In June 1946, the Kuomintang provoked a full-scale civil war. During this period, Chiang Kai-shek formulated the so-called "two-step" operational program. The first step is to comprehensively seize the important cities and transportation strongholds occupied by the Platon Army. The second step is to control all lines of communication, divide and encircle the liberated areas, and carry out a war of annihilation against the PLA troops one by one.
By February 1947, for eight months, the Kuomintang occupied 105 cities in the Liberated Areas, but they also paid a huge price for it. The strength of the first-line combat forces was reduced from 117 brigades to 85 brigades, with an average loss of 7,000 people per city occupied. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek's "two-step" plan was already difficult to maintain.
In March 1947, Chiang Kai-shek readjusted his offensive strategy and changed the all-out offensive to a focused offensive. He focused his offensive on northern Shaanxi and Shandong on the eastern and western flanks of our army. Chiang Kai-shek pinned his hopes on attacking Yan'an in the west and taking Shandong in the east, thus forming a strategic pincer offensive.
Faced with the pressure of Chiang Kai-shek's army, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to avoid his attack and voluntarily withdrew from Yan'an on March 19. At this time, the direction of Shandong has become the focus of national attention. Chiang Kai-shek once said that as long as the Shandong problem is solved, the national problem will be solved by six-tenths of the time.
In order to solve the Shandong problem, Chiang Kai-shek redeployed his forces.
First of all, the Xuzhou and Zhengzhou Appeasement Offices, which were originally independent, were abolished, and the Xuzhou Headquarters under the command of Gu Zhutong, the commander-in-chief of the army, was established.
He then transferred three of the five main forces of the Kuomintang (the reorganized 74th Division, the Reorganized 1st Division, and the Fifth Army) to Shandong. With this as the bone, 3 corps were reorganized: Tang Enbo's first corps, Wang Jingjiu's second corps, and Ou Zhen's third corps. There are more than 255,000 people.
Finally, 7 integrated divisions and 17 brigades, about 200,000 people, were equipped in the outskirts of Xuzhou, Jinan and Southwest Lu to serve as garrisons and countermeasures.
At this time, our army and the Kuomintang army had a fairly strong contrast. In terms of troop strength, our East China Field Army has 11 infantry columns and 1 special forces column under its jurisdiction, adding up to only 270,000 people. Compared with the nationalist forces of 24 integrated divisions and 60 brigades of 455,000 troops, the ratio of the two sides was almost 1:2.
In terms of equipment, although our army captured the Lunan Victory in the early stage, on the whole it was still the backward equipment of the "millet plus rifle." The Kuomintang army was all equipped with American weapons, and its firepower and mobility were far superior to those of our army. The severity of our army's combat situation and the magnitude of the pressure can be imagined.
In late March, Gu Zhutong began to launch a general offensive. By mid-April, he had completely occupied the southwestern region of Lu and had opened up some traffic on the Jinpu Line. At this time, the Kuomintang had already formed an encirclement of our East China Field Army.
In May, Hua Ye, led by Chen Yi and Su Yu, received a secret intelligence. It turned out that Ember already knew the location of Huaye's headquarters. He wanted to use Zhang Lingfu's ace division, the 74th Division, plus the 25th Division and the 83rd Division to attack Huaye's headquarters.
This information made everyone look at it in a cold sweat. The Huaye command immediately held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. At the meeting, Su Yu was unusual. He did not consider the retreat, but advocated a head-on battle with the 74th Division. He told Chen Yi that the 74th Division was different from other enemy troops, and as the head of the five main forces, it was the biggest trump card in Chiang Kai-shek's hands. If it is destroyed, it will give the enemy a double blow in spirit and strength. After listening to Su Yu's analysis, Chen Yi also took the case and said: Good! We must have the momentum of a million troops to take the first rank of general.
On 13 May, the 74th Army launched an attack on Huaye's headquarters. According to Zhang Lingfu's previous experience, when the main force of the 74th Division attacked a single position, the other side generally did not have a hard time. But this time was different, the battle lasted all day, and the position was not taken down. After reconnaissance, he found that the PLA troops were coming in a steady stream of overnight, and inserted themselves into the left and right flanks of the 74th Division. Despite this, Zhang Lingfu did not show any panic. Because he knew that the 25th and 83rd divisions on both wings were more than enough against one column of HuaYe.
However, the problem of the right wing troops surprised Zhang Lingfu. Zhang Tianxia, the general of the right wing, because of his disagreement with Zhang Lingfu, did not follow Tang Enbo's instructions to drive the troops to the right wing, but sent a company there to fight guerrillas. Su Yu seized the gap on the right flank and kept inserting himself into the troops. By 14 May, the right flank had been stuffed with 3 columns, forming a semi-encirclement of the 74th Division.
Zhang Lingfu immediately asked Tang Enbo for instructions to retreat, and after obtaining his consent, he withdrew to the south of the Wen River. At this time, the 74th Division had not yet completely withdrawn from Huaye's encirclement, and Zhang Lingfu could have continued to retreat, but he did not do so. He was ready to act as a decoy to attract Huaye's main force to a decisive battle. Zhang Lingfu named this tactic "Sticking to help, the center blossoms."
Since it is "sticking to help", it is necessary to find a suitable sticking point. Zhang Lingfu was faced with 2 choices, the first location was Duozhuang, and the second was Meng Lianggu. There was no danger to defend around the mountains, and Zhang Lingfu finally chose Meng Lianggu. After retreating to Menglianggu, the 74th Division was no more than 10 miles away from Huang Baitao and Li Tianxia on the left and right flanks, and there was communication.
Unfortunately, Zhang Lingfu was still a step behind. 10 days ago, Wang Bicheng's troops were ordered to move south to Lunan. Su Yu demanded that Wang Bicheng stop the attack and simply conceal his tracks. From Gu Zhutong to Tang Enbo to Zhang Lingfu, they didn't know that Lunan still had such a hidden force.
On May 12, Wang Bicheng received a telegram from Huaye's headquarters. Wang Bicheng was required to rush to the front line within 48 hours, seize the battlements, and cut off the only retreat route for the 74th Division. There are more than 200 miles from Lunan to Duozhuang, which is, in Wang Bicheng's own words, which is "flying soldiers to cross". Wang Bicheng led his troops to arrive at Duozhuang 8 hours in advance and took the logistics supply point of Duozhuang in one fell swoop. At this time, Meng Lianggu was completely surrounded by our army, leaving only a narrow strip centered on Meng Lianggu.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek could not sit still at all, and he personally dispatched 10 reorganized divisions to approach Meng Lianggu and reinforce the 74th Division. Huang Baitao's 74th Division in his unit was recent, and he was desperate to rush towards Meng Lianggu. Wang Bicheng hurriedly stepped in and climbed to the commanding heights 40 meters first, blocking Huang Baitao's troops. At this time, Zhang Lingfu led the 74th Division to continue to hold Meng Lianggu, because he knew that even if Huang Baitao was blocked, there were other troops to come to the rescue. This is also the ultimate goal of his "sticking to help and blossoming in the middle".
There are seventy-two valleys in Yimeng Mountain, of which Menglianggu is the largest one. The so-called Gu is a strangely shaped mountain of large stones, and the mountain is surrounded by unattainable cliffs. Obviously, Gu is a strategic place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The main peak of Menglianggu is more than 500 meters, and our army must attack from down and upward, often through dozens of repeated charges to take a point.
On May 14, Su Yu issued a general offensive order. The enemy and us are really pinpointing at Mai Mang, and they are fierce against each other. Because the battle was too fierce, the 74th Division, which was known for its fierceness, had the phenomenon of first-line soldiers sneaking away. Huaye's troops also went forward and followed, and some companies changed 7 company commanders before and after. Before the battle was over, Meng Lianggu's main peak was cut off by several feet.
The general offensive lasted until the evening, and after paying a heavy price, Huaye's troops finally reduced the 74th Division to a narrow mountainous area of 3 kilometers to the east and west and 2 kilometers to the north and south. The officers and men of the 74th Division were also miserable, and Meng Lianggu was a stone mountain without water, they could not make a fire to cook, they could only endure hunger. In addition, the heavy machine guns of the 74th Division were all water-cooled, because there was no water refrigeration, and they could not make a sound. Zhang Lingfu could only hope to drop grain, water and ammunition in the air, but the Kuomintang planes did not dare to fly low, so many materials fell on the positions of our army.
In the early morning of May 16, Hua Ye shelled Meng Lianggu again, and the bombing of Meng Lianggu was like a volcanic eruption. The battle was extremely fierce, and the 74th Division was in full swing, but Meng Lianggu was still in Zhang Lingfu's hands. It was not until 3 a.m., after 10 repeated charges, that Huaye's troops finally conquered the 540th Heights, and the defensive position of the 74th Division was torn open.
At this time, Su Yu had not closed his eyes for several days and nights in a row, and due to high blood pressure and headache, the whole person was swollen red. After the war, when blood pressure was measured, it was as high as 220. At this time, the battle has reached a white-hot point, compared to will and endurance.
The time reached 10:00 a.m. the next day, and I couldn't move again. Su Yu had to continue to deploy troops, which was the only thing Su Yu could do. There were too many casualties on the front line, and when Su Yu called and asked all the 9 columns to press up, Xu Shiyou gradually showed dissatisfaction, talked and talked, and even quarreled with Su Yu on the phone. After Chen Yi heard this, he went up to answer the phone and Xu Shiyou said, Su Yu's order is my order, you must carry it out unconditionally, don't talk about any price.
At 2 p.m. on May 16, the third general offensive horn sounded. Shells flew from all directions to the top of Menglianggu Mountain and the remaining 600 heights of the 74th Division, and the 74, who had no water and no help, finally collapsed.
Chen Yi and Su Yu experienced many major battles, but the Battle of Meng Lianggu thrilled them. Su Yu's evaluation of this battle was a rare vicious battle since the Liberation War. Chen Yi also issued an exclamation after the war, if his son grows up in the future, he will definitely not let him lead the soldiers to fight.