Image from the web
Lin Biao and Bai Chongxi are very similar in one point, according to Chairman Mao, that is, "that is, the light is small and the ignorance is huge", that is, to concentrate on tactical contests and ignore strategic victory.
This point was particularly evident in the early stages of the Battle of Hengbao during the Liberation War.
On August 4, 1949, Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren announced an uprising in Changsha. Subsequently, the Fourth Field Army, led by the rebel generals, divided its troops into three routes and quickly moved south, intending to liberate Liangguang by the Gui warlord Bai Chongxi, who was entrenched in the Shonan and Liangguang regions.
Bai Chongxi has always been cunning in his use of soldiers, and admirers call him "Little Zhuge Ge" and disgusters call him "White Fox". Seeing that the People's Liberation Army has occupied Changsha, there is a posture of forcing it to fight a decisive battle in the south. Bai Chongxi held that it was extremely unwise to fight a decisive battle with our army at this time, so Bai Chongxi united the Yu Han Plotting Department in Guangdong and the Song Xilian Department in northwest Sichuan, plus more than 200,000 troops of the Gui Clan itself to establish a "Xiang-Guangdong Joint Defense Line," with the intention of delaying our army's pace of liberating southern and southwestern China, in order to achieve the goal of preserving strength and winning US aid for the outbreak of World War III.
Objectively speaking, the Gui army led by Bai Chongxi was the only military group in the mainland at that time that still had a relatively strong combat ability, and the vast majority of the soldiers in the army were southerners and were familiar with fighting in the mountains and river network areas in the south, while the vast majority of the troops of our Fourth Field Army were northeasterners and were extremely unsuitable for the climate and topography of the south. He also sent a powerful unit as an advance team to continuously attack on a small scale to test the direction of Bai Chongxi's main force and provide cover for the rest of the whole army.
Bai Chongxi, on the other hand, also sent troops to constantly test the movements of our army, the most famous of which was that he gathered the officers and men who were released after being captured by our army and asked about the insults of our army.
Bai Chongxi Picture from the internet
Discovering the dynamics of our army, Bai Chongxi was more cautious and cautious, especially the two aces of the Gui clan, the Seventh Army and the Forty-eighth Army, which were firmly in his hands.
Bai Chongxi's psychology Chairman Mao grasped very clearly, and he pointed out in a telegram to Lin Biao:
"Shirabe has little money and is extremely clever, and he will never fight with me unless he has to."
To say that Lin Biao's Four Wilds do not hate Bai Chongxi is false! Thinking that in the year of four draws and one war, The four wild feathers returned with heavy losses, Lin Biao had long wanted to avenge the arrow. However, Bai Chongxi just didn't come out, and Lin Biao didn't have many good methods.
In this way, Lin Biao and Bai Chongxi both stared at each other tightly, both pursuing the realm of "braking first and anticipating the enemy first", but the more this happened, the more the two sides could not find the opportunity, because as long as one side moved, the other side would react immediately.
Even when Lin Biao and Bai Chongxi were fighting wits and courage, Chairman Mao had already found out the problem, that is, the "that is, the light is small and the ignorance is big" mentioned at the beginning of this article, that is, concentrating on tactical contests and ignoring strategic victory.
During the Liberation War, Chairman Mao Zedong's superb military thinking and wise strategic decisions were brought into full play, such as resolutely staying in northern Shaanxi without crossing the Yellow River, and pinning down Hu Zongnan's 250,000-strong army; with the cooperation of the three armies and the containment of the two wings, Liu Deng's army directly pounded the Dabie Mountains and extended the battlefield to the Kuomintang-ruled areas; attacking Jinzhou, completely closing the northeast gate, and wiping out hundreds of thousands of elite troops of the Kuomintang army in the northeast; and annihilating the last elite unit of the Kuomintang army on the mainland and completely liberating all of China. Chairman Mao Zedong also made a clever move, that is, to imitate the Mongol strategy of destroying the Southern Song Dynasty, carry out a large-scale roundabout encirclement, and completely block the passage of the Kuomintang army to escape from the mainland by sea. The difference is that Mongolia is a roundabout way from Sichuan and Yunnan in the southwest, while Chairman Mao Zedong's strategy is to encircle from Fujian and Guangdong to Guangxi and Yunnan.
Chairman Mao Zedong was not thinking about the victory or defeat of one or two battles, and if Lin Biao was too entangled in the victory or defeat of one or two battles between himself and Bai Chongxi, and the Kuomintang side discovered the strategic intentions of our army, he would lose the strategic opportunity. Therefore, Lin Biao re-made strategic arrangements in accordance with Chairman Mao's strategic intentions, and since you Bai Chongxi are extremely clever and will not fight a decisive battle with me unless you have to, then I will give you this last resort opportunity.
Thus, a well-planned good drama of luring the snake out of the hole was staged.
General Zhong Wei Picture from the Internet
On August 15, 1949, the Four Field Soldiers attacked south in three ways, and according to Lin Biao's campaign deployment of "daring to attack and fight", the 49th Army led by Zhong Wei advanced rapidly, and had already started a two-day journey with the other units of the Zhonglu Army personally commanded by Lin Biao, and the forward 146th Division had reached Qingshuping, a strategic point from Xiangzhong to Shonan.
Lin Biao's move seems to be flawed, but in fact, it is not. Lin Biao just wanted to use the 49th Army as bait to lure bait Bai Chongxi's Gui army to attack, and when the main force of the Gui army attacked, the six armies of the Middle Route Army would attack with all their might and annihilate the Gui army in northern Hunan Province. If the Gui army did not attack, then the 49th Army would go straight out of Hengyang and open the northern gate of Guangxi, thus entering Guangxi.
Lin Biao's deployment was completely in line with Mao Zedong's judgment of Bai Chongxi, that is, to force Bai Chongxi to a situation where he had to go to war.
The advance of the 49th Army made Bai Chongxi feel the opportunity. He judged that the reason why the 49th Army came forward was caused by Lin Biao's arrogance and indulgence, in order to avenge the bloody battle of Siping, and it was to see that he had repeatedly avoided the battle, and finally made the mistake of not paying attention to the about 200,000 troops of the Gui clan. Therefore, Bai Chongxi decided to fight a battle at Qingshuping and annihilate the 49th Army that came out in front of him.
Since he decided to fight, Bai Chongxi summoned his confidant Zhang Gan, commander of the Third Corps.
Speaking of Zhang Ganqi, he was also a different kind of person in the Kuomintang army. Although he was a warrior who had fought all his life, he was good at Zhou Yi gossip, and he kept a compass in his hand for many years, so he was called "Compass General" in the army. Bai Chongxi was semi-convinced of Zhang Gan, but there was really no one to use in his hands, but Bai Chongxi was also really knowledgeable and good at using all the characteristics of his subordinates to improve their morale and confidence.
Seeing that Bai Chongxi ordered himself to attack, Zhang Gan's heart was extremely high, and he took out a compass and said to Bai Chongxi: There are two rivers here in Qingshuping, the communist army is out, and the follow-up troops have not followed, which is equivalent to the word "communist" without two legs, and the communist army has no legs and will be defeated.
In fact, where would Bai Chongxi believe Zhang Gan's lies, it was just to use Zhang Gan's superstition to arouse his fighting spirit.
Where would Zhang Gan know Bai Chongxi's thoughts, he just felt that his Zhou Yi Bagua was finally correct once, and he had the support of Bai Chongxi, so he mobilized the elite Gui Seventh Army and the Forty-eighth Army of the Third Corps to launch a crazy attack on the 146th Division.
On the other hand, the 146th Division, which has not experienced a major battle since it was released, has long held its breath of strength, suddenly encountered a great enemy, and its spirit is a hundred times greater, and the tiger strength of the officers and men in the northeast of the four fields has come up, which is not something that ordinary people can resist. In this way, the two corps of the Gui clan and the 146th Division of the 49th Army became anxious, and moreover, it was the Gui Army that ambushed first, which shows how strong the combat effectiveness of the 146th Division is.
The news of the 146th Division's ambush reached the Siye headquarters, and the staff officers in the headquarters were stunned, but Lin Biao's expression remained unchanged, saying: "There is Zhong Wei sitting in the army, no worries!" ”
The voiceover is that Bai Chongxi, the "white fox", finally revealed his fox tail, finally exposing his main position. Lin Biao's deliberate selling flaws this time finally achieved the expected results.
However, just when Lin Biao was sitting on the Diaoyutai, there was a situation on the side of the 146th Division.
Originally, according to Lin Biao's deployment before the war, the 49th Army broke through in order to transfer bai Chongxi's main force, and now that the main force of the Gui Army has been dispatched and the task of fishing has been completed, the 49th Army should order the 146th Division to withdraw from the battle, shrink the strength and converge with the main force, and wait until the main force follows up, and then fight with the main force of the Gui Army. However, the 146th Division killed the red eye, although it was found that the enemy's combat strength was not bad, it should be the main force of the Gui Army, but it had not fought a decent battle since entering the pass, and now when it encountered an opponent, where would it be so easy to let go? Another key factor was that the radio of the 146th Division was broken at a critical moment and could not receive orders from its superiors, so the 146th Division fought with the two corps of the Gui Army for three days without receiving orders from the superiors, and although the losses were heavy, it also brought huge casualties to the Gui Army.
On 17 August, the 146th Division's radio was finally repaired, ordered to retreat, and immediately broke through the encirclement with the 145th Division. Although the Gui army repelled our army and won a small partial victory in this battle, bai Chongxi saw the combat strength of the People's Liberation Army, and with the strength of one division, he resisted the two elite aces of the Gui clan for three days, and was able to retreat safely.
Moreover, Bai Chongxi then saw that after the Battle of Qingshuping, the Three Roads Army of the People's Liberation Army had begun to encircle him, and he finally realized that he had been caught by Lin Biao's plan to lure the snake out of the hole. Therefore, Bai Chongxi urgently ordered the mobilization of men and horses to establish defensive positions in the area of Hengyang and Baoqing to cover the withdrawal of the main force to Guangxi.
General Ding Sheng (then commander of the 135th Division) Picture from the Internet
Bai Chongxi's urgent mobilization gave Lin Biao the illusion that Bai Chongxi wanted to rely on the Hengbao defense line to fight with himself, and at this time the main forces of the four fields had dispersed to pursue the enemy, and the main force was not concentrated. Therefore, Lin Biao ordered all the units to gather their troops and move closer to the hengbao front line, so as not to protrude alone and be surrounded by enemy troops. At the same time, the 16th Army and the 17th Army of the Fifth Corps of the Second Field of the General Reserve of the Campaign command were ordered to march to the hengbao front line and participate in the decisive battle to be launched.
If Lin Biao's deployment was followed, bai Chongxi would be given time to breathe, so that he could move his troops into Guangxi more calmly. However, an unexpected event made up for Lin Biao's error in judgment and destroyed Bai Chongxi's carefully prepared retreat plan.
Just when Lin Biao ordered the troops to be gathered, the 135th Division of the Forty-fifth Army, which was marching south, did not receive the telegram in time because it was in a marching state, and by the time it received the telegram, the 135th Division had already crossed the Hengbao Highway and inserted itself behind Bai Chongxi's Hengbao defense line, blocking the retreat of the Kuomintang army. In view of this, Lin Biao ordered the 135th Division to set up a strong position to prevent the enemy from fleeing south, and the Four Fields and the strengthened Erye General Reserve revoked the rest order and attacked the Nationalist army with all its might.
The sudden appearance of the 135th Division behind the Hengbao Defense Line greatly alarmed Bai Chongxi, who sent strong troops to attack the 135th Division on the one hand in order to open the gap for retreating to Guangxi, and on the other hand, organized defenses to block the PLA offensive. However, the Kuomintang army was already defeated at this time, and the defense carefully organized by Bai Chongxi was crushed by the People's Liberation Army with the momentum of destruction and decay. In desperation, Bai Chongxi had to flee to Hainan Island alone, ordering his men to retreat to Guangdong with all their strength and meet the defeated army on the Leizhou Peninsula.
However, just when Bai Chongxi spent a huge amount of gold to rent a warship from Chen Jitang, the chief executive of Hainan, stopped on the Leizhou Peninsula and waited to meet the defeated army, the People's Liberation Army had already occupied Guangdong and completely blocked the way for Jiang's army to flee by sea to Hainan Island.
The "Little Zhuge Ge" who had calculated everything in this organ spent a huge amount of gold in vain, but he did not receive a defeated army, and the Gui army was completely destroyed.