At the 1947 meeting in Xiaohe Village, Peng Dehuai smiled and said to Chen Geng: "Comrade Chen Geng, your knife stabbed Yan Xishan in jinnan to the point of eating. In Peng Dehuai's mouth, chen geng let Yan Xishan stab him, mainly referring to the Shangdang campaign, the Tongpu campaign, the Linxia campaign, the Tongpu Road campaign carried out by the troops under Chen Geng's command, and Peng Dehuai immediately said after saying that Chen Geng stabbed Yan Xishan to death:
"Now you have to grind it again, grind it faster, and when you get to northern Shaanxi, you will stab Hu Zongnan again, and I tell you, Hu Zongnan is better than your Yan Lao Xifei, that is Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army, and all the equipment of the mechanics has passed through their hands."
In fact, in Shanxi, the most splendid and brilliant battle fought by Chen Geng was the Linfu Campaign to fight the south of Hu Zongnan and successfully annihilate Hu Zongnan's "First Brigade under Heaven". Compared with the several battles of "stabbing Yan Xishan", this was more lethal and far-reaching for the Kuomintang, and Chiang Kai-shek was more painful. The "First Brigade under Heaven" was an elite unit under the command of Hu Zongnan, a member of the Kuomintang lineage and Chiang Kai-shek's confidant:
The First Brigade of the Reorganized First Division, well-trained and well-equipped, was formerly a guard unit dedicated to protecting the Kuomintang fuehrer Chiang Kai-shek, and the outside world said: "Chiang Kai-shek's Imperial Forest Army." ”
Hu Zongnan's first brigade commander in the brigade was equipped with all high-end American equipment, and their officer ranks were all given a high ratio: during the Liberation War, their brigade commander was named Huang Zhengcheng, who was ranked lieutenant general; the chief of staff and regimental commander below were mostly major generals, which were higher than the officers of the same military rank in other Kuomintang units. The "First Brigade under heaven" under such treatment showed extreme arrogance and conceit, and when they encountered other brother troops on the way, they always had to be given way by others; everyone was willing to give way to them, lest they offend this group of "Royal Forest Army".
The result of Chen Geng's campaign to wipe out the "First Brigade under Heaven" was something that most people had not expected; at that time, Chen Geng needed to face more than twice as many enemy troops as our army, and Yan Xishan's troops were on the side to cooperate, and the weapons and equipment were well equipped. It was normal for Dong Zhao of the Kuomintang not to take the Taiyue column into account, and the Kuomintang top brass was full of expectations for the upcoming battle of "destroying the decay and decaying.".
Even Liu Bocheng, commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, asked Chen Geng, commander of the Taiyue Column, with some nervousness: "Hu Zongnan wants to use the trump card against you, it can be said that it is inevitable, what are you going to do?" Chen Geng behaved very calmly and indifferently: "Soldiers will come to cover up the water." Hu Zongnan's soldiers were strong and strong, and I was afraid that I would not be able to touch him, so I thought I should first avoid him, wait for the opportunity, and see the opportunity to stab him and shoot him down several regiments. Of course, it would be better to take out a few brigades and then act depending on the situation. Liu Bocheng was very satisfied with Chen Geng's answer, and only then did he put his mind at ease.
Born in 1903 in Xiangxiang, Hunan Province, General Chen Geng ranked 4th in the 1955 all-army conferment ceremony, studied at the 1st phase of the Kuomintang Whampoa Military Academy, saved Chiang Kai-shek's life, and was a legendary general. At the beginning of the Liberation War, Chen Geng was the commander of the Taiyue Column under the Jin-Chalu-Yu Liberation Army under the command of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. When Liu Deng's army marched south to Handan, drank the Yellow River, and advanced thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains, Chen Geng's Taiyue column had been shouldering the heavy burden of the central strategic reserve, fighting against Yan Xishan and Hu Zongnan's Jin troops, while preparing to cross the Yellow River and defend Yan'an.
In the middle of August 1946, at the same time as the main force of the Yan Xishan Department of the Second Theater of Operations was moving north to The North of Jin and engaging our army (known in history as the Battle of Tongpu), Hu Zongnan, commander of the First Theater of Operations set up by the Kuomintang side, sent the Third Division and the First Brigade of the First Division to assist in Jinnan, and he himself flew to Yuncheng on August 17 to hold a high-level military conference. The meeting decided that Hu Zongnan and Yan Xishan's department would form a large corps of 15 brigades and more than 100,000 people, with Dong Zhao as the commander-in-chief, in an attempt to implement the strategy of attacking our army from the north and south, so as to realize the plan of opening the main line of the Tongpu Railway scheduled for July by mid-October.
The completion of this plan directly affected the strategic situation of the Kuomintang in the north; Hu Zongnan, in order to ensure the smooth emergence of this strategic vision, did not hesitate to pay any price, as evidenced by his ability to send his starting troops, the first brigade of the First Division, from the rear to the front line battlefield. This was almost a desperate battle venture, unsuccessful and unsuccessful, and if it failed, Hu Zongnan would find it difficult to account to his principal, Chiang Kai-shek.
It has been three months since the outbreak of the civil war, the Kuomintang has not made any progress, the goals to be achieved by the strategic deduction are far from being expected, and Tongpu Road, which is one of the main strategic offensive directions of the Kuomintang, has not only not been opened, but more than 20,000 US ordnance troops have also been wiped out by the People's Liberation Army. This is a loss of face, and it is even more a loss of money.
The combined forces of Hu Zongnan and Yan Xishan invaded the Liberated Areas on a large scale, and Chen Geng commanded the Fourth Column of the Jin-Hebei Luyu And the troops of the Taiyue Military Region, playing a strategic and important role, not only to let the Hu Zongnan and Yan Xishan troops who had come to open the Tongpu Road return in vain, but also to defend the safety of the Taiyue base area and the Taihang base area, to ensure military security on the eastern side of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and to coordinate with the Northwest Field Army to defend Yan'an and defend the party Central Committee.
Due to the excessive importance of Chen Geng's troops and the location of their units, the Party Central Committee decided to hand over the command of the 4th Column to the Central Military Commission for direct arrangements for the execution of combat tasks. When the strong enemy attacked, Chen Geng and other column leaders held a military meeting and conducted as much detailed analysis and study as possible according to the instructions of the Central Military Commission and the enemy situation expected to be faced, so as to ensure that there were no mistakes. Chen Geng speculated: Since the enemy has completed the offensive deployment, their current target is Fushan County; the enemy's reorganized First Division will attack Fushan along the Linfu Highway and the 30th Division along the Wing Floating Highway towards Fushan.
The wing-floating highway is close to our liberated areas and is mountainous, so the enemy who attacks from this is bound to be very careful, fearing that there will be ambushes and blockades. And the Linfu Highway, most of them are new districts (
Newly liberated areas), many plains, to facilitate the enemy mechanized troops to carry out combat, so the enemy from Linfen is likely to be careless and not so cautious. Our army can seize this opportunity to attack from this aspect and achieve the effect of suddenly annihilating the enemy army. The Kuomintang army assembled in Linfen was the main force of the First Division, the First Brigade, known as the First Brigade in the World, and it was needless to say how strong the combat strength was. But they are also proud, their nostrils are facing the sky, and they are very unfamiliar with the terrain.
Our army decided to teach the Kuomintang army a lesson, to attack and save it, and to make this "first brigade under heaven" move: Our army assumed a combat posture of facing the enemy on the other side of Fushan, and was struggling to find our army and the first brigade that wanted to show itself was bound to go to the rescue, at this time our army could concentrate the main force of the column, and when the enemy was advancing eastward, suddenly launched an attack from the Linfu Highway, surrounded the main ace force of this Kuomintang, and annihilated it between Linfen and Fushan. The strategic vision is like this, let's work in this direction.
On September 21, 1946, Hu Zongnan's troops set out from Linfen and Yicheng and began to attack in the direction of Fushan. The 27th Brigade of the enemy's 30th Division, as the vanguard, took the lead in launching an attack on our army by the wing-floating road, and attacked the 167th Brigade of the 1st Division along the left side of the 27th Brigade in the direction of Hejiazhuang. In accordance with the plan set at the military conference, our army put a slight resistance to the invading enemy and quickly withdrew from Fushan.
On September 22, two enemy troops invaded and occupied the county seat of Fushan County, and this happened to fall into the tianluo net set up by our army. The subsequent development was exactly as Chen Geng had guessed and predicted: Dong Zhao, the enemy commander-in-chief of Linfen, and The commander of the First Division, Luo Lie, found that something was wrong, and hastily dispatched the Second Regiment, the vanguard of the First Brigade, to move first along the Linfu Highway and rush to the east. In order to accurately grasp the enemy's "pulse," our army has special radio crews to monitor the enemy's stations.
No, the radio reporter said a message from the commander of the First Division with Huang Zhengcheng, commander of the First Brigade of the First Division: "The next action of the First Brigade should pay attention to the high places in the south. After Chen Geng learned about it, he clapped his fist in his right hand and slapped it into the palm of his left hand, and his heart was not excited enough. The First Brigade was dispatched, tasked with countering the enemy forces at Fushan and ensuring road traffic. The high place in the south should refer to the Tower Mountain, where the enemy is worried that our army will set up an ambush.
Chen Geng in the combat room stared at the map for a long time, conducted an in-depth analysis based on the contents of the calls made by the enemy's top brass, and concluded: "The enemy wants to change the original supply line wing floating road to the Linfu highway after occupying Fushan, and their next action is to go north to open the Tongpu Road, and they will also undertake the task of main attack on the east side of Tongpu." Chen Geng decided to fight the First Brigade first: "This First Brigade is Chiang Kai-shek's ace unit, Hu Zongnan's old fortune." If the brigade is annihilated, it will have a greater negative impact on other enemy forces. ”
Chen Geng figured out a bold plan. The number of troops of our army that was put into the encirclement and annihilation of the enemy's First Brigade was only twice that of the enemy, and there were heavy enemy garrisons on the east and west sides of the encirclement and annihilation site. Chen Geng's idea was extremely risky, equivalent to risking being caught between the enemy on both sides and blossoming in the middle, launching a floating campaign against the encirclement and annihilation of the First Brigade. From the point of view at the time, it is difficult to say whether Ming was unwise, but it was definitely brave.
War is risky, and no matter how clever the strategy is, if there is no clever person to carry it out, it is also mutilated, risky, and imperfect. It just so happens that Chen Geng's strategy is clever, and Chen Geng who executes it is also clever, and the probability of success is extremely high. General Chen Geng was sure, and the PLA soldiers were confident.
On September 20, the three main brigades of the Fourth Column, in accordance with Chen Geng's orders, took on a one-word unfolding posture and began to attack the designated positions in the middle of the Linfu Middle Road. The main purpose of such an attack is to ensure the high degree of mobility of our army. After the troops were dispatched, Chen Geng did not go to rest, but sat in the telephone room all the time, understanding the battlefield situation between the enemy and us, and being ready to directly command the troops at any time.
In the radio monitored by our army, wang Yawu, commander of the enemy's second regiment in Guanque Village, heard a report to brigade commander Huang Zhengcheng. "Quickly concentrate the troops, don't disperse any more." "Okay. However, this is a small group of enemy raids, it does not matter, please rest assured by the brigade commander. From the dialogue between the two, it is not difficult to see that although Wang Yawu "obeyed the order", he actually did not think so and did not take it seriously. Chen Geng heard this communication conversation and expressed great happiness: "We have found the enemy!" ”
The second regiment of the First Brigade was all concentrated in Guanque Village, and Chen Geng immediately spoke with the commanders and fighters of various brigades to confirm this, and immediately issued an order to "gather troops, divide and encircle, and attack tonight." When the battle broke out, the enemy's first brigade and the second regiment were out of breath on the side of the battle, and Wang Yawu asked the brigade commander Huang Zhengcheng for support at midnight. Huang Zhengcheng cheered and made a promise: "Stick to the battle, go to reinforcements before dawn." After receiving the report from the front, the commander of the enemy's First Division, Luo Lie, personally electrified Wang Yawu, and with the permission of the commander-in-chief Dong Zhao, informed the Kuomintang troops attacking Fushan to abandon Fushan and march west to reinforce Wang Yawu.
Chen Geng ordered the 13th Brigade's Chen Kangbu to block reinforcements in the direction of Busan, and on the other hand, he ordered the 10th Brigade's Zhou Xihan Tou to surround and annihilate the newly dispatched Hwang Jeong-shing's brigade headquarters and 1st regiment before dusk tomorrow. Chen Kang and Zhou Xihan were full of confidence and enthusiasm, and promised to complete the task without any problems. On the morning of September 23, when our army was fighting fiercely with the enemy and suppressing the enemy's counterattack, Chen Geng received a telegram order from the Central Military Commission: "Resolutely eliminate the First Brigade at all costs." Chen Geng conveyed the order of this telegram to all combat units, which boosted the morale of the soldiers of the whole army and strengthened the confidence and determination of the commanders and fighters.
Wang Yawu was completely panicked, saying that the reinforcements would arrive before dawn the next day, and until 5 p.m. the next day, there was no shadow! At this time, our army began to launch a general offensive against the enemy. As soon as the Battle of Guanque was over, Chen Geng immediately called Chen Kang, commander of the 13th Brigade, who had blocked the enemy's western aid, and asked whether he should send troops to support him. Chen Kang, who had always been brave and courageous, said optimistically on the phone: "We cannot be the main attacker, and we are still sure of fighting the enemy's reinforcements." Rest assured commanders that the enemy cannot advance. ”
Chen Kang was a sailor by birth and an optimistic personality, and in this battle he led the 13th Brigade to block the enemy's 167th And 27th Brigades at the edge of the cave. One brigade hits two brigades, with heavy burdens, great responsibilities and high risks. But the commanders and fighters up and down the 13th Brigade showed an attitude of seeing death as a homecoming. Even though a battalion suffered more than half of the casualties, they did not retreat half a step, and never let the enemy cross the "thunder pool" to reinforce.
On the other side, Huang Zhengcheng personally led the first regiment under his command to kill him, and directly collided with the 10th Brigade of our army and broke the blood. Huang Zhengcheng, relying on all kinds of beautiful weapons and equipment, did not take a step forward under the cooperation of aircraft in the sky and artillery in the ground. This surprised Huang Zhengcheng and other Kuomintang leaders and soldiers, and made a new round of inner assessment of their own strength and the strength of our army. The battle lasted until the afternoon of the 23rd, and Dong Zhao, who was sitting in Linfen, was anxious like an ant on a hot pot, and despite opposition, he decided to come to the front line to supervise the battle and see what the problem was.
Wu Xiaomin, political commissar of the 29th Regiment, received a call from Chen Geng. Chen Geng smiled and said, "Comrade Xiao Min, you know, Dong Zhao scolded Huang Zhengcheng for being a straw bag, and he couldn't even take down a small hill." Now he was in a hurry with this big straw bag and personally went out on horseback. Your regiment is now immediately inserted into Linfen to Chen
On the road of Yan Village, we should strive to capture Dong Zhao alive. Fast, move fast. "This is Chen Geng's old habit, where it matters, Chen Geng will go; where the situation is urgent, Chen Geng's phone will go to the front-line commander."
The general offensive battle to completely encircle and annihilate the "First Brigade of the World" began before dawn on the 24th. From the time the general offensive was launched to the time the gunfire disappeared, in less than an hour, Huang Zhengcheng's brigade headquarters and the first regiment under his command were completely annihilated by our army. It's a paper tiger no doubt. After the battle, some soldiers of our army looked at the hundreds of American mountain cannons placed near the enemy brigade headquarters, and some of them were confused and asked the enemy prisoners: "Why don't your mountain cannons fight?" Save ammunition? The captive bowed his head and said, "You have all come up at once, how can you fight?" This made the generals of our army laugh out loud.
Among the prisoners of our army, he could not find the brigade commander Huang Zhengcheng, which made Zhou Xihan angry, and some prisoners said that Huang Zhengcheng was killed by the explosion, but he did not believe it at all, and when the explosives rang, he also heard Huang Zhengcheng and Dong Zhao talking on the radio. According to the above orders, the soldiers searched everywhere, and also inquired about the officers who were dressed in extraordinary clothes, but they could not find the whereabouts of Huang Zhengcheng.
Finally, Wu Xiaomin found a long soldier's uniform in the captive camp, with expensive pants on his lower body, leather shoes on his feet, a pair of gold wire glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a low head that did not know what to see. Seeing wu Xiaomin noticed, the two looked at each other and hurriedly moved to the side, looking very unnatural. Although Wu Xiaomin had never seen Huang Zhengcheng, he must have been deceitful when he saw this person doing things, so he walked over and smiled slightly and asked.
The more the man spoke, the more he said, as the saying goes: "Explanation is cover-up, and concealment is fact." Wanting to cover up Mi Zhang's appearance, Wu Xiaomin looked at it and laughed. Seeing that it was debunked, Huang Kecheng did not pretend anymore, pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and played with the prestige of the past: "I want to see your General Chen Geng, and I am not ashamed to lose to him!" Like our Commander Hu Zongnan, he is the senior of my Huangpu. But I'm not losing to you! You have no right to talk to me! ”
Wu Xiaomin smiled and said, "Oh, when you are a prisoner, your mouth is still so hard!" The result was in front of him, Huang Zhengcheng did not know how to fight, half a day held out an inexplicable sentence: "You are not in the rules of war!" Such a sophistry immediately caused a lot of laughter in the hall, and the accompanying deputy political commissar Kang Qihua teased Huang Zhengcheng: "Rules? What are rules? Soldier vs. soldier vs. general hedge? Hearing this, Huang Zhengcheng seemed to be encouraged, and Zhenzhen said with words: "You don't follow the code of conduct, sneak around." Set the stage and we'll win you over. ”
The commanders and fighters of our army laughed again, and after laughing Kang Qihua said solemnly: "Huang Zhengcheng! Put away your set of rules and etiquette! We are fighting a war, and it is unpopular that you are fighting a counter-revolutionary war. No matter what rules you follow, no matter what weapons you have to fight with me, you are doomed to failure! Stop daydreaming. Huang Zhengcheng woke up, looked lonely, and said nothing more. At the end of the conversation, Lieutenant General Huang Zhengcheng, the commander of the prestigious "First Brigade under Heaven," was suppressed.
After the war, Yan'an's Liberation Daily published an editorial: "Salute to the Taiyue Column." "This war has made indelible and great contributions to smashing Chiang Kai-shek's offensive, winning victory in the civil war, and striving for the early realization of domestic peace and democracy.