Chapter 39 fourth quarter

In November 1948, after the start of the Huaihai War, which shocked China and foreign countries, the Huangwei Corps of the Kuomintang Army was ordered to march eastward. .As soon as the forward of the 49th Division of the 18th Army of the enemy arrived near Zhangweizi in the southeast of Shuangduiji, they encountered the troops encircled by the East and West of the People's Liberation Army. After only a short period of fierce fighting, one division of the 49th Division was beaten to pieces. At this time, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th verticals of the Central Plains Field Army completed the encirclement of the Huangwei Corps.The annihilation battle to encircle and annihilate the Huangwei Corps in the second phase of the Huaihai Campaign officially began.

Zhou Xihan was still the brigade commander of the 10th brigade of the 4th vertical in the middle of the field at this time, but he commanded the operations of the 10th brigade and the 13th brigade at the same time in the Huaihai Campaign.It was Zhou Xihan's 10th Brigade that the Huangwei Corps collided with on the north bank of the Weihe River. The Jiang army that arrived on the south bank of the Hui River was the 14th Army of the Huangwei Corps.The commander's name is Xiong Shouchun.The army has two divisions under its jurisdiction, namely the 10th Division and the 85th Division, with a total strength of more than 20,000 troops.

After Huang Wei discovered that he was surrounded on the 23rd, his usual arrogant self-confidence turned into panic.For a while, he ordered the 14th Army to guard the south bank of the Weihe River to prevent the People's Liberation Army from crossing the river; When Xiong Shouchun was at a loss to advance or retreat, he suddenly heard the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army on the north bank of the Hui River with overwhelming momentum.Afterwards, the People's Liberation Army brigade rushed forward like a tiger, divided into more than a dozen groups from the opposite bank, and forcibly crossed the Wei River, without building a pontoon bridge, and killed them ashore from the water.

At this time, it was the weather in November, and the water was cold and the wind was cold.From the north bank of the Huihe River to the south bank, it is necessary to cross a 6-foot-wide water surface.In the deepest part of the river, people can be covered; in the shallowest part, they must be chest-high.At the bottom of the river, there is more than 1 foot of mud, and the mud is full of reed roots.When a person walks through the water, reed roots stumble his feet.However, under the command of Zhou Xihan, the commanders and fighters of the 10th Brigade carried forward the heroic and tenacious fighting spirit, and bravely jumped into the water in spite of all difficulties, and made an assault on the south bank.

At this time, the 14th Army of the Jiang Army on the south bank did not expect that the People's Liberation Army did not need to build a bridge in such cold weather, swam across the river, and charged over.For a while, Jiang Jun was in a daze with shock, one by one was caught off guard, and retreated one after another.Our army took the opportunity to rush and smashed Xiong Shouchun's two divisions to pieces at once.The army commander couldn't find the division commander, and the division commander couldn't find the regimental commander. Jiang Jun, who formed a company, was disarmed in the chaos.

The chaos lasted until dawn, and Xiong Shouchun packed up the troops. After counting, half of them had been lost. Xiong Shouchun had no choice but to hold back his resentment, and went to see the commander of the corps, Huang Wei, to report the defeat. Unexpectedly, Huang Wei not only failed to check his misconduct in command, but also denounced Xiong Shouchun's incompetence in command, and ordered Xiong Shouchun to be dismissed and retained in order to atone for his crimes. Xiong Shouchun couldn't tell, so he had to hold back his breath and went back to his army headquarters, and placed the remnants of the defeated soldiers in the three villages of Liweizi, Yangweizi, and Shenzhuang, dejected, and waiting for orders.

Zhou Xihan's 10th Brigade and 13th Brigade, after forcibly crossing the Wei River, took advantage of the enemy's confusion and went straight to the Xiaowangzhuang, Xiaomazhuang, Xiaozhouzhuang, and Lizhuang lines south of Shuangduiji overnight. Huang Weidong's escape route. By the leveling on November 25th, Huang Wei's 120,000 horses were surrounded by the Central Plains Field Army in an encirclement centered on Shuangduiji, 20 miles from east to west and 15 miles from north to south.The Huangwei Corps seemed to have gotten into a net of heaven and earth, and it was already hard to fly.

Huang Wei realized that he was surrounded, and knew that the situation would get worse if he dragged on.So he quickly adjusted the positions of the armies in an attempt to break out. He ordered the 18th Army of his direct line not to act in Shuangduiji for the time being, and handed over several small villages in the southeast of Shuangduiji to the 23rd Division of the 85th Army to guard, and the direct subordinate unit of the 85th Army and the 110th Division to camp in the wild.Huang Wei's approach aroused the resentment of the palace soldiers of the 85th Army.Because the 85th Army was placed in front of the 18th Army, which was equivalent to serving as a shield for the 18th Army. In particular, the 110th Division, a division directly under the 85th Army, was placed in a field camp near Luoji and became the leader of the 18th Army and the 10th Army. barrier, which aroused the anger of the 110th Division even more.

The 110th Division was originally the old department of General Yang Hucheng of the Northwest Army. After the "Si'an Incident", Yang Hucheng was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Northwest Army was also disbanded. The 110th Division was incorporated into the 85th Army by Chiang Kai-shek, under the command of Wu Shaozhou. This division was often squeezed out by the troops of Jiang's direct descendants. Liao Yunzhou, my underground party member and commander of the 110th Division, saw that the time was ripe, so he decided to stage an uprising, drag the team away, and defect to the People's Liberation Army.So on November 25, he sent his confidant, Vice-Gong Yang, to contact the PLA's central and field units in person.

After this Adjutant Yang entered Zhou Xihan's 4th vertical position, he was quickly escorted to the Corps Headquarters, where he met Corps Commander Chen Geng.He reported to Chen Geng: "On the morning of November 27, Huang Wei prepared to mobilize four main divisions to advance together and break out to the south in an attempt to assist Xuzhou with Li Yannian and Liu Ruming. The 110th Division is the left wing. Commander Liao Yunzhou decided to take this opportunity to lead The Ministry of the uprising is scheduled for the early morning of the 27th, and the troops will be brought over."

In order to avoid misunderstandings, Adjutant Yang asked the People's Liberation Army to open an opening on the left wing and make way for the 110th Division to come over and then seal the opening. After Chen Geng arranged for Adjutant Yang to rest, he immediately held a column party committee meeting to analyze and study how to deal with this unexpected incident.Chen Geng said: "Our purpose is to surround Huang Wei's corps to death, and then gradually solve it. The 110th Division asked us to let go of the tightly sealed pockets, and the selected time was Huang Wei who was going to make a move. The time to break through the encirclement. I think, if we break apart and fail to close together, then the impact on the entire battle situation will be insignificant." At that time, in the south of the Shuangduiji encirclement, there were only 4 vertical and 4 brigades. It was quite a heavy burden to resist the breakout of Huang Wei's 4 main divisions.If you accept Liao Yunzhou's uprising, the advantage is that you will reduce the enemy's strength by 1 division without firing a single shot.The disadvantage is that if Huang Wei finds out about Liao Yunzhou's actions, and when Liao's division comes over, he will try his best to break through our army's southern defense line, then there will be a big problem. To let go, or not to let go?Everyone had a heated discussion. Zhou Xihan kept smoking his self-rolled cigarette again. He stubbed out the cigarette butt and said, "Let him go, I don't believe that Huang Wei's troops can't be stopped. The 13th Brigade and I promise to stop this one." Mouth!" Chen Geng said: "There is no joke in the army." Zhou Xihan replied: "If I can't get through this hole, I will come to see you!" After the decision was made at the meeting, Deng Xiaoping, Secretary of the Front Committee of the General Assembly, Liu Bocheng, and Commander Chen Yi were requested by telegram immediately, and approval was obtained. On the evening of November 27, Huang Wei held another combat meeting to further determine the breakout plan.Huang Wei said: "I have sent a telegram to Nanjing and Xuzhou to ask Xu and Bang's allied forces to quickly attack from the north and the south while our army is attracting a large number of the main force of the communist army. Yes, it is our army that must get rid of the encirclement. Tomorrow when we break out of the encirclement, we will concentrate on attacking in one direction!" After that, he explained the breakout plan of organizing four divisions from beginning to end. The 110th Division is still in the lead, and anyone with a discerning eye can tell that this is Huang Wei sacrificing his opponents to pave the way.But Liao Yunzhou stood up and said: "I completely agree with the commander's plan. Tomorrow morning, we will use 4 main divisions to break through to the southeast. Our 110th division is determined to use our own bodies to fight a bloody road!" Huang Wei looked very happy on the surface, and praised: "I will definitely ask for credit for you in front of the old man!" After the meeting ended, Huang Wei was still worried.That night, he talked to Liao Yunzhou twice more.He told Liao Yun Monday again: "This corps will succeed in breaking through tomorrow morning, it all depends on my brother!" How did Huang Wei think that Liao Yunzhou had already seen clearly that the end of the Jiang family dynasty was approaching, determined to revolt, and had already conducted careful communication with the People's Liberation Army.After Liao Yunzhou returned to the division headquarters, he set the time for the uprising with Adjutant Yang who was already in the PLA; at the same time, he found two confidant regiment leaders to explain the uprising.At that time, it was agreed that Liao Yunzhou would lead the division to the forefront in the morning, and then all the troops of the 110th Division would follow closely, rush out along a gap made by the PLA, and implement a battlefield uprising. On the morning of November 27, Huang Wei ordered all soldiers to break out of the encirclement as planned.At 6 o'clock in the morning, after a fierce bombardment by planes and artillery, Liao Yunzhou led the 110th division to "charge" towards the Liuzhuang direction group. Zhou Xihan's troops quickly made way for Liao Yunzhou's 110th Division to pass quickly. Huang Wei was overjoyed when he saw it, and quickly ordered the follow-up troops to follow up quickly.Unexpectedly, as soon as the 110th Division rushed over, the passage was blocked. As a signal flare rose into the sky, the People's Liberation Army troops who hadn't moved just now suddenly opened fire violently. I was caught off guard, and immediately turned on my back. Huang Wei was at the back of the brigade and didn't know what was going on in the front. By the time he understood, it was too late.He hastily ordered the troops to retreat, but some troops had been cut into several sections and could not retreat, so he had no choice but to throw away the matter cruelly. This unexpected blow caused Huang Wei to lose thousands of troops.He became furious, and immediately ordered 18 tanks and more than 100 cannons to take cover and break out in the direction of Xiaolizhuang in the southeast of Shuangduiji. After a burst of fierce bombardment, the Huangwei Corps took the three main divisions of the 14th Army and the 18th Army as the vanguard, and rushed towards Zhou Xihan's 10th and 13th Brigades on a front 6 miles wide from east to west. Come. Standing on the front line of Xiaolizhuang is the 1st Battalion of my 38th Regiment. Relying on solid fortifications, they opened fire together when the enemy reached more than 100 meters from Xiaolizhuang. on the ground.They repelled the enemy and charged more than ten times in a row, killing the enemy's corpses all over the field. Fighting continued until 10:00 a.m., but the Kuomintang army still did not move forward.Huang Wei was so angry that he ordered a volley of artillery to bombard Xiao Lizhuang destructively.In an instant, Xiao Lizhuang was turned into a sea of ​​flames. Subsequently, Huang Wei ordered his ace team to detour to the left of Xiaolizhuang, broke through Liuzhuang's position, and made Xiaolizhuang suffer from enemies on both sides.Zhang Yingcai, the famous heroic battalion commander who stood firm in Xiaolizhuang, had long been on guard against the enemy's move. He shouted loudly: "Comrades, we must stick to our positions and wipe out the Huangwei Corps. We will never let a single The enemy ran away from our position!" The officers and soldiers of the whole battalion held the determination to live and die together in the same position, and launched a life-and-death struggle with the enemy. When the enemy's tank rushed to the front, Battalion Commander Zhang calmly issued an order: "Let it pass! Hit the infantry!" The enemy tank pressed over our army's fortifications, but the enemy's infantry was suppressed by various firepower. Can't move forward. At this time, each company was about to run out of bullets, and each company was in a hurry.Zhang Yingcai immediately ordered: "When the machine gun is finished, fire the rifle, when the rifle is finished, fire the grenade, and when the grenade is finished, use the bayonet!" His words inspired the courage of the whole battalion to kill the enemy. A melee fight ensues.The warriors standing on the ground took off the covers of the grenades one by one, and the grenades were thrown into the enemy group like raindrops.After the grenade was finished, the gleaming bayonet was raised, and the enemy who rushed into the position was assassinated.Suddenly, there was a sound of shouting and killing at the front of the position, and rows of enemies were stabbed down. The fight in darkness lasted from 6:00 am to 4:00 pm. It can be said that Huang Wei used all his strength, but he still didn't open a way out. After the war, Zhang Yingcai's 1st Battalion was awarded the title of "Steel Battalion". On the second day, Huang Wei directed his troops to attack Shuangduiji Southwest Mazhuang, hoping to open a way out. He used planes, artillery, and tanks, but his efforts were in vain.So Huang Wei rushed to the west, north, and east of Shuangduiji again, and fought for another day. The four sides were like copper walls and iron walls. From then on, Huang Wei's hope of breaking out of the encirclement was almost completely shattered.Not even the word "breakthrough" was mentioned.He ordered all the armies to step up the construction of fortifications in an encirclement circle 10 miles long from east to west and 5 miles wide from north to south, with Shuangduiji as the center, and prepare to stand firm and wait for reinforcements. With the enemy's morale broken, it's time for our army to attack. On December 6, Zhou Xihan commanded troops to take the lead in attacking Li Weizi in the encirclement. At 16:30, the attack began.Our army's 3 artillery groups, 20 cannons, and 20 explosive parabolic cylinders carried out platoon bombardment.The artillery shells poured densely on the enemy's fortifications, and the "flying thunder" fired by the explosive parabolic cylinder, the explosion sound thrown on the enemy's position shook the ground, and the flames rushed into the blue sky.The entire stronghold of the enemy is shrouded in gunpowder. The soldiers lay in the trenches only 40 meters away from the enemy, listening to the artillery shells whistling overhead, and seeing the enemy's positions, fortifications, and fortresses flying into the sky one after another, they couldn't help shouting: "Long live the artillery!" At 17:00, Zhou Xihan ordered from the phone: "Commandos attack!" On the offensive front of the 10th Brigade, more than 800 warriors from the two assault battalions of the 29th Regiment of the 10th Brigade flew out of the trench and rushed towards Li Weizi from the northwest like a gust of wind.The gunshots of machine guns, submachine guns, carbines, and rifles rang together; the explosions of grenades, explosives, and blasting barrels rushed into the sky, and the shouts of soldiers echoed in the air.The enemies, who hadn't recovered from their panic, raised their hands and surrendered without firing a few shots. After a while, the enemy seemed to have recovered from the initial shock. When the 3rd Battalion of the Commando of the 28th Regiment of ours rushed to the enemy's position, it was counterattacked by two companies of the enemy who rushed forward. Huo Shouyi, the commander of the commando, saw this , Shouted: "If you have the guts, hit him hard!" The enemy concentrated fire on him, and Huo Shouyi was shot and died. When the instructor Zhang Xinghao saw this, his chest burned with anger, and he yelled: "The Communist Party members will follow me!" Under the leadership of the Communist Party members, the soldiers marched forward courageously.But the enemy's firepower was too fierce, and three consecutive charges were unsuccessful. The company of more than 150 people fought so hard that only one squadron was left. The hearts of the soldiers were bleeding, and they swore: "Even if there is only one person left, we must rush through the enemy's position!" In the fourth charge, the soldiers finally rushed to the enemy's position with fearless heroism, wiped out the enemy's defenses, and Win the attack on the enemy's core position. The 3rd Battalion of the 31st Regiment also broke into the enemy group's position in the southeast corner of Liweizi Village at this time.Under the cover of the assault troops, the follow-up troops followed up in time, and coordinated to capture the enemy group's fortifications, cutting off the enemy's escape route to the west. When our army broke through the enemy's position in Liweizi, Zhou Xihan immediately ordered the regiments of the 10th brigade: "Search and annihilate the enemy one by one, and not let one go!" The troops attacked and wiped out the remnants of the enemy from street to room, and 1 division headquarters and 2 entire regiments defending the enemy were finally wiped out. From launching an attack to resolving the battle, it only took 90 minutes. In 90 minutes, our army wiped out 5,000 enemies. After defeating Li Weizi, Zhou Xihan led his army to attack Yang Weizi.Yangweizi is the last stronghold in the southeast of Shuangduiji. If Yangweizi is captured, our army can directly attack the Huangwei Corps headquarters in Shuangduiji. The 14th Army Headquarters of the Jiang Army and the remnants of the 10th Division and the 85th Division are stationed in the field. The 14th Army is a direct line of Chiang Kai-shek's army, which is well equipped and has strong combat effectiveness.However, under the fierce attack of the People's Liberation Army, the 14th Army has lost its fighting spirit, and the several villages it guarded were captured by the People's Liberation Army one by one.In the end, only the location of Yang Weizi's military headquarters remained. As the encirclement gradually narrowed, Xiong Shouchun, the commander of the 14th Army, was extremely anxious. Seeing that the open-air fortifications were full of wounded soldiers and no one was in charge, and most of the thousands of livestock were killed in the outer trenches. Cutting off horse meat to feed his hunger, he was so sad that he couldn't help but sit in the bunker covering his face and weeping from time to time.His chief of staff, Liang Dai, was captured by the People's Liberation Army when he was defeated on the south bank of the Weihe River.Liang Dai pretended to be the clerk of the military department at that time, and the People's Liberation Army released him.When he was released, he was given a letter of persuasion, asking him to hand it over to Xiong Shouchun.However, Xiong Shouchun was obsessed with his obsession and refused to accept the surrender. He relied on the open land around Yang Weizi to fight stubbornly and persist until the arrival of reinforcements. Unexpectedly, he ran into Zhou Xihan, a brave general who had been tempered by battles in the second field, and Zhou Xihan's footsteps could not be blocked by mere openness.Zhou Xihan adopted "trench tactics".That is to say, many traffic trenches were dug in the east, north and west of Yangweizi, approaching Yangweizi day by day. On December 11, the troops commanded by Zhou Xihan dug a network of traffic ditches around Yangweizi, enclosing Xiong Shouchun's 14th Army in the middle and being unable to move.The commando of the People's Liberation Army preparing to attack can walk freely 30 meters in front of the enemy's position and wait for the order to attack. At 4 pm on December 11, the attack on Yang Weizi began.Shells from our army's hundreds of howitzers, field artillery, mountain artillery, and mortars fell like rain into the enemy's forward and deep positions, and the entire Yangweizi became a sea of ​​smoke and fire.With the smoke of gunpowder, our commando launched an attack. In the north of Yangweizi, the "Luoyang Assault Company" first inserted into the enemy's front fortifications from north to south. Taking advantage of the explosion and the thick smoke of grenades, they stepped over the top of the enemy's bunker and attacked in depth.Then, the commandos in the east and west of Yangweizi also quickly attacked the village.The enemy was in disarray and fled to the southwest in a hurry.However, our army's artillery fire extended to the southwest in time, and most of the fleeing enemies were intercepted and returned. With nowhere to go, they had to disarm and surrender. In less than ten minutes, the Yangweizi position was completely occupied by our army. The power of our army's artillery fire and the bravery of the commanders and fighters almost stunned the enemy.Many Jiang soldiers crawled out of the collapsed fortifications, dropped their guns and ran away.Some ran into the People's Liberation Army, knelt down and kowtowed in fright, and shouted: "Forgive me! We don't want to fight anymore!" In the last bunker in Yangweizi, seven or eight Jiang Jun jumped up and shouted when they saw the People's Liberation Army arrive. Said: "Welcome to the People's Liberation Army. If you don't come, we will be trapped to death. You saved us!" Many Jiang Jun officers are more experienced, and when the People's Liberation Army first entered the village, they packed their bags.When the People's Liberation Army hit the entrance of the shelter department, they just caught up with the captive team, picked up their luggage and left.Nothing was left behind. At 7 o'clock in the evening on December 11, the gunfire stopped completely, and a group of prisoners from the 14th Army walked from the communication trench to the rear of the PLA. At this point, after the end of the 85th Army of the Huangwei Corps, the 14th Army was also declared destroyed. After the Huaihai War ended, Zhou Xihan became the commander of the 13th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He took this heroic unit to the south to participate in the Battle of Crossing the River, and later participated in the Battle of Guangdong and the Battle of Encirclement and Annihilation on the Border of Guangdong and Guangxi, and fought all the way to the motherland southwest frontier. In 1955, Zhou Xihan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.