Chen Geng's Corps
In the famous Liu Deng army, there is a combat group that often independently carries out strategic or campaign tasks, that is, Chen Geng's corps. During the War of Liberation, Chen Geng led his troops to carry out three combat missions in independent directions.
On June 26, 1946, after completing the preparations for war, the Kuomintang tore up the armistice agreement and the resolution of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in disregard of the strong opposition of the people of the whole country, and successively launched a large-scale offensive against the liberated areas in southern Jinnan, Suzhou-Anhui border, southwestern Shandong, eastern Hebei, Suidong, Chanan, Rehe, southern Liaoning and other places, and a full-scale civil war broke out.
After the outbreak of full-scale civil war, American military aircraft airlifted Kuomintang troops to the front lines of the civil war
On June 27, the Central Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan decided to form a field army with the 3rd, 6th, and 7th columns of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan liberated areas and the main force of the Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan troops, under the command of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, and set off for the Hebei, Shandong, and Henan battlefields; The 4th Column of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, the Taiyue Military Region, and the Luliang Military Region formed a joint army, under the unified command of Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi, and fought in Tongpu.
As a result, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Theater located in the Central Plains was divided into two battlefields, and the Middle East Battlefield was the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Battlefield, which was personally commanded by Liu Deng to meet the Kuomintang army from the direction of northern Henan; The western battlefield is the Tongpu battlefield, which was commanded by Chen Geng, cooperating with the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo operation and the Hebei-Shandong-Henan battlefield. This was the first time that Chen Geng's corps carried out a combat mission in the direction of an independent campaign.
From June to August 1947, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping commanded the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th columns of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, with a total of 120,000 people, to leap thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains and open up the battlefield in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border area; Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi commanded the 4th and 9th columns of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, with a total of 60,000 people, crossing the Yellow River and opening up battlefields in the Henan-Shaanxi-Hubei region; Chen Yi and Su Yu commanded the main force of the East China Field Army to open up the battlefield in the Henan-Anhui Soviet border area.
As a result, Chen Geng's corps, Liu Deng's army, and Chen Su's field army were deployed in the Central Plains in the shape of "Pin" and connected with each other to launch a large-scale offensive against the Kuomintang army. This is the second time that Chen Geng's corps has carried out a combat mission in an independent direction.
In May 1949, after the battle of crossing the Yangtze River, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao once again ordered Chen Geng to lead the 4th Corps with the Fourth Field Army to fight southward, implement a strategic detour in South China and Southwest China, and form a trend of closing the door and beating the dog against Bai Chongxi's group. This is the third time that Chen Geng's corps has carried out a combat mission in an independent direction.
Advance into Lianjiang and Maoming
Chen Geng's corps, which received the task, quickly broke away from the original Second Field Army and went straight to southern Guangdong for thousands of miles, and cooperated with the Fourth Field Army to successfully complete the Guangdong Campaign.
On October 27, the day after the end of the Battle of Guangdong, the 4th Corps received a commendation telegram from the headquarters of the Fourth Field Army:
"Celebrating your great victory in annihilating the enemy's main forces fleeing from Guangzhou to the southwest, this victory is of great significance to the liberation of Qiongya and Guangxi, and I would like to commend you for your spirit of resolutely carrying out Chairman Mao's instructions and your spirit of chasing and fighting fiercely for 10 consecutive days and nights."
The encouraged 4th Corps, chaired by Chen Geng, then held a meeting at the Corps headquarters to discuss the next course of action.
General Chen Geng during the Liberation War
"The victory of the Battle of Guangdong is only the first step, and there are second and third steps to follow." Chen Geng stressed at the meeting: "So we must let the fighters maintain this state, not slack, not paralyzed!" ”
"Now Bai Chongxi has retreated back to his Guangxi lair, trying to hold his stronghold, and may be ready to retreat to the Yunnan-Guizhou region at any time, or flee to Hainan Island by sea. The Central Military Commission instructed that Bai Chongxi's troops should be completely wiped out in Guangxi, and for this reason the Guangxi campaign should be launched immediately, so as not to give the enemy a chance to breathe and escape. Guo Tianmin, deputy commander of the Corps, read out the order of the Fourth Field Army.
At the same time, he announced the battle plan for the Guangxi campaign:
The 13th Army broke through to the north of the Lianjiang River, built fortifications, and blocked the road for Bai Chongxi's troops to flee to the sea; The 14th Army advanced into the eastern and western areas of Maoming, occupying favorable terrain and blocking the enemy; The 15th Army advanced from Fengchuan and Gaoyao to the Xinyi and Maoming areas.
Soon, after a short rest, the corps of the 4th Corps began to assemble at the predetermined location.
The Second and Fourth Field Armies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army marched side by side to Guangxi
At the end of October, the 13th Army, under the leadership of army commander Zhou Xihan, set out from Sanshui, Gaoyao and other places, and entered the Lianjiang area on November 15. On November 15, the 14th Army, under the command of army commander Li Chengfang, set out from the Yangjiang area and entered the eastern and western areas of Maoming on November 21. At the same time, the 15th Army, under the leadership of army commander Qin Jiwei, entered the Xinyi and Maoming areas.
Bai Chongxi's counterattack
Lianjiang and Maoming are two towns in the southwestern part of Guangdong Province, bordering Guangxi and occupying the key position between Guangxi and Guangdong on the Leizhou Peninsula. If the remnants of the Kuomintang wanted to escape to Hainan Island through the Leizhou Peninsula, these two places were necessary land routes.
After the end of the Battle of Guangdong, the main force of the Fourth Field Army began to approach Guilin, and at this time, the 4th Corps also advanced westward to the Lianjiang and Maoming areas, which made Bai Chongxi restless, because the sea escape channel to the south seemed to be getting narrower and narrower.
Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren
Bai Chongxi, who felt hopeless, decided to fight. On November 20, Bai Chongxi ordered the 3rd Corps and the 11th Corps, with the support of the remnants of Yu Hanmou's troops, to launch an attack on the Lianjiang and Maoming areas, trying to seize the Leizhou Peninsula and open the way to retreat to Hainan Island.
On November 25, the first contact battle between the two sides began. Bai Chongxi's more than 50,000 men attacked the 4th Corps stationed in Xinyi, Hejiangwei, Lianjiang and other places. At the same time, the remnants of Yu Hanmou's 13th Corps marched north from the southwest of Lianjiang to cooperate with Bai Chongxi's actions.
On 26 November, the fighting intensified. Under the cover of the aircraft, the enemy changed his previous state of cowering and attacked desperately, launching round after round of group charges towards the positions of the 4th Corps.
At this time, Chen Geng judged the situation and decided to use the 43rd Army to contain the enemy's 11th Corps north of Xinyi, and the 13th Army to meet the enemy in the front, concentrate the forces of the 14th Army and the 15th Army, a total of 5 divisions, and under the unified command of Qin Jiwei, carry out a combined attack on the enemy's 7th Army from both flanks.
On November 27, Bai Chongxi's 7th Army was quickly defeated by the sudden attack of the 14th Army and the 15th Army of Chen Geng's 4th Corps, and fled towards Luchuan in the northwest. Immediately, the entire offensive of the enemy was broken down and a retreat began.
Lianjiang fighting
After the failure of the attack on Lianjiang and Maoming, Bai Chongxi completely gave up his plan to retreat to Hainan Island by sea after occupying the Leizhou Peninsula, and immediately ordered his subordinate troops to flee in the direction of Luchuan and Bobai in Guangxi, and planned to flee to Hainan Island by sea via another route through Qinzhou and Hepu.
Without further ado, the pursuit of the 4th Corps began. The 15th Army set out from Baowei through Luchuan and Bobai, and the 14th Army passed south of Bobai, and pursued in the direction of Qinzhou by two routes; The 13th Army advanced north of the Lianjiang River to Hepu and blocked Bai Chongxi's escape on the sea.
On November 30, Yu Yingqi, commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Yuegui District "Suppression of Bandits", and Shen Fazao, commander of the 13th Corps, led the remnants to occupy the Lianjiang River. After learning the information that the enemy was holding on, Zhou Xihan, the commander of the 13th Army, was overjoyed, and immediately ordered the 1st Division to continue to advance westward as originally planned, and ordered the 37th and 38th Divisions to surround the enemy in the Lianjiang area by night.
Yu Yingqi
That night, as the encirclement of the 13th Army continued to shrink, the PLA began small-scale contact with the enemy, and intermittent gunfire rang out from time to time around the city of Lianjiang. At this time, Yu Yingqi and Shen Fazao, who were in Lianjiang City, were still arguing about whether to "defend" or "retreat".
"Brother Fazao, I can't hide it, I'm scared of being beaten by the People's Liberation Army." Yu Yingqi, who has become a frightened bird, has no intention of resisting at this moment, and only thinks about escaping to save his life: "My idea is '36 plans to go as the best plan', and while the PLA has not yet caught up, we will retreat westward first." ”
"I think you're taking things too seriously, brother." Shen Fazao, who was unwilling to be chased and beaten, looked down on Yu Yingqi, who was scared away: "The enemy's main force should still be a hundred miles away, and now the gunfire you and I hear outside the city is just a guerrilla attack, so there is nothing to worry about." Why don't we give a blow head-on, you and I can give an explanation to Commander Bai in the future. ”
"Brother Fazao, stay in the green mountains, don't worry about running out of firewood!" Yu Yingqi also wanted to persuade Shen Fazao to retreat to the west.
Just when neither of the two could convince anyone, Bai Chongxi sent a telegram of "mistake + deception": Zhang Gan's corps has won the battle, and now orders the two of you to attack quickly. In fact, Zhang Gan had already become a prisoner at this time.
On December 1, stimulated by the victory of friendly forces, Yu Yingqi and Shen Fazao seemed to be resurrected with full blood and deployed to encircle and annihilate "small guerrilla forces". Unexpectedly, they soon found themselves the target of encirclement and annihilation.
Group photo of the Guibei guerrillas
The sudden appearance of the 13th Army near the command post of the two took the enemy by surprise, and after only a few symbolic resistances, they scattered in a hurry and fled for their lives.
Yu Yingqi, who was frightened, didn't bother to say goodbye to Shen Fazao, rode a horse, and galloped away outside the city alone. In a panic, on the way to escape, he repeatedly whipped the horse, causing the horse to be frightened, and suddenly knocked him off the horse, causing him to faint.
"Who are you?" I don't know how long it took, Yu Yingqi was in a daze and heard someone shouting beside him.
"I don't even know you, where are you? Look, I'm your commander-in-chief! The commander-in-chief ...... "He was not sober, but he actually started a temper."
"Are you really the commander-in-chief? Come here, there's a big guy here. Yu Yingqi heard footsteps and cheers around him, and under the stimulation, he saw clearly that the PLA soldiers were surrounded by him, so he had to reluctantly close his eyes again.
On December 1, the 13th Army annihilated most of the Kuomintang troops that had entered the Lianjiang River, and the commander-in-chief, Yu Yingqi, was captured alive.
Qinzhou pursued
When the 13th Army encircled and annihilated the enemy army in Lianjiang, the 14th Army and the 15th Army continued to pursue for five consecutive days and nights, and surrounded and annihilated most of Bai Chongxi's 3rd Corps and 11th Corps in the Bobai area northwest of Lianjiang.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Bai Chongxi hurriedly gathered the remaining 10th Corps, the 1st Corps, the remnants of the 11th Corps, and the Central China Sui Administration, totaling about 100,000 people, and retreated from Nanning and Guixian to Qinzhou and its west, in an attempt to go to sea from Qinzhou and Fangchenggang, or to flee abroad to the Sino-Vietnamese border.
Chen Geng ordered the 13th Army and the 14th Army to continue to carry forward the fine tradition of continuous warfare, and the front of the troops was directed at Qinzhou.
On December 1, Li Chengfang, commander of the 14th Army, led his troops to set out from Bobai, and marched in the direction of Qinzhou to pursue the fleeing Bai Chongxi troops. On the way, it passed through eight major rivers, including the Nanliu River and the Lingjiang River, and after defeating the enemy along the road, it entered the area on the east bank of the Qinjiang River on the afternoon of the 5th.
After a short rest, the 14th Army began to force its way across the Qinjiang River on the 6th, and soon crossed the river to launch an attack on Qinxian. On the 7th, the remnants of Bai Chongxi's troops had been completely annihilated, and the enemy had completely lost the ability to resist. The 14th Division of the 40th Army alone captured more than 20,000 enemies in one day.
At this time, the main force of Bai Chongxi's division had been completely annihilated, and the remaining remnants of the 1st Corps and the 10th Corps fled wildly towards the Shangsi and Ningming areas, with the goal of fleeing abroad through the Sino-Vietnamese border.
Therefore, Chen Geng ordered the 13th Army to advance to the 100,000 mountains and pursue and annihilate the fleeing enemy.
100,000 mountains
100,000 Mountain, located in the southwest of Guangxi, the mountain is northeast --- southwest trend, belongs to the southwest of Guangxi mountain Goukou mountain system, east from Guitai Town, Guangxi, west to the Sino-Vietnamese border, distributed in Qinzhou, Fangcheng, Shangsi and Ningming and other places.
The whole 100,000 mountains are about 170 kilometers long, with an average altitude of 700-1000 meters, and there are many peaks of more than 1000 meters, with a total area of 2,600 square kilometers, which is a natural obstacle between the south and west of Guangxi.
100,000 mountains
On December 9, the 39th Division of the 13th Army arrived in the Shangsi area north of the 100,000 Mountains and surrounded and annihilated the remnants of the 10th Corps of the Kuomintang Army.
At about 18 o'clock in the afternoon, the 37th Division of the 13th Army captured the city of Dongxing, cutting off the enemy's escape from Dongxing to Vietnam. Chen Geng's 4th Corps, with the cooperation of his brother troops, annihilated more than 5,000 remnants of Bai Chongxi's remnants in the 100,000 mountain area.
On December 11, the Battle of Guangxi ended victoriously.
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During the southward operation, which lasted more than three months, Chen Geng's corps successively initiated and participated in the Guangzhou Campaign, the Lianjiang Siege and Annihilation Campaign, the Bobai Campaign, and the Qinzhou Pursuit Battle, annihilating more than 130,000 Kuomintang troops in total, and victoriously completing the task of annihilating the enemy in a "great detour and encirclement" assigned by the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao.