The annihilation of Huang Baitao's Seventh Corps was the first battle of the Huaihai Campaign, and it was a battle under the wise decision of *** and the independent command of General Su Yu.
This battle was also the most difficult and tragic battle in the Huaihai Campaign.
The original primary target of the Huaihai Campaign was not Huang Baitao's corps, and the East China Field Army's march from the southeast of the mountain was also postponed by 15 days.
So how did *** and General Su Yu change their goals and strategize, so as to finally achieve victory?
Towards the end of the Jinan Campaign, Su Yu sent a telegram to the ** Military Commission on September 24, 1948, suggesting that the Huaihai Campaign be launched in one go, first to seize the Lianghuai region, followed by Haizhou and Lianyungang.
**Representative** Military Commission called Su Yu back the next day, agreeing to launch the Huaihai Campaign, but the primary goal should be to attack and annihilate Huang Baitao's corps.
At the same time, ** also told Su Yu that the Huaihai Battle was a big battle, and he should plan and then move, stay for 15 more days, make sufficient pre-war preparations, and not attack too early.
Why did you change Su Yu's target? Why is there such a cautious attitude towards Huaye's southward attack? Judging from the map, it is a wonderful move to attack Huang Baitao's corps, because Huang Baitao's corps is stationed in Xin'an Town between Xuzhou and Haizhou, and the 44th Army of the Kuomintang is also stationed in the Lingang area of Haizhou, and the annihilation of Huang Baitao's corps can avoid its retreat into Xuzhou, thereby increasing the difficulty of the entire Huaihai Campaign, and at the same time cutting off the retreat of the enemy in Xuzhou to the east and fleeing from the sea.
And the reason why he is so cautious is because he understands the enemy's situation, because he knows that Huang Baitao is not simple, Huang Baitao is not a descendant of Huangpu, but a miscellaneous army, he can stand out among the Kuomintang generals, and his military command ability cannot be underestimated.
The battle plan for the Southern Anhui Incident came from this person. In many encounters with Huaye, the troops led by Huang Baitao were almost not defeated.
Therefore, it is expected that the annihilation of Huang Baitao's corps must be a tough battle and must be highly valued. Later battles showed how wise the decision was.
In accordance with the instructions of the People's Republic of China, the military and political chiefs at and above the city level in Huaye and the Shandong District Party Committee held a 20-day military meeting in mid to early October 1948 to study in detail the operational plan for the Huaihai Campaign.
At that time, Huaye had four corps, and some generals advocated the division of labor and operations with the corps as a unit, but Su Yu insisted on further subdivision and commanding operations with columns as units.
He believes that it is necessary to transfer several columns in the corps that are strong in attacking fortifications and have neat personnel to be specially responsible for attacking Huang Baitao's corps, so as to ensure that one attack will be hit and that there is a greater certainty of victory.
** not only firmly supported Su Yu's proposition, but also clearly asked Su Yu and Huaye Deputy Political Commissar *** to go south with the troops, personally lead the front-line command, and gave Su Yu full dispatching power.
At the same time, focusing on the overall situation, he ordered the commander of the Central Plains to contain the enemy in western Henan, and the main forces of the Central Plains led by the political commissar and the commander of the Central Plains jointly attacked Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, and then captured Suxian, a transportation hub near Xuzhou.
In this way, Bai Chongxi's troops in Central China were overwhelmed and did not dare to rush to Xuzhou's aid, which made Xuzhou an isolated city, and also made the Central Plains and Huaye form a coordinated combat situation.
On the way to the front line in Su Yu's jeep, because the driver was too tired and caused a rollover accident, Su Yu was unscathed, and he did not dare to delay, and drove to the command post without stopping.
** After learning of this, he sent a telegram to Su Yu, asking him to evacuate the command post at least 5 kilometers away from the front line.
Su Yu was greatly moved by his concern, and he was even more determined to annihilate Huang Baitao's corps.
By November 4, Su Yu issued an attack order, planning to attack in three ways with the strength of 14 columns, and the first way was to use a column plus local troops to go out of southwest Lu, creating the illusion of attacking Xuzhou, as a trick to lure away the enemy in Xuzhou, and at the same time confusing Huang Baitao's corps.
The second route outflanked Huang Baitao's corps with three columns through the Jiawang area north of Xi'an Town, cutting off the only way for it to withdraw to Xuzhou.
The third road quickly moved south with the remaining 10 columns and attacked directly at Huang Baitao's corps.
But Huang Baitao is not incompetent, he saw through Su Yu's plan to move troops, Huaye's main force just dispatched, he got the news, and hurriedly commanded his Seventh Corps to retreat west to Xuzhou.
It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven, Huang Baitao never expected that Zhang Kexia and the second general of the wind who were guarding the Jiawang area led their troops to revolt, which allowed the three columns of Huaye to pass through the Jiawang area, and the speed of movement was greatly accelerated.
The bad news came one after another, Huang Baitao suddenly received an order from Liu Zhi on the way to retreat, asking him to stop and take over the 44th Army withdrawn from Haizhou.
What he didn't know was that Liu Zhi didn't care about the 44th Army at all.
The reason why he asked Huang Baitao to take over the 44th Army was because this unit kept all his net worth, and finally waited for the 44th Army to come, and the Seventh Corps had problems on the march.
Between Xin'an Town and Xuzhou, there is only one iron bridge across the canal, causing more than 100,000 horses to move slowly and chaotically.
Despite this, Huang Baitao made timely adjustments.
He let the 44th Army, which was at the end of the platoon, go first, and cross the canal from the iron bridge in order from the back to the front, and wait until the 9th column of Huaye's main force arrived in Xi'an Town, at this time the 63rd Army, which was at the end of the 7th Corps, had already been drawn for two hours.
After Su Yu got the news, he felt that Huang Baitao was not easy to deal with. At this point, Su Yu immediately made adjustments.
He strictly ordered all columns to be desperate, speed up, not to fight with the 63rd Army, and to catch up with the main force of Huang Baitaodi's 7th Corps is the top priority.
Su Yu's deployment had miraculous results, and the most pitiful thing was that the 63rd Army suffered repeated attacks from Huaye's 9th, 8th, and 4th columns all the way, and was finally annihilated by the 1st Column.
When Huang Baitao's corps marched to the area of Nian Zhuang and Cao Baji, another deadly news came.
Originally, Xuzhou sent Li Mi's corps to meet him, but under Liu Zhi's order to shrink the defensive line, it withdrew to Xuzhou.
At this time, Huaye's three columns had already rushed to the front of Huang Baitao, seized the area west of Cao Baji, and launched a fierce encounter with the 44th Division of the 100th Army under Huang Baitao.
By the evening of November 10, under the powerful offensive of Huaye, the 44th Division was completely annihilated, and the battle of Cao Baji also marked the retreat of Huang Baitao's corps was completely blocked.
When the situation was precarious, Huang Baitao received another warrant from Chiang Kai-shek, ordering him to gather a plate of scattered troops, hold on to the spot in Nianzhuang, and hold back the Huaye troops, and Xuzhou would send reinforcements to meet them.
For Huang Baitao, his only advantage at this time was that Li Mi had built a large number of fortifications in the area of Nian Zhuang before retreating, which were not only strong, but also hidden.
Huang Baitao weighed it again and again and decided to follow the order.
He had just finished deploying his troops, and by the next day, that is, on the morning of November 11, Huaye had completed the overall encirclement of the Seventh Corps, and a brutal and fierce battle was about to begin.
By the evening of the 12th, Huaye launched a fierce attack on Lianzhuang with the strength of five columns, under the cover of limited tank and artillery fire.
The Kuomintang army of the Seventh Corps also held the idea of death under the command of Huang Baitao, and fought hard, the Kuomintang army had the advantage of fortifications and artillery, coupled with the support of the air force in Xuzhou, which caused a great deal of ** to Huaye.
Three days after the start of the war, with the increasing size of the army and the shortage of logistics supply in Huaye, the mood of the leaders of the columns and the soldiers became more and more impatient, and the front line of Nian Zhuang became an inextricable stalemate.
In view of this, Su Yu convened a meeting of the military and political chiefs of the column on the 14th to discuss countermeasures for an effective offensive and improving the situation.
The leaders of the columns all mentioned that the enemy had too many fortifications and very heavy firepower, which caused our army to attack at a long distance, and most of the soldiers died on the way to charge.
In response to the questions they raised, Su Yu made three new tactical arrangements at the meeting.
First, a one-day ceasefire will allow all officers and men of the army to dig communication trenches in the direction of the attack, get as close to the front line as possible, carry out imminent strikes, shorten the attack distance, and reduce the time for charging.
Second, in the order of first being weak and then strong, concentrate the artillery of the whole army to bombard the enemy's fortifications, and destroy the enemy's fortifications and firepower with shells as much as possible before launching a charge.
Third, all columns must strengthen their confidence and must persevere to the end, even when it is the most difficult time, they are not allowed to shout bitterly and be tired, and it is strictly forbidden to report ** figures, which will affect the morale of the army.
After the meeting, the columns quickly launched their actions.
In the following week, Huaye's offensive was clearly effective, and the defense line of the Kuomintang army continued to crumble, and the whole unit was completely annihilated.
However, due to the enemy's trapped beast fight, Hua Ye also paid a great price.
On November 19, Su Yu issued an order for a general attack, and on November 22, the Seventh Corps was completely annihilated, Huang Baitao committed suicide, and the battle of Nian Zhuang ended victoriously.
Su Yu took these battle reports and felt heavy.
Each column has at least 5,000 people, and the total number of Huaye is more than 60,000, and a large number of outstanding cadres and backbone cadres have been sacrificed.
Su Yu didn't say anything, he knew that without the firm support and wise decision-making of the first class, without the follow-up and bloody struggle of the Huaye soldiers, it would be difficult to win this battle.
Tears crossed the corners of his eyes, as a general who has experienced a hundred battles, he understands the truth of not being in charge of the army, but for the victory of the entire Huaihai Campaign, these sacrifices are inevitable.
Many years later, before his death, General Su Yu instructed his family to scatter part of his ashes in Nianzhuang to comfort and accompany those comrades who died in the Battle of Nianzhuang.