From June to July 1948, the Battle of Eastern Henan was being fought fiercely in the Central Plains. This battle was the first large-scale corps operation between the Kuomintang and the Communists in the Central Plains during the Liberation War. In Su Yu's later recollections, the Battle of Eastern Henan was "the most complex, the most intense, and the most arduous" battle. In the Battle of Eastern Henan, 200,000 troops of our army participated in the battle, and the number of troops participating in the battle of the Kuomintang army exceeded 250,000. At the cost of 33,000 casualties, the People's Liberation Army annihilated the Ou ShouNian Corps, almost annihilated Huang Baitao's 25th Division, attacked Qiu Qingquan's corps, and eliminated 94,000 enemy troops. After the war, however, both sides believed that they had won the war, which was a unique miracle in the decades-long history of the Kuomintang and the Communists.
01 Su Yu's KPI: Annihilate 100,000 enemies
Before the Battle of Eastern Henan, Su Yu believed that he could fight a major annihilation war in the Central Plains. The chairman proposed to Su Yu the operational objectives of annihilating the enemy's 10-11 brigades. At that time, the Kuomintang army in the Central Plains, a combat brigade and a division of strength in fact, about 8,000 people or so. In this way, 10-11 brigades are around 100,000 people. This figure was actually similar to the total strength that Su Yu could command at that time. In 1948, the Kuomintang army had 25 integrated divisions in the Central Plains, a total of 57 brigades, which is only the number of regular troops. In terms of total strength and weapons and equipment, our East China Field Army and Central Plains Field Army have no advantages to speak of. Despite the pressure, Su Yu still had the confidence to test his strategic concept through actual combat in the Central Plains battlefield.
02 Open the seal first, and then destroy the enemy
Su Yu chose the first battle in Kaifeng.
The classic siege of the city, Kaifeng as the capital of Henan Province at that time, if conquered by our army will have a great impact on the entire Central Plains battlefield. Once Kaifeng was at risk of being lost, Chiang Kai-shek would definitely mobilize troops to rescue it. This provided Su Yu with the opportunity to destroy the enemy's living forces in a mobile war. At that time, the main force of the Kuomintang army was far away from Fengfeng, and the distance was mostly more than 100 kilometers. The regular army of the Kaifeng garrison had only one integrated 66th Division, and the rest were local troops. The overall combat capability is not strong, and our army has gradually accumulated experience in attacking large cities in the battle against Luoyang and other places.
The Kuomintang army did not expect Su Yu to open the seal first, and all of them believed that the 5th Army was Su Yu's primary target, and all the troops rushed to move closer to the 5th Army. The fortifications in Kaifeng are still being repaired, and there are not enough reserves of ammunition and food and other combat materials. All this created possibilities and feasibility for Su Yu's plan to "besiege the city and provide assistance". On June 17, 1948, the 3rd and 8th Columns of the East China Field Army launched a surprise attack on Kaifeng. Under the onslaught of our army, Kaifeng quickly destroyed the city. The People's Liberation Army invaded the city, and the provincial government and the Kaifeng Appeasement Office were quickly captured by our army. Only the Dragon Pavilion remained in Kaifeng City, which was still in the hands of the Kuomintang army.
The Dragon Pavilion, the headquarters of the reorganized 66th Division, is on the site of the Forbidden City in the Song Dynasty. The base was 13 meters high and surrounded by a strong wall, and the artillery positions of the Nationalist defenders were set up on the sports field north of Longting. To capture Longting, the only way to take it was through a road between Panjia Lake and Yangjia Lake. The 66th Division set up tight fire points to block the road. My 3rd and 8th columns attacked several times, but to no avail. After our army brought artillery closer to the bombardment and destroyed most of the fortifications, we rushed forward to engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the defenders. It took 5 hours to take down the Dragon Pavilion. In the battle to conquer Kaifeng, our army suffered 11,623 casualties, 12,122 enemy casualties, and 26,113 prisoners.
03 Annihilation of the District Shounian Corps
After losing Kaifeng, Chiang Kai-shek was furious. Under Chiang Kai-shek's orders, Qiu Qingquan's corps, Liu Ruming's troops, and Ou Shounian's corps advanced toward Kaifeng in two directions, intending to bite Su Yu's main force and fight a decisive battle in the Kaifeng area. Su Yu's purpose in opening the seal was to attract enemy reinforcements and destroy the enemy in a mobile war. The Kuomintang soldiers divided into two routes, and they hit Su Yu's arms.
Su Yu resolutely ordered the abandonment of Kaifeng and quickly maneuvered to concentrate his forces in the field to destroy the enemy.
So who to hit?
Ou Shounian was born in the Cantonese Army, not in Chiang's concubine army. He had participated in the "Fujian Incident" against Chiang Kai-shek, and his loyalty to Chiang was limited and his strength was relatively weak, and his primary goal on the battlefield was to preserve his own strength. Ou Shounian has always been cautious and suspicious, and has no intention of grabbing the first merit of recovering Kaifeng. As a result, the troops advanced very slowly, while the Qiu Corps advanced quickly. In this way, the distance between the District Shounian Corps and the Qiu Qingquan Corps was 40 kilometers. Therefore, Su Yu targeted the District Shounian Corps.
On the morning of June 29, the District Shounian Regiment was surrounded. The 1st, 4th, and 6th Columns of our East China Field Army and the 11th Column of the Central Plains Field Army were responsible for encircling and annihilating the Shounian Area; the 3rd, 8th, and 10th Columns and the Liangguang Columns were responsible for blocking Qiu Qingquan's department. The 9th Column of the Central Plains Field Army was responsible for blocking the enemy forces in the direction of Zhengzhou. In order to rescue the Shounian Corps in the area, the Qiu Qingquan Corps advanced at an astonishing speed. The brutal blockade soon began. Qiu Qingquan's 5th Army was one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, well equipped and strong in combat effectiveness. The enemy and us have repeatedly tugged at the positions, and the situation of gaining and losing positions and regaining them repeatedly appeared.
The most intense place to fight appeared at Taolin Gang. Taolin Gang was the only way for Qiu Bing's army to assist, and the 10 columns of song shilun were stationed here. At the beginning of the battle, the Nationalist army threw in heavy fire, aircraft bombing, artillery bombardment, and rain of bullets. The position was a sea of fire, the enemy overseers were behind, the shock team was in front, and wave after wave of charge was launched. Later, after the fierce battle, there was nothing to burn on the position, and only the corpses of both sides could bear the flames. Even so, the 10th Column did not lose its position and firmly blocked the Qiu Corps at Taohuagang. The battle to block the Qiu Corps was fought for 10 days and 10 nights, and in the end the Qiu Corps was "unable to progress". The Ou Shounian Regiment was surrounded in the area of Longwangdian, and after arduous battles, our army successively eliminated the defenders of Yangquan Village and Chen Xiaolou Village on the outskirts. On the evening of July 1, a general offensive was launched against Ou Shounian.
After an hour of artillery bombardment, the 1st Column attacked from the south, the 4th Column from the west, and the 6th Column from the east at the same time. At 22:00 on July 1, our army successfully broke through the enemy's defensive line from all three directions and encircled the headquarters of the district Shou Nian. Ou Shounian attempted to break through by tank and was captured by our army during the breakout. At this point, the District Shounian Corps was successfully eliminated by our People's Liberation Army.
04 Huang Baitao suddenly appeared
After the elimination of the Ou ShouNian Corps, Su Yu's troops had planned to withdraw quickly. However, at this time, Huang Baitao's 25th Division broke through the blockade of the Central Plains Field Army and suddenly appeared at Diqiudian, more than 20 kilometers east of Longwangdian. It just blocked the route of HuaYe's troops' scheduled withdrawal from the battlefield. Our army is also carrying a large number of wounded, and once it cannot quickly break through Huang Baitao's 25th Division, it is likely to be caught up by Qiu Qingquan, Hu Lian, and other units, and the battlefield form will deteriorate rapidly. Su Yu decided to take advantage of Huang Baitao's long-distance attack and unstable foothold to quickly attack and deal a heavy blow to the enemy, even if he could not completely annihilate the opponent, he would also destroy the enemy's mobile pursuit ability to provide space for the final withdrawal from the battlefield.
On July 5, Su Yu launched a general attack on Huang Baitao's corps, but due to the hasty battle, the troops were very tired of continuous combat, and the battle was very difficult. After a day of fierce fighting, our army annihilated three regiments of Huang Baitao after paying heavy casualties, and the remaining enemy troops were compressed into the town of Diqiudian and basically lost their mobility. Huang Baitao had already begun to burn the documents and was ready for the final battle. If this time is a drumbeat, Huang Baitao's end will come early. However, the battlefield was changing rapidly, and Qiu Qingquan's corps bypassed Huaye's frontal blockade troops, carried out a detour from the right side, and broke into the depth of Huaye in one fell swoop, so that the three columns that were besieging Huang Baitao were attacked in the belly and back. Faced with such a situation, Su Yu had to order his troops to withdraw from the battle at night and move north of Sui County and southwest of Lu. At this point, the Battle of Eastern Henan ended.
05 Who wins?
Let's go back to the original question – why do both armies think they have won? First of all, from the perspective of the Kuomintang army. Although the Ou Shounian Corps was annihilated, at the end of the battle, Huang Baitao's 25th Division dragged Huaye, and the sudden detour attack of Qiu Qingquan's corps made Huaye unable to retreat calmly, losing 30,000 people at the same time, but also forced to leave a large number of prisoners and wounded, according to later statistics, 3598 captured. Huang Baitao was also commended by the old Jiang Pro-Order. No wonder, the Kuomintang army would hype the "Great Victory of the Yellow Pan Area" (the Battle of Eastern Henan, the Kuomintang Army became the Yellow Pan Area Campaign). So is that really the case? The Battle of Eastern Henan had both urban offensive battles and field large army duels, and the difficulty of the campaign was not less than that of the Huaihai Campaign that followed.
The tactical aspects of the Battle of Eastern Henan showed that our army's combat capability had made great progress, and it could not only capture large and medium-sized cities, but also annihilate the enemy's large corps in a mobile battle; psychologically it would hit the morale of the Kuomintang army, and from then on the Kuomintang army would no longer have enough confidence to defend the city in the battlefield of the Central Plains, to reinforce and fear of being reinforced, and to be unable to do so in the field, and a single corps did not dare to act alone, nor did it dare to leave the lines of communication and strongholds;
Judging from the overall strategic situation of the national liberation war, the Battle of Eastern Henan attracted the Kuomintang mobile corps, effectively supported the battles of Yanzhou and Tai'an in the Shandong battlefield, and created favorable conditions for the Jinan Campaign -- Xu Shiyou and Tan Zhenlin took the opportunity to capture Yanzhou and Tai'an, cut off the connection between Jinan and Xuzhou, and isolated Wang Yaowu in the city of Jinan. The battle of eastern Henan was a blow to the morale of the Kuomintang, which also made the enemy reinforcements in the Later Battle of Jinan hesitate to go north to reinforce Jinan. It can be said that the Battle of Eastern Henan opened the prelude to the strategic decisive battle of the Liberation War and laid the foundation for the final victory of the Liberation War.