During the Liberation War, the performance of many senior generals of the Nationalist army was a disaster, and it is needless to say that the often defeated generals such as Hu Zongnan, Tang Enbo and Liu Zhi did not show the standards they deserved. Xue Yue worked in the position of director of the "Appeasement Office" in Xuzhou for only half a year before burying the three concubines of the old Jiang clan, and the old Jiang dismissed him in anger. Wang Yaowu also suffered consecutive defeats in Shandong, and Jinan, which was guarded by 100,000 troops, was conquered by Huaye in just eight days.
Compared with these people, Bai Chongxi is a person who has performed better. Due to old Chiang's suspicion and restraint, coupled with Bai Chongxi's intention to protect himself, he did not appear many times in the Liberation War, and in the Guangxi Campaign, he was swept away by the Four Wild Army and was defeated. Therefore, many friends think that Bai Chongxi's level is limited, and he really does not deserve to be called the title of Xiao Zhuge Ge, but in fact, this is a misunderstanding. What is The level of Bai Chongxi? Just look at how many people are left when Nakano comes out of Dabie Mountain.
After the all-out offensive against the Liberated Areas was crushed, Lao Jiang changed his style of play and began to concentrate his forces to launch key attacks on the two Liberated Areas of Shandong and Northern Shaanxi. In order to reduce the pressure on these two liberated areas, in early July 1947, more than 120,000 people of the main force of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army broke through the Yellow River defense line and advanced towards the Dabie Mountain area. After more than three months of arduous fighting, the encirclement and blockade of the Nationalist army was broken, and at the end of October, it triumphantly advanced into the Dabie Mountains.
Although some troops were lost on the way to the battle, after replenishment, the main force of Nakano at this time was still 120,000 people. After advancing into the Dabie Mountains, Nakano soon liberated more than 30 county seats and initially gained a foothold. At that time, the Yangtze River Basin was the center of the Kuomintang region, and nanjing, the administrative center with the Kuomintang, and the economic center Shanghai, were the areas that Old Chiang Kai-shek valued most. In the middle of this area is the Dabie Mountains.
Nakano's 120,000-strong army advanced into the Dabie Mountains and wedged a nail in the heart of the Guotong District, posing a direct threat to Wuhan and Nanjing. Old Jiang, who was in Nanjing, panicked and immediately ordered Bai Chongxi to lead 15 reorganized divisions to besiege Dabie Mountain. In the past, most of the nationalist attacks on the liberated areas were in the form of multi-way assaults, which provided an excellent opportunity for our army to annihilate each other.
Bai Chongxi learned this lesson, strictly forbade all units to advance alone, and every action was at least two reorganized divisions rolling in groups, and the iron barrel array of 50,000 or 60,000 people made it difficult for our army to have a chance to attack. Bai Chongxi's intention in this move is very obvious, that is, to fight steadily and steadily, forcing Nakano and his fighting strength to fight and consume. In the face of Bai Chongxi's sinister intentions, Nakano's army fought with the enemy in the Dabie Mountains, intending to use continuous transfer to drag down the enemy and seek fighters.
The enemy advances and retreats, the enemy garrisons us, and the enemy wears us out to fight; this method of warfare was tried and tested many times during the Red Army period. However, this time it did not work in the face of Bai Chongxi, and among the 15 integrated divisions commanded by Bai Chongxi, included many main forces of the Gui clan, these troops had fought guerrilla warfare with the Japanese army for many years in the Area of Dabie Mountain during the War of Resistance, and they had rich experience in mountain warfare, and they were more familiar with the terrain here than Nakano, so it was difficult for Nakano to drag them down.
In this case, Nakano can only be forced to fight a hard battle with the enemy. Originally, the troops were at a disadvantage, and they discarded their heavy weapons when they crossed the Yellow Pan, so our army did not take advantage of several battles. At the same time as the military offensive, Bai Chongxi also used means such as joint defense and "five families sitting together" to cut off the connection between the local people and the Nakano army. Nakano's advance into Dabie Mountain was originally a rear-end battle, and the supply of grain and the resettlement of the wounded had to rely on the local people to solve the problem. Now this connection has been severed by Bai Chongxi, and our army's food supply and the resettlement of the wounded have fallen into a great predicament.
In addition, Bai Chongxi also organized those landlords, township chiefs, and revolutionary traitors to form a "small protection team." These people are not only familiar with local customs and customs, but also have a good understanding of our army's guerrilla tactics, and often attack small units of our army and the wounded who have fallen behind, which is more difficult to deal with than the regular army of the Kuomintang. In the face of Bai Chongxi's various means of "attack and suppression", Nakano's situation became more and more difficult, with more and more wounded and sick, and less and less food and ammunition.
In this case, Nakano's difficulty in continuing to persevere in Mt. Dabie became increasingly difficult. In order to reverse this passive situation, in early February 1948, Nakano took the initiative to transfer out of Dabie Mountain, at this time the whole army had less than 60,000 people left, and more than half of the losses were lost. It only took Bai Chongxi about half a year to cause Nakano to suffer serious losses and take the initiative to withdraw from Dabie Mountain, which was rare among the senior generals of the Nationalist Army. From this point of view, Bai Chongxi is indeed worthy of the title of Little Zhuge Ge.