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In 1948, the Battle of Huaihai began as scheduled. The Kuomintang and the Communist Party launched a fateful strategic decisive battle in the Xuzhou area.
Under the command of Su Yu, Huaye and Nakano, who came to help, fought to the death against 800,000 Kuomintang troops.
In the first phase of the campaign, with the collapse of the Kuomintang 7th Corps, the suicide of commander Huang Baitao came to an end. At this point, the victory or defeat of the Huaihai Battle was initially known, and the Kuomintang army began to be surrounded and annihilated by our army step by step. When this good news, which excited the whole army, reached Su Yu's ears, not only did he not have the slightest joy, but fainted on the spot.
Later, General Su Yu's wife also revealed: "Su Yu did not dare to complain to the chairman!"
Why did General Su faint after hearing the news, and why did his wife say that she did not dare to complain to the chairman?
Click to pay attention and walk into the mystery of Su Yu's fainting in the Huaihai Campaign.
Retreat west to Xuzhou
Before the Huaihai Campaign began, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had long made plans for a strategic decisive battle in the Xuzhou central area. At the beginning of November 1948, Gu Zhutong, chief of staff of the Nationalist Government, led Guo Rugui, one of the directors of the Ministry of National Defense, to the front line in Xuzhou to announce to the front-line generals the relevant plans and arrangements of the Kuomintang regarding the "Battle of Xu Beng".
In the combat conference room in Xuzhou, senior Kuomintang generals gathered, including Huang Baitao, who was then the commander of the Seventh Corps.
Huang Baitao was not born in the Whampoa family, and was an outlier among the senior Kuomintang generals. Huang came from a humble background and started as a private soldier of the Beiyang warlords in his early years. With his outstanding looks, he became the herald of the warlord Li Chun.
Li Chun is not very outstanding among the Beiyang warlords, but for him he is a very big official. It was the appreciation of this great official that changed his life. In the days when he served as a herald's personal soldier, he won Li Chun's love with his wit and outstanding appearance. Li Chun not only rewarded him with a servant girl in his house, but also personally sent him to the military academy for further study, hoping to cultivate a reliable general.
At the Nanjing Military Academy, he forgot to sleep and eat, trying to repay the favor of his leadership through excellent results. But his lord Li Chun lost in a brutal warlord competition. After Li Chun's death, he took refuge with the Feng warlord Zhang Zongchang at that time, and still served as a middle-level commander under the Beiyang warlords.
During the Northern Expedition, Zhang Zongchang and other warlords were defeated, and he once again defected to Chiang Kai-shek, who had taken over most of China, and became a member of the Kuomintang army.
Although Huang Baitao seems to be a person who changes hands easily from his resume, he himself admires the traditional concept of loyalty and filial piety. Because of his non-Central Army status, he was not very competitive in the Kuomintang. However, through his outstanding combat ability and unique views on strategy and tactics, he was promoted step by step within the Kuomintang.
After his military thesis was appreciated by He Yingqin, the No. 2 man in the Nationalist government, he began to move to the top of the Kuomintang military command. He Yingqin recommended this talented general to Gu Zhutong, one of Chiang Kai-shek's eight King Kongs. Relying on his courage to fight and his excellent tactical ability, he soon became famous under Gu Zhutong. Gu Zhutong's ability to command operations is very lacking, so he naturally attaches great importance to such a talent and regards him as his confidant.
Even Chiang Kai-shek himself was very important to him, allowing him to go straight to his office and face himself.
After the War of Liberation began, Zhang Lingfu's headquarters was completely annihilated by our army in Menglianggu. Huang Bu was responsible for responding to the attack as a support force, but was scolded by Jiang for failing to complete the task. But after that, Chiang Kai-shek was still promoted to Huang as the commander of the 7th Corps and led his troops to participate in the Huaihai Campaign.
In the Xuzhou Combat Conference Room, General Commander Gu Zhutong laid out the relevant battle plan of the Ministry of National Defense and asked him to lead the 7th Corps to retreat to the west and return to the surrounding areas of Xuzhou. Huang agreed with Gu Zhutong's order, and after the meeting, he returned to his station to carry out the mobilization work before the garrison.
But before the relevant work was arranged, Liu Zhi, the new commander of Xuzhou's "Suppression Chief", called him. On the phone, Liu Zhi strictly ordered the Huang Department not to move without permission, and stayed in the Xin'an Town area for the time being, waiting for the 44th Army, which had also retreated, to go on the road together. He did not agree with Liu Zhi's opinion, but because of Liu's status, he could only accept the order in the end.
But after waiting for a day, the 44th Army, which was supposed to arrive, had no trace at all, but received an urgent telegram from Huaye's troops to occupy Linyi and prepare to encircle the Xuzhou area.
In the face of the crisis, how will Huang Baitao choose? How will he be completely annihilated by our army in the Nian Zhuang area?
The village was completely annihilated
Huang Baitao stayed in Xin'an Town because of Liu Zhi's order, who expected that Huaye's heavy army would attack, and how to choose when it was a critical moment?
Who would have thought that Liu Zhi's order to "go on the road together" would become a life talisman, although he was very angry in his heart, he had to put it aside for the time being and concentrate on finding a way out for the troops. Because of the orders it had received, the 7th Corps did not erect pontoon bridges on the way to the canal that had withdrawn westward. Now, under the condition that Huaye's troops are carrying out operations, if they set up a pontoon bridge and retreat, it is easy to be "attacked halfway" and become Huaye's first strategic goal.
But in order to save the lives of the officers and soldiers of his 7th Corps, he was not surrounded by Huaye in the Xin'an Town area. He could only take the risk and lead his army to retreat from the existing bridge over the canal. But this emergency retreat will undoubtedly cause panic. More than 100,000 people of the 7th Corps were all crammed on the canal bridge. For a time, the originally wide bridge was blocked, and it was difficult to move an inch.
Although Huang was willing to solve the problem, the Kuomintang stragglers did not listen to it at all, and crowded forward vigorously. There is no doubt that under these circumstances, the retreat of the 7 Corps was severely suppressed, and a significant part of the army could only stay on the other side of the canal.
Faced with such a crisis, Huang's heart went up and down. In order to ensure the safe crossing of the river by his troops, he personally came to the headquarters of the 13th Corps behind him to discuss with Li Mi. He hoped that Li Mi's troops would hold Cao Baji and other important areas northwest of Nian Zhuang and provide a safe environment for his troops to cross the river.
However, Li Mi refused his request on the grounds of military orders and insisted on abandoning the strategic rear of the 7th Corps. After Huang's request was fruitless, he returned to the garrisoned area of Nianzhuang. When he was unsettled, the Ministry of Defense sent him an urgent telegram saying that it could be repaired in the village. When he saw the telegram from the Ministry of National Defense, he made a wrong judgment and took advantage of the situation to station the whole army in Nianzhuang to start resting.
But what he didn't expect was that the governor of the 3rd pacification district, who was also behind him, was a member of our party and revolted at a critical moment. Huaye's troops took advantage of the situation and cut off the retreat of the 7th Corps. The pursuers of our army in the direction of the canal also arrived in time and firmly surrounded the 7th Corps in the small mountain village of Nianzhuang.
Nianzhuang is only a few dozen kilometers away from Xuzhou, but for Huangbu, it is indeed an insurmountable abyss. In the face of the heavy encirclement of our army, Huang Buzhi was struggling. After 10 days of siege, most of the 7th Corps was on the verge of collapse. In the face of the siege of our army, the Kuomintang troops of 5 armies huddled in the area of Nianzhuang.
In the absence of weapons and ammunition supplies and daily food resources, the national army suffered heavy losses. In order to wait for the transfer of assets to the commander-in-chief, Shanshan was late, and the next division commander led his troops to surrender, and the army commander was captured by Huaye. The commander of another army was also killed in the battle with Huaye. The rest of the troops, if not bad, had reached their physical and psychological limits.
In order to encourage the 7th Corps, which was tragically surrounded, Chiang Kai-shek personally wrote a letter advising him to hold on to the reinforcements and consider the overall military situation of the Kuomintang. His boss Gu Zhutong even called in person, asking him to stick to Nian Zhuang and wait for Li Mi's troops to come back to rescue. Just when he in-depth inquired about the rescue plan of Li Mi and other troops, Gu Zhutong talked to him. Obviously, the support that Gu Zhutong said was only a verbal guarantee, and it could not be implemented at all.
After Huang Baitao hung up the phone, he realized that he had become an outcast. But he was deeply influenced by traditional thinking, but he was unwilling to betray his master easily.
Even though he knew that the Kuomintang government was using himself as a shield, he was willing to die on the battlefield to apologize.
On November 21, 1948, Huaye troops launched a general offensive to encircle and annihilate the Yellow Corps. After more than ten days of siege, the 7th Corps was already vulnerable, and under the charge of Huaye officers and soldiers, the defense of Nian Zhuang was quickly broken through. Yang Yanyan, the main deputy commander of the Huang Army, immediately grabbed Huang Baitao and began to break through to the outside of the village.
But at this time, they had already fallen into the heavy encirclement of Huaye's troops, and they were destined to be doomed. How will Huang Baitao end his life?
惊喜昏迷
Huang Baitao was under siege, and under the leadership of Yang Yanyan, he successfully broke through from Nian Zhuang. The remnants of the 7th Corps moved to Wuzhuang around Nian Zhuang, hoping to make a final struggle here.
On the night of his arrival in Wuzhuang, Huang and the remaining officers of the 7th Corps made the final breakthrough deployment. However, in the discussion of the meeting that night, everyone did not reach an agreement, and in the end they could only continue to retreat in Wuzhuang.
In just one day, Huaye's troops surrounded again and surrounded Wuzhuang tightly. On the afternoon of the 22nd, Huaye's troops launched a surprise attack, and Huangbu suffered another heavy blow. In the process of retreating, Huang Baitao, as the commander of the corps, was wounded in the leg by our soldiers, and it was difficult to move a single bit.
Seeing that he was about to become a prisoner of the People's Liberation Army, he could no longer bear the influence of the idea of loyalty. At the last moment of his life, he asked Yang Yanyan, the deputy army commander who was by his side, three questions. He cried with a handful of snot and tears, asking why he had to wait for the 44th Army in the first place, why he didn't erect a pontoon bridge over the river during the waiting time, and why Li Mi's corps didn't firmly occupy Cao Baji and other places in the first place.
These questions are not only Huang's inquiries to his subordinates, but also to himself. As the supreme commander of the 7 Corps, the mistakes he made on the first two issues were unforgivable. At the end of his life, he was inspired by this and made this question.
But no one can give him the answer to this question. After asking these questions, he ignored the dissuasion of his subordinate Yang Yanyan and committed suicide with a pistol.
The death of Huang Baitao completely ended the defeat of the 7th Corps of the Kuomintang Army, and also opened the way for the further advancement of the Huaihai Campaign. After the destruction of Huang and his corps, Huaye and Zhongye successively annihilated the two corps of Huang and Qiu, and finally captured Du Yuming alive in Chenguanzhuang, completing the great victory of the Huaihai battlefield. Therefore, the destruction of Huang himself and his corps had an unimaginably huge effect on the entire campaign.
As the main participant in commanding the Huaihai Campaign, Su Yu did not show great excitement like ordinary soldiers after learning the news, but suddenly fainted in the combat command room.
Everyone didn't know what the reason was, so they could only send Su Yu to the hospital for rescue first. Many years later, General Su Yu's wife revealed to everyone that Su Yu was too nervous because of the Huaihai Battle at that time, and he had not slept well for a long time, and he had been waiting for news from the battlefield.
After learning that Huang Baitao had committed suicide, he immediately understood that the 7th Corps had been wiped out by our army. The tense nerves were relieved in an instant, and Su Yu instantly lost his mental support and fainted on the spot.
It is not uncommon for General Su Yu to have a huge psychological pressure because of the huge psychological pressure caused by thinking about the war, which causes fainting. His wife revealed that it was already General Su's old problem, but considering that Chairman Mao was worried about national affairs, in order not to worry the chairman, Su Yu never revealed this matter to the chairman.
As one of the strategic decisive battles of the PLA, the Huaihai Campaign has a status with different repercussions in the history of liberation. If the Liaoshen Campaign reversed the situation of the military strength of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Huaihai completely ruined Chiang Kai-shek's dream of dominating half of the country.
But behind such a huge achievement, it is inseparable from the hard work of General Su Yu. In particular, the Huaihai operation was carried out under the premise of opposing the central government's demand to fight southward, and Su Yuda would face even greater pressure. Before launching the Huaihai Campaign, Chairman Mao had asked Su Yu to lead his army south across the river. However, under Su Yu's request to "stay in the Central Plains to fight a big battle", he agreed to this plan.
But Chairman Mao also asked Su Yu to make a military order, and he must make a name for himself in the Central Plains. No matter who faces this kind of pressure, I am afraid that they will feel scared. It was under such tremendous pressure that Su Yu completed the mobilization and separation of the Kuomintang's 800,000 troops, and finally eroded and eliminated them step by step.
Therefore, after hearing that Huang Baitao committed suicide, General Su understood that the People's Liberation Army was going to set foot in the Central Plains and clear the Quartet. Under such an emotional impact, it makes sense to faint in an instant.
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