(iv).
After Huang Wei's corps was annihilated by us, Du Yuming's group was besieged by our army in the Chenguanzhuang area, a narrow area of 10 kilometers from east to west and 5 kilometers from north to south. The whole army was overjoyed. Everyone humorously said that this time Du Yuming Group can become a bird in a cage, and it is difficult for him to fly with wings. At this moment, the Military Commission issued an order: suspend the attack and transfer to the battlefield for rest, which was proposed by the chairman of the military in accordance with the war situation in the country. At that time, on the battlefield in North China, the Battle of Pingjin had already begun. The 600,000 Kuomintang troops were restrained and attacked by our troops in North China and were also deterred by the Liaoshen and Huaihai battles, and they were hurriedly shrinking their forces and concentrating on Tanggu, Tianjin, and Beiping. On the one hand, Chiang Kai-shek fantasized about relying on this group to prevent our army from moving south, and on the other hand, he tried to transport this group to Jiangnan by sea. And Fu Zuoyi tried to go west to Suiyuan.
In order to stabilize the tens of thousands of enemy troops in North China and prevent them from fleeing south by sea, the Central Military Commission ordered the Northeast Field Army, which had secretly entered the customs, to quickly block the route of the enemy troops in North China fleeing south and westward, and "beat the dogs behind closed doors" to completely annihilate the enemy forces in North China on the spot. As far as Du Yuming's group is concerned, Huang Botao's corps and Huang Wei's corps were completely annihilated, and they were heavily surrounded by us. If we surround it but do not fight, let it have no reinforcements outside, no food and grass inside, and stay for a long time, the Du group will inevitably collapse without a fight. As far as our troops are concerned, the continuous campaign has reached more than a month, the troops are too large, and many of the soldiers are liberated Kuomintang soldiers who are also in great need of rest. Therefore, in accordance with the instructions of the General Front Committee, I began to rest and recuperate on the battlefield on 16 December.
During the recuperation period, the fighters strengthened the fortifications of the position, and the bunkers were thickly covered with a layer of wheat oranges brought by the migrant workers from the rear, making them look like barracks. When you sleep on a bed, you can shoot when you stand up, and a special "conference room" was built, which the fighters called "Broadway Building".At the door, there are also four big characters engraved horizontally: "Go out and make meritorious contributions". There were also toilets, kitchens, and wells, which really looked like a life, and the soldiers built a series of communication trenches leading to the enemy's front, all of which were elegantly named and inserted with street signs such as "Shengli Road", "Nanjing Road", "Shanghai Road", and so on. What a fun Fireline environment, December 2. Later, the cold sky blew a northwest wind, wind and snow, and it lasted for a long time. At first, there were still the sounds of chickens and dogs barking and mules and horses neighing in the encirclement, but then these sounds gradually disappeared. Due to the heavy clouds, the Kuomintang army cut off air transportation. Soldiers can only rely on horse skins. Wheat seedlings and bark are hungry. Therefore, every time you eat. Our fighters knocked on the bowl with their chopsticks and shouted to the enemy on the opposite side.
Hey, eat, come here, the People's Liberation Army will give you food and treat you preferentially! “
At first, these people were afraid to come. Later, they came in twos and threes, and when it was time to eat, they came without greeting. If it continues to develop, it will be in rows and companies with weapons to surrender. During the 20-day political offensive, more than 8,000 enemy soldiers surrendered to our division, equal to two enemy divisions.
The officers and men of the Kuomintang who had surrendered to us told us one after another about their wishes and sufferings. A Kuomintang soldier ran to our company with a gun in his hand and said with tears in his eyes: 'Whenever I hear you shouting at night, I feel even more hungry and cold. I was arrested by them, and there is an old mother in her 70s who has no one to take care of her, and now I don't know whether I am alive or dead, why do I suffer from hunger and cold to sell them for their lives! Standing guard at night, I came running with a gun in hand. When the meal was ready, the comrades brought him white rice and pork stewed vermicelli, and he devoured it and ate five large bowls at once. He pointed to the bowl and patted his belly again and said, "I have 11 days here together, and I haven't packed so much." The villagers' grain, chickens, dogs, pigs and sheep were all eaten, the cavalry became infantry, and all the horses were killed and eaten. Later, the grass roots and bark were gone. Sleeping in the fortifications, there is no firewood or grass left. In another 10 days, even if you don't fight, they will starve to death."Everyone present laughed at this.
Our Fourth Column took advantage of the battlefield to rest and recuperate, and mainly carried out eight tasks:
i) Units at or above the regimental level have convened a Party committee or an enlarged meeting of the Party committee. According to the spirit of the Qufu and Jiuzhou conferences, combined with the first battle.
1. In the second stage, the situation of the troops focused on inspecting the implementation of policies and discipline and the system of requesting instructions and reporting, and raised awareness to find out problems and formulate measures.
2) The organization was restored and reorganized. In the 40-odd days of operations, we fought nearly 50 times, and although there were quite a few troops, we were still able to persist in continuous operations to complete the task, win victories, and make ourselves stronger and stronger. Some battalions and companies are very large in continuous battles, and their formations have been disrupted many times, but they can all fight while fighting and rectifying. The principle of quickly organizing the organization in battle. During the period of recuperation, various units seized the time to educate, reform, and replenish a number of new liberation fighters, restored their combat organizations, transferred backbone combat cadres from organs to combat companies, promoted and readjusted a large number of cadres, strengthened the operational command force, and created organizational conditions for the general offensive of war investment.
3) Combined with the investigation of the development targets of party members in the old struggle, a large number of outstanding elements who were brave in battle, had a high class consciousness, and met the conditions for joining the party were recruited into the party (at that time, they were called joining the party in the firing line), which played a great role in maintaining the party's leadership, inspiring the fighting will of the troops, and ensuring the completion of combat tasks.
4) Do a good job of capture, replenishment, education, and warfare. In the first phase of the campaign and during this break, we took a total of 10,000 prisoners, so we maintained the combat effectiveness of the troops and the victory of continuous battles, and grew and developed ourselves.
5) Carried out the firing line evaluation activities. During the war, the Political Department of the column promulgated the "Decision on Universally Carrying Out Meritorious Service by Cadres (Draft)," which further promoted the development of the meritorious service movement, carried forward the revolutionary heroism of the troops to a greater extent, and the number of meritorious service members surged. And through the military newspaper and the regimental newspaper widely publicized the deeds of heroic figures, which greatly encouraged the troops.
6) A mass political offensive against the enemy was carried out extensively, and the front-line troops used such methods as broadcasting, shouting to attend classes before the battle, launching propaganda materials, repatriating prisoners, writing letters, and delivering food to further disintegrate the enemy. During the 20-day rest, the enemy surrendered from a single person to a platoon or a whole company with weapons, totaling more than 8,000 people.
7) In view of the characteristics of the enemy's defense, we have carried out training in front of the enemy, extensively carried out military democracy, studied methods for attacking the enemy's tanks, bunkers, and anti-poison, and carried out close forcing operations by means of bunker-to-bunker trench-to-trench warfare, and our forward positions have generally advanced to a distance of 30 to 50 meters from the enemy's front line, thus preparing good conditions for a general offensive.
8) Strengthened the work of supporting former migrant workers. During the campaign, there were 3,842 front-line migrant workers who supported our column in the operation, and they transported 8,792 wounded, sheltered 1,207 wounded prisoners, transported more than 1.22 million catties of materials, food, and ammunition, and many heroic and exemplary figures and units emerged. There are 3,227 former migrant workers who have made great and small military achievements, accounting for 84% of the total number
During the period of recuperation, logistics departments at all levels, with the support of local support organizations, delivered a large amount of food and ammunition to the front committee in a timely manner. And in a timely manner, they collected all kinds of captured materials (including those airdropped by the enemy) to replenish themselves. Trench sanitation has been strengthened. The masses were extensively mobilized to send straw and charcoal to the forward trenches to ensure that the troops were well fed, warmly clothed, and slept well. The commanders and fighters warmly welcomed the arrival of the early morning of 1949 in the trenches and studied the New Year's message "Carry the Revolution to the End" written by Chairman *** for Xinhua News Agency. In addition, various forms of small-scale cultural and recreational activities were carried out by the units to celebrate the New Year in the trenches.
5) When Du Yuming fled west from Xuzhou, he took three corps with him. Sun Yuanliang's corps has been annihilated. At this time, in the encirclement, there was also the Fifth Army of Qiu Qingquan's corps. The 70th Army, the 72nd Army, the 74th Army, and the 12th Army of Li Mi's Corps, the 8th Army, the 9th Army, and the 115th Army, a total of eight armies, totaled more than 200,000 people. On January 3, Du Yuming received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, saying: "It will be implemented according to the third case." Since the 6th, three days of ration bombs have been dropped. "The so-called 'third case,' . .That is, it refers to the "next policy" in Du Yuming's suggestionThat is, to break out. After receiving the telegram, Du knew that there was no other way out, so he decided to "obey the order," but asked for more food to be fed by the officers and men.
After 20 days of battlefield rest, our army was full of morale, had sufficient food and ammunition, and made full preparations for the general offensive. In the face of complete despair, Du Yuming still refused to surrender and tried to struggle again, and just when Du Yuming's group was preparing to break through the encirclement and had not yet moved, on the evening of January 6, 11 columns of our army launched simultaneous attacks on Du Yuming's group from all sides of the encirclement. The boom, boom of cannon broke the silence before the battle. Ten thousand cannons thundered, shaking the heavens and the earth, and the fire flashed, tearing apart the night sky. The shells on our position were like a torrential rain, tilting towards the enemy's position, setting up countless columns of smoke. The enemy's front line suddenly became a sea of fire.
Under the cover of powerful artillery fire, our Huaye troops from all walks of life. With the tactics of penetrating and dividing, like a sharp sodium knife, it quickly enters the enemy's position. Because the commanders and fighters were fully prepared ideologically and tactically, they all had a clear idea of the attack, had a clear goal, persevered, and fought bravely to kill the enemy. The enemy was terrified and fled in panic. On the 6th alone, overnight, our troops overcame 16 strongholds on the enemy's outer layer and annihilated about 10 regiments of the enemy. I instructed the soldiers to be like their friends, like arrows from the string, to kill the enemy's position. Soon good news came from all directions:
The 10th Division conquered Xiaoyanzhuang and annihilated a battalion of the enemy, and the 12th Division captured Lulaojia and Zangwa and annihilated a regimental headquarters of the enemy. ....In less than three days, we defeated the enemy and drew many strongholds. More than 10,000 enemies have been annihilated, and they have approached the heart of the enemy, Chen Guanzhuang, the headquarters of Du Yuming's group.
On the night of the 9th, the enemy was even more disorganized. I immediately ordered my troops to the heart of the enemy**. Like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves, I quickly conquered the barriers of Chenguanzhuang—Luozhuang, Lizhuang, and Huangzhuanghu. On the morning of the 10th, our 11th and 12th Divisions, together with friendly and neighboring troops, captured Chenguanzhuang, the headquarters of the enemy's Du group. At this time, from Chenguanzhuang, there was also a good news that our 10th Division had captured the enemy's Li Mi Corps Headquarters: hundreds of cars, artillery, and tanks had been captured, and more than 10,000 enemy troops had been captured. At this time, the enemy Du Yuming's group collapsed and collapsed, and they surrendered to us one after another. Tens of thousands of captives were swept off the battlefield like a tidal wave.
The smoke on the battlefield has not yet dissipated, Commander Tao and I. Political Commissar Guo and Director Han came to Chenguanzhuang together, and we looked at the red land of the Huaihai Battlefield, and our hearts could not calm down for a long time. Because there are many loyal souls of comrades-in-arms left here, and the names of martyrs that cannot be written endlessly, it gives us a profound enlightenment: we must severely punish the enemies who bring disasters and suffering to the people.
By 9 o'clock in the morning of January 10, the headquarters of Du Yuming, the "general suppressor" of Xuzhou, was basically annihilated, and only the remnants of more than 10,000 people retreated to Liu Jiwei in the southwest of Chenguanzhuang. The enemy is still resisting. Our army's artillery was bombarding Liu Ji from all directions, with thick smoke billowing and dust rising to the sky. At this time, in Liuji, there was a cheer from the position of our army, and it turned out that our Huaye deputy commander Ticket Yu personally came to the front line of Liuji from the headquarters of Xiaolizhuang. At the beginning of the Liberation War, this victorious general was famous for his seven victories in seven battles. Hearing that the enemy was still resisting, he specially came to command the commanders and fighters of the various commandos in Huaye to deliver the final blow to Liu Ji.
After more than an hour of shelling and fighting, the remnants of the enemy were unable to resist any longer, and finally surrendered one after another. At this point, the military operations of the Huaihai Campaign were all over.
But at this time, the enemy's commander-in-chief Du Yuming was not found in the captive group, and after questioning, he learned that when Du Yuming fled north from the Chenguanzhuang shelter department, he couldn't keep up with Qiu Yuquan's spy battalion, so he stayed and tried to escape by himself. So, with 13 adjutants and guards, he walked out of the village to the west, and then turned to the northeast. At this time, adjutant Yin Dongsheng shaved Du Yuming's mustache, changed into the clothes of an ordinary soldier, and continued to walk northeast for more than 20 miles. Two correspondents were sent to inspect and captured.
After Du Yuming and his entourage were taken to the Political Department of the 11 th Division, he claimed to be the "quartermaster chief" and the adjutant claimed to be a "reporter accompanying the army." Chen Maohui, director of the division's political department, interrogated them in the division. This "quartermaster" refused to confess at first, and later, when the evidence was conclusive, he had to admit that he was Du Yuming. Our 11th Division immediately sent someone to send Du Yuming to the column headquarters. We interrogated Du Yuming in a thatched hut
Du Yuming: Let's talk about your views on this battle and the Northeast Battlefield. Political Commissar Guo said to Du Yuming.
I really don't want to participate in the Huaihai Campaign. Du Yuming replied sneeringly: "I also had no choice but to go to the battlefield." And our 100,000 people were destroyed this time because Chiang Kai-shek listened to the words of the stupid pig Liu Zhi and did not take my advice. Our defeat on the Northeast Theater. It should be attributed to Chen Cheng, Wei Lihuang's incompetence.
Political Commissar Guo immediately refuted Du Yuming, saying: "The essence of your launching of the anti-people civil war determines that your defeat is inevitable, and it is by no means accidental that you, Du Yuming, were captured. ”
Du Yuming was speechless. In the end, he sighed and said: "Chiang Kai-shek's main force has all been wiped out, and the capital has been lost, so you have no problem crossing the river." ”
The Huaihai Campaign, which began on November 6, 1948 and ended on January 10, 1949, lasted 66 days, completely annihilated 22 armies of the Kuomintang elite troops, 66 divisions with a total of 550,000 people, captured 215 tanks, more than 4,000 cannons, 6 aircraft, more than 1,700 automobiles, and a large number of *** Our army basically liberated East China and the Central Plains north of the Yangtze River. The great victory of the Huaihai Campaign made Nanjing, the nest of Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary clique. Directly exposed to the offensive of our troops. It tells people. The end of the Chiang dynasty has come!