In late May 1949, the famous general Chen Geng was ordered to lead the Fourth Corps to cooperate with the Siye forces and fight against nearly 400,000 men and horses under Bai Chongxi, the leader of the Gui warlords.
Just when all our large armies were winning victories one after another and reports of success were frequently reported everywhere, Chen Geng made a decision that surprised his subordinates: he demanded that all the troops of the Fourth Corps immediately withdraw their troops.
When Chen Geng said emphatically, "Withdraw the troops!" With this sentence, Deputy Commander Guo Tianyuan was astonished: "What, withdraw?" ”
At this time, our army was advancing step by step, and the enemy had no strength to fight back at all, and guo Tianmin really couldn't accept retreating at such a moment.
The Fourth Corps is an invincible heroic unit, and it has even retreated on its own before it has encountered the enemy, so how to explain itself to its superiors, how to explain it to the troops who urgently demand to pursue the enemy, and how to explain it to the newly liberated masses of the people! Can we say that we are afraid of the enemy's counterattack?
Guo Tianmin didn't make a sound for a long time before he said gently, "Commander, will this retreat affect you?" At the moment when the enemy is disintegrating, giving the enemy a chance to breathe, giving the enemy a pretext to deceive the masses' public opinion, and stabilizing the hearts and minds of the army, the enemy will say, We are defeated! ”
Chen Geng felt a tingle in his heart—what Guo Tianmin was saying was not just his personal opinion, but reflected the over-optimism that prevailed in the troops.
In the face of this situation, some leading cadres of our army are also worried and unwilling to pour cold water on their subordinates, fearing that they have hit the enthusiasm of soldiers, and are even more afraid of causing some "political (administrative) impact."
Chen Geng pointed to the map and said, "You see, now that all the troops in our hands have been scattered, the 15th Army is still in Fujian, and even if it is assembled now, it will take time to return the establishment. The 13th Army and the 14th Army crossed the Ganjiang River today, and the two corps of the Guixiawei Corps assembled south of Gao'an, and the strength of the two sides was equal.
"We can telegraph the 43rd Army of the 4th Fifteenth Corps to advance toward Gao'an with two divisions, enter Nanchang with one division to take up defenses, and free up our 37th Division in Nanchang to join the pursuit, so that by the beginning of next month, the strength of an army will be increased, and it is possible to annihilate the enemy."
"But we have to consider these factors." Chen Geng furrowed his brows, thinking as he slowly said:
"First, the Xianggan operational plan issued by the Central Military Commission only ordered our corps to cooperate with siye in Jiangxi territory, and before Shanghai was captured, the entire erye was a strategic reserve to prevent possible imperialist aggression. The incident of the British warship 'Purple Quartz' in Nanjing is a sign.
"The shanghai war situation has reached the final stage, our army is encircling Wusongkou, from May 20 this period of time, may be the most dangerous time for the US imperialist invasion, otherwise Shanghai is liberated, the US imperialists will be late to send troops, so we can not put all our troops west of the Ganjiang River, too far ahead, when it is necessary to move east, it will be impossible to recover."
"Second, the Siye Advance Corps crossed the river, but the main force was still on the way south, and the march of thousands of miles, although some sections of the road may be by car, mainly on foot, and it takes time to assemble and rest after going south. There are many problems they face, the problem of soldiers fleeing, logistics supply, especially food, will be a prominent problem, coupled with continuous rain, the northeast Han is not tolerant of the humid heat in the south, and it is necessary to have a certain amount of time to adapt.
"I estimate that It will not take shino until the end of June, that is, a month later, to make a big move deeper into zhongnan. Under the circumstance that the main force of the four fields did not go south, our four corps only crossed the Ganjiang River with the strength of two or three corps, and it was possible to become a lone army and go deeper.
Third, the main force of Bai Chongxi Huazhong Group withdrew from Wuhan and gathered in Hengyang, gaining strategic mobility. Before the end of the month, the enemy may mobilize six or seven armies to the west bank of the GanJiang River to form a local advantage, and Bai Chongxi took the initiative to retreat from Wuhan, which was strategically smart.
"Finally, there are still 70,000 or 80,000 people in the enemy's two corps to the south, two armies in the western days of Jiangsu and two armies of Hu Lian's twelve corps, and there is still a certain degree of combat effectiveness..."
When Chen Geng analyzed the war situation, Guo Tianmin listened and silently calculated the strength and distance of the enemy and us, and did not care to interject, but just nodded his head continuously.
Chen Geng stared at the map again, thinking carefully. "Now that jiangnan is raining, June and July are the peak of the flood, and old Jiang and Bai Chongxi want to use peace talks to drag our army to may or later, that is, they want to use the flood of the Yangtze River to block our army from crossing the Yangtze River.
"Recently, after several days of heavy rain, the water level of the Ganjiang River has begun to rise, and the battle in Xiebu City has taught us a lesson, and the backwater battle will be a disaster." If our army is counterattacked by the enemy's main force on the west bank of the Ganjiang River, and the flood cuts off reinforcements and logistical supplies, it will suffer a big loss if it is not good, and it will affect the process of national liberation.
"Two armies marching westward, in the best of circumstances, can only win certain tactical victories at best, and cannot destroy the enemy's main force. If our army withdraws to the east bank of the Ganjiang River, it can paralyze Bai Chongxi, and when the main force of the four fields arrives, our corps will be out of the enemy's rear and cut off its retreat, and his Gui army will be annihilated with one drum.
"Chasing the enemy's ass, even if the Gui army does not counterattack and drives him all the way back to Guangxi, the enemy will become more stubborn and difficult, and Guangxi is the home of the Gui clan for many years, and the southwest region is large; we have no mass base for corps combat, the war will be more complicated, and we should eliminate the Bai Chongxi clique in the Xianggan region as much as possible." Old Guo, you think about it again, and we will meet again to study it. ”
This heartfelt remark infected Guo Tianmin, and although he did not fully figure it out, he also cheerfully agreed to formulate a plan for retreat immediately.
In the middle of the night on this day, Chen and Guo were discussing the enemy's situation, when a guard suddenly rushed into the room and shouted: "Commander, you are really a god, the political (administrative) department and the logistics department have entered the water, the comrades are surrounded on the roof, swimming out of the water, please send a boat to rescue it!"
A week after the retreat, a massive flood that had not been seen in decades washed away.
The facts that occurred later further proved that Chen Geng's move to order the withdrawal of troops was timely and a wise move, because the four corps withdrew to the east bank of the Ganjiang River in time, successfully avoiding Bai Chongxi's trap.
Guo Tianmin said heartily: "Commander, I am the admiration of the five bodies thrown to the ground!" You are indeed very clever, very clever! ”