From the middle and late stages of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang army began to receive and install American weapons and equipment, and formed the so-called American weapons unit.
The earliest U.S. armament units were the New 1st Army and the New 6th Army under the jurisdiction of the Indian Army, with a total of 5 divisions; At the beginning of 1945, after the opening of the Yunnan-Burma Road, the establishment of the 34-year army was formulated, and 11 armies were equipped with American weapons, so there were 13 American armies at that time.
It was originally from the Hunan Army system, and later became the 73rd Army of Wang Yaowu's group, which is one of the US armies.
The corps had the 15th, 77th, and 193rd Divisions at the time of the rearmament, and in some configurations it was even stronger than its brother unit, the 74th Army. For example, the 105-mm howitzer battalion, which is the top of the US armament, was assigned in the 73rd Army, but the 74th Army and its subsequent reorganized 74th Division were not listed, and the actual operation still needed to be allocated from the independent artillery unit.
After the start of the Liberation War, the reorganized 74th Division was not under the direct command of Wang Yaowu, and the 73rd Army was transferred to the Shandong battlefield and directly under the command of Wang Yaowu.
However, it was such a U.S. armament army, but in the Battle of Laiwu in February 1947, it was quickly destroyed.
If the rapid demise of the main force of the army was caused by the chaos of the withdrawal, then what is the situation of another division, the 77th Division, which fought before the fall of the main force, and it lasted only half a day?
Before talking about the 77th Division, let's first understand how the 73rd Army participated in the war.
According to Han Jun, commander of the 73rd Army, after the war, the 73rd Army was transferred to Jinan after the Liberation War began, and the initial task was to open up the Jiaoji Line with the 8th Army and the 96th Army, and then it was mainly stationed in Zichuan, Boshan and other places.
In February 1947, Lao Chiang deployed a north-south advance to flank our army in Shandong.
At this time, Wang Yaowu originally planned to transfer the 12th Army and the reorganized 46th Division to fight south, but Lao Jiang believed that the combat effectiveness of the 12th Army was not good, and designated the 73rd Army to participate in the battle.
At that time, the 73rd Army was organized in addition to the three infantry divisions under its jurisdiction, and there was also an independent brigade.
The origin of this independent brigade is also very interesting, because the 73rd Army had a lot of deserters when it went north, so after arriving in Shandong, it used the vacancies of each division to form an independent brigade with a three-regiment system.
Although the establishment of this brigade was under the name of the 73rd Army, it was actually under the direct control of Wang Yaowu, and its task was to garrison it on the spot and not to be transferred to other places.
Therefore, if the 73rd Army is in the original defensive area, its strength is three divisions and one brigade, and if it is not there, it will have to be three regiments less.
During the Battle of Laiwu, the 73rd Army first led the 15th Division and the 193rd Division into the battle, and the remaining 77th Division waited to take over the defense and was not with the main force of the army.
According to Army Commander Han Jun, the strength of these three divisions plus the strength of the troops directly under the army is 25,000, and the average strength of a division is only more than 7,000 people.
In addition, according to Li Yan, deputy commander of the 73rd Army, Han Jun himself does not eat empty quotas, but the division of his subordinate divisions is prevalent, especially Tian Junjian's 77th Division.
And the one we are talking about was completely wiped out in most of the day, and it was this division.
On February 20, Wang Yaowu directly ordered the 77th Division to return to Laiwu's military headquarters, but the interesting thing is that this order was not given to the 73rd Army headquarters, and the army commander Han Jun did not know that the 77th Division was on the way to be rebuilt, so there was no response to the deployment.
Tian Junjian marched to the military headquarters in accordance with the normal marching deployment, with the 231st Regiment as the vanguard, the 230th Regiment as the main team, and the 229th Regiment as the rearguard.
Our army in East China had already anticipated the movement of Chiang's army in the direction of Boshan, so the main forces of the 8th and 9th columns were arranged in advance to set up an ambush in the area of Hezhuang.
After the 77th Division entered the encirclement, our army occupied various heights**, and the 231st Regiment, the vanguard of the 77th Division, collapsed after more than two hours of fierce fighting, and the formation of the whole division was in chaos.
Although the 77th Division is a U.S. armament division, according to its original establishment, the division has an American 75-mm mountain artillery battalion, a regimental combat defense artillery company and a mortar company, a battalion with bazooka combat defense guns, and a company with 60 guns, and an infantry squad with light machine guns and submachine guns.
With such firepower, as well as the division's previous combat experience, its combat effectiveness was not bad.
However, the number of such a U.S. armor division should be about 11,000, and the 77th Division only has more than 7,000 people in the data held by the military headquarters.
Its strength numbers can't even pull out all the **, let alone carry extra ammunition.
At the critical juncture, Tian Junjian, commander of the 77th Division, occupied a high ground with his direct troops and 2 infantry battalions and sent a report to the 73rd Army Headquarters for help.
According to the army commander Han Jun, he was not in the military department at that time, and it was Zhou Jianqiu, the chief of staff of the army, who received the call.
Zhou Jianqiu instructed Tian Junjian to concentrate his forces, stick to the positions he had occupied, and it was best to seize a commanding height under the suppression of artillery fire, and then report the battle situation to the military headquarters at any time.
And Tian Junjian has always asked the military department to send troops to provide direct support, but Zhou Jianqiu did not dare to decide on his own.
After Han Jun returned, the chief of staff reported the situation of the 77th Division, and when he heard the news, Han Jun was furious, thinking that Jinan Sui District had not informed him, and that Division Commander Tian Junjian had not reported in advance, and at the same time thought that Zhou Jianqiu's instructions were also wrong, and that at such a juncture, he should abandon all his baggage and luggage, concentrate his troops in sections, and break through in the direction that he might rush out.
In addition, one regiment of the rearguard should immediately return to Boshan, otherwise it would be completely annihilated. However, when Tian Junjian was contacted again, the communication had been interrupted.
According to Tang Guojun, commander of the transportation battalion of the captured 77th Division, the division did not leave its baggage behind and returned the rearguard regiment. Because this transport battalion was still escorting 12 carts of banknotes at that time, with the 229th Regiment of the Guards Movement.
As a result, the front was a pot of porridge, the 229th Regiment and the transport battalion were still moving forward, and by dawn the entire division was already dead, and those who fled, and the division commander Tian Junjian committed suicide.
Of course, for this process, Li Yan, deputy commander of the 73rd Army, said that it was different from Han Jun.
According to Li Yan, the Jinan Sui District did not notify the military headquarters of the re-establishment of the 77th Division, and the 77th Division itself did not report it. Li Yan was dissatisfied that there was a solid line of communication at that time, and although the route of the 77th Division was close, it was not safe, and if the military headquarters had known about it in advance, the 77th Division would not have been allowed to take that road.
When the battle broke out, Li Yan's opinion was to let the division quickly withdraw to Boshan, and believed that Hezhuang was like an urn, surrounded by high mountains, and once it was surrounded, it would be impossible to escape.
At that time, Han Jun's opinion was noncommittal, and he believed that the order was not under the military subordinates, and Tian Shi was "good luck and good fortune, and there were people in charge".
It can be seen from the reaction of the commander, deputy commander, and chief of staff of the 73rd Army to the conflict at that time that no one wanted to take the blame for the destruction of the 77th Division, which was actually the basic background for the division to be annihilated quickly.
As a result, the battle began at noon on February 20 and ended at dawn on February 21, which was only half a day. And it is worth noting that the 77th Division was the first American armament division to be completely annihilated.
The main force of the 73rd Army and the entire Li Xianzhou group were also annihilated on the 23rd, and the Battle of Laiwu ended victoriously.