, and cooperate with the two horses; the other is to wait for an opportunity to harass Xi'an. In an attempt to "encircle Wei and save Zhao"; the third is to retreat to Hanzhong to preserve its strength.Regardless of which of these possibilities arise, they are not conducive to my next step of combat.If the horses cannot be completely wiped out, then turn around and fight the Hus. At this time, Hu Zongnan's group will lose the barrier of the two horses' group, and they will not dare to fight me decisively.Our army's southward pursuit will give the two horses a chance to respite and invade Shaanxi again.In addition, fighting horses is better than fighting Hu Feili. Our 18th and 19th regiments rushed to fight against powerful enemies and were not well prepared, which is a taboo for military strategists.

"Then, how about leading a horse to beat a barbarian, or a barbarian first?" Peng Dehuai continued to think. Hu Zongnan mistakenly concluded that it would be difficult for our army to eat his five armies in one bite, and deployed the five armies along the Weihe River into a group. This deployment has a fatal weakness, that is, there is no combat reserve team.The few troops remaining in Qinling and Baoji can only play a defensive role. For example, if the enemy in Fumei is surrounded by us, the enemy has no soldiers to help.Moreover, Hu Zongnan had 3 armies in the north of the Weihe River and 2 armies in the south of the Weihe River, and he had no large-scale river crossing equipment. When he was attacked by us, the enemies across the river from the north to the south could not support each other; However, there is a large gap between Hu and Ma, and our army can calmly detour to the side of Hu Zongnan's group from its junction and cut off the enemy's retreat; third, during the Battle of Central Shaanxi, the two horse groups were attacked by me, and they complained about Hu Zongnan's slow action , do not cooperate.If the Hu Zongnan Group is attacked by me, the two horses will never come to help easily.

Thinking of this, Peng Dehuai blurted out: "The enemy changes and we change, the horses first, then the horses, implement the second plan!" Immediately, the Fumei campaign policy of "leading the horses to fight the tigers, first the horses and then the horses" was reported to the Central Military Commission and approved .