Chapter 39: Forcing Through the Opposition
After a burst of gunfire similar to the sound of stir-frying beans, the National Army officers and soldiers who were lucky enough not to be killed by the hand grenade immediately fell to the ground like cut grass under the hail of submachine gun bullets. The vanguard of the Special Task Force rushed up to the enemy's position that had been attacked many times before, and more than 700 submachine guns mowed down the National Army officers and soldiers in the field of vision like cutting wheat. Hu Kui, who came to the front line to boost morale, was also shot down by two bullets, and as for Deputy Team Leader Cao Jinlun, although he was indeed brave, he also received special attention from the Red Army's firepower and was soon wounded and captured...
The regimental commander and deputy commander both lost their command capabilities, causing the National Army, which was still able to resist stubbornly, to suddenly lose its backbone. Moreover, at this time, the National Army's automatic weapons were also largely unable to function normally due to damage from artillery fire (Hu Weidong alone had destroyed over a dozen machine guns), mechanical failures, and some technical issues. How could the besieged National Army possibly contend with the powerful and high-spirited Red Army? Furthermore, Hu Weidong had also deployed two additional regiments of elite troops to follow up and provide support. Therefore, after the Special Task Regiment captured the enemy's forward positions, the Red Army not only held an advantage in firepower but also in troop strength. No matter how ferocious the National Army was, it was not invincible. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, some soldiers gradually laid down their arms...
The annihilation of the 66th Regiment can be said to have won but lost, although after three attacks, they finally took down the mountain and annihilated more than 5,000 people in an enhanced regiment. However, the independent division not only consumed a large amount of ammunition for this but also sacrificed 2,479 Red Army soldiers, including 371 old Red Army men and 1,126 party members, who were all the backbone of the Red Fifteenth Army! Moreover, after paying such a great price, the spoils obtained were very limited. With the scale of a regiment, even if it was strengthened, there wouldn't be too much good equipment (compared to the current scale of the Red Fifteenth Army), let alone most of which were destroyed by the Red Army's artillery fire. No wonder the Great Leader always opposed positional warfare...
However, upon learning that the enemy army was the 66th Regiment of the 11th Division of the 18th Army of the Nationalist Army, led by Hu Zongnan who had been wounded and captured, Hu Weidong's face suddenly cleared up. Although Hu Zongnan is only a regimental commander now, he would later become a formidable opponent who would give Liu and Sui two prominent generals a hard time. Considering that his superior was a incompetent commander who liked to give reckless orders, coupled with an intelligence system that almost never kept secrets, a completely rotten political economy, and the so-called "friendly forces" that were as stable as a mountain, Hu Zongnan's actual strength might be even stronger than what he had shown in history...
Although Hu Qiu was a die-hard anti-communist during the Liberation War, he is now just a 28-year-old battalion commander and a poor peasant by birth, so it's not impossible to win him over. Moreover, even if he can't be won over, Hu Weidong doesn't want to see this future general die here prematurely without having the chance to show off his talents on the battlefield against Japan. However, Hu Qiu was seriously injured, and the medical personnel trained by Kang Ze's short-term training program were not up to par, so in the end it was Hu Weidong himself who performed surgery to remove the bullet from Hu Qiu's body, using some emergency first aid techniques he had learned when he was a special forces soldier, which saved Hu Qiu's life...
The words were divided into two, although the absolute casualties of the Red Fifteenth Army in the battle to annihilate the 66th Regiment were not many compared to its total strength, but the dead were all old soldiers and backbone, which dealt a considerable blow to the morale of the Red Fifteenth Army. Many people suggested that Hu Weidong should see good and collect, but after a moment of contemplation, he overruled the opposition and ordered the army to continue pursuing the main force of the 18th Army. He explained to his subordinates who held different opinions, "We are indeed having difficulties now, but the enemy is even more difficult! We have suffered heavy casualties in fighting against the 18th Army for a team, which is a fact, but the retreating main force of the 18th Army does not know this. They will only see that their own main force teams cannot hold on for a day, and they will be even more afraid of us! If we retreat now, the enemy commander will likely realize that we have suffered greatly, and then they will follow us, which will become very troublesome. On the contrary, if our army continues to pursue relentlessly, the enemy will think that we are in abundance, and they will be even more frightened. At that time, when we retreat, it will be much safer, and we can even pick up some fallen enemies on the way..."
The result was as expected by Hu Weidong, the 18th Army of the National Army saw the Red 15th Army coming again, and from top to bottom, they were all afraid, even Huang Wei, who had been strongly advocating for war, was speechless. The 66th Regiment, which was a reinforced main force regiment, could not withstand the enemy's attack, let alone other troops. For a time, no one was willing to stay behind, and Luo Zhuoying had no choice but to accept the suggestion of He Qiongzhong, the commander of the 14th Division, to abandon all heavy equipment and retreat with light gear. This finally allowed them to "shake off" the pursuit of the Red 15th Army. Due to the previous rapid march, this time's big "retreat" made the soldiers of the 18th Army, who were known for their high military quality, suffer greatly, and many died from exhaustion, so that the 18th Army had to withdraw to the rear to rest and recover for several months before regaining its combat effectiveness.
When they saw the enemy, they retreated without a fight and left behind a large amount of supplies and even weapons and equipment. The entire Red 15th Army was impressed by Hu Weidong's tactics, including Tan Zhenlin, who had never been easily swayed, and from then on did not dare to show off his seniority in front of Hu Weidong again...
Although there were some unexpected gains, due to the interference of the 18th Army of the National Army, what could have been a basic annihilation of Liu Zhi's troops only became a general defeat, with a total of over 20,000 enemy casualties and more than 40,000 captured. Including the battle that eliminated Hu Zu's 66th Regiment, the Red 15th Army suffered more than 15,000 casualties. Although many of the captives could be converted, considering the heavy loss of core troops in the Red 15th Army, overall this battle did not gain a military advantage.
However, this battle set a precedent for the Red Army to defeat more than 100,000 troops of the National Army in a frontal battle, causing great psychological deterrence to the participating National Army units. Taking advantage of the enemy's withdrawal, Hu Weidong again boldly divided his forces and expanded, quickly capturing ten counties in Fujian, including Shaxian, Jiangle, Shaowu, Jianning, Taining, Jianyang, Pucheng, Guangze, Chongan, and Leichuan in Jiangxi, almost recovering the entire territory of the former Central Soviet Area (some counties were originally part of other soviet areas or white areas, such as Chongan County which was part of the Min-Zhe-Gan Soviet Area). The population under his control exceeded 3 million.
Note 1: Historically, when Taizu accepted Snow's interview, he said that the population of the Central Soviet Area was around 20 million, which should be an average value. The population at its peak period was 43.5 million according to official statistics. If we simply add up the population of each county in the Central Soviet Area at that time, it would exceed 60 million. This is probably because the plain areas of the marginal counties were not actually within the Soviet area...
