At the end of July 1946, the Seventh Army of the Kuomintang suddenly attacked the area around Sixian, because the main force of the Shandong Field Army was fighting with the enemy in northern Anhui under the leadership of **.
The Seventh Army's attack went very smoothly, and it successively occupied Sixian and other strategic points, and this main force of the Gui system brought unexpected trouble to the Shandong Field Army.
The sudden action of the enemy forced the Yamano Command to reconsider the next operational policy, and at the meeting, someone proposed to attack Sixian in the south. The General Staff did not approve of this plan, and the arguments between the two sides were in front of them.
Surprisingly, ** is overwhelming and supports the plan to go south. Upon learning of the ** resolution, almost all parties raised objections.
The secretary of the Central China Sub-Bureau, and Zhang Dingcheng, commander of the Military Region, made a joint telegram, pointing out that it would be difficult to attack Si County. Subsequently, **also euphemistically advised** not to rush south, to be patient and wait for the opportunity.
Everyone disagrees that the attack on Sixian is very simple, the mountains have just been drained of the main force, and the troops have not fully recovered. The main force of the Gui system stationed in Si County is different from the ordinary enemy, and it is the rainy season in the Si County area, which is not conducive to the march of large troops.
At the pre-war operational meeting, the Eighth Division, which was responsible for the main attack on Sixian, directly stated that "the Eighth Division was fighting southward for the first time, and did not understand the enemy situation and terrain characteristics in front of it, and obeyed the orders of its superiors." ”
Zhang Zhen, Wei Guoqing and others did not agree with attacking Si County at this time, but all kinds of doubts did not change the decision-making of the first class.
After that, the Shandong Field Army began to encircle Si County, and the Eighth Division, which was the main attacker, began to attack the area around the North Gate in accordance with the order. At first, the battle went very smoothly, and the troops quickly cleared the enemy's strongholds on the periphery.
But as dawn came, the situation on the battlefield changed drastically. The troops of the 8th Division broke through to the north gate and engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, but the fire support that had been arranged in advance was not in place.
It turns out that Si County is already a dense river network and surrounded by a large number of swamps, and the arrival of the rainy season makes the road conditions even worse. The artillery of the unit had to move forward with the cannon with difficulty in the quagmire, which prevented the artillery from providing timely support.
The enemy quickly adjusted, concentrating their aircraft and artillery to bombard the open area outside the city, targeting the PLA reinforcements. What is even more surprising to everyone is that the Eighth Division has invested 4 regiments of troops, and the defenders of Si County have only one regiment, which has been able to resist until now, and there is still strength to counterattack.
It wasn't until the troops captured some prisoners and inquired that everyone learned a shocking news - Sixian had replenished the troops in advance before the war, and there was not only one regiment in the city, but two regiments and a division headquarters.
In this way, the troops soon fell into a bitter battle, and political commissar Ding Qiusheng and others hurried to the front line to reorganize the troops to attack the city. However, the rainy season caused the water level of the moat in Sixian County to rise sharply, and the siege equipment originally prepared by the troops was completely useless.
The Gui troops defending the city are the main force, and although the equipment is not as elite as the ** army, most of the soldiers are veterans and their marksmanship is very accurate.
The city walls of Si County are surrounded by open land, and they rely on fortifications such as fortresses on the city walls to maximize their advantages. After a hard battle, the 8th Division suffered heavy losses, and on the second day, the enemy took advantage of the situation and directly cut the siege troops and the backup troops into two parts.
In order to complete the task, Ding Qiusheng kept asking for reinforcements, but when Song Shilun brought people over, he was desperate to find that the reinforcements could no longer come.
The surging river caused the troops who were originally responsible for reinforcements to be blocked on the opposite bank, and the battle reached this point, Song Shilun could only say to Ding Qiusheng: "You have completed the breakthrough task, and I am responsible for the battle like this." ”
He then ordered the troops to withdraw from the battle, and after some hard fighting, the Eighth Division retreated with difficulty, and the rest of the troops also withdrew from the battle. In this battle, the Shandong Field Army exceeded 2,000, and the Eighth Division, as the main attack, suffered heavy losses.
This defeat could have been avoided, but he stubbornly adhered to the original plan, ** felt very remorseful, and he took the initiative to write an open letter to the Eighth Division after the war, admitting his mistake.
However, the war in Si County is only the beginning.
Previously, under the command of Xue Yue, the Kuomintang began to plan a new combat plan. Unlike the continuous setbacks in the mountains and fields, Su Yu's troops won seven battles and seven victories in the Soviet Union and Central China, successfully turning the tide of the war.
Xue Yue and others were forced by Su Yu to shift their strategic focus to northern Jiangsu, and this time their plan focused on seizing Lianghuai, so Xue Yue deliberately arranged a large army to attack Sixian and other places.
For the attack on Si County, it really attracted the attention of Shan Ye, ** and others focused the battle on Si County and other places, and the Kuomintang immediately began the next move, and Li Yannian's corps advanced to Siyang and Muyang.
The tide of battle changed too quickly, and Yamano analyzed the enemy's actions and made a wrong judgment again. ** After discussion, Song Shilun and others came up with three battle plans, which immediately aroused the worries of the Central China Bureau, Su Yu and others, because among the many plans in Shanye, only they did not take into account that the enemy might move south to Lianghuai.
Su Yu immediately expressed his judgment to *** and others, and he believed that the enemy was most likely planning to attack Lianghuai in response to the current arrangement of the mountains.
This time, ** and others still did not change their strategy, and still focused on the Siyang area. Su Yu was not satisfied with this plan, **considering the current enemy's arrangement, he still approved **'s plan.
Unexpectedly, Xue Yue had already secretly arranged for Zhang Lingfu's troops, using the Seventh Army, which was attacking Siyang head-on, as a cover, to secretly attack Huaiyin.
Zhang Lingfu's sudden attack on Lianghuai caught the whole army off guard, and Su Yu hurriedly dispatched troops to Lianghuai to block the enemy, and the main force of Shanye was bitten by the Seventh Army and could not go south to support.
In the end, Su Yu, who could not get support, could only lead his troops to retreat, and both sides suffered heavy losses in the battle of Lianghuai, but the Kuomintang achieved its strategic goal.
After this series of events, the Central China Bureau was very dissatisfied with the command of Shanye, and soon there were disagreements with Su Yu on the direction of the march.
Regarding this phenomenon, ** has always understood in his heart that on the eve of the Battle of Lianghuai, ** already has the intention of changing the commander. He planned to let *** be in charge of the command, but due to ***'s physical factors, this arrangement was abandoned.
Now, ** et al. are pointing out this problem again, ** for the sake of the big picture, without too much criticism of the mistakes in these battles. Of course, for the problems existing in the mountains and other troops, ** did not let it go.
It didn't take long for the East China Field Army to be formally established, and in the personnel arrangement, it was specifically pointed out that Su Yu was responsible for the military level and was responsible for commanding the overall situation. ** did not complain about this arrangement, and decisively accepted **'s appointment.
Su Yu has proven his military ability through a series of battles, and the cooperation between the two of them naturally has a clear division of labor.
In the eyes of ***, the two are complementary types, and cooperation can play a huge role. Sure enough, after Chen Su's division of labor was clear, the East China Field Army rose rapidly and became an important force in the liberation of China.