In June 1947, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping led the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan PLA 120,000 people, forcibly broke through the Yellow River and the Heavenly Champa, and leaped into the Dabie Mountains, opening the prelude to the strategic offensive of the Liberation War.
Dabie Mountain Base , which was once the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base established by the Red Fourth Front Army , and is an old revolutionary base. This place can directly threaten the Kuomintang's defense line of the Yangtze River and the security of Wuhan and Nanjing. Therefore, for the Chiang Kai-shek, the existence of Liu and Deng's army has become his confidant.
Among Liu and Deng’s army, many of them are veteran soldiers of the Fourth Red Front Army and Red 25 Army , such as Chen Zaidao, Wang Jinshan, Fan Chaoli, Liu Huaqing, etc. They left the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area more than ten years ago. Today, they returned to Dabie Mountains and went home, and they were even more excited.
However, the good times did not last long. As time went by, the excitement and enthusiasm of the comrades gradually disappeared, and what awaited them was unexpected hardship.
After our army entered the Dabie Mountains, we thought that the people in the old district would come out to welcome and help us. Unexpectedly, as soon as our army arrived, the masses either hid or hid, and the guide could not find it, and food and accommodation became a problem. The comrades were puzzled why the people who were once a family with us became so indifferent.
First Column cadres once recalled:
"The people dare not approach us. From the first day, for a full month, wherever we went, there was no one, and the village was lying quietly. We could not find a guide during the marching day and night. As long as two people were together, we would shun each other and not know the way. For the first time in ten years, we tried to fight. What is the pain of the masses. What is the smell of clearing the wilderness of the Japanese and the Kuomintang in the old base areas and empty rooms? "
For our army, the troops are fish, so the people are water, and fish cannot do without water. Our army's food, clothing, wounded, and investigation work all depends on the help of the masses. Without the help of the masses, our army will go hungry, become blind, and become deaf. For our army, the people's dissatisfaction is more deadly than the enemy's encirclement and suppression.
Why did the people of Dabie Mountain hide from our army? Why is our army so difficult in the old revolutionary base area? The reason for this starts with the Soviet Massacre that year.
From November 1927 to early 1938, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area experienced five large-scale "encirclement and suppression" by the Kuomintang and two barbaric massacres. In addition to large-scale encirclement and massacre, they killed innocent people indiscriminately and slaughtered the Dabie Mountains with the vicious slogan "If there are people, there will be bandits, and all the people will be bandits."
Under the cruel massacre, young and middle-aged men are rare. Most of the villages are elderly and women, and many ordinary people hide in the mountains and bays. At the same time, the Kuomintang also established a strict baojia system in the local area and implemented white terror. In order to erase the red memory of the people, even the name of the Soviet area was changed, and it was named after the Kuomintang generals Liu Zhi and Wei Lihuang who swept the Soviet area at that time. For example, Xindianji was renamed Jingfu County (Liu Zhi's name), and Jinzhai was renamed Lihuang County.
In order to kill the people, the Kuomintang regime established "Qingxiang Committee" and "Qingxiang League " in various counties and townships in Hubei, Henan and Anhui regions to consolidate their rule in the local area. These "Clearing Township Committees" and "Clearing Township Groups" are mainly composed of local gentry and landlords who were impacted by the forces of workers and peasants during the Great Revolution. In simple terms, it is " Returning Home ".
This group of "returning home groups" has a deep hatred for the people's army and the revolutionary masses. As locals, the Return Group is familiar with the local local conditions and people's conditions. They can arbitrarily identify the so-called "Communist bandits" without being interrogated or given confession. Without any evidence, they can execute the military and civilians of the Soviet area at will based on the conjectures like "looking like a bad person". It is precisely this kind of random killing that many places in the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet areas have seen horrific "dead ditch", "no man's land" and "million-pet pits". Large-scale massacres have left corpses everywhere in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border areas.
After repeated bloodbathing and political brainwashing, the people were afraid of being killed by the reactionaries and dared not support the People's Army anymore. I am afraid that once the People's Army is transferred again, they will encounter the most cruel revenge of the enemy.
Therefore, in the Dabie Mountains, Liu and Deng's army entered the most dangerous period. The Guangxi warlord, as the Minister of National Defense, personally took action and established multiple blockade lines to surround the Dabie Mountains.
The insidious and cunning Bai Chongxi knew very well that Liu and Deng's army was good at ambushing wars. If they sent their army to enter the Dabie Mountains rashly, they would probably be ambushed. Therefore, he decided to make a breakthrough from the inside, that is, to use the "Clear Township Committee" and the "Clear Township Group" to organize the landlords, township security chiefs and revolutionary traitors to form the so-called "small security team".
Although the Xiaobao team is a miscellaneous militia, it is widely distributed. The members are all locals, familiar with the terrain and the entire set of guerrilla tactics of our army. They were wearing shabby clothes like ordinary people, hiding among the masses, and eating and living in the village. Judging from their appearance, they could not tell that they were "little protection team". The People's Liberation Army is in the open, and the "Xiaobao Team" is in the dark, which makes people unable to defend themselves.
When there are many people in the People's Liberation Army, the Xiaobao Team will hide from you. When there are fewer people, they will come out to mess with you. They will catch our people. They will generally not survive, and their methods are still cruel.
Old soldier Yang Jinhua once recalled:
"When marching in the Dabie Mountains, the soldiers are most afraid of falling behind. Dabie Mountains are all mountain roads, with many turns and many grass and trees. If you fall behind for two or three hundred meters, you may be caught and killed by the Xiaobao team. There is a soldier in our regiment who fell behind for about 400 meters and was pulled into the woods by them. We only heard him screaming, and when we rush back, the people have been killed."
Not only that, Xiaobao team also extended his vicious hand to the wounded of our army. According to our army's convention, the wounded are usually sent to the homes of fellow villagers. However, as soon as our army's large army left, the small security team lurking in the village would jump out, search for the wounded people of our army house by house, and then kill them.
Therefore, soldiers generally have two fears: one is afraid of being injured and getting sick, and the other is afraid of falling behind. They would rather die in battle than be caught by Xiaobao team. Their methods are too cruel.
In addition to massacring our soldiers, Xiaobao team also secretly threatened the masses, making them afraid to cooperate with our army, dare not serve as guides for our army, provide us with accommodation, and dare not provide us with food. Making our mass work impossible to implement. Deng Xiaoping once told a story like this:
"There is a place where a small security team leader is to hold a public trial meeting for the masses. The masses do not agree with it and are afraid of the bandits' revenge. The opinions of the masses, let our government issue an announcement and shoot him. But our comrades kept thinking that such a bandit leader should be tried publicly and let the masses vent their anger. So they held a meeting for the masses and found the complainant. After a lot of effort, they found more than 20 people. After the conference, the bandit leader was in Taiwan The crowd was very scared. After finally urging two people to go up, an old man said, "You took my cow away." An old lady said, "You killed my son." The others said, "You killed my son." The others said, "No one dared to be tried in public trial. He had to shoot him. That night, the old lady's family was killed..."
Therefore, our army's work could not progress at all. In order to organize grassroots work, our army established a "poor group". But soon after, many members of the "poor group" were pulled to kill by the Xiaobao team. Later on, we didn’t dare to disclose the members of the “poor group”.
There was even one time when even the leader Deng Xiaoping almost came into danger.
At that time, Deng Xiaoping was taking the guards for a walk, and a shuttle suddenly came from the woods and flew over Deng Xiaoping's head. Fortunately, the guards were quick-eyed and quick-witted, and fought back, which avoided this major accident. Recalling the recent incidents of the Xiaobao team sneak attacking our military and political personnel, Deng Xiaoping speculated that this must be the Xiaobao team's activity.
Under the internal and external invasion of the Kuomintang, our work in the Dabie Mountains is difficult.The newly established Dabie Mountains base was severely damaged, and more than 30 liberated towns successively fell into the hands of the enemy, and the food and ammunition supply was in a desperate situation. Some old soldiers from the Second Field Army recalled that the situation at that time was even more painful than the Long March 2 and the Western Expedition.
The troops can raise less and less food, mostly dried fruits and dried vegetable leaves, and they can only raise them to eat them one day. The soldiers in the direct team also did not receive a grain of food for five or six days, and all ate leaves and drank wild vegetable soup. Two of them were hungry yesterday, and two of them were hungry today. Like the soldiers, Deng Xiaoping was not allowed to be full for several days. There is no oil and salt in half a month, and the rice in the big pot is broken, and I can still hold on, but if the rice in the small pot is broken, I will have to suffer even more.
When leaping into the Dabie Mountains for thousands of miles, Liu and Deng's army still had 120,000 troops. However, after a fierce battle, Liu and Deng's army had reduced their troops to more than 60,000. In order to facilitate operation, our army buried dozens of cannons on the spot. However, all this could not be hidden from the Xiaobao team's eyes, and they quickly led the Kuomintang to dig out all these equipment. The loss of heavy equipment led to the attack ability of Liu and Deng's army greatly damaged.
Deng Xiaoping deeply realized that in order to gain a foothold in Dabie Mountains, it is not enough to just deal with the regular Kuomintang troops. We must control the grassroots and eliminate all local bandits and bullies. Therefore, Deng Xiaoping ordered the Sixth Column to eliminate the bandits within a radius of hundreds of miles as soon as possible.
According to the investigation, the bandits in the Dabie Mountains are mainly concentrated in malls and Macheng , and the prosperous Songbu is the bandits' nest. After our army entered the Dabie Mountains, many landlords, bandits and bullies fled to Songbu. Their "small protection team" brought by them had more than 2,400 people, which made the surrounding area uneasy.
On December 3, 1947, Deng Xiaoping learned that the enemy's 85th Division moved westward and Songbu was empty. So he immediately instructed the Sixth Column to occupy it as soon as possible and eliminate the local small security team. Du Yide, the political commissar of the Sixth Column, immediately ordered Xiao Yongyin to lead the 49th Regiment of the 18th Brigade and the 17th Brigade to Songbu, and repeatedly instructed:
"These small security teams are the most abominable. Don't arrest one person, but kill them with one's might."
After Xiao Yongyin received the order, he immediately led the troops to march overnight and quietly wrapped Songbu up three layers inside and three layers outside. At that time, there were only low village walls around Songbu, so it was quite easy to capture this place. However, the night was dark and the wind was high, and bandits could easily escape in the chaos, so Xiao Yongyin decided to launch an attack until dawn.
Just as dawned, Xiao Yongyin launched an attack. Our army first used artillery to collapse the village wall, and then the whole army entered. After a brief battle, the defenders were vulnerable and quickly put down their weapons. Xiao Yongyin immediately counted the prisoners and corpses, and found that only more than 200 people had been eliminated, and more than 2,000 people were missing.
As mentioned in the previous article, Xiaobao team was wearing clothes similar to ordinary people and said similar words, which was difficult to identify. Obviously, this group of bandits has been hidden among the masses. Xiao Yongyin swore that he would dig them out even if he digs three feet into the ground.
So Xiao Yongyin found three regiment leaders, put the map of the city, and ordered:
"Guard the city gate, no one is allowed to leave the city. Men aged 15 to 50 will be arrested when they see it, and they will be detained."
Someone was worried, "Will this catch the wrong person and violate the discipline of the masses?"
"If you ask you to catch it, I will hold on to it if there is any problem."
In this way, more than 10,000 adult male citizens in Songbu were taken out by the 18th Brigade, and only the elderly, women and children were left in the city. Then the political workers of the 18th Brigade registered their house number, number of people in their families, names, and ages from door to door; and the men gathered by the 18th Brigade also registered one by one according to the same method.
The next day, the population registration was over, and the two rosters came out to compare. Anyone who could match the number will be taken away by his family; those who could not match the number will naturally be bandits. It was exactly two thousand people who counted it.
news reached Yeshi, and Deng Xiaoping laughed and said, "What a good Xiao Yongyin, he has a good idea. He has brought the old nest of bandits in Macheng at once."
At this moment, Xiao Yongyin's telegram came: "How should these bandits deal with?" This question actually stumped Deng Xiaoping.
If you are an ordinary Kuomintang soldier, according to the regulations of our army, you will either be incorporated into our army or you will be paid for travel expenses and will be released directly. However, these bandits cannot be incorporated or let them go. Because they are all local bandits and bullies, they do everything they want and their nature is difficult to change. Once they are incorporated into the army, they can do anything.
If you let them go, it is equivalent to letting the tiger return to the mountain, and there will be endless troubles. These people have a deep hatred with our army and the revolutionary masses. If you let it go, you will definitely become a bandit again and become an enemy of me. Besides, they were cleaned up and hated the people of Songbu to the core. If they turned around, they would definitely take revenge, and the people would suffer.
After repeated consideration, Deng Xiaoping generated power: "Kill the bandits above the rank."
However, there were only more than 100 people in the rank above the rank, and killing them still couldn't solve the problem. Deng Xiaoping finally decided to deal with special circumstances and took up his pen and drew a circle under the word "kill". In the end, more than 2,000 "Xiaobao Teams" were taken to the wild and all executed.
Songbu eliminated more than 2,000 small security teams, and was praised by Chief Liu Deng. The telegram said:
"You took the initiative to wipe out the Macheng County Magistrate and the Security Brigade on December 3, which is not less important than annihilation of an enemy brigade. Special rewards and merits will be awarded once."
Li Desheng later recalled: "Eliminating the enemy in Songbu played a great role in turning the situation around. Some of them finally understood that the regular army of the Kuomintang was temporarily transferred to sweep and could not stay for a long time. If you are an enemy with the Communist Party , which has already established a regime in the local area, it will be eradicated sooner or later. The Battle of Songbu has the effect of killing one to warn a hundred, and it is better to leave a way out."
After the Battle of Songbu, the Kuomintang's grassroots forces in the Dabie Mountains suffered a devastating blow. Many bandits and Xiaobao teams who have done bad things have surrendered themselves to the people's government, expressing their willingness to reform themselves.
Xiao Yongyin later sighed: "In the war environment, sometimes harsh measures must be taken. At least we cannot bring thousands of bandits to war."
As the saying goes, the thunder means show the heart of the Bodhisattva. Revolution is not a treat to a meal, but a cruel struggle. Deng Xiaoping was extremely determined and grasped the principle that he must use heavy punishments in troubled times, so as to stop killing and make reactionary forces surrender to the people.
After the Xiaobao team was hit hard, our army officially gained a firm foothold in Dabie Mountains. Deng Xiaoping personally took action and focused on the construction of the base area, which opened up a new situation in the Dabie Mountain base area. With the internal and external cooperation of the three armies of Liu Deng, Chen Su and Chen Xie, 90 enemy brigades were attracted to the Central Plains battlefield. To this end, the Central Military Commission ordered Deng Xiaoping to lead the main force out of the Dabie Mountains, unify the command of the three armies on the southern front, set up a large battlefield in the Central Plains, and compete with Chiang's army in the Central Plains.
Deng Xiaoping led the front command post north and met with Liu Bocheng. Crossing Huaihe , Deng Xiaoping looked at the Dabie Mountains behind him affectionately: "We are still the Dabie Mountain Corps." After a long time, he stroked the crutch in his hand and said to the guard behind him: "No need for this. From now on, we will make great strides, and the Chinese revolution will make great strides from now on."
