On January 5, 1947, the troops of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army in the North Manchurian region launched three operations south of the Yangtze River, attacking Jilin and Changchun.
The main force of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army crossed the Songhua River and cooperated with the main forces of our army's 3rd and 4th columns in the South Manchurian region to contain the Kuomintang army in order to achieve a strategic victory.
However, it is inevitable that the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army still has a huge shortcoming in the operation, which was infinitely magnified during the Dehui Campaign, resulting in a large number of ** in our army in this battle.
On February 21, 1947, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army in North Manchuria launched the Second Jiangnan Operation, in which the main force of the Sixth Column annihilated a regiment of the New 30th Division of the Kuomintang Army in Tuanchengzi.
Although Dehui is a small city, but because it is located on the middle and long railway, it is the front line of the Kuomintang army's attack on North Manchuria, and the Kuomintang army has tens of thousands of military supplies stationed in the local area, if the Kuomintang army can defeat Dehui's Kuomintang army, it also means that the Kuomintang army's plan to attack the south and defend the north is bankrupt, and the divisions of the 6th column quickly assembled after the battle of Tuanchengzi and rushed to the combat site at 3 pm on the 27th, and the head of the 6th column, together with the command headquarters, had arrived at the forward position the day before to observe and prepare for the launch of the campaign.
Dehui's Kuomintang Army defender is the 50th Division of the New First Army, the division commander Pan Yukun, it is worth mentioning that this person was later succeeded as the commander of the New First Army after Sun Liren was transferred, which also shows that this person has outstanding ability.
In order to capture Dehui, in addition to concentrating four times the enemy's strength, more importantly, also concentrated a large number of heavy firepower**, including the mountain artillery field artillery attached to each division, the whole army is no less than 80, including three Japanese tanks, before the battle was launched, each division has carried out some artillery preparations, on the morning of the 28th, the sixth column launched a general attack, the 17th division with 50 regiments as an assault group to launch a fierce attack, with 23 artillery pieces and three tanks.
However, what is surprising is that even in the case of such firepower, the operation of attacking Dehui has not been smooth, the 50th regiment, as the first batch of attacking troops, has encountered a fierce attack by the Kuomintang army, ** heavy, can only temporarily retreat and regroup, until 15 o'clock in the afternoon to launch a new attack, although the enemy has captured several strong-guarded fortresses in a row, but then on the way to attack the railway station, it was blocked by the enemy's newly built airfield firepower network, it is difficult to advance.
That is, at the same time as the 50th Regiment attacked, the 49th Regiment and the 51st Regiment also encountered fierce resistance from the Kuomintang army, although there was huge fire support, but the Kuomintang army defending the city was more lethal and destructive to the attacking side in terms of firepower, resulting in repeated setbacks in the 17th Division's attack. The result was similar to that in the process of attacking Dehui, the other divisions were fiercely blocked by the fire of the Kuomintang army, and until March 1, except for the two battalions of the 2nd Independent Division and the four companies of the 16th Division, which broke into the city and fought a bloody battle with the enemy, the other divisions failed to break into the city as planned.
In contrast, although the defense of the Kuomintang army is tenacious, but it is not absolutely foolproof, the division commander Pan Yukun immediately hit ** to the Northeast Security Command for help after encountering the main attack of our army, Du Yuming ordered Pan Yukun to break through quickly, and on the other hand, he sent 4 divisions around Dehui to rush to help. However, what is strange is that after Pan Yukun reported to the army commander Sun Liren, Sun Liren told Pan Yukun not to ignore Du Yuming's order, but to stick to the help, in order to speed up the march, Sun Liren personally led the main force of the three regiments of the New First Army to aid Dehui.
The two sides fought fiercely for six days and nights, although the six columns paid great efforts, but it was still difficult to break through the defense of the Kuomintang army, more importantly, the reinforcements led by Sun Liren detoured from Changchun, and there was only less than a day left from Dehui, in order to avoid being attacked by the enemy, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army could only order a retreat.
During the Dehui Campaign, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army fought a large battle during the three times to the south of the Yangtze River, of course, it also brought a profound lesson to the whole army, the most important thing is that in the coordination of infantry artillery and infantry tank, there is still a large gap between the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army and the Kuomintang Army, especially in the process of attacking the enemy's airfield, the tank was actually trapped in the trench; In addition, in offensive operations, the firepower is dispersed in four directions, and there is no choice to concentrate firepower; Another key point lies in the idea of underestimating the enemy, choosing the direction of the enemy's strongest defense division headquarters at the beginning of the battle, and having too little time to reconnoiter the enemy's situation before the battle, and underestimating the enemy's defensive strength, resulting in huge losses.