In late October 1946, the Fourth Column of the Liaodong Military Region, under the leadership of commander Hu Qicai, was ordered to block the enemy's 25th Division, which was invading southern Manchuria. However, at that time, only the Eleventh and Twelfth Divisions of the Fourth Column participated in the battle, and the Tenth Division was led by Han Xianchu, the deputy commander of the Fourth Column, and was fighting with the Third Column.
The enemy's Twenty-fifth Division, known as the "Thousand Mile Foal," once joined the expeditionary force, was fully equipped with American equipment, and was an "ace unit" with considerable combat effectiveness in Chiang Kai-shek's army.
On 26 October, the two armies engaged in a fierce battle at the horse racing set.
Under the personal command of Hu Qicai, the five main regiments of the four columns and two divisions launched a fierce attack on the enemy, and at 12 o'clock that night, they conquered the horse racing set garrisoned by the enemy's seventy-fourth regiment in one fell swoop, annihilating more than 200 enemy troops.
Subsequently, Hu Qicai ordered the troops to withdraw from the horse racing set and set up an ambush circle at Shuanglingzi, 30 miles away.
On the night of the 27th, the Twenty-fifth Division did indeed advance to the Shuanglingzi area, and the four columns attacked decisively.
Not only did this battle surprise Hu Qicai, who thought that with 5 regiments and more than 10,000 troops, he should be able to crush the Twenty-fifth Division, which had only more than 5,000 people at this time.
Unexpectedly, after a day and a night of fighting, the Twenty-fifth Division could not be defeated, and Hu Qi ordered the troops to temporarily withdraw from Shuanglingzi.
Later, a prisoner was taken, and upon questioning, he learned that the enemy's Seventy-fifth Regiment had been returned to its formation, and the total strength of the Twenty-fifth Division would be 9,000.
Under such circumstances, Hu Qicai urgently dispatched the Tenth Division, led by the famous general Han Xianchu, who was fighting with the three columns to return to the formation, and strived to completely annihilate the enemy's Twenty-fifth Division.
On the morning of the 29th, Li Zhengyi ordered the 25th Division to advance in parallel in two directions, with the main force of the division and the 75th Regiment acting as left and right columns respectively, stipulating that they would meet before 3 p.m.
When Zhao Zhenge, commander of the enemy's Seventy-fifth Regiment, led his troops into the Xinkailing Valley, he discovered our army's strategy to lure the enemy deeper, but this mechanized unit was not easy to maneuver and fell into the "pocket array" carefully set up by Hu Qicai and could not escape.
Zhao Zhenge was horrified and hurriedly asked Li Zhengyi for reinforcements, but at this time Li Zhengyi also found that all the Twenty-fifth Division had fallen into the encirclement of our army.
The four columns suppressed the enemy army in the 30-mile-long Xinkailing Valley, and attacked it with the advantage of terrain, completely disarraying the enemy's Twenty-fifth Division.
It wasn't until this night that Li Zhengyi woke up like a dream, realizing that with the strength of the Twenty-fifth Division alone, there was no way to break through.
He had to ask Du Yuming and Zhao Gongwu, commander of the Fifty-second Army, to send troops to send planes to reinforce.
Under the heroic counterattack of the soldiers of the Fourth Column, the enemy's Twenty-fifth Division became more and more panicked and retreated to the area of Laoye Ridge and Huangjiabaozi.
Perhaps because of the order issued by Du Yuming and Zhao Gongwu to "stick to help" made Li Zhengyi see hope, he organized more than 3,000 people to launch a crazy counterattack against our army.
After all, their well-trained, coupled with their sophisticated armament, has left the battle between the two armies in a state of stalemate, while enemy reinforcements are rapidly approaching.
The meat that had been delivered to his mouth could not be eaten for a long time, which annoyed Hu Qicai, who was bent on completely annihilating the enemy, and he immediately called the commander of the column to an emergency meeting.
It was suggested that it would be difficult to continue the battle and that the best thing to do now was to retreat.
The reasons for the retreat also seem to be sufficient: the originally planned war of annihilation has become a war of attrition, our army has paid a great price of casualties, at this time the enemy is massive reinforcements, if the battle is not ended as soon as possible, the entire four columns will fall into the desperate situation of being attacked by the enemy inside and outside, and the consequences are unimaginable!
Han Xianchu, a famous general who is good at fighting hard battles, was the first to stand up and express his opposition: "At this time, we must not retreat, and retreat means that the previous achievements are abandoned!" ”
He said: "The enemy suffered more casualties than our army, and the ammunition was not necessarily more abundant than ours. As long as our army does not slacken its strength and unremitting efforts at this critical moment, and concentrates its strength and firepower to strike a blow, it is entirely possible to take Laoye Ridge and regain the initiative. ”
"If you withdraw at this time, you will not only confuse the morale of the army, be chased and beaten by the enemy, and even scatter the entire column!"
Han Xianchu's reasoning made Hu Qicai no longer consider the proposal to retreat, and he nodded and said, "The most important thing at present is to take Laoye Ling with one blow!" ”
Political Commissar Peng Jiaqing and Chief of Staff Li Fuze also agreed, and finally the crowd decided to launch a fierce attack on the enemy of Laoye Ridge at dawn the next day according to the methods Han Xianchu had said.
At dawn on November 2, the four columns of soldiers who had been fully prepared and mobilized joined the enemy and launched a final blow against Laoye Ridge with the determination to break the ship and fight a battle.
Duan Ran, deputy chief of the Operations Section of the Tenth Division, led the Twenty-eighth Regiment to launch a fierce attack, took the lead in rushing to Laoye Ridge, and launched a white-knife battle with the enemy.
Subsequently, the Twenty-ninth Regiment and the Thirty Regiment also rushed to Laoye Ridge respectively, and most of the enemies had no intention of fighting again, and surrendered their guns one after another. The enemy who had retreated retreated to Wangjiazhai.
Li Zhengyi, who was still fantasizing about reinforcements coming, decided to resist. He had the audacity to order the concentration of all the weights, pouring gasoline on it and rekindling it, intending to use it as the last line of defense.
The four column generals were murderous and came from all directions to surround the remnants of Li Zhengyi tightly. The artillery fired a few shells, and li Zhengyi's elaborate "wall of fire" was blasted into the sky. The enemy troops were frightened by this head-on blow and surrendered.
The battle ended in victory at about 10:00 a.m., and the four columns killed the enemy's Twenty-fifth Division, known as the "Thousand Mile Colt," annihilating a total of 8,900 enemy troops, creating an example of annihilating an entire division of the enemy in a campaign of our army in the northeast, and becoming a great victory in the history of the famous army.