Speaking of founding lieutenant generals Wu Kehua and Hu Qicai, I think everyone should have heard about their fame. During the Liberation War, they were all fierce generals of the Fourth Column of the Northeast Field Army, leading the troops to fight many hard battles, and established a great prestige for this, the most famous of which was the Tashan Blockade Battle, which laid a great foundation for the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign, but the Fourth Column, which was never defeated, suffered a big loss in the Battle of Shaling.
In 1946, as a returnees of Chiang Kai-shek's expedition to Burma, Liao Yaoxiang, known as the Tiger Division in Chiang Kai-shek's army, led the New 6th Army to Qinhuangdao and immediately launched an offensive against the liberated areas around Western Manchuria and Liaodong. After capturing Panshan, Tai'an, and Liaoning, Jiang's army fought all the way to Shaling Village, south of Liaoshen, with the obvious purpose of eating liaoyang, anshan, Yingkou and other cities.
Our army attached great importance to this contingent, but the enemy troops were all killed at the doorstep, and Xiao Hua, commander of the Liaodong Military Region, decided to give Liao Yaoxiang, who was alone and deep, a little color to see, and two brigades of the three columns Zeng Kelin, five regiments of the fourth column, and a total of seven regiments launched a fierce attack on this battalion of Chiang Kai-shek's army.
However, such a disparity in strength actually occurred in a great accident, and after three days and three nights of great battles, our army not only did not annihilate the other side, but also lost more than 2,000 people. There are actually many reasons for the failure of the Battle of Sand Ridge:
First of all, Liao Yaoxiang has a solid fortification, as the ace army of Chiang Kai-shek's army, they are fully equipped with American ordnance, they have received professional training in Ramga, India, and their combat strength is extremely strong, especially good at regular warfare and mountain warfare. At the same time, these soldiers are selected, have several years of military experience, and have extremely rich combat experience.
The second reason is that the artillery of the fourth column, because it has just been formed, has not undergone long-term training and baptism of fire, the accuracy of shooting and its poor, according to statistics, the battle fired a total of 2074 shells, but none of them hit. Another reason was the mistake in command, although our army occupied a considerable advantage in terms of strength, but the wrong use of the refueling tactic completely covered up this advantage, and the reinforcements of the enemy's 22nd Division rushed from Panshan to reinforce, and Wu Kehua and Hu Qicai, who had suffered a lot, had to lead the troops to retreat.
Although in this battle, the Fourth Column suffered heavy losses, after the war, Wu Kehua and other generals actively summed up the lessons learned, never lost again in the subsequent battles, and made a miraculous contribution in the Battle of Tashan Blockade, and the Fourth Column thus became the ace unit of the Fourth Field Army, leaving a great name in our army.