Xu Shiyou is known throughout the army for his violent temperament and bravery, he has participated in the death squad seven times, and served as the captain of the death squad twice.
In March 1947, the Kuomintang Army launched a key offensive on the liberated area of Shandong, with 24 integrated divisions (army brigades, 450,000 people were successively transferred to the Shandong battlefield, and with three "ace armies", Zhang Lingfu's integrated 74th Division, 5th Army, and integrated 11th Division as the backbone, they were organized into three mobile corps to serve as the main assault mission.
Each mobile corps consists of two "soft grapes" with one "hard walnut", and these "hard walnuts" are naturally the "trump card army", and the two "soft grapes" are the troops with weaker combat strength. The tactical guideline is to "intensively move closer, strengthen maintenance, fight steadily and steadily, and advance gradually" to avoid the division and annihilation of the army.
Under the condition that the strength and equipment were weaker than those of the Kuomintang army, Su Yu, commander and political commissar and deputy commander of the East China Field Army, adjusted the deployment in early May and took the initiative to withdraw the main force to the east. If the enemy is still close to each other and is still holding back, our army will take another step back and use the capture of one place as a bait to lure and annihilate the enemy who comes to his aid.
On May 10, the 7th Army and the 48th Division broke away from the "hard walnut" and the 11th Division, attacking Yishui from Miaojia District and Jiehu.
However, at this moment, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.
Due to the eastward movement of Huaye's main force, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng mistakenly believed that Huaye was "tired of the offensive" and might continue to retreat to the northeast direction of Zichuan and Boshan, so they ordered three corps to follow and pursue on May 10, so as to achieve the goal of a decisive battle with Huaye's main force in the mountainous area of Luzhong.
The 1st Corps on the right flank changed its previous tactics of steady and steady fighting, and did not wait for the 2nd and 3rd Corps to act in unison, that is, it took the lead in taking Zhang Lingfu's integrated 74th Division as the backbone, and with the cooperation of the integrated 25th and 83rd Divisions, it attacked Tangbu on May 11, in an attempt to occupy the Yishui-Mengyin road by taking advantage of the gap; In addition, the 7th Army and the 48th and 65th Divisions were reorganized to serve as cover on the left and right flanks.
On the evening of 11 May, Hua Ye intercepted the deployment telegram sent by Tang Enbo to his subordinates, and Chen and Su convened an operational meeting overnight to adjust the operational objective to encircle and annihilate the "hard walnut" of Zhang Lingfu's entire 74th Division.
The tasks that Xu Shiyou's 9th Column must complete at the Huaye Headquarters were: Blocking for two days and trying to attract Zhang Lingfu's entire 74th Division; After completing the blocking mission, its main force cooperated with the brother troops to encircle and annihilate the enemy.
From May 11, according to Huaye's order, the 9th Column held out during the day and withdrew its position at night. In this way, Zhang Lingfu can be firmly dragged and encircled, so as to gain time for the fraternal troops to tighten and encircle.
On 13 May, the fraternal troops penetrated into the enemy's depth from both flanks and successfully cut off the connection between Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division and its 25th Division on the left and 82nd Division on the right.
On May 14, Zhang Lingfu sensed that our army had the intention of encircling and annihilating the division, and quickly retreated to the area of Menglianggu and Duozhuang.
Huaye's troops immediately took advantage of the victory and stormed. The 4th and 9th columns of Xu Shiyou, which served as frontal attacks, attacked all night and occupied the first line of Tangjiayuzi and Zhaojiachengzi; The 6th Column, with the coordination of the 1st Column, captured Duozhuang at dawn on the 15th, cutting off the retreat of the reorganized 74th Division; The 8th Column captured Wanquan Mountain, opened up contact with the 1st and 6th Columns, and formed a four-sided encirclement of Zhang Lingfu's 74th Marshal in the Lushan and Menglianggu areas, forming a trend of Huaye "besieging and beating" Zhang Lingfu.
On May 15, our army launched a general attack on all fronts. Heavy artillery fire filled the entire mountainous area with gunsmoke. Due to the dense crowding of the enemy, one of our artillery shells fell to the ground and blossomed, and the shrapnel was mixed with the blasted stone chips, and the enemy was often killed and wounded.
Xu Shiyou led the 9th Column to capture the first line of Muhu Mountain, Dalaoyu and Xishan on the same day, and defeated the enemy's second counterattack. After dark, Xu Shiyou saw that the besieged enemy had made fires to cook, and the hillside was lit up with sporadic firelight, so he ordered the artillery to fire at the firelight, and after a burst of artillery fire, the whole mountain was quiet, and it was dark everywhere.
At this time, the commander called Xu Shiyou, in addition to asking Xu Shiyou about the progress of the 9th column, he also told Xu Shiyou a bad news: the troops who sent reinforcements and blocked the reinforcements were very difficult, and the reinforcements from all walks of life who came to rescue Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division were approaching.
Zhang Lingfu was surrounded, which really startled Chiang Kai-shek and Gu Zhutong at first, but after calming down, they felt that Zhang Lingfu was trapped, which invisibly constituted an opportunity for a decisive battle with the main force of the East China Field Army, and this opportunity was exactly what they wanted.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek, in addition to ordering Zhang Lingfu to stand by and wait for reinforcements and contain the main force of Huaye, urgently dispatched 10 integrated divisions to rush to the Menglianggu area. At present, most of these troops are not far from Yulianggu, and some are only a dozen kilometers away. If Zhang Lingfu's integrated 74th Division could not be annihilated in a short period of time, Huaye would fall into the siege of the 10 integrated divisions of the Kuomintang army.
Zhang Lingfu was also full of self-confidence, he believed that his unit was still complete, had strong combat effectiveness, and was located in an important area of the front, so it deserved to be actively reinforced by friendly and neighboring troops.
The troops in charge of blocking and reinforcement are fighting very hard, and the pressure is increasing, and the main attacking force must take the reorganized 74th Division in time, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.
**, who has always been chic and calm, is also a little nervous, and he is worried that if he can't stop **'s reinforcements, then our army will fall into the enemy's counter-encirclement.
At this critical juncture, Xu Shiyou's 9th Column played a key role.
* Asked Xu Shiyou: "Gather the 74th Division and capture Zhang Lingfu alive, success or failure is in one fell swoop." How many men do you still have, are you sure that you can take down Meng Lianggu quickly? ”
Xu Shiyou replied without thinking: "No problem, leave this matter to our column, I have a division reserve at hand and it's useless......."”
Xu Shiyou suddenly "made something out of nothing" here and had an extra division, but the ** commander was very happy, he slapped the table excitedly and said: "Okay, you Xu Shiyou, you left me such a hand!" I don't ask you how the soldiers of a division are left, as long as you take down Meng Lianggu at all costs, if you kill a thousand, I will make up a thousand for you; Defeat 2,000, I'll make up 2,000 for you, whoever defeats Meng Lianggu will be a battle hero! ”
* Without waiting for Xu Shiyou to reply, he excitedly continued: "Tell me, what are you still missing, and I will give you what you want." ”
Xu Shiyou blurted out: "Then I'm not welcome." My soldiers are thirsty and hungry, and they can't hold it anymore, so I want Shandong steamed buns and water. ”
* Readily agreed: "No problem, I will solve the matter of Shandong steamed buns and water, no matter how difficult it is, I will definitely send it to you!" He added: "Take Meng Lianggu, I will definitely invite you to have a good drink!" ”
*Put down**, turned his head to Su Yu and said: "This Monk Xu is really okay, the battle has reached this level, the other columns have pressed the reserves, and there is still a division in his hand that has not moved, Zhang Lingfu can hardly fly now!" ”
* Only later did I learn that in fact, Xu Shiyou did not have the "unused division" he said at all, and like other columns, all the combat units under Xu Shiyou had been pressed into the line of fire. The reason why Xu Shiyou lied to the ** commander that there was a division of troops available was that the purpose was not to change the original intention of the campaign, and to win the opportunity to attack Meng Lianggu in the end with the absolute superiority of the 9th column!
Put down the **, Xu Shiyou rolled up his sleeves, called Xiao Jinghai, the commander of the 25th Division, and others, and said: "I grabbed the task of the main attack for you, and the time for the final assault has come, from now on, your division commander will be the regiment commander, the regiment commander will be the battalion commander, and the battalion clan will be the company commander, take the lead!" ”
He turned around and drove almost all the personnel of the headquarters to the combat units, even the cooks to the front line. If it weren't for the repeated strict orders to ask him to stay at the headquarters and not allow him to go to the front line, he might have carried a big knife to kill him.
There is a saying that "what kind of officer leads what kind of soldier", Xu Shiyou 9 Column has already "gone crazy" at this time, starting with the division commander, the cadres took the lead one by one, inspiring the commanders and fighters to attack the enemy desperately, for a time, the structure of the unit was disrupted, but they were getting closer and closer to the goal of victory.
In the last fierce attack launched by Xu Shiyou's subordinates and his brother troops, Huaye "besieged" Zhang Lingfu with all his might, making Zhang Lingfu, who was stubbornly waiting for help, completely desperate.
By the morning of May 15, Zhang Lingfu's entire 74th Division was besieged on several hills with Meng Lianggu as the core, mainly 520, the East and West Highlands, and Lushan and Diaowo.
Xu Shiyou's 9th Column and Zhang Lingfu's department had a hard-fought battle in the last few hills of Meng Lianggu. Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division is indeed a bone that is not easy to gnaw, the enemy and us repeatedly fight for positions in the narrow mountains, and the soldiers of the reorganized 74th Division are under the coercion of the supervising team, and a group of people are crazy to fight back to the 9th column, and they try to break through with a bloody road according to Zhang Lingfu's order.
However, the way they escaped was not so easy to open, the 25th and 26th divisions of the 9th column attacked together with other columns, the enemy's attacks were beaten back again and again, and the high ground was captured by our army one after another, and the main attacking troops such as the 9th column then launched a final fierce attack on the main peak of Menglianggu.
The 9th Column 73rd Regiment captured six howitzers of the enemy, but he did not have gunners who could operate howitzers, and the regiment commander Sun Tongsheng was so anxious that his head was sweating, and finally he found a few gunners in the captive group, and he didn't have time to change his clothes, and a few gunners became Sun Tongsheng's soldiers, they rolled up their cuffs and said: "Sir, don't worry, there are people and bunkers on the mountain, we all know it!" After a while, Commander Sun saw through the telescope that the shells had accurately landed on the enemy's position and exploded.
On the morning of the 16th, the 26th Division of the 9th Column, together with other columns, captured the key points held by the enemy's main force, Diaowo Peak and Lushan, and so far, the main position of Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division was lost. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Sun Tongsheng, commander of the 73rd Regiment of the 9th Column, together with the brother column, planted the red flag on the main peak of Menglianggu.
Hua Ye thought that the reorganized 74th Division had been completely annihilated, but when counting the number of prisoners, he found that the error was too large, and he also detected that there were still enemy radio stations active nearby, so Chen and Su ordered the troops to immediately launch a search in the valley between Menglianggu and Diaowo, and finally wiped out all the fish that had slipped through the net of the reorganized 74th Division, and found out a total of about 7,000 hidden enemies.
With the death of Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the reorganized 74th Division, the 74th Division, known as the "hard walnut", was wiped out under the "siege" of Huaye.
After the battle of Menglianggu, ** fulfilled the wartime promise and invited Xu Shiyou and other generals of several columns to drink together.
After three glasses of wine, ** finally asked Xu Shiyou: "The fight against Meng Lianggu was so fierce in the end, the other columns pressed all the belongings, and it is useless for you to keep a division in the 9th column, you tell me honestly, what is going on?" ”
Several other column commanders also expressed their puzzlement in unison, hoping that Xu Shiyou would give an explanation.
Xu Shiyou raised his neck and drank the wine in the cup, and he didn't hide it, and said bluntly: "Mr. Chen, I'll be honest, Meng Lianggu was so difficult to fight at that time, and the reinforcements outside were coming straight over, I was afraid that you would withdraw from the battle, so I told a lie, in fact, I didn't have any soldiers in my hands for a long time, and finally I drove all the guys to the battlefield!" ”
* was stunned at first, and then immediately laughed again: "Okay, you bold Xu Shiyou, what crime should you be guilty of lying about the military situation out of nothing?" * And then he said, "Honestly, what else have you not made clear to me?" “
Xu Shiyou said honestly: "If I don't have so many soldiers on hand, you won't necessarily let us attack the main attack in 9 columns, don't you say?" “
* And the generals of the other columns here all understood, who said that Xu Shiyou was a warrior and a rough man, Xu Shiyou was clearly "thick and fine", "killing two birds with one stone". He "made something out of nothing" and lied that there was still a division of troops that had not been used, which not only made ** make up his mind to fight and resolutely and quickly eliminate Zhang Lingfu to reorganize the 74th Division, but he Xu Shiyou also fought for the final main attack task of attacking Meng Lianggu.
* When summing up the battle of Menglianggu, the commander said: "In the battle of Menglianggu, the 9th column quickly seized Tangbu, resolutely held Tangbu, and made the whole chess game alive. He also admitted: "When the pressure is getting stronger and the pressure is increasing, and I have no troops to adjust, it was Xu Shiyou who still had a division of troops available that made me finally make up my mind to take Meng Lianggu." ”
Every time there is a big war, he must fight for the main attack, and even try his best, this is Xu Shiyou's consistent style. In the famous "Battle of Jinan", he once turned "assist" into "main attack". In this battle, Meng Lianggu resorted to the trick of "making something out of nothing", which in essence brought into full play the potential of the 9 commanders to the limit, and this heroic spirit of "putting himself to death and then rejuvenating" cannot but be admired.
In 1955, Xu Shiyou was awarded the rank of general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and was awarded the Order of August 1, the Order of Independence and Freedom, and the Order of Liberation of the First Class. In his 60-year career as a horseman, General Xu Shiyou has made great achievements in battles and died a hundred times, and is a special person with a special character, special experience and special contributions.