In November 1948, fierce fighting was raging on the Battlefield of Huaihai.
Due to the ineffective command of Liu Zhi, the commander of Xuzhou, the layout of the Kuomintang army's front line was extremely unfavorable, and for more than 20 consecutive days of fierce fighting, Huang Baitao's corps was completely destroyed in Nianzhuang, and Huang Wei's corps was also surrounded by double piles, and the situation was dangerous.
What was even more severe was that Li Yannian and Liu Ruming's two corps advanced and retreated in the Cao Laoji area, and they could not save the fate of Huang Wei's corps, at the same time, Du Yuming took over as the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou and commanded 400,000 troops to withdraw to Xuzhou. The war situation was so corrupted that Chiang Kai-shek was devastated.
At this moment, Chiang Kai-shek thought of his youngest son, Jiang Weiguo.
"You served as the commander of the first regiment of chariots, personally led the tank troops to Tanbu, and cooperated with Li Yannian and Liu Ruming in attacking the north."
Pictured| Chiang Kai-shek and his youngest son, Chiang Wei-kuo
On the other end of the phone, Jiang Weiguo was in tears, he waited for this opportunity, he had been waiting for a long time, this was the time to contribute to the country, his ideas coincided with his father.
Before Jiang Weiguo went out on the expedition, the father and son met each other, looking at the heroic son in front of them, the haze in Chiang Kai-shek's heart seemed to have been dispelled a lot, and he also looked forward to what kind of changes Jiang Weiguo could bring to this rotten war situation.
"If you win, you will raise a glass to celebrate, and if you lose, you will save each other with death"
As the younger son of Chiang Kai-shek, Jiang Weiguo has been determined since he was a child to become a soldier when he grows up.
Although he was born with a golden spoon, Jiang Weiguo's requirements for himself were very strict, and under Chiang Kai-shek's efforts to cultivate, Jiang Weiguo was indeed outstanding.
According to the recollections of Jiang Weiguo's old subordinates,
Jiang Weiguo and his people are witty and free, friendly and loving subordinates, and quite capable of bearing hardships.
It was just that Chiang Weiguo himself regarded himself as an ordinary soldier, but Chiang Kai-shek's generals must not think so.
On the night of November 29, 1948, Liu Zhi, the commander-in-chief of xuzhou, had just hastily withdrawn his headquarters to Bengbu, and his men came to report that Chiang Kai-shek's second son, Jiang Weiguo, personally led a group of chariots to Bengbu to participate in the Battle of Xu Bengbu.
As soon as Liu Zhi heard about this incident, one head was immediately bigger than two.
Then again, Liu Zhi has always been known as the "Pig General" in the Kuomintang army, but in fact, he was still very capable of fighting when he was young, but his long-term career as a high-ranking official has long smoothed out his ambitions.
As soon as he saw Jiang Weiguo coming, Liu Zhi suddenly understood that Chiang Kai-shek had sent this outstanding son to the battlefield at this time to play the role of supervising the war.
The battle can be lost, but this prince must not have an accident.
Liu Zhi told Jiang Weiguo that he would arrange a dinner party for officers above the regimental level to attend that night, and invited him to attend.
Tu | Liu Zhi, who was then the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou
Unexpectedly, Jiang Weiguo rebuffed him, and he also asked Liu Zhi to quickly recruit the two corps commanders on the front line to explain to him the situation on the battlefield.
"Earnest in battle, loyal and courageous."
That evening, at the General Headquarters, Liu Zhi, Jiang Weiguo, and two corps commanders, Liu Ruming and Li Yannian, were summoned here for a meeting, along with Major General Li Yili, the field inspector of the Presidential Palace.
Of course, Chiang Weiguo could not have come empty-handed this time, and he took out from his briefcase Chiang Kai-shek's letter to the two corps commanders. The letter exhorted the generals.
"If you win, you will raise a toast, and if you lose, you will save each other."
Liu Ruming and Li Yannian glanced at each other, each seeing some helplessness in each other's eyes.
Li Yannian was born in Huangpu and still had a teacher-student friendship with Chiang Kai-shek, but the few armies in his hands were mostly remnants pulled down from the northeast battlefield, and they had no strength at all.
Liu Ruming himself was a miscellaneous card, a former general of the Northwest Army, and he was not at all welcomed by Chiang Kai-shek's central military lineage, and when he arrived on the battlefield, he could only seek self-protection, and as a miscellaneous card, he could only firmly stare at Li Yannian and did not dare to make any moves at all.
Jiang Weiguo did not see this, he just felt that after the tanks were combined with the infantry, the battlefield would only be like a tiger.
"Do your best to obey the destiny!" Liu Ruming said.
"Bow down and die." Li Yannian said so.
After listening to the introduction of the two commanders on the battlefield situation, Jiang Weiguo took the initiative to stand up and request:
"Since tomorrow the army will officially attack north, the headquarters requests immediate cooperation. Would you please instruct the three commanders-in-chief to specify which corps and which corps the headquarters should be assigned to? ”
Li Yannian and Liu Ruming were silent, and neither of them would speak first.
Picture | Liu Ruming's old photo
Jiang Weiguo was quite surprised, he originally thought that if he led such a strong army of soldiers and horses to come, he would definitely be divided up and snatched away by the major commanders, how could he be so cold.
Liu Zhi played a round field on the side:
"Wei Guo, your armored unit is a treasure, they are afraid of falling in their hands, let alone charging into the battlefield?" Well, you're welcome, Weiguo didn't send a vase either. Ji Fu (Li Yannianzi), at present, your troops are in a frontal offensive position, I think I will let you take advantage of it first, and tomorrow will give a part to the Fifty-fourth Army and the Thirty-ninth Army, respectively, to assist Xinqiao and Cao Laoji, how? ”
Li Yannian was like a dumb man eating Huang Lian, and he could not say anything bitterly, so he had to accept it:
"Just do what the boss wants."
As soon as Jiang Weiguo looked back, he suddenly found that Liu Ruming next to him seemed to show an imperceptible smile, which made him puzzled.
To fight the "Iron King VIII", our army has a knack
As a product of the high development of the military industry, the tank was once a huge weapon on the battlefield.
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was actually very difficult for our army to deal with the armored units of the Japanese army, limited to industrial conditions, and we lacked anti-tank weapons, so we could only let people carry explosive packs one by one to fill them up.
Only later did he realize that the weakest part of the tank was actually his "legs".
In the early morning of December 4, 1948, a regiment of chariots led by Jiang Weiguo was attached to a unit of the 54th Army. Cooperate with the attack on the position of huaye six columns on the other bank of the Huai River Bridge.
As the commander of the chariot regiment, Jiang Weiguo personally sat in a tank to direct the troops to charge, and from time to time he also used walkie-talkies to order the troops to seize the favorable terrain.
Our army is actually no stranger to the mechanized units of the Kuomintang army, which Hua Ye had seen as early as the Lunan Campaign, and at that time, the first rapid column of the Kuomintang army was equipped with the 26th Division of the Fifth Reorganized Division of Ma Li.
However, such a situation is rare after all.
In the past, a small number of tanks only needed to dig a few trenches in front of the battlefield to block it. Now there were dozens of tanks on the opposite side rushing in two columns, and for a moment they did not know how to deal with it, and the forward position quickly fell.
Pictured| Old photo of Li Yannian
The forward position of the Sixth Column quickly fell, and Wang Bicheng, commander of the Sixth Column, who heard the news, was also surprised and rushed to the front of the position to check it out.
After a little thought, Wang Bicheng quickly ordered the forward blocking troops to temporarily avoid the front.
Afterwards, Wang Bicheng called a meeting of cadres at and above the battalion level, and someone came up with an idea saying:
Since the tanks are difficult to deal with, it is better to avoid the front for the time being, let the infantry cut the back road, bypass the tank attack of the Kuomintang army, and mix themselves with the enemy, so that the enemy tanks cannot function.
Wang Bicheng was deeply impressed.
The next day, in the face of the attack of the Kuomintang tanks, our army took a detour to attack.
The Nationalist army, which was still rampant, suddenly lost its temper, and when the infantry was defeated, the tanks became light poles.
The tanks of the Kuomintang army constantly rotated the turret to look for their own troops, but they did not expect that they were surrounded by the People's Liberation Army, and these tank soldiers could not care less, and they fired indiscriminately in all directions, but they could not rush out.
But the bullet hit the tank, and it only splashed a spark in the ping-pong ping-pong, and it could not hurt the slightest.
A veteran who had fought in a tank shouted:
"Comrades, don't be silly! Did you see it? Lao Tzu specializes in beating its 'legs'! ”
As he spoke, he held up the blaster, and when the tank was not paying attention, one tumbled to the front, inserted the blaster into the track, and with a roar, the tank suddenly stopped and lay still in place.
The fighters were encouraged, and even more so, they stabbed with bayonets, which were stuck in the tracks and the tracks of the tanks were broken.
Suddenly, several tanks were lying still in place.
Figure | King Will Succeed
A company commander noticed that a tank had caused a fierce burning as it drove through the fire, and expected that the exhaust gas emitted by the tank was extremely flammable, so he ordered the soldiers to each hold a bundle of sorghum stalks, corn stalks, and thatch, which were mixed with flammable explosives, and laid on the necessary road of the tanks, and when the tanks came, they immediately lit them.
Several companies saw the situation and concocted the same method, this move really worked, and in a flash, the fire burned, and the tanks were helpless in the face of the suddenly appearing wall of fire.
Jiang Weiguo was also stunned, and he did not expect that our army would use such an indigenous method to block his tank army.
Jiang Weiguo "called out" Lieutenant General
One day, Jiang Weiguo and Li Yannian, commander of the Sixth Corps, had lunch.
A soldier came to report that a tank was wounded and trapped in a siege, most likely taken away by our army.
As soon as Jiang Weiguo heard this, he stood up and took the military hat handed by his subordinates and put it on his head, and Li Yannian next to him hurriedly advised: "If there is anything, you can't eat and say it again." ”
It should be known that Li Yannian's official rank is much larger than that of Jiang Weiguo, but when he persuaded Li Yannian, Jiang Weiguo actually turned a blind eye, did not say a word, left Li Yannian who was staying aside, and rushed to the headquarters of the Fifty-fourth Army.
The tank that happened was on the position of the Dragon King Temple, where the Fifty-fourth Army was the main direction of attack.
The commander of the Fifty-fourth Army, Que Hanqian, was a fierce general who had caused the Japanese to be frightened, and the Fifty-fourth Army itself was also a Kuomintang army, whether it was the level of equipment or the quality of the soldiers.
However, Que Hanqian was also unfavorable for many years, since entering the civil war, several battles were lost, during the Battle of Jinzhou, the Fifty-fourth Army reinforced Jinzhou, but it was firmly blocked in the Tashan area, the 54th Army suffered heavy casualties, almost beaten to half-cripple, Que Hanqian was also reprimanded by the Kuomintang Ministry of National Defense.
Figure | Que Han Qian
Jiang Weiguo, who was holding back the fire, first gave a salute to Que Hanqian when he arrived at the 54th Army Headquarters, and then questioned him with a split head and a covered face:
"Commander Que, do you know the situation on the Dragon King Temple?"
Que Hanqian was confused by a sentence, and he didn't know what was happening.
It is no wonder that Que Hanqian was depressed, Jiang Weiguo's chariot regiment was nominally assigned to him, but in fact, he could not command the chariot regiment at all, and when the following cooperated in combat, it also looked harmonious on the surface.
On the position of the Dragon King Temple, after the tank broke down, a company of the Kuomintang army attacking behind it saw that the situation was not good, so it ran first, and even if the tank was still trapped in the same place, it did not move.
Que Hanqian replied smoothly: "I know that I know, and I am adjusting the deployment." ”
Jiang Weiguo's heart was not happy:
"Please organize a counterattack at once, and be sure to retake all the chariots taken by the communist army and the officers and men who have been martyred by the loyal and courageous martyrs!"
Que Hanqian understood at this time that Jiang Weiguo was worried about his precious knotty tank, thinking that your chariot had been destroyed, and could not let my soldiers carry it back.
Although I don't think so in my heart, on the surface I have to be respectful and respectful:
"I'll organize a counterattack right away."
Jiang Weiguo was still angry, and then asked, "Who is the commander of the 198th Division?" ”
Que Hanqian chuckled in his heart, Zhang Chun, commander of the 198th Division, was also a tiger general, and he didn't say that if he was sued by this little Jiang Gongzi, then he wouldn't want to look up in this life.
"That's a fierce general."
……
”
Picture | Que Hanqian in the film and television stills
Jiang Weiguo did not listen to Que Hanqian's explanation at all, and opened his mouth to scold:
"How did he cover the chariots' didn't he learn to cooperate with the chariot combat method? His team is dead? ”
"The 198th Division is very capable of fighting, so I will send them up to make up for it."
Que Hanqian quickly explained.
"If the chariots and the remains of officers and men cannot be recovered, they will be severely punished."
Que Hanqian was respectful on the surface, and his heart was holding a fire, you must know that in the official rank, Jiang Weiguo is only a colonel, and he is the commander of the lieutenant general, Jiang Weiguo not only has no respect, but also commands. Que Hanqian called the 198th Division with a fire and issued a strict order to the division commander Zhang Chun:
"Fight well, it's okay to retake the tank, if you break it, you will kill yourself!"
Zhang Chunru fell into the ice cave and immediately commanded the counterattack of the 198th Division, coincidentally, at that time, Huaye was pursuing Du Yuming's group withdrawn from Xuzhou, and almost all the troops were drawn, leaving only One Wang Bicheng's Huaye Sixth Column on the opposite position.
With the cooperation of the Eighth Division, Zhang Chun finally recaptured the tank, and after a little loss, it was almost tearless.
A deputy regimental commander was killed, the forward attacking forces suffered five or six hundred casualties, and the Eighth Division suffered several hundred casualties.
Jiang Weiguo lamented that "heroes are useless"
Que Hanqian commanded the troops to counterattack, and with the cooperation of Jiang Weiguo's chariot regiment, captured the forward position of the sixth column.
The Kuomintang army has always had the habit of touting, and during the Previous Battle of Nianzhuang, Qiu Qingquan had reported the so-called "Pantang Victory", which was actually the result of Hua Ye's active retreat for the sake of the overall situation.
This time, the Sixth Corps fought well, and moreover, Chiang Kai-shek's second son, Chiang Wei-kuo, personally sat in the seat, and no matter what, he could not but praise it.
Deng Wenyi, director of the Kuomintang Political Work Bureau and Information Bureau, went to the headquarters of the Eighth Corps in Guzhen in the name of condolences and inspections, and then photographed reporters accompanying the army to rush to the Sixth Corps in order to collect some war reports and brag about Jiang Weiguo's battle achievements.
Jiang Weiguo personally led the chariot regiment to charge, and after a small test of the cattle knife, he felt even more good about himself, and inspected the position by tank every day.
Of course, although Jiang Weiguo was only the commander of the chariot regiment, all the troops on the forward position were afraid of it like a tiger, like a regimental commander, and had to play a life-threatening charge for the sake of his own future.
Figure | a map of the situation between the enemy and ourselves before the Huaihai Campaign
At that time, Hua Ye was running after Du Yuming's group, and indeed had no time to take care of the double stacking side, Nakano ate a Huang Wei regiment, which was also a bit difficult, Jiang Weiguo's forward attack was successful, and he also felt good about himself, thinking that the chariot regiment had played a role.
Jiang Weiguo privately planned the day of meeting with Huang Wei's corps, and even personally flew to the skies over the shuangdui set to encourage the Twelfth Corps and encourage them to continue to persist.
However, the fact was that after Hua Ye trapped Du Yuming in Chen Guanzhuang, he quickly dispatched reinforcements, and Jiang Weiguo commanded the chariot regiment, and he was no longer able to get as successful as before.
Jiang Weiguo himself did not feel it, but Li Yannian, commander of the Sixth Corps behind him, was anxious to go straight to the fire.
In the previous attacks, although Li Yannian's corps was already close to the double stack, it also paid a big price.
In the past few days of fighting, the casualties of the troops have reached more than 10,000 people, and when he thought of the next more fierce battle, Li Yannian played a drum in his heart.
Not long after, Jiang Weiguo received an order from the Nanjing Headquarters, ordering his chariot regiment to withdraw from the battle sequence of the 54th Army and drive back to the armored corps headquarters to listen to the dispatch.
Jiang Weiguo was puzzled, the front-line war was so urgent, and the role of the chariot regiment was self-evident.
With this transfer order, he went to li Yili, the field inspector of the presidential palace.
Li Yili's identity is not as simple as a field inspector, in addition to being a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, he is also Chiang Ching-kuo's brother-in-law.
Pictured| Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Wei-kuo
During the Battle of Huaihai, Li Yili's power was equivalent to that of a minister of Chincha, and he had a good intersection with the commanders of various corps of the Kuomintang army, and Li Yannian was naturally no exception.
Li Yili was well aware of Li Yannian's suffering, and when he saw Jiang Weiguo come to ask, Li Yili told him the truth.
"Li Yannian saw you running to the front line all day, worried that if you had a mistake, he would not be able to bear the responsibility."
"So Tuoque Hanqian sent a telegram to the high command, saying that the headquarters was in the swampy area of rivers and lakes and that the chariots could not play a role, and requested that the chariot troops be transferred to a place where they could play their role.
Li Yili patiently told Jiang Weiguo: "Because of the tank thing, you rushed into Que Hanqian, how can Que Hanqian bear this breath, he is eager for you to leave his troops quickly." ”
"What general can spare his own blood?" When you are gone, you have to drink the northwest wind. ”
Li Yili patted Jiang Weiguo's shoulder and continued:
"You were there, and they had to lead the troops to charge, and the troops suffered a lot of losses."
Listening to Li Yili's words, Jiang Weiguo stood in the same place in a daze and did not react for half a day.
Pictured| Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling
As far as he was concerned, he originally thought that with his own ability, he would be able to achieve dazzling victories on the battlefield and then turn the tide of the war, so that he could not only make meritorious achievements, but also be able to solve problems for his father, even if he knew that after arriving on the battlefield, he was so disliked by the front-line generals, and some beautiful words spoken on weekdays turned out to be all praise.
Jiang Weiguo shook his head, disappointed, and said helplessly:
"Alas, it's time for heroes to be useless."