Chapter 17 Chapter 16 Siege of the city and aid, the east of Henan rolled up and wiped out the enemy

On May 12, 1948, the rain in early summer poured down the ground, making the ground muddy.Commander-in-chief Zhu De came to Puyang to visit Huaye troops in the rain. At this time, the first, fourth, and sixth columns led by Su Yu were training in Putian, and were preparing to cross the Yellow River south and enter the Central Plains to fight, seeking to annihilate the enemy Qiu Qingquan and reorganize the 5th Army.Since the Kuomintang army was still very strong on the Central Plains battlefield at that time, in addition to the security forces, there were 25 reorganized divisions of the regular army, 57 brigades and 4 fast columns organized into 4 corps to perform mobile combat missions.It is still very difficult for Huaye's main force to complete the task of annihilating the enemy and the entire 5th Army.Therefore, the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission were very concerned about Su Yu's next move. In addition to instructing Liu Deng to use the main force of the middle field to find opportunities to wipe out the enemy in the southern section of Pinghan Road and restrain the Kuomintang army's cooperation in the northern aid operation, they also appointed Commander-in-Chief Zhu De Go to Puyang to inspect the work, and guide Su Yu's troops to prepare for the war after entering the Central Plains.

As soon as Zhu De arrived in Puyang, regardless of the exhaustion all the way, he immediately conducted an in-depth and detailed study on the next step of combat deployment with Chen Yi, Su Yu and others. Because the central government has made it clear that Chen Yi temporarily left Huaye to work in the Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Military Region.In this way, all the burdens of Hua Ye fell on Su Yu's shoulders. Through two days of research, the combat plan of the 5th Army to annihilate the enemy was initially determined. After Commander-in-Chief Zhu left Puyang, Su Yu has been studying the situation in front of the map day and night and considering good strategies.

The reorganization of the 5th Army is one of Chiang Kai-shek's five "trump cards". If it is eliminated, it will be equivalent to cutting off one of Chiang Kai-shek's arms extending to the Central Plains and East China battlefields, which will be very beneficial to the People's Liberation Army's victory in the Central Plains. However, Qiu Qingquan, the commander of the 2nd Corps of the Kuomintang and the commander of the 5th Army, is not incompetent. He not only graduated from the second phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, but also studied at the Army University of Berlin in Germany. Wu Art of War is also the so-called "handsome talent" who is proficient in Western warfare.Moreover, the 5th Army has 2 reorganized divisions and 4 brigades, and commands 1 fast column and 1 cavalry brigade, with a total of about 37,000 people, and is basically equipped with American weapons, with "extremely strong" combat effectiveness.

The reorganized 5th Army stayed with its corps headquarters in Dingtao and Chengwu in southwest Shandong.To the west, there are the Sun Yuanliang Corps in the Zhengzhou area; in its southwest, there are the Hulian Corps in Luohe, and the Zhang Zhen Corps in the Nanyang area; in its south, there are the 6th and 14th Sui District Troops, and The Zhanggan Corps in Yingshan and Anqing; to the east of it, there are the 3rd Sui District Xuzhou Army and the 3rd Rapid Column; to its north, there are the 10th Sui District in Yanzhou and the 2nd Sui District in Jinan .How to transfer the enemy's 5th Army out of the center of Southwest Shandong without getting caught up in the entanglement of other enemies really needs to be carefully considered.

During this period, the third and eighth columns of the Huaye Chen-Tang Corps, after cooperating with Nakano in the Wanxi Campaign, were transferred to Xiangcheng and Yuxian for rest; the Nakano Ninth Column, temporarily under the command of Chen Tang, was located in the southwestern area of ​​Zhengzhou; The eleventh column of Nakano under the command of Huaye was transferred to the area between Nanyang and Queshan. While thinking about the plan, Su Yu discussed with Zhang Zhen, the deputy chief of staff, about organizing targeted training for the first, fourth, and sixth columns, the Guangdong-Guangzhou column, and the special forces column. pre-order.

On May 21, the Central Military Commission officially clarified in a telegram: "Su Yu has full authority to command the operations of the first, third, fourth, sixth, eighth, and eleventh columns, and command Xu and Tan to coordinate operations on the Jinpu line." On the 22nd, the Central Military Commission called Liu and Deng again, emphasizing that "the focus of the summer operations is to assist the Su Bingtuan to annihilate the enemy's 5th Army. When the two armies are wiped out, the war situation in the Central Plains can develop smoothly." According to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and the analysis of various aspects of the situation, Su Yu exchanged views with Chen Yi, Deng Zihui, Zhang Zhen, etc., and made the following preliminary determination:

First, the third and eighth columns of the Chen-Tang Corps were transferred from the area west of Xuchang to Huaiyang, attracting the Qiu Qingquan Corps to go south; Between them, they crossed the Yellow River south and entered Dingtao and Chengwu areas, striving to wipe out a part of the defending enemy in the southwestern part of Shandong, open up a battlefield, and attract the Qiu Corps to turn northward.When the Qiu Corps moved north, it immediately marched northward with the third and eighth columns of the Chen-Tang Corps and the eleventh column of the Nakano Corps, and flanked the Su Corps crossing the Yellow River from the south to the north and south, striving to wipe out the enemy's 5th Army in the southwestern area of ​​Shandong.

After receiving Su Yu's order, the third and eighth columns of the Chen Tang Corps marched from the Xuchang area to Huaiyang on May 24.The Kuomintang army was really confused by the actions of the Chen Tang Corps. Qiu Qingquan led the Corps headquarters and commanded the entire 75th Division to rush towards Taikang immediately, trying to find and wipe out the Chen Tang Corps headquarters with the cooperation of the Hu Lian Corps.Su Yu took the opportunity to command the various columns in the Puyang area, successfully crossed the Yellow River on the nights of the 30th and 31st, entered the Yuncheng area, and joined the 11th Column of the Central Plains Field Army.

Such a large force crossed the south of the river on a large scale, completely out of the enemy's expectation. Chiang Kai-shek urgently ordered Qiu Qingquan to return to the north to meet the enemy. Qiu Qingquan was indeed very cunning. He proposed to Chiang Kai-shek: "The main force of the Communist Army in East China is coming in full force. This is a rare opportunity for a decisive battle. We must fight the Communist Army with all our strength." So Chiang Kai-shek personally urgently ordered the reorganization of the 75th Division, the 83rd Division, the 25th Division, the 72nd Division and the 63rd Division, and rushed to the southwestern part of Shandong Province to fight a decisive battle with our troops across the river together with the 5th Army.By the first ten days of June, the enemy's forces concentrated on the battlefield in southwestern Shandong had reached 11 reorganized divisions, nearly twice as many as ours.

In the face of the enemy's concentration of 11 reorganized divisions on the southwestern battlefield of Shandong, and the formation is very dense and cannot be divided, it is difficult to achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy, and it is even more difficult to dig out the Qiu Corps located in the center and wipe them out. Su Yu had to consider adjustments original battle plan. He thought that it is unrealistic to really fight the 5th Army right now, it is hitting an egg against a rock.Although the quality of Qiu Qingquan's troops is not as good as that of the 74th Division and the 11th Division, its equipment and number of soldiers are comparable to them.Qiu Qingquan controlled Southwest Lu.But Yudong is relatively empty.Liu Maoen, chairman of Henan Province, is entrenched in Kaifeng. Although there are more than 30,000 defenders, most of them are mobs with weak combat effectiveness, and Liu Maoen knows nothing about military affairs.In fact, the safety of Kaifeng is in the hands of Li Zhongxin, the commander of the reorganized 66th Division, and Li Zhongxin is a defeated general who can only win battles.

At this time, our three verticals and eight verticals have already reached Tongxu, Sui County, and Qi County, and it is only a day's journey from Kaifeng. If we don't fight, we will lose a good opportunity. Open the seal first, then wipe out and aid the enemy.Su Yu initially made up his mind.But Chiang Kai-shek will not let it go. Therefore, someone must lure Qiu Qingquan away from the 5th Army. After Kaifeng is conquered, he will go back to fight the 5th Army or other reinforcements. Must fight!Su Yu secretly made up his mind. After several scrutiny and extensive consultation, Su Yu made his final decision on June 15 to attack and annihilate the enemy in Kaifeng and prepare for reinforcements, and submitted the combat plan to the Central Military Commission, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Deng Zihui, and the East China Bureau. reported. At the same time, Su Yu decisively issued a combat order to the column to form a siege group with three columns and eight columns, commanded by Chen Shiju and Tang Liang, to first seize the city pass by rushing, and then rely on the city pass to quickly attack the city.In order to ensure the capture of Kaifeng, another three times the enemy's force was used, under the direct command of Su Yu, to take on the task of blocking and containing the enemy: the Nine Columns inserted between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng to prevent Zhengzhou from aiding the enemy; The 1st Independent Brigade of the Henan Military Region was located in the Juye area, and contained the Qiu Corps from the side; the first, fourth, and sixth columns wedged into the Dingtao, Caoxian, Minquan, and Kaocheng (now Guyang) areas, resolutely blocked the Qiu Corps' westward aid to Kaifeng Part of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region and the Henan-Wansu Military Region captured Dongming and Lanfeng (now Lankao) and attacked the railway from Lanfeng to Yejigang on Longhai Road. The Central Military Commission sent a telegram to Su Yu in the early morning of June 17, fully agreeing with the plan of "opening the seal first, and then destroying and aiding the enemy", pointing out: "This is the correct policy under the current situation." He also told Su Yu: "When the situation is tense, handle it independently. , no need to ask for instructions." On the same day, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yi jointly sent a call, pointing out that the first step of the battle should clearly focus on opening the seal, and who should be attacked in the second step depends on the situation. Cai area, in order to cooperate with the Central Plains to block the northern reinforcements of the Hu Lian Corps, and relieve the siege troops' concerns about the enemy in the south. Xuzhou, Liu Zhi's "Suppression General" headquarters. Liu Zhi is presiding over the military meeting.Suddenly, his adjutant sent a telegram, which read: "Chen Shiju and Tang Liang, the main forces of the communist army, are now leading their troops to attack Kaifeng City. Please send troops to rescue as soon as possible!" After Liu Zhi watched it, his face turned pale with shock, and he cursed secretly: "Damn it, the most cunning and difficult army in this world is the Communist Army." He stood up and pretended to be calm and said: "Everyone, please wait a moment. Due to the change of the situation, the troops need to be readjusted. I will call the president immediately." After speaking, Liu Zhi walked into the secret room. After Liu Zhi left, there were whispers in the venue, and the Kuomintang generals speculated about what happened. Half an hour later, Liu Zhi came out of the secret room.He straightened his clothes, returned to his seat, and said sharply: "The president ordered Qiu Qingquan's department to go all out to aid the west, and to fight fiercely with the first, fourth, and sixth columns of the Communist Army in the east of Kaifeng, defeating Su Yu's main force; The Ministry captured Zhongmu, and aided Kaifeng from the east; ordered Hu Lian to start from Shangcai and attack the main force of the Central Plains Communist Army under the direct command of Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yi." Liu Yu said again: "Today's deployment is here. I hope everyone will organize troops to participate in the battle as soon as possible. At the same time, I advise everyone to be sincere and united, and don't make excuses or even do nothing. Okay, the meeting is over!" After the generals and officials dismissed the meeting, they returned to the army by car or plane one after another to mobilize troops to join the battle. Kaifeng, a famous historical city and the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, has been a battleground for military strategists throughout the ages.It is located in the Eastern Henan Plain, bordering the Yellow River in the north and the Longhai Line in the south.The circumference of the city wall is more than 20 kilometers, and there are six gates and four gates in total, namely, Great South Gate, New South Gate, Song Gate, Cao Gate, Ximen, North Gate and South Gate, Song Gate, Cao Gate and Xi Gate.After long-term operation by the enemy, the fortifications of the city have formed a permanent defense system.Defend the enemy with the Chengguan as the outer support point, the city wall as the main position, and the Dragon Pavilion, the sports field, and the pseudo-provincial government as the core positions.Each position is equipped with a large number of firepower points, trenches, traffic trenches, and barbed wire.Nanguan, Songguan and Caoguan all have outer trenches, each more than Zhang deep.The headquarters of the reorganized 66th Division led the 13th Brigade to guard Caoguan and Xiguan in the urban area, and the division headquarters was in Longting.One regiment of the 119th Brigade is located in Chengnan District and is a reserve team.Henan Provincial Security 1st Brigade, 2nd Brigade and 3 other regiments, except for one regiment guarding the provincial government, the rest mainly guard the Nanguan and Songguan.The commander-in-chief of Kaifeng is Liu Maoen, the chairman of the provincial government. In fact, the real power is in the hands of Li Zhongxin, the commander of the reorganized 66th Division. On May 17, the third and eighth columns of the Chen Tang Corps launched an attack on Kaifeng.Among them, part of the third column cooperated with the eighth column, and first eliminated the enemies in the Nanguan Agricultural and Forestry Experimental Field, Dongzhakou, Sixteen Barracks, the east of the nursery and the outer area of ​​Caoguan.Immediately, the column used the 8th Division to attack from Caomen in the east of the city, and the 9th Division to attack the city from Songguan. Songguan is a small city pass with hundreds of customers outside Songmen City.In order to destroy the support of the People's Liberation Army's siege and clear the field of view for shooting, the defending enemy forced the residents to demolish their houses during their hasty retreat, and some of them were even set on fire.On the Songmen Tower, there stands a central gun tower with double-layer shooting holes, surrounded by tomb-like Fubao, about 10 meters high and 5 meters wide, with a wall built of 2-foot-long bricks, battlements and retaining walls. The walls were reinforced into rows of one-man bunkers.The enemy tower 100 meters north and south of the gate tower has three floors of shooting holes from the top of the city to the root of the city.30 meters away from Songguan, there is a plum-shaped bright and dark fort surrounded by deep moats. 200 meters north and south, there is another group of identical bunkers guarding between Songmen and the moat. Open field of black disc mines.In this way, the 3-layer firepower network above the city, below the city, and on the ground, and 6 groups of intensive firepower points on the towers and bunkers, with their multi-angle and multi-level three-dimensional cross-firepower, constitute the direct firepower between the north and Caoguan, and the south and Xinnanmen. The defense system, from the west, south, and north, controls the starting position of the PLA's attack 200 meters away from the Song Gate. The 9th Division of the Third Column took the 25th Regiment as the main attack task of the Song Gate. The regiment drove the enemy outside the Song Pass across the Huiji River about 5 meters wide with a sudden charge, forming a confrontation with the enemy across the river. At the same time, the eighth column also participated in the peripheral operations of Kaifeng.The 23rd Division of the column first cleared the Nanguan Station, the airport, the Seventeenth Barracks, and the Seventh Barracks to defend the enemy, and then went straight to Xinnanmen; the 22nd Division wiped out the enemy security team in Chenliu County and cleared the Kaifeng West Gate. After the enemies outside, attack Ximen directly. During the war until the evening of the 18th, part of the enemy guarding the city gate was wiped out, and most of them were huddled inside the city under the cover of enemy fire.When retreating, the enemy set fire to many civilian houses.After the siege troops occupied the city pass, they stepped up preparations for the siege while organizing fire fighting. On the night of the 18th, the siege troops attacked the city from the east and south.The two battalions of the 23rd Division and the 68th Regiment of the Eighth Column, with the cooperation of the first part of the 69th Regiment, first broke through the new south gate, but the breakthrough was blocked by the firepower of the enemy bunker.An Yongquan, the deputy political instructor of the 68th Regiment, took the initiative to command the intrusion into various ministries, organized 30 seriously wounded people to guard the gate tower, and the lightly wounded went to the city to countercharge, repelled the enemy's counterattack, and responded to the follow-up troops to break into the city.A blasting hero from the 9th Division Assault Battalion of the 3rd Column led 12 excellent blasters. Under the cover of firepower, they blasted continuously with 11 packs of explosives, opened up a passage, and blew up the Song Gate. In the early morning of the 19th, the siege troops broke into the city and engaged in street fighting. Nanjing.Chiang Kai-shek Presidential Palace. Jiang Shijie walked up and down in a panic.He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi stood behind him cautiously with weeping faces. "Mother Xipi, Liu Maoen is such an idiot, with such a good fortification, he can't defend Kaifeng! Once the Central Plains is lost, the country will lose its country! If you order me to bomb Kaifeng with planes, I don't believe that the communist army dares to set fire to it!" Chiang Kai-shek's voice and demeanor were all stern. "Commissioned seat, Kaifeng is an ancient capital with many cultural relics, it might not be appropriate to bomb it with planes." Bai Chongxi muttered. "I don't know anything about cultural relics! I just know that the Communist army cannot occupy Kaifeng." Chiang Kai-shek replied angrily. "Yes, appointed seat!" He Yingqin didn't dare to say more, but Nuonuo said yes. "Prepare the plane. I will personally go to the sky above Kaifeng to supervise the battle. I will send a telegram to order Liu Maoen to stick to Kaifeng City at all costs!" The Kuomintang army's "East Sea", "Yellow Sea" and "Bohai" aircraft groups carried out continuous and indiscriminate bombing of Kaifeng City.At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek flew over Kaifeng by special plane to supervise the battle.Enemy planes roared in groups and dropped thousands of tons of bombs and incendiary bombs on densely populated residential areas. On the 20th alone, enemy planes dropped 20 tons of bombs. The city of Kaifeng was engulfed in flames.The famous "Xiangguo Temple", the tall Tianfeng Flour Company building, Henan University and many factories, shops, hospitals, etc., were all burning in the raging fire.Some places of interest were reduced to rubble and turned into ashes, and the bustling streets became walls of fire. However, the indiscriminate bombing by aircraft not only failed to stop the sharp offensive of the People's Liberation Army, but also aroused their deep hatred for the Kuomintang reactionaries and sympathy for the people.They chanted the slogans of "defeat the reactionaries completely and eliminate the murderers" and "swear to avenge the people of Kaifeng", and march forward bravely in order to wipe out the defending enemy as soon as possible. While covering the masses to avoid the bombing of enemy planes, the attacking troops kept clearing out the remnants of the enemy and approached the last stronghold of the enemy.Chen Tang's command post was set up in the Catholic Church on Council Street in the city.Su Yu, Zhang Zhen and other Huaye commanders also visited the Chen Tang headquarters on the night of the 20th to take command. At 23:00 on the 20th, Huaye No. 3 and No. 8 Zong occupied all important places except Longting and Huabei Stadium. Longting is the headquarters of the enemy's 66th Division and the 13th Brigade. It is located on a large mound with densely fortified buildings on it and a huge basement underneath. It is surrounded by water on three sides. A 0.5-kilometer-long straight road between the lakes is accessible, and it is more difficult to capture. Although Longting's defense of the enemy has become a turtle in the urn, they still try to fight against danger and wait for reinforcements. At 6:30 p.m. on the 21st, Chen Shiju issued an order: "Start the attack!" More than 600 large and small artillery pieces in Huaye fired at the Longting position together. For a time, the sound of artillery roared, the earth trembled, and gunpowder smoke filled the air.In less than half an hour, the enemy's so-called "semi-permanent fortification" "bronze wall and iron wall" was blown up by artillery fire, and it was riddled with holes. As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the infantry immediately launched a heroic charge.The enemies in the tunnel in the bunker wanted to come out and resist. As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the cave, the bayonets of my assault soldiers had already pressed against their chests. They were stunned and even dropped their guns on the ground. You Lingyun, Chief of Staff of the 66th Division of the enemy, and the guards hid in the cave. When they heard the sound of gunfire, they came out with a few guards. When they arrived at the entrance of the cave, they were arrested. The guard wanted to resist, You Lingyun hurriedly shouted: "Don't fight, don't fight, hand over your guns, hand over your guns quickly, and hand them all the guns." Li Zhongxin, the commander of the 66th Division, disguised himself and fled for his life. He fled to the city wall and was shot and fell to his death at the foot of the city wall.After 5 hours of fierce fighting, Longting was defeated and nearly 10,000 enemies were wiped out. The Longting was lost, and the defenders immediately lost their positions. Some ran for their lives, some surrendered, and some actually slipped into the prison, trying to disguise themselves as criminals and escape, but were imprisoned by the soldiers on the spot. Liu Maoen, the majestic chairman of Henan Province, was even more eager to flee for his life and came up with an original idea.He smeared duck blood all over his body, pretended to be an injured old "professor", climbed into a wheelbarrow, and slipped out of Kaifeng among the evacuated crowd. On the morning of the 22nd, all enemies in Kaifeng were wiped out. So far, the Battle of Kaifeng in the first phase of the Battle of Eastern Henan has ended successfully.The People's Liberation Army fought hard for 5 days, annihilating the 66th Division of the defending enemy, its 13th Brigade, and two security brigades in Henan Province. The Battle of Kaifeng was the first time our army captured the provincial capital of the Kuomintang government in Guannei (within the Great Wall).There was a great shock within the Kuomintang. It was not long before the Puppet National Congress was held, and the representatives of the Henan "National Congress" who stayed in Nanjing were clamoring and crying, and submitted a petition to Chiang Kai-shek, and then went to the chief of staff, Gu Zhutong, to kneel down.No matter how much Gu Zhutong tried to persuade them, these high-ranking members of the Kuomintang just knelt on the ground, crying and cursing, making a fuss. Gu Zhutong had no choice but to bring in Defense Minister He Yingqin.He had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "You are noisy and noisy. You must investigate the cause of Kaifeng's fall and hold you accountable. Let me tell you that the war in Kaifeng was not an order issued by the Ministry of National Defense. Both the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff often I don’t know how the army is deployed, because this is an order issued directly by the chairman.” Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he found out, but it was not easy to have an attack.He also said: "Recover Kaifeng within 5 days, see you then!" Chiang Kai-shek believed that after the capture of Kaifeng, Su Yu's troops had lost their vitality and were unable to fight again. He was determined to march with a large army and fight to the death with the communist army in order to change the unfavorable situation in eastern Henan.For this reason, he urgently ordered Qiu Qingquan's corps and Ou Shounian's corps to rush straight to Kaifeng. There is a mountain in Hebei Province, the ridge is covered with ancient Berlin, and the forest is lush and leafy. The local people call it Baipo Ridge.There are two villages on Baipo Ridge, the village in the east is called Dongbaipo, and the village in the west is called Xibaipo.Although Xibaipo is located in North China, it has the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers and is lush. Who would have thought that this is the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army that commands the battlefields across the country, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Ren Bishi, etc. all live here. On June 22, Mao Zedong received the good news of conquering Kaifeng in Xibaipo. He was very happy and immediately drafted a telegram to send congratulatory telegrams to Liu Chendeng and Su Yu to celebrate the great victory of conquering Kaifeng.He reminded in the message: "At present, the subjective and objective conditions for large-scale annihilation battles are not mature, so it must be avoided. In the future, your two major groups will either operate separately, and each time the enemy will be wiped out. The limit is no more than one reorganized division, or you can concentrate Operations, annihilating the enemy at a time does not exceed the strength limit of two reorganized divisions. At present, we must fight a battle with certainty, even if annihilating one brigade of the enemy is good..." Su Yu launched the Battle of Kaifeng to liberate Kaifeng, but the more important thing is to attack it and save it, lure the enemy to help, and wipe out the enemy in the campaign.He believed that Chiang Kai-shek would not give up.Chiang Kai-shek was really unwilling to lose Kaifeng, and ordered Qiu Qingquan Corps and Ou Shounian Corps to counterattack Kaifeng. Facing the two-way aid from the enemy's heavy army group, Su Yu calmly considered the following situation: The third and eighth columns went through the Wanxi, Wandong, Kaifeng and other battles, causing nearly 10,000 casualties.The rest of the columns are also quite tired after marching and fighting for more than a month. Should they fight continuously or take a break? The enemy Qiu Corps has a dense force and strong combat effectiveness, and it is not easy to divide and wipe out quickly.The district corps was compiled in a hurry and its combat effectiveness was weak.Ou Shounian lacked combat experience against Huaye.If we can try to lure the two corps of Qiu and District to distance themselves, and there will be a good opportunity to wipe out the district, should we fight or not? If we fight against the District Corps, the Corps of Qiu Qingquan, Sun Yuanliang, Hu Lian and other reinforcements from Xuzhou will all come to help, and our army may fight against the enemy's soldiers.If the annihilation area cannot be resolved quickly, our army will fall into a passive disadvantaged position. Su Yu weighed and compared over and over again, considering the characteristics of each column, possible situations in combat, and how to create and capture fighters in the annihilating area.In conclusion, he argues: The third and eighth columns won the Battle of Kaifeng, and their personnel, weapons, and ammunition were replenished. Although the rest of the columns were tired, their numbers were not greatly reduced. With proper command, it is possible to induce the Qiu and District corps to distance themselves and divide the encirclement and annihilation of the corps. As for the reinforcements from other routes, as in the first stage of the campaign, if the enemy reinforcements on the Ping-Han Road are blocked by the middle and the field, the victory of the annihilating area can be guaranteed.In particular, if we can win this battle, it will greatly accelerate the development of the Central Plains war situation in a direction that is beneficial to our army. It is worthwhile to pay a little more for this. But whether to fight or not to fight is a matter of great importance, and the Central Military Commission, Mao Zedong, and the Central Plains Bureau must be consulted. On June 24th and 25th, Su Yu reported the operational plan twice to the Central Military Commission and Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, and Deng Xiaoping. Mao Zedong appreciated Su Yu's plan to wipe out the enemy very much, and took a telegram to Boss Zhu and said: "It seems that Su Yu's appetite is getting bigger and bigger." He immediately replied to Su Yu twice in the name of the Central Military Commission on the 25th and 26th, saying: "The deployment is very good." "It is very appropriate to wipe out the enemy all the way on the Suiqi Tongxu Line (or south of this line). It is of course better if you can wipe out the 75th and 72nd Divisions, otherwise it is also very good to be able to wipe out the 75th Division .” Su Yu received a reply from the Central Military Commission and immediately made the following deployment: Marching in the direction of the three and eighth longitudinal passages, attracting the Qiu Corps to move south, creating a gap between the Qiu and District Corps, and then forming an assault group with 4 columns to encircle and annihilate the District Corps; Columns (including the third, eighth, and tenth columns) block aid. According to the deployment, the third and eighth verticals of Huaye abandoned Kaifeng and moved to the direction of Tongxu; the first, fourth, and sixth verticals assembled south of Qi County. Chiang Kai-shek believed that the East China Communist Army won the city through the Battle of Kaifeng, but was seriously injured, "seems to have no active intention" and "must advance to Jinpu Road", so he forced the two corps of Qiu and District to pursue them with all their strength. Qiu Qingquan ordered a brigade of the vanguard to cooperate with Liu Ruming's troops to occupy Kaifeng, and the main force went straight to Tongxu, trying to attack Huaye's third and eighth verticals in vain.Qiu Qingquan's troops had clashed with Huaye's troops many times. Although they were not eaten by Su Yu, they did not take advantage of them either. However, Ou Shounian was suspicious. He felt that "the communist army appeared to be attacking Pinghan Road" and that "there were signs of communist army activities in the back".Where did these communist troops come from?What are they going to do?It is better not to act rashly until the communist army's intentions are known. Therefore, the district corps hesitated after entering the Suiqi area and stopped advancing.The arrogant aggressiveness of the Qiu Corps and the hesitation of the District Corps caused the distance between the two corps to increase significantly. In one day, they were even separated by 40 kilometers. Su Yu was overjoyed when he learned of this situation, and immediately issued a combat order for the Shounian Corps in the encirclement and annihilation area: the first column, the fourth column, the sixth column, and the Nakano eleventh column formed an assault group, and Ye Fei was in charge of commanding them. Between Taikang and the Minquan area, taking advantage of the enemy's hesitation and hesitation and his unstable foothold, he launched a fierce attack on the enemy from all directions, and ascertained the enemy's situation while fighting. Su Yu warned Ye Fei: "While encircling the enemy, we must resolutely and violently wedge into the enemy's depth to completely cut the enemy's deployment." Su Yu directly commanded five columns to take on the task of blocking aid, and ordered the third and eighth columns to immediately turn around and head east. Together with the tenth column that went northward from the Shangcai area to participate in the battle, and the Guangdong and Guangxi columns that had already arrived in Qi County, they formed a blocking group. Ou Shounian's two corps were completely isolated to prevent the Qiu Corps from aiding the east; he ordered the ninth column of the middle field to enter the southeast of Zhengzhou to prevent the enemy of Zhengzhou from sending aid, and restrained the Qiu Corps from the side.In addition, the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region and the Henan-Anhui-Su Military Region were required to attack the Xuzhou-Minquan section of Longhai Road to directly cooperate with the field army in operations. On the morning of June 29, the District Shounian Corps Headquarters, the reorganized 75th Division, and the New 21st Brigade were surrounded in Longwangdian and its surrounding areas.Moreover, our army has completed the division of the brigades of the 75th Division, and at the same time surrounded the reorganized 72nd Division in the Tiefosi area.The resistance force has completely wedged between the two corps of Qiu and District, controlling a 20-kilometer section from Qi County to Wang Guji.The enemy's two corps have been completely isolated. That night, Su Yu decided to continue to encircle the reorganized 72nd Division with part of his forces, and concentrate most of the main force to encircle and wipe out the enemies of Longwangdian. Since Tiefo Temple is only a few miles away from Longwangdian, after being divided and surrounded by our assault troops, the communication between the two places was cut off.The shells of the 75th Division of Longwangdian passed over my divided troops and fell on the 72nd Division of Tiefo Temple, so they immediately responded unceremoniously.The two enemy armies bombarded each other with all their might throughout the night. The enemy troops attacked each other with artillery fire, but instead helped our army blow up some military targets and reduced the casualties of our assault troops.In the fierce battle until the morning of July 1, our army had completely wiped out the 6th Brigade and the New 21st Brigade of the enemy's reorganized 75th Division. The Qiu Qingquan Corps on the enemy's western front, under the continuous resistance of our blocking troops, despite the heavy casualties, was still advancing step by step. On the afternoon of July 1, it entered Guozhuang, which was only 10 kilometers away from the District Shounian Corps. , Guanzhuang, Quzhai, and Zhangge. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek urgently ordered the reorganized 25th Division to aid Yanzhou in the north, quickly call back, and form a corps with the third rapid column and the second traffic police corps. On the afternoon of January 1, we arrived at the Diqiudian area, which is only 10 kilometers away from the Tiefo Temple of the enemy's 72nd Division. Qiu Qingquan made a wish to Ou Shounian on the phone: "See where I hit tomorrow." Huang Baitao also said on the phone: "Brother Shou Nian, hold on, I'm only 10 kilometers away from you." Ou Shounian was so grateful that tears welled up in his eyes: "The two dear friends have never given up on me when I was in danger. After the siege is rescued, I will definitely repay you two." The battle became more intense, and the sound of artillery was louder and louder. The two corps from the east and west lines formed a pincer attack on the third and eighth columns of the middle field, and the situation on the battlefield was extremely severe.Facing the sudden change of situation, Su Yu and Zhang Zhen immediately changed their battle plan.That night, Huaye encircled and wiped out Shounian, the enemy area of ​​Longwangdian, with the absolute superiority of 3 divisions. The artillery first carried out an hour-long attack, and then the commando began the blasting assault. Qiu Qingquan devoted his main force, and with the support of planes, tanks and artillery, he frantically attacked our blocking troops.The enemy's reorganized 5th Army came out in full force, and launched three or four attacks every day against Taolingang and Xugang, which we were defending, with a clear superior force.The reorganized 83rd Division also used three regiments to attack our Guanzhuang position in turn. Our blocking troops relied on their positions and fought tenaciously.Every time the enemy broke through one of our villages and positions, our army immediately organized a counterattack, fought hand-to-hand with the enemy, charged repeatedly, and regained the position. At the same time, the assault force also effectively prevented the reinforcements of Huang Baitao's corps. They were only five or six kilometers away from the 72nd Division, but they could not move forward. In the fierce battle until the early morning of July 2, Qiu Qingquan and Huang Baitao made no progress.Qiu Qingquan couldn't understand that with his reorganized 5th Army and the main force of the 83rd Division, he couldn't make half a step forward. He decided to go to the front line to see it himself. Before he could leave the command post, Ou Shounian couldn't resist, and he planned to get into a tank to escape, and asked Qiu Qingquan to respond. Qiu Qingquan seemed to be struck by lightning. He froze there, motionless.He never dreamed that his reorganized 5th Army had paid the price of more than 15,000 casualties, and watched the District Shounian Corps be wiped out and helpless. On the morning of July 2, the enemies of Longwangdian were wiped out by me.Lieutenant General Ou Shounian, Commander of the Corps, and Major General Lin Xixiang, Chief of Staff, waved a small white flag, climbed out of the surrounded tanks, and shouted: "Don't fight, don't fight, I am Ou Shounian." The enemy reorganized the 75th Division Major General Shen Chengnian was also captured alive. Su Yu was not satisfied with annihilating the corps in the area. He ordered the first, fourth, and sixth columns to attack and annihilate the Yellow Army; the main force of the eighth column and a division of the sixth column encircled and wiped out the remnants of the 75th Division; the third and tenth columns continued to block the attack. Qiu Qingquan's enemy. On the evening of July 2, all verticals rejoined the battle regardless of casualties and fatigue. The assault group quickly wiped out the two regiments of the 16th Brigade of the 75th Division of the enemy.When the Yellow Corps attacked me, it completed its encirclement. At dawn on the 4th, the main force of the two regiments of the Yellow Corps was wiped out. On July 5th, under the cover of aircraft and artillery fire, Huang Baitao's corps counterattacked frantically. After 7 hours of fierce fighting, Huaye killed the enemy a lot and drove the enemy back.After dusk, I launched an attack on the enemy again. On the morning of the 6th, another regiment of Huang Baitao was wiped out, and he was forced to shrink his troops back to Qiudian. At the same time, after being strengthened by Liu Ruming's troops on the western front, the main force of the Qiu Corps on the western front avoided the front of the blocking group and moved forward from the right to Yindian. , Hu Lian Corps, was blocked in Huaiyang, Shangshui area. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek still strictly ordered: There must be no mistakes when traveling to the north. Hu Lian's corps rushed to Taikang. The army is under pressure, and the combat situation is extremely unfavorable to Huaye.Su Yu made a decisive decision and ordered the troops to withdraw from the battle and move to the north of Suiqi and the southwest of Shandong respectively. So far, the second phase of the Battle of Eastern Henan has ended.Following the Battle of Kaifeng, more than 50,000 enemies were wiped out. After the Battle of Eastern Henan, on July 11, Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission sent a congratulatory message to all the commanders and fighters of the People's Liberation Army in East China and the Central Plains: "Congratulations to you for annihilating Jiang's Shounian Corps and Huang Baitao Corps in East Henan after the victory in Kaifeng." A great victory for tens of thousands of people." "This brilliant victory is a head-on blow to Chiang Kai-shek's ravings about 'clearing the Central Plains'; at the same time, it also enables our army to enter the second year of the Chinese People's War of Liberation. Condolences, comrades!"