After the Battle of Lanzhou, the Ma family army was again severely attacked, completely withdrew from Gansu, and rushed back to their old nests, Qinghai and Ningxia. Peng Dehuai ordered Yang Dezhi to lead the 19th Corps to attack Ma Hongkui, and 100,000 troops lined Ningxia, thinking that this would be a battle without a war, who expected that Ning Ma would actually stubbornly fight to the death, Ma Hongkui openly declared that he would burn and drown in his own Sangzi land, and would never leave a single grass and tree for the People's Liberation Army.
The so-called mantis arm blocking the car, the name of ma Hongkui is also. Just as Yang Dezhi's army was struggling to advance into Ningxia, preparing to eliminate the stubborn enemy with a rapid attack, Ning Ma was ugly and staged a scene of laughable live drama.
First, Yang Dezhi's left hook fist
At the end of August 1949, under the leadership of commander Yang Dezhi, the 19th Corps attacked the border of Ningxia Province in three ways, and punched Ma Hongkui with a powerful left hook punch.
The 19th Corps had three corps under its command, namely the 63rd Army, the 64th Army, and the 65th Army, and in order to prevent the Majia Army in Ningxia from escaping by separate routes, Yang Dezhi took the risk and ordered the three soldiers to divide into three roads, from the three directions of South Road, North Road, and Middle Road, and cast a huge net on Ning Ma Dangtou.
To be sure, Yang Dezhi's deployment took a certain amount of risk.
Why?
First, the North Road and the Middle Road are all in the wasteland at the junction of Ganning and Ningxia, and there is no one, no water, no grain along the way, and it is impossible to obtain supplies. In the unlikely event that something is unfavorable, the troops will have great difficulties if they cannot advance or fight, and if there is no food or grass to retreat.
Second, Ning Ma Shang had a strength of 76,000 troops, Ma Hongkui had 3 armies of 60,000 men, and Ma Hongkui's cousin Ma Hongbin had 16,000 men. Half of these more than 70,000 troops are cavalry, and the speed of movement of cavalry is far superior to that of the People's Liberation Army, which is mainly infantry, if the enemy adopts various methods of warfare and concentrates forces to fight us all the way, our army strength will be at a disadvantage every way.
Third, our army is not familiar with the geography of Ningxia, the enemy's social and people's conditions along the way are bottomless, the underground party organizations' counter-insurgency and liaison work has not yet been carried out, and everything will take time.
Why take such a big risk? It should be known that at the beginning of the 19th Corps' entry into the northwest operation, Peng Dehuai repeatedly reminded Yang Dezhi that this corps, which had been fighting in North China for many years, should pay close attention to the mobility superiority of the Majia Army and prevent it from being attacked by it.
This has something to do with the political trend at that time.
According to General Yang Dezhi's recollection, at that time, General Peng personally issued an order to Yang Dezhi and Li Zhimin (political commissar of the 19th Corps, who was also awarded the rank of general in 195 years), saying: "The Preparatory Meeting for the New Cppcc Committee has been held in Beiping for more than two months (held on June 15, 1949), and Chairman Mao's speech at the meeting was not only seen by us, but also by the people of the whole world. Chairman Mao said that he would 'declare the completion of the People's Republic of China' and shouted the slogan 'Long live the People's Republic of China'. This phrase and slogan are not casually mentioned, it is of great significance! The People's Republic is about to be formally established, and in our area, there is still a Xinjiang and a Ningxia that have not all arrived. Everyone must work harder to take these two places on the eve of the founding of the republic. ”
Attacking Ningxia, as a dedication to the founding of New China, this political honor is unparalleled, so it is worth taking some risks.
Of course, our army has never fought an unprepared war. Yang Dezhi arranged the march in this way, and naturally there was a certain bottom number. There are two bases:
First, after several months of fighting, the 19th Corps and the Ma Family Army have fought several times, and they have generally become familiar with the characteristics of enemy cavalry combat, and they have certain tricks for how to fight cavalry, so that they can not panic in the face of the battle. This is particularly important, and later the artillery unit of the 19th Corps was attacked by enemy horses, and the strong psychological quality enabled our army to block the first wave of enemy attacks, which will be described in detail later.
Second, Ning Ma did not understand the combat use of cavalry. Speaking of this, many people may not understand, looking at the army at that time, will there be anyone who knows more about cavalry and uses cavalry than the Ma family army? Maybe not, but the majia army's cavalry strategy and tactics are not very clever.
The only advantage of cavalry is mobility, which is useful not only at the tactical level, but also at the strategic level. As analyzed above, one of the major dangers faced by the 19th Corps was the breaking of the Ningma cavalry. If the cavalry group is used to maneuver at high speed and attack the three-way army of the 19th Corps, it will take the initiative at the strategic level and completely break the overall strategy of the People's Liberation Army to attack Ningxia.
However, judging from the combat practice in the Guanlong area for several months, Ma Jiajun did not have such a strategic insight. When Huma jointly counterattacked Guanzhong, the best strategy of the Ma family army was to confront the Xianyang Liberation Army with infantry, and it did not matter whether it could be fought or not, mainly to divert the attention of the People's Liberation Army. At the same time, the cavalry unit blitzed Xi'an, and the fight was successful, but the fight could not be achieved. Even if xi'an city could not be defeated, it would certainly deeply disrupt Peng Dehuai's troop deployment in Guanzhong, greatly delay the PLA's strategy of going west out of Gansu, and achieve the goal of counterattacking Guanzhong from the strategic level.
However, the Ma family army held tens of thousands of people and had the advantage in troop strength, but it would only fight hard and attack the heavily defended Xianyang Yangcheng with cavalry, which was a great strategic mistake.
Later, the soldiers retreated to Pingliang, and Ning Ma was still a tactic of defending the dangerous pass, stationing heavy troops at the third pass, obediently tying his horse's hooves, and not sending even one regiment of cavalry to harass the rear of the People's Liberation Army, allowing the People's Liberation Army to attack the city steadily.
It can be seen that the strategic level of the Majia Army is too inferior, retaining the ferocity of the ancient cavalry, but forgetting the essence of the ancient people's riding. Heaven forbid, er, er!
These combat experiences are probably the basis for Yang Dezhi's courage to implement the strategy of dividing up and attacking together.
Second, Ma Hongkui shouted: burn the light, hit the light, release the water
The 19th Corps marched in separate ways, how did Ma Hongkui of Ningxia react?
This Ma Hongkui, who has a large belly that is no less than that of a pregnant woman, usually looks kind and kind-eyed, and looks like a bodhisattva in Ningxia Province. At this time, when he was alive and dead, the cruel warlord actually shouted a heinous slogan: burn it, light it, and release the water.
The so-called burning out means burning Yinchuan and other large cities into a scorched earth; releasing water means breaking the yellow river levees in abandoned cities, flooding the cities and villages, so that the Platon Army cannot smoothly enter the army; hitting the light is to fight to the last soldier.
Ma Hongkui summoned a meeting of military and political leaders and said that Ningxia would emulate Yan Xishan in Shanxi, and at the last moment of resistance, Yan Xishan would fight to the last soldier and pawn, and wouldn't he still be the chief executive? When Yinchuan was burned, it was burned from his mansion. At the last minute, planes will come to pick up the officers.
While blowing the atmosphere, he stepped up preparations for war.
Ma Hongkui was known as "Slippery Horse", Yiye attacked Guanlong to attack Erma, and the old and cunning Ma Hongkui had not been able to exert his full strength, except for a brigade that was knocked out at the third pass, the other main forces were there.
At this time, the Platon Army was under pressure, Ma Hongkui expanded its main force, and the local security forces were all urgently upgraded to regular troops, including the sequence of the two main forces. Another army was added, known as the Helan Army. Ma Hongkui explained the strange name of the unit to people, saying: "This is taken from Yue Wumu's "Manjiang Hong" 'Stepping on the Helan Mountain Pass', which is of historical significance. In fact, we can't defeat the communist army, and we can still fight guerrillas in the Helan Mountains in the future. ”
If you don't explain it, the more you explain it, the more ridiculous it is. Ma Hongkui is located in the homeland of Western Xia, and Yue Fei broke through the Helan Mountain language and the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia, which can be used to describe the People's Liberation Army sweeping the northwest. Ma Hongkui's explanation was self-indulgent, and those with insight ridiculed him and laughed at his ignorance.
Culturally stupid, militarily equally short-sighted.
After the defeat at The Three Passes, Ma Hongkui should have reflected on the tactics of dangerous passes, made full use of the characteristics of strong cavalry mobility, mobilized troops on a large scale, and grasped the flaws of the PLA in the movement to attack its rear road. However, this Weng had no such insight at all, and repeated the same mistakes, setting up three lines of defense from south to north, posing an iron barrel array, trying to resist step by step.
Ma Hongkui also asked his cousin Ma Hongbin to send his 81st Army to the front line of center-back. Ma Hongbin couldn't help but be angry from the heart to the guts. Inside Ning Ma, in the end, there is still a high and low nobility, calling my 81st Army to be cannon fodder in front, and there is no end to the nest, can you Ma Hongkui please?
Although Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin were brothers in the clan, the two had always been at odds, and since Ma Hongkui had seized Ma Hongbin's throne as lord of Ningxia, the seeds of mutual resentment had been planted.
Third, the "old man of peace" persuaded Ma Hongbin to surrender
After the death of Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin's grandfather Ma Qianling, the brothers Ma Fulu (Hongbin's father) and Ma Fuxiang (Hongkui's father) took over the Ningma army, and later Ma Fulu was killed in battle, and Ma Fuxiang took full control of the overall situation in Ningxia.
After Ma Fuxiang submitted to the Nationalist government, he made a military achievement in the Eastern Expedition to the West and was promoted to chairman of Suiyuan, Anhui and other provinces. Ma Fuxiang, concerned about his brother's son, wrote a letter proposing to appoint Ma Hongbin as the chairman of Ningxia Province, and the Nanjing side agreed.
Ma Fuxiang's son, Ma Hongkui, has been following his father on a campaign abroad, and he has not become a major member of the party, and it is inevitable that he will feel a little angry in his heart. After the Nanjing government achieved formal unification of the whole country, it was afraid that Ningma would dominate one side, so it thought of a crooked trick and transferred Ma Hongbin to be the chairman of Gansu Province, while Ma Hongkui was inaugurated as Ningxia.
On the surface, it seems that the interests are equalized and the two brothers of the Ma family are taken care of, but in fact, the foundation of the three generations of Ma Qianling's grandchildren is in Ningxia, and the two horses are fighting for peace, which instantly produces a huge contradiction. Ma Hongkui had been fighting abroad for many years, his troops were relatively strong, and he also had many contacts with the central officials, and after several battles, Ma Hongkui finally gained the upper hand, completely suppressed Ma Hongbin, and took sole power in Ningxia in 1933.
For 16 years, Ma Hongbin's military posts have been firmly controlled by his cousin, and although he is ostensibly the second most important person in Ningxia, in fact, his power is declining.
At this time, Ma Hongkui told him to go to the front line of the center guard as a meat shield, how Ma Hongbin was not angry.
The breakthrough point of our army was selected by Ma Hongbin's 81st Army.
In fact, the first person our party planned to plot against was Ma Hongkui. Compared with Qingma Bufang, Ma Hongkui was still a little bit of a genius, and when he had a friendship with Liu Zhidan, when the Kuomintang first cooperated, Liu Zhidan was the director of the political department in Ma Hongkui's troops, and later Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolutionary coup to clean up the party, Ma Hongkui opened a face to Liu Zhidan, and also gave Liu Zhidan a gift of travel expenses.
Ma Hongkui and Fu Zuoyi still have a layer of affiliation with Fu Zuoyi in compiling the sequence, and after the peaceful liberation of Peiping, Ma Hongkui also had a loosening of thought for a time, and wanted to emulate Fu Zuoyi to accept peaceful adaptation.
Our party quickly seized the opportunity, and General Han Liancheng (then deputy director of the Lanzhou Military Control Commission) came forward to contact Ma Hongkui. In early September 1949, Yang Dezhi's army entered Ningxia, and Lanzhou sent a peace negotiation delegation to Ningxia to try to instigate Ma Hongkui to accept the peaceful reorganization. Ma Hongkui was worried about the hatred with the Red Army in the end, and finally refused the peace talks.
Our party retreated to the second place and began to extend an olive branch to Ma Hongbin.
Ma Jiajun's situation is relatively special, and he attaches great importance to religion. Yang Dezhi found a Hui old man, Guo Nanpu, who was an old Chinese medicine doctor who was very famous in Ningxia. Yang Dezhi and Li Zhimin personally visited Guo's home. According to General Yang Dezhi's recollection, Guo Lao was too old to wear a silver-gray robe and a snow-white Muslim hat. He was very tough, and he had just given birth to a young son at that time, and he was very fond of it, and he hugged it out every time he met.
Yang Dezhi and Li Zhimin implored him to go out of the mountain to talk with Ma Hongbin to persuade him to surrender, and the old man promised with a full mouth, and ran to Yinchuan to meet Ma Hongbin in spite of the years of decay.
Compared with his cousin Ma Hongkui, Ma Hongbin was much more open-minded. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he had contacts with the Eighth Route Army, approved of the anti-Japanese national united front proposed by the Cpc, and released the underground personnel of our Party who were detained.
When Guo Nanpu talked with him, Ma Hongbin was a little hesitant ideologically, fearing that the People's Liberation Army would avenge the Revenge of the Western Route Army and fearing that there would be no future in resisting. Guo Nanpu repeatedly persuaded Ma Hongbin to reluctantly put forward: first, first, the armistice, the People's Liberation Army stopped advancing, so that the negotiations could continue; second, Ma Hongbin went to Beiping to talk with the CPC at a high level.
The old man Guo Nanpu brought back the news, Yang Dezhi felt very angry, this Ma Hongbin still seems to have illusions, to ask the People's Liberation Army to stop advancing, the Gobi and grasslands of Ningxia, hundreds of miles of deserted, we stop is self-inflicted troops. Therefore, the situation was reported to the central authorities and asked for instructions on the next step. The central government quickly restored the power, to the effect of the following:
First, continue to march, and do not fall into Ma Hongbin's bid to buy time to continue preparing for war.
Second, an army in the 81st Military Region district negotiated with the 19th Corps on the spot about the uprising, and was not qualified to come to Beiping for talks.
Ma Hongbin and Ma Weijing (commander of the 81st Army) still could not make up their minds, but they had already realized the strong determination of the Platon Army, and while they were hesitating, Yang Dezhi's north and middle road armies had already been killed outside the Zhongwei City, and Yang Dezhi ordered the 64th Army to transfer a howitzer regiment to concentrate its firepower on the bunkers and roads of the 81st Army, blow up part of the MaJia Army's automobile fleet, and show the mighty and powerful firepower of the Platon Army.
Under strong political and military pressure, Ma Hongbin and Ma Weijing's father and son finally made up their minds to accept peaceful reorganization; on September 19, a peace settlement agreement was signed with representatives of the People's Liberation Army, and the 81st Army was reorganized into the Independent Second Army of the Northwest Military Region of the People's Liberation Army.
The arrival of political work cadres marks the beginning of the substantive transformation and reorganization of the peaceful insurrectionary forces of our party. Ma Hongbin and Ma Weijing were very grateful to the PLA for its magnanimity.
Fourth, the Ningxia Majia Army was in disarray
Ma Hongbin peacefully accepted the adaptation, causing a strong political earthquake in Ningxia.
Originally, all the troops in Ningma were already panicked, and the cause was that Ma Hongkui's father and son were in chaos first.
Ma Hongkui had just made a high-profile announcement that he would fight the People's Liberation Army to the end, but he turned around and used the pretext of being summoned by Executive Yuan Yan Xishan to take a plane to Chongqing. To say that it is to discuss official business is to escape. Ma Hongkui knew that he could not defeat the People's Liberation Army, and had already transported his family property to Taiwan, and this time when he went to Chongqing, he also took his eldest son Ma Dunhou with him, leaving his relatively calm second son Ma Dunjing (homophonous with Ma Hongbin's son Ma Tunjing) as commander-in-chief.
After Ma Hongkui left, people's hearts became more and more depressed. At this time, Yang Dezhi had no worries at all, and Ma Jiajun did not need to say that he used the mobile tactics of cavalry, and even the basic ability to defend the dangerous pass seemed to be gone.
Just as the 81st Army was accepting the peaceful reorganization of the People's Liberation Army, the South Road Army also reached the central part of Ningxia, advancing north from Zhongning, approaching the Qingtongxia Pass, which has a Niushou Mountain near the pass, which is the commanding height of controlling the main road. The 191st Division of the 64th Army launched a rapid attack, taking Niushou Mountain in only one night.
The present appearance of Niushou Mountain
This war horse family army held on to the danger, waiting for work, and taking advantage of the time and place, but the organization of the troops was disorderly, there were not many troops in Niushou Mountain, and the fortifications were extremely simple, so it can be said that it almost gave up this dangerous stronghold.
Ma Hongkui has always liked to preserve his strength, always playing a slippery head battle, letting others fight a hard battle in front, although he has preserved his strength, but in exchange for the result is that the tactical quality of middle- and lower-level officers is extremely poor, and they cannot attack and defend well.
As soon as Niushou Mountain was broken, the gate of the Qingyin Highway suddenly opened. Ma Dunjing hurriedly summoned the three commanders of the 11th Army, the 128th Army and the Helan Army to a meeting, and the commanders asked Ma Dunjing what strategy he had.
Ma Dunjing was already a master of the six gods, and after a while he said that he would send all the officers to Chongqing by plane, and the troops would be disbanded on the spot, and all the weapons would sink into the Yellow River, and they would rise again when the time came. After a while, he felt that it was not interesting enough, and proposed to send the officer's family to Chongqing, and the troops stayed behind to make up the calculation, and asked the commanders to implement Ma Hongkui's policy, burn out and release water. But the military commanders did not agree to burn the city and release water, after all, this is the land of Sangzi, where relatives and friends used to be here.
Ma Dunjing also said that it would be better to take the troops north to Alxa to fight a guerrilla war. The commanders said that the communist army was born to fight guerrillas, and we can still fight guerrillas?
Ma Dunjing finally said that he would transfer his troops from Alxa to Hexi in Gansu, with his back to Xinjiang, and hold firm with the Central Army.
The commanders laughed out loud, and Lu Zhongliang, commander of the 128th Army, retorted that all the way to the Gobi for more than a thousand miles, how to supply the troops?
Ma Dunjing was also upset and no longer answered. A combat meeting not only failed to unify good thinking, but on the contrary, it was even more chaotic. At this time, Xu Yongchang, a member of the central government, flew to Yinchuan to inspect the defense. Ma Dunjing went to Chongqing to report the battle plan to Old Chiang Kai-shek, and slipped on a plane and fled to Chongqing. Since then, Ma Hongkui's immediate relatives have completely left Ningxia, which has been operating for decades, and have not returned since.
The old marshal and the young marshal all fled, and the military commanders were all dumbfounded. What to do? These military commanders, who were accustomed to flaunting their military might in Pingsuri, were not politically mature, lacked foresight, and did not prepare in advance for Ma Hongkui's father and son after they escaped.
The next battle was completely free driving.
At this point, the state of war depends on the tactical qualities of the Ma family army in peacetime.
It has to be said that Ma Jiajun is not entirely undesirable, just when the 64th Army is marching with all its strength to the important town of Wuzhongbao in Ningxia, the 192nd Division to which it belongs suffered a moment of horror.
Fifth, completely eliminate the Ma family army
The 192nd Division marched north, passing a place called Rolling Springs. This area is desert and grassland, and the troops are moving relatively slowly. The 192nd Division, a separate echelon of artillery battalions, was on its way when suddenly a cavalry of the Majia Army rushed out from behind the mounds beside the road and killed them with dangling sabers.
The self-defense ability of the artillery battalion is relatively weak, and it is generally in the rear when fighting, and it is mainly protected by the infantry regiments of the vanguard and the rear guard when marching. But at that time, the avant-garde 574 regiment had gone a long way, the 575 regiment of the rear guard had not yet followed, and the artillery battalion was too careless to maintain good contact with the infantry regiment, and it was too dangerous to suddenly encounter such a situation.
But the artillery battalion was also very experienced and knew that the cavalry must not panic when encountered. The battalion leader quickly organized officers and men to assemble on the hillside and resist with a small number of light weapons.
The cavalry is afraid of going uphill, and the second is afraid of the distance. Although the artillery battalion's firepower was weak, it also made it impossible for the enemy to get close, and it could not rush forward several times, but it damaged many horses.
Seeing that a frontal attack was not possible, the enemy attacked from both sides in two ways, and the artillery battalion was small, and the situation became more and more dangerous. Fortunately, at this time, the division headquarters received a call for help from the walkie-talkies of the artillery battalion, and the avant-garde 574 Regiment sent some troops back to the rescue, and the enemy rode back to the rescue in a sad way.
The avant-garde 574th Regiment was also attacked by enemy cavalry, and the enemy turned out to be an entire cavalry regiment.
Under the conditions of field travel, an infantry regiment cannot defeat a cavalry regiment according to common sense. However, the 19th Corps had already found the trick to fighting cavalry, that is, to keep a distance, shoot horses from a distance, and disrupt the formation. Ma Weihua, commander of the 192nd Division, personally commanded the front line and used the telescope to find that the enemy cavalry was gathering in the distance to prepare to launch a charge. The artillery reacted very quickly, and immediately set up all kinds of cannons, rumbled and struck hard, and the enemy's war horses were blown to the ground, and the horses were frightened and scurried around, and they could no longer form a formation.
On the way from Qingtongxia to Wuzhongbao, the Majia Army cavalry launched five mobile attacks on our 192nd Division. Although none of them succeeded, they also reflected the stubbornness and bravery of the majiajun's grass-roots units.
It's just a pity that this kind of mobile attack tactic spontaneously formed at the grassroots level came too late, and if it was used at the beginning of Yang Dezhi's three-way army march, then the war would be a different look.
The 19th Corps Three Roads Army soon approached Wu Zhong. Ma Jiajun's defensive units along the road were hit one after another. Ma Jiajun was shocked overnight, and now there are only three military commanders in Ningxia, who jointly issued a peaceful telegram in an attempt to paralyze the People's Liberation Army in order to delay time. Yang Dezhi saw through the plot and ordered the 64th Army to quickly attack Wu Zhong.
Guarding Wu Zhongliang was Lu Zhongliang's 128th Army, Lu Zhongliang was usually resourceful, but at this time he was discouraged, and before the battle began, he secretly fled back to Yinchuan from the troops, and as a result, the 128th Army was leaderless and was completely annihilated by Wu Zhong.
Ning Ma, who had bloodily maimed our Western Route Army, finally paid for his blood debts.
Wu Zhong was defeated, and Yinchuan was completely exposed to the PLA soldiers.
Ma Hongbin summoned three military commanders in Yinchuan and advised them to know the time of day and the great righteousness. Ma Quanliang (commander of the Helan Army), Ma Guangzong (commander of the 11th Army), and Lu Zhongliang expressed their willingness to accept the peaceful reorganization.
On the afternoon of September 23, 1949, Nyingma sent representatives to sign an agreement to surrender to the People's Liberation Army.
When the remnants of Ma Jiajun's Helan Army and the soldiers of the 11th Army heard this news, they were frightened and chaotic, and the Helan Army actually fled overnight, and Ma Quanliang made a big red face on the eve of the peaceful reorganization, and he could have continued to be a military commander like Ma Xiaojing.
On September 24, the 64th Army of the 19th Corps of Yiye triumphantly marched into Yinchuan City and took full control of Ningxia. Ancient Ningxia has since gained a new life.