Chapter 169 Chapter 19 Marching into the Battle of Western Henan: Wiping out the Weary Enemy in the East and West

In July 1947, the "Xiaohe Meeting" held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China during the transition to northern Shaanxi was an important meeting held at the turning point of the War of Liberation.The decision of the meeting has important guiding significance for the further organization and development of the PLA's strategic offensive. Since the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army voluntarily withdrew from Yan'an on March 18, 1947, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has successively decided that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Ren Bishi, the secretaries of the Central Committee Secretariat, will lead the elite organs of the Party Central Committee to stay in northern Shaanxi and command all battlefields across the country. Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, the secretaries of the Central Secretariat, and some members of the Central Committee went to North China to carry out the work entrusted by the Central Committee; Ye Jianying, Yang Shangkun and others led most of the staff of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission to Northwest Shanxi to coordinate rear work.Mao Zedong and others led the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to deal with the enemy in the process of moving to northern Shaanxi, and went through hardships and dangers. On June 16, Mao Zedong and others led the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to move to Xiaohe Village, Jingbian County, Northern Shaanxi.

At this time, the People's War of Liberation had been going on for a year.Before and after this, the leaders of the central government discussed and thought about the operations in the past year, future tasks and strategic guidelines.According to the development of the war situation, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China planned to use part of the main force of the People's Liberation Army to fight on outer lines, attract and mobilize the enemy, lead the war to the Kuomintang ruled areas, and completely smash the key offensives of the Kuomintang army.To this end, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to hold a meeting to discuss future combat plans and guidelines.

The brewing of the meeting began on June 15. The initial theme was to prepare to discuss the cooperation of the fourth column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army (Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi columns) to the northern Shaanxi battlefield.Earlier, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had confirmed on May 4 that after the end of the Shanxi counteroffensive campaign, Chen Xie's column was on standby, ready to cross the Yellow River westward to northern Shaanxi at any time. Under the command of Peng Dehuai and Xi Zhongxun, they worked together to defeat Hu Zongnan's attack. Recover Yan'an, defend Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and seize the Great Northwest. On June 30, Liu Deng's army launched the Battle of Southwest Shandong. After breaking through the enemy's Yellow River defense line in one fell swoop, they quickly controlled the vast area on the south bank of the Yellow River;

Under such circumstances, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has new considerations for the entire strategic deployment. On July 11, Mao Zedong telegraphed Peng Dehuai and Xi Zhongxun again: The action of Chen Xie's column still needs to be discussed and decided.Chen arrived in Xiaohe on the 19th, please arrive at this time or come a few days earlier. On July 19, Chen Geng arrived at the central station on time.Peng Dehuai, Xi Zhongxun, He Long and others had also arrived in Xiaohe Village before. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and other central leaders had studied and discussed with them two plans for the use of Chen Xie's column.Not long ago, the leading comrades of the central government summoned the cadres in charge of the Suide sub-region to discuss the issue of raising food.Comrades from the Suide Division said that it is not a problem to need 20,000 soldiers, but it is a big problem to need 20,000 shi of grain.

In view of the major changes in the battle situation after the main force of the Liu Deng Field Army implemented a strategic breakthrough, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to change its plan to fight a major battle in northern Shaanxi. In the west of Henan, we assisted Liu and Deng to manage the Central Plains, contained the enemy from the opposite direction, and cooperated with the soldiers and civilians in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to defeat the attack of the Hu Zongnan Group. For this reason, the leading comrades of the Central Committee, together with the comrades who came to the meeting, further comprehensively studied and discussed the military situation.It is believed that the People's Liberation Army has correctly implemented the strategic policy of active defense in the past year, wiped out more than one million enemies inside, and the war situation has undergone major changes.Although the enemy's key offensives on the east and west wings of the liberated areas have not been crushed, its main force has penetrated deeply into the hinterland of the liberated areas.The contradiction between the length of the enemy's front line and the shortage of troops has become very acute, and he no longer has the ability to carry out strategic offensives on the national battlefield.

According to the new changes in the military situation, it is necessary and possible for the People's Liberation Army to go to the outside line and lead the war to the Kuomintang ruled area.The partial counter-offensive of the People's Liberation Army in the northern Shaanxi battlefield and the victory of Liu Deng's field army in the southwestern part of Shandong and transferred to outside operations all showed that the time was ripe for the People's Liberation Army to switch to a strategic offensive. Therefore, the central government decided to hold an enlarged meeting to discuss how to further organize and develop strategic offensive issues.