Duan Qirui/Military

Introduction

The Zhi-Wan War

In July 1920 (the ninth year of the Republic of China), the Beiyang warlord Zhi The war between the Anhui and Anhui cliques in the vast area from Beijing to Tianjin and from Beijing to Baoding was fought for control of the Communist Party of Beijing.

After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, the command of the Beiyang Army was inherited by Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, and gradually formed two opposing military armies: the Anhui clique headed by Duan Qirui and the Zhili clique headed by Feng Guozhang. At the same time, Zhang Zuolin, the governor of Fengtian Province (now Liaoning Province), gradually took control of the three northeastern provinces and formed the Fengtian Clique. After the May Fourth Movement broke out, the Anhui clique, which had long controlled the Communist Party, became the target of public criticism, and the conflicts within the Beiyang warlords became more acute. In December 1919, after Feng Guozhang died, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu succeeded him as the direct leaders. At that time, the "Shanghai Peace Conference" where the north and the south negotiated peace had collapsed, but President Xu Shichang and Prime Minister Qian Nengxun of the Beijing Communist Party cooperated with the Zhili clique and advocated the realization of "peaceful reunification." On the one hand, they secretly made peace directly with the powerful factions in the south (the Yunnan and Guangxi factions), but on the other hand, they publicly proposed to resume the "Shanghai Peace Conference." However, Duan Qirui, who controls the actual power of the Beijing Communist Party, opposes peace negotiations and advocates unification by force. As a result, there was a conflict with Xu Shichang. During this period, Wu Peifu of the Zhili clique used diplomatic and political issues to launch more violent attacks on the Anhui clique and the Anfu clique. In order to promote the internal division of the Beiyang faction, the southwestern warlords also adopted the strategy of "union to control Anhui"; at the same time, Cao Kun and Zhang Zuolin joined hands on the issue of opposing Duan Qirui's right-hand man Xu Shuzheng, and obtained the support of the Yangtze River Three Governor’s support. In this way, the three northeastern provinces of Zhizhi, Su, Hubei, Jiangxi and Zhang Zuolin formed a seven-province "Anti-Anhui Alliance". Later, Zhao Ti, the governor of Henan, became dissatisfied with Duan Qirui and joined the alliance, which was called the Eight Provinces Anti-Anhui Alliance. On January 17, 1920, Wu Peifu called and requested to withdraw from southern Hunan.

Wu then organized the "National Salvation Alliance Army" with the "National Protector Army" in the south, planning to overthrow the Anhui clique, expel Xu Shichang, and form a new alliance to unify the north and the south. of*** . On the 30th, Wu made an appointment with the Southern Army. When the Zhili Army moved out, the Hunan Army took over its defense line. Duan Qirui introduced on May 25 that Wu Peifu led his 3rd Division and three mixed brigades of Wang Chengbin, Yan Xiangwen, and Xiao Yaonan to withdraw from southern Hunan and arrived in Hankou on the 31st. Then, he commanded troops in Henan and stationed them in Zhumadian, Xuchang, Zhengzhou, Xinxiang and other places along the Beijing-Hankow Railway. Cao Kun also sent troops to monitor the Dezhou Arsenal and used Dezhou as the outpost of the right wing of the Zhili Army. On June 15, Wu Peifu went to Baoding and, together with representatives from Jiangsu, Fengtian and other provinces, participated in a secret military meeting convened by Cao Kun. On July 8, Duan Qirui also established the "Dingguo Army" General Headquarters in Tuanhe and appointed himself as the commander-in-chief, with Xu Shuzheng as the chief of staff, Duan Zhigui as the 1st Route Commander and the Commander-in-Chief of the Capital Army, and Qu Tongfeng as The commander of the 2nd Route and the former enemy commander, Wei Zonghan, was the commander of the 3rd Route and forced Xu Shichang to announce an order to punish Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and others. On the same day, Duan traveled from Tuanhe to Beijing and convened a joint meeting of all cabinet members and military and government personnel at the General's Mansion, and decided to raise troops to "cruel" Cao and Wu. At the same time, Wu Peifu's troops stationed in Henan began to move north; Cao Kun's troops moved from Baoding to Gaobeidian. Zhang Zuolin, who appeared "neutral" on the surface, also participated in an emergency meeting in Tianjin between Cao Kun, Wu Peifu and representatives of the eight provincial alliances on July 8 to discuss the war against Anhui. On the 9th, Cao Kun organized a "rebellion against the rebels" in Tianjin, with Wu Peizao as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy. After Zhang Zuolin returned to Fengtian, he decided to send one brigade each of his 27th and 28th divisions into the pass to protect the Jingfeng Road. The first guard brigade coordinated with the remaining Fengtian troops of the 28th Division to protect the Jingfeng Road outside the pass, and announced that the troops inside the pass would be closed. The army was led by Zhang Jinghui.

On the evening of July 14, the Zhi-Anhui War officially broke out. The Anhui Army took the West Road (along the Beijing-Hankou Railway from Beijing to Baoding) as its main attack direction. Duan Zhigui commanded Qu Tongfeng's 1st Division of the Border Defense Force, Liu Xun's 15th Army Division, 3rd Division of the Border Defense Force and the 5th Mixed Brigade. Two battalions of the 9th Division and the heavy supply battalion of the 13th Division were deployed to the north of Zhuozhou, Gu'an and Laishui. They attempted to move south along the Jinghan Road, first capture Baoding, and then continue southward. The "Rebellion Army" organized by the Zhili Clique, with Wu Peifu as the former enemy commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief of the West Road, deployed its main force, the 3rd Division and the 2nd and 3rd Mixed Brigades, on the line south of Yixian, Laishui, Zhuozhou, and Gu'an , to resist the attack of the Anhui clique.

On the night of the 14th, Wu Peifu personally led the 5th Brigade of his 3rd Division in an unexpected attempt to storm Tuanhe and capture Duan Qirui. Due to the leak of secrets, Duan quickly mobilized reinforcements and fled back to Beijing. After Wu Peifu's plan to capture Duan failed, he commanded his troops to face the Anhui army's attack on the Liuli River and Zhuozhou lines, avoid their sharp edges, voluntarily withdraw from Gaobeidian, Duan Qirui introduced, and moved all his troops to the third left: to Gu An was the middle road, Zhuozhou and Gaobeidian were the west road, and Langfang and Yangcun were the east road. They were on standby to prevent the Anhui army from advancing southward. On the same day, two regiments of the East Route Anhui Army, the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Northwest Frontier Defense Force, the 3rd Division of the Border Defense Force, and the 9th Division, under the command of Commander-in-Chief Xu Shuzheng, marched from the Liangzhuang and Beijimiao areas to Yangcun with Cao Ying as the Commander-in-Chief. The Zhili Army launched an attack on their positions on the East Road. The Zhili Army set up artillery on the railway bridge and fired artillery bombardments at the attacking Anhui Army. The outcome of the two sides was undecided for a while. On the 16th, the Japanese road protection team stationed in Tianjin forced the Zhili Army to withdraw from the railway line 2 miles away. A gap was opened in the Zhili Army's defense line.

On the 16th, after the West Route Army withdrew from Gaobeidian, Wu Peifu personally led an elite unit and adopted flanking and roundabout tactics to launch an assault on Songlindian between Zhuozhou and Gaobeidian, directly attacking the border defense. The enemy headquarters in front of the army. On the 17th day of the war, the Wu troops captured Songlindian and captured Qu Tongfeng and all the senior generals of the headquarters. The Anhui army that was attacking Gaobeidian lost its command and quickly retreated. On the same day, the Zhili army captured Zhuozhou and headed towards Changxindian. Attack forward. Duan Zhigui, the commander of the West Road, fled back to Beijing alone after his defeat. On the 18th, the Zhili Army marched into Liuli River; on the 20th, the Zhili Army brigade marched to Changxindian and Lugouqiao, and basically eliminated the defeated Anhui army. On the east road, the Zhizhi and Anhui armies were locked in a stalemate to the west of Beicang. Thousands of people from Fengjun's 27th and 28th Divisions arrived in Tianjin on July 17th and 18th, and quickly went into battle to support the Zhili Army, recaptured Yangcun, and headed straight for Langfang. The Anhui army retreated one after another, and Xu Shuzheng fled back to Beijing that night. The East Road War also ended with the defeat of the Anhui army. On the 19th, Duan Qirui resigned via telephone. The leading troops of the Zhili and Fengcheng armies entered Beijing on the 23rd, taking over the South and Beiyuan barracks respectively, and agreed not to enter the city. On the 24th, Xu Shichang sent Wang Huaiqing as the commander-in-chief of the Gyeonggi garrison to replace Duan Zhigui, who abandoned his post and fled. At this point, the Zhi-Wan War came to an end. The Zhili and Fengcheng factions controlled ***.