On January 9, 1946, the Kuomintang dispatched four divisions of troops to attack Gubeikou, which was under the control of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, in a vain attempt to seize this strategic area of "controlling Youyan in the south and Han Shuo Desert in the north".
At that time, the troops of our army garrisoning Gubeikou were only one company of troops, and Zhao Erlu, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Column (who became the founding general in 1955), led his troops from the Yongning area to Gubeikou to fight the enemy.
However, Zhao Erlu, on the way to Gubeikou with his troops, suddenly fell ill and could not command the front line.
Under such circumstances, the superiors had to temporarily dispatch Li Jukui, chief of staff of the Jichareliao Military Region (who became the founding general in 1955), to Gubeikou to replace Zhao Erlu in command of the operation.
Although Li Jukui was in danger, he was calm and self-assured, and was determined to fight this battle well and smash the enemy's plot to seize Gubeikou and then seize the northeast.
Early in the morning of January 12, Li Jukui led his headquarters from Chengde and arrived at Gubeikou at 12:00 p.m., where he was confronted by two deputy commanders, Han Wei and Yang Meisheng, who arrived first in the Jinji column.
At this time, the reconnaissance personnel came to report that the four divisions of the enemy had reached an area ten kilometers away from Gubeikou to stop and rest, and were preparing for an attack.
At that time, our army only had two regiments of troops, which was equivalent to only one-tenth of the enemy's number, and the enemy's weapons and equipment far exceeded our army, so it was extremely difficult to fight this battle.
Faced with such a critical situation, the cadres all look worried.
Li Jukui confidently said to the crowd: "Our army is extremely weak, and the enemy undoubtedly knows this, so they will not take us seriously." We can just take advantage of the enemy's mentality and hit them by surprise. ”
"How do you fight it?" Some cadres raised questions.
"Make full use of the terrain and counter-defend!" Li Jukui swung his fist hard, "I expect that the enemy will drive straight in along the railway line from the front and march towards the Gubeikou, and the time of attack will not be too early." Therefore, our army should place its main forces in a favorable position, and when the enemy enters our effective attack position, we suddenly catch them off guard with heavy artillery fire. ”
That night, Li Jukui commanded all the troops to enter the designated area covertly and set up an ambush position.
After Personally inspecting the positions of each unit, Li Jukui was still uneasy, because he felt that this was just a regular platoon arrangement, and it was necessary to have equipped tactics to rely on these fierce attacks that were difficult to resist the enemy.
On this day, it was the seventh day of the first lunar month, and there was a curved moon hanging high in the air, and Li Jukui could not sleep at night, so he put on his coat and went to the outside of the command post to breathe. Guard Chen Gaowu was worried that it was too cold outside, and he could not persuade him, so he could only follow Li Jukui out of the command post.
A cold wind blew in the wilderness, Chen Gaowu froze and shivered, he saw Li Jukui moving forward with all his strength, hurriedly caught up with him, and said urgently: "Chief of Staff, it is too dangerous outside, and we can't go any further!" ”
"Rest assured! The enemy will not come tonight, and please do not come with eight large sedans! Li Jukui didn't care, still striding forward, unconsciously walking for several miles.
Suddenly, a silvery light appeared in front of his eyes, and Li Jukui quickly stopped and stared at it motionless. Chen Gaowu took a closer look, and the place where the chief of staff was looking was a small river, so it was the middle of winter, the river had bottomed out, and only this pool of water had not yet dried up nearby, refracting a silver light in the moonlight.
"Almost ignored this important terrain!" Li Jukui was overjoyed, "Although this river has dried up, the bank of the river is high and curved, and there are many dry grasses more than one person high on both sides, which is an excellent place to hide soldiers." ”
"Tibetan soldiers?" Chen Gaowu asked, "The chief of staff plans to ambush a unit here?" ”
"That's right!" Li Jukui carefully observed and said excitedly, "Go, go back immediately!" ”
After returning to the command post, Li Jukui ordered the four regiments of the Second Brigade to immediately move to the riverbank to hide, and when the battle broke out, they suddenly came out from the rear of the enemy's flank, forming a front-back attack and hitting the enemy one by one.
The next day, after the two sides formally engaged, the ambush troops arranged by Li Jukui really played a surprising victory.
The enemy did not pay any attention to our army guarding gubeikou at all, and did not expect that a unit in the rear of the flank launched a surprise attack, and suddenly the position was chaotic, and they scattered and fled.
Thanks to Li Jukui's decisive and ingenious deployment, our army has always firmly controlled the initiative on the battlefield. In this battle, more than 2,000 enemy personnel were annihilated, more than 120 guns of various kinds were captured, and the task of defending military key points was successfully completed, setting another classic example of winning more with less, and becoming a proud work in Li Jukui's career.
After the war, the soldiers praised it one after another, and it was precisely because the chief of staff risked his life to repeatedly check the terrain, found the excellent hiding place on the riverbank, and arranged the next surprise army, which made this battle much more convenient.
The victory in this battle not only defended Rehe and Chengde, but also shattered old Chiang Kai-shek's wishful thinking of opening up the road to the northeast before the armistice decree came into effect, and won an important strategic victory in the War of Liberation.