As mentioned in the previous issue, on September 16, 1948, the first day of the Battle of Jinan, under huaye's powerful offensive, Wang Yaowu could not distinguish which side was the main direction of huaye's attack for a while.
Faced with a telegram from the battlefield on the eastern front, Wang Yaowu judged that the eastern front was the main direction of Huaye's attack, so he transferred all the reserves to the eastern front, leaving only the western front
Wu Huawen
The reorganized 84th Division.
The vanguard of the integrated 74th Division arrived in Jinan
At this time, Wang Yaowu also knew that the western front troops were too thin, but he had no troops in his hands. thereupon
Wang Yaowu
Again to Nanjing
Chiang Kai-shek
Distress.
After Chiang Kai-shek received a critical telegram from Jinan, he replied to Wang Yaowu:
The reorganized 74th Division is already ready to go out in Xuzhou and will soon be airlifted to Jinan.
(At this time, the reorganized 74th Division was rebuilt, under the jurisdiction of the 51st and 58th two brigades, the number of more than 20,000 people, the combat effectiveness is certainly not as good as the previous 74th Division, but it is also considered a second-class main force, after all, there are many veterans)
Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent a telegram to Liu Zhi, the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou, urging him
Liu Zhi
Within a week will
Reorganized 74th Division
All airlifted to Jinan.
On September 17, Wang Yaowu personally arrived at the airfield west of Jinan city to welcome the arrival of the reorganized 74th Division, which he had been waiting for for many days.
With a loud roar in the sky, transport planes landed on the runway, the vanguard of the 74th Division, a total of 7 companies, led by the commander of the 172nd Regiment
Liu Bingkun.
Wang Yaowu felt very cordial when he saw the old troops he had brought out, personally held a welcome ceremony for them, and held a review ceremony at the airport.
It seems that Wang Yaowu had high hopes for the reorganized 74th Division, so how did the 74th Division perform in the Battle of Jinan?
This question is not urgent, let's first look at the next steps of the Huaye Siege Group.
HuaYexi Group offensive plan
The news that the reorganized 74th Division had airlifted to Jinan was immediately obtained by the intelligence department of our army and served as the commander of the siege group
Xu Shiyou
, command immediately
Song Wheel of Time
Conductor.1
West Group
Strengthen the offensive, seize the airfield at all costs, and prevent the arrival of the main force of the integrated 74th Division.
After knowing that the vanguard of the 74th Division had been airlifted to Jinan, he immediately ordered his subordinates
3rd and 8th Columns
, the first task is
Control the airport
。
Let the columns advance with all their might in the direction of the airfield, and at the same time let the attached artillery press forward, and it is necessary to bring the airfield into the range of our artillery, and then blow up its runway so that its transport planes cannot land.
On September 18, under the fierce offensive of the Huayexi clique, the Kuomintang army was gradually defeated and retreated.
Huaye 10 column advance to
Gu cheng
One belt, three vertical advance to
Renlizhuang, Jade Emperor Mountain
In the area, the Luzhongnan Column occupied it
Dangjiazhuang
and other points.
As the outer positions of the airport were captured by the Huaye West Group, the entire runway of the airport also entered the range of Huaye's special artillery, and with the order of song Shilun, rows of shells were thrown at the airport, and deep pits were blown out on the airport runway.
The sky was full of transport planes carrying the follow-up troops of the 74th Division hovering over the airfield, and since the airfield was destroyed, the aircraft had to return the same way
Xuzhou
At this point, Jinan completely lost contact with the outside world, and Wang Yaowu could no longer wait for his 74th Division.
And how much of a role could the elite troops of the only 7 companies in his hands play?
Wu Huawen turned against him
On September 19, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the defense of the western front of Jinan
He saw that all the friendly forces around him had been transferred, and only his reorganized 84th Division remained on the entire Western Front.
And the heavy army group on the periphery of Huaye has been heavily suppressed, he knows
Wang Yaowu will undoubtedly be defeated
, Wu Huawen as famous
Wall head grass
This time is no exception, through the contact between intelligence personnel and our army, it has been shown
uprising
of will.
Finally, on the night of September 19, Wu Huawen led his 155th, 261st Brigade and three brigades, including the Independent Brigade, to carry out a battlefield uprising of more than 20,000 people and withdrew from the position that night. At this point, all the positions on the outskirts of Jinan's western front have been controlled by our army.
Wu Huawen's uprising gave Wang Yaowu a blow, and Wang Yaowu, who had returned to his senses, ordered his troops to converge on the urban area and prepare to use the urban buildings to continue the stubborn resistance.
Liu Bingkun, commander of the 172nd Regiment of the 74th Division mentioned earlier,
Take the initiative to ask Wang Yaowu for his life
He demanded that his 7 companies be sent to the most difficult positions.
Wang Yaowu then gave an important task, let Liu Bingkun lead the troops, and stick to the highest building in the shangbu district——
Postal Building, where the Headquarters of the Second Appeasement District is located
He also gave the Zhongzheng sword that Chiang Kai-shek had given him to Liu Bingkun.
At that time, the city of Jinan was divided into
City
and
Commercial port area
Wang Yaowu also divided the gathered garrison into two groups
The 211st Brigade and the 8th Security Brigade were stationed in the commercial port area; the 213th, 19th, and 57th Brigades and the integrated 73rd Division were stationed in the urban area.
Although there is no tall city wall protection in the commercial port area, there are a large number of strong high-rise buildings, and the enemy has long set up machine guns at the commanding heights of each street, forming crossfire points, like pillboxes.
Old photos of Jinan commercial port area
And the most important thing is by
Former German Consulate, Bank of Communications Building, Bank of China Building, Postal Building
It consists of four sturdy buildings. Wang Yaowu's high-hope confidant, 7 companies of the 74th Division, were stationed here.
Here, one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the Battle of Jinan is about to be staged.
Bloody battle at the Post Office Building
At 6:00 p.m. on September 20, in order not to give Wang Yaowu a chance to breathe, the Western Group of huaye siege group, under the command of Song Shilun, launched a fierce attack from the south, north and west of the commercial port area.
Although Wang Yaowu deployed more than 20,000 people in the commercial port area, the 8th Baoan Brigade and the 213rd Brigade were some miscellaneous troops with low combat effectiveness, so these troops were defeated not long after the start of the battle.
At the same time, the 10th Column and the 29th Division fought extremely fiercely, advancing all the way from the north and directly into the commercial port area and the urban area, completely cutting off the connection between the commercial port area and the main urban area.
By September 22, only the postal building where Liu Bingkun was located in the entire commercial port area was still stubbornly resisting, and Huaye 3 Zhong, who was responsible for attacking the stronghold, also knew that he had encountered a strong opponent this time.
The 8th Division of the 3rd Column, which was responsible for the main attack, was also famous in Huaye
"Attacking the Tiger",
However, the 8th Division failed to break through the building after several waves of offensives.
So the division commander
Wang Jiwen
Personally commanding the line of fire, leading the troops to compete with Liu Bingkun's troops building by house, but after making great sacrifices, the progress was still not great.
Martyr Wang Jiwen
Wang Jiwen mobilized all kinds of artillery to bombard the building, and the artillery shot into the building through the doors and windows, and a raging fire broke out in the building, and Wang Jiwen ordered the troops to take advantage of the opportunity to rush into the courtyard.
However, at this moment, Wang Jiwen was unfortunately hit by the enemy's mortar and unfortunately died.
The commandos of the 8th Division shouted slogans to avenge the division commander and were killed in the courtyard, but Liu Bingkun in the building was still very tenacious, still leading his troops to resist desperately, and for a time the shouts of killing, guns, and explosives in the building shook the earth and shook the mountain.
But this one
Liu Bingkun
Indeed with the determination to die, doing the final battle of the trapped beasts, the 7 companies of the 74th Division once again repelled the attack of the 3 columns.
Post-war postal building
At 4 p.m., the 29th Division of the 10th Column came to support, and the 29th Division took downstairs
blow up
Means, with
Tens of kilograms of explosives
Continuous explosions finally collapsed half of the postal building, and our army was able to rush into the courtyard and annihilate all 7 companies of the 74th Division.
When the soldiers of our army rushed into the building, they found that the enemy regimental commander Liu Bingkun was wounded in the head and abdomen, covered in blood, and finally sat on a chair and committed suicide.
At this point, Wang Yaowu could only shrink in the main urban area and stubbornly resist, and in six days, all the peripheral positions were lost. Wang Yaowu knew very well in his heart that Jinan City would definitely not be able to hold on. What should he do next? In the next period, the Battle of Jinan will continue to be reviewed.