In late August 1947, in order to prevent Liu Deng's army from advancing towards Dabie Mountain, Chiang Kai-shek hastily dispatched more than 90 brigades from Shandong and other places to pursue and intercept Liu Deng's army, and deployed heavy troops on the south bank of the Ru River.
The Ru River is a small river, but the river is very deep, flowing from Banqiao through the Zhumadian area, flowing through Runan, Runanbu, Xincai, and then flowing into the Huai River along the bridge ditch at the junction of The two provinces of Henan and Anhui.
At this time, the first and third columns of Liu Deng's army had already crossed the Ru River at other crossings, and the second column that followed Liu Deng had also crossed the river. When Liu Deng's headquarters drove with the sixth column to run south of the Ru River, the sixteenth brigade of the sixth column was also led by the brigade commander You Taizhong across the Ru River.
At this moment, Wu Shaozhou, commander of the Reorganized 85th Division of the Jiang Army, led 4 brigades to the south bank of Runanbu, rushed to dig up the blocking position, and waited for Liu Deng to attack halfway.
In this way, the 120,000 Liu Deng army was divided into two parts, the main force of three columns had crossed the river, and the headquarters and a column were cut off on the north bank.
At this time, the three divisions behind Liu Deng's Jiang army pursued the army only more than 70 miles away from the Ruhe River.
There were fierce tigers in the front and hungry wolves in the back, and Liu Deng's army was facing the biggest difficulty in the strategic march! Whether or not you can cross the Ru River is related to the survival of 120,000 soldiers!
Liu Bocheng knew that whether the commander's determination was firm at this moment was a key factor in the life and death of the whole army, and he and Deng Xiaoping hurried to the command post of the sixth column vanguard unit to cross the river.
Wang Jinshan and other column commanders were directing the crossing of the river at the column command post, and Chiang Kai-shek's planes constantly dropped bombs and strafed the ferry, blowing up the pontoon bridge. The officers and men of our army and the enemy are constantly repeating your action of blowing up me and then fighting.
On the south bank of the Ru River, Wu Shaozhou's two brigades were storming You Taizhong's Sixteenth Brigade in an attempt to force them back to the north bank.
Liu Bocheng listened to Wang Jinshan's introduction to the battle situation and decisively ordered: "Meet on a narrow road, the brave will win, and rush over!" ”
Liu Xiaoping said solemnly: "Do not give time to help the enemy, resolutely fight across the river, throw away everything that cannot be moved, rush across the Ruhe River in light gear, and resolutely complete the strategic counter-offensive task entrusted by the Party Central Committee!" ”
Chief Liu Deng's decision to rush over was the only correct decision.
At this time, both the enemy and our armies had just driven to both sides of the Ru River, and only by resolutely rushing forward could they take advantage of the opportunity when the enemy's foothold was unstable and they could forcibly cross the Ru River. If you hesitate a little, the fighters will all be lost, and Liu Deng and the People's Liberation Army on the north bank will only have to fight with their backs to the water and suffer from the enemy on their stomachs and backs, then the danger will be great.
Commander Liu Deng was well aware of the danger of this move, and he issued orders to You Taizhong, Li Desheng, and Xiao Yongyin, the brigade commanders of the three brigades of the Sixth Column, on the front of the RuHe River, asking You Taizhong to lead the Sixteenth Brigade to contain Wu Shaozhou's division on the south bank of the Ru River, Li Desheng and the Seventeenth Brigade to delay the pursuit of the enemy's three divisions on the north bank, and Xiao Yongyin to lead the Eighteenth Brigade to cover the advance of the headquarters.
Immediately afterward, Chief Liu Deng ordered all departments of noji to burn all confidential documents, and specially instructed them to blow up artillery and other heavy weapons immediately.
They knew that these weapons had been captured from the battlefield with countless lives and blood, and were regarded as treasures by the soldiers, even heavier than their own lives!
However, the current situation is too critical, and they can only bear to order the blowing up of these bulky cannons - if they take them, they will only delay the crossing of the Ru River and cause heavy casualties!
At the order of Chief Liu Deng, all the troops of the Sixth Column and Noji rushed into action, burning documents, tying pontoon bridges, cleaning up belongings, and preparing to rush across the Ru River.
However, the explosion of the bombing was delayed, and Deng Xiaoping had to personally go to the howitzer regiment to find out the situation.
I saw the commander of the artillery regiment holding a pistol and saying to the sapper soldiers who had rushed to blow up the cannon: "Explode the cannon!" Who gave the order? Who dares to blow up the cannon? ”
Deng Xiaoping pointed at the commander of the artillery regiment and said, "This is my order, to cross the RuHe River by force, the cannon cannot be taken with it, only to be blown up." ”
The leader of the artillery regiment had nothing to say, and suddenly lay down on the cannon: To blow up the cannon, first up! ”
Deng Xiaoping said, "You dare to miss the fighter plane and drag him away!" ”
The sappers rushed up, dragged the regimental commander away, and stuffed the explosives into the gun chamber.
Subsequently, the explosions sounded one after another, more than a dozen cannons were all destroyed, and the leader of the artillery regiment cried bitterly in the sky, and the sound was extremely poignant!
At the moment of the bombardment, a deadly struggle was taking place on both sides of the Ru River, with Brigadier You Taizhong commanding the Sixteenth Brigade on the south bank and Wu Shaozhou's four brigades repeatedly grabbing beachhead positions, and Li Desheng's Seventeenth Brigade blocking the pursuing Chiang Kai-shek army on the north bank.
In the RuHe River, sappers braved the bombardment of enemy planes to build a pontoon bridge.
At this moment, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, escorted by the guard regiment and the sixth column, led the personnel of the Noji organs to step on the pontoon bridge.
As soon as Liu Deng went up the pontoon bridge, the Sixteenth Regiment fought harder on the south bank. As soon as the Eighteenth Brigade, which rushed in front, stepped on the pontoon bridge, it occupied the position and covered Noji's crossing of the river.
Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping ran through the pontoon bridge and rushed through the steel rain tunnels made of machine guns by the soldiers of the Sixteenth And Eighteenth Brigades, and the bullets were running around like locusts, and Liu Deng and Deng completely ignored them.
When Liu Deng rushed across the Ru River, Wu Shaozhou was holding up a telescope on the south bank to observe the People's Liberation Army rushing on the north bank.
What puzzled Wu Shaozhou was that he couldn't figure out what kind of unit the communist army that rushed over was—say it was infantry, there were many horses in the queue; it was said to be a combat unit, and many people were holding pistols.
Before Wu Shaozhou could judge clearly, the troops led by Liu Deng had already crossed the Ru River and rushed to the south bank.
In this way, Liu Deng led the Yesi organs and the sixth column to overwhelm all enemies, defeated the "fierce tigers" and "hungry wolves", bravely rushed across the Ru River, joined the troops on the south bank, and continued to advance southward, writing a brilliant page in military history!