Chapter 32 6. 32 days of bloody battle

On April 18, on a rainy morning, Siping City was awakened by a burst of violent artillery roar, ushering in the first day of bloody storms. In the southeast of Siping, the 30th Division went from south to north along the railway, and the new 38th Division went from west to east, and came to Siping City in three ways. At this time, in order to find an opportunity to wipe out the enemy during the movement, our army's main force has all withdrawn outside the city. There are only two regiments in the city, the 1st Regiment of the 1st Security Brigade and the 26th Regiment of the Wanyi Column. Ma Xingren directed.According to the situation, Ma Xingren organized three lines of defense with Siping City as the center: the first line of defense, sticking to the periphery, that is, from the Zhemabei (southeast of Siping) highland, westwards along the line 6 Huali south of the Catholic Church, and then westwards Xinlitun, Qianqibolinzi, Haifengtun, and then turn north along the edge of the western suburbs of Siping City to the Sandaolinzi highlands, control the favorable terrain, force the enemy to enter the battle prematurely, disrupt their offensive deployment, prevent the enemy from advancing, and make us I was able to buy time and seize the initiative on the battlefield; the second line of defense, if the enemy breaks through the first line of defense, I am ready to stand on the edge of Siping City; the third step is to fight in the streets and defend Siping to the death.

The defense of Siping Street, which began on April 17 and ended on May 18, generally went through three stages: the violent attack of the Kuomintang army, the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist armies, and the voluntary withdrawal of the democratic coalition forces. In the first stage, from April 17 to 26, the Kuomintang army rampantly attacked.At this time, the Kuomintang army was arrogant and arrogant, thinking that the democratic coalition army was vulnerable, and they used guerrilla warfare as usual, and would never stick to Siping.The Kuomintang army did not adopt the usual siege methods, but launched a frontal attack in an attempt to "bomb" away the defenders of the Democratic Alliance Army, so that Siping could be successfully occupied.

The deployment and actions of the New 1st Army to attack Siping Street are as follows: On the left wing, the New 38th Division attacked from west to east, and entered Lao Siping on the 18th.On the right, the 50th Division attacked the southeastern suburbs of Siping, entered Miaozigou on the 17th, and then captured Banla Mountain Gate.All the way in the middle is the new 30th division, which attacked from south to north along the railway line, and occupied the horsefly post on the 17th.The new 38th Division detoured west of Siping and marched northward, forming an arc around Siping Street.The defenders of the Democratic Alliance Army are facing a situation of fighting on both sides of the south and north.The Kuomintang army bombarded the positions guarded by the Democratic Alliance Army with fierce artillery fire. Hundreds of shells were dropped every minute on small hills with a radius of only 70 to 80 meters.Under the cover of plane bombing and tanks, the Kuomintang army launched several charges, but was beaten down by the guards of the Democratic Alliance Army with rifles, grenades, or bayonets.

After 10 days of fierce fighting, the 3 divisions of the New 1st Army repeatedly attacked positions in the southern, western, southeastern, and northwest suburbs of Siping Street. Each attack required heavy casualties to make any progress.The spirit of the New 1st Army lost, but the reinforcements had not yet arrived, so they turned to building fortifications and stood by for reinforcements.The main force of the Democratic Alliance Army arrived in the Siping area one after another, forming a defense line of more than a hundred miles from east to west, and building strong fortifications to protect the safety of Siping's flanks.Since then, the Kuomintang and Communist armies have entered a confrontational situation.

The second phase, from April 27 to May 14.Because the officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang army were exhausted and the reinforcements had not yet arrived, they could not devote more troops to maintain the attack force.During the confrontation between the forces of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, except for cold guns and frequent small contacts, it was difficult to find a gap for big moves, so there was no large-scale battle.The fortifications on the positions of the Democratic Alliance Army have been gradually strengthened after the test of artillery fire, and the combatants have also enriched their defense experience.If the Kuomintang army has no new reinforcements to go into battle, the CCP troops can rely on killing and injuring a large number of enemy troops under Siping City, and it is possible to stick to Siping.

The combat units of the Democratic Alliance Army in the Siping area include: 1st Bao Brigade, Wanyi Column, 1st Division, 2nd Division, 7th Brigade, 8th Brigade and 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division, 20th Brigade and 21st Brigade of the 7th Division.It was originally conceived to capture fighter planes and wipe out the enemy all the way on the periphery of Siping, but due to the close proximity of the Kuomintang New 1st Army and 71st Army, they failed to find an opportunity to attack.In addition, Cheng Shicai of the South Manchuria Military Region was ordered to lead the 7th and 8th Brigades of the 3rd Column to the Siping area, and went south between Yehe and Shulinzi, preparing to open up a second battlefield on the east side to contain the enemy from the outside.When the 3rd Column moved between Changtu and Kaiyuan, it conquered Maqian Zongtai Station. However, due to the northward movement of the 195th Division of the Kuomintang Army, the idea of ​​opening up a second battlefield failed to materialize.

In the confrontation stage, in order to strengthen the defense force of Siping City, the Democratic Alliance Army assigned the 67th Regiment of the 7th Division to Siping City as a reserve team on April 29, and transferred the 359th Brigade and the 7th Division Artillery Brigade from the Changchun area to the south to send the artillery The 2nd Regiment of the Brigade was reinforced to Siping City.When the Kuomintang army thought that the Communist army could not have artillery, the artillery suddenly bombarded the Kuomintang positions, which not only caused great damage to the enemy, but also caused considerable shock.

From the perspective of the entire Northeast battlefield, the Democratic Allied Forces in the Siping area were able to persist for such a long time because of the fighting on the southern front in Benxi, which prevented the Kuomintang army from aiding the north.However, by the beginning of May, unfavorable changes had taken place on the southern front, and the Democratic Alliance Army voluntarily withdrew from Benxi, which meant that the Kuomintang army was about to concentrate its efforts on Siping Street. In the third stage, from May 15th to 18th, the Democratic Alliance Army voluntarily withdrew from Siping Street.When the fighting in Benxi came to an end, the Kuomintang army immediately concentrated its main forces in Siping to fight. The 195th Division had already moved north, and it also transferred the 14th Division of the New Sixth Army, the New 22nd Division, the 88th Division of the 71st Army, and the original New 1st Army. 3 divisions (New 30th Division, New 38th Division, 50th Division) and 2 divisions (87th Division, 91st Division) of the 71st Army, a total of 9 divisions were put into use in the Siping Street area.If the 182nd Division of the 60th Army, which is responsible for protecting the road, is also included, the total strength is 10 divisions.

At this time, the Democratic Coalition Army had already estimated that a large offensive by the Kuomintang army was imminent.The situation of our own troops is: the 2 brigades of the 3rd column of South Manchuria are active in the area east of Changtu, only the 359th brigade and the 10th brigade of the 3rd division can be used as mobile forces, and the rest of the troops are confronting the enemy on the Siping front.In this situation, it is very difficult to make a move to eat a division or two of the enemy. On May 13, Zheng Dongguo, deputy commander of Northeast Security of the Kuomintang Army, ordered an all-out attack on Siping Street.The troops are divided into three groups: the right route is the 14th Division of the New 6th Army led by Liao Yaoxiang, and the 88th Division attached to the New 22nd Division, attacking from Kaiyuan to Xifeng and Yehe; the middle route is the three of the New 1st Army led by Sun Liren The division attacked the suburbs of Siping Street; on the left, two divisions of the 71st Army led by Chen Mingren attacked Bamian City west of Siping; the 195th Division served as a reserve team.

On May 15, the fiercest battle to defend Siping Street began.On the various positions of the Democratic Alliance Army, artillery fire shook the sky, gunpowder smoke covered the sun, and soldiers fought hand-to-hand, fighting hand-to-hand. On the 17th, the 331 highland was attacked by several tanks of the Kuomintang army, the fortifications were destroyed, the firearms were blown up, buried and unable to support. Immediately, Tazi Mountain, a decisive commanding height on the outskirts of Siping, was occupied by the Kuomintang army.The gains and losses of Tazi Mountain are related to the safety of the Siping overall situation. If Tazi Mountain is lost, the Kuomintang army can detour from the left and close the retreat of the defending troops.In order to get rid of the disadvantaged position of passiveness and preserve the vitality to wait for the enemy, Lin Biao consulted with Peng Zhen and Luo Ronghuan, decided to withdraw from Siping, and did not stick to Changchun, and reported to the central government for record.The Democratic Alliance Army retreated across the board on the night of May 18.

After the democratic coalition forces withdrew from Siping, the Kuomintang army faced the empty city of Siping and fired bursts of fire. They did not dare to enter the city until the afternoon of the 19th.