Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is detailed at the end of the article
As the main force in the War of Liberation, the "Four Great Field Armies" are famous in the history of the Republic.
However, compared to Higashino, where the autumn wind sweeps away the leaves in the northeast; Following Liu Deng's army to leap thousands of miles into Dabie Mountain, and Huaye, who killed the most enemies in Huaihai, the Northwest Field Army, which fought in the land of Qin and Shaanxi, led by Mr. Peng himself, seemed to be a lot more low-key.
However, as the so-called good fighters have no outstanding achievements, the Northwest Field Army, which experienced bloody battles with Ma Jiajun and the Kuomintang in extreme hardship, also made indelible contributions to the liberation of the country.
When the soldiers were hungry and thirsty, the military commander had to be amazed when he saw the herds of war horses. At the critical moment of your life and death, what special value can this military horse have?
Bloody battle against the Ma family's army
The vast territory of Northwest China is not only a precipitous terrain but also an extremely important strategic position.
It is precisely because of this that the life-and-death contest between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the land of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo can be said to have become one of the main themes running through the history of China's new democratic revolution.
Especially after the outbreak of the Liberation War, the local warlord armed 'Ma Jiajun', which had been operating in the northwest for a long time, joined forces with the Kuomintang Hu Zongnan and became the first major obstacle to the successful liberation of the northwest region. So, how did these two forces come together? What countermeasures did the Chinese People's Liberation Army come up with?
Let's talk about the Ma Jiajun force first, which arose in the early years of the Republic of China and was active in northwest China, especially in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. Among them, the representative figures are none other than Ma Hongkui and Ma Bufang, the two major warlords. Because most of the leaders in the team are surnamed Ma, they are named Ma Jiajun by the local people.
As a local armed force that pursues the backward and ignorant management method of father's death, son's succession, brother's death, and this backward and ignorant management method, the Ma Jiajun is undoubtedly feudal and backward in nature.
Such an armed force naturally regards the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which emphasizes the situation of the military and the people and is committed to the great cause of the liberation of all mankind, as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh. Ma Jiajun is like a stubborn disease in the northwest, burning, killing and looting all kinds of evil, and has become the heaviest mountain on the heads of the people in the northwest.
The Kuomintang, on its part, was not far behind the Ma Jiajun in the northwest in terms of the degree of reaction. In 1946, they tore up the armistice agreement and the political agreement between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in black and white, and brazenly provoked a civil war.
In the northwest battlefield, the famous Kuomintang general Hu Zongnan was assigned by Chiang Kai-shek to gather heavy troops in a vain attempt to wipe out the vital forces of the Northwest Field Army.
As the common enemy of the new democratic revolution, Ma Jiajun and the Kuomintang reactionaries called the collusion of the same dog, which was also expected by the top echelons of the PLA.
At that time, Hu and Ma were strong and strong, and the national army and the local troops of the Ma family included 250,000 people. However, the People's Liberation Army, with a total of less than 20,000 people in seven brigades, is not far apart from the enemy's strength.
In the face of such a situation, even Mr. Peng, who has made outstanding achievements in the revolutionary journey, seems to inevitably fall into the embarrassing situation of 'it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice'!
However, it turns out that Mr. Peng is Mr. Peng, and the generalissimo Peng who is immediately swordsmanlike has the magic power to turn decay into magic and turn thousands of catties in four or two! So, how did the PLA achieve the final victory of the Hu and Ma coalition forces in the bloody battle?
Defeated in name only, the Battle of Fuxi opened the door to victory
In April 1948, the Northwest Field Army won successive battles in the first phase of the battle with the Hu and Ma coalition forces, laying the initial advantage for the liberation of the great northwest.
Encouraged by a series of victories, Mr. Peng convened a plenary meeting of senior cadres above the brigade and regimental level in Malan Town on the 13th of that month, and launched the Fuxi Campaign, which aimed to divert the tiger from the mountain and directly take Hu Zongnan's life.
After careful study and detailed deployment, the six columns of the Northwest Field Army made a feint attack on Luochuan with the third column as the 'suspicious soldiers'; the second and fourth columns took Baoji directly on the left road; One column assisted in the siege of Baoji in the middle lane; The six columns on the right blocked the enemy's reinforcements, and the three men and horses were drawn at the same time, opening the prelude to the Battle of Fuxi.
At this time, the Hu and Ma coalition forces have suffered a lot in the PLA, and there is no longer the arrogance of the past, in the face of the menacing PLA, faintly forming a three-way encirclement of Baoji, the two groups are waiting for the PLA to attack.
However, compared with Mr. Peng, who has experienced a hundred battles, Hu Zongnan or Ma Bufang, they lack a lot of strategy and tactics after all.
Although the Hu and Ma coalition forces put on a posture of being ready for battle, Mr. Peng still easily found the weak part of the defense of the junction of the two groups, and at the beginning of the war, he drove straight into the northwest with a thunderous momentum, and the two major northwest towns in the hands of Hu Zongnan, Lianke Fufeng and Youlin, pointed directly at Baoji.
However, after all, it is difficult to defend with two fists and four hands. The main force of the Northwest Field Army here did its best to deal with Hu Zongnan, Ma Bufang and other Northwest warlords saw the opportunity and waved their troops to the battle.
What is even more surprising is that the warlords in the northwest, who had always pursued a strategy of 'self-preservation', launched an offensive at any cost this time. Perhaps at this critical moment, even the warlords of the Northwest, who are not familiar with military affairs, have finally figured out the truth of their cold lips and teeth.
This time, Ma Bufang sent his son Ma Yuan's 82nd Division to fight, and collided with the two main regiments of the Sixth Column and the New Fourth Brigade of the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army and the Teaching Brigade that returned to help.
In this crucial battle of life and death, Rao is equipment is backward and training is lax, and the Ma Yuan Department still relies on a tough and tenacious fighting style, in order to hold the last barrier of the Ma family's forces in the northwest, the enemy army can be said to have fought hard.
With the mentality of fighting for their lives with backward equipment and coming together with their heads, Ma Jiajun, with lightly armed cavalry as the main force, launched one tidal offensive after another against the three regiments of the Northwest Field Army on the blocking position.
Although the attacks of the Ma Jiajun were repelled again and again under the suppression of the light and heavy machine guns of the People's Liberation Army, the Ma Jiajun, who had been forced to the edge of the cliff and had no way to retreat, still stood on the front line.
In order to eliminate the three regiments of the PLA, Ma Jiajun even used a pincer offensive to force back the rock-solid PLA defense line with the tactical action of outflanking the right flank of the two regiments.
It was also in this stalemate with Ma Jiajun that the commander of the Second Teaching Regiment of the People's Liberation Army looked at the enemy's temporary retreat, and the horses on the battlefield lit up, and gave the order of 'killing horses and cooking meat to satisfy hunger'.
Our army's logistical supply has reached the point of 'using local materials,' and the fierceness of the confrontation between the two armies can be seen.
In the end, the lone Northwest Field Army lost the wonderful opportunity to defeat the enemy in the Fuxi Battle because it was outnumbered, and one of the few regrets in Mr. Peng's military career was also cast here.
However, Seon is not blessed! It was precisely because of this temporary defeat that Ma Jiajun mistakenly underestimated the strength of the PLA. Thinking that with one cavalry division, he could resist the enemy's horse reinforcements thousands of miles away, and cocked his tail to the sky.
The PLA's short-term defeat achieved the unexpected effect of paralyzing the enemy by mistake, and became the key to the victory of the Northwest Field Army in liberating the great northwest.
Reference: Overview of Party History: 2012-12-15: The bloody contest between the Northwest Field Army and the "Ma Family Army".
China Military Network: 2017-7-9: The Northwest Field Army was hungry and used bayonets to annihilate the enemy's 29th Army