Chapter 30 second quarter

The Battle of Zhengzhou was the first battle of the Central Plains Field Army in the stage of strategic decisive battle, and it was also the first major battle that Qin Jiwei commanded the troops to fight after he became the commander of the column.In this battle, he played with prestige. In October 1948, the People's Liberation Army was preparing to launch the Huaihai Campaign. On October 11, Mao Zedong, in the name of the Central Military Commission, ordered the Central Plains Field Army to attack the Zhengzhou-Xuzhou section of the Longhai Railway, contain Sun Yuanliang's Department of the 16th Corps of the Kuomintang, and coordinate with the East China Field Army to start the Huaihai Campaign.

Where is Sun Yuanliang's corps? His Corps Department was originally located in Zhengzhou City.After the battle of Jinan started, he was ordered to go east to Mengcheng.After he led the team away, Zhengzhou's city defense was empty, so Chiang Kai-shek had to move the 12th Appeasement Office, which was originally stationed in Xinxiang, Henan, to the south and moved to Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou is the intersection of China's two most important railways, Pinghan Road and Longhai Road. It is like the center of a huge cross, connecting Beiping in the north, Hankou in the south, Xi'an in the west and Xuzhou in the east.

By the autumn of 1948, Zhengzhou had become an isolated city crucified.The Central Plains Field Army is sure to attack Zhengzhou.It is worth considering whether Sun Yuanliang's corps will return to aid when our army attacks Zhengzhou? Besides, most of the Zhongye troops were preparing to join the Huaihai War at that time. Liu Bocheng led the 2nd and 6th Columns to "hide and seek" with the Huangwei Corps and Zhang Gan Corps on the border of Hubei and Henan. The 11th Zongyuan cooperated with the East China Field Army in Anhui. The troops fighting Zhengzhou had only 4 columns. The four columns are: Yang Yong's 1 column, Chen Xilian's 3 columns, Chen Geng's 4 columns, and Qin Jiwei's 9 columns.

According to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and Chief Liu Deng, the four columns formed two groups, the east group consisted of 1 column and 3 columns, and the west group consisted of 4 columns and 9 columns. Guarding Zhengzhou is the 40th Army of the Kuomintang Army. The commander of the army is Li Zhenqing, nicknamed "Li Tietou".He was once a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army, and he has a deep understanding of the People's Liberation Army's combat determination.At this time, the Kuomintang army was already besieged on all sides. How could he have the determination to defend Zhengzhou to the death? While defending, he was ready to escape.

The 9th vertical is responsible for attacking from the northwest of Zhengzhou City.Commander Qin Jiwei's analysis: Li Tietou is likely to escape, and if he escapes, he will most likely flee to Xinxiang along Pinghan Road. Therefore, the task of blocking the North Road will be very heavy. Qin Jiwei dispatched troops and generals, sent the 26th brigade to take charge of the siege mission, and the 27th brigade to be the 2nd echelon of the siege team. In addition, a regiment of the 27th brigade plus attached local armed forces formed the "Northern Detachment" to guard the north of Zhengzhou and block the enemy going south .

Cui Jiangong, the commander of the 27th Brigade, knew that the task of the 79th Regiment under him was very difficult.If the enemy in Zhengzhou City fled in full force, and the enemy's reinforcements going south rushed to the Yellow River, the 79th Regiment and the "Northern Detachment" would respond to the enemy on both sides. Cui Jiangong told Ren Yinghe, the head of the 79th regiment: strive to move ahead, try to gain time to build fortifications, and when the enemy is outnumbered, wait for work to eliminate the enemy. The 79th regiment set off 8 hours earlier than the scheduled time, and entered the scheduled combat area at 9:00 pm on the 21st.

In the early morning of October 22, the Battle of Zhengzhou started, and 1 Zong captured Zhengzhou Airport in the northeast of Zhengzhou City in one fell swoop. Li Tietou in the city was terrified and immediately decided to retreat across the board and flee to Xinxiang.As soon as the order was issued, more than 10,000 Jiang troops in Zhengzhou fled. There is no need for city battles to siege cities and fortresses, and the city of Zhengzhou will fall without a fight. However, the pressure turned to the 9th vertical line of defense in the north of the city. In order to open the way to escape to Xinxiang in the north, Jiang Jun became very crazy and broke through at any cost.

The fiercest fighting took place around Xuegang village.Xuegang Village is adjacent to Pinghan Railway in the south, and Zhengxin Highway runs through the middle of the village.Regardless of whether Jiang's army fled north or aided in the south, this is the only way to go. The 2nd Battalion of the 79th Regiment was responsible for the garrison task of Xuegang Village.The name of the battalion commander is Wang Fengshu. At 7 o'clock in the morning on the 22nd, Jiang Jun of the 2 battalions began a tentative attack on Xue Gang.Battalion Commander Wang gave an order, and the whole battalion opened fire violently, beating Jiang Jun back in embarrassment.

When Li Tietou saw that he had met a tough opponent, he hurriedly adjusted his troops, and threw in all three of the 268 divisions, attacking Xuegang Village in turn. The battle was unprecedentedly fierce. Jiang Jun once attacked Xuegang Village, but was stubbornly driven out by our army. Jiang Jun's eyes were red with anxiety, like a headless chicken, he couldn't hit Xue Gang, so he bumped into Sujiatun, and couldn't hit him again, he bumped into Guzhen again. Located in Guzhen, east of Xuegang, the defenders only have the 3rd Battalion of the 79th Regiment, 1 company and the reconnaissance platoon of the regiment headquarters.Outnumbered and outnumbered, we had to retreat step by step to Sujiatun.

At this time, it is the most critical moment for the 79th regiment!Behind them, the enemy coming south for reinforcements had reached Duzhuang, and the howling could be heard; on their left, the enemy occupying Guzhen rushed over; in front of them, the main force of the fleeing enemy was desperately trying to open the passage. At this time, Jiang Jun saw that the southward aid enemy was approaching.Like taking a stimulant, it's even crazier.They organized death squads, all shirtless, brandishing big blades, holding submachine guns flat, never dodging or dodging, puffing their chests and screaming, and pounced fiercely.

The 2nd Battalion was also fearless in the battle. They used machine guns and grenades to fight back violently at the enemy. They also raised their bayonets and jumped out of the fortifications to fight with the enemy. Li Tietou's death squad fell one after another, as did the warriors of the 2nd Battalion. At the most critical moment, Battalion Commander Wang personally led the 5th company to counterattack from the enemy's side and defeated the charge of the enemy death squad. Afterwards, my troops from all walks of life arrived one after another, and Jiang Jun was in a state of front and rear attack again. At 3:00 p.m., our army turned to attack. The 9th Vertical and 26th Brigade first attacked Laoya Village, which was guarded by Li Tietou's team. The 26th Brigade unleashed its cannons and blasted the village fiercely. It fired more than 180 cannons in a row. Seeing that the situation was over, Li Tietou hurriedly put on his soldier's uniform and sneaked away. The 26th Brigade wiped out more than 8,000 enemies in this battle, which was the most brilliant battle since the establishment of the brigade. The second phase of the Battle of Zhengzhou took place on the Mangshantou highlands by the Yellow River. Mangshantou is located on the west side of the southern end of the Yellow River Iron Bridge, bordering Zhengzhou in the south and controlling the Yellow River in the north, with a radius of tens of miles, ravines and rough roads.The Ping-Han Railway passes through the foot of the mountain and is an important throat connecting the north and south of the Yellow River. As early as the Japanese occupation period, there were strong fortifications built on the top of Mang Mountain.The Kuomintang army was further improved to make it stronger.In addition, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack. The original two regiments of the Kuomintang army were defending here. Later, seeing that the situation was not good, the main force withdrew in a hurry, leaving only two battalions here to fight against danger. At 23, Qin Jiwei handed over the task of attacking Mang Mountain and capturing the Yellow River Bridge to the 25th and 27th Brigades. At dawn on the 24th, the battle at Mangshan started. Due to unfamiliar terrain and underestimation of the enemy, the 3 attacks of the 27th Brigade and the 81st Regiment failed.Their own casualties were not small, two battalion commanders were injured, and three company commanders died. The soldiers were furious and cursed: The Death Squad was defeated by us; Li Tietou slipped away; you guys are still resisting?Everyone shouted slogans and rushed up wave after wave. The brigade commander Cui Jiangong arrived in time and decisively ordered the suspension of the attack.Then ask the troops to seriously study the style of play. At this time, the officers and soldiers were a little clear-headed. Reckless fighting can only bring casualties, and we must take the remnants of the enemy seriously.After brainstorming, we decided to use the strategy of attacking the east and attacking the west, attacking the top of the mountain openly and attacking the foot of the mountain secretly, first along the railway to attack the South Station of the Yellow River. And down. At 3 pm on the 24th, the 80th Regiment of the 27th Brigade went straight to the station on the south bank of the Yellow River and conquered it in one fell swoop.Cut off the fuse that the enemy was about to blow up the bridge, and occupied the Yellow River Iron Bridge. At the same time, the 14th Column of the North China Field Army on the North Bank of the Yellow River rushed to attack the North Bank Station. On Mang Mountain, the enemy army saw the lively fighting on both sides of the bridge, fearing that the rear road would be cut off, and had no intention of fighting again. The 3 regiments of 9 Zong launched attacks from 3 directions at the same time, and took Mang Mountain in one fell swoop. The Battle of Zhengzhou was originally intended to be a big fight with the Jiang army. Because the Jiang army retreated in a hurry, the 9th column, the youngest in the Central Plains Field Army, almost independently assumed all the tasks of annihilating the enemy.Compared with the enemy, the 9th Vertical has little advantage, but as a result of the battle, the 9th Vertical wiped out more than 10,000 enemies, and only suffered more than 300 casualties. Due to the capture of Zhengzhou, the enemies of Kaifeng retreated hastily.The three pearls on the Longhai Railway: Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Kaifeng were all liberated. The Central Military Commission sent a congratulatory message to the General Front Committee of the Huaihai Campaign. After the liberation of Zhengzhou, the 9th Column took on the task of guarding the city.Qin Jiwei concurrently served as the commander of the Zhengzhou Police.A week later, the 78th Regiment of the 26th Brigade was left to guard Zhengzhou, and the main force of the whole army moved eastward to participate in the Huaihai War.