On July 7, 1948, the Central Plains Field Army, the Tongbai Military Region, and the Southern Shaanxi Military Region, each of which completed the encirclement of xiangyang and the enemy, posed a threat to Fancheng, where the enemy was stationed.
Since ancient times, Xiangyang has been a place where soldiers must fight, because its terrain is extremely dangerous, so it is called "Xiangyang of Iron Strike".
If our army conquers this city, it will break through the so-called "Hanshui Defense Line" of Chiang Kai-shek's army in one fell swoop, and thus drive straight into the Central Plains.
It can be said that the Battle of Xiangfan is of great significance to both sides.
Kang Ze, commander of Lieutenant General Kang Ze of the 15th Appeasement District of Chiang Kai-shek, who was born at the Whampoa Military Academy, was entrusted by Chiang The Elder to be responsible for the defense of Xiangyang.
Xiangyang is a city with its distinctive features, with the Han River to the north and Fancheng to the north, and the overlapping mountains to the southwest and south, forming a natural barrier to guard Xiangyang.
In order to block our army's siege of the city, Kang Ze sent his most elite 104th Brigade to guard many large mountains south and southwest of the city, in a vain attempt to rely on the terrain and superiority and sophisticated weapons and equipment to hold Xiangyang.
The Sixth Column of the Central Plains Field Army, led by the fierce general Wang Jinshan, was the main offensive force in this battle, and they followed the usual method of play in the past- "first attack the mountain and then break the city", and first launched a fierce offensive against the mountains outside the city.
The Sixth Column made good progress at first, successively seizing several outer mountains such as Iron Hat Mountain, Dashantou, Phoenix Mountain, Wanshan Mountain, and Double-backed Liangzi.
However, when the troops planned to continue the attack, they found that they had encountered several "roadblocks" and could not continue to advance.
The defending enemy on the front line of Guanshan Mountain, Wenbi Peak, and Cross Mountain stubbornly resisted by virtue of the dangerous terrain, so that our attacking troops failed to succeed in their onslaught for two days and nights, and caused a lot of casualties.
Faced with such a stalemate, Wang Jinshan suffered a lot: How can we really break through the enemy's defense line and successfully conquer Xiangyang City?
He risked many times to the front for field reconnaissance, returned to the command post to look at the map repeatedly, and kept pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, his brow twisted into a knot.
He thought hard for a long time, suddenly stopped, returned to the map, and repeatedly studied the terrain, as if suddenly waking up, slapping the table and shouting: "I understand!" I understand! ”
The generals stared at Wang Jinshan, their hearts confused, and one of the regimental commanders asked, "Commander, what do you understand?" ”
"Can't fight like this anymore! Definitely can't play like this again! Wang Jinshan said in a tone that he should have thought of long ago, "If our army continues to attack the mountain, we will fall into the trap of the enemy!" ”
Wang Jinshan pointed to several places on the map and said, "Our army continued to attack this string of mountains on the outskirts, but it was in vain!" The convention of attacking the mountain first and then breaking the city must be broken! Otherwise, we will not be able to attack it for a few days and nights, and it will only cause huge casualties! ”
Next, Wang Jinshan gave him the strategy he had painstakingly thought out for a long time to break the enemy: stop attacking the mountains, leave the defending enemies on these mountains alone, adopt a roundabout pinch attack tactic, and come to a "fierce tiger to dig out the heart" and attack Xiangyang City from the east and west!
Some people questioned: "The defenders on the mountain have a lot of troops and sufficient firepower, whether they can do it?" ”
"Don't worry!" Wang Jinshan replied confidently: "When our army attacked the city, the firepower of the enemy defending on the mountain could no longer hit us, and I concluded that they did not dare to break away from the inherent position at all. Let them watch how we break through Xiangyang City! ”
Following this line of thinking, Wang Jinshan quickly adjusted his tactics and made new combat arrangements.
The first is to ignore the enemy on the crucifixion mountain, Hutou Mountain and other mountains, but concentrate on "slashing three passes" - the 17th Brigade will attack the three barriers of Zhenwu Mountain, Pipa Mountain and Tiefo Temple west of Xiangyang City, and open a passage from them to take the west gate of Xiangyang!
The second was to send the 18th Brigade back to the east of Xiangyang City, echoing the siege force at the west gate.
Third, the units of the Tongbai and Southern Shaanxi Military Regions continued to feint the several mountains they had originally fought, thus containing the enemy army.
On the evening of July 9, the 18th Brigade took the lead in attacking the enemy from the east of Xiangyang City, and when the enemy was confused, the 17th Brigade suddenly launched a fierce attack from the southwest. The 7th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 49th Regiment took only 15 minutes to successfully capture Mount Pipa, and a "knife" split the first level.
The next night, the 2nd Battalion of the 49th Regiment attacked with victory, and in less than half an hour, 18 bunkers defended by the enemy on Mount Kezhenwu successfully broke through the second pass west of the city.
On the night of the 13th, the 50th Regiment of the 17th Brigade again passed on the good news, they completely annihilated the enemy of the Iron Buddha Temple in one fell swoop, and removed the last barrier leading to the west gate of Xiangyang, and the army came to the city!
This series of incomparably fierce and rapid attacks made it impossible for the enemy to resist. Kang Ze was stunned and hurriedly abandoned all the mountain positions in the south, allowing the troops to withdraw into the city, and at the same time transferring reinforcements from the 164th Brigade, which had originally defended Fancheng.
However, these helpless moves under the passive situation were not enough to reverse the decline of Chiang Kai-shek's army, and did not really play any role.
On the afternoon of July 15, Wang Jinshan commanded various armies to launch a general attack on the enemy in Xiangyang.
With the support of strong artillery fire, the soldiers of the 17th Brigade were full of momentum and attacked the west gate of Xiangyang with one blow.
Immediately afterward, the 18th Brigade, the 28th Brigade of the Tongbai Military Region, the 12th Brigade of the Southern Shaanxi Military Region, and other units also launched a rapid attack on the enemy army from different directions and pounced on the center of Xiangyang City.
In the face of our army's large-scale attack, the enemy army finally collapsed, and groups of enemies lined up to raise their hands and surrender.
Kang Ze, commander of the 15th Appeasement District of Chiang Kai-shek's army, and Guo Xunqi, deputy commander of Chiang Kai-shek, who had originally pinned high hopes on chiang, also subsequently became prisoners of our army.
In this famous military history campaign, our army sent 20,000 troops to annihilate more than 20,000 enemy troops. More importantly, this battle penetrated the so-called "divisional defense" system of Chiang Kai-shek's army and connected the major liberated areas in the Central Plains, which was of great significance to the victory in the liberation war.
It can be said that the fierce general Wang Jinshan suddenly woke up when the attack on the mountain was unfavorable, adjusted the operational arrangements in a timely manner, and turned the tide of the war in one fell swoop, thus playing a decisive role in this great victory for our army.