At the end of 1948, less than two months after the start of the Huaihai Campaign, the Kuomintang army in the Xuzhou area was irretrievably declining, and had to retreat south on all fronts, trying to retreat to the south of the Huai River, relying on the Huai River defense line to shield Nanjing. On November 30, 300,000 Kuomintang troops inside and outside Xuzhou retreated south under the leadership of Du Yuming, deputy commander of the "Suppression Commandery".
Du Yuming's group fell into a desperate situation of isolation and helplessness
The final annihilation of the Huaihai Campaign began
However, considering that once Du was destroyed, the Kuomintang army would only be left with Fu Zuoyi's clique entrenched in the Pingjin area in Jiangbei, and Fu Zuoyi was likely to flee because it was difficult to defend alone; in order to stabilize Fu Zuoyi and ensure that he was wiped out in the Pingjin area, the East China Field Army, in accordance with the orders of the Central Military Commission, "encircled but did not fight" for a long time, and did not launch a general offensive on the whole line until 6 January 1949.
The siege lasted for more than one month, so that the enemy in the encirclement was already exhausted, and the East China Field Army defeated or eliminated its 13 regiments on the same day, and the remaining enemy was also terrified and had no more heart to fight. Du Yuming remained silent in the headquarters all day, and Qiu Qingquan, commander of the 2nd Corps, who had always been arrogant, also went against the norm, sitting in front of the enemy's situation map all day long, sighing, and repeating in his mouth: "Really collapsed! Really collapsed!" By 2 p.m. on the 9th, Li Mi's 13th Corps, which was fighting side by side with the 2nd Corps, had really collapsed on its entire front, and the 2nd Corps' defensive line was also in danger.
Qiu Qingquan stills
The commander fled to the military headquarters, but was rejected by his subordinates
Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan were frightened, so they left Chenguanzhuang where the corps headquarters was located with a company as a guard, and ran to Chenzhuang, a few miles away, where the 5th Army of American equipment was stationed, which was China's first mechanized army. Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan both served as commanders of the Fifth Army and led the army to fight everywhere; Xiong Xiaosan, who is currently serving as the commander, is also a close confidant of Du and Qiu.
Therefore, Du and Qiu decided that when this was critical, Xiong Xiaosan was absolutely reliable, and the 5th Army was also the safest here, so they came here on purpose. But as soon as the two entered the Chenzhuang Military Headquarters, the artillery fire of the East China Field Army extended all the way from Chenguanzhuang to here. Xiong Xiaosan complained in front of Du and Qiu: "After 40 days of fighting, Chen Zhuang never shot down the shells, and the Corps Headquarters just came, and the enemy's shells also came, this is because too many people have come to expose the relationship between the targets." At dinner, because there were too many people and not enough chopsticks, he complained on the spot: "How can there be so many things to eat when so many people come?"
Du Yuming stills
refused to be persuaded but was helpless
Although they were not welcomed, Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan really had nowhere to go, so they had to stay in the army's shelter and face each other silently. Smoke billowed from the outside of the shelter, light and heavy machine guns and grenades exploded one after another, and tracer bullets of various colors flew around like countless meteors, further highlighting the dilemma of being besieged and helpless in the encirclement. During this period, Qiu Qingquan's corps chief of staff Li Hanping and others came forward to persuade Du and Qiu to lead the uprising, but Qiu Qingquan already had the heart of death and resolutely opposed the uprising.
At noon the next day, the position of the 5th Army was also completely breached, and the whistle of the East China Field Army and the shouts of prisoners were everywhere, and the contact between the 2nd Corps and its subordinate armies was also intermittent, and it was already a matter of time before the entire army was destroyed. Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan knew that they were dying and that there was no need for any resistance, so they simply ordered all the armies to find their own way of life, and they would not interfere with it anymore.
The Battle of Huaihai ended victoriously
Breaking through alone and finally going to a dead end
Subsequently, Du Yuming and others also decided to break through, but in addition to Qiu Qingquan by his side, there were only Li Hanping, Xuzhou garrison commander Tan Fulie, and the commander of the engineer battalion of the 200th Division of the 5th Army 3 people, and the five of them put their right hands on the left shoulder of the previous person, and broke through to the southwest gap of Chenzhuang together. However, as soon as they left Chenzhuang, they quickly dispersed because of the crowding of people and horses, and the fact that they couldn't recognize the direction after dark.
Du Yuming was captured the next day near Zhanglaozhuang in Zhangzhuang Zhai Town, Xiao County, while Qiu Qingquan was killed by a stray bullet, and the Huaihai Battle ended in victory.