Chapter 159 Chapter 18 Battle of Southwest Shandong: Brilliant Military Operations

By June 1947, the Chinese People's War of Liberation had been going on for a full year.After a year of war, although the enemy has been greatly weakened, it still has an advantage in terms of numbers and equipment.Chiang Kai-shek continues to receive massive military and economic aid from the U.S. imperialists, and there are vast areas under his rule that he can plunder to support his military offensive. The enemy's key attacks on our liberated areas continued: 31 brigades with a total of 200,000 people were concentrated on the northern Shaanxi battlefield; 56 brigades with a total of 400,000 people were concentrated on the Shandong battlefield.Although the enemy on the Northeast battlefield has been forced to adopt a "comprehensive defense", they still maintain a considerable force.

The important cities of Yan'an, Linyi and Zhangjiakou in the liberated areas are still in the hands of the enemy.At that time, on the surface, it can be said that dark clouds still filled the sky and the situation remained serious.However, Mao Zedong had a far-sighted view, scientifically analyzed the revolutionary situation, and pointed out that the time for a strategic offensive had arrived.This is exactly the fact, after a year of military contests.The enemy was wiped out by our army of 97 and a half brigades of the regular army, together with more than 1.1 million irregular troops, and was forced to change the overall attack to a key attack, and the key attack was also frustrated, becoming the end of its strength.The enemy army was wiped out in large numbers by us, and the total force has been reduced from 4.3 million at the beginning of the war to 3.7 million.

The enemy's troops attacking the Liberated Areas, except for defense, have greatly reduced their strategic mobile forces.There are only 21 brigades stationed in the rear, and they are distributed in Xinjiang, Gansu, Sichuan, Xikang and other provinces.In the vast areas of the six provinces of Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, only some local security forces maintained order.The reserves of the Kuomintang are almost exhausted.At the same time, the great people's movement in the areas ruled by the enemy has flourished and spread rapidly across more than 60 large and medium-sized cities, forming a second front against Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary rule.

Our army has grown from 1.2 million at the beginning of the war to 1.95 million, of which the regular army has grown to more than 1 million, all of which can be used for mobile warfare, and the equipment has also been greatly improved.Although our army is still inferior to the enemy in terms of numbers.But the mobile force is superior; it is in an absolutely superior position politically. In short, Chiang Kai-shek was defeated both militarily and politically, and was "already surrounded by the whole people."Our army, on the other hand, has been continuously tempered and developed in the war, its equipment has been greatly improved, its morale is extremely strong, and the ability of the majority of commanders and fighters to master and use Mao Zedong's strategies and tactics has been greatly improved.The vast liberated areas are successfully carrying out land reform under the slogan of "fighting Chiang in the front and digging out Chiang's roots in the rear".Our army's rear has become more consolidated.

All of this shows that the new upsurge of the Chinese people's revolution to finally overthrow the Kuomintang's reactionary rule is approaching, and the time for our army to switch to a strategic offensive is basically ripe. Now or never!Mao Zedong seized the opportunity in time and believed: Under such circumstances, we should not wait until the enemy's attack is completely crushed and our army surpasses the enemy in number and equipment before launching a strategic attack, but should seize this favorable opportunity. Don't let the enemy have a chance to breathe, and immediately switch from strategic defense to strategic offensive.Therefore, Mao Zedong stipulated that the basic task of our army's second year of operations is to carry out a nationwide counter-offensive, that is, to use the main force to attack the outer line, lead the war to the Kuomintang area, wipe out a large number of enemies on the outer line, completely destroy the Kuomintang, and continue the war to the Kuomintang area. The liberated areas, further destroying and consuming the human and material resources of the liberated areas, made it impossible for me to pursue a sustainable counter-revolutionary strategy.

Mao Zedong firmly seized the favorable opportunity and decided that our army should shift from strategic defense to strategic offensive, leading the war to Jiang's area and pushing the Chinese revolution to a new climax.