In 1948, when Wang Yaowu's 110,000 regular troops were trapped in Jinan by the People's Liberation Army, Chiang Kai-shek sent three corps near Xuzhou to help break the siege in order to secure Jinan. Who knew that as soon as the Battle of Jinan ended, Huang Baitao's 7th Corps, Qiu Qingquan's 2nd Corps, and Li Mi's 13th Corps, which he had aided from the north, were all surrounded by Huaye. As a result, the 3 corps failed to rescue, but fell into the land of death, and at this point, the grand Huaihai War began.
In this campaign, the main target of the People's Liberation Army was the largest field regiment in Guannei of the Nationalist Army: the Huang Baitao Corps. In the battle of Huaye to annihilate Huang Baitao, three columns of the Shandong Corps attacked from the north of the Longhai Line to the south, in order to prevent Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi from daring to come to the east.
After more than ten days of fierce fighting, more than 100,000 people of Huang Baitao's 7th Corps were compressed into a narrow strip centered on Mill Zhuang. Soon, the general offensive began, and the gunshots were loud in the four directions of the east, west, south, and north, and the sky and the ground were red, and the fire flashed, tearing the night sky, and the mill was completely submerged in intense fireworks.
When the last line of defense of Nianzhuang was breached, Huang Baitao fled to the compound with his retinue to command the remnants of the army to resist. By November 22, when all the remnants of the army were annihilated by the People's Liberation Army, Huang Baitao knew that the defeat had been decided, so he had to take out a gun and commit suicide. At this point, one of Chiang Kai-shek's largest main corps was completely annihilated, and one of the right arms of the garrison Xuzhou was cut off.
The Kuomintang can't fight a war, but it is very good at playing other tricks. At the time when Nianzhuang was breached, Liu Zhi, commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression General", and Du Yuming, deputy commander-in-chief, noticed that the telecommunications communication between Huang Baitao's corps headquarters had suddenly been interrupted, and knowing that the situation was not good, they immediately reported to Lao Jiang. However, Old Jiang ordered: "Strictly seal the news of the defeat of Huang Baitao's army!" ”
How did it end? Even the Kuomintang Xuzhou Municipal Government was kept in the dark by the news of the defeat of Huang Baitao's corps, and they still stepped up preparations for the "great victory in the Battle of Xudong" in accordance with the earlier orders.
Soon, the "Xuzhou Daily" prepared for the second day of release on the 22nd was full of headlines: "The Great Victory of the Battle of Xudong", "The Nationalist Army Annihilated 90,000 Bandits in One Fell Swoop", "The Communist Army Was Completely Defeated"... The streets of Xuzhou also marked big signs: "Celebrating the Victory of the Seventh Corps Banner", "Paying Tribute to the Victorious General Huang Baitao"...
The whole of Xuzhou seems to have really won a big victory, and there is a lively scene everywhere. In the evening of the same day, a group of officers and men, as welcome representatives, went to the Damiao East Highway to greet the "triumphant return" of the vanguard of Huang Baitao's corps. As a result, to their surprise, this vanguard unit walked up and pinched and twisted, some barefoot, some with guns, some empty-handed, listless, and sad.
The battalion commander, who had taken the lead in welcoming him, felt strange and asked, "Brother, didn't we win the battle?" How does that look like this? He didn't ask if it was okay, and when he asked, he immediately aroused the anger of this group of defeated soldiers, and angrily said: "I have won the battle, and it is all over!" Then, a dozen Jiang Juns rose up and told the story of how Huang Baitao's corps was finally wiped out, and this time they exposed the lie of the "Xuzhou Victory"!
When the PLA soldiers learned of this news, they couldn't stand up straight with laughter, and Nie Fengzhi, commander of the 9th Column of Huaye, even covered his stomach and laughed and said, "These people are really interesting!" ”