After the outbreak of the all-out civil war in June 1946, the battle between HuaYe and the Kuomintang army was getting bigger and bigger, and in June 1946, the troops under the command of Su Yu were only 30,000 people, and the equipment was rudimentary, and there was a big gap between the individual soldiers and the Kuomintang army. At the time of the seven battles and seven victories in the Soviet Union, Su Yu had to plan for a long time to annihilate a regiment of the enemy, but in only half a year, when it came to the Battle of Subei and the Battle of Lunan, Su Yu dared to annihilate the Kuomintang troops with the whole division and brigade.
In the Battle of Laiwu in February 1947, Su Yu annihilated seven divisions of the Kuomintang army in an integrated structure, creating the most brilliant record achieved by the People's Liberation Army since the outbreak of the all-out civil war. In late January 1947, the Kuomintang army relied on its superiority in strength to occupy most of the liberated areas of northern Jiangsu and advanced the front to the Longhai line.
The senior generals of the Kuomintang army believed that even if they lost more than 200,000 troops, occupied the Suzhou-Anhui region, which was rich in products, and squeezed all the main forces of the People's Liberation Army in East China to Shandong, it was worth it. The senior generals of the People's Liberation Army, on the other hand, still follow the strategic method of "losing land and losing land; losing land for people and land for all", constantly depleting the effective strength of the Kuomintang army and strengthening their own strength.
After the Kuomintang army occupied northern Jiangsu, Chen Yi and Su Yu gathered all the main forces of Huaye in Linyi, the capital of the Shandong Liberated Area. Chiang Kai-shek believed that Huaye no longer had an open space to negotiate with the Nationalist army at this time, which was a great opportunity for the two armies to fight a decisive battle, so he sent Chen Cheng, chief of staff, to sit in Xuzhou and personally command the various armies to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the East China Field Army. Chen Cheng also attached great importance to this battle, declaring: "This battle has a great bearing on the future of the party and the state, and the success or failure of the suppression of bandits all depends on this." Only success, no failure. ”
Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng mobilized 15 reorganized divisions and 59 integrated brigades with a total strength of 310,000 troops, with Linyi and Mengyin as the targets, from the Longhai Railway and the Jiaoji Railway to the north and south, to attack the East China Field Army and force HuaYe to fight a decisive battle with it. Chen Cheng divided the 310,000 troops into two routes, the southern front troops consisted of eight integrated divisions, the commander of the reorganized 19th Army served as the commander-in-chief of the southern front troops; the northern front troops were composed
The 46th, 73rd, and 12th Armies under the command of Li Xianzhou, deputy commander of the 2nd "Appeasement" District, were auxiliary assault groups in an attempt to take advantage of the situation to enter Mengyin and attack our rear to cooperate with the attack of the troops on the southern front. In order to prevent Huaye and Nakano from meeting, Chiang Kai-shek also transferred the Fifth Army from the battlefield of northern Henan, reorganized the 75th Division, and reorganized the 85th Division to the southwestern Region of Lu to contain Nakano's main force.
On January 30, more than 200,000 troops of the eight integrated divisions on the southern front commanded by Ou Zhen launched a large-scale attack on our army in three ways, at which time the Kuomintang army learned the lessons of the past and adopted the method of concentrating troops, fighting steadily and steadily, advancing hand in hand, and avoiding prominence. In addition, in the three major armies on the southern front, Ou Zhendu each placed a main division in his seat, and in the left road troops were Hu Lian's reorganized 11th Division, as well as the reorganized 59th Division, the reorganized 64th Division, the middle road had Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division, Li Tianxia's reorganized 83rd Division, as well as the Guizhou Seventh Army, Huang Baitao's reorganized 25th Division on the right road, and the reorganized 65th Division and the reorganized 68th Division. Whether it is the central army or the local miscellaneous cards, these troops are the main force of the national army, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.
The more than 200,000 elite nationalist troops on the southern front slowly pushed north at a speed of less than 10 kilometers a day, and everywhere they went, they would build fortifications on the spot and make contact with friendly and neighboring troops to prevent being divided and annihilated by the Platon Army, so that Hua Ye would not even have the opportunity to mouth. Chen Cheng said triumphantly to his subordinates, "These troops, even if they are all tofu slag, can support them to death." ”
At first, Hua Ye wanted to fight the troops on the southern front and defend Linyi, but the caution of the nationalist troops on the southern front made Hua Ye have no way. In the end, Su Yu set his sights on the Li Xianzhou Corps on the northern front, and the Central Military Commission also instructed that Linyi could be abandoned if necessary; the three reorganized divisions of the Li Xianzhou Corps on the northern front were the family of Wang Yaowu of the Second Appeasement District, who was an extremely outstanding military general of the Kuomintang army.
In fact, at the beginning of the campaign, Wang Yaowu was worried that the People's Liberation Army would target the weaker northern front troops, so he always advised Li Xianzhou to march cautiously to avoid being ambushed. However, Chen Cheng put great pressure on Li Xianzhou and repeatedly ordered Li Xianzhou to speed up the march, and by February 8, Li Xianzhou's army had occupied Xintai.
After Li Xianzhou's corps penetrated deep into the hinterland of the People's Liberation Army, the party, government, military, and civilian organizations in the Laiwu area organized more than 100,000 people to sabotage the road lines of communication that the Kuomintang army had to pass. Due to the interruption of the line of communication, the more Li Xianzhou's troops went inside the People's Liberation Army, the greater the pressure on logistical supplies, and Wang Yaowu sent three divisions of troops to specifically maintain the long supply lines from the rear material base Tusikou to Laiwu, Xintai and other places. However, this still had no effect, Wang Yaowu had no choice but to order the troops to replenish on the spot, the ammunition was transported by the troops themselves, and the out-of-control Nationalist troops began to rob the people of grain, which only further aroused the resentment of the people, and the roads were destroyed more thoroughly.
Su Yu felt that this was a good opportunity, so on February 10, he ordered that Huaye one column, four columns, six columns, seven columns, eight columns, nine columns, and ten columns secretly marched toward Laiwu, and the whole army must arrive in Laiwu and gather in the Xintai area before February 16. Huaye Chief of Staff Chen Shiyu commanded Huaye's second column, third column, 10th Division of the Lunan Military Region, cavalry regiment, and special service regiment, a total of 28 regiments, after annihilating Hao Pengju's troops, disguised as Huaye's main force, and disguised as the main force south of Linyi to block the kuomintang attack.
Hundreds of thousands of troops in Huaye secretly went north, and it was difficult to keep secrets, but the ordinary people in the Liberated Areas really made this big, and they were tight-lipped about the actions of the troops, and as long as suspicious people came in any village, they immediately reported it to the local people's government, militia, or county brigade and other local armed forces.
On February 15, Huaye's troops, disguised as the main force, began to withdraw from Linyi and retreated north, and Chen Cheng immediately commanded the southern front troops to occupy Linyi. After Chen Cheng occupied Linyi, he immediately began to exaggerate his battle record, claiming that 300,000 enemy troops had been annihilated, and only a small number of troops fled in the direction of the Yellow River.
As for Chen Cheng's words, Wang Yaowu of the Second Appeasement District did not believe it at all, and he was already aware of the danger at this time, and he sent out several groups of spies in succession to investigate the situation, but none of them came back to report, which made him feel very uneasy. Wang Yaowu decisively ordered Li Xianzhou's corps on the northern front to stop going south and shrink its strength, which almost destroyed Su Yu's plan, and many generals in Huaye demanded that they attack immediately to avoid letting go of Li Xianzhou's corps, but Su Yu resisted.
At the most critical time, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng helped Su Yu a lot, and after Wang Yaowu ordered Li Xianzhou to shrink his troops, Chen Cheng immediately complained to Wang Yaowu to the Nanjing side, and Chiang Kai-shek also directly called Wang Yaowu, scolded him fiercely, and ordered Li Xianzhou's corps to continue south.
On February 19, Wang Yaowu received a report of air force aviation reconnaissance and found that a large number of PLA troops were moving toward Laiwu, and several agents escaped the PURSUIT of the PLA and fled back to the Second Appeasement District Headquarters, reporting to Wang Yaowu: "The villages near Laiwu are full of PLA! Wang Yaowu immediately ordered the 73rd Army and the reorganized 46th Division to retreat north overnight, and the two armies jointly defended Laiwu, but it was too late.
Han Liancheng, commander of the reorganized 46th Division, was an underground party member, and on the evening of the 19th, he tried his best to drag down Li Xianzhou's corps, and in only one night, Hua Ye completed the siege of them. On the evening of the 20th, Su Yu ordered his troops to launch a full-line attack on Laiwu, and Wang Bicheng's six columns cut off the connection between Tusikou and Laiwu, which was the throat of the Kuomintang army in and out of Luzhong, and this was the rear base of Li Xianzhou's corps, with 100,000 kilograms of grain and hundreds of tons of ammunition, and the newly organized 36th Division of the Kuomintang 12th Army was stationed here.
On the evening of the 20th, when Su Yu issued the order to attack the whole line, only one column of Huaye's five columns arrived at the battlefield, but Ye Fei decisively launched an attack, dragging the enemy to death, and buying time for the main force to encircle. Wang Yaowu saw that the troops were surrounded and ordered Li Xianzhou's corps to break through to the town of Tusikou and join the newly formed 36th Division there. Wang Yaowu believes that Laiwu is only 13 kilometers away from Tusikou, and even if the People's Liberation Army stops it, it can retreat here.
At this time, Wang Bicheng's sixth column was fighting with the new 36th Division in order to take Tusikou, but the enemy had air support and strong fire support, and at one point also fired a large number of incendiary bombs, burning all the houses in the town to block the attack of the People's Liberation Army. By the morning of February 23, the Sixth Column had compressed the headquarters of the newly formed 36th Division into a Guandi Temple.
For the breakthrough plan of Li Xianzhou's corps, Su Yu was very clear, he felt that Laiwu City was tightly defended, so if it was fought hard, the loss would certainly not be small, so he took it
The tactic of "encircling three ques and opening one side of the net" was to use the favorable terrain in the mountains to lay out pocket-shaped ambush positions north of Laiwu City, in preparation for annihilating the Kuomintang army on the way through the breakthrough.
On the night of February 23, Li Xianzhou commanded the troops to begin to retreat, and while retreating, Han Liancheng, commander of the 46th Army, found a place to hide, leaving the reorganized 46th Division leaderless, and Li Xianzhou's retreat plan fell into chaos at the beginning.
When Li Xianzhou's corps was on its way from Laiwu to Tusikou Town, Hua Ye suddenly rushed out of the mountains on both sides, and Chiang Kai-shek also knew the seriousness of the situation and ordered the Air Force to dispatch dozens of fighters and bombers to indiscriminately bomb the PLA in an attempt to block the PLA's offensive. Huaye's columns quickly rushed up and engaged Li Xianzhou's corps in close combat, encircling the Nationalist 73rd Army and the reorganized 46th Division in a narrow area of 3 kilometers from east to west and 2 kilometers from north to south. After fierce fighting until six o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xianzhou's corps was completely destroyed, and Li Xianzhou himself was captured.
In the Battle of Laiwu, the People's Liberation Army annihilated two armies of the Kuomintang army in 63 hours at the cost of less than 6,000 casualties, seven divisions of about 60,000 people, and a large number of senior Kuomintang generals, including Lieutenant General Li Xianzhou, deputy commander of the Second Appeasement District of the Kuomintang Army, were captured. After Li Xianzhou's corps was annihilated, Chiang Kai-shek was still a little unconvinced, and asked Wang Shuming, deputy commander of the air force, to personally fly a fighter plane over the Laiwu battlefield to inspect; before Wang Shuming could report, Chen Cheng began to shirk his responsibility and push the cause of the defeat on Wang Yaowu, and Chiang Kai-shek personally flew to Jinan and scolded Wang Yaowu bitterly.
After the war, Chiang Kai-shek scolded some senior generals of the Kuomintang army: "You have only lost two armies in the battle of Laiwu, lost so many light and heavy weapons, and increased the strength of the enemy, and this battle is even more difficult to fight." ”
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek is right, this battle did replace the weapons and equipment of some units in Huaye, according to the "Brief History of the Twenty-fourth Group Army of the Army": After the Battle of Laiwu, the 18th Division of the Sixth Column was all replaced with American equipment, the 16th Division also had two regiments with 1 battalion with American equipment, the 49th Regiment of the 17th Division with American equipment, and 1 battalion and two companies with American equipment from the 51st Regiment." All battalions and regiments that have been replaced with American equipment are equipped with a certain number of rocket launchers. The firepower and combat effectiveness of the troops have been greatly enhanced.
The predecessor of the 24th Group Army was the Huaye Sixth Column, and this was only the change of weapons of the sixth column and one unit, not to mention the equipment of other units. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) set up its own artillery units, tank units, and even air force and navy in the form of war-raising, so that when the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, the US military was stunned to see the volunteer army holding US weapons and equipment.