Chapter 27: Breaking the Siege (4)
Zhou Hengyuan was the commander of the 1st Division. After receiving the order from the Operations Room to temporarily halt his advance across the river, and then receiving Bai Chongxi's telegram ordering him to surround and annihilate the remaining Communist forces on the east bank, he was overjoyed. He knew that if they had crossed the river, they would have faced the main force of the Communist army, and even if they had won in the end, his 1st Division would have suffered heavy casualties, and he himself might have lost his life. Now, things were better; they didn't have to cross the river after all. Surrounding and annihilating the remnants was easier than fighting regular troops.
But thinking of the 21st Division's regiment being completely annihilated by the Communist Army, the division commander was still very cautious and ordered the troops to be divided into three echelons. If one place is attacked, two places can quickly reinforce each other. Moreover, he required the vanguard brigade to widen its search area to prevent the Communist Army from launching a surprise attack. Seeing his own deployment so tightly arranged, he believed that no matter what, the Communist Army would not be able to cause too much damage to his troops.
Just as he was riding his horse, admiring the scenery along the way, he suddenly heard intense gunfire coming from the direction of the rear guard brigade. The density of fire and the cannon sound were absolutely not something that one brigade could cause on its own. His first reaction was that the Communist army was going to attack his rear guard brigade, so he immediately sent a telegram to inquire about the situation. As he waited for the response from the rear guard brigade, the commander of his vanguard brigade also sent a telegram: "My unit is under enemy blockade, the artillery company has been destroyed by enemy fire, requesting artillery support." Looking at this telegram and listening to the gunfire in the distance, the division commander really didn't know what to do, sitting quietly on his horse, deep in thought.
"Reporting to superiors, connection with rear guard brigade has been severed."
"What? The connection is broken, impossible! Order the rear team to change to the front team immediately and reinforce the rear guard brigade, hurry up!" The division commander did not believe that the so-called * had such a large capacity to annihilate one of his elite brigades in such a short period of time. He knew that he was the Central Army, with equipment and ammunition that the Communist army could not match. He believed that the firepower of one of his brigades would only be stronger than that of a Communist division, not weaker.
Just as he was about to withdraw, "Commander, what about the artillery support from the vanguard brigade?" the chief of staff reminded him.
The division commander suddenly laughed and said, "Chief of Staff, I understand now. This must be a trick by the Communist Army. Since they destroyed the vanguard's artillery at the beginning, they must want to hold us back and not let us reinforce the rear guard brigade. Now that I know this, order the vanguard brigade to retreat immediately. They don't have artillery support now, so withdraw first and then advance again after we rescue the rear guard brigade."
"Your Excellency is wise and brilliant." The chief of staff beside him hastily flattered.
At this time, Liu Hua was lying on a mountain slope two miles away from the ambush point, quietly waiting for the second echelon troops of the 1st Division.
"Commander, the enemy is still 2 li away from entering the ambush circle."
"Commander, the enemy is still one mile away from entering the ambush circle."
"Commander, the enemy vanguard has entered the ambush circle."
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As the 1st Division continued to walk into the ambush, the division commander suddenly felt that something was wrong. The gunfire in front had stopped for half an hour, and if the radio of the rear guard brigade was damaged, they would definitely send a messenger to report the situation. However, he had already walked six or seven miles, but still hadn't seen a messenger. Suddenly, he saw a glint of light on the opposite mountain slope, and as a military man, the division commander knew that it was the reflection of sunlight from binoculars.
"Not good! Fast..." But before he could finish his last sentence, a bullet had already entered his brain. The one who fired the shot was sniper company commander Luo Wenhua, and the one holding the binoculars was our independent regiment commander Liu Hua, who was directing Luo Wenhua to target. Suddenly, he discovered the commander of the 1st Regiment. How could Liu Hua let go of such a good opportunity? As soon as he received that all enemy troops had entered the ambush circle, he immediately ordered Luo Wenhua to take out the commander of the 1st Regiment.
At the time of Luo Wenhu's shot, the remaining 60 or so people in the sniper company also opened fire on their chosen targets. Before the formal start of the battle, almost all the battalion-level and above commanders of the 1st Division were killed by the sniper company. Then, mortars, heavy machine guns, light machine guns... rang out one after another. Without the command of officers, the Central Army was like a group of frightened lambs, running around in all directions. Liu Hua saw that the enemy had completely lost its resistance and did not want to kill more people, so he ordered the bugler to blow the charge ahead of time.
Looking at the enemy troops kneeling on the ground and surrendering in front of the Red Army's bayonets, the commissar smiled. "It seems that this kid was right to form a sniper team from the beginning, almost annihilating an entire enemy brigade with one man and one gun. It seems that I still need to learn more from my own division commander in the future, I don't know how his brain is structured." This was what the commissar thought at this time.
"I don't know what's going on with Old Sun either! That's a long journey, and I don't know if he can handle it." Liu Hua's heart wasn't too excited about the victory of this battle, instead he furrowed his brow and looked in one direction.
Seeing the instructor looking in one direction silently, the political commissar's relaxed heart suddenly tensed up again, and there was still an enemy army of a regiment, it was unknown whether one regiment could hold on.
"Superior officer, political commissar, good news! The entire vanguard brigade of the enemy has been annihilated!" The telegraph operator came running over, cheering.
Liu Hua finally smiled, smiling so brightly, riding his own war horse towards the county town of Chaling, leaving the rest to be handled by the political commissar, he could finally have a good rest. Seeing his superior officer happily riding his war horse towards the county town, he shook his head.
Liu Hua, who had been resting for half a day, finally woke up due to his stomach's protest. He saw that it was already very late and asked, "Xiao Wang, what time is it now?"
"Teacher, it's almost eight o'clock."
"So soon, Little Liu, notify the heads of each unit to come to the division headquarters for a meeting. Also, get some food ready, I'm starving."
"Alright, teacher, I'll be right there."
He couldn't help but look at the conference room, looking at the smiling faces of the main officials of each department. Liu Hua also smiled.
"Liu Lianchang, you first tell us about the situation of the other troops!"
"Yes, sir. According to reconnaissance, the enemy army marched out of Zhuzhou this morning, but withdrew back to Zhuzhou around noon and has not moved since. The regiment of the 21st Division that arrived in Anren has not made any moves, but sent out many scouts, most of whom were killed by our scouting company, and have been hiding in the county town ever since. There are no enemy troops moving out from the direction of Jinggangshan."
"Well, it seems that everyone knows that their 1st Division was completely annihilated by us. Hehe, Commissar, please report our battle results for the whole day today!"
"Yes, sir. This time our battle results are countless. Hehe, first of all, in terms of annihilating the enemy, we completely annihilated one enemy division, with a total of over 12,800 people, among them, more than 8,500 were killed, and more than 300 were seriously injured. The number of captured and lightly wounded is over 4,000. All enemy regimental-level cadres were killed, it can be said that the division's establishment has disappeared. Hehe...". Seeing the cadres below couldn't help but burst out laughing, Liu Hua also started laughing.
"Comrades, don't be in a hurry, there's more to come! The exciting part is yet to come! Next, I'll talk about the spoils of war. We've captured a total of 30 mortars, and as for shells, let's just say we have too many to count. On average, each mortar has 250 rounds, so now we don't have to worry about running out of ammunition."
Captured 36 heavy machine guns, more than 230 light machine guns, over 8,000 rifles, submachine guns and pistols, countless ammunition, and also captured all the logistical equipment of the enemy's 1st Division.
After listening to the political commissar's words, Liu Hua was also stunned. With so many weapons and ammunition, it seems that the troops will be short of personnel in the future.
"Were our military casualties heavy?"
"Commander, in this battle, the entire army suffered 654 deaths, 94 serious injuries, and over 400 minor injuries. The minor injuries did not affect combat effectiveness. The main reason for the heavy casualties is that one regiment had to hold off an enemy brigade with only a single regiment's strength, resulting in a huge disparity."
"Comrade, don't mention it. I know all this. Those martyrs who died in battle were all good men, heroes. We must make the enemy pay for their blood debt and avenge our martyrs."
"Yes, we will definitely avenge our martyrs." The cadres below stood up and shouted in unison.
"Alright, today's meeting is adjourned here. Everyone get a good rest tonight and we'll continue tomorrow at 9:00 AM to discuss our future path. The meeting is dismissed."
Watching the cadres file out, "Commissar, I don't know what's going on at headquarters now. Ah, Commissar, we should report our victory to headquarters and let them rejoice too."
"That's right, I had forgotten, I'll go and send a telegram now." The commissar said with a slap on his thigh.
Liu Hua looked at the quiet conference room, thinking quietly to himself. Later generations would know that today was the last day of the crucial Zunyi Conference that determined China's future. He didn't know if his arrival had changed history.
As Liu Hua had thought, the Zunyi Conference was then summarizing its work and there were no major changes, only because of Liu Hua's appearance that comrades more easily obtained command of the Red Army.
"Good news, good news..." The joyful voices came into the conference room, and all the participants looked towards the door.
"Comrade Chen Gang, what's wrong?" Vice Chairman Zhou stood up and said.
"Report to all commanders, the independent division has sent a victory report." Chen Geng said excitedly.
"Hmm, let me take a look?" Vice Chairman Zhou took the telegram and scanned it with a smile: "It seems that the Independent Regiment has sent us a congratulatory gift for the successful convening of our Zunyi Conference."
"Central Revolutionary Military Commission, our troops launched three ambushes against the enemy's 1st Division this morning, annihilating over 12,800 enemy soldiers, capturing over 4,000, and seizing countless weapons and ammunition. Our side suffered over 500 deaths and over 300 injuries. Additionally, our troops have decided to regroup and rest in Chaling. Independent Division Commander Liu Hua, Political Commissar Li Qing."
"Haha, that kid Liu Hua is really something, no wonder he's from our Third Army Corps. Next time I see him, I'll have to have a good chat with him." Commander Peng was the first to stand up.
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Soon, the dull conference room was filled with laughter.
