The Battle of Dayang Lake in the Battle of Dingtao in September 1946 was a vicious battle of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan Field Army. The 18th Brigade of the Sixth Column was the main attack force of Dayang Lake, and the brigade commander Xiao Yongyin later said:
"This battle was a great victory, and the price paid by our army was also great. Luo Yanshan, the commander of the 54th Regiment, hugged me and cried, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and some companies did not have as many remaining soldiers as cooks, and the 52nd Regiment also suffered four or five hundred casualties. ”
The brutality of this battle is not trivial.
In fact, Dayang Lake was just a small village, and the 59th Regiment of the 20th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the enemy was stationed here. Such a village, in fact, for Liu Deng's army, can be fought or not. However, why did Liu Bocheng spend such a big price to lay down it?
From a military point of view, it was Liu Shuai's mastery to fight Dayang Lake.
At that time, the enemy general Zhao Xitian and his division headquarters were in Hanji, northwest of Dayang Lake, and Dayang Lake was like his advance position. When the People's Liberation Army (PLA) captured Dayang Lake, its command organs were exposed to the spearhead of the Sixth Column's attack, and the enemy had to change its deployment. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) could take advantage of his confusion to launch an attack and win in one fell swoop.
In addition, Liu Bocheng fought this battle at a time when the army was in difficulty and the enemy was crazy, and his purpose was not all to capture Dayang Lake or just to fight Zhao Xitian, but to force Lao Jiang to change his operational deployment on Pinghan Road. In this regard, Liu Shuai said at the meeting before the war: "If this battle is not fought, we have to pack up and go back to Taihang Mountain." The troops really need to rest, but they must fight a victory and thwart the enemy's arrogance, and rest is possible. "The first battle changed the overall situation, this is exactly where Liu Shuai's chess is high, and it is also the reason why Dayang Lake must fight, fight and must win.
Therefore, when the Sixth Column went to fight one regiment of the enemy army at Dayang Lake, it was actually two battalions, but Liu Shuai used a full seven regiments to fight. In this regard, Commander Wang Jinshan later said: "This kind of eating the big and eating the small is exactly the determination of Commander Liu to ask us to win, and it is also a foolproof and careful arrangement. Our army paid a big price at this point, but in the overall situation, it was a small price in exchange for a big victory. ”
It is precisely for this purpose that the stronghold of Dayang Lake must be built.
The enemy's 59th Regiment is also an ace regiment of US armaments, with strong combat effectiveness. Therefore, as soon as the battle began, it became very brutal. More than 1,300 people from the 53rd Regiment of the 18th Brigade went into battle, crossed a deer barricade, captured a house, and suffered more than 400 casualties in less than 100 meters. The brigade commander Xiao Yongyin said to the regiment commander with tears in his eyes: "You take a whole company and attack again, don't stop." ”
But he still couldn't attack, Xiao Yongyin ordered the regiment commander: "You organize all the people to go into battle, and you don't hesitate to fight until the last person." "
After fierce fighting until the early morning of the next day, the 18 Brigade finally pressed the enemy down. Liu Shuai asked Xiao Yongyin: "How is it?"
"Basically solved. Xiao Yongyin replied.
Xiao Yongyin later recalled: "When I gave the order to pursue, he (Liu Shuai) did not talk to me, but turned around and chatted with the head of the column. It shows that his heart has also been put down. ”
The Sixth Column defeated Dayang Lake, which really changed the entire battle situation, and then, Liu Bocheng annihilated the entire 3rd Division, then annihilated a brigade of the enemy's 47th Division, then surrounded and annihilated another brigade, and then surrounded the enemy's 125th Brigade of the 41st Division. In the end, the enemy annihilated one reorganized division headquarters and four brigades, totaling more than 17,000 people, in the entire campaign, and won a brilliant and unprecedented victory.
The book "The Ten Marshals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army: The Little-Known History of the Ten Major Commanders of the People's Liberation Army," written by Chen Guanren and published by the CPC History Publishing House, recounted the course of the battle. The book describes the legends of Liu Bocheng and other ten marshals in battle and character, with novel historical data and accurate views, and is the annual bestseller of the society, and has been ranked first on the best-selling list of China's military bestsellers (pictured).