The Battle of Huaihai was a large-scale decisive battle during the Liberation War, in which the Chinese People's Liberation Army concentrated a total of 600,000 soldiers and horses of the two major field armies of the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army, and the 800,000 troops of the Kuomintang army, and launched a major decisive battle in the Central Plains, and finally won more with less, and the situation north of the Yangtze River was no longer suspenseful.
The Battle of Huaihai was the only one of the three major battles in which a small number of victories were won, and all the main forces of the Nationalist army were annihilated, two of the five ace main forces of the Nationalist army, and the 18th Army and the Fifth Army were all completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army. A large number of outstanding generals of the Kuomintang army, a large number of proud disciples of Chiang Kai-shek, such as
Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Kuomintang Xuzhou Crackdown
Du Yuming, commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang Army, Huang Wei,
Wen Qiang, deputy chief of the general staff of the Kuomintang Xuzhou Forward Command Post,
Liu Zhenxiang, commander of the Nationalist 64th Army, Yang Botao, commander of the Nationalist 18th Army, and other generals were all captured, and Huang Baitao, commander of the Seventh Corps of the Nationalist Army, and Qiu Qingquan, commander of the Second Corps of the Kuomintang Army, committed suicide.
The Battle of Huaihai completely annihilated the elite main force of the Kuomintang army on the southern front, especially the backbone forces of the Huangpu clan on which Chiang Kai-shek relied, such as Huang Wei's 12th Corps and Qiu Qingquan's 2nd Corps, which were completely destroyed, so that Chiang Kai-shek lost the military basis on which he relied to wage war, the situation north of the Yangtze River would be firmly in the hands of the Platon Army, and national reunification was only a matter of time.
In this war, the gap between the two sides was very large in terms of strength and equipment, but it still ended in a comprehensive victory of the People's Liberation Army. In addition to this being related to the heroic battles of the commanders and fighters at all levels of the two major field armies in Huaye and Nakano, there is also a very important factor, that is, the logistical support is very effective.
The ancients said: The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass have gone first. This was the case in ancient wars, and even more so in modern times, especially in large corps combat, which has high logistical requirements.
Before the Huaihai Campaign, in order to ensure the comprehensive development of the logistics work before the Huaihai Campaign, in accordance with the instructions of the General Front Committee, the party committee secretaries of the five provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Hebei, as well as the commanders of the sub-districts and the leading cadres at or above the political commissar level, were uniformly dispatched and appointed by the General Front Committee.
Among them, the East China Bureau, the East China Military Region, and the Logistics Department of the East China Field Army are responsible for the main logistical support work.
Rao Shushi, secretary of the East China Bureau and political commissar of the East China Military Region, and Hua Ye, deputy chief of staff and commander of the Logistics Command, member of the former committee of the East China Field Army, and director of the Yuwan Su Financial and Economic Office (later
Third Field Army
Logistics Commander and Political Commissar)
Liu Ruilong
He is the main commander of logistics work, and Li Gancheng is responsible for the logistics work in the main operational direction.
Assist the former leaders of the General Front Committee and the East China Bureau.
On November 16, 1948, just as the Battle of Huaihai began, Chairman Mao sent a telegram to nakano, the head of Huaye:
The central plains and east China armies must be prepared to fight in the present area for three months to five months, and the number of people eating, including prisoners, will reach 800,000.
In fact, before the Huaihai Campaign was launched, the Shandong Liberated Area had already begun intensive preparatory work. On October 25, 1948, the East China Branch Committee issued a decision on the transfer of the wounded and the establishment of civilian stations, and organized four trunk lines for the transport of the wounded, with a small station every 30 miles and a big battle in 60 miles. Each column was equipped with 500 troop stretchers, five militiamen per stretcher, and more than 7,500 mobile stretchers.
All counties have set up private stations on major transportation routes to provide rest places for migrant workers who supply food and materials. Migrant workers are divided into three categories according to the different tasks: first-line standing migrant workers with the army, each period is three months; second-line migrant workers, each period is one to three months; and rear temporary migrant workers are one month per period. Migrant workers are divided into three levels, namely, regiments, battalions, and companies according to the army's establishment, and are led by cadres at all levels.
At the beginning of the first phase of the Huaihai Campaign, the development of the situation exceeded the expectations of many people, in addition to the two major field armies of Huaye and Nakano, local troops from Yuwansu and other areas also came to participate in the battle, the battle was unprecedentedly fierce, and the consumption of food and weapons and ammunition was also very fast.
On November 18, the East China Bureau held a meeting of cadres in Jinan, and Rao Shushi proposed in his report that all the party, government, army, and people in East China should be mobilized to transport grain and ammunition to the front line to ensure victory in the battle. He stressed: It is necessary to carry out transportation in a timely and rapid manner, ensure the supply of ammunition, and ensure that our commanders and fighters on the front line of the battlefield do not go hungry. According to his rough calculations, the battle ahead requires 100 million catties of grain in a month, and 600 million catties in six months.
On November 20, the East China Bureau again issued an urgent instruction, requiring all trucks and cars of the rear organs to be subject to the mobilization of the Logistics Command, and all of them should be used to transport ammunition and other military supplies to ensure the supply of materials on the front line. In addition, it is also necessary to dispatch a large number of local basic cadre regiments and a large number of local armed forces in counties and districts to replenish the main forces so that the soldiers of the main forces can be replenished in a timely manner.
Under this large-scale mobilization, all the ordinary people in the five provinces of Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui were mobilized. By November 27, the Central China Working Committee reported to the East China Bureau that the Huaihai region transported 20 million kilograms of grain, and the Jianghuai region transported 35 million kilograms of grain, but the gap was still very large, mainly because the People's Liberation Army lacked cars and other means of transportation at that time, and could only rely on trolleys.
In the third phase of the Battle of Huaihai,
The ratio of the number of troops to the migrant workers in the war was as high as 1:9, and in some areas almost all young and middle-aged men were mobilized. But the enthusiasm of the people is still very high, and the slogan shouted is:
Throw away all your family, support the front, endure all hardships, overcome all hardships, and win the battle.
On December 17, 1949, the second phase of the Huaihai Campaign ended in victory, the Huang Wei Corps was completely annihilated, and the Du Yuming group was surrounded. Our army began to turn into a state of entering the field without fighting, resting while encircling, Su Yu, Zhang Zhen felt that the troops were fighting continuously, they were very tired, and they often could not eat oil and salt.
It is suggested that the East China Bureau organize people to offer condolences so that the commanders and fighters can each share 5 packs of cigarettes and half a kilogram of pork to have a good year.
After the telegram was known to the Central Military Commission, the Central Military Commission instructed the East China Bureau to:
All the troops in East China and the Central Plains who participated in the war were all comforted with five packs of cigarettes and one pound of pork. Those who do not smoke may be replaced by other equivalent items. This payment shall be borne by the two major military regions of East China and central China in accordance with their scope.
Huaye, Nakano's logistics department immediately implemented the instructions of the Central Military Commission, and decided that the materials needed by Nakano would be the responsibility of the Eyu-Anhui Su District, and the materials needed by Huaye would be purchased from Shandong. New Year's Day in 1949,
800,000 catties of pork were successively transported to the front-line troops, and supplies such as oil, salt and cigarettes also arrived one after another, allowing the soldiers on the front line to live a good year in the trenches.
On the contrary, the besieged Du Yuming clique had long been deprived of food, and although the Kuomintang Air Force would also airdrop materials, most of the materials fell into the positions of the People's Liberation Army, and the large corps fought, and the airdrops of materials were also a drop in the bucket, which did not play a big role at all. Some Kuomintang troops fought each other over grain, and even fired guns, and many grass-roots officers of the Kuomintang army could not receive food.
However, the officers and men of our army made pork stew noodles on the position, and the buns stuffed with pork and steamed buns, and the smell of meat floated to the position of the Kuomintang army. Many soldiers of the Kuomintang army ran to the positions of our army one after another with the smell of meat.
During the New Year of 1949 alone, 20,000 Kuomintang troops ran to the positions of the People's Liberation Army because of hunger and cold.
The Kuomintang army was still in control at first, and then it began to run through the camp in an entire company, and it could not be controlled at all.
Du Yuming and Li Mi also felt that the general trend had gone, so they told their subordinates that those who could not survive could go to the positions of the People's Liberation Army, but they could not carry weapons and surrender.
At the end of the Battle of Shuangduiji, Yang Botao, commander of the 18th Army who was captured at the time, looked at the scene on our army's position and saw that the masses from all sides flocked to the PLA's position to deliver supplies to the PLA, and many of the cars were loaded with freshly slaughtered fat pigs to treat the PLA. He couldn't help but wonder, because when he led the 18th Army through these areas, he didn't even see a handful of pig hair, let alone pork.
The entire Huaihai Campaign, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu four provinces
Out
Migrant
There were 5.43 million people, including 220,000 civilian workers with the army, 1.3 million second-line migrant workers, 3.91 million temporary migrant workers in the rear, 206,000 stretchers, 880,000 large and small vehicles, 305,000 picks, 767,000 livestock, and 8,539 ships; 960 million catties of grain were raised and 434 million catties of grain were transported to the front line, almost exhausting all material and manpower.
After the war, Commander Chen Yi once said: "
The victory in the Battle of Huaihai was launched by the masses of the people with a cart!
Since ancient times, those who have won the hearts and minds of the people have won the world, and the victory in the Huaihai Campaign has once again verified this sentence, and the strong support of millions of people is the real advantage of the People's Liberation Army in attacking the city and pulling out the village!