On the evening of 17 April, the headquarters of Siye informed the corps of the forward command and learned that after the Kuomintang army on Hainan Island had discovered the successful landing of our army on the 17th, Xue Yue, commander-in-chief of the enemy's defense, ordered on the evening of 17 April to mobilize the strength of all the mobile units of the campaign on the island totaling about 5 and a half divisions, counting: the 252nd Division of the 32nd Army, the 151st Division of the 62nd Army, the 153rd Division, the 163rd Division, the remnants of the provisional 13th Division, and the officers' instructors, and on the 18th, they began to rush to Chengmai by car from Haikou and Jiaji in an attempt to take advantage of the unstable foothold of our landing troops. Fight a decisive battle with our army in the Chengmai area and eliminate our army in the beach area.
Commander Deng Hua was very happy when he received a briefing from the siye headquarters on the enemy's situation and learned that the enemy was concentrating on the reserve for the campaign and attempting to fight a decisive battle with our army. He said to me, "Wow! Xue Yue still had the same strength during the War of Resistance Against Japan. He was too self-sufficient. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he commanded several battles of the Kuomintang army, and at that time he commanded a just war to defend the country and resist the Japanese militarism's invasion of the mainland. Therefore, from officers to soldiers, the love of the country and the anti-aggression sentiment are very high, and he can brave the enemy's artillery fire to fight the enemy in a bloody battle to win the victory, which makes him famous. ”
Commander Deng Hua took a puff of his cigarette and continued: "However, the situation is very different now, the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek is waging an unjust war against the people, and the People's Liberation Army under the leadership of our Communist Party is waging a just war to liberate the people. The Kuomintang army had been utterly defeated, and Chiang Kai-shek had fled to Taiwan, and it was already precarious. The defeated generals of the so-called 100,000 remnants commanded by Xue Yue had reached the time when the soldiers were defeated like mountains. He even dared to punch his swollen face and fill up the fat man to fight a decisive battle with our army. That's great! The time has come for our army to annihilate the enemy and quickly liberate the whole island, and it has come so quickly that this is exactly the good opportunity our army needs. ”
Commander Deng Hua suddenly asked me, "I am happy to say so many words, only you are listening." So, what do you think, I'll hear you say. ”
I said, "I'm listening intently to what you're saying, and what the Commander is saying is insight." I also believe that sooner or later our army will have to fight a decisive battle with the enemy on the island. Xue Yue was a famous general in the Kuomintang army. From his standpoint, he must take advantage of the fact that our army's landing foothold is unstable and the second echelon has not yet landed, concentrate the mobile forces in his hands, quickly fight a decisive battle with our army, and try to eliminate our army that has already landed; even if it cannot be eliminated, he also tries to drive our army to the seashore, compress our army into a very small landing field, carry out a siege, in a vain attempt to make our army's back to the sea, run out of ammunition, and then prevent the reinforcements of our second echelon from landing at sea and trap our army on the seashore. Xue Yue was an arrogant and arrogant person, he did not think about the combined mobile strength of his 5 and a half divisions did not exceed 30,000 people, how could the combat effectiveness be compared with the iron fist of my landing force. However, Xue Yue's psychological state may also be contradictory. If he did not seriously fight a battle with our landing troops, he would flee, and it would not be easy for him to give an account to Chiang Kai-shek if he flew to Taiwan. He was afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would hold Wei Lihuang responsible for losing the northeast in the same way that Wei Lihuang (Note: Wei was the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang army's northeast "suppression of the general") for losing the northeast, and in that way, he would also be held responsible for the loss of Hainan Island. Xue Yue was also his scalp to make a dying struggle in order to make a difference to Chiang Kai-shek. ”
Commander Deng Hua said: "What you are saying is reasonable, but we should still start from Xue Yue's attempt to destroy our landing forces or compress our army to retreat to the beach, from the most difficult and worst point of view, to meet the enemy's decisive battle and crush the enemy's decisive battle plan." It is necessary to take advantage of the decisive battle between the enemy and us to annihilate the enemy's mobile forces in the campaign, and carry forward the fine work style of our army in continuous combat, pursue and annihilate the defeated and fleeing enemy, and take advantage of the victory to liberate the entire island of Hainan Island. ”
Commander Deng Hua said very firmly, "You will draft operational orders for the 40th and 43rd Armies on the landing island."
On the afternoon of 19 April, Commander Deng Hua sent a telegram ordering the 40th and 43rd Armies, which had already landed, to quickly draw closer, concentrate the strength of the two armies, and adopt the method of encircling points to provide reinforcements to meet the enemy's decisive battle. The 40th Army was ordered to surround the enemy in Chengmai, and the 43rd Army attacked the huangzhu and Meiting lines northeast of Chengmai to block the direction of Haikou to help the enemy, looking for opportunities to annihilate the enemy in the movement.
After receiving the telegram order from the corps command post, the 40th Army and the 43rd Army attacked and advanced to the designated area on the evening of the same day (19th).
At 8 o'clock on April 20, the forward commander of the corps received a telegram report from the command post of the 43rd Army. At 7:00 a.m. on the 20th, the main force of the army, 3 regiments and 1 battalion, entered the Huangzhu and Meiting areas, and encountered the headquarters of the 252nd Division of the 32nd Army and 1 battalion of the 755th Regiment and the 754th Regiment, which were reinforced by Jiaji by car. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 382nd Regiment of the 128th Division of our army quickly surrounded the attacking enemy in Huangzhu, Meiting, and Dalu Cities; the main force of the division simultaneously occupied the areas around Jialing, Nali, and Tancheng, while the 379th Regiment of our 127th Division and the 1st Battalion of the 381st Regiment occupied the front-line positions of Fengmenling, Pingdingshan, and Naidaishan to block the enemy.
The enemy's 5 and a half divisions of mobile units for the campaign were reinforced one after another. The reinforcements of the enemy concentrated 2 battalions of the 151st Division, 2 battalions of the 754th Regiment of the 252nd Division, 2 regiments of the Instructor, and the 153rd and 163rd Divisions of the 62nd Army, and launched a fierce attack on the positions of Jialing, Tancheng, Fengmenling, and Pingdingshan occupied by our army.
After receiving the telegram report from the 43rd Army, Commander Deng Hua said to me: "The decisive battle between our army and Xue Yue has thus begun. Our 43rd Army will advance to the enemy's enemy headquarters at Huangzhu and Meiting, 1 regiment and 1 battalion, but all the enemy's campaign maneuvers and 5 and a half divisions have come up, while our 43rd Army has only 3 and a half regiments of strength, and it is likely to be surrounded by an enemy several times more than our army. That is to say, our army surrounded the enemy in Huangzhu and Meiting.
The enemy is likely to encircle our army inside from the periphery, leaving our army in a counter-encirclement and being attacked by the enemy. The enemy is outnumbered, and this puts our army in a very difficult situation. I believe that the troops of the 127th and 128th Divisions of the 43rd Army can fight such a difficult and hard battle, and you immediately draft a telegram ordering the 43rd Army to overcome all difficulties, hold its position, and hold the enemy tightly. At the same time, the 40th Army was immediately informed of this situation, and the 40th Army, which was advancing toward Chengmai, was ordered to rush to the aid of Meiting along the Chengmai (Mai) Qiong (Mountain) Highway, and quickly reinforced the 43rd Army in battle, demanding that the army overcome fatigue, fight continuously, and at all costs, take forced marches and rush forward to the rear flank of the enemy attacking us, and cut off the enemy's rear road. The enemy was completely surrounded in the southeast area with Huangzhu and Meiting as the axis. And with the 43rd Army, it should cooperate with the outside to gather and annihilate the enemy's mobile units in the campaign. ”
I immediately followed commander Deng Hua's determination and drafted a telegram order to be sent to the 40th Army at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 21st. The 43rd Army, which had already encountered the enemy's campaign reserves in the area of Huangzhu and Meiting, was in the midst of our army encircling the enemy army, and the enemy army surrounded our army, so that our 43rd Army was in an unfavorable situation of fighting on both sides, and was stubbornly fighting fiercely with the enemy, so that the 40th Army, after receiving the telegram order, immediately adopted a forced march, and the rapid march to Huangzhu and Meiting, cut off the enemy's retreat, and surrounded the enemy who attacked our 43rd Army. The telegram was also sent to the 43rd Army, letting it know that the 40th Army would soon arrive, in order to strengthen their confidence and determination to continue the battle.
After the telegram orders to the two armies were issued, I saw that Commander Deng Hua had not rested for dozens of hours since he had set off from the landing troops, and he was really too tired, so I wanted to make him relax for a while, so I deliberately found some topics that he knew. I said, "I understand the combat characteristics and fighting style of the 127th and 128th Divisions. The landing force of the 127th Division, his predecessor was the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, the famous 'Iron Army', the division was the most daring and the best at fighting hard battles, field combat was their best play, fighting crazy, the momentum came up, they would not be afraid of the sky. In the Liaoshen Campaign, the annihilation of the Kuomintang Liao Yaoxiang Corps, that is, the division and the 129th Division in the Lijia shack area in Xinmin territory, also fought in the encounter, the enemy exceeded the division several times, they fought with the enemy for nearly 40 hours, they forced the enemy to resist, blocked the Liao Yaoxiang Corps to escape to Shenyang. It is guaranteed that our army will annihilate Liao Yaoxiang's corps. The 128th Division was a well-known tiger in siege depth operations, and after attacking Jinzhou and Tianjin, the division quickly entered the urban area and interspersed operations, capturing more than 10,000 enemy troops each time.
Even the 1st Column (i.e., the 38th Army), the 2nd Column (i.e., the 39th Army), and the 3rd Column (i.e., the 40th Army) admired these 2 divisions. Commander, you can rest assured that no matter how difficult they are, they will be able to withstand the enemy's attack. ”
Commander Deng smiled and said, "I'm very relieved, you don't have to worry about me." "We all laughed.
The foremost officer of the corps kept receiving telegrams from the 43rd Army on the progress of the battle and the determination and disposition of the commanders of the army and divisions.
The 43rd Army, with the strength of 3 and a half regiments, internally, surrounded 2 regiments and 1 division of the enemy in Huangzhu and Meiting, and was still unable to annihilate; externally, it resisted the attack of 5 divisions of the enemy, and was in an extremely difficult situation of fighting on both sides. From 7 o'clock on April 20 to 10 o'clock on the 21st, they not only resolutely resisted the enemy's attack, but at the same time launched an attack on the enemy who was surrounded by the 128th Division, and at 10 o'clock on the 21st, they annihilated all 1 regiment and 5 companies of the enemy surrounded by our army in Huangzhu, and still tightly surrounded the enemy's 252nd Division and the 755th Regiment in the village of Meiting.
After receiving the telegram report from the 43rd Army, Commander Deng Hua was very happy. I said to me: "The 43rd Army is worthy of being one of the main forces of the Four Wilds to fight a good battle; they have handled the enemy very well in the face of the enemy being outnumbered, and on the one hand, resisting the attack of the external enemy, and at the same time concentrating their forces to quickly annihilate the enemy of Huangzhu, it is equivalent to cutting off one hand and one foot of the enemy, so that the enemy surrounded by us is only one trapped in Meiting, destroying the situation of the enemy of Huangzhu and Meiting, and causing the enemy of Meiting to lose support." They played very well. ”
I said, "Whether to send a telegram praising and encouraging them while reminding them that their hardest fighting will be in daylight on the 21st." I calculated that the troops of the 40th Army would not reach the area east of Meiting until dusk on the 21st. ”
Deng Hua said, "Draft a telegram to the 43rd Army." Can the radio now connect with the 40th Army?"
I said: "Now that the 40th Army is on its way to march in a hurry, and the radio station has not yet been contacted, I have told the radio captain Yang Yutian that I want them all to turn on the aircraft for 24 hours without hesitation to listen to the radio signals of the two armies and divisions, and not to miss a code word or a telegram." ”
The corps forward commander still received constant telegrams from the 43rd Army.
After 10 o'clock on April 21, the enemy reinforcements arrived one after another, the enemy's Qiongbei Fortress Column and the provisional 13th Division also threw themselves into battle, the enemy aircraft rushed out to bomb and strafe our army's positions, the enemy artillery bombarded our army's positions with fierce firepower, covering and supporting the enemy's ground troops to attack our army's positions more violently, and the enemy's offensive spearheads were mainly pointed at Jialing and Fengmen Ridge, which were held by our 127th Division, and the two places were the most fierce, several times or even more than ten times that of our enemy, against the positions of the 127th Division and the 128th Division of the 43rd Army. Extremely violent rotational attacks were carried out. Our 43rd Army carried forward the fighting style of being brave and tenacious and not afraid of sacrifice, and resolutely withstood the crazy attacks of the enemy.
We defended the 127th Division of Fengmen Ridge and repelled 13 consecutive attacks by 5 battalions of the enemy, especially the 1st company of the 381st Regiment defending the 105th heights, and the fight was extremely tenacious and fierce, and the company only had 13 wounded left, but still resolutely held the position.
Throughout the day of April 21, the 43rd Army and the attacking enemy fought a very fierce battle in the Meiting and Huangzhu areas, which lasted until 17:00 on the same day.
After our 40th Army received the order from the forward commander of the corps at 4 o'clock on April 21, Deputy Commander Han Xianchu immediately ordered the 118th And 119th Divisions to deploy on the spot in the Chengmai area, advance in two directions toward Meiting and bailian north of it, and carry out a pincer attack from the left and right flanks to the rear of the enemy. The shrewd and wise deputy commander of Han Xianchu, he not only went to complete the detour to encircle the enemy in the Meiting and Huangzhu areas and cooperate with the 43rd Army to annihilate the enemy, but he also thought of the next move and quickly went to capture Haikou City. Therefore, he ordered the 358th Regiment to attack and advance in the direction of Qiongshan, south of Haikou City, and cut off the enemy's retreat to Haikou.
On the 21st, the units of the 40th Army marched rapidly during the day and day, braving the bombardment and strafing of enemy planes, not caring about eating, and advancing rapidly and without stopping. At 17:00 on April 21, the main force of the 40th Army rushed to the east and west of Meiting, detoured back to the enemy's flank, and immediately launched a fierce attack from the outside line, that is, behind the enemy side of the attack on the 43rd Army.
Just as our 43rd Army was holding its position with great difficulty and stubbornness, and repeatedly fighting with the attacking enemy in front of the position, at the most critical juncture, it suddenly heard fierce guns and cannons behind the enemy, and judged that it must be the 40th Army of the brotherly unit rushing to the enemy's flank and attacking the enemy. The sound of guns and artillery of the 40th Army's fierce attack on the enemy greatly encouraged all the commanders and fighters of the 43rd Army who were in a predicament and had red eyes, and their spirits were greatly lifted, and they even more bravely charged at the attacking enemy.
The attacking enemy, aware that their flanks and rear had been attacked by our army, were very frightened and worried that their rear road would be cut off by our army, that is, they stopped the attack on our 43rd Army. The 755th Regiment of the enemy 252nd Division, which was surrounded by us in Meiting, tried to escape, and our 128th Division took the opportunity to attack the enemy and annihilate all the enemy. ‘
After the former commander of the corps received reports from the command posts of the 40th Army and the 43rd Army, and after learning that the enemy in the Meiting and Huangzhu areas had stopped attacking our army, I immediately said to Commander Deng Hua: "The enemy did not expect that my troops who crossed the sea and landed would have such a great strength, and they encountered our 43rd Army in the Huangzhu and Meiting areas and launched a fierce attack on me. Overwhelmed with horror. ”
Commander Deng Hua said: "You immediately drafted a telegram to tell the 40th Army and the 43rd Army that the time has come for our army to fight a decisive battle with the enemy on Hainan Island. The troops of the two armies were ordered to overcome all difficulties and, in spite of fatigue, to carry out internal and external attacks on the enemy. If our army must dare to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, victory must belong to our army. Up and down, it is necessary to strengthen the work of encouraging the battlefield, encourage the local spirit, and destroy the enemy with one blow. ”
I quickly sent telegram orders to the 40th Army and the 43rd Army and reported to Lai and Hong of the Guangzhou Corps.
Writing here, I would like to briefly introduce to the reader the situation of the day and night of April 21 at the Corps Command Post.
On April 21, the 43rd Army continued to fight fiercely with the enemy at Meiting and Huangzhu, and the 40th Army rapidly advanced towards Meiting and Huangzhu, encircling the enemy in the Meiting area. On the battlefield, our army and the enemy are at the peak of the decisive battle. Commander Deng Hua and the comrades at the corps command post were also working intensely and in an orderly manner day and night. Commander Deng Hua and I waited in the war room for telegram reports from the 43rd and 40th Armies. From time to time we received telegrams from the 43rd Army or telegrams reporting the situation, and I knew that at this time Commander Deng Hua appeared to be very calm and self-assured on the surface, but inside he was very anxious. Because since 7 o'clock on April 20, the 43rd Army, with the strength of 3 and a half regiments, has not only surrounded the enemy of Meiting, but also had to resist the continuous onslaught and attack of more than 5 divisions of the enemy. The contrast between the strength of our army and the enemy is extremely large. The fierceness and difficulty of the whole day of fighting on April 20 was entirely conceivable to him, a battle-hardened senior commander, and how he was not in a hurry. On this day neither of us spoke very often, and the house was quiet. From time to time he asked me, "Where is the 40th Army?" Didn't you receive their telegram?" I replied, "The 40th Army is in a hurry toward Mei Ting, and it will not set up a radio station in the middle of the way, and it will not receive the telegrams from them." It is estimated that when we received a telegram from the command post of the 40th Army, it was certain that they had reached the rear of the enemy's flank. "In fact, I was even more anxious, wanting to receive code words or telegrams from the 40th Army soon.
Since the large-scale crossing of the sea on the evening of April 16, Commander Deng and comrade Qianzhi have not rested for 5 days and nights, and Commander Deng has smoked one cigarette after another in order to understand the difficulties and relieve fatigue. I was so sleepy that I sat and took a nap. The whole nerve is always in high tension, I don't want to eat anything, I can't eat it, I only drink a little porridge, so that there is something in my stomach. When I think of the commanders and fighters who crossed the sea and landed in the 2 armies, since they set sail, they have not distinguished between day and night, nor have they cared about eating, drinking, and resting, they have been fighting with the enemy for five or six consecutive days, and now they are fighting a decisive battle with the enemy, and the heroic commanders and fighters are fighting with the enemy in Meiting and Huangzhu. Our nervousness in the command post is nothing.
Our Navy Crossing Corps is carrying out a large-scale sea crossing operation with wooden sailing ships without precedent. After the successful landing of our army, it immediately developed its attack in depth, and in the process of attacking, it encountered the enemy who counterattacked us in the Meiting and Huangzhu areas, and launched a siege and annihilation war. When my 43rd Army surrounded and annihilated the enemy, all of the enemy's campaign reserves and more than 5 divisions came up, and the landing force of our 43rd Army had only 3 and a half regiments of troops, surrounded by many enemies, and all the commanders and fighters had no fear, and engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. In spite of fatigue, bombing and strafing by enemy aircraft, our 40th Army quickly caught up and surrounded all 5 divisions of the enemy attacking our 43rd Army from the outside line. The rapid arrival of the 40th Army has brought the tide of battle sharply, and has immediately changed from the enemy's counter-encirclement into a decisive battle between the enemy and our armies; such a decisive battle in a campaign is a test and competition of the tenacious perseverance and will of the commanders of the enemy and us, a test and competition of the wisdom and boldness of the commanders of both sides, a test and competition of the organizational and command ability of the headquarters of the two sides, and a test and competition of the combat effectiveness of the commanders and fighters of both sides.
Seeing commander Deng Hua was too engrossed, already too tired. I thought that I should relax and relax the atmosphere, and without waiting for him to ask me about the situation of the 40th Army, he took the initiative and said: "I think that after receiving the order, the 40th Army must be running rapidly towards Meiting, so their radio has not been set up for an intermittent time."
Looking at Commander Deng picking up a cigarette and lighting it, without stopping me, I continued to say knowingly: "The 40th Army is one of the four main forces in my Four Fields, and they fought heroically in the battle of 'Sibao Linjiang' in the northeast, under the extremely cold conditions of changbai mountain, and in the summer, autumn, and winter offensive launched by the northeast field army in 1947, they went out of Changbai Mountain to meet with our troops in northern Manchuria and western Manchuria, fought in coordination, and fought very well." For example, in the winter offensive, it fought in coordination with the 2nd Column (39th Army) and the 6th Column (43rd Army), jointly annihilated the enemy's new 5th Army at Wenjiatai, and then jointly conquered Siping with the 1st Column and the 7th Column (44th Army) under your command. In the Liaoshen Campaign, the army (note: at that time, the 40th Army was the 3rd column) and the 2nd column side by side to break through Jinzhou City and other battles were very successful, the 118th Division of the army was one of the main divisions of Siye, often directly under the command of the Headquarters of Siye, and the 119th Division was also a first-class division in Siye. Now these 2 divisions are on Hainan Island, these 2 divisions are fighting side by side, no one will let anyone, but a big competition, will definitely compete in the prestige of the main force. ”
After a pause, I continued: "It seems that the 40th Army cannot do without Commander Han Xianchu, after crossing the Yangtze River, when the Corps was established, Han Xianchu was transferred to the 12th Corps as deputy commander, and someone else served as the commander of the 40th Army, but soon Han Xianchu returned to the 40th Army and was also the commander. Now the 40th Army is under his personal command on the island. You will definitely follow your orders and quickly rush to Meiting to fight alongside the 43rd Army and complete the roundabout encirclement mission of the campaign. I calculated that at dusk today (21st), the army could reach Meiting and Huangzhu. ”
Commander Deng Hua listened to me say this, and he also said, "Yes, the 1st 40th Army and the 43rd Army are the main forces of the Four Fields. The divisions that crossed the sea and landed were all tigers, and I knew and was very relieved about this. Han Xianchu of the 40th Army received orders for them to quickly rush to Meiting and Huangzhu to participate in the decisive battle with the 43rd Army, and his fierce strength would surely burst out quickly. He would desperately rush to Mei Ting and Huang Zhu. In this case, he will not stop resting, nor will he rush to send me a report, he must be more anxious than us!" With that, Commander Deng stood up and rubbed his hands and legs, and walked around, this was his activity, and I achieved the purpose of making the atmosphere a little lighter.
It was not until about 17:00 on the same day (21st) that the front finger of the corps received code words and telegrams from the 40th Army.
The first code word we received was: "After the main force of our army reached the meiting side, it had already fought with the enemy." ”
I read this code word to Commander Deng Hua, and he smiled, breathed a sigh of relief, and was anxious all day, and finally let go.
A telegram was then received from the 40th Army reporting on the specific actions of the Corps after receiving the corps' orders.
Commander Deng Hua immediately asked me to draft a telegram: Now that our 40th Army and 43rd Army have met and fought side by side, this is a great opportunity to annihilate the 5 and a half divisions of the enemy's entire campaign reserve.
The corps was determined to carry forward the fine work style of fighting continuously without fear of fatigue and sacrifice; the 43rd Army resolutely and courageously attacked the attacking enemy from the inner line, and the 40th Army quickly completed the encirclement of the enemy from the outer line, and immediately launched an attack on the enemy and launched a decisive battle with the enemy. Then quickly pursue haikou city and quickly occupy haikou city.
On the night of 21 April, after receiving the order from the forward commander of the corps, our 40th And 43rd Army immediately adjusted their deployment and launched an attack on the enemy overnight. The 40th Army quickly cut off the rear road of the enemy attacking our 43rd Army, surrounded the enemy army, and formed the situation that our 43rd Army attacked the enemy from the inside and the 40th Army from the outside. Our army engaged the enemy's short soldiers, fought repeatedly, and fought fiercely all night. By dawn on the 22nd, the enemy's 62nd Army, 32nd Army, 64th Army, their divisions and instructors had been divided and surrounded by our 40th Army and 43rd Army, respectively.
After dawn on April 22, our 40th Army and 43rd Army met in victory in the Meiting area. The two armies and each unit took advantage of the victory to encircle and pursue the fleeing enemy. In the bailian city area, the enemy 62nd Army headquarters was destroyed, and the 153rd Division and 163rd Division were annihilated one each, and the 252nd Division of the 32nd Army, the Instructor, and the 64th Army and most of the divisions were annihilated.
The entire decisive battle time was actually only 48 hours, that is, from 7 o'clock on April 20 to 7 o'clock on April 22, and our crossing corps won the decisive battle of Meiting and Huangzhu. This was a decisive victory in the sea crossing and landing operation, thus speeding up the liberation of Hainan Island.