In September 1947, the Kuomintang army launched the so-called "September Offensive", in which they concentrated six integrated divisions, the 8th, 9th, 25th, 45th, 54th, and 64th divisions, to form a powerful corps, commanded by Fan Hanjie, deputy commander-in-chief of the army, to launch an attack on the liberated area of Jiaodong.
Among the six integrated divisions, the 9th, 25th, and 45th Divisions were transferred from other places, while the 8th, 54th, and 64th Divisions were originally in Jiaodong. The reorganized 64th Division was composed of the Cantonese and Gui departments, and they were transferred to the East China battlefield at the end of 1946.
The 64th Division of the Guangdong Army was reorganized by Zhang Xianqi, Liu Zhenxiang, and Liu Shaowu, three Cantonese who were good at fighting and fighting, as the brigade commanders, with a total of 250,000 people, under the jurisdiction of three brigades.
Among them, Liu Zhenxiang is particularly outstanding with his strong desire to fight and excellent ability to lead troops, and the 156 Brigade he led can not only fight tough battles, but also fight skillful battles, especially good at night battles, and once performed well in the Battle of Nanma Linqu, fighting for Gu Zhutong to save face.
Therefore, the reorganized 64th Division received preferential treatment in Shandong, and was given more replenishment and rest time. Although Cantonese people are not used to eating green onion pancakes, they still live a relatively comfortable life in Shandong.
After the September offensive was launched, the 156th Brigade took the lead and occupied Zhucheng. However, Huaye took the 64th Division as the main target and concentrated 5 divisions to besiege it.
The 156th Brigade fought fiercely with the Huaye troops for two days and one night on a position that could not be defended, and finally waited for reinforcements and successfully escaped from the desperate situation. When reinforcements led by Huang Guoliang arrived, he praised the 156th Brigade for its heroic performance, but this move angered Liu Zhenxiang.
Liu Zhenxiang scolded Huang Guoliang as "the incompetent commander and tired of the three armies" and "a confused and dumb turtle", and finally brushed his sleeves away, leaving only the embarrassed Huang and the stunned generals.
The local leaders of the Jiaodong Liberated Area hoped that the main force of the Huaye Shandong Corps could enter Jiaodong, and explained the situation to the political commissar of the Shandong Corps.
According to the instructions, ** led the 2nd Column and the 7th Column to the north of Zhucheng, and joined the 9th Column of the Jiaodong Inner Line in the north of Jiaoji Road.
The frequent movements of Huaye troops along the Jiaoji Railway, especially a westward advance force composed of 9 columns, gave Fan Hanjie the illusion that Huaye's Shandong troops began to avoid the battle, which could be a prelude to their imminent "rout".
Fan Yi changed his previous steady strategy of advancing in unison, and instead attacked separately and together, sending the reorganized 9th Division to march into the Daze Mountains, and at the same time sending the reorganized 64th Division to intercept from Gaomi to the north.
Fan Hanjie's multi-way attack provided Huaye with an opportunity to concentrate his forces to annihilate the enemy all the way, and Xu Shiyou and *** seized this fighter and focused on the reorganization of the 64th Division.
The reorganized 64th Division has left Gaomi and is marching north alone, which is a rare opportunity. Xu Tan immediately made a deployment, letting Cheng Jun's 7th Column plus two independent divisions block reinforcements, and concentrate Wei Guoqing's 2nd Column and Nie Fengzhi's 9th Column to jointly annihilate the integrated 64th Division.
The battlefield was set in the town of Yinma in Changyi County. On the day of October 2, Huaye's troops, who were waiting in the town of Yinma, spotted the enemy and immediately attacked on all fronts. But they soon discovered that these were only the vanguard of the enemy's army, and the large forces were still behind.
Huang Guoliang saw that the road ahead was dangerous, and immediately shrank his troops to the Fanjiaji and Sanhu Mountain areas on the east bank of the Jiaohe River, relying on the mountains and surrounding villages to hold on and wait for reinforcements.
Hua Ye had planned to defeat the enemy in a campaign battle, but lost the lead due to a mistake. Although the 2nd and 9th Columns successfully surrounded the integrated 64th Division that night, a mountain battle had to be fought.
The encircled 64th Division did not panic, and they quickly used villages and mountains to build a large number of sub-mother forts, just like the integrated 11th Division that guarded Nanma.
For Hua Ye, it was like facing the challenge of the Battle of Nanma again. The 64th Division in Fanjiaji had only two brigades, the 131st and 159th Brigades, and the strongest 156th Brigade did not participate.
It may be that considering the uncontrollable Liu Zhenxiang, when Fan Hanjie formulated the battle plan, he let Liu be in charge of a task alone, and the 159th Brigade stayed in Zhucheng for rearmament and did not act with Huang Guoliang.
Therefore, Huang Guoliang needs Liu Zhenxiang's support to succeed.
The situation in the East China Battlefield was extremely similar to that of the Nanma Campaign. Chiang's troops defended Fanjiaji like an impregnable wall, and the two main divisions of the 9th Column failed to penetrate after a day of fierce fighting.
Therefore, General Xu Shiyou ordered the two divisions of the 2nd Column to cooperate with the 9th Column to attack Sanhe Mountain. After fierce fighting all night, Huaye successfully seized the commanding heights, and the situation was very good. However, the next two attacks on Fan Jiaji still failed because the strategy against Zimu Fort was very limited.
The 73 regiment broke through at one point, but since the forts on both sides were not cleared, the follow-up troops were blocked by fire and could not follow. Several other regiments had already suffered heavy losses in the fighting on the periphery and their formations had been disrupted.
Although the 9th vertical and three battles against Fan Jiaji were unsuccessful, the besieged 64th Division was already in danger, and Huang Guoliang had no choice but to ask for help in plain language. At this time, Jiaodong had entered the decisive stage, Jiang flew from Beiping to Qingdao to supervise the battle, and Fan Hanjie mobilized reinforcements from all walks of life to reinforce in the east, south and west.
The 156th Brigade, which was resting in Zhucheng, joined the reinforcements on the South Road, accompanied by the 45th Brigade of the 212th Division. Huaye 7 Column became their opponent and was also the blocking force in the Battle of Nanma.
After a fierce battle, the three battalions of the 156 Brigade were almost completely wiped out and suffered heavy losses.
Fan Jiaji couldn't attack for a long time, and the enemy reinforcements were pressing forward step by step. In desperation, Xu Shiyou ordered a retreat. This battle almost repeated the fiasco of the Battle of Nanma, with only 3,000 enemies annihilated, but its own ** was as high as more than 4,000 people.
After the war, Nie Fengzhi, the commander of the 9th column, endured many accusations and was under great pressure. After this battle, the reorganized 64th Division became even more arrogant and domineering. Division Commander Huang Guoliang was promoted to commander of the 2nd Army, and Liu Zhenxiang succeeded him as the commander of the integrated 64th Division.
As soon as Liu took office, he vigorously promoted the "Fan Jiaji Spirit" and called on the soldiers not to surrender even if there was a single soldier left, which was rare in Chiang's army. A year later, the reorganized 64th Division was renamed the 64th Army, incorporated into the 7th Corps, and joined the Huaihai Battlefield.
The 7th Corps was besieged at Nian Zhuang, whether to continue to resist or retreat, the corps commander Huang Baitao hesitated. Liu Zhenxiang resolutely advocated the main battle, believing that he should stick to his position and go to Xuzhou after repelling Huaye's pursuers.
The 64th Army, as the main force of the 7th Corps, has a complete structure, which is an important support for Huang Baitao, so Huang Baitao can't help but listen to his opinions. In the Battle of Nianzhuang, the 64th Army did show the "Fan Jiaji spirit" and insisted on fighting until the last moment.
At the critical moment, Liu Zhenxiang put on a general's dress and prepared to make a suicidal charge, and his adjutant was so frightened that he was "creepy". However, Liu did not "sacrifice" like Huang Baitao, but like Huang Wei, he was imprisoned for 26 years after being captured, and was not pardoned until 1975, which can be said to have put the prison through the prison.
Liu Zhenxiang's 64th Army experienced two reconstructions and two annihilations after the Huaihai Campaign, and finally withdrew from the stage of history. Liu Zhenxiang chose to stick to it in the battle of Nianzhuang, probably because of the "inexplicable self-confidence" brought by several victories he won in Jiaodong.