Text/Lonely Cold Light
Speaking of cavalry, it was no longer the protagonist in the Franco-Prussian War. However, in the Chinese battlefield, it played an important role in the War of Resistance Against Japan. The main reason for this is that at that time, all east Asian countries were more competitive. However, in the Liberation War, after the Northwest Field Army defeated tens of thousands of cavalry in Xianyang, it officially announced that the cavalry era was officially over in the Chinese battlefield. The Northwest Field Army also used a large number of Japanese swords captured from Yan Xishan to defeat the sabers of the Northwest Majia Army in close combat. Why is this Battle of Xianyang so legendary.
Due to the relatively weak industrial capacity in East Asia, heavy machine guns were not widely equipped, and mules and horses still occupied a certain position as a means of transport. The era of "since the invention of the Maxim machine gun, nomads have become able to sing and dance" has not yet fully arrived in East Asia. However, with the later stages of the Liberation War, our army captured a large number of advanced equipment of the Kuomintang, and its firepower was greatly enhanced. Some of the columns were no longer inferior to the Kuomintang Central Army in terms of firepower, which meant that the cavalry would withdraw from the Chinese battlefield. The Battle of Xianyang against the cavalry of the Majia Army in the northwest is the best example.
With the end of the Battle of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan was completely wiped out, and the hostile forces in North China were completely eliminated. The central authorities ordered that all the troops of the North China Military Region that attacked Taiyuan be allocated to the smaller Northwest Field Army. In the face of the powerful offensive of our army, the kuomintang Huzong retreated south to Hanzhong, and the gateway to Shaanxi was wide opened. Faced with this situation, the warlords in the northwest began to tense up. Ma Hongkui of Ningxia and Ma Bufang of Qinghai began to organize 90,000 troops to compete with our army along the Lanxi Highway for Shaanxi, in an attempt to capture Xi'an and occupy a favorable position. Xianyang, located at the forefront of Xi'an, became a key battle for the defense of Xi'an. Due to the speed of the Majia Army's cavalry, the large troops of our army have not yet been reinforced from Taiyuan to Xi'an. Commander Peng Dehuai demanded that our army block the attack layer by layer and completely delay the attack of the Ma family army in Xianyang.
On June 10, 1949, the 181st Division of the 61st Army of the Northwest Field Army rushed to Xianyang for defense through forced troops. Considering that the cavalry of the Northwest Majia Army is equipped with sabers, when fighting with the Majia Army, our army's bayonets are not as flexible as sabre. Our army had a clever move and began to use a large number of Japanese swords captured from Yan Xishan. The Japanese sword is longer than the sabre, which is called "one inch long, one inch stronger". On June 13, Ma Jiajun's elite 82nd Army arrived in Xianyang to launch an attack. At first, the 82nd Army wanted to use its cavalry superiority to launch a charge in an attempt to crush our army. However, the times have changed, our army is no longer the equipment of the Red Army during the western expedition, and the cavalry group charge has long been outdated.
Our army first bombarded at a distance with artillery, and then more recently used crossfire composed of light and heavy machine guns to block the cavalry attack. The 82nd Army had no choice but to dismount and fight. At that time, the Japanese army did not dare to attack the elite troops of the Nationalist Army on horseback, let alone the Northwest Field Army of the Nationalist Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The 82nd Army wanted to engage our army in close combat by charging to the position, so as to give full play to the superiority of the knife technique. But melee combat is our army's magic weapon, and now there is a Japanese sword power blessing, where is the opponent of our army in the 82nd Army. Wei Haidong, the deputy platoon commander of the 2nd Company and 1st Platoon of the 541st Regiment, killed 6 82nd Army cavalry with Japanese swords. Wei Haidong was also awarded the first class merit after the war. This battle alone wiped out more than 2,000 elite cavalrymen.
Under various unfavorable circumstances, a division of our army forced itself to block the attack of the 82nd Army of the Majia Army. Subsequently, the various units of our Northwest Field Army arrived one after another, and the Ma family army had to retreat to the northwest.