Chapter 2 Chapter 1 Shangdang Battle: The First Battle to Defend the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War

In the Shangdang area, there are steep mountains on all sides, towering peaks, the danger of Taihang in the east, the solidity of Taiyue in the west, the Zhongtiao Mountain in the south, and the overlapping peaks in the north.This is the heartland of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, a base that can be attacked in advance and defended in retreat.It was from the Shangdang area that Chiang Kai-shek seized the fruits of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. The eight-year war of resistance against Japan cost China a huge price, but it also tempered the Chinese people.The prestige of the Chinese Communist Party has increased unprecedentedly, and it has created a liberated area with a population of more than 100 million and an army of more than 1.2 million during the war.The war also promoted unprecedented awareness and unity of the people across the country.The Chinese people, who have suffered from long-term wars, urgently need peace and stability, and demand the realization of national independence and political democracy, and the establishment of an independent, free, prosperous and strong new China.

However, the Kuomintang reactionaries, the political representatives of the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, who had been passively resisting the war and actively opposing the Communist Party during the War of Resistance Against Japan, attempted to launch an anti-people civil war after Japan surrendered, destroy the Chinese Communist Party, usurp the fruits of victory in the War of Resistance, and continue to maintain its dictatorship. , Pushing the Chinese people back into the abyss of darkness.Therefore, as soon as the War of Resistance Against Japan ended, domestic class contradictions grew sharply and became the principal contradiction.

As soon as Japan surrendered, Chiang Kai-shek, with the support of U.S. imperialism, frantically snatched the fruits of victory in the War of Resistance and actively prepared for a civil war. On August 11, 1945, the day after Japan demanded to surrender, Chiang Kai-shek used his so-called "Supreme Commander of the Anti-Japanese War" to issue successive reactionary orders.On the one hand, they ordered the Eighth Route Army to "stay in place and stand by" and not to confiscate the guns of the Japanese and puppet troops; Order the puppet army "responsible for maintaining local law and order", stick to the occupied area, and prevent the people's army from surrendering.

On August 15, Chiang Kai-shek's spokesman announced that "the orders of the chairman must be obeyed" and "those who violate them are the public enemies of the people."In this way, the relationship between the allies during the War of Resistance Against Japan was transformed into a relationship of hostility.This was Chiang Kai-shek's public signal of an all-out civil war.In order to prepare for the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek recruited a large number of puppet troops to help him seize the territory, and shamelessly asked the Japanese invaders to "make effective defense" in place to help him guard the place.In order to seize the fruits of victory in the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang reactionaries, under the personal direction of Chiang Kai-shek, formed a great confluence of Chiang Kai-shek, Japan, and the puppet within a few days after Japan surrendered.

At the same time, under the pretext of accepting the surrender, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized a large number of troops from his rear—southwest and northwest, to advance towards our liberated areas in North, Central, and South China, and actively prepared for civil war. Next, seize Nanjing, Shanghai, Beiping, Tianjin and other big cities, open up the Tongpu, Pingsui, Pinghan, and Jinpu railway lines, march into North China, divide the liberated areas, and then launch a large-scale attack on the liberated areas. Jiang's army attacking North China: East Road, with Li Pinxian and other troops in the 10th theater, from northern Anhui via Xuzhou along Jinpu Road to the north.On the middle road, Sun Lianzhong's troops from the 11th theater traveled from west Henan to Zhengzhou and Anyang to the north in an attempt to open up the Pinghan Road, and joined forces with Hu Zongnan's troops from the 1st theater in Shijiazhuang.On the west road, Hu Zongnan's troops invaded from Guanzhong via Linfen, Taiyuan, and Shijiazhuang to the north; Fu Zuoyi's troops from the 12th theater invaded our Suidong and Chaxi areas from Suixi to the east, attempting to occupy Zhangjiakou; Yan Xishan from the 2nd theater The troops invaded and occupied the Changzhi area in the southeast of Shanxi.

At the same time, the United States dispatched more than 90,000 U.S. troops to land in Tanggu, Qingdao, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and other places one after another. It also publicly transported troops to Beiping, Tianjin, Nanjing, and Shanghai for Chiang Kai-shek, and transported troops to coastal ports in Northeast, North China, and East China by sea. the aforementioned strategic locations.The United States and Chiang Kai-shek are closely colluding, and the crisis of civil war seriously threatens the people of the whole country. In the first ten days of September, the Kuomintang army aggressively faced the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, forming a situation of overwhelming forces from the east, west, and south.In the southeast direction, Li Pinxian's 3 armies, the vanguard troops quickly arrived in Xuzhou; in the southwest direction, Hu Zong's southern 2 armies had already passed Fenglingdu, and went north along Tongpu Road; in the southeast direction, Sun Lianzhong's troops were in Zhengzhou as the center In the area where Longhai and Pinghan Road cross, there are seven or eight armies gathered, of which three or four armies are planning to go north along Pinghan Road.In addition, there are still 100,000 Japanese puppet troops in the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan region that have not been disarmed. They are still entrenched along the railway or near major highways, controlling hundreds of towns.Ordered by Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese and puppet troops refused to surrender to the Eighth Route Army and continued to resist, waiting for the Kuomintang government to appoint officials and appoint them, and prepare to welcome the Kuomintang army to go north.

Yan Xishan's army, which cooperated with the above-mentioned Chiang Kai-shek's army, became the vanguard of attacking the liberated areas of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan.They started at the earliest time and at the fastest speed, and they had already entered Shangdang, the hinterland of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area from behind.