In June 1949, the Ma Jiajun cavalry assembled heavily and marched toward Xianyang where our army's defense force was weak. Ma Jiyuan's attitude was very arrogant. He wanted to capture Xianyang first, and then seize Xi'an in one fell swoop, severely damaging the 1st Field Army of led by Peng Dehuai, and seizing the "first success" of this southward march.
During this period, when the leading battalion of the enemy's 8th Cavalry Brigade approached a village, it unexpectedly encountered a fierce blockage by the People's Liberation Army. After the two sides fought, the Ma Jiajun cavalry battalion commander quickly judged the strength of the People's Liberation Army through the firepower situation, which was about a dozen people. The Ma's Army cavalry battalion commander, who escaped from the panic, was very surprised when he saw this, and shouted to his men: "Catch them alive."
The Ma's Army cavalry suddenly screamed and roared towards our army's position. This was their best method when attacking. Before, they didn't know how many positions they had destroyed and how many lives they had slaughtered in this way. But this time, their arrogant attitude quickly disappeared, because the cavalry battalion commander was surprised to find that his cavalry fell down one after another during the charge.
After several charges, few people could really break into the position guarded by more than a dozen people from the People's Liberation Army. Instead, they caused dozens of casualties. This unexpected situation made the cavalry battalion commander dare not stay any longer. He quickly sorted out the remaining soldiers and evacuated the place in a hurry.
In fact, the soldiers of this squad of the People's Liberation Army who blocked the Ma Jiajun cavalry also suffered heavy casualties in this battle. Although the enemy was outnumbered, we successfully repulsed the enemy's cavalry vanguard battalion. The price paid was that 38 people died heroically and 4 people were seriously injured. Fortunately, they were rescued by local villagers and were able to escape unscathed.
Why would a class with such strong combat effectiveness appear in this village? Knowing that there is a disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, why would the class prefer to die to stop the enemy? Speaking of this matter, they did have a reason why they could not avoid the enemy and retreat, which made their sacrifice even more tragic.
marches into Xi'an
In May 1949, with the victory of in the Battle of Central Shaanxi, the ancient city of Xi'an and the surrounding vast areas were liberated. While the local people were rejoicing, a major force entered the West Prefecture area. Peng Dehuai's plan was to continue marching to seize Longdong and move his troops into the Hexi Corridor.
Obviously, the People's Liberation Army is determined to win this time when it marches into the northwest. In order to smoothly clear out the remaining Kuomintang troops in the northwest, the Central Committee specially assigned the 18th and 19th Corps of the North China Field Force to one field, with Peng Dehuai commanding the operations.
After receiving the order, the 18th and 19th Corps immediately set off from Shanxi to Shaanxi. Their momentum was like a rainbow, which frightened the hearts of Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Zongnan, Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui and others.
At that time, Hu Zong's southern army was already a defeated remnant, The troops of Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui remained relatively intact and still had strong combat effectiveness. Moreover, when Ma Jiajun 's cavalry fought with the People's Liberation Army, they behaved much more confidently than Hu Zongnan, daring to fight on the battlefield, which has always caused a lot of trouble for our army.
After Hu Zongnan gave up Guanzhong , Chiang Kai-shek suddenly became anxious and hoped that Hu Zongnan, Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui could cooperate sincerely to rebuild a line of defense to resist Peng Dehuai's military front and hold on to the northwest. For this reason, Chiang Kai-shek can be said to have taken great pains . He not only wanted to use the strength of the "two horses" to prevent the People's Liberation Army from advancing westward, but he was also unwilling to see them become stronger after joining forces.
Chiang Kai-shek's wishful thinking was very clear. He attempted to appoint one person to be the military and political governor of the northwest, and the other to be the chairman of Gansu Province. No matter who Ma Bufang or Ma Hongkui took up which position, they would create a situation of mutual restraint and limit the depth of their cooperation.
Before the two forces had successfully united, Chiang Kai-shek began to figure out how to restrict the two from becoming bigger and stronger. The direct result was that the two were even more at odds, let alone working together to work for Chiang Kai-shek.
Seeing that Chiang Kai-shek was self-defeating, the situation in the northwest was in danger , Li Zongren, Yan Xishan had to stand up at this time, and invited the Ma family senior Ma Quanqin to be the peacemaker, and also arranged for the "two horses" to meet in Guangzhou.
The reason why the "two horses" agreed to join forces after this meeting was not because Li Zongren and Yan Xishan had great reputations, nor was it because they obeyed the advice of Ma Quanqin, the senior of the Ma family, but because the situation forced . Long before the liberation of Xi'an, Peng Dehuai had an accurate estimate of the situation in the northwest: "Before (Hu Zongnan) gave up Xi'an, Hu begged Ma; after giving up Xi'an, Ma begged Hu." The facts were just as Peng Dehuai expected. The reason why Hu Zongnan put up such a formation was that his attitude was very clear. He was ready to continue to lose the battle. At worst, he would withdraw into Sichuan via Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway , and then rely on the steep terrain of Sichuan to hold on.
In this way, Hu Zongnan, who originally asked the "two horses" to assist in the defense of Shaanxi when he was stationed in Xi'an, now took the initiative. Because with Hu Zongnan's withdrawal from Xi'an, Longdong and Xilan Highway were all exposed to the front of the People's Liberation Army. The home base of the "Er Ma" was greatly threatened, so that they had to beg Hu Zongnan to help them defend the People's Liberation Army.
Against this turbulent historical background, Hu Zongnan, Ma Bufang, and Ma Hongkui reluctantly got together because of competing interests or their own interests.
Hu Zongnan may still have the idea of "sitting on the sidelines", but when the "two horses" work together, they no longer have selfish motives, because they have long regarded their own territory as their own private property. What else can they do more carefully than protecting their own family wealth? In this case, Hu Zongnan suggested that the "two horses" should strive to counterattack Xi'an and regain control before the 18th and 19th Corps entered Shaanxi.
Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui were naturally overjoyed when they saw that Hu Zongnan was willing to join forces with them, and their operational efficiency also improved a lot. Ma Bufang organized the troops into the Longdong Corps, with his son Ma Jiyuan as the commander. Ma Hongkui organized the army into the Ningxia Corps and also made his son Ma Dunjing the commander. After the two groups of soldiers and horses joined together, they were unified under the command of Ma Jiyuan.
Ma Jiyuan led the Ma Jiajun cavalry to attack Xianyang in a menacing manner, threatening Xi'an. Ma Jiyuan's attitude was very arrogant and he kept shouting that he would go to Xi'an to eat dumplings. He also clamored that the Ma Jiajun cavalry could defeat the Red Army back then, and now it can still defeat Peng Dehuai. What the Communists fear most is their Ma Jiajun cavalry!
Ma Jiyuan was arrogant and did not take the People's Liberation Army into consideration. Naturally, this was extremely arrogant. But the cavalry of the Ma Jiajun did have something. It was also true that they defeated the Red Army in the Hexi Corridor. The Ma Jiajun cavalry are flexible, good at charging, and brave and good at fighting. Once the opponent's formation is broken down, it will no longer be able to organize an effective counterattack.
The threat of Ma Jiajun
The reason why Ma Jiajun cavalry is difficult to deal with has a lot to do with several special characteristics of Ma Jiajun. This is also the key to the huge threat that Ma Jiajun has posed to our army.
First, the cohesion of the Ma Jiajun is stronger than that of some Kuomintang troops . In fact, Ma Jiajun is a feudal army, and Ma Bufang is essentially a feudal warlord. Why can he survive? Just because the top leaders of the Ma Jiajun are all Ma family members, and they have a close blood relationship with each other. They are all prosperous and suffer losses, and their cohesion is much stronger than that of the Kuomintang troops who are driven by Chiang Kai-shek's interests.
Judging from the weapons and equipment of the Ma Jiajun, they are not very powerful. machete , horse rifle, and shell gun . This "three-piece suit" is very common among the Ma Jiajun. Being fully armed to this extent is already a high-quality equipment for the Ma Jiajun cavalry.Ma Jiajun cavalry often use machetes when attacking positions. The combat method at this time is actually no different from the ancient cavalry combat method in the cold weapon period.
So, why can , an almost "ancient" combat method, achieve repeated victories in an era when firearms and are already commonly used? Firstly, it is because the Ma Jiajun cavalry also has firearms and can mount and shoot at long distances; secondly, because these Ma Jiajun cavalry are very fierce in combat, fearless of death, and almost brutal, which brings blessings to the combat effectiveness.
Looking back at the Red Army that was defeated by the Ma Jiajun at that time, their cohesion and fearless spirit of sacrifice would definitely not be lost to people like the Ma Jiajun. The problem actually lies in the weapons and equipment. The Red Army at that time had very poor weapons and equipment. Many people did not have guns in their hands. They held either broadswords or long spears. Some people may not be able to get their hands on such weapons.
The Red Army is configured in this way, facing the Ma Jiajun cavalry equipped with a "three-piece suit" throughout the army. Although it can sporadically defeat the cavalry charging in the front row, such attack power is obviously unable to cause fundamental damage to the highly cohesive Ma Jiajun cavalry. Instead, it only It will stimulate their ferocious desire to fight. Naturally, the Red Army cannot resist the cavalry attack. After the formation is broken up, the results can be imagined;
Secondly, the horses and riders of the Ma Jiajun cavalry are very good. Qinghai Province was famous for its barren land and poor people at the time. But Qinghai Province is rich in two things, one is gold and the other is horses. After Ma Bufang mastered these two things, he naturally had the foundation for building a strong cavalry team.
The most important thing is that the people living in Qinghai are good at riding and shooting, and can gallop on the battlefield with a little training. Coupled with the large number of excellent horses, the cavalry team quickly formed a large scale.
How rich are the horse resources in Ma Bufang’s hands? Even the infantry units of the Ma Jiajun are equipped with horses. Although the infantry units do not ride horses during combat, they can ride horses throughout the march, providing the Ma Jiajun infantry units with extremely high mobility.
This caused a special situation. When our army fought against the Ma Jiajun, won and could not expand the results because the Ma Jiajun had high mobility and fled quickly and could not catch up; failed but could not quickly leave the battlefield because the Ma Jiajun's pursuit speed was higher than our army and could not get rid of it.
Based on the above two points, the Ma Jiajun cavalry is a very powerful existence, which is also the reason why Ma Jiyuan is arrogant and domineering. But is it true that Ma Jiyuan said that the People's Liberation Army is most afraid of the Ma's cavalry? This was obviously Ma Jiyuan's bragging. Although the Red Army lost for a while that year, it was mainly due to poor weapons and equipment. The fight between the two was at best a back-and-forth.
In fact, Peng Dehuai had fought against the Ma Jiajun before and had a good understanding of the situation of the Ma Jiajun cavalry. The reason why the author said that Ma Jiyuan was bragging is because Peng Dehuai had defeated the Ma Jiajun cavalry more than 20 years ago in this battle, and won the praise of Chairman Mao who called him "Whoever dares to stand with a sword, I am General Peng." .
In 1935, when Chairman Mao and Peng Dehuai led their troops to a small village in Diebu County, Su Province, the troops were exhausted after long-term fighting and marching, and their number was only about 7,000. It was a time when their combat effectiveness was weak. Based on the status of this team, Chiang Kai-shek sent two cavalrymen, Ma Hongkui and He Zhuguo, to launch an attack in an attempt to annihilate the Shaanxi-Gansu detachment in one fell swoop.
The terrain in the northwest region requires cavalry to charge, and our soldiers are in a weak state. It is really difficult to resist the enemy's cavalry. The Shaanxi-Gansu detachment encountered an unprecedented crisis. In response, Chairman Mao quickly gave instructions to move the troops to Wuqi Town, a mountainous area, where Peng Dehuai organized an ambush.
The Ma's cavalry was very cunning and did not fall into the ambush of our army. Peng Dehuai made a decisive decision and decided to attack the Ma's camp that night and led the Red Army to victory. The Ma's army fled.
The advance regiment of the 7th Cavalry Division of the Northeast Army was not so lucky. They broke into our army's ambush and were severely beaten by our army.After this battle, we killed and wounded more than 600 enemies, captured more than 700 enemies, and captured about 1,000 horses. The most important thing is that this battle forced back the Ma Jiajun cavalry and brought the Red Army out of crisis.
Chairman Mao learned that Peng Dehuai still achieved victory under such unfavorable circumstances, and he admired Peng Dehuai very much. From then on, the title of "General Peng" became famous far and wide. This was the only one among all the founding generals.
Therefore, the Ma Jiajun is not invincible. As long as the tactics are appropriate, even a team weaker than the Ma Jiajun can still win, not to mention the PLA team whose weapons and equipment are completely different from those of the Red Army. Of course, if the response method is not appropriate, facing the charge of tens of thousands of Ma Jiajun cavalry, it is possible to suffer any defeat.
Three lines of defense
When Ma Jiyuan led tens of thousands of Ma Jiajun troops to advance into Xianyang, Peng Dehuai immediately attracted great attention. He had fought against Ma Jiajun before, and with a mixed record, Peng Dehuai seemed confident in this battle. But Peng Dehuai faced a major problem at that time, which was insufficient troops.
If the Ma Jiajun cavalry were to be dealt with originally, one field of the original troops would be enough. However, due to the fact that Hu Zong was watching from the side, Peng Dehuai did not dare to take risks. In the event that our army and the Ma Jiajun cavalry failed to quickly determine the outcome in a fierce battle, an anxious situation was formed. Hu Zongnan took advantage of the situation and pounced on him. If the main forces of the 18th and 19th Corps failed to arrive in time, danger would arise.
Moreover, it is almost unrealistic to quickly determine the outcome of a battle with a highly mobile force such as the Ma Jiajun cavalry, which further increases the risk of rushing into battle. Therefore, Peng Dehuai did not choose to fight with the Ma Jiajun cavalry with a field of original troops, but chose a safer method, waiting for the main forces of the 18th and 19th Corps to be in place, and then concentrated the superior forces to completely annihilate the enemy.
After Peng Dehuai gave up his original plan to stop the Hu and annihilate the horses, he issued emergency march orders to the 18th and 19th Corps and rushed to the Xi'an area at night. These two corps originally belonged to Huaye. Not only did they have nearly 200,000 troops, they were also powerful forces created by Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian. During the battle against Yan Xishan in Shanxi, the 18th Corps showed extremely strong combat effectiveness, which was one of the reasons for Yan Xishan's rapid defeat.
After these two corps are in place, it will be difficult for Hu Zongnan and the "Er Ma" to achieve anything. They themselves know this very well.. Therefore, they were eager to march into Xi'an, hoping to recapture Xi'an before the two corps arrived, use Xi'an as a foothold, and then form a confrontation with the People's Liberation Army to achieve the purpose of the People's Liberation Army continuing to advance westward.
The idea of Hu Zongnan and the "Er Ma" is indeed good. Although these two corps are strong, it will indeed take some time to enter the Xi'an area. But what they didn't expect was that during the day and night march, the 61st Army, the vanguard of the 18th Corps, rushed to the Xi'an area. Commander Wei Jie didn't even bother to rest, and went to the headquarters overnight to find Peng Dehuai to take over the task.
After being supplemented by the troops of the 61st Army, the troops available to Peng Dehuai were no longer so stretched. He immediately ordered Army Commander Wei Jie to send the 181st Division to Xianyang to build strong fortifications there to block the Ma Jiajun's advance and buy time for the follow-up troops to arrive. Before leaving, Peng Dehuai also gave special instructions and spoke out without reservation some of his experiences and insights into fighting the Ma Jiajun cavalry.
The predecessor of this 181st Division was the famous "Leather Brigade". It has strong combat effectiveness and a tradition of excellent combat. It can fight hard and win battles. This is also an important reason why the 181st Division was sent to Xianyang, which was empty of defensive power, to block the powerful Ma Jiajun cavalry.
After the 181st Division arrived in Xianyang, it first held a grand entrance ceremony to give the panicked residents of Xianyang City a "reassurance pill." After appeasing the people, they immediately began to build fortifications, extend their troops outside the city, control some important commanding heights, and spread scouts out to scout the movements of the Ma's cavalry.
It was during this period that when Wang Qingshan, the reconnaissance staff officer of the 181st Division, led the reconnaissance squad to go out on a reconnaissance mission, he unexpectedly encountered the vanguard battalion of the Ma Jiajun cavalry.. In fact, the enemy Wang Qingshan discovered first had the opportunity to lead the soldiers to evacuate, but they did not choose to do so.
Instead, after one soldier was arranged to go back and report the news, the rest decided to stay and stop the enemy. Otherwise, when the 181st Division's foothold was not stable, if it rushed to fight, it might be at a disadvantage. What's more, this is just the enemy's vanguard battalion, and I don't know how many troops are following behind. If we let it pass hastily, it may pose a threat to Xianyang's defense.
Afterwards, Wang Qingshan led the reconnaissance squad to complete the blocking mission, but he himself also died heroically in this battle, buying sufficient preparation time for the 181st Division that had just entered the position. After the war, this reconnaissance team recorded collective merit and recognized reconnaissance staff martyr Wang Qingshan as a combat hero.
Although the soldiers of the reconnaissance squadron led by Wang Qingshan were brave, how could they complete the blockade of the Ma Jiajun cavalry vanguard battalion with the strength of one squad? The reason lies in an order issued by Peng Dehuai. Peng Dehuai ordered the 61st Army to transfer all the heavy machine guns to the 181st Division , preparing to form a firepower network with heavy machine guns to face the Ma Jiajun cavalry head-on.
Peng Dehuai had already figured out the strategy for dealing with the Ma Jiajun. The reason why they were able to charge with horses to destroy our army's positions was mainly because of their excellent mounts. Although I knew this before, due to the limitation of firepower, I could not kill a large number of cavalry and horses, which led to the final failure. If a powerful firepower network could be woven, the Ma Jiajun cavalry's cold weapon era tactics would be nothing more than a living target.
In addition to heavy machine guns, the 181st Division also seized a large number of American-made automatic weapons during the liberation of Taiyuan. In order to cope with the upcoming charge of the Ma Jiajun cavalry, all these weapons were transferred to the forward positions. When the Ma Jiajun cavalry launched a charge as usual, our soldiers used these American-made automatic weapons to hit the enemy head-on.
The Ma Jiajun cavalry, which had repeatedly won by charging in the past, was defeated this time. The cavalry horses charging at the front were shot and fell to the ground, which affected the cavalry who charged later, and the formation was suddenly in chaos. Although they were tough, one group fell down and another group continued to charge forward, but the charging speed could not withstand the firing speed of American automatic weapons, making them feel more fearful than ever before.
Excellent war horses began to disobey commands in the face of death. Some war horses even lost the courage to cross the trenches and kept wandering in front of the trenches, and were shot dead by our army. The Ma Jiajun cavalry who lost their horses were like tigers without teeth, and had no choice but to retreat after being injured.
The defeat on the first day of the battle embarrassed Ma Jiyuan, who had previously boasted brazenly about going to Xi'an to eat dumplings, and decided to attack Xianyang at all costs the next day. That night, the 181st Division deployed three lines of defense. The first line of defense was composed of strong soldiers who were good at close combat.
They were holding a batch of Japanese swords captured during the liberation of Taiyuan. This kind of Japanese swords were not only sharp, but also longer than the sabers of the Ma Jiajun cavalry. As the saying goes, "an inch longer is an inch stronger." It is this length advantage that allows our soldiers to have an advantage when fighting with the enemy.
submachine guns and carbines are distributed on the second front, thus forming a first fire network that can kill enemy cavalry horses and create favorable melee conditions for the soldiers on the first line of defense. Moreover, they have previously trained tactics. When fighting in hand-to-hand combat, the front-line soldiers will adopt a prone position and cooperate with the second line of defense to cause damage to enemies who cannot react quickly.
As for the third line of defense, Peng Dehuai specially ordered the mobilization of heavy machine guns from the 181st Division. Why does place the most powerful heavy machine gun as the last line of defense? In fact, this is related to the level of the formation.
The first line of defense and the second line of defense already have good coordination. The third line of defense must be connected with the first two lines of defense to form a firepower network that supports each other. Otherwise, the role of the three lines of defense will be lost if they fight independently. Heavy machine guns not only have strong firepower, they can also be slightly raised when shooting, increasing range and lethality.
On the second day, when the Ma Jiajun cavalry charged towards the 181st Division position with the order to overwhelm Xianyang at all costs, the Ma Jiajun cavalry, which had been invincible before, was defeated. In front of the three lines of defense of the 181st Division equipped with heavy machine guns, the charging cavalry fell to the ground like living targets, and the cloud of a tragic defeat suddenly hung over Ma's army.
The 181st Division won a complete victory in this Xianyang blockade , killing and wounding more than 2,000 enemies, and also captured 29 enemies alive. The shadow that the Ma Jiajun was not easy to defeat disappeared from the hearts of the soldiers. In this battle, the reputation of the sturdy Ma Jiajun cavalry was discredited, and Ma Jiyuan's boasting became a laughing stock. In the subsequent war, the role of the Ma Jiajun cavalry was suddenly reduced, and it was difficult for to win another victory from our army.
