Some people look back on their lives, like to write about the shining points, and carry out a lot of literary creations, eager to let the whole world know. Some people are just the opposite, revisiting the road they have walked, and all they think of is summary and reflection, and Mr. Peng Dehuai and Mr. Peng belong to the latter category.
He began to take a back seat in 1959 and had a lot of time to think, and in '66 he was hit again, and after that he often had to write material. At the moment of his dying life, Mr. Peng handed over all the content he wrote actively and passively to his niece Peng Gang.
After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Peng Gang handed over his uncle's efforts to Huang Kecheng, and under the full promotion of General Huang, "Mr. Peng's Self-Statement" was officially published at the end of 1981.
From this, we can see that Mr. Peng's victory in the war years is often brushed aside, but he has made a profound review of his mistakes, and this small detail is also the best embodiment of Mr. Peng's character.
He believes that there are four major defeats in his life, and there happens to be one battle at each stage. So, which are the defeats? What is the result?
1. The Ganzhou Campaign of the Agrarian Revolution
In February 1932, the "left-leaning" leaders decided to seize Ganzhou and then use it as a center to develop northward for the victory of the revolution in Jiangxi. Mr. Peng was appointed as the commander-in-chief and political commissar of the former enemy, and led the Red Third Army, the Red 7th Army, and the Red 4th Army to attack the city.
Because the Red Army had no experience in attacking fortifications, the battle did not go well at the beginning, and they originally wanted to climb the city by ladder, but the enemy's firepower was too fierce to climb up.
Later, it was changed to blasting, but it still had no effect. At the time of the bombing of the south gate, the technology was not in place, which caused the outside of the city wall to collapse, and more than 200 stormtroopers were unfortunately killed.
After fighting for more than half a month, Ganzhou was never taken, and the enemy's reinforcements arrived again, and the Red Third Army fell into the predicament of being surrounded. Fortunately, Chairman Mao urgently transferred the Red Fifth Army, which had not long been reorganized from the uprising, and Mr. Peng and they were saved.
In this battle, the casualties of the Red Third Army Corps were as high as more than 3,000 people, and the commander of the first division, Hou Zhongying, was unfortunately captured and killed. This result made Mr. Peng feel guilty, and he will never forget it decades later.
2. The Battle of Guanjiayuan in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
In late October 1940, about 500 people from the Okazaki Brigade of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army "swept up" our base area, and came to the Huangyadong Arsenal of the Eighth Route Army by mistake and carried out sabotage.
The arsenal is the largest production base of weapons and ammunition behind enemy lines in North China, and is very important to the Eighth Route Army. The location is the junction area of Liao County, Wuxiang County and Licheng County, which has been counted as our hinterland. So Mr. Peng decided to eat this enemy.
On October 28, the Okazaki Brigade wandered to the area of Guanjiayuan, Panlong Town, preparing to seize Daowu Township and return to Qin County. At that time, the 129th Division had just finished the Yuliao Battle and was resting in Panlong Town, and it had an absolute superiority in troops, and Mr. Peng's confidence increased a few points.
On October 29, Mr. Peng arrived in Shimen Village, Panlong Town, and arrived to command the battle. Make a deployment that night:
The 386th Regiment of the 772nd Brigade and the Headquarters Special Service Regiment attacked from the northeast and southeast flanks of Guanjiayuan; The 385th Regiment of the 769th Brigade attacked side by side with the front road from the northwest side of Guanjiayuan; The 1st Column advanced from south to north, pinning down the left flank of the Japanese army on the south side of Guanjiayuan; The new 10th Brigade blocked the westward escape of the Japanese army from west to east.
The north side of Guanjiayuan is a cliff, and the east and west sides are very steep, and there is only one way to attack the south. And there is a willow ridge with similar terrain to the south of Guanjiayuan, which are all hills and can cover each other.
If you have enough firepower, you will be gone with these hundreds of Japanese troops in one indiscriminate bombing. But what the Eighth Route Army lacked was weapons, and it could only rely on the bloody battles of the commanders and fighters.
At 3 o'clock in the morning on October 30, the headquarters special service group took the lead in the surprise attack, which was originally very smooth, but after taking the forward position, it was found that the Japanese had already set up an ambush point here, and their powerful firepower repelled the special service group.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, the general attack began, first the artillery fired a few shots at Guanjiayuan, and then the large army launched a charge on the two hills.
The Japanese also knew that in the plains there were only the lives of annihilation, so they used their positions as a lifesaver and put up stubborn resistance. At the same time, they also called in aircraft support, and the Eighth Route Army, which was attacking with all its might, was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
The Eighth Route Army conquered Liushuyuan several times, but due to lack of experience, it was recaptured by the Japanese army. During the attack, the commander of the 16th Regiment was killed, and the 772nd Regiment repeatedly engaged in white-knuckle battles with the enemy, and when it was replaced in the afternoon, only 6 men remained in the first battalion.
With such a big loss, Chen Geng, the commander of the 386th Brigade, and Liu Bocheng, the commander of the 129th Division, both advised Mr. Peng to retreat temporarily. But Mr. Peng's attitude was very resolute: if he couldn't take Guan Jiayuan, he would revoke the number of the 129th Division, and kill all of them regardless of size.
Unfortunately, the enemy's reinforcements were too fast, and the blocking troops of the Eighth Route Army could not stop the 5,000 Japanese troops, and finally had to withdraw from the battle.
In this battle, more than 10,000 people of the Eighth Route Army failed to annihilate the Okazaki Brigade of about 500 people, and its own casualties far exceeded the total number of the enemy, which was really a painful defeat.
3. The Xifu Campaign of the Liberation War
In April 1948, after a long attack on Luochuan Buke, the Northwest Field Army turned to attack the enemy's weakly defended Xifu area, focusing on capturing Baoji.
Only more than 2,000 national troops were stationed here, but it was a transit point for Hu Zongnan to store grain and ammunition, which could effectively relieve the pressure on Xiye's logistics after it was taken.
On April 16, four columns crossed the Jing River, and the Battle of Xifu began. The initial offensive went very well, and 12 towns were captured in 10 days. On the 26th, the 1st and 2nd columns successfully captured Baoji and captured many trophies.
After Mr. Peng counted, he found that the materials were enough for Xiye for two years, and he was overjoyed. However, before he could start moving, the enemy's counterattack came.
This Baoji not only reserves Hu Zongnan's supplies, but also Ma Jiajun's. Therefore, as soon as possible, he asked his son Ma Jiyuan to lead the reorganization of the 82nd Division to attack Baoji.
With one more enemy, Nishino was under a lot of pressure. The 6th Column was repelled by the entire 82nd Division of the Majia Army in the area of Changwu and Binxian, and the Fufeng and Qishan held by the 4th Column were also broken through by the Pei Changhui Corps under Hu Zongnan.
Pei Changhui's corps came with 5 integrated divisions, plus the mobile 82nd division of the Ma family, it was difficult to resist with only 4 columns in Xiye, so Mr. Peng had to order a retreat.
However, the way back to the base area was not smooth, and the 4th column of the West Field failed to complete the covering task, which caused the Noji to fall into danger for a while, and when he was most embarrassed, the enemy and Mr. Peng were in the same village, and Mr. Peng was even ready to go up the mountain to fight guerrillas.
Fortunately, Mr. He sent troops to respond in time, and the enemy did not dare to chase after him.
During the entire battle, Nishino suffered as many as 15,000 casualties. At that time, the total number of troops was only 75,000, and they lost one-fifth of it at once, and their vitality was greatly damaged.
4. The Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
This battle was regarded as the biggest defeat of our army in foreign warfare, and the 60th Division of the 180th Army of the Volunteer Army was beaten for a long time and lost its combat effectiveness.
At first, it fought well in the offensive phase, and once broke through the enemy's defense line on the North Han River, forcing the enemy to retreat again and again. But due to logistical untenacy, an order to retreat was issued.
On May 21, 1951, the Volunteer Army Headquarters issued an order to the whole army, requiring Unity to move north on the evening of the 23rd.
However, after the order was issued, Shiji gave a separate order to the 39th Army, asking them to withdraw one day earlier, on the evening of the 22nd. The reason was that the roads were congested, and there was a fear that hundreds of thousands of troops would act collectively to squeeze them.
If there had been no unified retreat time, there would have been no problem in allowing the divisions to move in an orderly manner, but when the order was issued, one of the troops was allowed to go first, which had a very bad effect.
The 3rd Corps did the same, allowing the 15th Army under its command to leave a day earlier. At that time, the 63rd Army, the 180th Division, and the 15th Army were located on a blocking line, and as soon as the 15th Army left, the door to the left flank of the 180th Division was wide open, and the only reliance was the 63rd Army on the right flank.
On the afternoon of May 23, the 63rd Army also left, and before it could say hello to the 180th Division, the 180th Division became the salient of the entire Volunteer Army and was isolated south of the North Han River.
Because the 3rd Corps issued an order to hold on to their positions and wait for the wounded to be transported before they could be evacuated. The 180th Division carried out mechanically until it was surrounded on three sides before it hurriedly crossed the Bukhan River.
After crossing the river, the 180th Division had a chance to leave, but the Third Corps telegraphed again, asking them to hold out until they finished transporting the wounded, and basically cut off the vitality of the division.
Although Wei Jie, the commander of the 60th Army, tried to respond several times, the more mobile American troops repelled the reinforcements every time, and finally Wei Jie smashed the radio station and dispersed to break through. The 180th Division, which had 11,300 men when it entered the dynasty, was only nearly 4,000 when it was rebuilt after the war. In the entire fifth battle, the casualties of the volunteers were as high as 75,000.
Of course, Mr. Peng must have commanded more victories, but the merits are insignificant in his eyes, but these defeats make him reflect and feel guilty.
There is no victorious general, and he does not shy away from his imperfections, this state of mind is far beyond too many people!