Chapter 12 Section 12 Transfer of CCP troops to Shandong

Lianshui in World War II, CCP troops transferred to Shandong When Lianshui fell, Wang Bicheng was left with pain in his heart Chiang Kai-shek felt sorry for the loss of reorganizing the 74th Division. He called Zhang Lingfu and asked if he would like to go back to Nanjing to rest. " At the beginning of December, the Xuzhou Appeasement Administration once again assembled 25 and a half brigades of troops, divided them into four groups, and launched attacks on Yancheng, Lianshui, Shuyang, and southern Shandong at the same time, in an attempt to expel the PLA from northern Jiangsu in one fell swoop.

On December 3, its second group, led by Li Yannian, deputy director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office, reorganized the 74th Division, the 28th Division, and the 7th Division, and rushed from Huaiyin to Lianshui aggressively. At this time, "Hua Ye" and "Shan Ye" were facing serious enemy situations, and it was impossible to fight together. Li Yannian, a native of Shandong born in the first phase of Whampoa, also served as the commander of Shandong Advancement at this time.Zhang Lingfu said to Li Yannian: "Commander, the Communist Party is a monster. It's not enough to fight it head-on. We might as well play a little trick with it, so that it can make a lot of noise and catch it by surprise!"

Li Yannian is also a "straight-hearted son", with a similar temperament to Zhang Lingfu, and the two have similar smells.Li Yannian hurriedly asked him what "little trick" he had, and Zhang Lingfu expressed his thoughts in this way.When Li Yannian heard this, he slapped Zhang Lingfu on the back happily: "Okay, brother, follow your plan!" Compared with the reorganized 74th Division, the strength of the 28th Division and the 7th Division is of course inferior. Li Yannian put these two divisions on the front and stormed the "Huaye" 17th Brigade positions of Wang Jiakou and Xie Jiadang. Later, Wang Bicheng's 17th Brigade The 6th Division also joined the defense of the position. The two sides rushed back and forth in the areas of Shunheji, Jiangjiazhuang, Dadongzhuang, Huangzhuang, and Gaojiadang, and fought repeatedly. After more than 10 days, they were at a stalemate.

Just when Wang Bicheng's 6th Division could not escape, the 51st and 58th Brigades of the reorganized 74th Division took advantage of the night from Xiba and Daihe Towns to cross the Yellow River and approach Lianshui City.There is only an independent 6th Brigade defending Lianshui. This is a team that has just been upgraded from local armed forces. It is not complete with firearms. It is naturally difficult to fight a protracted battle against the main force of the reorganized 74th Division.By dawn, most of the 6th Independent Brigade had died, and Lianshui City fell into the darkness before dawn.

Wang Bicheng was rewarded, and quickly sent Zhang Yunlong's 16th Brigade to help Lianshui. The 16th Brigade took advantage of the reorganized 74th Division's unstable foothold and rushed into the city, but was soon wrapped up in it and rushed left and right, unable to escape. Wang Bicheng was shocked when he heard the news, and quickly pulled out Rao Shoukun's 18th Brigade Emergency Rescue 16th Brigade from the front line. At that time, the bullets of the 16th Brigade had all been fired, while the 18th Brigade was still outside the city.Zhang Yunlong's correspondent rushed out of the siege, found Wang Bicheng and reported: "Master, the 16th Brigade is out of ammunition and food, and can't support it!"

Wang Bicheng glared: "What can't last! I order you to go back and tell Brigadier Zhang that there is a gun stock without bullets, a fist without grenades, and teeth without bayonets. Persistence is victory!" Zhang Yunlong is worthy of being a soldier. He made people pick up broken bricks from broken walls and pile them up. He found hundreds of iron forks for drying grass from ordinary people's homes. He insisted on using these weapons to support the arrival of the 18th Brigade. The remnants of the 6th Independent Brigade withdrew to the eastern suburbs amidst a hail of bullets.

Lianshui City fell into the hands of the Reorganized 74th Division.The battle record of the reorganized 74th Division has once again recorded a "brilliant" stroke. In this battle, the 6th Division suffered heavy casualties, more than 5,000 people, which became Wang Bicheng's heartache.According to Jiang Weiqing's recollection, at that time Chen Yi verbally notified him to act as the division commander and dismissed Wang Bicheng for investigation.Su Yu believes that there are many reasons for the failure of the battle, and Wang Bicheng cannot be blamed alone, but as the main commander on the front line, he should check it carefully and suggest staying in his post for self-reflection.

Wang Bicheng only said: "I don't have any complaints about the punishment. I just hope that the 74th division will be hit in the future. Don't forget the 6th division!" Su Yu said: "Wang Huhu, don't worry, you will be indispensable to reorganize the 74th Division!" After he finished speaking, he summoned the chief of staff Chen Shiqu and ordered him face to face: In the future, whenever our East China army organizes a battle to annihilate the 74th Division, the 6th Division will definitely be killed. To participate, Comrade Wang Bicheng must be allowed to participate, and he is specially instructed to record this order and keep it on file for further investigation.

At this point, the Central China Field Army had to transfer to Shandong to fight.