Chapter 8 Chapter VII Pursue, Annihilate and Flee the Enemy, Cut off the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Line

The second stage of the Battle of Crossing the River: From April 24 to May 11, 1949, our troops from all walks of life crossed the river and launched a pursuit operation.The central and eastern groups targeted Wuxing and Changxing areas and launched a powerful pincer offensive. They traveled day and night and braved the rain. They joined forces in the Wuxing area at midnight on the 27th, closed the Heweikou, and fled from Wuhu, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang. Five enemy armies encircled the Langxi and Guangde areas, wiped out the enemy on the 29th, and liberated Suzhou and Hangzhou one after another.In order to cut off the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line and cut off the enemy's retreat, our Western Group targeted Shexian, Shangrao, and Guixi, and pursued southward in multiple ways.

After the second and third field armies broke through the enemy's defense line along the Yangtze River in multiple ways, Tang Enbo saw that the situation was over, and hurriedly ordered the entire line to retreat on the afternoon of the 22nd. The eastern troops retreated towards Shanghai in an attempt to organize defenses along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and in the Shanghai area. Based on the changes in the enemy's situation, the General Front Committee is determined to take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the planned scale of the battle. The third field army will solve the enemy in the Ninghu-Hangzhou area, and the third, fourth, and fifth corps of the second field army will go straight out of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line side by side. , Cut off the strategic connection between Tang Enbo and Bai Chongxi's two major groups, ensure that the Third Field Army encircled and wiped out the fleeing enemies, and smashed Tang Enbo's attempt to use the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line to organize an in-depth defense.

After breaking through the Kuomintang army's defense line on the Yangtze River, the General Front Committee issued instructions at noon on the 22nd in view of the fact that the task of crossing the river had been completed, requiring the Eastern and Central Groups to quickly open up the east-west connection and split the Kuomintang army in the surrounding areas of Nanjing. 7. The Ninth Corps was under the direct command of Su Yu. At the beginning of the People's Liberation Army crossing the river, Tang Enbo ordered the troops to resist resolutely.For this reason, he transferred the 99th Army to Wuhu, and the 54th Army to the Yutang line west of Jiangyin.However, both mobile armies were used, but they still couldn't stop the advance of the PLA.The Eastern and Central Groups are developing rapidly towards Wuxi and Xuancheng, and the pincer-shaped encirclement of the surrounding areas of Nanjing is gradually taking shape.

In order to prevent hundreds of thousands of troops from becoming the Chinese food of the People's Liberation Army again, Tang Enbo was forced to order on the night of the 22nd: the 54th, 51st, 21st, 123rd armies east of Yangzhong retreated to Shanghai; The 12 armies in the west (fourth, ninety-ninth, twenty-eighth, forty-fifth, sixty-sixth, twentieth, eighty-eighth, fifty-fifth, ninety-sixth, sixth The 18th, 106th, and 73rd Army) retreated to Hangzhou and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line respectively. However, it is easier said than done to temporarily retreat such a huge army!In particular, most of the Kuomintang troops in the vicinity of Nanjing retreated to Hangzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway.

Time is ticking.Su Yu and Zhang Zhen successively issued orders on April 22, 23, and 24: The main force of the Ninth Corps will advance along the lines of Nanling, Shizipu, and Guangde to Changxing and Wuxing; After the Corps pursued eastward, the main force entered the Xuancheng, Ningguo, and Guangde areas, and was on standby to participate in the encirclement and annihilation of the Kuomintang troops fleeing from Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Wunan, and occupied Hangzhou; The 26th Army, from Changzhou and Danyang along the west side of Taihu Lake, pursued fiercely in the direction of Changxing and Wuxing in order to join forces with the Ninth Corps, cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou Highway, and encircle and wipe out the Kuomintang troops who fled south.

After receiving the order, all the troops marched bravely regardless of the fatigue of crossing the river.Thus, a chase and annihilation battle began! Li Zongren returned to Nanjing after attending Chiang Kai-shek's meeting in Hangzhou on April 22. As soon as Li Zongren arrived in Nanjing, he went straight to the office of the presidential palace.At the Presidential Palace, he issued the last emergency evacuation order: all central agencies, ministries, committees, and agencies affiliated to the Presidential Palace will all withdraw to Shanghai on the 23rd, and then transfer to Guangzhou for office.

Li Zongren looked around the office of the presidential palace, empty.A great sense of loss and the annoyance of being fooled by Chiang Kai-shek enveloped him. Li Zongren picked up the phone and called Tang Enbo, Commander-in-Chief of Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Police: "Hello, Commander-in-Chief Tang? I'm Li Zongren." "Ah! Hello, Acting President Li! What instructions do you have?" "How is the battle outside? Please explain briefly." "Report to Acting President Li that the communist army is approaching the outskirts of the city. It may be safe to pass tonight, but tomorrow's safety will be difficult to guarantee."

Li Zongren held the microphone in his hand and was speechless.Tang Enbo reminded Li Zongren: "President Li, the communist army will enter the city as soon as it says it will enter the city. I advise you to leave as soon as possible and leave Nanjing tomorrow morning at the latest. Otherwise, I will not be able to guarantee your safety." Putting down the phone, Li Zongren stared at the calendar on the table in a daze.The desk calendar just turned to "April 22nd, March 25th, Friday in the Lunar Calendar Ji Chou Year".What was the scene of Li Zongren's last night in Nanjing? He later recalled: "That night, there was rumble of artillery and machine guns in the suburbs of Nanjing. Withdrew. Then he took off his clothes and lay down, tossing and turning all night, unable to fall asleep."

Under the night of the Presidential Palace, the big iron gates are closed, the front yard is empty, and the rooms have already been vacated, paper documents are scattered everywhere, and there are wisps of smoke from time to time. Only a few rooms are still flickering. light.The moonlight is dark, the stars are blinking, how many parting loves do not hate, they all come to my heart.In this situation, what is the state of mind of Acting President Li Zongren, who spent the last night in the presidential palace, and the Kuomintang military and government officials in Nanjing?Fang Beiyan, a Nanjing government official, wrote a poem "Nanjing Song":

In the early morning of April 23, Tang Enbo called again, urging to take off.When Li Zongren's car arrived at the airport, the motor of the special plane had also started.The plane took off immediately, circled over Nanjing for two weeks, turned its wings and flew to the southwest, and the east was white at that time.Since then, Nanjing can't bear to look back. Not long after Li Zongren's special plane left, KMT members Gu Zhutong, Xu Yongchang, Huang Shaogu, Lin Wei, Cai Wenzhi and others boarded the plane and flew to Hangzhou one after another.After a busy day, Zhou Zhirou, commander-in-chief of the Air Force, sent the top officials away from the Dajiaochang military airport at 10:00 a.m. before boarding the last plane.

These Kuomintang military and political officials fled in a hurry with panic, frustration, and heavy hearts.Lin Wei, the vice minister of national defense who just left, has followed Chiang Kai-shek for more than 20 years and is Chiang Kai-shek's confidant and staff member. This person has always spoken carefully.But recently, when he talked about his future, he shook his head and sighed, full of complaints.He said to his colleagues: "The Kuomintang's millions of troops are the essence of more than 20 years of accumulation. Now it has been almost completely wiped out by the Communist Party. The situation has become so corrupt. What else can be done to save it? Since I became an aide, I rarely Carrying a pistol, and now I also carry a pistol with me at all times, in case I am caught by the communist army, I will kill myself." Not long ago, Zhou Zhirou, who was standing on the steps of Xiaoying Air Force Headquarters, said to his old friend and chess friend Song Xilian during the Northern Expedition: "After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, we are in such a good situation. Unexpectedly, there are only three years. If you don’t work hard, you will fail to such an extent, it’s really like a dream.” Pointing to a piece of new houses near Xiaoying, he said, "These were built by the Air Force in the past few years, and it looks like they must be given over to the Communist Party!" After being silent for a while, he continued: "What's more? There are thousands of new western-style buildings in the new residential area from Nanjing Drum Tower to the north of Yijiangmen. Except for a few that belonged to foreign embassies, most of them were the residences of high-ranking officials of the Nationalist government, and these residences had to be left to the Communist Party.” The Kuomintang government agencies stranded in Nanjing were originally scheduled to retreat in the early morning of April 23. However, due to the scrambling of various units and the congested roads, they could not move until 4 o'clock in the morning, and they began to leave Nanjing city at 6 o'clock in the morning.The Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway is already watertight.At this time, the army, government agencies, citizens, students, organizations and people from all walks of life who had withdrawn from Nanjing were everywhere.From time to time, there were gunshots due to rushing to the road, and the order was extremely chaotic. There is no longer any resistance in Nanjing. Part of our army crossed the Yangtze River and liberated Wuhu, Anhui Province. This is my guard soldier guarding in front of the Wuhu Municipal People's Government In the early morning of the 24th, the 74th Division, the head of the 25th Army of the Central Group, had just arrived at Wanzhi (now Wuhu County).Under the command of the division commander Zhang Huaizhong, the 74th Division braved the pouring rain and endured hunger, and repelled the enemy's charge several times in a row. The door to escape to the south.After dawn, I learned from the captives that these enemies were all of the 20th Army, part of the 99th Army, and a security brigade.The military decided to wipe them out, and ordered the 74th Division to continue to prevent the enemy from fleeing south, and the 75th Division to insert behind the enemy's side.At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the 74th and 75th divisions launched a fierce attack on the enemy with overwhelming momentum. Suddenly, gunpowder smoke billowed over the bay site, rumbling guns and shouts of "hand down the guns and don't kill" echoed in the valley middle.The densely packed enemies are in a mess, and the wolves are rushing.At dusk, the 25th Army wiped out the Kuomintang 20th Army and all the 133rd and 134th Divisions. The 99th Army and the 4th Security Brigade each had more than 13,000 people. Yang Gancai, commander of the 20th Army. The 20th Army thought they could escape by bypassing the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway, but they were still wrapped in dumplings.Jing Jiamo, the commander of the captured 133rd Division, said: "I really didn't expect that we would be surrounded by you while running in a car without even getting food. We wanted to break out, but the commander also died. " After the war, the 25th Army marched towards Xuancheng and Guangde overnight. In this pursuit operation, whether the enemy can be caught and the situation of closing the door to fight dogs depends on whether the 28th Army of the Eastern Group and the 27th Army of the Central Group can reach Wuxing in time to complete the encirclement of the battle . After the 28th Army crossed the river, it captured Qishuyan on the 23rd and cut off the Beijing-Shanghai Railway. Then it was ordered to go south to liberate Yixing on the 25th. On the 26th, it blocked and captured nearly 10,000 Kuomintang troops and their families in the area west of Yixing.In order to complete the roundabout task, the 28th Army was not hindered by the small enemy, and occupied Changxing on the 27th and Wuxing on the 28th. After crossing the river, the 27th Army fought and marched, annihilating one part each of the 99th, 88th, 20th Army and the Joint Logistics Headquarters of the Kuomintang.After the troops arrived at Shijiedu, the water of Tongrui River rose sharply and the current was turbulent.It's impossible to wade, and it's hard to find a boat.Fortunately, the local area is rich in moso bamboo, so the army and the local people worked together to weave bamboo rafts and transport the troops across the river.In this way, regardless of the difficulties and obstacles, the 27th Army pursued day and night without eating a full meal. In 8 days, they drove for more than 800 miles in 8 cities including Kehonglin Bridge and Guangde. The Eighth Army successfully joined forces at Hongxing Bridge in Wuxing. While the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth armies closed the encirclement, other armies of the East Group quickly moved southward, annihilating the enemy one after another.On the 26th, the 23rd Army intercepted and annihilated each of the 4th, 28th, and 51st armies of the Kuomintang in the south of Liyang, and captured more than 9,000 people.The 20th Army intercepted and annihilated the 28th, 45th Army and the joint logistics headquarters of the Kuomintang in the area west of Liyang, and captured 12,000 people.The 26th Army pursued and wiped out more than 7,000 people in the area south of Jurong. The Central Group moved eastward, and the Eastern Group moved southward. The 27th and 28th armies cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway and occupied Wuxing. Most of the Kuomintang's 28th, 45th, 4th, and 66th armies As well as the 51st and 99th armies each with more than 80,000 troops, they were desperate and surrounded by the Langxi and Guangde areas. On the 28th, Su Yu and Zhang Zhen decided that Song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps, and Guo Huaruo, political commissar, would command the 25th, 27th, 30th, and 33rd armies and the 20th, 28th, and The 31st Army annihilated the besieged Kuomintang army.Song and Guo immediately ordered the troops participating in the war: all the troops will work together, not afraid of disrupting the organizational system, implement multi-channel centripetal assaults, attack fiercely, and fight wherever there is an enemy, so as to wipe out the encircled enemies! During the encirclement and annihilation of Guangde, the enemy was defeated and surrendered to me one after another After the start of the general offensive, the 25th Army marched forward with 3 divisions, and attacked the Moutoutang area north of Guangde. . At 5 o'clock on the 28th, the 33rd Army, under the command of Zhang Kexia, launched an attack on the main force of the 66th Army of the Kuomintang in the northeast of Guangde. By 9 o'clock in the evening, a total of 11,000 enemies were wiped out. On the 29th, more than a thousand enemies were captured in Dushan Town. From 11:00 am on the 28th to 13:00 pm on the 29th, the 31st Army annihilated each of the 45th, 28th, 4th, and 66th armies of the Kuomintang in the Liudongqiao area in the northeast of Guangde. , captured 6124 people under the commander of the Sixty-sixth Army, Luo Xianda.Since crossing the river, the 31st Army has captured 16,237 enemies. On the way back to the south, the 23rd Army chased and wiped out 3,000 enemies in Baixian Town, Changxing County on the 28th. Each of the six armies has a total of more than 5,000 people. On the way back to the north, the 24th Army wiped out a part of the Kuomintang's Fourth Army near Si'an, and captured more than 7,000 people under Li Ziliang, the deputy commander of the army. From Teng Haiqing to the 29th, Lang Guang's encirclement and annihilation campaign ended successfully.The People's Liberation Army cut through the mess quickly, annihilating more than 60,000 Kuomintang troops in just two days.The rest either took advantage of the opportunity to escape, or concealed themselves in disguise.However, the Kuomintang army scattered among the people was dug out one by one under the report of the local people after liberation. While the encirclement and annihilation of Langguang was going on, the Seventh Corps, led by the 21st Army, advanced towards Hangzhou. On April 30, the 21st Army occupied Xiaofeng. At this time, the 85th Army and the remnants of the 45th Army of the Kuomintang stationed in Hangzhou were preparing to retreat. On May 1, the 21st Army was ordered to occupy Yuhang and approach Hangzhou. In Yuhang, Teng Haiqing, the commander of the 21st Army, convened the commanders of the divisions to study the plan for capturing Hangzhou, and determined that: the 61st Division would go down the Hangzhou-Huizhou (Zhou) Highway to enter the urban area and occupy the railway station; Seize the Qiantang River Bridge along the Hangzhou-Fu (Yang) Highway, and occupy the puppet provincial government.After the meeting, Teng Haiqing repeatedly told Zhou Chunlin, the commander of the 62nd Division: "Protecting the Qiantang River Bridge is of great significance in military, political and economic terms. We must take all measures to seize the bridge and resolutely prevent the enemy from attacking the bridge." destruction." On May 2, the 61st and 62nd Divisions approached Hangzhou. At dawn on the 3rd, the 61st Division launched an attack on Hangzhou, occupied the railway station at 12 o'clock, and rushed into the urban area in the afternoon. At the same time, the 62nd Division climbed Wuyun Mountain at dawn that day, descending from the sky like a magic soldier, and suddenly appeared by the Qiantang River.The 2nd Battalion of the 185th Regiment, which was the main attack, took the bridge along the Hangfu Highway along the river.To the southwest of the bridge is the Liuhe Pagoda.The Kuomintang army took advantage of this commanding height to implement a blockade with intensive firepower.The commanders and fighters of the Second Battalion swooped over and captured the Liuhe Pagoda stronghold in just half an hour, and then took down the bridgehead on the north side of the bridge with all their might, and intercepted more than 10 cars fleeing south.Immediately afterwards, the battalion used the double-layer structure of the bridge to cover up and down, and attacked the defenders in the south of the bridge alternately.Seeing that the situation was not good, the defenders hurriedly lit explosives and fled south.However, due to the small amount of medicine, the bridge was only slightly injured, and the enemy's attempt to blow up the bridge failed. At 14:30, the bridge was occupied by the Second Battalion. Liu Bocheng issued the "Instructions for Organizing Lightly Armed Forces to Continue to Chase and Annihilate Fleeing Enemies" on May 7. The troops made full use of the existing and newly seized vehicles and other means of transportation, and organized light troops to cross mountains and ridges at a speed of 80 miles or even more than 100 miles per day, chasing, rushing, and fighting southward, and wiped out a large number of enemies. The Third Corps under the command of Chen Xilian has jurisdiction over the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Armies.According to the instructions of the General Front Committee, the Tenth Army is responsible for the takeover of Anqing and Wuhu and maintaining rear traffic.In this way, only the eleventh and twelfth armies participated in the pursuit operations of the corps. On the 24th, the 31st and 32nd Divisions of the 11th Army and the 29th Division of the Tenth Army surrounded the 174th Division of the Guangxi Clan who fled south from Anqing in the areas of Wutianpu and Pailou Street. .When the war ended at 16:00 on the same day, except for a few escaped from the 174th Division and the 707th Regiment, nearly 6,000 people from the 174th Division were all wiped out.Since Liu and Deng's army entered the Dabie Mountains at the end of August 1947, the Guangxi faction has always been a tough opponent of the Second Field Army.The annihilation of its 174th Division this time made the commanders and fighters breathe a sigh of relief.When the soldiers described this battle, they said: "The enemy's eyes are redder when they meet each other, and they charged in one go, wiped out the 174th Division, and wiped away the resentment for many years!" After four days of pursuit, the Twelfth Army intercepted and annihilated more than 3,000 people from the 282nd Division of the 106th Army of the Kuomintang near Huizhou on the 28th. Since then, the Eleventh and Twelfth Armies, under the guidance of "not to be entangled by small enemies, not to be confused by group enemies, not to be encumbered by seizures, and not to be restrained by towns and cities", moved rapidly to the southeast. chase. On May 6, the main forces of the two armies jointly attacked Jinhua, and the 32nd Division of the 11th Army occupied Longyou on the same day.The next day, the 35th Division of the 12th Army, led by Commander Li Desheng, joined forces with the Sanye troops at the foot of Zhuji City.Then, the two armies sent light troops to cross the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line and pursue them in the direction of Shengxian, Lishui, Songyang, and Yunhe.By May 15th, the troops of the Three Corps had entered the front lines of Shengxian, Qingshan, Jingning, and Longquan, and the pursuit operation came to an end. From April 21 to May 15, the Three Corps fought from the Yangtze River to the East China Sea, advancing more than 750 kilometers, liberated 32 counties, and wiped out more than 65,000 enemies. The Fifth Corps, commanded by Yang Yong and Su Zhenhua, has jurisdiction over the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Armies.Beginning on the 25th, the 16th and 17th armies advanced along Jingdezhen and Wuyuan to the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line, and the 18th army advanced from Yinjiahui to Kaihua via Qimen. On May 1, the Sixteenth Army wiped out more than 3,000 people from the 141st Division of the 96th Army of the Kuomintang in Wuyuan, and captured Quzhou on the 6th.On the same day, Fan Yangchun, the political commissar of the 46th Division of the army, and Han Guojin, the head of the 138th Regiment, led the 138th Regiment to attack Jiangshan, annihilated more than 5,000 people from the remnants of the 141st Division and the Traffic Police Corps in the city, and captured the division commander alive. Liu Qing'e seized 57 artillery pieces, more than 6,200 guns of various types, and more than 300 vehicles. On the way to Quzhou and in the battles of Santang and Hecun, the 17th Army successively wiped out more than 10,000 Kuomintang troops and seized more than 90 vehicles.From May 5th to 7th, the Eighteenth Army wiped out more than 7,000 people from the Provincial Security Command and the Third Bao Brigade led by Zhang Yichun, chairman of the Anhui Province of the Kuomintang, in the Majinling area in the northeast of Wuyuan, and captured Zhang Yichun alive. In order to expand the results of the battle, on May 8, the 47th Division of the 16th Army and the Reconnaissance Battalion set off from Quzhou, marched 200 li in 23 hours, rushed to the Xiaomei area in southern Zhejiang, and wiped out more than 2,100 people from the third division of Li Yannian's temporary division. On May 18, the army's reconnaissance battalion broke into the headquarters of the enemy's 57th division in Huangyuan Village, Weitian area, and wiped out more than 2,000 enemies at the cost of more than 10 casualties.At the same time, the 51st Division of the 17th Army attacked northern Fujian, liberated Pucheng on the 15th, and then went south to Jian'ou. With the cooperation of the northern Fujian guerrillas, they liberated Gutian, Zhenghe, Songxi, Youxi and other counties. , Annihilating more than 3,000 enemies. The Fourth Corps took the 15th Army as the left column and the 13th and 14th Army as the right column to attack the east and west areas of Shangrao.In order to chase and wipe out Liu Ruming's 68th Army, Chen Geng ordered the troops to advance at an accelerated pace. On April 29, the 37th Division of the 13th Army caught up with the 119th Division of the 68th Army at Zhuxianqiao, south of Leping, and annihilated more than 3,000 of its soldiers the next day. Wu Bingmeng, commander of the 174th Division. On May 3, the 38th Division of the 13th Army first entered Shangrao City, and then together with the 39th Division annihilated more than 3,000 people from the 81st Division of the 68th Army in the south of the city.Under the command of Army Commander Qin Jiwei, the Fifteenth Army galloped southward at a speed of more than 40 kilometers per day. On May 4, it wiped out more than 2,400 people from the 143rd Division of the 68th Army in Dexing.The Fourteenth Army occupied Yingtan and Dongxiang on May 5.So far, most of the 68th Army has been wiped out. In order to expand the results of the battle, the 15th Army pursued to northern Fujian with the 44th and 45th Divisions, and the 14th Army divided its troops into two groups to pursue Nancheng and Linchuan.The 44th Division captured Jianyang on May 10 with a forced march of 135 kilometers in two days, and then captured the Kuomintang Jianou Air Force Base in northern Fujian at a speed of 115 kilometers in two days, and captured the enemy's 55th Army and traffic police. One of the detachments seized more than 10 cars.The 45th Division, which went south from Chong'an, plunged into Jishui with brave and swift movements, and captured more than 2,000 people from the enemy's Beijing-Shanghai officer training regiment and traffic police brigade.Then, the 44th Division used the car it had just seized to pursue the fleeing enemy and liberated Nanping on the 14th.The rapid pursuit of the 15th Army was praised by Ye Si.Chen Geng also said very happily: Qin Jiwei has a good command and can capture fighters flexibly. The 15th Army is already a force capable of fighting. The Fourth Corps fought continuously for a month, traveled more than 1,500 miles, and wiped out more than 24,000 enemies. During the month-long pursuit across the river, Erye cut off the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Road, attacked northern Fujian, and liberated Nanchang, far exceeding the planned combat scope of the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Campaign. On May 31, in his report to Chairman Mao Zedong, Liu Bocheng made a special summary of the experience of the Second Army breaking through the Yangtze River defense line, going straight to the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line to reach Jiangxi-Fujian, and expanding the scope of the scheduled Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou campaign: "First, The battle of the Fourth Corps in Macheng made Bai Chongxi mistakenly think that I would go out to cross the river to copy Wuhan (then my 12th Corps went straight to Xinyang and went south), and transferred the main force of Anqing Xiawei Army westward to Jiujiang and Wuxue, which was convenient for us. Crossing the river. We took advantage of the season when the Yangtze River was low and the south wind was not blowing before the Meiyu flood season. We used the lakes on the north bank to obtain ships and prepared the northern soldiers to cross the river. We stopped attacking Anqing first and focused our energy savings on breakthroughs. The south bank position. Especially when crossing the river parallel with the three fields at the same time on the wide front, the enemy is hard to defend. A breakthrough at one point shakes the whole line." "Our second and third field armies work together to break through the river defense to carry out the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou battle, which is to destroy imperialism. A solid approach to the ruling foundation combined with the Kuomintang. We have reported to the General Front Committee according to the trend of the enemy's breakthrough in the river defense turning into chaos, the traffic and food conditions between Huangshan and Poyang Lake, and the situation of our army after crossing the river. It was decided not to go to the Nanjing area with the main force and Sanye to form a cross movement, but to go straight out of Guixi, Shangrao, and Huizhou with all our strength to point to the line from Jinxian to Yiwu on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Road. They used all their strength to circumvent Jiang's enemy's side....The above-mentioned actions were closely related to the capture of Hangzhou and the attack on Shanghai by the Three Fields, and also created convenient conditions for future maneuvers in western Jiangxi and southern Fujian." When the second field and the third field initiated crossing the river on the thousands-mile front from Hukou in the west to Jiangyin in the east, Xiao Jinguang, commander and political commissar of the Four Fields Advance Corps (Twelfth Corps), Chen Bojun, deputy commander, Tang Tang, deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department In Tianji, Chief of Staff Xie Peiran (Xie Fang), Deputy Chief of Staff Pan Shuorui, etc., were "talking about the world" in a villa at the foot of Jigong Mountain on the border between Henan and Hubei. In fact, the advance corps shouldered the strategic task of containing the Bai Chongxi Group so that it would not dare to send reinforcements to the east, so as to facilitate the two fields and the three fields to cross the river and seize Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other places, so the burden on them was not light. As early as February, in order to fulfill the sacred mission entrusted by the Central Military Commission to the Northeast Field Army, Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan led the 40th and 43rd armies, the 1st artillery regiment, and the 2nd branch of the logistics department with the 12th Corps. And the first regiment of engineers (2 engineer battalions) formed the advance corps, and went south first.The entire Corps has a total of about 120,000 people. The advance troops of the Fourth Field Army, in order to cooperate with our army on the western front, contained the Bai Chongxi Group, successively liberated Xishui, Huanghai, Jingmen, Hanchuan and other places in Hubei Province, and marched towards the Yangtze River one after another. This is part of the Fourth Field Army chasing down the enemy in the mountains On February 25, the advance corps set off from the Pingjin area.The 40th Army marched from Maju Bridge in Tongxian County to Zhengzhou along the (North) Pinghan (Exit) Highway, and the 43rd Army marched from Matou Town in Langfang to Kaifeng along the (North) Pingda (Ming) Highway. The Twelfth Corps, the First Artillery Regiment, and the Artillery Regiments of the Fortieth and Forty-third Armies took the train from Tianjin to Kaifeng via Xuzhou. After Xiao Jinguang led his troops to set off, the Central Military Commission further clarified the mission and command relationship of the advance corps, and called Xiao Chenjiepan, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Li Da on March 20 and told Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou: "The two leaders of the Eastern Field The task of the army is to cooperate with the forces of the Tongbai, Jianghan, and Hubei-Henan military regions to restrain Bai Chongxi's troops, so that the Bai troops cannot reinforce the east and hinder our Zhongye and Huaye's crossing the river." Therefore, "Xiao Chenxiepan was under the command of Liu Deng, Everything will be done according to Liu Deng's will."In order to coordinate the relationship between the advance corps and the three military regions of Tongbai, Jianghan, and Yu'e, Erye ordered the three military regions to be under the command of the advance corps. According to Liu Deng's instructions, the advance corps adjusted its deployment and marched south along the east side of the Ping-Han Railway with the main force.The Fortieth Army regained Zhumadian on March 30 and liberated Xinyang on April 2.After the 43rd Army entered the Dabie Mountains, it liberated Xuanhuadian, Hekou, and Huang'an on April 5, and successfully joined forces with the troops of the Hubei-Henan Military Region. At the same time, the Tongbai Military Region led by Wang Hongkun and the Jianghan Military Region led by Zhang Caiqian, located on the west side of Pinghan Road, under the command of the advance corps, concentrated the strength of five brigades to attack the 7th Guangxi Clan stationed in Huayuan. The two regiments of the 171st Division of the Chinese Army launched an attack and wiped out more than 2,100 people from its 512th Regiment. Under the attack of the People's Liberation Army, the Bai Chongxi tribe in Henan and northern Hubei fled south one after another. In early April, the advance corps entered Hubei, cooperated with the troops of the Tongbai and Jianghan military regions, took advantage of the victory and wiped out the enemy, successively liberated Huayuan, Hanchuan, Yingshan, Guangshui and Xishui in eastern Hubei and other vast areas, forcing Bai Chongxi The transfer of its Third Corps from northern Jiangxi to the Wuhan area ensured the safety of the Second Field's flanks, and realized the Central Military Commission's requirement of "capturing the Huayuan and Xiaogan areas before April 15, approaching Hankou, resting and waiting for orders, and restraining Bai Chongxi's troops from daring to Send reinforcements to Nanjing to benefit Liu, Chen and Deng to capture Nanjing". After the liberation of Xinyang, the headquarters of the Twelfth Corps moved to Jigong Mountain at the junction of Hubei and Henan.The small Jigongshan Station became the headquarters of the Corps, while Xiao Jinguang and other leaders of the Corps lived in a villa not far from the station. Although the goal of "approaching Hankou" was achieved, "troublesome things" also came. Since Liu Zhongrong, Bai Chongxi's representative, arrived in Beiping, the CCP's "Unite Guizhou against Chiang Kai-shek" has reached the stage of concrete implementation.The two sides agreed that the troops of the Guangxi clique in Anqing and the front line from Anqing to Huanggang must withdraw before April 10, and the troops in Huang'an, Macheng, Xishui, Wuxue and other places will also retreat and be stationed by the People's Liberation Army; Huanggang, Tuanfeng, Huayuan , Xiaogan, Hanchuan, Caidian, Huanglingji and the areas south of it, the People's Liberation Army will not occupy it for the time being, and those who have already occupied will not move. Based on this, the Central Military Commission called Liu Bocheng, Zhang Jichun, and Li Da of the Second Field and Xiao Jinguang and Chen Bojun of the Advance Corps on April 5, asking them to send people to contact Bai Chongxi's troops.However, only the Anqing issue has echoed.Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi said: The peace talks have not been concluded, and it is difficult to explain the withdrawal of troops from Anqing to the outside world. The 174th Division of the Guangxi Clique in Anqing can be withdrawn, but at present there is no other troops to go to Anqing.In this way, none of the Guangxi faction's promises on the issue of the garrison of troops on both sides have been fulfilled. For Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi's struggle, Mao Zedong can be said to be benevolent.However, with the breakdown of the KMT-CPC peace talks, the Guangxi faction's "Alliance with the Communist Party" lie was completely exposed. On April 28, the Central Military Commission sent a telegram to Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, Liu Bocheng, Zhang Jichun, Li Da, Xiao Jinguang, and Chen Bojun: "The peace talks broke down, and the Guangxi faction has never expressed any compromise with us in specific actions. Compromise is necessary. Therefore, our basic policy is to eliminate the Guangxi faction and any other reactionaries." At this time, Nanjing has been liberated, and the second and third fields are launching a full-scale pursuit and annihilation of the Tang Enbo Group, and the task of the advance corps to contain the Bai Chongxi Group has been completed.At the same time, the main forces of the Four Fields set off from the Pingjin area on April 11 and are gathering at the front lines of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, and the march into Central South has already begun.For this reason, in the telegram on April 28, the Central Military Commission also specifically pointed out: "From the date of the telegram, Xiao Chen will be under the direct command of Lin Luo, and all command relations between Liu Deng, Zhang Li and Xiao Chen will be terminated." After that, the first The Twelfth Corps belonged to Jian Siye and was no longer under the command of Erye, and its combat operations also fell into the category of Siye's march into Central South. As the main force of the Four Fields advanced towards Hubei, the Central Military Commission began to consider the combat and food issues of the 800,000 troops of the Four Fields. On May 9, the Central Military Commission called Lin Biao and Xiao Ke: "Your main force has crossed the Longhai line and is about to reach the territory of Hubei. According to the food situation in the north bank of the Yangtze River, it will be difficult for the army to live for a long time. According to Bai Chongxi's intention, it is not a preparation Fight with our army in the north of Hengzhou, but prepare to gradually retreat to the south of Hengzhou. Therefore, it seems necessary for your whole army to cross the river ahead of time. And it is not necessary for the whole army to reach the north bank and cross the river at the same time. The method of crossing the river.” On the 10th, Lin Biao and Xiao Ke replied to the Central Military Commission: “We fully agree to try our best to make our army cross the river in advance, and implement the method of crossing the river first, instead of waiting for the whole army to reach the north bank before crossing.” On the same day, Lin Biao and Xiao Ke also called Xiao Jinguang and Chen Bojun: "Your first two armies (a total of 8 divisions) should try to reach the riverside in advance, and try our best to get the first troops to Lidu immediately, and the follow-up troops will continue to cross." In accordance with Shino's instructions, the advance corps advanced to the riverside on May 11 and began the battle of crossing the river between Han and Xun.By the 14th, the 135th Division of the 43rd Army and the 120th Division of the 40th Army had eliminated the enemies in Jiangbei between Tuanfeng and Wuxue. Lanxi, Qichun, Tianjiazhen and other places crossed the river, forcing the 5 battalions of the 106th Army in Huangshi Port and other places to revolt. Bai Chongxi saw that the advance corps of the four fields had begun to cross the river, and the corps of Chen Geng was preparing to cross the Ganjiang River to the west to copy the rear route, so he ordered the troops to retreat from Hubei.The 43rd Army pursued in the rain, and successively liberated Echeng, Daye, Yangxin, Ruian, and De'an, and entered Yongxiu and Anyi on the 24th. At the same time, the 118th Division of the 40th Army wiped out the defenders in Biaoziwan and Liujiamiao on the 15th. When they entered Shikou at dawn on the 16th, they found that the defenders in Hankou had abandoned the city and fled, so they liberated on the same day. Hankou.After the 120th and 135th Divisions crossed the river on the afternoon of the 16th, a regiment of the 135th Division entered Wuchang on the afternoon of the 17th, and Jianghan troops entered Hanyang on the same day.So far, all three towns in Wuhan have been liberated.Then, the 40th Army pursued to the south of Hubei. By the 25th, it successively occupied Hesheng Bridge, Xianning, Tingsi Bridge, Tongshan, Chongning, Tongcheng, and Puqi, and the battle of crossing the river was over. At the same time that the advance corps initiated the crossing of the river, on May 15, under the long-term struggle of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhang Zhen, the deputy chief of the Central China Military and Political Chief Office of the Kuomintang, the chairman of the Henan Provincial Government and the commander of the No. More than 20,000 people from the 309th Division of the 128th Army and the 309th Division revolted in Heshengqiao and Jinkou.The Department was later reorganized into the 51st Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. During the battle across the river between Han and Xun, a total of more than 36,000 Kuomintang troops were wiped out, and the vast areas of eastern Hubei, southern Hubei, and northern Jiangxi were liberated, creating conditions for the main forces of the four fields to cross the river and seek to annihilate the Bai Chongxi Group.