Hu Lian is known as the "first general of the Nationalist Army", if he competes with Xu Shiyou, a fierce general of the People's Liberation Army, who will win?
In April 1947, they actually had a face-to-face confrontation in Shandong.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek launched a key attack on Shandong. Its army commander Gu Zhutong personally sat in Xuzhou, commanded 12 integrated divisions of 250,000 troops, and attacked Xintai and Mengyin along the line from Linyi to Tai'an, in an attempt to eliminate the East China Field Army in one fell swoop.
In order to break the enemy's heavy attack, HuaYe concentrated three columns to fight the enemy's left wing, the Tai'an defender, and the reorganized 72nd Division. To this end, Xu Shiyou was ordered to lead the Ninth Column to Baima Pass and the First Line of jiunu Mountain to block the enemy reinforcements, the reorganized 11th Division, and to fight in Tai'an.
The commander of the enemy's reorganized 11th Division was Hu Lian, a well-known and fierce general.
On April 19, Xu Shiyou and his troops rushed south along Xishan Avenue, and as soon as they reached Yin Dikou, they learned that the enemy's 11th Division was stationed near Zhongcun, only 20 miles from the Baima Pass line. At this time, the Ninth Column was still 100 miles away from the White Horse Pass.
20 miles to 100 miles, what to do? Xu Shiyou immediately ordered:
"Switch to the mountain road, shorten the distance, speed up the march, and the 26th Division is the vanguard."
After a period of nervous adjustment, the 26th Division went up the mountain road and went straight to Baima Pass.
Five hours later, they marched more than 100 miles, one step ahead of the enemy, and reached Baima Pass before dawn.
Baima Pass is a key pass of Mengshan Mountain, the terrain is dangerous, there are Tiantai Mountain and Black Mountain in front, Yuntou Mountain in the west, and Jiunu Mountain in the southeast, forming a natural barrier on three sides. The 26th Division immediately took Baima Pass as its main position and placed its defenses on several other hills.
Unexpectedly, the soldiers entered the position, breathlessly, and the enemy's artillery fire exploded at the front of the position.
Hu Lian never dreamed that the People's Liberation Army had jammed its traffic throat. At the beginning of the attack, it was indiscriminately bombarded with intensive artillery fire on Montenegro and Tiantai Mountain. The 26th Division's forward artillery shells roared and scattered rocks. Hu Lian ordered a regiment to ride on the smoke of gunfire and launched a group charge.
Because the mountains in this area are all black rocks, strong and hard, the 26th Division is difficult to build fortifications, and after repeated fierce battles, the positions of Montenegro, Tiantai Mountain, and Yuntou Mountain have been occupied by the enemy one after another, and the situation is very critical. Xu Shiyou heard that Several hills such as Montenegro had been captured, so he immediately grabbed the microphone and called directly to the 26th Division:
"26th Division! 26th Division! ”
"I am the 26th Division." The other person replied.
"I want Liu Yong, the division commander, to answer the phone."
"I am Liu Yong."
"Liu Yong, I tell you! You will be like nails, nailed to the position, stuck in the throat of the enemy, so that the enemy cannot spit out, swallow. ”
"Resolutely complete the task."
That night, Liu Yong organized two regiments to directly penetrate the enemy's Montenegrin position. Unexpectedly, Hu Lian had been prepared for the night attack. As a result, the two powers met, and a fierce battle began again. Under the cover of the nine arsons, the warriors rushed up the hill and engaged in a white-knife battle with the enemy. After several rounds, the defenders of the 11th Division could not resist, panicked, fled in all directions, crouched in the crevices of the stones and trenches, and became prisoners one by one.
Hu Lian was stuck in the White Horse Pass.
However, the entire 72nd Division in Tai'an was becoming more and more critical, and Gu Zhutong strictly ordered Hu Lian to "rush to the rescue".
On the 24th, Hu Lian ordered two brigades to simultaneously attack Xu Shiyou's nine-column position, and several thousand officers and men, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, took turns to charge, spreading over the mountains and fields, and the ash was pressed down. Due to the inability to build fortifications around Montenegro and the inability to hold out, Xu Shiyou ordered the 26th Division to take the initiative to shrink to the baima pass line.
The enemy is tracking and chasing after them, and it is even more rampant. Xu Shiyou immediately ordered that the enemy should be held at the main point with a unit, and the main force of the 76th Regiment would attack from the enemy flank and kill directly. This trick is completely unexpected. The enemy was suddenly beaten, unable to resist, and turned around and scurried down the mountain. In the afternoon, the positions of Montenegro, Tiantai Mountain, and Yuntou Mountain were retaken by the 26th Division.
Over the past few days, the entire 11th Division has been stubbornly blocked by Xu Shiyou's Ninth Column, suffering heavy casualties and floating military morale. The 4th Company of the 77th Regiment held its position, repelled five enemy attacks successively, counterattacked the enemy twice to seize positions, killed and wounded more than 400 enemy soldiers, and won the title of "Model Company of Battle at Baima Pass" after the war.
Hu Lian and Xu Shiyou fought fiercely at Baima Pass for 7 days and 7 nights, one attack and one defense, all very tenacious, but until the entire 72nd Division was completely annihilated, Hu Lian suffered more than 1,500 casualties, and still blocked the line of Baima Pass, and it was difficult to advance.
After Hua Ye's main force captured Tai'an, Xu Shiyou gave an order to evacuate and went to Meng Lianggu to fight Zhang Lingfu. However, Tai'an had been lost, and Hu Lian's further advance was meaningless, so he had to withdraw as well. After the war, Chen Yi said happily:
"This Hu Lian had a vain name, and was killed by Commander Xu at Baima Pass in a battle of 1,500 people, and the entire 11th Division was beheaded by The Wolverine!"
This was the only time in his life that Xu Shiyou and Hu Lian fought face-to-face, and Hu Lian had never fought Xu Shiyou.