During the Liberation War, Erye eliminated more than 2.3 million Nationalist troops, and the number of annihilated enemies ranked second among the four major field armies, second only to Sanye. Among them, the Great Southwest Campaign destroyed more than 900,000 enemy troops, and the results were greater than any of the three major battles. But there was no one who was always victorious, and in January 1948, Nakano suffered a rare defeat, with heavy losses for the main regiment. After the war, the regimental commander was dismissed and the instructor was sentenced to death.
General Yang Yong
At the end of December 1947, Yang Yong, commander of the Nakano 1st Column, was ordered to lead his troops into Huaixi and prepare to create a base area here. On the way to the march, the 20th Brigade, under the command of brigade commander Wu Zhong, fought two major victories in succession at Runan and Minggang stations, not only capturing a large number of weapons and equipment, but also capturing Wen Hanqing, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Henan Provincial Security Lieutenant General. Bai Chongxi saw that the backyard was on fire, and hurriedly sent the reorganized 10th Division and the reorganized 11th Division from Dabie Mountain to prepare for a decisive battle with the First Column.
In order to avoid the enemy's attack, Yang Yong, commander of the first column, led the main force of the column to the area of Xiangcheng, and ordered Wu Zhong to lead the 20th Brigade disguised as the main force to attract the enemy's pursuit, so as to buy time for the large troops to rest and open up the base area. Wu Zhong joined the Red Army at the age of 12, and after the tempering of the agrarian revolutionary war, the Long March and the War of Resistance Against Japan, he grew from an ordinary Red Army soldier to a senior general of our army. After accepting the task this time, he ordered his troops to raise the banner of the column and march with great fanfare towards the area of Baoxinji and Zhaoji at the junction of the two provinces of Henan and Anhui.
Wu Zhong
The enemy was sure to make a plan, and chased the 20th Brigade with full horsepower. At the beginning of January 1948, the 20th Brigade came to the Baoxinji area, where there were many stubborn armed forces, which was no small threat to the establishment of a base area for our army. Wu Zhong decided to get rid of these stubborn forces and then transfer them. Unexpectedly, these stubborn armed forces were very cunning, and they ran away before the encirclement of our army was formed. The 20th Brigade was busy in Baoxinji for several days, but the results of the battle were very limited. Wu Zhong was very annoyed in his heart and was determined to wipe out these stubborn forces in pieces.
Unexpectedly, at this time, the investigators sent information that Hu Lian's reorganized 11th Division was not far from Bao Xinji. Wu Zhong knew that Hu Lian was very cunning, and his own troops were at a disadvantage, and once he was entangled with the enemy, he was likely to suffer losses. Therefore, he abandoned his plan to continue to eliminate the stubborn forces in the land and ordered the troops to move immediately. But on the transfer route, several of the main leaders of the 20 brigade were divided. Both Wu Zhong and Deputy Brigade Commander Li Jue advocated continuing to the west, but Political Commissar Liu Zhenguo believed that the west was full of water-networked rice paddies and that it would be difficult for the troops to move, so they advocated moving eastward.
General Wu Zhong
But the east is where the main force of the column rests, and if the 20th Brigade goes east, it will be equivalent to leading the enemy to the side of the main force, which is contrary to the original order of the column. Therefore, Wu Zhong did not agree to go east. The three of them had an argument because of this, and no one could convince the other, wasting a day in vain. In the end, Wu Zhong adopted a compromise plan, moving part of his troops to the west to continue to attract the enemy, and he himself led the main force of the brigade to move eastward. Having wasted a day in the direction of the transfer, the reorganized 11th Brigade quickly caught up and blocked the 20th Brigade at Xiaohuizhuang, south of Baoxinji. An unexpected encounter began.
The strength and firepower were not as good as those of his opponents, and Wu Zhong knew that he could not fight hard, so after dragging until dark, he ordered the 58th and 59th Regiments to organize various battalions to alternate cover and withdraw from the battlefield by night. However, the reorganized 11th Division had a certain night combat ability and soon caught up. Dong Zhenghong, the commander of the 59th Regiment, underestimated this and was entangled by the enemy. After fierce fighting, the second and third battalions were prominently encircled. The battalion suffered heavy losses, with more than 450 casualties. The battalion commander, Zhi Futian, was seriously wounded and captured, and the deputy instructor Li Wenzheng left his troops and fled. After the war, Dong Zhenghong, the commander of the 59th Regiment, was dismissed from his post, and Li Wenzheng, deputy instructor of the first battalion, was sentenced to death.