text/Wang Guodong
This battle is the second only to the Battle of Menglianggu in the War of Liberation. With more than 100,000 main forces, the Kuomintang defense forces, mainly composed of the Kuomintang's reorganized 66th Division, surrounded a narrow area of dozens of miles. Without understanding the enemy situation, the Second and Third Columns hurriedly ordered the troops to attack Yangshanji, where the enemy command was located. There were heavy casualties and were scolded by Commander Liu Bocheng who rushed to the front line! Later, after adjustment, the field army finally captured Yangshanji after more than half a month of fierce battle and captured the enemy's commander of the 66th Division, Song Ruike . Faced with huge casualties, the People's Liberation Army soldiers yelled at Song Ruike angrily: "Are you Song Ruike? I'll kill you!" In the entire Yangshanji Campaign, the Central Plains Field Army achieved the result of annihilation of more than 50,000 enemies and capturing 43,000 enemies at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties. It was a tragic victory. Many years later, General Chen Zaidao, the former commander of the Second Column who personally participated in the Yangshanji Campaign, recalled: "The battle of Yangshanji is the hardest battle we fought! The most soldiers were killed!"
Song Ruike, from Qingdao, Shandong Province, was born in 1908 and was admitted to the third phase of the Infantry Department of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1925. After graduation, he participated in two Eastern Expeditions and Northern Expeditions, performed well, and was promoted to major staff officer of the 11th Division.
was promoted to colonel of the army in 1935 and served as the commander of the 42nd Brigade of the 14th Division of the 18th Army.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was promoted to commander of the 199th Division and led his troops to participate in the Battle of Yichang. Song Ruike commanded his troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese army for more than ten days, and more than 3,000 officers and soldiers of the division were injured and killed. It was not until the newly formed 51st Division arrived to take over the defense and retreated from the battlefield.
1943, Song Ruike, who was promoted to deputy commander of the 66th Army (Captain Fang Jing), led his troops to participate in the Western Hubei Battle . In this battle, the Chinese army successfully stopped the crazy attack of 150,000 Japanese divisions with 10 main forces and 300,000 people, and won the battle of western Hubei. In the same year, the 66th Army participated in the Battle of Changde. After the Japanese army retreated, Song Ruike was promoted to Lieutenant General of the 66th Army.
In 1946, the 66th Army was reorganized into the 66th Division, and Song Ruike served as the commander of the lieutenant general. The following year, the reorganized 66th Division was transferred to command of the 4th Corps Commander Wang Zhonglian and went to Shandong to participate in the battle against (Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping).
On June 30, 1947, it broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River and headed towards the hinterland of Henan. Wang Zhonglian, commander of the 4th Corps of the Kuomintang, ordered Song Ruike's reorganized 66th Division to reinforce southwestern Shandong to defend the strategic location of Yangshanji. After Song Ruike arrived at Yangshanji, he commanded his troops to build fortifications, store food and ammunition, and prepare to resist the attack of the People's Liberation Army.
On July 13 of the same year, under the command of Chief Liu Deng, he broke through the long snake formation of the Kuomintang defense force in one fell swoop and annihilated three enemy divisions. The remaining enemy troops fled into Yangshanji and used their strong fortifications to resist stubbornly. At this time, in addition to his reorganized 66th Division, Song Ruike, commander of Yangshanji, also had some miscellaneous troops, with a total strength of more than 50,000.
On the afternoon of July 14, Chen Zaidao and Chen Xilian of the Second Column outside Yangshanji immediately ordered an attack on Yangshanji after a brief discussion. As a result, the two victorious generals encountered a big nail in Yangshanji. The firepower coverage of the strong fortifications controlled by Song Ruike reached 1 kilometer outside the position. Before the PLA could approach the enemy's position, the PLA soldiers were swallowed by the dense firepower net. In less than an hour of attack, there were thousands of casualties. Commander Liu Bocheng, who rushed to the front line command post, cursed Erchen bloodily and instructed them to re-investigate the enemy situation before attacking.
July 15, after adjustment, the People's Liberation Army's offensive troops made smooth progress and took down several fortifications outside Yangshanji. And the next day, the strategic intention of an enemy regiment to break through and escape was shattered. But unexpected situations occurred. The enemy commander Song Ruike actually organized suicide squads to attack the besieged People's Liberation Army. This unexpected tactic caught the frontline officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army off guard and suffered heavy losses. What's even more terrible is that Chiang Kai-shek personally flew to Kaifeng and commanded the powerful forces of 8 reorganized divisions to advance towards Yangshanji. If Yangshanji is not taken down quickly, there will be a danger of being attacked from both sides. The situation at that time was that more than 100,000 surrounded more than 50,000 Kuomintang troops in Yangshanji, and Chiang Kai-shek commanded nearly 200,000 troops to carry out counter-encirclement on the periphery, hoping to attack inside and outside.In order to fight the battle between Yangshanji, Chairman Mao, who was far away in the northwest, ordered that a unit of the East China Field Army and the Chen Xie Corps (Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi) be assigned to Liu and Deng to command, and the battle must be decided quickly to revitalize the entire Liberation War.
Faced with the severe situation, Chief Liu Deng organized the commanders of each column to hold a meeting to mobilize before the war. Deng Xiaoping said firmly: "The troops attacking Yangshan cannot retreat!" Encourage the soldiers and said: "We cannot put down our chopsticks from the fat meat sent by Chiang Kai-shek!"
July 26, the most dangerous moment came. Due to a heavy rain in Yangshan Gas on July 25, the time for launching the general attack was delayed. Chiang Kai-shek also smelled the danger and ordered Wang Zhonglian, the commander of the 4th Corps, to arrive at Yangshanji within one day, otherwise military law would be carried out. There is not much time left.
00000 6:30 am on July 27, the weather was clear, and Chief Liu Deng issued a general attack order against Yangshanji. This time, due to sufficient preparation and superior force, after heavy artillery carried out a carpet bombing of the enemy's positions, the PLA officers and soldiers rushed forward and rushed towards the enemy's positions in full swing. The remaining enemy troops also used solid fortifications to shoot wildly at the PLA officers and soldiers. Both sides were fighting crazy. The 3rd Battalion of the 19th Regiment of the 7th Brigade, which served as the commando, had more than half of the casualties when the two strengthening companies rushed to 50 meters from the enemy's position. But even so, the PLA officers and soldiers did not shake the determination to take down Yangshanji. By Foxiao on the 28th, the People's Liberation Army soldiers had captured Yangshanji and occupied most of the town. The enemy commander-in-chief Song Ruike refused to surrender, and led the remaining three guard companies to huddle in a large yard in the northeast corner of Yangshanji to resist stubbornly. However, facing the crowded PLA officers and soldiers, these defeated generals had lost confidence in resistance and surrendered one after another. Song Ruike sent Chiang Kai-shek a final telegram, preparing to commit suicide by swallowing sleeping pills, but was held back by his confidants. He had to walk out of the house and surrender to the PLA officers and soldiers. The enemy commander on the opposite side, who caused countless casualties and injuries to his comrades, the PLA officers and soldiers shouted angrily: "Are you Song Ruike? I've killed you."
The entire Yangshanji battle achieved the result of annihilation of more than 50,000 enemy troops and 43,000 captured the enemy at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties, which was a tragic victory. According to the recollections of the surviving veterans, because there were too many casualties on the battlefield and heavy rain, blood mixed with rainwater gathered into red streams. In addition, the corpses overlapped and piled up on the positions, it is not an exaggeration to call it a mountain of corpses and sea of blood. Song Ruike said in his later memoirs: "Because I resisted for half a month, both sides suffered great losses, causing heavy losses to the people of Yangshanji, delaying the time when Liu and Deng's army marched into the Dabie Mountains, causing serious losses to the people of the country. Today, when I recall it, I must confess my guilt and repent!"
After Song Ruike was captured, he was imprisoned in the Beijing War Criminals Management Office for labor reform. On November 28, 1960, he was pardoned by the Supreme People's Court.
In 1984, he served as director of the Huangpu Alumni Association and president of the Shanghai Huangpu Military Academy Alumni Association.
died in 1995 at the age of 87.
(Note: The data listed in this article does not simply refer to the real casualties data of Yangshanji's Battle, but also includes battlefield statistics related to the Southwest Shandong Battle. If there are any errors, the official data will be subject to)
