In 1948, Su Yu was surrounded by 250,000 troops, why didn't Xu Shiyou send troops to rescue?
Climbing the mountain of the Liberation War, we have passed the difficulties, and the most difficult climbing stage has passed!"This is the emotion after hearing the results of the Battle of Eastern Henan in August 1948.
From his excited tone, we can see that he is full of confidence in victory, and the initiative of the war is finally in our hands. Of course, our army also paid a huge price in the Eastern Henan Campaign, with a total of 26,739 wounded, 5,026 killed, 3,598 non-combat attrition, and some columns even lost their combat effectiveness.
At the last moment, the troops led by Su Yu were besieged by more than 200,000 people, and the situation was very critical. However, at such a dangerous moment, why didn't Xu Shiyou send reinforcements?
The East China Field Army's Eastern Henan Campaign was divided into three phases: Feng, Suiqi, and Diqiudian, and the performance of the first two battles highlighted Su Yu's outstanding command ability. On June 16, 1948, the well-prepared East China Field Army launched an attack on Kaifeng, which was a very courageous action.
Kaifeng is the location of the Henan Provincial Security Command, where 4 heavy army groups, 12 integrated divisions and 27 brigades are deployed. At the "National Congress" meeting that year, Chiang Kai-shek patted his chest and assured the Henan delegates: "There is absolutely no problem with the defense of Kaifeng."
Therefore, when Huaye approached the city, ** basically did not react. Finally, on June 22, Kaifeng was breached, and the Kuomintang army 3More than 90,000 people were annihilated.
Under the promise of ensuring safety, it was captured in less than half a year, and Chiang Kai-shek angrily scolded and immediately ordered nearby troops to fight. At this time, Su Yu made an unexpected decision - to take the initiative to abandon the city.
In the face of this sudden change, **, which was originally moving at full speed, quickly divided into two attitudes. One is like Qiu Qingquan who is in a hurry, he can't wait to rush to Kaifeng, and the other is like Ou Shounian, who is so cautious because he can't ** Su Yu's action and hesitates.
The two corps, one fast and one slow, formed a 40-kilometer gap in the middle. This vacancy is the opportunity that Su Yu is waiting for.
The Huaye Assault Corps successfully surrounded the Ou Shou Nian Corps without the enemy noticing. At the same time, Su Yu commanded the blocking reinforcements and successfully resisted the reinforcements.
In this battle, our army's deployment was extremely thorough, which caught the enemy by surprise, and finally succeeded in annihilating the Ou Shounian Corps in the Suiqi area. This victory fully demonstrated Su Yu's excellent tactical arrangements and our army's outstanding combat effectiveness.
However, any success comes with risks. When Ou Shou Nian was besieged, Chiang Kai-shek issued a death order and asked Qiu Qingquan and Huang Baitao to give full support.
The Kuomintang reinforcements were only 10 miles away from the Huaye troops, and there were Hu Lian's corps and Sun Yuanliang's corps on the periphery. If they do not withdraw in time, Su Yu and his troops may be encircled.
Faced with such a critical juncture, the usual strategy is to break through to the enemy's weak point with all his might, but Su Yu is different, and he decides to take advantage of this opportunity and do the opposite, intending to defeat Huang Baitao's army again.
In order to achieve this goal, he made a request to **, hoping to get the cooperation of Liu Deng's army to block Hu Lian and Sun Yuanliang from the outside, and at the same time transfer Huaye's blocking and reinforcement corps to flank Huang Baitao with the assault corps that stayed inside.
This plan is very bold and may plunge the entire battle situation into chaos, with constant encirclement and counter-encirclement, and the competition is the ability to coordinate between the various units. Whoever can draw more troops to rush to the main battlefield will have an advantage in the war.
At that time, ** gathered 250,000 troops near the battlefield, and in order to improve the chances of victory, Su Yu asked for assistance from the Huaye Shandong Corps, but Xu Shiyou, who was commanding the operation in Shandong, refused his request.
Xu Shiyou politely refused to reinforce eastern Henan, because the Shandong Corps also launched the Yanzhou Campaign at the same time. Huang Baitao's corps was supposed to support Yanzhou, but the situation in Kaifeng was critical, and Xu Shiyou was forced to fight with it.
At this time, the battle situation in Yanzhou was tight, and if Xu Shiyou drew troops to reinforce eastern Henan, the enemy might take the opportunity to counterattack, causing both sides to fall into trouble. Xu Shiyou explained the situation to **, understood his difficulties, and decided to be the first of the Central Plains Field Army.
9. The 10th Column reinforced eastern Henan.
At this time, all the troops that can be mobilized have been put into the front line, our midfield intercepted the Sun Yuanliang Corps on the periphery, the Shandong Corps could not be reinforced, and the internal battle situation was dominated by Su Yu's assault and blocking two corps against Huang Baitao, Qiu Qingquan, and Hu Lian.
In the battlefield, seizing the time difference is crucial. In this battle, our side and the enemy's two corps were competing for the first opportunity, and Huang Baitao's Diqiudian became a bloody battlefield, and the soldiers on both sides were constantly falling.
Huang Baitao tried to mobilize troops to break out of the encirclement, but failed. In the end, he made a shocking decision - * Huaye was captured. This act discredited him, and it may have been one of the reasons why he did not choose to surrender during the Battle of Huaihai.
Just when Huang Baitao felt desperate, the atmosphere around the Diqiu store suddenly became quiet. Although he was surprised, out of caution he did not send troops to reconnoitre, but ordered the troops to hurry up and rest.
However, in the evening, he learned that Hu Lian's corps and Qiu Qingquan's corps had rushed over, especially Qiu Qingquan's Fifth Army used the big detour tactics to avoid our army's blocking line, so that the situation was reversed in an instant.
Su Yu had no choice but to withdraw his troops from the battle, and about 10,000 wounded and logistician who could not be transferred in time were captured. Soon, Su Yu's army left Henan and headed east into Shandong, where it joined Xu Shiyou's army and ended the Eastern Henan Campaign.
Interestingly, after the war, both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party considered themselves victorious. Chiang Kai-shek claimed in the newspapers that he had won a major victory in the Central Plains, and even awarded Huang Baitao the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
And *** also commented: "The most difficult climbing stage of the Liberation War has passed. Actually, there is truth in both of them. On the surface, the Kuomintang recaptured Kaifeng, forcing Huaye to retreat, and several large corps under their command gathered together to form a powerful mobile force, which was a victory for the Kuomintang.
In essence, our army eliminated a large number of enemy troops in the Battle of Eastern Henan, and in particular, achieved a major victory in the enemy army, which made the Kuomintang feel fearful from top to bottom.
They realized that it was no longer safe for a single corps to operate, so they would choose to use more than two corps in future battles. However, the use of such a large number of troops put enormous pressure on their logistical support, and there was a lack of trust and cooperation between the various corps.
This makes the top generals tend to avoid field battles and choose to retreat into the city. However, this strategy gives us every opportunity to break through. Therefore, the evaluation of ** is very accurate, and in the long run, the Eastern Henan Campaign enabled our army to gain the initiative in the War of Liberation, and Su Yu's contribution is indelible.