In March 1947, after ** took the initiative to withdraw from Yan'an, Hu Zongnan launched a propaganda machine and bragged about his achievements, and for a while seemed to become a star-like figure.
However, within half a month, Hu Zongnan's 31st Brigade was eaten by our army in Qinghuatou, nearly 3,000 people were annihilated by our army, and the brigade commander was also captured, which humiliated Hu Zongnan well.
** was also very satisfied with this battle, and asked *** to seriously sum up the experience in order to facilitate the re-fighting, and stressed that on the battlefield in the Yan'an area, the general policy is to drag down the enemy and wait for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
For this great victory, ** said in a message to ***:"This should be a three-sided ambush tactic, which should be summed up and applied in future operations. ”
So, why did the 31st Brigade that ate Hu Zongnan this time summarize it as a "three-sided ambush strategy"?
It turned out that Mr. Peng set up an ambush in the Panlong River of Qinghuatou, with high ground on both sides and a canyon in the middle, and in order to block the enemy, Mr. Peng placed a regiment of troops in the front, after the battle was launched, first hit the enemy's tail, let the enemy's baggage block the retreat, and then launch an attack on both sides of the canyon and the front, which is the "three-sided ambush strategy".
This battle made Hu Zongnan very faceless, so he mobilized 11 brigades to prepare for a decisive battle with the main force of the Northwest Field Army at Wayaobao.
This time, Hu Zongnan learned the lesson of the 31st Brigade being eaten, and no longer dared to rush forward alone, but adopted a new tactic: the 11 brigades advanced in a square formation, and each unit always maintained a whole, which part had a situation and could respond quickly.
To put it bluntly, it is to maintain the overall action in any situation!
Hu Zongnan's tactic was indeed very tricky, and it caused great difficulties for our army to divide and annihilate the enemy.
At this time, ** sent a telegram to Mr. Peng, telling him to deal with the enemy in northern Shaanxi, or to adopt the "three-sided ambush method", hoping that *** could be boldly used.
However, after reading the telegram, Mr. Peng fell into deep thought.
In Hu Zongnan's operation, there was not a single outstanding unit, nor did a single scattered unit come out, so it may not be so easy to adopt the "three-sided ambush method" again. So, Mr. Peng called *** back, thinking that this time the situation had completely changed, and it was not suitable to use the previous tactics.
Mr. Peng analyzed in the telegram that there are two main reasons:
First, Hu Zongnan's 11 brigades all echo each other from afar and are very closely combined, that is to say, they are always a whole, and there is basically no gap to insert into them, and during their operations, they pay special attention to the marching distance, and they all advance in a drum style, this unit goes forward, and that unit covers and defends, which can be said to be leaky.
Second, in the enemy's marching route, our army has already sent several reconnaissance times, but has not found a suitable ambush site, if it dares to attack, it will be very large.
In the end, Mr. Peng put forward his own idea, that is, to constantly send small units to maneuver and attack in all directions, and change places with one shot, so as to create the illusion that our main force will be here and there for a while. In this way, the enemy will be pinned down by our army, exhausted, and after a long time, there will inevitably be a loophole, and at this time, our army will give another fatal blow.
**After reading Mr. Peng's analysis message, he also agreed very much, and encouraged him to fight according to this principle, keep an eye on the enemy, drag the enemy away like a little donkey, and wait for them to make mistakes.
Besides, Hu Zongnan's side has been led around by our army for several days, and the troops are already highly exhausted, but they still can't find the main force of our army, and their grievances have reached their peak, and some troops are even unwilling to maintain the square team designed by Hu Zongnan for various reasons. Under these circumstances, Hu Zongnan decided to withdraw part of his troops to the south, and the rest of the troops temporarily stabilized.
The opportunity appeared at this time, and the anxious 135th Brigade was very excited after receiving Hu Zongnan's order to retreat southward, and finally could leave here and no longer go around in circles with our army, so the 135th Brigade immediately opened up and became a lone army on the main road.
Mr. Peng was waiting for this moment, and immediately began to deploy troops, concentrating one column and two brigades, setting up ambushes in the area of Mudanchuan and Yunshan Temple in the northwest of Panlong, and other troops were ready to send reinforcements, so as to prevent Hu Zongnan from sending other troops to reinforce.
In this way, in just one day, our army completely annihilated nearly 5,000 people of the enemy's 135th Brigade, and the brigade commander was also captured, so angry that Hu Zongnan scolded the 135th Brigade commander for being incompetent.
This battle fully reflects Mr. Peng's flexible and changeable war wisdom, and also reflects the leadership style of the best from the best, no wonder Hu Zongnan is not an opponent!
(Reference: "* Biography" and "Records of the First Field Army").