After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, China finally returned to peace, but this does not mean that China has since returned to peace, the contradictions between our Party and the Kuomintang reactionaries have become more and more intense, and peaceful nation-building is already impossible to achieve.
Against this background, the War of Liberation began. In the War of Liberation, in 1947, Chiang Kai-shek launched an attack on our army in the Shandong region, and the 74th Division of the Kuomintang's ace troops was reorganized into a battle with the East China Field Army, which was later called the Battle of Menglianggu, which ended in a huge victory for our army.
The 74th Division was completely destroyed.
This defeat was unacceptable to Chiang Kai-shek, so after the collapse of the 74th Division, he gathered an army to attack Shandong again, and it was another ace of the Kuomintang, the 11th Division, which was the same as the 74th Division, to meet the East China Field Army.
This battle mainly took place in the Nanma area, so it is also known as the Battle of Nanma, and the results of this battle are very different from the last time.
The East China Field Army was severely damaged and finally had to withdraw from the battlefield in order to preserve its strength.
Terrain restrictions
It is well known that the Kuomintang troops were well-equipped, among them, the 74th Division and the 11th Division, which were favored by resources and became elite units, Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 74th Division, was killed in battle in the Battle of Menglianggu, but the commander of the 11th Division severely damaged Huaye and won the victory.
There are many differences between the Battle of Menglianggu and the Battle of Nanma in all aspects, and it is these differences that cause different results.
The first is the terrain difference.
At the time of the Battle of Menglianggu, Zhang Lingfu's troops were greatly limited by the terrain, and the roads around the war zone were rugged mountain roads, narrow and in poor condition, suitable for walking, but making mechanical equipment unusable.
Originally, when we were fighting with the Nationalist army, the most difficult thing was that the other side had the advantage in equipment and could suppress our firepower, but there was no such worry in the Battle of Menglianggu, and the 74th Division and our firepower were roughly at the same level, which invisibly increased our chances of victory.
Zhang Lingfu received orders from his superiors to enter the mountainous areas to fight, and after his many fruitless objections, he once complained: "Forcing me to enter the mountains to fight now is to lead the big buffalo up the stone mountain, and if someone must put me to death, I will die to show them." And he was also a slur, and finally died in this battle.
However, in the Battle of Nanma, the terrain of the area where the two armies fought was relatively flat, which provided the possibility for the large-scale application of advanced machinery and equipment, and the 11th Division was able to take the initiative to attack, give full play to its own firepower superiority, and give our army a blow. At the same time, there is also in the Namma area
Many buildings can be used as bunkers
, to facilitate the 11th Division to carry out ambushes and avoid our attacks.
Therefore, when fighting with the 11th Division in the Nanma area, HuaYe was very depressed, and the frontal fire was just unable to reach the other side, and the attack could not fall on the other side, because there were many bunkers on the opposite side, and it was also because of these many disadvantages that Hua Ye had to retreat after being seriously injured.
Reinforcements were not timely
The 74th Division and the 11th Division had one thing in common, that is, they were both besieged by Huaye, and the trapped division was more difficult, and whether it could overcome the danger depended to a large extent on the reinforcements, while the reinforcements from the 74th Division and the 11th Division were very different.
After the 74th Division was besieged, there were immediately nationalist troops rushing to reinforcements, and the people responsible for coming to the aid were Huang Baitao's army and Li Tianxia's army, but Huang Baitao was fine, but Li Tianxia and Zhang Lingfu were known for their suspicions.
Unlike our Party, which struggled for ideals and convictions, the Kuomintang at that time was full of profit-seeking people, and since they gathered for the sake of interests, they could also be centrifuged for the sake of interests.
Li Tianxia and Zhang Lingfu's festival originated from power, they were originally subordinates of Wang Yaowu, the former commander of the 74th Army, when Wang Yaowu left office, everyone felt that Li Tianxia would take over Wang Yaowu's class, because his seniority was deeper, and as a result, Zhang Lingfu took over Wang Yaowu, because Wang Yaowu belonged to Zhang Lingfu, and Li Tianxia resented Zhang Lingfu from then on.
After the 74th Division was surrounded, Chiang Kai-shek asked the 74th Division to hold on, and when the reinforcements from the periphery arrived, they took advantage of the situation to meet the outside. The 74th Division held out for three days according to this tactic, but the reinforcements that came did not really come to the rescue.
The 25th Division, under the command of Huang Baitao, fought with all its might to relieve Zhang Lingfu. Li Tianxia had a different idea, he wanted to see Zhang Lingfu unlucky, so he just pretended to rescue.
Li Tianxia's 83rd Division only sent a small number of troops to carry out a feint attack, and did not cooperate with Huang Baitao, who was difficult to support, which eventually led to the defeat of the Menglianggu Campaign.
After the total annihilation of the 74th Division, Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to the Battle of Nanma in order to recover losses and boost morale, and after the 11th Division was also deeply encircled, he learned his lesson and urged Huang Baitao and Huang Guoliang to rush to the rescue as soon as possible.
This time because the reinforcements rescued in time, and went all out,
Hua Ye was caught between inside and outside and fell into crisis.
Seeing that it was impossible to completely annihilate the enemy, Hua Ye could only choose to retreat in order to preserve his strength.
Differences in commanders
Commanders can greatly influence the success or failure of a war, and many people believe that Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 74th Division, made a mistake in decision-making and was too aggressive to cause the 74th Division to collapse, but this was not the case.
Before the battle of Menglianggu began, when formulating the battle plan, Zhang Lingfu received orders from his superiors to attack the Tanbu area of Huaye's headquarters.
Zhang Lingfu knew that the area was mountainous, with many rugged mountain roads, which was unfavorable to the 74th Division, so he protested many times, and he repeatedly reflected his opinions through Tang Enbo and Gu Zhutong, asking for "rapid advance" to "slow advance", but all of them were rejected, and although Zhang Lingfu was the commander of the division, he had to obey the orders of his superiors, and finally made a compromise.
In contrast, in preparation for the Battle of Nanma, Chiang Kai-shek dispatched a number of senior generals to formulate battle plans and let them issue military orders, and if they lost the battle, they had to accept military law.
Chiang Kai-shek attached so much importance to it that he formulated a practical and feasible battle plan, and finally achieved results. The commander of the Battle of Nanma, Hu Lian, also adopted the defensive tactics of Zimu Fort according to local conditions, using bunkers to give cover to his side, while suppressing Huaye's firepower.
brief summary:
"The sky is not as good as the location, the location is not as good as the people", this famous saying comes from a thousand years ago, but its wisdom has not been worn away by time, but it still shines with its unique light in the contemporary era, and it is still used in the present when high technology is applied to the battlefield.
Looking back at the beginning and end of the War of Liberation, the Kuomintang had American aid, had sophisticated equipment, seemed to occupy all the advantages, and victory was within reach. But there is one thing that they don't have but we have, and that's the will of the people. It is precisely with the support of the people, with people, that we can go all the way forward.