Suiyuan Province is a northern province in the first period, bordering Shanxi and Shaanxi in the south and Mongolia in the north, with an area of more than 300,000 square kilometers.
Pingsui Railway from Beiping through Zhangjiakou, Datong, Fengzhen, Jining (now Ulanqab), Guisui (now Hohhot) to Baotou, a total length of more than 800 kilometers, is the traffic artery from North China to the northwest.
Suiyuan belongs to the Mongolian Plateau, where the autumn and winter seasons alternate and the winter is short, and the winter is severe and snowstormy, which has a great impact on military operations.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Suiyuan was the barrier of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area and the northern gate of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area, and its strategic position was very important.
From August 1945 onwards, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were engaged in fierce rivalry over the region.
Seize the important task of Suiyuan, and change from the Jinsui Military Region to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region
In August 1945, when the troops of the Jinsui Military Region and the Jinchaji Military Region marched victoriously to the Japanese puppet army to occupy the city, Fu Zuoyi, commander of the 12th Theater of the Kuomintang, commanded 5More than 10,000 people marched eastward along the Pingsui Line to snatch the fruits of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
On August 18, when the troops of the Jinsui Military Region attacked the Japanese-controlled Guisui City after a hard battle, Fu Zuoyi's troops launched a surprise attack behind the scenes and finally seized Guisui City.
Then, Fu Zuoyi dispatched 4 armies and 1 cavalry division to entangle the puppet Mongolian Army Minister Li Shouxin and the puppet Mongolian Suixi Coalition Army Commander Wang Yingbu to continue to advance eastward along the Pingsui Line.
The squadron successively invaded and occupied the cities of Wuchuan, Zhuozishan, Taolin, Liangcheng, Jining, Fengzhen, Xinghe, Shangyi and the vast areas of Suidong and Suinan liberated by the squadron from the Japanese puppets, and launched a large-scale attack on the liberated area of Chahar (Zhangjiakou, the provincial capital).
He attempted to establish the so-called "Suicha Defense and Communist Isolation Zone" to cut off the connection between the northwest, north China, and northeast liberated areas, and cooperate with the Kuomintang Army to control North China and compete for the northeast.
At the same time, in the vast area east of Suiyuan, Chiang Kai-shek also stepped up the deployment of troops
From September, the Kuomintang 1st Theater Hu Zong's southern Division, the 11th Theater Sun Lianzhong, etc., successively deployed 17 divisions in front of the Jin-Cha-Ji Liberated Area.19More than 50,000 people;
The Yan Xishan Division of the 2nd Theater dispatched 7 armies to quickly seize Taiyuan, and marched north along the Tongpu Road to occupy Datong and its surrounding areas.
The total strength of the enemy forces on all these lines is as high as 4340,000 people, under the unified command of Li Zongren, attempted to flank the Jin-Cha-Ji army from the east and west, and cut off the connection between North China and Northeast China.
As early as August 30, in the face of the grim military situation, the ** Military Commission asked the main force of the Jinsui Military Region to move from the vicinity of Taiyuan to Suiyuan to attack Fu Zuoyi.
After receiving the telegram, ** immediately replied: I will personally lead the five main forces in the Jinzhong area, immediately go north first, and strive to use 16 days to rush to Youyu to assemble. After the telegram was sent, ** immediately went north to Xingxian County, where the Jinsui Military Region was located.
On 9 September, in accordance with the strategic principle of "developing to the north and defending to the south," the chief who presided over the comprehensive work also had a vision for the combat tasks of the Jinsui and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Regions
Fu Yan's main force is advancing eastward, Suijing is empty, and Jinsui District should have the task of seizing the entire territory of Suiyuan, recovering and returning to Suiyuan, and cooperating with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region in Chasa Province to completely eliminate all of Fu Zuoyi's tasks.
According to this assumption, the capture of Suiyuan will be dominated by the Jinsui Military Region, while the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region will mainly cooperate in operations in Chahar and strive to eliminate Fu Zuoyi's troops.
At the beginning of September, Fu Zuoyi's vanguard advanced northeast into Mazhan Mountain to occupy Datong, his 5th Cavalry Division advanced to the west of Zhangjiakou, and the 1st Puppet Mongolian Army also advanced to Wangguantun near Yanggao.
In order to frustrate its edge and ensure the safety of Zhangjiakou, the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region were divided into two routes:
Counterattacked all the way west of Zhangjiakou, annihilated most of the 5th Cavalry Division of the Northeast Advance Army, and took advantage of the victory to recover the two cities of Shangyi and Xinghe;
All the way, he set up an ambush in the Maguantun area of Yanggao County and defeated the cavalry brigade of Wang Yingbu of the puppet Mongolian army.
The two great victories gave Fu Zuoyi's department a blow to the head.
At this time, the Chongqing talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had reached an impasse. On September 11, the Central Military Commission issued a directive to various localities, pointing out that in order to promote negotiations, it is necessary to arrange several effective campaigns.
The two districts of Jin-Cha-Ji and Jin-Sui immediately organized the Chasui Campaign, eliminated Fu Zuoyi's troops, liberated Suiyuan, recovered and returned to Sui, and captured 13 counties in Yanbei.
The directive demanded that the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region must assemble 2With the exception of one unit to consolidate the garrison of Zhangjiakou, all the troops of more than 50,000 people were assembled for training and carried out key strikes against Fu Zuoyi's movements, so as to seize all of Suiyuan and Yanbei
* Personally commanded 7 main regiments, assembled in Qilan, actively replenished, completed preparations within 10 days, and cooperated with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei District to attack Suiyuan.
At this time, the main force to seize Suiyuan was changed to the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and the Jin-Sui Military Region was changed to coordination.
"After repeated discussions with the leaders of the two regions," the Military Commission decided that the campaign would be under the unified command of the Army
While the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region stepped up its counterattack deployment, Fu Zuoyi also made corresponding adjustments to its eastward deployment in order to preserve its strength and avoid being broken by the People's Liberation Army.
On September 26, Fu Zuoyi ordered all troops to advance eastward to "adopt the method of retreat warfare", retreat to Datong with one unit, and withdraw the main force to the Suixi area to assemble, relying on the favorable terrain to defend Guisui and Baotou, and divert the offensive.
The adjusted deployment was as follows: Ma Zhanshan and Wang Yingbu retreated from the west of Zhangjiakou to Datong to contain the Jin-Cha-Ji troops from advancing northward
The main force of the Fu army retreated to Zhuozi Mountain, resisted with the favorable terrain and fortifications in the area, and then used the 67th Army as a cover, and the main force gradually moved to Guisui;
Part of the troops served as garrisons in Guisui and Baotou, and fortifications were strengthened, and the troops assembled in Baotou were under the command of Dong Qiwu, the commander of the city defense.
In this way, the main force is relatively concentrated, along the Pingsui Road Fengzhen to Zhuozi Mountain line of the situation.
The Fu Division, together with the local miscellaneous army, the puppet army and the troops of Yan Xishan's troops stationed near Datong, had a total strength of about 970,000 people, more than the two districts of Jinchaji and Jinsui.
In view of the fact that the main force of Fu's eastward advance was shrinking to temporarily take a defensive position in the area of Zhuozi Mountain, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region put forward the campaign concept of coordinating between the two regions and attacking Guisui.
On 28 September, the leaders of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and others proposed to the Military Commission that the military commission should jointly organize a campaign with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and that the military operations of the two regions be commanded in a unified manner.
Taking into account the poor supply of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei troops, the unfamiliarity with the enemy's situation and terrain, the imperfect organization of the large military region, and the difficulty in organizing large-scale operations, on the 30th, he submitted preliminary operational opinions to the ** Military Commission
The campaign began as early as 16 October. The Jin-Cha-Ji troops mainly attacked Jining, and occupied the railway north of Jining to Datong
Xu Guangda, Sun Zhiyuan and other units of the Jinsui Military Region marched from the direction of Taolin and Wuchuan, and the main force of the Jinsui Military Region advanced to Guisui from the north of Liangcheng.
If Jining is captured, the Jin-Cha-Ji troops will march west along the railway, and cooperate with the troops of the Jinsui Military Region to attack Guisui.
On October 1, in view of the large number of troops participating in the battle in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, **telegram** Military Commission, suggesting that the Suiyuan Campaign be under the unified command of ***.
On October 2, "after repeated discussions with the leaders of the two regions", the Military Commission officially decided: The Suiyuan Campaign will be under the unified command of the People's Republic of China, and the Battle of Suiyuan will not be held in Zhangjiakou for the time being.
On the 11th, the ** Military Commission specifically instructed that it was best to start the Suiyuan campaign before the 20th, so that the troops could be transferred to deal with the 10 armies of Hu and Sun in early November, and too late would affect the development of the work in Jireliao and enter the northeast in due course.
According to the instructions of the ** Military Commission, the Suiyuan Campaign was divided into two phases: the Suidong operation and the Huihui Attack and Guisui Campaign.
**Determination: The first stage of the Suidong operation to eliminate the enemy in Jining, Fengzhen, Liangcheng and other places;In the second stage, the main force of Fu was gathered and annihilated on the periphery of Guisui.
According to the campaign plan, the Jin-Cha-Ji troops attacked from east to west, and each broke through the enemy between Fengzhen and Jining
The Jin Sui troops attacked from the south to the north, successively eliminated the enemy in Liangcheng and other places, and then developed an offensive in the direction of Jining;
In the end, the participating troops of the two regions continued to work together to annihilate the enemy in the eastern part of Suiyuan.
"The first division was not annihilated and fled, and Fu Zuoyi's confidence in returning to Sui increased."
On October 18, the Battle of Suiyuan began. By the 21st, the Jin-Cha-Ji troops had captured Longshengzhuang and Fengzhen one after another, and advanced to Jining, but not many enemies were annihilated.
At the same time, the Jinsui troops successively captured some areas between Liangcheng and Taolin, and also did not destroy many enemies.
Under the fierce attack, Fu Zuoyi hurriedly retracted his forces and ordered all troops to quickly withdraw to the west of Guisui.
When he learned that Fu Zuoyi had contracted the main force to retreat in the direction of Guisui and Baotou, he proposed to use the main force to violently advance westward, cut off the return route of Fu Zuoyi's army, and strive to annihilate his main force in the field.
On the 21st, ** ordered all units to switch to the second phase of the operation, intercepting the retreating enemy from different directions.
The Jin-Cha-Ji troops were mainly responsible for attacking and destroying the enemy in the area east of Jining to Fengzhen, and the Jin-Sui troops were mainly responsible for clearing the enemy on the periphery west of Jining to Fengzhen.
At 20 o'clock on the 22nd, **instructions***, etc.: The main force of Fu must be annihilated, and Guisui, Baotou, Wuyuan, and Guyang must be occupied, and if possible, Linhe must be occupied.
Datong must be occupied, if it can be occupied quickly, it will be occupied quickly, otherwise it will be occupied again when the division is returned, please deploy and fight according to this policy.
If the Fu Department insists on returning to Sui, it will first occupy Baotou, Wuyuan, and Guyang, so that the Fu Department will break through the siege without food, and then annihilate it. If I can advance quickly, I may be able to return to Suisui quickly.
**, make persistent efforts: On the 24th, the Jin-Cha-Ji troops captured Jining, but the 101st Division, the main force of the 35th Army, successfully broke through the siege and fled westward
At 8 o'clock in the evening of the 24th, in order to cut off the enemy and create a favorable situation, it was decided to change the plan to go east to Jining and Fengzhen, and ordered the Jinsui troops south of the Pingsui Railway to swing north and go straight to Zhuozi Mountain, 48 kilometers west of Jining.
The next day, it captured Zhuozi Mountain and completely annihilated more than 4,000 people of the new 26th Division.
However, the most regrettable thing is that due to the change of the original plan to go east to Jining and Fengzhen, the enemy's 101st Division escaped the doom of being caught between the east and the west.
What is infuriating is that when the Jinsui troops attacked Zhuozi Mountain, the enemy's 101st Division, which fled westward, dared to reinforce along the way.
Although it was stubbornly resisted by the 1st Brigade, due to the lack of unity of command from above, the 2nd Brigade could not arrive on time, allowing the 1st Division to flee to Guisui.
As ** said, "If the 2nd Independent Brigade catches up, we will fight 1st Division."
"The first division was not annihilated and fled, and Fu Zuoyi's confidence in returning to Sui increased."”
After being severely hit in Suidong, Fu Zuoyi's troops continued to shrink their forces. By October 26, part of the enemy's forces were withdrawn to Baotou and other places, and the main force was withdrawn to Guisui City and its periphery, and the fortifications were actively repaired and the defense was organized.
For this period of operation, ** is relatively satisfied. On October 27, when ** reported the situation in North China to Liu Deng, he mentioned the progress of the Suiyuan Campaign:
He Wending's 26th Division (Jiang's Department) was annihilated by me in Zhuozi Mountain, and Fu Zuoyi's main force was 100 1st Division and 32nd Division to the west, and I was pursuing Guisui. ”
Even if we can't get Guisui and Baotou, it will be difficult for him to attack again."
How to fight the next battle?
**Agreed**Meeting at Longshengzhuang, east of Zhuozi Mountain, to agree on the next step.
On October 26th, ** arrived at Longshengzhuang, and then entered Zhuozi Mountain with **.
Here, **and** have studied the next steps. As early as the 22nd, the ** Military Commission sent a telegram, "If I can advance quickly, I may quickly occupy Guisui." ”
On the 24th, after the Jin-Cha-Ji troops regained Jining, they instructed Xiao Ke: "Take advantage of the victory and drive until Wuyuan and Linhe, and annihilate the Fu Department and all the miscellaneous cards participating in the war."
On the 27th, the Military Commission ordered that after the arrival of the troops, our army should rest for a few days near Zhuozi Mountain and complete all preparations for the offensive.
Then concentrate all your efforts to annihilate Fu Yan and capture Guisui.
In this operation, we must achieve the goal of annihilating Fu Yan's main force, and we should move our main force behind Fu Yan's position and fight from west to east before we can gather and annihilate it, and we must prepare for a bloody battle for many days. ”
According to the situation of the enemy and us at that time, Nie and He agreed: first clear the periphery, encircle and return to Sui, and then attack the city, and send a part of the troops west to Baotou.
The specific deployment is that the Jin-Cha-Ji troops will encircle Guisui from the north and east, and the Jin-Sui troops will encircle Guisui from the south and west
With the Jinsui troops participating in the war as the main group, the army marched westward under the command of Wang Shangrong, marched west along the railway, cut off the connection between Guisui and Baotou, and captured Baotou.
Obviously, the focus of Nie and He's decision was to seize Guisui, and the westward advance was only a coordinated action, which did not fully reflect the intention of the ** Military Commission to rapidly advance westward with the main force and fight from west to east.
Later, ** said without self-reproach: "Originally, after defeating the enemy in Zhuo Zishan, we should have marched westward as soon as possible according to ***'s instructions, attacked the retreat of the Fu army, and destroyed the enemy's main force." ”
When I was in Zhuo Zishan, I didn't put forward *** instructions to discuss with Commander Nie, and I had to bear some responsibility. ”
Gui Sui, the capital of Suiyuan Province, has two cities, the old and the new. The new town is about 2 east and west5 kilometers, the surrounding city wall is 12 meters high, and the old city has an earthen wall about 13 meters.
In order to hold on to the city, Fu Zuoyi built a large number of fortifications and bunkers in and around the new and old cities, and there were street fortifications on both sides of the street entrances in the city, and outer trenches were dug at the front of the city defense, and obstacles such as barbed wire, deer barricades, and power grids were set up.
Fu Zuoyi deployed heavy troops in Guisui, with a total of 6 divisions and 2 divisions in the city defense and peripheryMore than 40,000 people, commanded by Fu Zuoyi himself;
The main force was used to defend the old city, the mobile troops controlled the new city, and the local miscellaneous armed forces carried out raids and sabotage activities in the peripheral Wuchuan, Tuoketuo and other places.
On the evening of October 30, the operation on the periphery of Guisui was in full swing, and by the 31st, the troops of the two districts were approaching and forming an encirclement of Guisui from the periphery.
The offensive actions of the Jin-Cha-Ji troops and the Jinsui troops and the serious situation of the siege of Guisui made Fu Zuoyi deeply feel that it was not a perfect strategy to defend the city, and it was necessary to "attack as defense" in order to thwart the offensive of "**".
So, he went to the front line in person, commanded, and instructed Yuan Qingrong, the commander of the provisional 3rd Army, who was in charge of city defense, to find fighters and take the initiative to attack.
From November 1st to 12th, Fu Zuoyi's organization counterattacked many times, but they were all defeated, with a total of more than 3,000 people, before they were forced to switch to a strong defense.
In the face of Fu's frantic counterattack, on the 3rd and 4th, ** was forced to put forward an operational plan to postpone the siege of the city for several days, and adjust the deployment of the stronghold outside the city.
On the 6th, ** instructed *** to take the following measures on the tactics of besieging Guisui:
First, if there is an advantage in troops, morale, and technology, it is best to quickly win the country by attacking by force
The second is to conceal the main force, feint with a force, and induce it to attack and annihilate it;
The third is to besiege the strong and weak attack, and return to Sui with a small flexible siege, and the main force will advance westward, and after conquering Salaqi, Baotou, and Wuyuan, it will turn back and attack again;
Fourth, mobilize the masses to besiege and encircle for a long time, and the main force assembles mobile positions, and abandons the city when its food is exhausted, and annihilates it.
In particular, it was emphasized that the specific approach to be adopted should be decided on a case-by-case basis.
After receiving the above-mentioned instructions from the Central Military Commission, he commanded the troops to conduct specific reconnaissance on the situation of the Guisui defenders.
Considering that although the troops of the two regions have a slight advantage in Guisui and Baotou, it is difficult for them to go on an expedition, and it is very difficult to increase the troops.
And the harsh winter is coming, and a long delay will bring more inconvenience. Therefore, it was decided to continue to carry out the siege according to the operational deployment that had already begun.
Unfortunately, due to the solid defense facilities of Guisui City, the siege troops of the two districts failed to succeed in many strong attacks, and the two sides formed a stalemate.
The transfer to Baotou failed, and our army fell into an unfavorable situation of fighting on two sides in the Suiyuan battlefield
Baotou, located at the western end of the Pingsui Railway, is the gateway to the Yellow River and an important supply base set up by Fu Zuoyi in the rear.
Relative to Guisui, the defenders of Baotou were weak. At the beginning of November, in order to isolate the main force of the Guisui Fu Division, the 1st Independent Brigade marched westward along the railway, cut off the connection between Guisui and Baotou, and captured Baotou.
* Baotou city wall.
On November 1, the westward advancing troops advanced to Baotou along the Suibao Railway, attacking the city and seizing land all the way, occupying Salaqi and Shaerqin on the 7th, approaching Baotou.
Baotou is a strong city, the city wall is nearly 7 meters high, 2 3 meters thick, the circumference of the city is about 10 kilometers, there are 5 city gates of the big east gate, the small north gate, the big west gate, the northwest gate, the big south gate.
Outside the city there is a depth and width of 2The 5-meter outer moat, there are cement pouring light and dark bunkers under the city and some corners, and there is a power grid in the dangerous area on the inner side of the outer moat, which is full of mines, and the strongholds outside the city communicate with the open trenches in the city.
In particular, the east and northeast corners of the city turn to the Longzang Heights and the Jade Emperor Temple Heights, there are reinforced concrete bunkers built by the original Japanese army, the terrain is high, and the firepower is strong;
In the vicinity of the Seongnam Electric Light Company and the railway station, various field fortifications were built. There are a large number of materials hoarded in the city, and there are various warehouses to facilitate supplies.
The original defenders of Baotou had more than 4 regiments, plus the special service battalion of the 67th Army Headquarters and other units that were withdrawn from Suixi, with a total strength of about 1More than 20,000 people, more than the advance army.
On November 7, in order to unify the organization of defense, Fu Zuoyi urgently ordered Dong Qiwu, director of the Political Department of the Theater, to concurrently serve as the commander-in-chief of Baotou City Defense.
He Wending, commander of the 67th Army, was the commander of Baotou City Defense, Wang Leizhen, deputy commander of the 3rd Army, was appointed deputy commander, and Ma Bingren, head of Baotou County, was appointed commander of the garrison.
On the second day of Dong Qiwu's tenure, he immediately made strict arrangements for the defense of the city, and deployed heavy troops in all weak areas.
In view of the above situation, the westward advancing troops decided to first clear the outlying strongholds of Baotou and then carry out the siege. Beginning on the evening of 8 November, the attacking troops launched an attack on the outlying strongholds of Baotou in multiple directions.
After three days and nights of fierce fighting, they successively captured Baotou Railway Station and other strongholds and nearby areas, forcing the defenders to abandon their positions and flee into the city.
In order to strengthen the strength of the attack on Baotou, the main force of the 358th Brigade was ordered to aid Baotou from the west in the Guisui area.
By the 12th, in addition to the two strongholds of the power plant and the Jade Emperor Temple, the peripheral strongholds in the north, east and south of the city were basically swept away, thus forming a semi-encirclement situation in Baotou.
Because the Jade Emperor Temple can overlook the whole city, and the power plant is the only power source in Baotou, Dong Qiwu strictly ordered the troops to defend these two key points, and to provide strong support with artillery fire in the city, so the attacking troops could not attack for a long time.
At the same time, the defenders in the city strengthened the city gate and defended it to the death, and the two sides formed a confrontation situation.
Late at night on the 12th, the siege troops concentrated their forces to launch the first attack on Baotou City, once attacked the northwest gate of Baotou City, broke into the city, and started street battles with the defenders, successively captured important positions such as Xiyingpan, and controlled about one-third of the blocks in the city.
On the 13th, the defenders concentrated the superior forces and firepower to carry out a continuous counterattack. The troops who broke into the city engaged in a white-knuckle battle with the defenders, but in the end, due to the disparity in numbers, the exhaustion of ammunition, and the poor street fighting, they were forced to withdraw from the battle, and the first attack failed.
On the night of the 16th, in addition to continuing to carry out a diversionary attack on the two strongholds of the Jade Emperor Temple and the power plant, the attacking troops launched a fierce attack on the defenders of the city again from the east, south, west, and north with the vast majority of the main force.
The battle lasted until the afternoon of the 17th, and the second siege was also unsuccessful.
Since Baotou could not be quickly conquered, the troops of the two regions were faced with a situation of fighting from east to west and fighting on both sides on the Suiyuan battlefield
In Baotou, in addition to the confrontation between the two sides on the ground, the enemy forces in Beiping sent three to six planes every day to reconnoiter and bomb, causing great damage to the people and houses
In Guisui, in addition to the original 6 divisions, the defenders also reinforced 1 heavy artillery regiment by air, with a strength of 240,000 people, the firepower was further strengthened, so there was no significant progress in the siege for nearly half a month.
Nie He was divided, and the Military Commission tended to concentrate on capturing Baotou
On November 13, the news of Baotou's first defeat came, and the deployment of the division of troops to fight on both sides was made
* Led the main force of the Jinsui army to the west, entered Baotou, and attacked Ma Hongkui's troops who were reinforced to Baotou from Wuyuan, Linhe, and Shaanba;
The main force of Jin-Cha-Ji continued to besiege Guisui and responded to the attack of Jinsui troops.
At noon on January 16, ** replied to the telegram agreeing to the deployment of the main force of the He Department to advance westward, and at the same time instructed the main force of the Nie Department to also go westward with all its might.
At this time, Nie and He had a disagreement: "* wants to go all out to capture Baotou and realize the strategic intention of the CCP." ”
On November 17, ** led the main force of the Jinsui army to the vicinity of Baotou, and he said to the troops in Shaerqin, the eastern suburb of Baotou:
We first laid down Baotou, then hit Wuyuan and Linhe, copied Fu Zuoyi's nest, and then turned back to Guisui and Datong. ”
On the 19th, ** and others sent a telegram to the Military Commission to express their "agreement with the telegram of the Military Commission on the 16th", insisting on seizing Baotou, Wuyuan, and Linhe first, and isolating the Suiyuan Fu Zuoyi Department.
He also proposed that the Jin-Cha-Ji troops draw out three more regiments to assist in the attack on Baotou, cooperate with the reinforcements of the Majia army and strengthen the siege assault force, so that the troops that capture Baotou are better and have a greater grasp.
Regarding ***'s instructions to the main force of Jin-Cha-Ji to participate in the war also march westward, ** has different opinions: "This is basically a plan to ignore Sui, and go all out to take Baotou, which is obviously inappropriate." ”
At 20 o'clock on November 17, he stated three opinions to the ** Military Commission on the current difficult situation and the deployment process:
First, if the main force of the Jin-Cha-Ji army advanced westward, the besieging troops would become inferior, and the enemy would inevitably take the opportunity to counterattack, and the entire battle situation would be in danger of deteriorating.
Second, if all the main forces advance westward to seize Wuyuan, Linhe, and Shaanba, then they will be divided into three battlefields, Guisui, Baotou, and Hetao, which are more than 800 miles apart, and the forces will inevitably be scattered, and the forces in the three places will be weak, and it will be difficult to coordinate with each other.
Third, third, the Suiyuan area is not a base area, and without a consolidated rear supply line, food and ammunition cannot be transported quickly, and the evacuation of the wounded is also a major problem. ”
Therefore, he advocated that the original deployment should be carried out according to the development of the situation, and that the end of the campaign should be considered if necessary.
However, before the Military Commission replied, the operational needs of the military were fully considered.
At 23 o'clock on November 19, ** learned that more than 3,000 cavalry divisions led by Ma Qiliang in Ningxia had advanced eastward from Wuyuan, and the newly formed 4th Cavalry Division was aided by Guisui West.
In order to ensure the assault force of the attack on the package and relieve the worries of the He Department about attacking the package, he ordered a brigade (3 regiments) besieging Guisui led by Ma Long and Fu Chongbi to all go west, and arrived in Sa County with a two-day itinerary and came under the command of **.
On November 22, ** replied to the telegram, once again clarifying the strategic intention and the significance of launching the Suiyuan Campaign, and put forward three ways to break the deadlock:
The first is to implement the opinions of ***, to besiege Guisui with the Jin-Cha-Ji troops, and He Li will go all out to capture Baotou, but the results will not be obtained in the short term, and the weather is getting colder, which is not the best policy;
The second is to abandon the siege and return to Sui, and the main forces of Nie and He will concentrate on capturing Baotou and strike at possible reinforcements, but the rear may be cut off by Fu;
Third, the two tasks of besieging Guisui and capturing Baotou were abandoned, the campaign ended temporarily, and the troops retreated to mobile positions to sort out, waiting for the opportunity to fight again, but the strategic task could not be completed, and the Fu Department was still in great trouble.
The above methods, "* do not understand the situation ahead, I hope you will implement it according to the situation." ”
But the telegram clearly pointed out: ** is inclined to carry out the second option, that is, to concentrate forces on the capture of Baotou.
In this way, ** is not without pressure.
On November 23, ** called in the name of the Military Commission to reduce pressure: If you are not sure to capture Baotou and Guisui in the short term, you can consider retreating the troops to a mobile position for retraining, and then plan future actions.
On November 24, ** called **Military Commission and ** respectively, insisting on the opinion that the Jin-Cha-Ji troops should not advance westward
If the attack on Baotou is indeed certain, He Bu will act according to the original plan and attack Baotou alone;Otherwise, in order to avoid a stalemate with the enemy, withdraw to a mobile position.
* After repeated research, they believed that the capture of Baotou was the key to the transformation of the campaign, and decided to attack Baotou again.
The tasks of the Suiyuan Campaign that have not been completed should be well reviewed and summed up so as to draw lessons and lessons in the future. ”
According to the situation that Fu Zuoyi sent troops from Guisui to break through to the west and Ma Qiliang to aid from Ningxia to the east, it was decided to send reinforcements first and then attack the city.
The first step is to besiege the city and send reinforcements, first to block and destroy the reinforcements from the east and west;The second step is to block the reinforcements and siege the city, block the remnants of the reinforcements with a small number of troops, and concentrate most of the troops to attack the head.
On the evening of December 3, the attacking troops concentrated their forces and launched an attack on Baotou City. Due to the fact that the defenders had strengthened the defenses of the weak area, and the cold weather, although several fierce attacks were launched in succession, they were ineffective.
In the war diary at that time, Dong Qiwu wrote: "Baotou is located in the alpine region of Saishan, and has now entered the middle of winter, with the wind howling, the ice and snow covering, and the average temperature is more than minus 10 degrees Celsius.
In order to increase the difficulty of the siege, every night, I ordered the troops to pour water on the outside of the city wall, and the water froze with the water, and the city wall around Baotou became like ice sculptures and snow casting
In the past 20 days, our army has repelled dozens of attacks, although we have paid a heavy price, fortunately thanks to God's help and waiting, the city has not been lost."
Considering that it has entered the harsh winter season outside the fortress, it is very difficult to replenish all kinds of supplies, the soldiers' clothing is thin, the number of sick people is increasing day by day, and the combat effectiveness is declining.
The defenders were well stocked with cold supplies, ammunition and food, and the continuation of the campaign was very unfavorable to the besieging troops, so it was decided to stop the attack.
On December 13, ** issued an order to end the Suiyuan campaign.
The next day, all the units participating in the Suiyuan Campaign withdrew from the encirclement of Baotou and Guisui one after another, gathered the main forces to control the Suidong and Suinan areas, and prepared for a new maneuver, thus ending the Suiyuan Campaign.
**Biography" pointed out that "the Battle of Suiyuan lasted nearly two months, recovering the vast area of Suiyuan and eliminating Fu Zuoyi's troops.1More than 20,000 people, but it did not achieve the expected goal of eliminating the main force of Fu Zuoyi's army, liberating Suiyuan, and recovering Suiyuan. ”
On December 8, the ** Military Commission sent a telegram to the main leaders of the Jin-Cha-Ji and Jinsui Military Regions, and did not make too many accusations, but expressed condolences
Although the Suiyuan Campaign did not eliminate Fu Yan's main force and did not complete all the campaign tasks, Fu Yan was dealt a serious blow to the ...... because all the commanders and fighters fought bravelyValuable lessons learned in the campaign will serve as the basis for victory in the next campaign.
On December 11, in a report to the Central Military Commission, he said: "The unfinished tasks of the Suiyuan Campaign should be well reviewed and summed up for future lessons. ”
At the same time, he also objectively mentioned that only five veteran regiments participated in the Suiyuan Campaign this time, and more than 70 percent of some troops were recruits in 1945 and had not received any training.
In terms of technical arms, the original artillery battalion went to Yan'an and did not return, and the engineer battalion had less than 50 people left. In the future, the troops will carry out ideological, political, and tactical training and strive to improve themselves. ”
The Suiyuan Campaign was a regular operation of the large corps launched in the initial stage of the transition from the anti-Japanese national war to the domestic revolutionary war and from guerrilla warfare to movement warfare.
The troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Jinsui regions have just been organized into field corps, and the command organs at all levels are far from sound.
In particular, most of the operational thinking, campaign guidance, organization and command are still in the stage of guerrilla warfare, unable to meet the requirements of waging mobile warfare and war of annihilation, and lacking the experience and necessary ideological and material preparations for coordinated operations of large corps.
As a result, there were many contradictions and problems in campaign planning, force use, organization and coordination, and operational support, and it was difficult to achieve the campaign goal of annihilating the main force of the Fu troops during the campaign.
The Suiyuan Campaign was a large-scale mobile operation launched in a vast area along the Pingsui Railway.
Before and after the recovery of Fengzhen and Jining, the participating troops did not concentrate their main forces and advance westward in time, wedged into the depth of the Fu Department in one fell swoop, cut off their deployments, created and captured fighters in the movement, and carried out various annihilations;
Instead, they adopted the tactics of frontal horizontal push on the whole front, and there were many crushing battles and few annihilation battles, so that Fu's troops quickly withdrew westward, gathered in Guisui and Baotou, and relied on strong defenses to stubbornly resist the corners, so that the main forces participating in the battle lost the favorable fighters for destroying the enemy in the field and were forced to turn to attack the fortified positions.
* said with emotion after the war: "*'s words are right, very far-sighted, after a few victories in the opening game, you should go west with the Jin-Cha-Ji troops to pack your head, so that the chances of victory are great." ”
In the siege, due to the poor technical conditions of the equipment and the serious lack of firepower, it is difficult to effectively destroy the strong fortifications of the defenders, and the troops lack experience in attacking the fortifications
In particular, the main forces besieging the city were divided into Sui and Bao, fighting on both sides and restraining each other, with the result that the attacking troops in Sui and Bao were both insufficient and could not be attacked for a long time, forming a situation of confrontation.
The Battle of Suiyuan was a long-term offensive operation carried out far from the liberated areas and deep into the Fubu area.
The troops participating in the war lacked a full estimate of Fu Zuoyi's long-term operation in Suiyuan, a complete fortification system, and the characteristics of his troops' familiarity with the terrain and great mobility
In particular, after penetrating deep into the areas occupied by the Kuomintang, it was difficult to supply supplies, the terrain was unfamiliar, and there was a lack of mass foundation, and ideological and material preparations were obviously insufficient, and it was difficult to solve practical difficulties
After the war, when summing up the lessons and lessons, ** and *** both invariably believed that underestimating Fu Zuoyi's strength before the war was the key to this setback.
The Suiyuan area is located on the Saiwai Plateau, and in winter, the climate is harsh, which has a tremendous impact on the continuous operation of the campaign and also restricts the completion of the combat mission.