In the Battle of Huaihai, after Huang Baitao was surrounded, Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi were ordered to rescue them. Qiu Qingquan's corps consisted of four corps, namely the Fifth Army, the Twelfth Army, the Seventy Army, the Seventy-second Army, and the Seventy-fourth Army. The Seventy-fourth Army was the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, and qiu Weida, then its commander. The Seventy-fourth Army is the general reserve of the corps and cannot be moved, and one division under the Twelfth Army is from the Northeast Army, which does not trust and does not dare to use, leaving only the Fifth Army and the Seventy Army two corps available.
After Qiu Qingquan received the order, he consulted with Chief of Staff Li Hanping on countermeasures and methods for attacking. Li Hanping proposed two plans, one was to occupy Pantang Town and Fangcun to carry out a large encirclement, and attack Daxujia and Bayiji. This plan moved quickly and avoided the FRONTAL's strong positions, but because of the lack of troops, there was a danger of being surrounded and annihilated by the PLA. Another plan was to first occupy Deng Jia Lou and Lin Tong Mountain, and attack east along the mountain in two ways. This plan is slow and protracted, but it can be fought steadily and in an invincible position.
At that time, Qiu Qingquan had a very stubborn view of the PLA, believing that the PLA would not fight a hard battle, would not fight a protracted war, and would automatically retreat if it could not destroy the enemy in ten days. This was the conclusion qiu Qingquan reached in the Battle of Eastern Henan. Therefore, he chose the second plan, which could not only preserve strength, but also be able to cope with Chiang Kai-shek's orders, as long as Huang Baitao could support for ten days, and the attack of the Second Corps could withstand it, insisting on ten days, and once the People's Liberation Army retreated, it would be completed.
So Qiu Qingquan took the second plan. At this time, Huang Baitao had been heavily surrounded by the People's Liberation Army in Nianzhuangwei, eagerly waiting for Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi to come to the rescue, which was also his only chance to escape. However, Qiu Qingquan gave up the near and far, gave up the difficulty to take the easy, ignored Huang Baitao's life and death, and only wanted to preserve his strength. Li Mi actually thought the same thing and did the same. However, in contrast, Li Mi was much more powerful than Qiu Qingquan's army, which was the absolute main force of the East China Nationalist Army at that time, and once attacked to a place that was only five or six kilometers away from Huang Baitao.
Qiu Qingquan started from the Fifth Army, which was the absolute main force in Qiu Qingquan's corps, fully equipped with American equipment and very strong combat effectiveness, so Qiu Qingquan attached great importance to the Fifth Army and regarded it as his own capital unit. However, in the key battle to rescue Huang Baitao, the Fifth Army did not move, but the Seventy-fourth Army, which was not valued by Qiu Qingquan, was sent to the rescue at a critical moment, but when attacking, Qiu Qingquan secretly asked the Seventy-second Army to come to the rescue not to go hand in hand with the Seventy-fourth Army, but to slow down for two days before attacking. It was not until the Seventy-fourth Army had spent a lot of effort to finally capture a village defended by the People's Liberation Army that the Seventy-second Army was dispatched again. But by this time it was too late.
In fact, Xiong Xiaosan, the then commander of the Fifth Army, also advocated a roundabout attack from Pantang Town, and asked Qiu Qingquan face-to-face why he did not attack from Pantang Town and rescue Huang Baitao. But Qiu Qingquan was furious and sent Xiong Xiaosan back. It was not until the nationalist army headquarters strictly ordered Qiu Qingquan to go all out to rescue Huang Baitao, that Qiu Qingquan sent out the Seventy-fourth Army, which he was not optimistic about, and the result was that the Seventy-fourth Army performed well. In the so-called Pantang Town Victory, it was not other units that rescued the encircled Ninety-sixth Division, but the 112nd Division, which he regarded as a miscellaneous army.
Qiu Qingquan attached special importance to the Fifth Army, treating it as a treasure knot, even if Du Yuming's group was completely surrounded, the Fifth Army was still in the center of the encirclement, and the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army could not reach it. Even on January 6, when the People's Liberation Army had launched a general offensive and the situation was becoming more and more dangerous, Qiu Qingquan still insisted on not using the Fifth Army, preferring to plead with Yu Jinyuan of the Seventy-second Army for a regiment to serve as the general reserve of the corps, rather than use the Fifth Army.
When the People's Liberation Army gradually broke through the various positions of Du Yuming's group, Du Yuming could not stay still at the headquarters and ran to Qiu Qingquan's corps headquarters, which was not safe at that time, so the two of them ran to the Fifth Army headquarters together. But Xiong Xiaosan was not particularly loyal to Qiu Qingquan. When Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan ran to the Headquarters of the Fifth Army, the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army followed, and Xiong Xiaosan complained that since it was surrounded, the Fifth Army had never been subjected to the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army, and as soon as the headquarters came, the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army followed. When eating, there were not enough bowls at the headquarters, and there was not enough food, and Xiong Xiaosan also complained.
Qiu Qingquan originally believed that after being surrounded, there were still 300,000 people in Du Yuming's group, and Hua Ye could not easily eat them, as long as they could hold on, persist for more than ten days, and with the active rescue of the outlying nationalist forces, the People's Liberation Army would take the initiative to retreat. As a result, from December 6, when it was surrounded, until New Year's Day, the People's Liberation Army did not have the slightest intention of taking the initiative to retreat, and there was no reinforcement on the periphery to count on, Qiu Qingquan was very pessimistic about the future, the state was negative and decadent, every day with a female nurse hanging around, and when he returned to the corps headquarters, he was often drunk.
However, Qiu Qingquan was truly in love with the Fifth Army. After being completely desperate for the breakthrough, he began to arrange the aftermath, first letting Li Hanping take the place of command after his death, Li Hanping said that he was shallow in seniority and inconvenient, so he instead designated Gao Jiren, the commander of the Seventy-second Army, to take command, and if gao ji died in battle, let Xiong Xiaosan take the command, in short, we must ensure that the Fifth Army breaks out as much as possible, and do not bury him in Chen Guanzhuang with him. But in the end, Qiu Qingquan himself could not run, and the Fifth Army could not run out, which could be regarded as living and dying together.