Author: Lan Yan also fell into the city
In the spring of 1947, Hu Zongnan, who was still immersed in the joy of capturing Yan'an, was suddenly hit by a stick, and the Northwest Field Army led by Peng Dehuai ate one of his brigades at Qinghua.
This fiasco, although it did not hurt Hu Zongnan, also made his self-confidence a lot of discounts. After all, Li Jiyun, the commander of the 31st Brigade before the war, had reported to him the changes in the Northwest Field Army. As a result, because of his subjective arbitrariness, he buried a brigade in vain.
In the face of defeat, Hu Zongnan no longer dared to easily show off his "art of command," so he ordered Dong Zhao's reorganized 1st Army and Liu Jie's reorganized 29th Army to march in accordance with Shangfeng's clear and clumsy method of "square tactics", and the two armies marched side by side, and did not give the Northwest Field Army the opportunity to break through each one. If the Northwest Field Army is willing to fight a decisive battle, it will fight a decisive battle with it; if it is not willing, it is enough to drive them to the yellow side of the Yellow River.
Don't you say, this stupid method is quite effective. In the face of the enemy advancing in parallel, it is impossible for our army to fight an ambush battle again. After many days of circling with it, Peng Dehuai never caught the opportunity to make a move, so he had to hide the main force. Every day, small units were dispatched to use the sixteen-character principle of guerrilla warfare: "The enemy advances and retreats, the enemy garrisons us to disturb, the enemy wears me out, and the enemy retreats and I pursue" and the enemy army plays hide-and-seek in the big ravine in northern Shaanxi, dragging the enemy down as much as possible.
Dragging on until April 6, our army finally seized an opportunity to stab the 12th Brigade of Liu Jie's army, which was in charge of the rear of the palace, north of the town of Yongping, and annihilated hundreds of enemy troops. Liu Jie was like a bird with a frightened bow, and he had no intention of fighting at all, and quickly withdrew to Yongping.
After Hu Zongnan heard that he had discovered the main force of our army in the Panlong area, he immediately sent a telegram ordering the entire 1st Army and the entire 29th Army to encircle our army. He also ordered the 135th Brigade stationed at Wayaobao to march south through the Yangma River to respond to the combined encirclement of the 1st Army and the 29th Army.
It is reasonable to say that such a military transfer is of the essence of top secret. It's just that Zhou Gong has already installed a red agent next to Hu Zongnan. This person was Xiong Xianghui, then Hu Zongnan's confidential secretary. This top-secret information soon reached the hands of Zhou Gong. Based on this information, the decision-making level ordered the Northwest Field Army to eat the 135th Brigade at the Yangma River.
After Peng Dehuai received the order, he was very excited, and finally had the opportunity to "eat meat" again. An emergency meeting of the commanders of the columns and brigades was immediately convened.
When the commanders of all walks of life arrived at the command post, Peng Dehuai had already asked the combat staff officer to obtain the first-hand information of the 135th Brigade. He said that the predecessor of the 135th Brigade was the 135th Division, which was originally under the command of the Sixth Theater. During the breakthrough of the Central Plains, he followed Wang Zhen's 359th Brigade to Shaanxi and was "adopted" by Hu Zongnan. It was only last month that it was reorganized into the 135th Brigade of the 17th Division of the 29th Army. Acting Brigade Commander Mai Zongyu was the fourth phase of Huangpu, participated in the Northern Expedition, and was also a character who could fight and fight.
Peng Dehuai took a bowl of water from the table, took a sip, and continued: "The key to the encirclement and annihilation of the 135th Brigade this time is two points: First, it is to resolutely block Liu Jie and Dong Zhao and buy time for the enemy to encircle and annihilate the Yangma River; second, it is necessary to make a quick decision and try to reduce the pressure on the reinforcements. Two points are indispensable, and if you lose a little, you may be attacked back and forth by the enemy, and the consequences are unimaginable. ”
Who will give the task of blocking?
Peng Dehuai thought about it for a long time and decided to give the task of blocking the attack to Yi Zong. He said to deputy commander Zhang Zongxun: "You take a column disguised as the main force, and fight and retreat, leading the enemy to the west." ”
On April 12, the 358th Brigade of the 1st Column exchanged fire with Dong Zhao's entire 1st Army. At the beginning, our army opened fire and attacked with great intensity. Dong Zhao was even more convinced that the main force of the Northwest Field Army was undoubtedly opposite, and quickly reported to Hu Zongnan, asking Liu Jie to quickly move closer to him, and the 135th Brigade accelerated to the south, striving to attack on three sides and annihilate the Northwest Field Army in one fell swoop. Hu Zongnan was overjoyed to hear the news and immediately issued an order according to Dong Zhao's information.
Peng Dehuai entrusted the heavy task of blocking Liu Jie to the 1st Brigade of the 1st Column and the 7th Garrison Regiment. He said to Wang Shangrong, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Brigade: "The 135th Brigade is Liu Jie's unit, and whose children are distressed. Once Liu Jie knew that the 135th Brigade was under siege, he would definitely go all out to rescue him, and your pressure was great. Wang Shangrong "snapped" a standing upright, saluted a military salute, and said: "Please rest assured General Peng, guarantee the completion of the task!" ”
In the early morning of April 14, the 135th Brigade, which had just completed the handover with the changing defense force, rushed south. Mai Zhongyu sought merit and decided to adopt the method of combat readiness marching, with the 405th Regiment as the vanguard, another battalion as the left and right flank guards, and the brigade headquarters and other directly subordinate companies as the headquarters, marching rapidly south along the Wapan Avenue.
At this time, Mai Zongyu thought in his heart that the main force of the People's Liberation Army was engaged in a fierce battle with the entire 1st Army and the entire 29th Army, and it was gradually defeated and retreated. If he rushes over now, he will not have to make any effort to divide up and destroy the great achievements of the Northwest Field Army.
However, by this time, the 358th Brigade of our army had already attracted Dong Zhao's five brigades to the west of the Yangma River; the 1st Independent Brigade also quietly launched a decisive battle on the south side of the Yangma River, preparing to attack the entire 29th Army, which was also moving northward; and the New 4th Brigade, the 2nd Column, and the Teaching Brigade had already arranged a large pocket on the Yangma River to wait for the arrival of the 135th Brigade.
Mai Zhongyu and his troops came from north to south with great joy. When we reached the north side of the Sanlang fork, we suddenly heard the sound of gunfire, and the figures of field troops were on all sides. Mai Zhongyu was not in danger, quickly calmed down, and ordered the 405th Regiment of the Vanguard to seize the high ground on the left and cover the breakthrough of the brigade headquarters; the 404th Regiment quickly opened the gap with a battalion as the vanguard. The remaining two battalions of the 404th Regiment occupied the heights on the right to consolidate and strengthen the existing positions.
In such an urgent situation, Mai Zhongyu was busy and not chaotic, commanded freely, and was also an "excellent" commander in Jiang's army. Unfortunately, he was born at the wrong time and met a group of people who were more cattle than him. Let's take a look at the luxurious lineup that besieged him:
Commander and Political Commissar of the Second Column Wang Zhen (ranked General in 1955)
359 Brigade Commander Guo Peng (1955 Lieutenant General)
Li Quan, Political Commissar of the 359th Brigade (major general in 1955)
Commander of the 4th Independent Brigade, Dun Xingyun (1955 Lieutenant General)
Yang Xiushan, Political Commissar of the 4th Independent Brigade (lieutenant general in 1955)
Luo Yuanfa, Brigade Commander and Political Commissar of the Teaching Brigade (Lieutenant General, 1955)
New 4th Brigade Commander Zhang Xianyue (1955 Lieutenant General)
Huang Zhentang, Political Commissar of the New 4th Brigade (awarded Major General in 1955)
The Northwest Field Army gathered in a crowd of stars to wait for work, and 4 brigades surrounded and annihilated one of Mai Zhongyu's brigades. Even if he was Sun Monkey, he couldn't escape the Five Finger Mountain of the Buddha. In addition to ordering his subordinates to fight to the death, he kept sending reports to Hu Zongnan for help.
It was only at this time that Hu Zongnan understood that Dong Zhao's entire 1st Army was pursuing all the way to the west, only a small number of feint troops of the Northwest Field Army, and the real main force was casting a net on the Yangma River to round up his 135th Brigade.
Hu Zongnan was in a hurry in the war room, when his deputy chief of staff, Xue Minquan, walked over to persuade him: "Commander, although the 135th Brigade is now surrounded, it has also exposed the true position of the enemy's main force. As long as the two commanders of The Two Armies, Dong and Liu, were ordered to quickly advance toward the Yangma River, they would be able to carry out a counter-encirclement and annihilate the main force of the enemy army in the Yangma River area. ”
When Hu Zongnan heard that he was justified, he immediately loudly ordered: Dong Zhao's troops must be pushed westward and must reach the Yangma River within two hours; Liu Jie's troops must accelerate their advance to the north and attack from the right flank of the communist army; and the 135th Brigade must hold out for help. In addition, immediately send aircraft to assist in the battle. ”
However, at this time, Dong Zhao's troops had been attracted by the 358th Brigade of our army to a place more than 100 miles west of the Yangma River, so how could they have reached the Yangma River within two hours? Besides, he didn't want to arrive, and a while ago, because Liu Jie saw that he was dead and could not be saved, his 31st Brigade was completely destroyed. The only thing that really struggled to move forward was the entire 29th Army. However, the 1st Independent Brigade of our army has been waiting for a long time in the Yangma River, and no matter how the enemy's entire 29th Army attacks, the positions commanded by Wang Shangrong will remain unmoved.
Three hours passed, and the 405th Regiment of the 135th Brigade lost several of its original positions and was completely defeated by the new 4th Brigade, and the 404th Regiment also became the end of the crossbow. Mai Zhongyu stood on the top of the hill and was at a loss for words, and the guns of the entire 29th Army and the field army in the south could be clearly heard, but the entire 29th Army could not come over. The entire 1st Army to the west did not move at all. Our field army gradually approached, and the enemy's 404 regiment was completely destroyed. In less than 4 hours, more than 4,700 people of the 135th Brigade were all annihilated, and the brigade commander Mai Zhongyu was captured.
When the news of the total annihilation of the 135th Brigade reached Hu Zongnan's headquarters, Hu Zongnan was suddenly confused, and in less than a month, the Northwest Field Army ate nearly 9,000 of his men. At this rate, his own little family will be defeated in two years. He remembered the note that the chairman had left for him in the cave when he attacked Yan'an: "You can't advance, you can't retreat. Now, he's really in a dilemma.
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