In December 1940, the atmosphere of the Central China Bureau cadre meeting was tense, and the case was struck, pointing out that Huang Kecheng needed to be responsible for the Battle of Caodian and should conduct a self-examination.
Huang Kecheng was angry at this accusation, because he believed that the defeat in the battle of Caodian was because ** and others did not listen to his advice, so he believed that ** and others should be responsible.
Although ** is Huang Kecheng's old superior, in this conflict, both of them were very emotional, which made the people present feel at a loss. Why did the Battle of Caodian fail?
* Why do you blame Wong? Why did Wong refuse to review? The answers to these questions need to be found in the Battle of Huangqiao.
Soon after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party formed a united front, and the Red Army guerrillas in the southern provinces were reorganized into the New Fourth Army. In the Jiangnan region, the New Fourth Army was blockaded by Chiang's recalcitrant army and the Japanese army, and its living space was seriously squeezed.
However, the New Fourth Army is developing rapidly, and it urgently needs to expand its living space. However, according to Chiang's orders, the New Fourth Army could only operate in the Jiangnan region and could not disobey military orders.
If you disobey orders, then you will not receive military pay and equipment. Under these circumstances, the chairman resolutely said: "If we do not pay military salaries, we must also develop into northern Jiangsu." Because the population of northern Jiangsu is large, about 20 million, and the wind and rain are smooth, the food is abundant, and the resources are abundant.
However, attacking northern Jiangsu is also tantamount to stabbing a hornet's nest, because it is the territory of Han Deqin, the chairman of Jiangsu, and Han Deqin is Gu Zhutong's only cronies. Who is Gu Zhutong?
He was one of Chiang's "Eight King Kongs" and the commander of the Third Theater of Operations. The Third Theater is the top boss of the New Fourth Army according to regulations, and the New Fourth Army must obey Gu Zhutong's command.
The Third Theater has four group armies, more than 20 divisions, and about 200,000 troops, which is about five times the size of the New Fourth Army. Once Gu Zhutong turns his face, the situation will be very unfavorable to the New Fourth Army.
Nevertheless, in order to gain the initiative in the war of resistance in Central China, the chairman still ordered the attack on Huangqiao. In March 1940, 8,000 New Fourth Army troops attacked northern Jiangsu, and Han Deqin resisted with tens of thousands of troops.
In early October, the Battle of Huangqiao ended with the defeat of Han Deqin's recalcitrant army. The Battle of Huangqiao was of great significance, as it greatly increased the territory of the New Fourth Army, and fell into the hands of the New Fourth Army from the south of Longhai Road, east of Jinpu Road, north of the Yangtze River, and hundreds of miles west of the sea in northern Jiangsu.
However, this battle also made the Jiang family angry, and Gu Zhutong was even more furious"To take revenge on the New Fourth Army"。To this end, Gu Zhutong transferred Shangguan Yunxiang's 32nd Group Army General Headquarters from the Jiangxi front line to southern Anhui, sharpening his knives and being aggressive.
The chairman had an insight into the movements of Chiang's army and hoped that the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui would be able to go to Jiangbei. However, Gu Zhutong also threw himself into a trap, worried that making a move in southern Anhui would make Han Deqin's life in northern Jiangsu even more difficult.
On October 28, when Ye Ting was invited to Jing County to report to Shangguan Yunxiang, Shangguan hoped that the New Fourth Army would stop its operations in northern Jiangsu and guarantee that it would not attack Xinghua in the future.
Shangguan also told Ye Ting that Chiang was extremely dissatisfied with Gu's retreat in southern Anhui, but Gu "still wanted to seek a peaceful solution to the southern Anhui problem and alleviate the northern Jiangsu problem, but there were many people in the Whampoa Shaozhuang faction in the theater who advocated fighting immediately."
Shangguan Yunxiang attached great importance to the information provided by Ye Ting, and on November 9, in the names of Zhu, Peng, Ye, and Xiang, he sent a telegram to He and Bai, expressing his willingness to send the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui to the north of the Yangtze River to support the overall situation of resistance against Japan.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's order was contrary to Shangguan Yunxiang's proposal, leading to a provocation by the Gui army against the fourth detachment of Zhang Yunyi's division of the New Fourth Army in eastern Anhui. In this case, Comrade Shaoqi and ** made a-for-tat and preemptive decision to strike at Han Deqin.
On November 10, Comrade Shaoqi sent a telegram to Yan'an, saying that he would attack Han Deqin. At that time, the attitude of the headquarters was restraint, saying that the attack on Han Deqin still needed to wait for the right time.
However, the situation has changed dramatically over time. In mid-November, Huo Shouyi's unit of the Northeast Army, on the way to the south, approached the station of Huang Kecheng's division of the Eighth Route Army and carried out a series of provocations.
On November 21, our army finally made up its mind and decided to solve the problem of Han Deqin. As for Gu Zhutong's possible reaction, we can't take into account it for the time being; Because Chiang Kai-shek's step by step was pressing, Gu Zhutong couldn't stop it.
Although it was risky to attack Han Deqin when Xiang Ying did not evacuate to Jiangbei in time, it was forced by Chiang. Due to the previous victory of the New Fourth Army at Huangqiao, Comrade Shaoqi and ** were full of confidence and believed that victory was in sight.
After in-depth research by Comrade ** and Comrade Shaoqi, they decided not to attack Han Deqin's nest Xinghua, but to attack Caodian instead. In order to realize this plan, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu set up a special general headquarters, with Ye Ting and ** serving as the chief and deputy commanders respectively, and Comrade Shaoqi serving as the political commissar.
Huang Kecheng, as an old subordinate of the **, served in the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and a month ago he led the 5th Column to northern Jiangsu, and his current position is the commander of the 5th Column of the Eighth Route Army.
At this critical juncture, he stood up and said that Caodian was not suitable for fighting, like cold water poured on the action.
Huang Kecheng resolutely opposed the attack on Caodian, believing that it would be unwise for our army to attack Caodian under the condition that the time, place, and people were not advantageous. He pointed out that at present, the KMT and the CCP are cooperating, and the Battle of Huangqiao was provoked by the other side first, but now Han Deqin has not done so, and we are taking the initiative and being politically passive.
Moreover, the Caodian area is intertwined with rivers, the water network is all over the place, and the terrain is complex, which is not conducive to the deployment of large troops. In addition, after Han Deqin was beaten in the Battle of Huangqiao, he learned a lesson, strengthened the fortifications that had been in operation for many years, and built a stronger defense system.
In addition, both the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army had just arrived in northern Jiangsu, where the situation was complicated, with enemy, puppet, soil, stubborn, and bandit forces crisscrossing the country; The people here don't know much about us.
Although Huang Kecheng was right, his opinion was not adopted.
Huang Kecheng, a straightforward soldier with a strong sense of responsibility. He always stood up for what he believed in, even if it meant challenging the orders of his superiors. He opposed the Yongxing uprising, the scorched earth policy of burning houses, and the attack on Wuhan and Ganzhou.
He knew that doing so might lead to serious consequences, and he was once removed from the post of political commissar of the division and demoted to the post of reconnaissance section chief. But he never changed his resolve because of this, because he knew that it was not advisable to pretend to be deaf and dumb while watching the revolution suffer.
Although Su Yu and Huang Kecheng were defeated in the Battle of Caodian, Huang Kecheng was still asked to make a review. For some, Wong is redundant because they think that as long as Wong doesn't speak, he can win with zero risk.
However, Huang Kecheng's worries became a reality, and the light and dark bunkers and ditches made our army's offensive frustrated, and it was extremely heavy.
Huang Kecheng sent a letter to Comrade Shaoqi, suggesting that his tactics and tactics be adjusted. He proposes to build his own stronghold between several enemy strongholds, divide the enemy and defeat them one by one; Or send small units to harass the enemy and consume Han Deqin's ammunition resources.
Huang Kecheng disagreed with **, believing that protracted time was not good for our side, but the proposal was rejected, and in the end, the Battle of Caodian was heavy and failed to achieve the expected goal. In the post-war summary, Huang Kecheng was reluctant to review and had a dispute with **.
Huang Kecheng, a stubborn soldier, always adhered to organizational discipline, and even if he was removed from the post of commander, he did not complain and took on the heavy burden. He always maintained the character of frank advice, and even if he got into trouble at the Lushan meeting, he always insisted on his own views.
Huang Kecheng's stubbornness is the tenacity of a soldier and the persistent pursuit of faith.
In his later years, General Huang Kecheng reviewed Lin Zong's entries for the Military Volume of the Encyclopedia of China, and although Lin's questions were still very sensitive at that time, he insisted on seeking truth from facts and openly spoke for Lin: "Lin is an outstanding military general, and his merits are too clear. ”
In 1986, Huang Kecheng passed away, and his wife Tang Dihua wrote in the elegy: "Even if you die, you have no regrets, you are worthy of the sky, and you are not afraid of others." This just sums up the spirit of Huang Kecheng's life, he insisted on the truth all his life, and he was indomitable, which is really rare.