At the beginning of 1949, the whole army was reorganized, and the Central Plains Field Army was reorganized into the Second Field Army, including the Third Corps. Some people may wonder about this, Erye originally had four corps numbers, which were the corps, why did only 3 numbers be used in the end?
After Liu Deng's army advanced into the Dabie Mountains and successfully formed the Central Plains Field Army, the seven field columns that developed and grew ushered in a new identity in 1949, and they were reorganized into the 16th Army, the 13th Army, the 14th Army, the 10th Army, the 12th Army, the 15th Army, and the 17th Army.
Among them, the 13th Army and the 14th Army were derived from the original 4th Column, while the 18th Army was upgraded from the local troops of the Henan-Anhui Soviet Military Region. What is remarkable is that these nine corps were further organized into three corps, each of which had three corps under its jurisdiction.
Chief Liu Deng talked with Wang Hongkun and talked about the plan. ** It is planned that 9 corps will cross the river to the south, and if the crossing of the river does not go well, the 6th Corps will be formed.
This means that the Kuomintang army is heavily guarded along the Yangtze River, and the battle line for crossing the river is long, and it is difficult to say whether the troops will support it, and it can only be seen when it crosses the river. If there are not enough troops, reserve corps need to be formed to reinforce the front.
What can the soldiers who formed the Sixth Corps come from? The Central Plains Military Region is under the jurisdiction of Wang Shusheng's Hubei-Henan Military Region, Wang Hongkun's Tongbai Military Region, and Zhang Caiqian's Jianghan Military Region.
As early as August 1947, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region organized five field armies according to the instructions, and the local armed forces in southern Hebei were upgraded to 10 columns, with nearly 20,000 people under their jurisdiction, with deputy commander Wang Hongkun as the commander.
After going south to join Liu Deng, he was arranged to open up a base in the Tongbai area. Although the 10th Column was a local armed force, it fought many good and tough battles when opening up the base areas, such as the battle of Dengxian to destroy more than 9,000 enemies, and the battle of Wanxi and the annihilation of the enemy by brother troops10,000, more than 6,000 enemies were annihilated in the Wandong Campaign and brother troops, and about 20,000 enemies were annihilated in the Xiangfan Campaign and 6 columns.
After a year's training in 1948, the combat capability of the troops of the Tongbai Military Region was not inferior to that of the field army. So why is it not Wang Shusheng, but Wang Hongkun?
Wang Shusheng, as Wang Hongkun's party introducer and old superior, is not only highly qualified, but also the deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army. In terms of ability, the two are equally outstanding.
After the Central Plains broke through, Wang Shusheng led the troops to break through to the west and reached the northwest of Hubei to open up a base area. The conditions here were difficult, the enemy army was heavily encircled and suppressed, and Wang Shusheng continued to fight without a base area, and his body was exhausted.
For this reason, the organization decided to transfer him back to the liberated area to recuperate, and after half a year of fighting, he arrived at the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan Military Regions. After learning that Liu Deng's army went south to Dabie Mountain, although his body had not fully recovered, he still went to the front line again to open up the Hubei-Henan base area.
Considering the arduous nature of the river-crossing operation and the possibility of continuous operations, it is extremely important to select a commander who is physically strong and capable.
In April, the crossing of the river by Liu Deng's army was successful, but the plan to form the 6 Corps was not implemented. Subsequently, the Hubei-Henan Military Region and the Tongbai Military Region were abolished one after another, and Wang Shusheng and Wang Hongkun were appointed deputy commanders of the Hunan Military Region, specifically responsible for the work of supporting the front and other affairs.