On November 6, 1948, the Huaihai Battle officially began, and the death knell of the Fifth Army was also sounded.
On November 6, the East China Field Army, with the cooperation of the Central Plains Field Army, surrounded the Huang Baitao Corps, which had four corps, in the Nianzhuang Wei area east of Xuzhou.
Du Yuming, deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression Commander" and commander-in-chief of the advance headquarters, ordered Qiu Qingquan to lead the Second Corps and Li Mi to lead the 13th Corps to relieve the siege.
At 9 o'clock on November 13, Qiu Qingquan's 2nd Corps and Li Mi's 13th Corps began to launch an offensive on the PLA on all fronts. More than 100 tanks and more than 100 heavy artillery pieces, accompanied by dozens of bombers, frantically attacked an area more than 20 kilometers wide from Dengjialou to Tuanshan on the east side of Xuzhou.
The 10th and 11th Columns of the East China Field Army, which were tasked with blocking the attack, built dense fortifications and trenches like spider webs in an area of more than 40 kilometers from Xuzhou to Nian Zhuangwei. The Kuomintang army had to expend a lot of ammunition for each village they attacked, fought 10 times repeatedly, and paid a heavy price for each step forward.
The hardest and most tragic battles were fought in Sunzhuang and Dengjialou. The attack on Sunzhuang was the 45th Division of the 5th Army, known as the "king of kings". Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan climbed Yuanshan and Lin Tongshan respectively to personally supervise the battle.
The officers and men of the 5th rushed forward like a gray wave, but they were repeatedly blocked by the magical wall of fire composed of rifles, machine guns, grenades, and mortars. This ebb-and-flow tug-of-war lasted more than a dozen rounds, with heavy casualties on both sides. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) that held Sunzhuang was already an unformed force. Staff officers, officers, security guards, communicators, cooks, light and serious wounded......
All went into battle, the regiment commander Xing Yongsheng and the political commissar Long Feihu all picked up their bayonet rifles and became ordinary soldiers. The brutal and fierce bloody battle lasted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the 45th Division of the 5th Army spent thousands of shells and nearly 1,000 casualties before it barely captured Sunzhuang.
"What kind of troops are these, aren't they flesh and blood?" Du Yuming was shocked, he felt that even the bloody battle of Kunlun Pass back then had not been fought so hard and so tragically.
When the 45th Division of the 5th Army fell into a bitter battle in Sunzhuang, the 96th Division of the 70th Army of the Kuomintang also encountered a "hard nail" in Dengjialou. The 96th Division of the 70th Army, which attacked Dengjialou, was an old unit of the 5th Army and had participated in the expedition to Burma. The commander of the division, Deng Junlin, was brave and good at fighting, and was the most effective general under Qiu Qingquan.
After Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan issued the order to attack on all fronts, Deng Junlin mobilized the 105-mm howitzer battalion of the 70th Army and the mountain artillery battalion of the 96th Division, as well as mortars and anti-tank guns of various calibers, to concentrate their firepower on Dengjialou Village. Kuomintang Air Force fighters and bombers also repeatedly strafed and bombed the PLA positions in Dengjialou.
Under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, the officers and men of the 96th Division rushed into Dengjialou Village again and again, but they were all met with head-on attacks by the PLA. The fierce fighting continued until late at night, and the PLA took the initiative to withdraw from its positions in order to reduce unnecessary casualties, and the 96th Division barely captured Dengjialou. The next day, Deng Junlin, commander of the 96th Division, personally supervised the battle, commanded the 286th and 287th regiments to attack in turn, and occupied Wolf Mountain and Drum Mountain in the east of Lin Tong Mountain.
After consuming thousands of shells and bombs, and paying the price of thousands of casualties among officers and men, the Fifth Army advanced only five or six kilometers. According to this style of play, even if it can reach Nian Zhuangwei, the 5th Army will be exhausted.
On November 22, the People's Liberation Army captured Nian Zhuangwei, Huang Baitao's corps was annihilated, and Huang Baitao himself was killed. At this time, the 5th Army was still blocked by the PLA on the front line of Daxu's family, and it was never able to move forward. Du Yuming was disappointed.
Chiang Kai-shek changed his mind, and the Fifth Army was in a desperate situation
If the 5th Army disappointed Du Yuming when it rescued Huang Baitao's corps, then Du Yuming was desperate when it rescued Huang Wei's corps. On November 25, 1948, the Central Plains Field Army surrounded Huang Wei's Corps in the Shuangduiji area west of Su County.
The situation is becoming more and more critical, and Xuzhou is also in danger. In order to keep Qiu Qingquan's 2nd Corps, Li Mi's 13th Corps, and Sun Yuanliang's 16th Corps, Du Yuming proposed to abandon Xuzhou.
He said to Gu Zhutong: "If you want to give up Xuzhou, you can't fall in love with war; If you want to fight, you can't give up Xuzhou. That is to say, if you want to go, you can't fight, and if you want to fight, you can't go. If you give up Xuzhou and come out to fight again, it is equivalent to burying the three corps in Xuzhou immediately. Now the only way to let Huang Wei defend and contain the enemy is that I will withdraw the troops in Xuzhou and reach the areas of Mengcheng, Wuyang and Fuyang through Yongcheng, relying on the Huai River, and then attack the enemy to relieve the siege of Huang Wei. ”
Gu Zhutong sighed and nodded. He understood that according to this plan, Huang Wei's corps might be sacrificed, but being able to rescue the 300,000 troops in Xuzhou could be regarded as a good strategy to lose his pawn and protect his car. Chiang Kai-shek, after weighing it, approved the action plan of "withdrawing without fighting, abandoning Xuzhou".
From November 30 to December 1, the 300,000 troops of the three corps under the jurisdiction of the Kuomintang Xuzhou "Suppression General" evacuated Xuzhou in a hurry, and fled to Xiaoxian and Yongcheng in the southwest.
Not long after Du Yuming left Xuzhou, the East China Field Army detected the movements of the Kuomintang army.
Su Yu was shocked to learn that the enemy had abandoned Xuzhou and fled westward! At this time, the People's Liberation Army was already one day behind the enemy's action, and most of Du Yuming's troops were mechanized corps, if they were allowed to escape and go south to join Huang Wei's corps, it would pose a fatal threat to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping's Central Plains Field Army, and the consequences would be unimaginable!
Su Yu did not delay for even 1 second, and immediately ordered: the Bohai Column entered Xuzhou along the Longhai Road through Daxu's house; The 4th and 12th columns pursued the enemy from Shuanggou, Lanlan, and Panqi respectively to Xuzhou and Xiaoxian; The 9th, 8th, and 3rd Columns and the Luzhongnan Column pursued from Chengyang, Taoshanji, and Lutuan to Wazikou and Suixikou respectively; The 10th Column advanced from Tangwei, and the 2nd and 11th Columns marched from the Guzhen area to Yongcheng, Wuyang, and Boxian respectively, and intercepted them in a roundabout way; The local troops of Henan, Anhui and the Soviet Union resolutely controlled the Shahe and Whirlpool crossings and delayed the enemy.
In order to ensure that the order was conveyed in place, Su Yu ordered that all means of communication, such as telegraph, telephone, and cavalry, be used simultaneously, and that all columns must be notified and the entire line of pursuit should be carried out immediately. After the order to pursue was issued, on the Huanghuai Plain, the "iron feet" of the People's Liberation Army and the wheels and tracks of the Kuomintang army launched a life-and-death race.
At a critical moment, there was a turning point on the battlefield.
At 3 p.m. on December 2, Qiu Qingquan received another urgent telegram that the 45th Division of the 5th Army was under fierce attack by the People's Liberation Army when it was covering the retreat of the large army at Xiangshan Temple. He was afraid that the backbone of the 5th Army, his heartfelt and precious division, would be surrounded and annihilated by the People's Liberation Army, and then ordered the 72nd Army to send 1 division to reinforce it.
Regarding Qiu Qingquan's dizzy order, Li Hanping, chief of staff of the Second Corps, persuaded Qiu Qingquan bitterly: "Guo Jiqian's 45th Division was originally a covering force, and its task was to entangle the enemy and prevent the enemy from pursuing. Now it is completely normal that it has suffered some losses in the exchange of fire with the communist troops.
The main force of our corps should take the opportunity to withdraw to Yongcheng and Boxian, and then send troops to meet the 45th Division after the main force reaches a safe area. If the army is allowed to stop advancing now and send troops to reinforce Guo Jiqian, wouldn't it become the main force covering the 'covering force'? Once the main forces of the communist army catch up, we will be finished! ”
Xiong Xiaosan, commander of the 5th Army, Gao Jiren, commander of the 70th Army, and Yu Jinyuan, commander of the 72nd Army, also objected, saying: "We can't let hundreds of thousands of troops sit still and wait for the communist army to pursue for one division!" ”
Qiu Qingquan didn't wait for everyone to finish speaking, he slapped the table with a red face and roared, "Don't say it!" It's okay to sacrifice others, but Guo Jiqian and Deng Junlin are my right-hand men, who have made many achievements in the battles of northern Jiangsu, Luxi, and eastern Henan, if I don't save Guo Jiqian today, the soldiers will be chilled, and they will scold me for having no conscience, who will fight for me in the future? ”
At this time, Du Yuming received an airdropped "presidential" handwritten message: "...... According to the report of the air force, most of the enemy at Suixikou is flowing towards Yongcheng, and the younger brother is still advancing towards Yongcheng today, so as to sit back and watch the Huang Wei Corps be wiped out, we will be destroyed and the species will be wiped out, and Wang Di quickly ordered all the corps to advance from advancing to Yongcheng to attack and advance at Suixikou, and coordinate with Li Yannian's corps from Bengbu to the north and south to attack and relieve the ......siege of Huang Wei's corps."
After reading the edict, Du Yuming only felt that his eyes were black, his hands and feet were cold, and he lamented: "It's over!" It's completely over! The old man changed his mind again. When I held the meeting in Nanjing, I had already agreed with him that if we wanted to withdraw, we would not be able to fight, and if we wanted to fight, we would not be able to withdraw. Now that he has withdrawn to the halfway road, there is no danger to defend, and the army has no fighting spirit, but it has to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the communist army, which not only cannot save Huang Wei, but even his own 3 corps will be fully compensated. ”
Thinking about it, Du Yuming was always in a dilemma, so he had to convene a meeting of the commanders of the corps to discuss decision-making. Qiu Qingquan, Sun Yuanliang, Chen Bing and others were silent after reading Chiang Kai-shek's edict.
Du Yuming said in a sullen voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, if our army retreats as originally planned, it will not be a big problem to reach its destination safely. If you follow this order, you will not be sure. Let's think about it carefully, if you dare to be responsible, you will leave, and if you dare not be responsible, you will fight, this is the place of life and death of the whole army, the way of survival, you must not be cautious! ”
Qiu Qingquan has always been arrogant and conceited, believing that the 5th Army and the entire corps have strong combat effectiveness, and is unwilling to flee without a fight, not to mention that at this time he is still bent on rescuing the 45th Division that was besieged in Xiangshan Temple, so he cannot agree to retreat. He stood up and said, "You can fight from the mouth of the river as ordered." ”
Chen Bing, deputy commander of the 13th Corps, opposed it, but Sun Yuanliang advocated obeying Chiang's orders. Qiu Qingquan saw that Du Yuming was still hesitating, so he patted his chest and said, "Boss, fight according to the order!" Tonight, the deployment will be adjusted, and from tomorrow, our 2nd Corps will be responsible for the attack, and the 13th and 16th Corps will be responsible for covering. ”
At this point, Du Yuming had no choice but to adopt the tactics of covering on three sides, attacking on one side, and leaping forward one by one, and advanced towards Suixikou. That night, Qiu Qingquan sent Guo Fangping's regiment of the 139th Division of the 70th Army to Xiangshan Temple to reinforce the 45th Division. After a night of death fighting, the 45th Division was finally desperate.
Although Qiu Qingquan rescued the 45th Division, he delayed two precious days. Chiang Kai-shek's temporary change of battle route deprived Du Yuming's three corps of the only chance to escape. Huaye's army used these two days to finally catch up with Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan's car wheels with their feet, creating a miracle that the "iron footboard" outperformed the car wheels.
On December 4, the 2nd Column, 3rd Column, 8th Column, 9th Column, 10th Column, 11th Column of the East China Field Army and the 200,000 troops of the 1st and 3rd Independent Brigades of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan all reached the front line of the Wangyin River, and built a dense bag-shaped defensive position on the front more than 50 miles wide from east to west. The 1st, 4th, and 12th columns of our army and the more than 100,000 troops of the southern column of central and southern Lu also rushed to the front line of the Honghe River, forming a joint encirclement of Du Yuming's group, making them caged birds.
Su Yu's hanging heart finally fell to the ground.
The 3 corps of Xuzhou were dying, and the 5th Army was dying.
The breakthrough failed, and the Fifth Army was completely annihilated
On December 4, 1948, Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan decided to use the 13th and 16th Corps to cover from the east, north and west, with the 45th and 46th Divisions of the 5th Army as the vanguard, and concentrate more than 5 regiments to attack the south, in an attempt to open a bloody road.
The 45th Division was ordered to attack several villages near Mengji. Guo Jiqian, a brave and warlike general, knew that the People's Liberation Army was difficult to deal with, so he specially transferred the two main regiments of the 133rd and 134th regiments to attack a small village on the left and on the right.
Under the cover of the intensive fire of howitzers, mountain artillery, mortars, rocket artillery, and anti-tank guns of the whole division, and the support of one company of tanks and armored vehicles, one battalion of the 133rd Regiment quickly attacked the positions of the People's Liberation Army, but immediately let the People's Liberation Army fight back with grenades, bayonets, explosive packs, machine guns, and mortars.
The 133rd Regiment then organized several attacks, but they were all repulsed by the PLA, and compared with the anti-Japanese battlefield of that year, the combat effectiveness of the 45th Division is not what it used to be.
After the failure of the 45th Division's attack, the 46th Division also suffered a crushing defeat at Ni Lou.
The failure of the 5th Army's attack made Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan deeply panic. With several villages near Mengji already under PLA capture, Du Yuming's forward headquarters and Qiu Qingquan's corps headquarters were exposed to the direct threat of PLA artillery fire.
Therefore, Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan had no choice but to hastily relocate the advance headquarters and the corps headquarters to Chenguanzhuang on December 6. Chenguanzhuang is a small village with only a few dozen households.
The PLA's encirclement is still getting tighter and tighter. On the night of December 6, Sun Yuanliang's corps broke through alone, but was attacked by the People's Liberation Army in the area of Xuejiahu, and the 16th Corps was wiped out overnight.
On December 15, the 120,000 troops of Huang Wei's corps were completely annihilated in Shuangduiji.
On January 6, 1949, the 14 main columns of the East China Field Army launched a general attack on the besieged Du Yuming group. At 3:30 p.m., hundreds of artillery pieces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) simultaneously let out an earth-shattering roar, and the Chenguanzhuang area was completely submerged in a sea of fire.
On January 9, the PLA broke through all the outlying positions and attacked outside Chenguanzhuang.
Seeing that Chen Guanzhuang was in danger, Qiu Qingquan and Du Yuming hurriedly moved the corps headquarters and advance headquarters to Chenzhuang, where the headquarters of the Fifth Army was located, in an attempt to rely on the Fifth Army, the most "reliable" trump card, to resist stubbornly and break out of the encirclement.
In order to save his surviving troops, Chiang Kai-shek decided to send the air force to use poison gas bombs to cover the breakthrough.
From December 20, 1948, the plane could not take off due to heavy snowstorms and snowfalls, and this vicious poisoning plan was aborted.
Du Yuming had no choice but to announce that the troops were fending for themselves. Therefore, Qiu Qingquan picked up the phone and informed the armies, announcing that they would give up their command and ask them to find their own way. Du Yuming also sent a final telegram to Chiang Kai-shek at this time: "The troops are in disarray and cannot hold out until tomorrow, so they can only break through separately that night." ”
After the telegram was sent, Du Yuming ordered the important documents to be burned and immediately broke out. Du Yuming, the first commander of the 5th Army, and his party of more than 10 people acted alone and were finally captured on the way to escape.
In 1959, Du Yuming was released as one of the first batch of amnesty war criminals, and was successively elected as a member of the Fourth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, making contributions to the great cause of the peaceful reunification of the motherland.
When Qiu Qingquan, the second commander of the 5th Army, ran to the Zhangmiao position in the northwest of Chenzhuang, he was discovered by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on the blocking position outside Chenzhuang.
Xiong Xiaosan, the third commander of the 5th Army, disguised himself as a wounded soldier and escaped from the encirclement by luck, and later fled to Taiwan. Guo Jiqian, deputy commander of the 5th Army (formerly deputy commander of the 45th Division), and Deng Junlin (former commander of the 96th Division), commander of the 70th Army, were captured by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) while fleeing and taken prisoner.
The 5th Division of the 45th Army did not participate in the breakout, but surrendered to Huaye 1st Column under the leadership of division commander Cui Xianwen. The 5th Division of the 46th Army also surrendered to the PLA.
The 200th Division of the 5th Army was determined to resist to the end, and forcibly broke through under the leadership of division commander Zhou Lang, but was completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army. The 2nd Army, the first mechanized army of the Kuomintang and the last ace army of Chiang Kai-shek, was completely annihilated.
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