Chapter 25 second quarter

In late August 1946, the Kuomintang launched an attack on our Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, trying to force us to continue to fight when our army had just finished the Longhai Campaign and the troops were exhausted. Narrow area south of the Yellow River. The Kuomintang army's attack was large-scale and fierce.The total strength is 32 brigades, about 300,000 people, forming a huge pincer offensive from the east and west. Facing a powerful enemy, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping convened a meeting of the leaders of each column at the headquarters to discuss countermeasures. Chief of Staff Li Da first introduced the enemy's situation: After the Battle of Longhai, Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to fail, and ordered Xue Yue from Xuzhou and Liu Zhi from Zhengzhou to press against me with 14 divisions and 300,000 troops.In order to smash the enemy's attack, our army still concentrated its forces to annihilate the enemy one by one, and first ate up the enemy's entire 3rd division.

Deng Xiaoping scanned the commanders and political commissars of each column with sharp eyes, and said clearly: "If we don't fight, we will have to go back to the Taihang Mountains!" Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping waited for some of the generals present to come forward and lead their troops to fight to defeat the enemy's spirit.But after waiting for a while, no one came out to ask for a fight.Every column commander present is a brave general who has experienced many battles, and is a famous general who wins more and loses less.Because they are good at fighting, they are more down-to-earth. They all know the current situation facing the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Field Army: the four columns add up to less than 50,000 people, and their equipment is backward; while the Jiang army has 300,000 people and is well-equipped.The enemy's 3rd division is fully equipped with American weapons. It has participated in the expedition to Burma against Japan, and its combat effectiveness is very tenacious.These brave generals under Liu Deng didn't want to defeat the enemy, but they were a little worried. The power gap between the enemy and ourselves was too great.

If you don't fight, you will have to go back to the Taihang Mountains, and the Central Plains will be completely controlled by Jiang Jun.Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping advocated the fight, and their gazes scanned their subordinates again, waiting for someone to take the initiative to clear the war. Someone has stepped up!He is Wang Jinshan, commander of the 6th vertical.Wang Jinshan uttered impassioned words in front of Commander Liu Deng and the other commanders of the columns. Many years later, many people still remember Wang Jinshan's heroic image and his dedication. From the bottom of my heart:

"I discussed it with the political commissar, and we will fight in columns. I, Wang Jinshan, issued a military order today, and our column and the entire 3rd division will do it! Our 6th column is a younger column than our brothers' columns. It is worth fighting with us! As long as If the main column can be preserved, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan liberated areas can persist and win the final victory." Wang Jinshan went on to say: "We fight, if there is only one brigade left in the column, I will be the brigade commander, and Lao Du will be the political commissar of the brigade; ; There is only one company left, and I will be the company commander. All the columns are wiped out, we are worthy of the party and the folks of the Taihang Mountains!"

The whole audience was in awe, and everyone present was moved by Wang Jinshan's heroic words. At this critical moment for the entire army, a commander stood up and "blocked the hole of the gun", which was epic.Deng Xiaoping was excited. He pointed to Wang Jinshan and said loudly: "Good job! I support you!" Liu Bocheng also stood up, and said to Wang Jinshan, "You fight! You fight boldly!" After finishing speaking, he strode to the map, pointed to the map of the situation of the enemy and us, and said to the generals: "The enemies on the east road are all equipped with American equipment and have strong combat effectiveness; but among the five reorganized divisions of the enemy on the west road, only the whole three divisions are the direct descendants of Chiang Kai-shek, and the rest are miscellaneous troops. The whole three divisions are full of pride now. The weakness we can take advantage of. The enemy’s internal factions are deeply conflicted. If we lure the entire 3rd division to the predetermined battlefield to encircle and wipe out, other miscellaneous troops will not actively support it. In this way, the strong enemy will become a weak enemy. Once the entire 3rd division is defeated If the fire is extinguished, the enemy on the west road will surely retreat, and the enemy's east and west pincers will smash a corner, and the entire battle plan will collapse."

"We must annihilate the enemy's entire 3rd division!" Liu Bocheng threw down the pointer in his hand, his face serious. The entire 3rd Division began to invade on August 26. Our army adopted the tactics of fighting while retreating, false and real, to lure them into penetration.Zhao Xitian, commander of the 3rd Division, thought that the People's Liberation Army was timid, so he reported to the top that "Liu Bocheng was defeated!" and sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek. This Zhao Xitian is very arrogant.He is a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy and the nephew of Gu Zhutong, the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang army. He is arrogant and domineering.Not only did he not take the Communist army seriously, he also didn't take his superiors seriously.When he was going from Wuzhi to Kaocheng, when he passed by the Corps headquarters in Yangwu, he unexpectedly came to "the general will not dismount", and the jeep did not stop.Sun Zhen, the commander of the corps, was very annoyed when he heard this, but he had no choice but to sigh to the left and right:

"Zhao Xitian is arrogant and disobedient, Liu Jingfu (Liu Zhi) must fall into the hands of this person!" Liu Zhi had a teacher-student friendship with Zhao Xitian, and he trusted Zhao Xitian very much. The equipment of the 3rd Division was already very strong, and Liu Zhi strengthened Zhao with a field artillery battalion and a tank company.Every time the 3rd Division is dispatched, the scene is very spectacular: chariots, gun carts, transport vehicles, communication vehicles, baggage vehicles... one after another, they can discharge more than ten miles, and the small car commanding and adjusting the sentry is suddenly Running back and forth, it's so majestic!Even the common people watching the bustle by the roadside whispered:

"This is enough for the Eighth Route Army to drink a pot!" When the People's Liberation Army fought steadily and lured Jiang Junshen, Chen Dingxun, the commander of the 47th Division who lived on Zhao Xitian's right wing, felt something was wrong and reminded Zhao Xitian: "The communist army avoids our main force and fights lightly. It is likely to lure me to go deep, so we need to be more careful." Zhao Xitian didn't take it seriously, and replied: "The markets in the villages and towns encountered along the way are as usual, which means that there are no heavy troops stationed nearby. Don't be alarmed by the wind and the trees are full of soldiers."

He also made this report to Liu Zhi: "According to the face-to-face situation, Liu Bocheng may repeat his old tricks, stop me all the way, let me go all the way, wait for work near Dingtao, use the established position to kill and wound me, and then flee. We should follow the plan and sweep the past directly to see how many broken guns he shoots. How can I resist my Iron Division?" Liu Zhi repeatedly said yes, and encouraged Zhao Xitian: You can go forward boldly, and I will be in charge of supervising the left and right wings, and it will definitely not be a problem.This time, I hope you will show your prestige!

The complacent Zhao Xitian became even more arrogant and ordered the troops to advance faster, but he didn't know that he was getting into the "pocket" preset by Liu Deng. At this time, Liu Zhi did not know where he got the information: the leading agency of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region was stationed in Heze, Shandong.In order for Zhao Xitian to win the first prize, Liu Zhi ordered to change the original plan to encircle Dingtao. The 3rd Division attacked Heze instead, and the 47th Division attacked Dingtao.This change caused the 3rd Division and the 47th Division, which had been going hand in hand, to part ways, and a distance of tens of kilometers was opened at once. Zhao Xitian, who was eager for success, became the vanguard of the lone army.

A favorable opportunity appeared. On September 3, all three divisions entered our army's preset battlefield. Liu Deng's deployment for annihilating the enemy is: the 2nd and 6th verticals are the right group, the main force is from north to south, and one part is attacking from east to west; the 3rd vertical and 7th vertical are the left group, wedged between the entire 3rd division and the 47th division , Cut off the enemy, one blocked the 47th Division, and then the main force attacked the entire 3rd Division from south to north. The primary target of the attack was the 20th Brigade of the 3rd Division located in the Big and Little Yanghu areas. The main task of the 6th vertical where Wang Jinshan is located is to annihilate the 59th Regiment of the 20th Brigade. The 59th Regiment is a trump card in Zhao Xitian's hands. Almost all the soldiers in this regiment are veterans who have fought for more than ten years. Big and small Yanghu, Zhao Xitian's division headquarters are under the gunpoint of the People's Liberation Army. From the 3rd to the evening of the 4th, the 6th vertically cleared all Jiang Jun's strongholds around Dayang Lake. On the morning of the 5th, Wang Jinshan convened a meeting of the cadres of the brigades and the main attacking regiment, saying: "The Battle of Dayang Lake is the key to destroying the entire 3rd division, and the elimination of the entire 3rd division is also the key to smashing the enemy's offensive across the board. If this battle is fought Not good, the enemy's 4 reorganized divisions from the east and west have arrived. Not only will we lose Southwest Lu, we will retreat 300 miles, and we will really have to pack our backpacks and go back to the Taihang Mountains! The task of destroying the 59th Regiment, the main force of the 3rd Division, is on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the entire column. We have issued a military order to Chief Liu and Deng to come down, and we must implement it!" Then, Wang Jinshan assigned tasks. The 18th Brigade was responsible for the main attack, attacking Dayang Lake from the southeast; the 46th Regiment, the main force of the 16th Brigade, waited for an opportunity to attack in the north, and the other regiments were responsible for containment, security and encirclement tasks. Dayang Lake is a village with more than 200 households. The surrounding terrain is open. There is a trench outside the village, about 3 meters deep. In the south of the village, there is a large pond with dense reeds, forming a natural obstacle.After the 59th Division of the 3rd Division occupied the village, they strengthened the construction of fortifications. The main crossings in the village were built with bunker fortifications, combined with the holes piercing the walls to form a dense crossfire network.Outside the ditch beside the village, there are two deer villages, and beacon fires are lit outside the deer villages for night patrol lighting.The traffic ditch connects the inside and outside of the village vertically and horizontally, and is supported by enemy artillery fire in depth.In Luzhai in the southwest of the village, there are still tanks dispatched to help in the battle at any time.In order to clear the shooting range, the enemy planes dropped gasoline bombs and set fire to the houses and firewood piles around the village. The flames soared into the sky, the flames billowed, and the sky over Dayang Lake was ablaze. Late at night on the 5th and 23rd, the battle to attack Dayang Lake started. Three red flares rose from the dark night sky, and immediately after that, all the artillery fire that Lu Zong could use slammed into Dayang Lake. Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, the village and the village were suddenly ablaze.In the flames and smoke, you can see the enemy's deer villages, barbed wire fences, and bunker fortifications, which were lifted into the air by shells.As the artillery fire extended, our attacking troops scrambled towards the intended target, shouting and rushing forward... The entire 3rd division surrounded by groups is not a good piece of meat.They are well equipped, strong in combat, and very arrogant. They are very annoyed at being surrounded by Tuba Road, so they appear particularly fierce. The 6th Vertical and 18th Brigade is responsible for the main attack task of the 52nd Regiment.They rushed into Dayang Lake under the cover of artillery fire, but after one charge, 400 people were killed or injured! Yu Zhenhe, the head of the 52nd regiment, reported to the brigade commander Xiao Yongyin on the phone: "Brigade Commander, we have occupied several houses. The enemy counterattacked fiercely, and we can't attack!" Xiao Yongyin immediately replied: "If you can't attack, you have to attack! If you don't attack him, he will attack you! Gather all the people and attack! If you are defeated, behead!" The head of the 52nd regiment understood that he had no way out. He knew that the brigade commander's shout of "decapitation" was not to scare him. If the battle was really going to be defeated, the whole brigade would cease to exist. When it was time to break the boat, his mind calmed down, and he adjusted the remaining troops in time to fight the enemy for the final battle. The left wing of the 52nd Regiment is the 49th Regiment of the 17th Brigade attached to it. The total strength of this regiment is less than 500 people. They were ordered to attack the southeast corner of the village.Go up, be turned down; attack up again, be beaten back again... After three rounds, there are not many people left.The group leader had no choice but to report to Xiao Yongyin: "Brigade Commander Xiao, there are not many people in our regiment!" Xiao Yongyin knew that he was not complaining, and said, "I'll give you the 2nd Battalion of the 53rd Regiment!" This battalion is the only reserve force of the whole brigade.Taking it out at this moment, Xiao Yongyin no longer has the mobile power in his hands. The head of the 49th regiment knew that Brigadier Xiao was out of blood and originally supported him. He gritted his teeth and combined all the members of his regiment with the 2nd Battalion that came up. After repeated fighting, he finally broke into the southeast corner of Dayanghu Village . The situation in the 54th regiment was even more tense.They detoured to the southwest of the village and launched an attack. After capturing the two courtyards, the enemy mobilized a large number of troops from all sides and concentrated their firepower to counterattack. The battle was unprecedentedly fierce. The 7th company commander leaned against a wall, desperately blocked the enemy who was trying to rush out, threw more than 100 grenades in one breath, and fought until his death.The head of the regiment, the political commissar, the chief of staff and all the people in the regiment headquarters have thrown into the battle. The instructor of the 1st Battalion was named Zhu Hui. He had just got married. Before leaving, he gave some of his storage and a wedding photo to the head of the regiment, Lu Yanshan, and said: If I die, this is the last party fee. , please comfort my wife for me.Lu Yanshan was so excited that he hugged and bid farewell to him.When the assault company went up, the enemy who woke up from the dilapidated ditches, courtyards, and bunkers returned fire to our attacking troops.Zhu Hui organized two blasting teams to blast the bunker at the same time, but both failed.Full of hatred, he grabbed 9 grenades from his side and pinned them on his body. He personally led the blasting team and the assault platoon to attack again. Shot and sacrificed. At the most tense moment, the enemy's division headquarter dispatched 3 tanks, roaring frantically and rushed over, trying to rescue Dayanghu Village from the enemy.When the tank rushed to the side of the command post of the 54th regiment, the director of the political department of the regiment grabbed two grenades and shouted: "Comrades, follow me!" He rushed to the tank first. The guards, communicators, and telephone operators all rushed forward. Under their heroic counterattack, the enemy tanks were isolated and beaten, and had to flee back. At this most tense moment, the telephone line between the regiment headquarters and the brigade headquarters was interrupted. In the brigade command post, everyone's hearts were weighed down by a heavy stone. If they couldn't get in touch with the 54th regiment, it would be difficult to grasp the situation there. The task of the teacher cannot be completed. At this moment, the 54th regiment was beyond its strength, unable to contact the brigade headquarters, and unable to report the situation. The regiment leader Lu Yanshan and the political commissar Li Shaoqing glanced at each other, knowing that the last moment was coming.The contact was interrupted, and they could no longer say goodbye to the brigade commander. At this moment, the radio operator suddenly shouted: "Commander, the call is through! The call is through!" It turned out that the telephone line between the 54th regiment and the 49th regiment was repaired and finally connected. Head Lu took the microphone, his voice was solemn and solemn: "I am the head of the 54th regiment, please tell the brigade commander and political commissar that we are in the final battle, please ask the brigade commander to prepare 500 stretchers for us!" When Xiao Yongyin heard the report from the head of the 49th Regiment at the brigade command post, cold sweat broke out in the hand holding the telephone receiver tightly. The final request of a group leader was 500 stretchers! The 54th regiment has reached the last moment. If reinforcements are not rushed, the 54th regiment will be wiped out, and the battle of Dayang Lake will also be lost.Behind Dayang Lake is the entire column, the entire Liu Deng army!The 54th regiment must not be allowed to withdraw!But where are the mobile soldiers? Xiao Yongyin's gaze was fixed on the map.Suddenly, he punched the small Yanghu black dot on the map. There are also two battalions of the 53rd regiment there. Their task is to guard against the enemies of Xiaoyanghu. These two battalions dare not move easily. Trapped in a dilemma. At this moment, Xiao Yongyin had no choice but to take this risky move. There has never been a foolproof deployment on the battlefield. Taking risks to save the day, turning defeat into victory and destroying the entire army are almost equal in risk value. Xiao Yongyin decisively grabbed the microphone and ordered the head of the 53rd regiment: "Hurry up and turn your butt around, and enter the battle from the right wing of the 54th regiment. Quick! You have ten minutes to start!" Then, he reported to the column commander Wang Jinshan: "Commander, the situation of the 54th regiment is critical. I pulled the two battalions of the 53rd regiment up!" When Wang Jinshan heard this, he couldn't help being startled, and shouted, "Oh! What if the enemies of Xiaoyang Lake come out?" Xiao Yongyin was so anxious that he could only yell at his superior: "I can't wait to see you!" Everyone knew that Wang Jinshan had a fiery temper. If his subordinates contradicted him, it would definitely lead to a thunderous wrath.However, at this time, Wang Jinshan was silent. After a while, Wang Jinshan said: "Okay, there are hundreds of people in the 50th Regiment, and I will transfer them all to you. You transfer them to Lu Yanshan, and ask him to persevere. On behalf of the column party committee, I thank all comrades!" 6 Zong has already scored 5 regiments into Dayang Lake!The enemy in the village was compressed on the southeast corner, still struggling for death, fighting back desperately in an attempt to escape. The enemy and ourselves competed house by house and wall by wall, and the battle was unprecedentedly fierce.Every step forward is very difficult for our army.Enemy planes also began to appear on the ground. If the enemy reinforcements arrive after the sky is bright and the planes and tanks cooperate to attack, then the final outcome of this battle will be hard to say. At the most tense moment of the battle, Wang Jinshan went down to a place only a few hundred meters away from the front to command. Bullets were flying around and flying around his head, and he completely ignored it. At this time, Li Aifeng, the chief of the reconnaissance section of the 17th Brigade, asked the translator to turn on the radio and listen to the enemy's movements.Because Zhao Xitian was very arrogant, he didn't use coded words in the battle, he just spoke directly on the radio and gave orders to his subordinates.After the radio was turned on, Wu Yaodong, the head of the 59th Regiment of the enemy, continuously sent out the international "SOS" rescue signal to Zhao Xitian, and then asked for emergency support in plain language: "We can't stand it anymore! We can hold on for 15 minutes at most! If I don’t come to the reinforcements, I will commit suicide!” After Wang Jinshan received the report, he knew that the enemy had lost his determination to persist in fighting, and it was time for the enemy to collapse.Without hesitation, he immediately threw the column's only reserve into battle.At this time, it was already daylight and the enemy plane was approaching. Wang Jinshan ordered the troops to fight the enemy face to face and get entangled with each other so that the enemy plane could not assist in the battle. The time for the final decisive battle has come. All the service personnel and government cadres of the column department are organized and put into battle. The headquarters of the 59th Regiment of the enemy was located in a brick house in the garden of a landlord in the village. It was a two-story building next to the street. Seeing this situation, the head of the 46th regiment who had attacked outside the wall shouted: "Call me Hu Shengcai, and bombard her mother!" Hu Shengcai, the commander of the machine gun company of the 46th Regiment, was a veteran of the Red Army. He used mortars to hit a hundred shots and won the title of "Master Gunner" in Taihang Mountains.Mortars are curved-fire guns, and they need to shoot in an arc. What should I do if I am standing under the wall and want to hit the building above my head?Hu Shengcai accepted the task without hesitation, set up the mortar at an angle of almost 90 degrees, and aimed at the enemy's building inside the partition wall to shoot. The shells fired went straight up and down, and everyone around them pinched Khan, worried that the shells would fall on his own heads.However, Hu Shengcai fired seven or eight artillery shells one after another, and all of them landed on the enemy's stronghold which was close at hand. The enemy was so frightened that they couldn't hold on any longer, and they all shouted: "Stop fighting, we surrender!" After the door was opened, our soldiers rushed into the yard, and all the enemies surrendered.Wu Yaodong, the head of the 59th Regiment, who had not had time to "kill himself and become a benevolent", was also taken prisoner. The battle at Dayang Lake was finally over victoriously, and it is still thrilling to recall this bloody battle many years later. After learning the news that the 59th Regiment had been captured and wiped out by Dayang Lake, Liu Bocheng praised the heroic and tenacious fighting spirit of the 6th Column, and immediately ordered all the columns to step up their offensive, taking care to prevent Zhao Xitian from leading his troops to escape. Zhao Xitian saw that the 59th regiment, the main force, had been wiped out, so he had to lead the division to flee from Dahuangji to Tianye Temple, and join the 20th brigade in order to make a final struggle.The arrogant and domineering Zhao Xitian also showed his true face of being a strong outsider but a capable man in the middle. He changed his arrogance and had to beg for help from Sun Zhen, whom he despised. How could Liu Bocheng allow Zhao Xitian to escape?He quickly gave pursuit orders to the columns.As soon as the order was issued, all 4 columns of our army attacked.For a while, people shouted and horses shouted in the vast field, and the sound of killing shook the sky.In the afternoon of the same day, the 3rd Reorganized Division of the Kuomintang Army was completely wiped out, and Zhao Xitian was also captured alive. The annihilation of the entire 3rd Division shocked the Supreme Command of the Kuomintang. Chiang Kai-shek was very annoyed when he saw that his 300,000 troops did not defeat Liu Deng's mere 50,000 troops, and let the Communist Army dig a piece of flesh from the stomach of a strong man. He immediately withdrew Liu Adhere to the job.