Chapter 89 8. Inventory

Three visits to the south of the Yangtze River and four guarantees to fight along the river are a strategic turning point in the development of the Northeast War.It played a decisive role in changing the passive situation of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army on the Northeast battlefield.During this period, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army wiped out 2 whole divisions and 6 regiments of the Kuomintang regular army, together with the security forces, a total of more than 50,000 people (including the number of enemies wiped out in cooperation between East and West Manchuria), and seized 657 guns and tanks. 11 armored vehicles, more than 3,500 horses, 172 cars, and a large number of guns and ammunition completely shattered the Kuomintang army's strategic plan of "attacking south and defending north, first south and then north" and defeating the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army.Since then, the Northeast Kuomintang Army had to abandon its strategic offensive and turn to the defensive due to its weaker mobile forces and lack of reinforcements in the pass.This created favorable conditions for the Northeast Democratic Coalition to launch a strategic counteroffensive.Through this stage of operations, the basic areas of the South Manchurian Liberated Area were preserved, the North Manchurian Liberated Area was consolidated and developed, and some small liberated areas were restored and rebuilt in West Manchuria and East Manchuria.The Northeast Democratic Alliance successively recovered nine counties including Kangping, Jinchuan, Kulun, Liuhe, Huinan, Kailu, Huanren, Changling, and Ji'an. The area of ​​the liberated areas expanded by about 29,000 square kilometers, and the population increased by more than 1.3 million.So far, it has controlled 3/4 of the land and about half of the population in the northeast.During this period, with the further deepening of the land reform movement and the thorough elimination of the remaining bandits, the Northeast Liberated Area has increasingly become a consolidated strategic base.

The three trips to the south of the Yangtze River and the four battles to protect the Linjiang River completely shattered Du Yuming's delusion of solving the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army within 3 months and pacifying the Northeast within half a year.The Northeast Kuomintang Army under the command of Du Yuming, troubled by the combat policy of "strike from the south and pull from the north" and "strike from the north and pull from the south" designed by Lin Biao, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, often traveled with two or three divisions thousands of miles away. Between the two battlefields, Du Yuming, who had already over-dispersed his forces, was even more stretched.Under Lin Biao's "three visits to the south of the Yangtze River and four protections to Linjiang" campaign, Du Yu clearly lost two entire divisions and two entire brigades, a total of 50,000 "National Army" elites.On the contrary, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army under the leadership of Lin Biao has established itself like a giant in the Northeast like Changbai Mountain.These include 5 columns and 9 independent divisions of the Field Army, a total of 30 divisions with more than 220,000 people.

The "three visits to the south of the Yangtze River and four guarantees to the riverside" campaign played a decisive role in changing the passive situation of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army on the Northeast battlefield. "Three visits to the south of the Yangtze River and four guarantees to the riverside" were the key to the overall situation of the Northeast battlefield at that time.The victory of this battle consolidated and expanded the base areas in South Manchuria, enabled the base areas in North Manchuria to carry out land reform smoothly, completely shattered the enemy's strategic policy of "attacking from the south and defending from the north, first south and then north", and forced the enemy troops in the northeast to change their strategy. Offense turned into strategic defense.Our army began to shift from strategic defense to strategic offense, thus reversing the entire war situation in Northeast China. The victory of the "Four Guarantees Linjiang" campaign and the "Three Downs to the South of the Yangtze River" was a strategic turning point in the development of the Northeast War. It not only ushered in the victory of the summer, autumn, and winter offensives in 1947, but also changed the situation of the Northeast battlefield. The strategic situation also created favorable conditions for the strategic decisive battle in the Northeast battlefield - the Liaoshen Campaign.