In November 1947, Bai Chongxi, the leader of the Kuomintang Warlords of the Gui clan, mobilized as many as fifteen integrated divisions and three brigades, a total of about 80 regiments, in order to "encircle and suppress" the troops of the Jin-Hebei Luyu Field Army, and launched a large-scale attack on the Dabie Mountains.
In view of the difficulty in grain supply and the small room for maneuver in mountainous areas, Chiefs Liu and Deng, after repeated study, decided to avoid their sharp edges and not to fight a decisive battle head-on with them, but to make full use of the essence of guerrilla tactics and skillfully maneuver with the enemy.
Specifically, with the assistance of local armed forces, the main forces of our army will adopt the tactic of "leniency and mobility" by relying on the complex terrain advantages of Dabie Mountain and the solid mass base, and send small units to lure and contain the enemy's main force, and large troops will break through the enemy individually.
Among these small units that lure and contain the enemy, the 6th Column and Seventeenth Brigade, commanded by the famous general Li Desheng (major general in 1955 and admiral in 1988), is undoubtedly the most beautiful and amazing one to complete the task.
When the enemy attacked, the superiors entrusted the most difficult task to the Seventeenth Brigade, asking them to adopt mobile and flexible tactics, lead the enemy's nose, and achieve the purpose of dragging them down.
Li Desheng was a very intelligent and courageous commander, and when he carried out this task, he did not shrink his hands and feet in front of the strong enemy, but was very proactive.
First of all, Li Desheng decided to "show his form to the enemy" and attract the attention of the enemy.
To this end, he led his troops to attack Songbu in Macheng, Hubei Province, on the night of December 2, and annihilated all eight Nationalist security squadrons and a volunteer regiment stationed there.
This trick forced the enemy to be restless about its rear supply line, and had to send some troops back to aid eastern Hubei.
Immediately after that, Li Desheng took further action - to attract the enemy to pursue, lure them to the hinterland of Dabie Mountain, on the one hand, to find an opportunity to annihilate one of them, on the other hand, to cover the rear command post of the field army headquarters to move north.
Of course, Li Desheng was also well aware that this was a difficult and extremely dangerous operation, because the enemy had already gathered as many as ten divisions in the center of Dabie Mountain.
Using the strength of one brigade of the Seventeenth Brigade to lure the enemy, and at any time it is possible to be surrounded and blocked by the enemy's ten divisions, which is tantamount to drilling into the enemy's encirclement, how much confidence and courage is required!
However, Li Desheng "knew that there were tigers in the mountains and preferred to go to the tiger mountains", in order to complete the set task, he had already put life and death aside, and resolutely began to lead the troops to begin the feat of "luring the enemy with his body" on December 21.
Along the way, they encountered one problem after another.
It was a harsh winter, the weather was cold, the road in the mountainous area was already rugged and difficult to travel, coupled with the fierce wind and ice and snow, which made it difficult for the soldiers of the Seventeenth Brigade to march.
It is better to say that the mules of the army used to carry heavy weapons (mainly mortars and machine guns) have been guilty, and they inevitably fall or even slip on the edge of the ice cliff, often relying on the pull of the warriors to save them.
What is more difficult is to cross the frozen river, in order to speed up the march and bypass the enemy blockade, the troops can only cross the river from the place where there is no bridge, and once the water is frozen, the whole body will be numb, and the wind on the shore will blow, and it will be even colder and shivering...
The most dangerous part is that the Seventeenth Brigade must overcome the difficulties of the march while guarding against enemy attacks at any time.
On January 1, 1948, Li Desheng considered that this was the New Year, and the soldiers had been marching in continuous combat for a month, and they were exhausted, so he asked the company commanders to purchase some pork flour and prepare to treat the troops.
Unexpectedly, the enemy suddenly killed at this time, and the soldiers were divided into three roads and besieged.
Fortunately, Li Desheng received information in time and quickly took measures, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
Even in such a dangerous situation, Li Desheng was still not afraid of fighting and not afraid of war; he took advantage of the fact that the enemy had not yet formed a siege, commanded his troops to strike decisively at the weak points of the enemy's army, and after using a wave of fierce offensives to frustrate the enemy's sharp spirit, he immediately accepted it when he saw it and ordered the whole brigade to withdraw.
On another occasion, the scouts took a prisoner and learned of a situation of 100,000 fires -- the enemy had learned that a unit of our army was temporarily stationed at Huanglongyan, and had mobilized heavy troops to pounce on it, preparing to surround it all.
When Li Desheng heard the news, he immediately sent people to Huanglongyan and informed the Fiftieth Regiment, which had arrived there earlier, to move immediately.
Fifty regiments had just withdrawn, and the enemy of more than a dozen regiments had just arrived there. Although the enemy pounced, the process was extremely dangerous and made people break out in a cold sweat.
Next, in order to firmly "suck" the enemy, Li Desheng ordered the troops to swing the "ecstasy array" on the way, brushing slogans and slogans everywhere, and marking multiple numbers of the main force of our army, giving the enemy the illusion that "this is the main force of the communist army" and tricking them into a circle.
Incredibly, although the Seventeenth Brigade "single-handedly" challenged the enemy's ten divisions with the strength of a mere brigade, under the command of Li Desheng, this unit was extremely flexible and changeable in its marching and combat methods, always making it impossible for the enemy to understand the strength of its troops and its true intentions, but the Seventeenth Brigade was exhausted and miserable.
Because the tasks of the Seventeenth Brigade were accomplished very well, the main forces of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army were able to calmly gather troops, and finally annihilated the enemy in large numbers, and won a comprehensive victory against "encirclement and suppression" this time.
The seventeenth brigade's operation of drilling into the enemy's encirclement but retreating with all its strength was a remarkable feat in military history.
After the experience of this military operation, the Seventeenth Brigade became more indestructible like good steel quenched and became one of the combat effective units in the sequence of Liu Deng's army.