The Battle of Huaihai was fought in a vast area centered on Xuzhou, stretching from Haizhou in the east to Shangqiu in the west, Lincheng (present-day Xuecheng) in the north, and the Huai River in the south. Participating in this campaign were two field armies in East China and the Central Plains, two military regions in East China and the Central Plains, and some troops in the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, totaling about 600,000 people. After the Battle of Jinan, the Kuomintang troops gathered a large number of troops in the area around Xuzhou in an attempt to take advantage of the conditions of the two railway lines of Jinpu and Longhai, which met in Xuzhou to facilitate mobile reinforcements, and to use the method of heavy troop blockade to prevent the PLA from moving south, so as to consolidate Jianghuai and barrier Nanjing. The four corps under the command of Liu Zhi, commander-in-chief of Xuzhou, and Du Yuming, deputy commander-in-chief (after Du fled back from the northeast, was appointed deputy commander-in-chief and director of the forward command of Xuzhou in early November), the four corps of Huang Baitao, Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang, as well as the four units of The Appeasement District of Feng Zhi'an, Li Yannian, Liu Ruming, and Zhou Bi, together with the Huang Wei Corps that came to reinforcements from central China, the two armies that withdrew from the northeast battlefield to Bengbu during the campaign, and the two armies that reinforced from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to Pukou, with a total strength of nearly 800,000 troops. Among them, most of them were the main force and elite troops of the Kuomintang army.
Since the Kuomintang troops still have a relative superiority in this area in terms of the balance of the enemy's and our own strength, how to realize the plan of capturing Xuzhou and annihilating the enemy on the spot has become a common concern of the Central Military Commission and the frontline commanders. When the Battle of Jinan was nearing the end, Su Yu, acting commander of the East China Field Army, proposed to the Central Military Commission to hold the Huaihai Campaign, advocating attacking and annihilating the Kuomintang troops in the Huaiyin, Huai'an, Haizhou, and Lianyungang areas to create conditions for the capture of Xuzhou. Accepting this suggestion, the Central Military Commission issued a directive on October 11 entitled "Operational Guidelines for the Huaihai Campaign," pointing out that the focus of the first phase of the campaign was to concentrate forces on annihilating the Huang Baitao Corps, a powerful right-wing force of the Kuomintang Liu Zhi clique. In view of the enemy's characteristics of dense troops and ease of mobility, it was required that more than half of the troops be used as a diversion and blockade to threaten Xuzhou from the east and north, so that Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi's two corps did not dare to go all out to help the east. On October 22, the Central Military Commission instructed the Central Plains Field Army to march eastward as soon as it captured Zhengzhou, and to work closely with the East China Field Army to isolate Xuzhou. In early November, in accordance with the victory in the Liaoshen Campaign and the changes in the battlefield in the Central Plains, the Central Military Commission adopted the suggestions of the commanders of the East China and Central Plains Field Army, and decided to expand the scale of the original Huaihai Campaign, with the main force of the East China Field Army continuing to attack Huang Baitao's corps, and then using the main force to attack Jinpu Road; with the main force of the Central Plains Field Army, it quickly captured Su County (present-day Suzhou) south of Xuzhou, controlled the railway line between Xuzhou and Bengbu, and the two armies cooperated to strive to annihilate the main force of Liu Zhi's group north of the Huai River, and then annihilate the rest of the troops north of the Yangtze River. On November 16, the Central Military Commission pointed out that the Battle of Huaihai was an unprecedented battle on the southern front, and "this victory will not only determine the situation north of the Yangtze River, but also basically solve the situation in the whole country." In order to coordinate the operations of this campaign and the local affairs of the front, the Central Military Commission decided that Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Su Yu, and Tan Zhenlin should form a committee of general former enemies, with Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, and Deng Xiaoping as members of the Standing Committee, and handle everything on the spot. Deng Xiaoping was the secretary of the General Former Committee.
The Battle of Huaihai was launched on November 6 and was the first phase of the campaign on November 22. During this phase, the East China Field Army annihilated about 100,000 people of Huang Baitao's corps in the Nianzhuangwei area and killed the commander of the corps, Huang Baitao. On November 8, He Jifeng and Zhang Kexia, deputy commanders of the Third Suijing District (both underground members of the COMMUNIST Party), led three and a half divisions of about 23,000 people to revolt according to the plan of the East China Field Army, creating extremely favorable conditions for the smooth progress of the campaign. The Central Plains Field Army captured Suxian on November 15, and together with the East China Field Army, cut off the Xu Beng Line and completed the siege of Xuzhou.
From November 23 to December 15, it was the second phase of the Battle of Huaihai. During this stage, the Central Plains Field Army and a part of the East China Field Army surrounded and annihilated about 120,000 people of the Huang Wei Corps, which was aided by the Eastern Qishan, in the Shuangduiji area southwest of Su County, and captured the commander of the corps, Huang Wei. One of the divisions revolted under the leadership of Liao Yunzhou, an underground communist party member. When du Yuming's three corps of 300,000 men of the Xuzhou Nationalist army broke through to the west, the main force of the East China Field Army surrounded this enemy in the Chenguanzhuang area northeast of Yongcheng, annihilating most of the two corps of Sun Yuanliang's corps of about 40,000 people.
From December 16 to January 10, 1949, it was the third phase of the Battle of Huaihai. During this stage, the Huaihai Front People's Liberation Army followed the instructions of the Central Military Commission and suspended the attack on Du Yuming's clique in order to stabilize the Kuomintang troops in Ping and Tianjin and prevent them from quickly making a decision to retreat south. Among them, the East China Field Army turned to the battlefield for recuperation, and at the same time launched a powerful political offensive against the Kuomintang army, urging Du Yuming to lead his troops to surrender; the Central Plains Field Army gathered in Suxian County, Mengcheng, and Woyang areas to rest and stand by. At this time, the theater coincided with heavy snowfall, a sharp decrease in air transport, the cut off of grain and grass in Dubu, hunger and cold, and the hearts of the army shaken, and its officers and men surrendered to the People's Liberation Army in whole platoons, entire companies, and even entire camps. But Du Yuming and other senior generals still refused to surrender. On January 6, 1949, the East China Field Army launched a general offensive against Du Yuming's troops, and after four days of fierce fighting, on the 10th, the two corps of Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi were completely annihilated by about 200,000 people, capturing Du Yuming and killing Qiu Qingquan, and only Li Mi and a few others escaped. At this point, the Battle of Huaihai ended with a great victory.
The Battle of Huaihai was the second major battle in the three major battles of the strategic decisive battle of the Liberation War, and it was also a campaign in which the enemy had a relative superiority in the comparison of troops on the battlefield. During the campaign, after 66 days of intense and arduous fighting, the People's Liberation Army annihilated 555,000 Kuomintang troops, including the Fifth army and the Eighteenth Army, one of the "five main forces" of the Kuomintang army. This victory basically liberated the eastern and central plains north of the Yangtze River, directly exposed Nanjing and Shanghai, the central areas of the Kuomintang's reactionary rule, to the iron fist of the People's Liberation Army, and created extremely favorable conditions for the PLA to cross the river.