<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the ninth of Xudong's blockade battle</h1>
Author: Unsentimental
At about 7 o'clock on November 18, 1948, Qiu Qingquan called Deng Junlin, commander of the 96th Division, saying that according to air force reconnaissance, the Huaye troops were retreating in the face, and asked the 96th Division to take the armored vehicle as the guide and boldly pursue. At more than 8 o'clock, Zhou Dexuan, commander of the armored vehicle company and commander of the 288th Regiment, reported that there were enemy troops near Erchenji, and Zhong Peizhang, commander of the 286th Regiment, also reported that there were enemy troops in Erchenji. Deng Junlin interrogated the captured Huaye warriors and said that the Northern Jiangsu Corps did not retreat, but retreated in a planned way. The arrogant Qiu Qingquan did not believe it at all, insisting that the 96th Division boldly pursue.
At 9 o'clock, the armored vehicle company cooperated with the 1st Battalion of the 288th Regiment of the Chiang Kai-shek Army to drill into the gap in the village west of Erchenji to reconnoiter. As soon as the troops entered the village, they were fired by the Northern Jiangsu Corps on three sides, and the reconnaissance unit hurriedly retreated, and the infantry suffered heavy casualties. Zhou Dexuan, commander of the 288th Regiment, reported to Deng Junlin that the armored vehicles refused to cooperate, did not cover, and only tried to escape on their own, causing casualties of more than 70 officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the 288th Regiment. In a fit of rage, Deng Junlin ordered the commander of the armored vehicle company to be tied up and shot, and only after the intercession of the crowd did he give up. After this battle, all day on the 18th, the 96th Division of Chiang Kai-shek's army did not dare to pursue it again.
Although Chiang Kai-shek's 96th Division's pursuit did not achieve substantial results, Qiu Qingquan still blew the cowhide into the sky, and he reported to Nanjing that the 2nd Corps had "eliminated 200,000 opponents" in Xudong and achieved an unprecedented "great victory" .
At dusk on November 18, Qiu Qingquan ordered the 96th Division to rush to The east of Lin Tong Mountain to garrison the original positions around Wolf Mountain, Drum Mountain, and Niu Mountain. As soon as Deng Junlin returned to the Zhangzhuang Division's command post, Qiu Qingquan called to question why the Gushan position was lost and not reported, and demanded that it be recaptured immediately. Deng Junlin retorted that when He lost Drum Mountain on the evening of the 17th, he was ordered to lead the main force of the division to reinforce the 74th Army, and the Drum Mountain was left behind by the 287th Regiment and returned to the direct command of the Military Department, and the responsibility obviously could not be borne by him.
The Position of Drum Mountain was condescending and could overlook all the positions of Chiang Kai-shek's 70th Army. If it can't be recaptured, wolf mountain can't be defended. However, for Qiu Qingquan's order to retake the Gushan position that night, Gao Jichang, commander of the 70th Army, thought it was inappropriate, because the army had never been accustomed to night attacks, and the 96th Division had just been transferred back and had not yet had time to catch its breath, so it was requested to be changed to a counter-offensive at dawn on the 19th. Qiu Qingquan was furious, believing that the Gaoji people had disobeyed the military orders, and strictly ordered him to immediately urge the 96th Division to counterattack. Gao Jiren pretended to be an old subordinate that Du Yuming had pulled up, and quarreled with Qiu on the phone.
At 19:00 on the 18th, the position of the 286th Regiment of Chiang Kai-shek's army, which was garrisoning Wolf Mountain, sounded a dense gunfire, and the regimental commander Zhong Peizhang reported to Deng Junlin that Huaye had launched an attack. At about 21:00, the position of the 3rd Battalion of the 286th Regiment was captured by Huaye. The 96th Division's reserve reinforcements went up and repeatedly changed positions three times. Deng Junlin ordered the 288th Regiment to draw 1 battalion of reinforcements, which saved Wolf Mountain.
On the evening of the 18th, Su Yu once again adjusted the deployment of reinforcements: the two Guangdong columns were monitoring the enemy south of the Three Forts, and the 3rd column of Huaye moved east to Baoguang Temple and Baolan to assemble, and cooperated with the Northern Jiangsu Corps to attack the flank of the East Advance Corps. The General Reserve Huaye 1 Column was transferred to the command of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, and Wei Guoqing ordered the Huaye 12th Column to monitor the enemy in Pantang and ensure the safety of the main force of the Corps, and he personally led the 4 columns of the 1st, 2nd, (middle) 11th, and Lu Zhongnan to avoid the defensive front of the 74th Army of Pantang Jiang's Army, detour through the mountains northeast of Pantang, and from here wedge into the rear of the eastward marching corps. Su Yu believed that after being strengthened by the Huaye 1 Column, the Northern Jiangsu Corps would be able to complete the roundabout encirclement task that had not been completed 3 days ago.
However, the mountainous terrain northeast of Pantang is complex, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, some columns failed to follow up in time, so the fierce battle was fierce until the early morning of the 19th, although the Northern Jiangsu Corps captured the areas west of the city and both sides, but still did not form a breakthrough.
At 3 o'clock on November 19, the 288th Regiment of the 96th Division of Chiang Kai-shek's army went against the norm, divided into three routes, and without pre-preparation for artillery fire, quietly touched the Position of Drum Mountain in the dark. The commanders and fighters of the 32nd Brigade of the 11th Column of Huaye guarding here were exhausted after several days of fierce fighting. After discovering the sneak attack of Chiang Kai-shek's army, the commanders and fighters immediately threw themselves into a counterattack. The two sides engaged in a fierce white-knife fight. Seeing that the sneak attack could not be achieved, the commander of the 288th Regiment of Chiang Kai-shek's army ordered the erection of heavy machine guns, regardless of the enemy or us, and directly strafed at the Gushan position. The fierce battle lasted for nearly 5 hours, and by about 8 o'clock, the 288th Regiment of Chiang Kai-shek's army finally occupied Gushan and captured more than 20 Huaye soldiers, including 5 wounded, and captured 2 light machine guns and more than 10 rifles.
Although he regained Drum Mountain, Qiu Qingquan was still worried about the previous loss of Drum Mountain. In the end, Ma Anlan, commander of the 287th Regiment of Chiang Kai-shek's army, escorted Yang Xianming, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, who had lost Gushan, to the headquarters of the 96th Division and shot him, which calmed the matter.
After dawn on November 19, Qiu Qingquan ushered in another "highlight" moment in his military career: Jiang ordered qiu Qingquan to be awarded a medal of the Qingtian White Sun Medal with a prize of 200,000 yuan. In addition, Jiang Shi, who was in a good mood by the "XuDong Great Victory", also generously gave Liu Zhi a bonus of 1 million yuan and asked him to reward other troops on his behalf.
Although Li Mi did not receive the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, he received a warrant from Chiang Kai-shek, saying: "Brother Bingren, my brother's meritorious deeds coexist with the party-state, and in this campaign, we should spare no sacrifice, continue to work hard, and prepare to meet with Huang Baitao's corps at an early date." Li Mi was flattered when he received the warrant, and threw the anger of not getting the medal to the cloud of nine clouds. In addition to his excitement, he actually ordered his subordinates to mimeograph the original text of the order, and the whole corps went up to the commander down to the squad leader, and asked everyone to read and recite it.
In order to greet the consolation group sent by Nanjing, Ying Ang, chief of the political engineering section of the Xuzhou "Suppression General" Forward Command, led a large number of political workers to the corps headquarters of the 2nd Corps of Lin Tongshan and asked Qiu Qingquan to display the spoils of war and prisoners of war so that they could be photographed for external propaganda. Qiu Qingquan simply threw up panic to the end, and he instructed Li Zongming, director of the Political Work Department of the Corps Department, to fake and take a photo of the 95th Regiment of the 32nd Division's self-use weapons as combat booty. Gong Shiying, commander of the 32nd Division, was also very busy with counterfeiting. Taking advantage of his personal connections as chief of staff of the 96th Division in the past, he borrowed 3 mortars and more than 30 rifles captured by the 96th Division when it pursued the south of Pantang Town on the 18th, and recaptured Gushan on the 19th, and also borrowed dozens of light machine guns, many heavy machine guns, and hundreds of rifles of the 286th and 288th Regiments of the 96th Division as weapons captured by the 95th Regiment of the 32nd Division. He also took photos of more than 40 soldiers captured by the 96th Division on the 18th and 19th, together with some soldiers drawn from the 95th Regiment of the 32nd Division, and pretended to be captured by the 32nd Division at Cuizhuang, so that the political workers could take pictures and report them together.
On November 19, Nanjing released the news that Qiu Qingquan Corps and Huang Baitao Corps would "meet the division". Jiang Shi did not blame. He felt that now that the "Great Victory of Xu Dong" had been achieved, since the Huaye blocking force had been crushed, the East Advance Corps would be able to take advantage of the victory to pursue, and it would certainly be able to rescue Huang Baitao. Therefore, although the "good news" was sent a little earlier, it was nothing.
On the same day, the two sides attacked and defended each other on the battlefield of Xudong.
To the north, Yang Xuzhao, commander of the 170th Division of Li Mi's corps, ordered Yao Qingyun of the 509th Regiment to attack Maguzi along both sides of the road, and sent a company to search Xuzhuang in the southwest corner of Maguzi. The 508th Regiment entered Xiaowangzhuang in the northwest corner of Maguzi and covered the 509th Regiment. Yao Qingyun, the commander of the 509th Regiment, disagreed with this, believing that two regiments should be used to attack left and right, but Neither Yang Xuzhao nor Pang Zheng, the leader of the 508th Regiment, agreed. Yao Qingyun had no choice but to order Qiu Shuxiang, commander of the 2nd Battalion, to take cover in the cemetery on the right wing and occupy Xuzhuang, with the 3rd Battalion as a reserve and controlling it on the left and right sides of the road, while the 1st Battalion attacked mainly.
There is a wall around Maguzi, and the terrain in the northwest corner is complex, with a lurking fort outside the wall, and a scattered bunker dug into the wall. There is a small river on the west and south sides of the village, forming a water trench, and there is a deer outside the trench. There is a deep ditch in the village, which divides the village into north and south halves, through which the road passes. There are three large ponds along the northern wall of the village, forming a natural barrier. There are no fortifications on the northeast side, but there are traffic trenches in the rear through the fire temple. The 7th Column and 1 Battalion of Huaye, which was defending here, used the terrain and fortifications to hold the west and south sides of Maguzi, and used the main force to control the northeast region as reinforcements and counterattacks.
Chiang Kai-shek's 509th Regiment made several unsuccessful attacks. Cheng Yunsheng, commander of the 3rd Battalion, found that there was a small ditch in the northwest corner of Maguzi that could lead to the village, and although there were fortifications at the mouth of the ditch, it was unguarded, and it was suggested that it should be touched here. Yao Qingyun ordered the 3rd Battalion to attack there, but unexpectedly, just after reaching the edge of the outer trench, Huaye 7 column fired a row of grenades, and the machine guns placed in the bunker also fired fiercely. Chiang Kai-shek suffered more than 10 casualties and had to stop.
On the night of November 19, Huaye's 7th Column attacked from Maguzi, defeating a company of Chiang Kai-shek's 509th Regiment at Xuzhuang, and then pressing the 1st Battalion eastward. At about 21:00, Yao Qingyun ordered the 1st Battalion to attack the west of Maguzi, and the 2nd Battalion went around from the southwest of Maguzi to the south, and after the 1st Battalion launched an attack, it attacked Maguzi from the south. However, the 1st company in the easternmost position of the 2nd Battalion was ambushed by huaye 7th Column troops ambushed between Maguzi and Xuwan shortly after departure, and retreated until south of Xuzhuang to take shelter. The 2nd Battalion attacked three times without success. Yao ordered the 2nd Battalion to cover the right flank of the 1st Battalion, and ordered the 1st Battalion to attack from the front. The 1st Battalion launched several onslaughts, and Yao concentrated the entire regiment's 60 mortars, returned to the regiment under the unified command of Zhao Wanneng, and bombarded the 7th column forward position of Huaye. The 1st Battalion rushed to the trench several times, but was knocked out. By the morning of the 20th, the 509th Regiment of Chiang Kai-shek's army suffered heavy casualties, with more than 200 wounded soldiers in the 1st battalion alone, and the battalion commander Zhang Qiguang's calf was also pierced.
On the front of Qiu Qingquan's corps, in order to improve the defensive posture of Huaye 11 columns, Wei Guoqing ordered Huaye 1 column to reinforce. The 2nd and 3rd Divisions of huaye 1st column, in coordination with the 32nd brigade of Huaye's 11th column, launched a counterattack against the enemy at Wolf Mountain and Gushan Mountain. In order to relieve his right-wing threat, Qiu Qingquan strictly ordered the 70th Army to fight with Huaye under the cover of aircraft and artillery. The two sides came and went, the position changed hands several times, and repeatedly pulled the saw.
At the southernmost end of the front, the Northern Jiangsu Corps adjusted its deployment and deployed the four columns of Huaye 2nd, 3rd, (Middle) 11th, and Luzhongnan, and attacked the east, west, west, and north of the city that night. The 12th Column of Huaye was responsible for guarding the direction of Pantang and protecting the left side of the regiment.
This was the last offensive of the Northern Jiangsu Corps in the southeast direction of Xuzhou. In view of the fact that after several days of fierce fighting, the suddenness of the interspersed detour had long since disappeared, and the various units under the command of the corps had become tired, Su Yu finally abandoned the plan to encircle the entire Eastward Advance Corps in a roundabout way, and instead demanded that the strength of 2 to 3 divisions of Qiu Qingquan's corps be divided and annihilated.
Qiu Qingquan saw that the offensive of the Northern Jiangsu Corps was not reduced, so he asked Xuzhou to dispatch the 72nd Army of the General Reserve to the east to replace the 5th Army, which had been tired from the long battle. The 5th Army turned south to stop the North Soviet Corps from advancing north. Due to the arrival of the 5th Army, the offensive of the Northern Soviet Corps on the night of November 19 made no substantial progress.
(To be continued)
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