In May 1947, Chen Yi and Su Yu commanded the Huaye Army to completely annihilate one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang in Menglianggu - Zhang Lingfu reorganized the 74th Division, which was the first army of Chiang Kai-shek annihilated by the People's Liberation Army and its first-ranked ace army.
The excitement of the battle of Menglianggu is indescribable.
It is worth saying that the total annihilation of Zhang Lingfu in this battle was a joyful counterattack battle after Huaye's defeat in Lianghuai.
The main reason for the defeat of Huaye Lianghuai can be said to be the defeat under the iron heel of the 74th Division.
However, it was this defeat that made Chen Yi and Su Yu begin to list Zhang Lingfu's reorganization of the 74th Division as their number one opponent. Subsequently, they launched many battles to encircle and annihilate Zhang Lingfu.
In the first battle of Lianshui, Su Yu concentrated 28 regiments of Huaye's main force in an attempt to encircle and annihilate Zhang Lingfu under Lianshui City. However, after Zhang Lingfu was heavily damaged in the siege, he quickly contracted and turned from attack to defense, so that Li Yu's goal of encircling and destroying the 74th Division could not be achieved, and he returned with regret.
After the Second World War, Chen Yi and Li Yu once again gathered all the main forces to open the net, preparing to wait for Zhang Lingfu to enter the urn and annihilate in one fell swoop.
However, Zhang Lingfu only built fortifications south of the Liutang River, but he did not take the bait. Su Yu had to cancel the plan and go north to Shandong to find another fighter. Subsequently, Chen Yi set up formations in Subei, Lunan and Laiwu, although he did not fight Zhang Lingfu, and won a great victory in annihilating his enemy.
Zhang Lingfu still couldn't get his hands on it.
In the spring of 1947, Chiang Kai-shek launched a major offensive against Shandong. The Huaye Army fought the enemy in the lofty mountains of the Yimeng Mountains for more than a month, and its main target was still the 74th Division. Who knew that after Chen Su defeated the enemy Li Tianxia's 83rd Division at Qingtuo Temple, due to the lack of concentration of troops, when he continued to attack the 74th Division of Mengyin, Jiebei, and Duozhuang, he was unable to do so, and his plan to annihilate Zhang Lingfu was once again aborted.
In this regard, on May 2, Chen Yi and Su Yu reported to the Central Military Commission:
"From the 30th to the east (1st), this was an excellent opportunity for our army to encircle and annihilate the 74th, 25th, and 65th Divisions and the 7th Brigade. In addition, the 7th and 48th Divisions of the Gui Department had rushed to the south of Qingtuo, and according to the situation at that time, if the 74th Division and other units were still carried out, there was a possibility that the battle situation would be stalemate. Therefore, he decided to retreat and look for another opportunity for foreign enemies... Of the 27 brigades of our army, only 13 brigades participated in the battle, and the rest did not fight, so there was a lot of spare strength, but it was a pity that the opportunity to destroy the 74th Division and other units was lost. ”
Once again, the timing has been lost! Chen and Su felt pity and couldn't help but sigh at Mao Zedong.
Regarding Chen and Su's anxiety, Mao Zedong was confident. He seemed to be more patient than them, and called back to comfort Chen Su and said:
"I learned that Qingtuo Temple annihilated 3,000 enemies, but because the 1st column went to Ningyang, it was too late to concentrate troops to fight the 74th Division and other units, and lost a chance to destroy the enemy. In the current situation, the enemy should be in a hurry, but our side should not be in a hurry. In view of the lessons of Qingtuo Temple, it is especially inappropriate to divide troops...... First, don't be in a hurry, and second, don't divide your troops, as long as the main force is in hand, there will always be a chance to destroy the enemy...... This time, you were bent on dealing with the enemy in the west, but you did not expect the main force of the Tang Corps to move north, and you did not prepare in advance to concentrate the maximum forces in an appropriate position, so that you could attack the 5th Army and the 11th Division from west to east, and you could also attack the 74th Division and other divisions from south to north. When the Qingtuo Temple fought, it was too late to concentrate its forces, but it didn't matter if it lost a chance. When the battle is not good, it is right to avoid the enemy's provocation and be patient and waitby. "
Mao Zedong's teachings immediately calmed Chen Su down.
At this time, in order to tear apart the dense formation composed of the enemy's heavy troops, Chen Yi and Su Yu originally planned to divide their troops into three columns to go south to Lunan and northern Jiangsu, to contain the enemy's rear and attract a group of enemy soldiers to come back to help. However, after receiving Chairman Mao's instructions not to be impatient and not to divide the troops, they suddenly realized that they immediately gave up the original plan of dividing the troops, and Chen Yi ordered: "Immediately assemble the large forces to the east of Laiwu, Xintai, and Mengyin." ”
Huaye's two columns began to assemble and gather their forces. However, Wang Bicheng 6 had already gone far away, and when he reached the west of Xintai, he had no time to come back. Chen Yi had no choice but to order Wang Bicheng to lead his troops to the nearest south, ambush behind the enemy in southern Lunan, and be on standby at all times.
This unintentional decision then became the key to determining the overall outcome in the decisive battle of Meng Lianggu. After the battle began, Wang Bicheng's 6th column just took a shortcut to attack Meng Lianggu, becoming a deadly sword directly behind Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division. That's an afterword.
Due to Mao Zedong's two reminders, Chen Su concentrated his forces in time, began to wait patiently for the fighters, and repeatedly calmly dealt with the enemy. In the end, it was not that Chen Su couldn't hold it, but the enemy general Zhang Lingfu couldn't hold it back, and led his lone army to go deep and distance himself from the main force. Chen Su discovered the fleeting fighter plane, quietly surrounded it with heavy troops, and squeezed Zhang Lingfu's 30,000 troops up Menglianggu Stone Mountain step by step, and after several days of fierce fighting, all the enemy was annihilated, and there was almost no one left.
After the war, Chen Yi said with emotion: "How timely is the reminder and guidance given to us by Chairman Mao at the critical moment!" Don't be in a hurry to calm us down, it is precisely in accordance with his instructions that we have concentrated all the main forces of Huaye that we can eliminate Zhang Lingfu, the big trump card of all American weapons and equipment, in Meng Lianggu! Mao Zedong is so wise! ”
Chen Guanren, the secretary of the CPC History Publishing House's "Ten Marshals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army: The Little-Known History of the Ten Commanders of the People's Liberation Army," recounted this matter. The book is the society's annual bestseller, and once ranked first on the best-selling list of China's military bestsellers (pictured).