On August 18, the 36th year of the Republic of China (1947), Liu Deng, the chief of the communist party, called Back to Chen Geng: "We are driving smoothly, not too nervous, it does not matter if you cross the river later, cross the river to ensure safety, do not be impatient"! Chen Geng was very touched to receive the telegram, because he knew that at this time, Liu Deng's army was surrounded by more than 30 reorganized brigades of the Nationalist Army, and the pressure was very great, so this telegram was full of relief and love. Many years later, Chen Geng always recalled the past of crossing the Yellow River in the south, always saying with emotion: "We ate Liu Deng's meal."
Chen Geng, a former famous general of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, was now serving as the commander and political commissar of the newly formed temporary corps "Chen Xie Group", and the combat sequence was: the Fourth Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army (Chen Geng's Taiyue Column), the Ninth Column, the 22nd Brigade of the Eighth Column, and the "38th Army of the Northwest Democratic Coalition Army" of Kong Congzhou, which had revolted, with a total of 29 regiments and more than 80,000 troops. Although the main force of this group is a unit of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, it has been transferred to the direct command of the Central Military Commission and has become an independent "quasi-strategic group."
The Chen Xie clique, which had always been active in the southern Jin and northern Henan regions, had originally taken the initiative to ask Miao Xi to cross the Yellow River to defend the central authorities, but the central authorities made an even greater decision: The corps crossed the Yellow River south into the western Henan region, attacked Hu Zongnan's weak rear and the sparsely armed Kaifeng, Luoyang, and other places, cut off the Longhai Road, and cooperated with Liu Deng's army's advance into Dabie Mountain and the outer line of the East China Field Army, so that the three-way army could complete strategic coordination and deployment in the shape of a "pin" and jointly pass through the Central Plains.
Chen Geng
Once Chen Geng's corps crosses the Yellow River in the south, the western section of the Longhai Railway will be directly under the attack of our army, and not only must Hu Zongnan dispatch troops attacking northern Shaanxi to return to reinforcements, but the Bai Chongxi clique that besieged Liu Deng's army will also send troops to the rescue, which will surely completely mobilize the enemy and thus greatly change the situation in the Central Plains battlefield. The crux of the matter lies in whether Chen Geng's corps can cross the Natural Danger of the Yellow River in a timely and successful manner and quickly complete the strategic development in the enemy-occupied areas.
However, this was not an easy task, the first difficulty was that the southern Jinnan region suffered unprecedented torrential rains, which led to many flash floods and then washed away the road, making its 80,000-strong march extremely difficult, and Chen Geng had to urgently telegraph the Central Military Commission that was moving to northern Shaanxi and the anxiously awaited chief Liu Deng, so there was the reply at the beginning of this article. The second difficulty was that the heavy rains of the Yellow River flooded the Waters, and our army only had a few small wooden boats, and it was impossible to smoothly carry out forced crossings.
The turbulence of the Yellow River is completely different from that of the Yangtze River, the flow speed is fierce, there are many whirlpools, and small wooden boats are extremely easy to capsize in such a turbulent current; at the same time, Chen Geng's corps chose to cross the Tongguan to Mengjin section of the river, which has been the main point of the Yellow River since ancient times, the river is narrow, the terrain is precipitous, and the enemy on the opposite bank has long blocked the ferry port and built fortifications, and the two reorganized divisions and brigades of the army have been supported. What is even more fatal is that most of the commanders and fighters under Chen Geng are northerners and are not accustomed to water, and once the ship overturns, it will be difficult for people to save themselves.
The military situation was like fire, General Chen Geng was also anxious on the north bank, and it was difficult for 80,000 troops to gather on the north bank of the Yellow River for a long time to keep secrets, and if they were discovered by the enemy and strengthened their defenses and troops, the consequences would be unimaginable. The strangeness of the matter is that the Nationalist army on the south bank is greatly relieved and unguarded here, because according to common sense, the turbulent Yellow River water after such a surge, let alone the south crossing of the army, is that a small number of experienced Yellow River boatmen do not dare to take the risk and choose to stop work.
On August 22, the 36th year of the Republic of China (1947), Chen Geng issued an order to force a crossing in heavy rain, and in the early morning of the next day, the commandos of each column set off in small boats, and at the same time, they were followed by the "Gourd Team" organized by the local militia. These young militiamen, who were tied with gourds, were good at crossing, and they traveled with guns to the front, back and flank of wooden boats, guarding the fleet. When the party marched to the middle of the Yellow River, it was still discovered by the defenders on the south bank, so the artillery fire on both sides of the Yellow River and the rifle machine guns in the middle of the river became one.
It took only 30 minutes for the commandos to reach the south bank, and immediately pounced on the enemy's defensive positions, and the forced crossing of our army began. Due to the small number of boats, the local people specially made a unique means of crossing the river: cotton and straw were wrapped in tarpaulin, the weight was very light but the buoyancy was not small, even if it was shot, it did not affect the use, and all the warriors who could not use the water grabbed this kind of thing bravely forward. Thus an unprecedented landscape appeared on the Yellow River: boats, gourds, tarpaulin bags, rafts and even door panels were launched, mixed with great courage and courage to roll in the rapid waves, without fear.
Schematic diagram of the advance into the Central Plains
The soldiers of the Nationalist army who saw this scene were already frightened, originally the number of commandos of our army's first wave landing ashore was not much, but its decisive attack and the spectacular scene on the river surface made the defenders completely frightened, many people gave up resistance and ran for their lives, Chen Geng's corps only took 24 hours to cross the Yellow River, the Thirty-sixth Year of the Republic of China (1947) At dawn on August 24, General Chen Geng himself and his headquarters crossed the river to the south bank, and three days later led his troops to conquer the county town of Shichi and Guanyintang Station, completely cutting off the transportation of the Longhai Railway. The enemies of northern Shaanxi and Dabie Mountain were forced to return to reinforcements and successfully achieve strategic objectives.
The battle of Chen Geng's regiment to cross the Yellow River in the south in the early morning was not only unexpected by the enemy, but also caused a huge sensation among the local people because of its military behavior against the sky. Even many years later, there is still a legend here that "riding a dragon across the Yellow River", saying that When General Chen Geng's troops arrived at the riverside, they saw the fierce wind roaring, the river churning, and when they were helpless, a giant dragon came from the clouds, and the jaw leader was ordered, roared three times, and drove 100,000 soldiers straight to the clouds on the south bank, all kinds of noses and eyes.