During the period of the Liberation War, the three major battles of our army had already declared the complete collapse of the Chiang family dynasty. Among these three major battles, the Battle of Huaihai has a decisive significance.
This is because the Huaihai Campaign is not only a model of war in which our army wins more with less, but also the first time that our army consciously and actively planned the layout of the battlefield. The first time to systematically mobilize the other side's deployment, and then to achieve strategic intentions, the first time to use a comprehensive tactic of combining mobile warfare and offensive warfare.
It was precisely because Deng Xiaoping, who had many firsts and always used troops cautiously, changed his previous style, profoundly comprehended the strategic thinking of the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao, and resolutely and resolutely issued a great call to hundreds of thousands of PLA commanders and fighters to fight for their lives, burst out to dare to fight hard battles and dare to fight the old military genius, and won a great victory in the Huaihai Campaign.
Battle of Huaihai
In 1948, the two sides with Xuzhou as the center had become the latest military confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, especially as the Central Plains Field Army took Suxian County, in fact, the southern front of the Central Plains had become the last line of defense of the Kuomintang military group.
After this, Chiang Kai-shek's capital, Nanjing, was directly exposed to the guns of the People's Liberation Army, and Shanghai, the economic and financial center of the Kuomintang, was also in danger.
It was also in this situation that the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao, who were far away in Yan'an, sent a telegram to Huaye Zhongye and the East China Military Region to decide to form the General Front Committee for the Huaihai Campaign, and the secretary of this front committee was Deng Xiaoping.
Deng Xiaoping
In view of the gradual formation of the Huaihai Campaign, the CMC expects that the scale of future campaigns will be expanded.
At present, in the area of Xu Beng, the People's Liberation Army is assembling 150,000 troops from 7 columns of the Central Plains Field Army, 360,000 troops from 15 columns of the East China Field Army, plus 200,000 local troops of the Central Plains Military Region and 300,000 local armed forces of the East China Military Region, totaling about 600,000 people.
Such a huge armed force must have a head organ with unified command. More importantly, Huaye Zhongye was commanded by Chen Yisuyu and Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping respectively, which would also bring many disadvantages to the upcoming Battle of Huaihai, and a unified command system was urgently needed.
East China Field Army
The reason why the Central Military Commission decided to form the General Front Committee composed of Chen Yi, Su Yu, Liu Bocheng, Tan Zhenlin, and Deng Xiaoping was mainly due to the unified coordination of the two field armies, plus the two military regions in the Central Plains and East China, so the burden of the Former Committee of the Shanghai-Huaihai Front Committee was very heavy.
In order to form a strong command structure, the secretary of the General Front Committee should be Deng Xiaoping who can only be qualified. More importantly, Comrade Xiaoping was the only one who could coordinate the two field armies in East China and the Central Plains.
As for the general front committee of the Deng Xiaoping Cpc Committee, Chairman Mao, who was far away in Yan'an, was naturally very relieved. In particular, in later central telegrams, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao repeatedly stressed that the General Front Committee could handle major issues in the Huaihai Campaign on the spot and did not need to consult the Central Committee on everything.
Group photo of the leaders of the East China Field Army
At this time, the Huaihai region, as Su Yu described at that time, was completely a pot of raw rice, which can really be said to be you have me, I have you, and the combat distance between them is only a dozen kilometers, and some are even only a few kilometers apart. In the face of such a situation, it is false to say that you are not nervous.
More importantly, at present, on the line from Xuzhou to Bengbu, the military strength of the Kuomintang is very strong. For example, Qiu Qingquan's 2 corps, Huang Wei's 12 corps, Huang Baitao's 7 corps, Song Xilian's 14 corps, Li Mi's 13 corps, Sun Yuanliang's 16 corps.
In terms of military strength, the military strength of the 800,000-strong Kuomintang far exceeds that of our army.
The situation on the battlefield can be described as changing rapidly, especially the opponent's every move, which will have a huge impact on the battle situation, and even create fighters.
In the face of a strong Kuomintang enemy superior in number and equipment to our army, the General Front Committee wants to seek fighters in the movement and wait for an opportunity to move.
After sensing the intention of the Liu Zhi clique to go south and close together, the front committee decided to grab a point and surround and annihilate it. Sure enough, after crossing the canal in the west, the 7th Corps was prominently positioned, and was chased and beaten by the People's Liberation Army, and finally surrounded in the area of Nianzhuang.
At this time, the war situation is actually not clear, and Huang Baitao can become a fish that slips through the net at any time under the coordination of friendly forces. At the same time, the three columns and nine columns of the People's Liberation Army joined forces to take Suxian County in one fell swoop, and at this point, the road to the south of the Liu Zhi group was completely cut off.
This raises a question, in the face of the besieged Huang Baitao, or the momentum to come to relieve the siege and reinforce the Huang Wei Corps, the PEOPLE's Liberation Army is difficult to eat in one bite. It is as if a table of banquets was prepared, but two tables of guests came, and for a time, the tension of the source of soldiers became a rather headache in front of the front committee.
Kuomintang general Huang Baitao
During the period under the influence of the long-term revolutionary war, Deng Xiaoping was always known for his meticulous thinking and prudent use of troops, and never fought a battle of uncertainty. When he was previously appointed secretary of the General Front Committee, Deng Xiaoping had already profoundly understood Chairman Mao's strategic intentions, and the General Front Committee of the Huaihai Campaign was actually the former enemy's general headquarters during the turning point of the Liberation War.
If this battle is fought well, Chiang Kai-shek's elite forces will be lost north of the Yangtze River, which is of great significance for winning victory over the whole country. If Du Yuming's fresh forces were released back to Jiangnan, there would be endless troubles in the future.
It is precisely because Chairman Mao attaches great importance to Deng Xiaoping's sense of pattern and overall situation that he appointed Deng Xiaoping as the final gatekeeper of this decisive battle.
Under such a situation, in the face of a once-in-a-lifetime turn in the war situation, Deng Xiaoping issued an order to the 600,000 field troops with great courage, that is, to smash the altar jars and cans, but also to eat Huang Baitao!
This means that in Sichuan's words, we must also win a great victory in the Battle of Huaihai.
Huang Baitao, who was besieged in Nianzhuang, was already a turtle in an urn, but now the task was more arduous, one was that there were four enemy regiments around Nianzhuang to relieve Huang Baitao's siege, and how to block it would be a big problem.
Again, the reason why Huang Baitao became a concubine of Chiang Kai-shek is that its combat effectiveness can be imagined. Sieges are as important as reinforcements, and huge attrition occurs.
In the face of such a stale war situation and the scorching force of Huang Wei's corps, Deng Xiaoping and the General Front Committee decided to take out six columns to solve the Problem of Huang Baitao's corps, and only in this way could we get rid of the current complex passive situation of encirclement and counter-encirclement, and at the same time, the blockade war was also launched in three directions around Nianzhuang at the same time.
There is no doubt that this is a military struggle, but also a powerful psychological game. Because before that, our army had always been a mode of war in which it mainly protected itself and waited for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
The field army rose up against the enemy
Of course, this is because for a long time, whether it was the Red Army of that year, the Eighth Route Army in the future, or even the People's Liberation Army later, the enemy's strength and our weakness have always accompanied the growth history of our army.
Therefore, the Shanghuaihai Campaign, as a turning point in the history of our army's war, in order to realize the strategic intention of the central authorities in ending the issue in Jiangbei, we must change our previous strategies and tactics, seek fighter planes in mobile warfare, and have a strong conviction of daring to sacrifice and dare to win victory in a desperate effort.
Taking down Huang Baitao's difficult bone, Hua Ye was very difficult, but Nakano who came to the rescue was not easy.
On the eastern front, Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi's two corps desperately came to the rescue; on the western front, Huang Wei's 12 corps approached the city, and on the southern front, the two corps that resisted the Kuomintang marched north to break the siege, all of which brought pressure to Nakano and to Deng Xiaoping and the General Front Committee.
The essence of the war lies in being able to persist, the pattern of strategic stalemate changed on the 22nd, and with the victory of Su Yu in the total annihilation of Huang Baitao's corps at Nianzhuang, the General Front Committee finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the Huaihai Campaign also ushered in the victory of the first stage.
Next, the General Front Committee borrowed the interval between the wars to consider how to expand the results of the war, which was an overall issue. Deng Xiaoping analyzed that among the Kuomintang troops that had emerged to reinforce, the two corps advancing north did not enter Deng Xiaoping's eyes.
Although the Huang Wei Corps was fierce, it traveled a long distance, coupled with the fact that it was placed at the forefront of Du Yuming's group, its position was prominent, and the supply line was cut off by Nakano, which was undoubtedly the enemy of the fight.
But the problem also came, it was obvious that Hua Ye was exhausted after taking Huang Baitao and had to rest. In this way, Nakano, who had originally provided assistance in the first stage, would come to the forefront and take on the heavy responsibility of encircling and annihilating the Huang Wei Corps.
Du Yuming
Of course, Nakano's task can be said to be very arduous, on the one hand, the Huang Wei Corps has four armies under its jurisdiction, plus a special column totaling 120,000 people. What's more, his Eighteenth Army was known as one of the "five main forces" of the Kuomintang army. Obviously, the Huang Wei Corps is a very hard and difficult bone to gnaw.
On the other hand, Nakano, especially after thousands of miles of raids on The Dabie Mountains, was very depleted, especially poorly equipped. Although Nakano also has 120,000 troops, Nakano in this state has to face the Huang Wei Corps equipped in the United States, and the odds of winning really cannot be seen.
Nevertheless, despite repeated trade-offs, Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, and Deng Xiaoping of the General Front Committee were determined to fight Huang Wei's regiment to the death. Because in this way, not only can We get rid of Chiang Kai-shek's so-called "trump card," but at the same time we can also contain the situation in Huaihai and realize the strategic intention of solving the problem in Jiangbei.
Chen Yi
To eat huang Wei's corps, Deng Xiaoping issued a shocking call at the mobilization meeting of the Central Plains People's Liberation Army:
"Everyone must have the determination to burn the grass!" The encirclement and annihilation of the Huang Wei Corps this time was very arduous and also very glorious. To destroy the enemy, it is impossible without the spirit of sacrifice.
We must do whatever it takes, with the assistance of Hua Ye, to accomplish the task of annihilating the Huang Wei Corps. As long as the main force of the enemy army on the southern front is eliminated, Nakano will be exhausted, and all the PEOPLE's liberation troops in the country can still win the victory of the whole country, and this price is worth it! “
Of course, Nakano will not fight an unprepared battle, according to Liu Bocheng's analysis, mechanized troops are most taboo about river network combat, so as long as they hold the Nanpingji bridgehead, Huang Wei's seven inches will be tightly choked.
On January 24, 1948, Huang Weibing's dangerous crossing of the Xun River had already fallen into Deng Xiaoping's chances, and this bison, which had been strung around, finally fell into Nakano's pocket array.
Immediately afterward, Nakano attacked in full swing, and the 4 corps of Huang Wei's corps were tightly pressed against the double stack in Suxian County. Although Huang Wei desperately resisted and waited for help, he could not stop the fate of annihilation.
The war situation was still expanding, and at the same time, Du Yuming could not sit still at this time, so he hurriedly abandoned Xuzhou and went south to save Huang Wei, but he was unexpectedly surrounded by Su Yuhe in Chen Guanzhuang, and it was difficult to move.
Liu Bocheng saw this image metaphorically, saying that this is called eating a Huang Wei corps, holding a Du Yuming group, and looking at a Li Yannian and Liu Ruming corps. At this point, the famous Battle of Huaihai won a decisive victory.
Deng Xiaoping Liu Bocheng
In just two months, Huaye Nakano first ate Huang Baitao's 7 corps, then Huang Wei's 12 corps, while encircling Du Yuming's 3 corps.
Under the strategic intent of the Central Military Commission, under the attention of Chairman Mao, and under the wise command of the General Front Committee with Deng Xiaoping as secretary, the PLA carried forward the great spirit of daring to sacrifice and be good at victory, grasped and created the opportunity for decisive battles, correctly selected the main target for attack, annihilated more than 550,000 people in 56 divisions of the Kuomintang army, and won a victory that attracted worldwide attention.
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Historical Facts of the Liberation War