The War of Liberation was a process of our Party's transformation from weak to strong, and in the early days, the Kuomintang frequently attacked by virtue of its superiority in strength and weapons, and many liberated areas experienced repeated battles.
In 1947, the Northeast Liberated Area was divided into two disconnected base areas, the situation in the north was better, at least with a certain depth, and in the south there were only 4 counties, if it were not for the back of Korea, it was likely that the Kuomintang would have wrapped dumplings;
After the loss of Zhangjiakou in the Liberated Area of North China, the Jin-Cha-Ji base area not only lost the channel of communication with Outer Mongolia and the Soviet Union, but was also cut into several pieces, and there was no strategic support point;
The lianghuai and northern Jiangsu in the liberated areas of central China fell one after another, and the central China field army was forced to merge with the Shandong field army, losing important financial and tax land, not to mention the depth, which was also greatly reduced;
The Jin-Hebei Luyu Liberated Area lost its southwestern Lu base area, and the northern Shaanxi Border Region was also surrounded by heavy Kuomintang troops...
Looking at the whole situation, our party is completely on the defensive, and the prospects are not optimistic. Fortunately, with the support of the people's hearts, our party has survived such a difficult environment.
Just over a year later, in August 1948 Chairman Mao said happily: The War of Liberation is like climbing a mountain, we have already passed the pass of the mountain, and the most arduous climbing stage has passed!
What was the battle that made Chairman Mao so excited? The answer is the Battle of Eastern Henan!
The Battle of Eastern Henan took place from June 17 to July 6, 1948, and many people said from the perspective of our casualties that it was a crushing victory.
From a strategic point of view alone, the Battle of Eastern Henan captured the Kuomintang provincial capital for the first time, captured the commander of the Nationalist Army corps for the first time, and changed the morale of both the enemy and us and the situation on the battlefield in one fell swoop.
Now that the most difficult slope has been climbed, the mountain road behind is much easier to walk!
However, in this battle of eastern Henan, it was not easy for the People's Liberation Army to finally win a victory, and when annihilating the District Shounian Regiment, Huaye 1 Column was tight, and in order to take down the enemy, Ye Fei sent his own guards to the front!
At the end of June 1948, Liao Zhengguo, commander of the 1st Division of the 1st Column of Huaye, received an order that the 1st Division should be interspersed along the west side of Sui county and divide the 75th and 72nd Divisions of the Nationalist Army, thus creating conditions for the headquarters of the District Shounian Corps to encircle Longwangdian.
Liao Zhengguo knew that the task was arduous, but he was also unambiguous, and on the evening of the 27th, taking advantage of the enemy's relaxation at nightfall, he seized 16 villages in succession and successfully cut off two enemy divisions.
Ou Shounian panicked at the sight of this, and hurriedly let the two divisions quickly move closer, and at the same time eliminated the Huaye 1st Division. All the soldiers of the 1st Division fought with twelve points of spirit to deal with the enemy, and never let the enemy break through. They were like a nail, nailed to the heart of the District Shou Nian Corps.
On the 29th, Liao Zhengguo received orders from the commander of the column, Ye Fei, to lead the 1st Division to attack Changguotun, which was less than 5 miles away from the Dragon King's shop.
Changguotun is only a small village, but at this moment, more than 5,000 Nationalist troops have been gathered, and there are still many fortifications built by the Nationalist army outside the village, so how easy is it for the 1st Division, which has been fighting bloodily for three days, to take it down?
But an order is an order, and Liao Zhengguo knew that it was difficult to know the situation of the 1st Division at the moment, and that each unit faced many enemies, and if he wanted to break this situation, he had to take down the enemy's headquarters.
So at ten o'clock on the evening of the 22nd, Liao Zhengguo let the 1st and 2nd regiments launch an attack on Chang Guotun.
The soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are extremely heroic! Although exhausted, the vanguard of the 2nd Regiment took only a few hours to enter from the southeast and occupy the artillery positions.
However, the enemy's counterattack was also very fast, and they immediately blocked the southeast with artillery fire, so that the 2nd Regiment's vanguard and follow-up troops were separated, and the Nationalist army also sent manpower to counterattack the village, which made the situation of the 2nd Regiment's vanguard troops very bad.
After Liao Zhengguo connected, he heard Ye Fei's voice: What happened to Liao Zhengguo and Chang Guotun? He replied simply: Commander, there are too many enemies, not very smooth.
After thinking about it, Liao Zhengguo still made a request: Commander, can you send a regiment to support?
Ye Fei had been with Liao Zhengguo for a long time, knew his personality, and if he could still insist, Liao Zhengguo would definitely not ask for help, which showed that the situation was already quite unsmooth.
It's just that Ye Fei doesn't have a mobile unit in his hand at the moment, and he said something to Liao Zhengguo:
After a pause, Ye Fei continued: "I will now let the column guard battalion rush over and put it under your command, you must complete the task!"
Liao Zhengguo immediately refused: "No, commander, I resolutely don't want it, we will find a way ourselves", the guard troops are on the front line, then what should the commander himself do? The battlefield is dangerous, what if the enemy sneaks into the command headquarters?
This trust made Liao Zhengguo very moved, and he immediately conveyed the order of the column at the division headquarters, saying in a loud voice: For the sake of victory, it is time to put all the belongings of our division together!
Thus, all the communicators, cooks, hygienists, lightly wounded who could still move, gunners who had finished firing shells, etc. of the 1st Division were organized and organized into a battalion. Under the command of a regimental commander, Li Ya, they launched an attack on the breakthrough point southeast of Changguotun.
When the column guard battalion arrived, it immediately joined forces with the battalion to charge, and under their fierce attack, the breakthrough was opened again. At 3:00 a.m. on the 23rd, the assault force successfully joined the 2nd regiment in the village, and then the whole division continued to penetrate the enemy depths with joy and encouragement.
The nationalist army was not willing to tie its hands, and they also organized troops to counterattack one after another, but the morale of one side was completely weakened, and the morale of the other side was like a rainbow, and the situation was quickly settled.
In the Battle of Changguotun, our side captured more than 1,500 enemy troops, the brigade headquarters of the 6th Brigade of the enemy's reorganized 75th Division and the ace regiment that could best defend the whole division were destroyed, and soon after, Longwangdian was also conquered by the Huaye brothers, and Ou Shounian himself became a prisoner.
On the whole, the scale of the Battle of Changguotun was not large, but the spirit of the Entire People's Liberation Army to be fearless of death and to do whatever it took to win was deeply admirable!