At the beginning of 1946, the Kuomintang opposition, ignoring the peace treaty already signed by the Kuomintang and the Communists, actively dispatched troops to the northeast and launched a large-scale attack on our army, in an attempt to annihilate our army in one fell swoop. While attacking head-on, the Kuomintang also actively recruited the former Puppet Manchu armed forces and bandits from all over the country, hoping that these armed forces would disturb the rear of our army and contain the strength of our army.
In the early stage of the all-out civil war, the Kuomintang army relied on its good equipment, large numbers, and good training, and had a great advantage on the battlefield
On April 14, 1946, the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee issued the "Instructions for Suppressing Bandits", requiring all localities to quickly eliminate the bandits and remnants. In May, the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region successively mobilized the 2nd Guard Brigade of the Heilongjiang Military Region, the 9th and 10th Regiments of the 3rd Brigade, and the Cavalry Regiment to participate in the battle against bandits.
Because the Kuomintang army was very far from the northeast, it could only use American aircraft to transport troops to the northeast, which gave our army time to consolidate the northeast base area to a certain extent
The bandits in Heilongjiang are the so-called 6th Brigade of the 1st Army of the Kuomintang Northeast Advance Army, which has a relatively large number of bandits and is relatively well organized, and there are many officers and men of the former puppet Manchu Army, and even some remnants of the Japanese Kwantung Army, which have strong combat effectiveness. In addition, these people also had some of the munitions left over from the Japanese army, the equipment was also very good, and the familiarity with the local situation made it extremely difficult to attack and suppress.
Our cavalry units are pursuing the bandits
After 2 months of attack, our army destroyed the nests of some bandits, dealt a heavy blow to the other side, and forced most of the bandits to hide in the more hidden deep mountains and old forests, but the main leaders of the bandits have not yet been caught, and the strength is still there, so the activities are still rampant. In late June, a company commander of the 8th Company of the 9th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade of our police was bribed by secret agents and led his troops to defect, which further encouraged the arrogance of the bandits.
Due to historical reasons, the people in the northeast region are fierce, and many weapons are lost among the people, so banditry is rampant
In order to completely annihilate this bandit, in early July 1946, Hong Xuezhi, deputy commander of the 3rd Division of the Western Manchuria Military Region, personally led a special task force into the Heihe area to suppress the bandits. 6 July, Secret Service Corps. A unit of the 9th Regiment of the 3rd Police Brigade and the Heihe Military Sub-district marched toward the area around the River, preparing to surround and annihilate the bandits.
The commanders of our army are directing the battle against the bandits
In the early morning of the 7th, our army arrived at a former station of the Former Japanese Pioneer Regiment, which was a nest of bandits, but at that time most of the bandits went out to rob and did not return, and our army only captured a small number of bandits who stayed behind. As our army marched deep into the mountains and forests, the marching speed became slower and slower, and the roads were not easy to walk, especially the cavalry, which could only follow the infantry after they opened the way. And the arrogant bandits actually planned to ambush our army in the jungle, and the bandits ambushed the main force on the hillside next to an open field through which our army was about to pass. At 3 p.m. on the 8th, the infantry of our army mistakenly entered the ambush circle of the bandits, the 20th regiment of the 6th Brigade of the pseudo-advancing army opened fire first, and the light and heavy machine guns and grenadier fire suddenly began to pour into our army.
After fighting for more than half an hour, the bandits saw that our army neither returned fire nor fled, mistakenly believing that the morale of our army had collapsed, and began to shout, and our army also shouted back in tit-for-tat. Suddenly I felt that the situation was not good. Some of the bandits had even begun to plan to retreat, and while the bandits were still hesitating, our army took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack against them. The 2 companies that served as the main attackers carried out a white-knife assault on the bandits' main position under the cover of more than 40 light and heavy machine guns and 2 mortars, and the sound of gunfire, explosions and shouts of killing suddenly resounded throughout the valley.
At this time, the cavalry brigade also arrived, encircled the bandits' rear road, and the bandits immediately disintegrated and fled in all directions, trying to escape the blows of our army by means of familiar terrain, and the fast lucky snatched the horses to escape, and the slow runners were either killed by me or captured. The situation in the entire battle was quickly reversed.
Bandits who raised their hands to surrender to our army
After the battle, although our army paid a considerable price, it dealt a heavy blow to the advancing army, and the bandits not only consumed a large amount of ammunition and found nothing, but also annihilated a large number of living forces by our army's counter-assault. In addition, the bandits found that our army had transferred the main force from Guannei to suppress the bandits, and their arrogance was particularly severe. After the war, many bandits who slipped through the net took the initiative to surrender their guns to our troops. It laid the foundation for the complete elimination of bandits in Heilongjiang.