Zhang Lingfu was known as Chiang Kai-shek's "ace general" and one of Chiang Kai-shek's most important generalsZhang Lingfu's answer was unexpected, not ***, not ***, but Su Yu. What I didn't expect was that this answer turned out to be a prophecy, and in the Battle of Menglianggu, Zhang Lingfu happened to be defeated by Su Yu.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Lingfu made great contributions to the defeat of the Japanese invaders, but during the War of Liberation, he mistakenly stood on the opposite side of the people. In the early days of the civil war, Zhang Lingfu and the 74th Division led by him became Chiang Kai-shek's vanguard, taking the two Huai directly, bringing major hidden dangers to our army and becoming a strong opponent of Su Yu of the East China Field Army at that time.
Because Huaiyin is the capital of the liberated area of Central China, Zhang Lingfu can be said to have made great contributions to the attack on the two Huai, and he ordered Li Yannian to lead his troops on the frontal battlefield to attack from the north along the line of Suining, Suqian, and Shuyang, while he took the main force and quietly carried out a sneak attack along the canal.
On 10 September, the artillery of the 74th Division bombarded the head of Huaiyin City, and planes also hovered over Huaiyin, and the situation was very critical. It was the first time that the Nine Columns of the Mountains and Fields encountered such a strong opponent, but they still resisted stubbornly, and the 74th Division did not capture Huaiyin City for a week, which made Zhang Lingfu praise the Nine Columns of the Mountains and Fields on the one hand, and on the other hand, he strengthened the offensive, and in the end, Huaiyin and Huai'an were still taken down by Zhang Lingfu.
After that, starting on October 19, the Battle of Lianshui began again. Lianshui is an important gateway to the northern Jiangsu region, in this war, Zhang Lingfu once again staged a sound of the east to attack the west, when our army focused its attention on the front, he suddenly surprised, on December 14 under the cover of the air force, launched a fierce attack from the right flank, our defenders were caught off guard, and finally, Lianshui was lost. But fortunately, the strategic tasks set by our army have been achieved.
In these two battles, Zhang Lingfu showed scheming command skills. Su Yu, the commander of the East China Field Army, was known as Zhiduoxing, and when he was fighting, he had a lot of ideas, and he could think of ways that others couldn't think of. In the face of Zhang Lingfu, Su Yu naturally did not dare to underestimate the enemy, as the so-called chess opponent, Su Yu was looking forward to a head-to-head showdown with Zhang Lingfu.
After that, our army took the initiative to launch a number of battles such as Subei, Lunan and Laiwu, and won a complete victory, especially in the battle of Laiwu, 50,000 enemies were annihilated and 19 generals were captured alive, which was regarded as a return for Zhang Lingfu. As a result, the two sides were evenly matched and fell into a long-term stalemate.
In the later battles, our army resorted to the usual method of luring the enemy into deep attacks. Our army has been engaged in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines for a long time, and has always been able to win more with less, and a very important strategy is to lure the enemy into going deeper, and usually the enemy will be deceived. However, no matter what method our army adopts to lure the enemy this time, Zhang Lingfu seems to be able to see our army's intentions, that is, he will not be fooled. For a while, even Su Yu was a little difficult and didn't know where to start.
It is said that one day, Su Yu and others visited the homes of local farmers. The leaders of our party and our army often mingle with the local people, and even when there is a war, their style of being close to the people will not change. In the middle of chatting, an old man's words suddenly gave Su Yu inspiration. The old man said that when fishing, you have to use bait, and the bigger the bait you use, the bigger the fish you catch.
It was such a simple sentence that reminded Su Yu. If you want to deal a heavy blow to the enemy, you must make certain sacrifices, which is the same as the reason that you can't bear the wolf if you are reluctant to let the child trap. Because our army was inferior to Zhang Lingfu's army in terms of equipment, the 74th Division claimed to be all American-style equipment, and at the same time, the East China Field Army had 200,000 people, while Zhang Lingfu's troops had as many as 400,000 people. Such a huge contrast made our army a little timid when it first started fighting, always trying to seek to destroy the enemy at the lowest cost, and with a little profit, he wanted to lure Zhang Lingfu into being fooled, no wonder it was unsuccessful.
After Su Yu thought of this, it seemed that his mouth was suddenly opened, he abandoned his ideological baggage, and completely let go of the fight, but the enemy was really fooled. This time, it was the famous Battle of Menglianggu. Huaye decided to do the first.
The 1st and 7th Columns stopped moving south, took the main force back a step back, and gathered in Laiwu, Xintai, and east of Mengyin, while the 6th Column waited for orders in the mountains.
Seeing that the main force of our army was moving eastward, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng mistakenly believed that our army was "exhausted from the offensive" and was preparing to retreat, so on May 10 they ordered all units to "follow up and attack." "The result is in the hands of our army. At midnight on May 10, our army discovered that the enemy's right flank had advanced to the village of Miaojia District, and Huaye concentrated his forces on the evening of May 13 to annihilate this enemy force.
On the night of May 13, Zhang Lingfu's main force, the 74th Division, also arrived at Mashan and other places, and they were supposed to rest for the night and attack Tangbu in the early morning of the next day. But what I didn't expect was that it was this night that Xu Shiyou's Ninth Column and Tao Yong's Fourth Column were like divine soldiers descending from the sky, taking advantage of the night to fight fiercely with the 74th Division, and the battle lasted for a whole night, and our army occupied Huangluzhai, Foshan, Mamuchi and other fortresses.
The next day, the Eighth Column of our army occupied Tianma Mountain, and the Sixth Column captured Duozhuang, which was equivalent to completely cutting off the contact between the 74th Division and friendly forces, and Zhang Lingfu was forced to retreat to Menglianggu.
However, Chiang Kai-shek made a serious mistake at this time, he ordered Zhang Lingfu to hold on to Menglianggu in order to hold back the main force of our army, and at the same time ordered the ** in the surrounding areas to quickly assemble at Menglianggu and prepare for a counter-encirclement, in a vain attempt to annihilate the main force of our army that surrounded the 74th Division.
At this time, our army had only 5 main columns, and Chiang Kai-shek's 10 integrated divisions were rapidly approaching. Therefore, ** and Su Yu must take Meng Lianggu before the arrival of enemy reinforcements, and the time is not on our army's side. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th, our army launched a strong attack, but the 74th Division, under the leadership of Zhang Lingfu, occupied a condescending favorable terrain and constantly launched counterattacks.
In this case, ** and Su Yu issued an order to "bomb and bomb" to take Meng Lianggu at all costs. At 1 o'clock in the morning of May 16, Huaye launched a general attack on the remnants of Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division, and all reserves were also thrown into battle, and our troops poured into Meng Lianggu's main front like a tide from all directions.
For a time, the majestic slogan of the People's Liberation Army resounded all over the mountains: "Defeat Meng Lianggu and capture Zhang Lingfu alive!""Capture Zhang Lingfu alive and beat the ace tiger!."Xu Shiyou opened his voice and shouted: "The division commander is the regiment commander, the regiment commander is the battalion commander, and the battalion commander is the company commander. ”
The enemy had never seen such a posture at all, and for a while he was out of order, and finally suffered a crushing defeat. And Zhang Lingfu, the former anti-Japanese hero, was defeated by Su Yu and broke Meng Lianggu's soul.