Chapter 253 5. Combat on the Beining line and completed the siege of Jinzhou

The Beining line runs from Beiping to Shenyang with a total length of more than 700 kilometers. Along the line are Tianjin, Tanggu, Tangshan, Luanxian, Changli, Qinhuangdao, Shanhaiguan, Suizhong, Xingcheng, Jinxi, Jinzhou and other important towns. The only land channel for the two strategic groups to support each other in terms of military strength and materials, and when necessary, the Northeast Wei Lihuang Group retreat to the pass.Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek regarded the Beining line as the blood vessel and lifeline of the Northeast Kuomintang army. After the winter offensive of the Northeast People's Liberation Army ended, the Shenyang-Jinzhou section of the Beining Line was completely cut off, while the Jinzhou-Peking section was intermittent.In order to open up the Beining Road and ensure the connection inside and outside the pass, Chiang Kai-shek has repeatedly asked Wei Lihuang, the commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression General", to use the main force in the Shenyang area to first open up the traffic in the Shenyang-Jinzhou section, and then concentrate the main force in the Jinzhou area to ensure the Jinping section. unimpeded.After being opposed by Wei Lihuang, he instructed Fan Hanjie, deputy commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression General" and director of the Jinzhou command post, to "concentrate efforts to manage Jinzhou" ("Liaoshen Campaign Personal Experience" (Memories of the former Kuomintang generals), p. 13) , Trying to maintain the connection between the Northeast and North China "the junction of the two theaters" ("Liaoshen Campaign Personal Experience" (Memories of the former Kuomintang generals), p. 63).To this end, Fan Hanjie made the following deployment:

Lu Junquan, commander of the 6th Corps, commanded the 18th and 22nd Divisions of the 93rd Army, the 88th Division of the 8th Army, the 55th Division of the 8th Army, the 184th Division of the 60th Army and the 6th Army. The 62nd Division, a total of 6 divisions with about 100,000 people defended Jinzhou. The 20th Division of the 93rd Army temporarily defends Yixian, the 54th Division of the newly formed 8th Army defends Gaoqiao, and the 8th, 198th, and 57th Divisions of the 54th Army defend Jinxi, Huludao, and Xingcheng , the 26th of the newly reorganized 5th Army, the temporarily reorganized 50th and 60th divisions defend the lines of Suizhong, Shanhaiguan, Qinhuangdao and Beidaihe.

On the line from Tangshan to Changli, there are 4 divisions of the 62nd Army and other departments of the North China "Suppression General" Fu Zuoyi. On September 12, 1948, the Northeast Field Army opened the prelude to the Liaoshen decisive battle. The battle first started on the Beining line. Cheng Zihua, commander of our 2nd Corps, and Huang Zhiyong, chief of staff, commanded the 11th column and the independent 4th, 6th, and 8th divisions, cavalry divisions, and artillery brigades of the Hebei-Chahar-Liaoning Military Region. Starting from the Eastern Region, they rushed to attack the defenders on the line from Luanxian to Xingcheng on the Beining line.By the 17th, they successively captured Shimen, Anshan, Changli, Beidaihe and other strongholds, surrounded Suizhong, Xingcheng, and Shahousuo, and attracted the main force of the 54th Army of the Kuomintang Army in Jinxi and Huludao to southward for reinforcements.

At the same time, the main force of the Northeast Field Army went south to the Beining line.The 4th and 9th Columns departed from Tai'an and Beizhen areas, crossed the Daling River and went straight to the north of Jinzhou, quickly cut off the connection between Yixian and Jinzhou, and surrounded Yixian on the 16th.The 3rd Column, the 5th Division of the 2nd Column, and the main force of the Artillery Column were transported by railway from Xi'an (Xi'an, the old place name, renamed Liaoyuan in 1952) and Siping to Fuxin, and then continued to advance rapidly to Yi County, taking over the 20th 4. The 9th Column surrounded Yi County.

After the start of the battle on the Beining Line, the Kuomintang Army Command, in view of the lessons learned from the annihilation of scattered forces in the past, ordered Wei Lihuang and Fan Hanjie on September 16: "Concentrate on guarding Jinzhou, Jinxi, Huludao, Qinhuangdao, and Shanhaiguan. " (Guo Rugui's Diary, p. 280) According to this, Fan Hanjie immediately withdrew his troops and withdrew Gaoqiao's temporary 54th division to Jinzhou; transferred Jinzhou's temporary 62nd division to Jinxi to ensure the safety of the sea route; The main force of the 22nd Division of the Jinzhou 93rd Army went north for reinforcements to rescue the Yixian defenders.

In order to continue to attract Fan Hanjie's attention to the south and prevent the 54th Army from shrinking Jinzhou, the 4th Column of the Northeast Field Army bypassed Jinzhou and went straight to the south of Jinxi, cutting off the connection between Jinxi and Xingcheng defenders.The 9th Column advanced to the north of Jinzhou, and on the 25th, together with the 8th Column, which went south from Bamian City to the vicinity of Jinzhou, annihilated most of the two regiments of the provisional 22nd Division that had reinforced Yixian County, and occupied Ge Wenbei, Xuejiatun, Maoershan and other outlying positions north of Jinzhou.The 7th Column, which went south from the Siping area, feinted to attack Zijing Mountain to the east of Jinzhou with part of it. The main force detoured to the south of Jinzhou. The bridge, Tashan and Xihaikou completely separate Jinzhou and Jinxi.The Artillery Column and the Artillery Regiment of the 9th Column blocked Jinzhou Airport with artillery fire on the 28th, and destroyed 5 transport planes, cutting off the air transport channel of the Jinzhou Kuomintang Army.With the support of the artillery brigade, three independent divisions of the Hebei-Chahar-Liaoning Military Region captured Suizhong on the same day and annihilated more than 2,000 people from the 60th Division.The 4th Column conquered Xingcheng on the 29th, and the 54th Annihilation Army had more than 4,000 engineers, transport, cavalry and other units directly under it.

Yi County is an important barrier to the north of Jinzhou, with a high city and thick walls.The defenders temporarily organized the 20th Division, which was equipped with semi-American weapons and relied on many solid group fortresses to resist.Under the unified command of Han Xianchu, the commander of the 3rd column, and Luo Shunchu, the political commissar, the 3rd column, the 5th division of the 2nd column and the main force of the artillery column that surrounded Yixian began to fight on the periphery of Yixian on September 26. The outer strongholds approached the city wall, and large-scale soil work was carried out overnight.

The general attack was launched at 9:30 on October 1. The 5th Division of the 2nd Column, the 9th Division of the 3rd Column, and the main artillery column attacked from the southwest of the city. The division is located in the area of ​​Pinewood Castle as a reserve team.With the support of powerful artillery fire, the siege troops conquered Yixian County after 4 hours of fierce fighting, wiped out more than 10,000 defenders, and captured Wang Shigao, the temporary commander of the 20th Division, and created the Northeast Field Army "in the shortest time to attack, wipe out and defend firmly." A new record for the enemy of fortifications" (Telegram from the "East President" to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, October 10, 1948).

During the battle in Yixian County, Zhu Rui, the artillery commander of the Northeast Military Region and the principal of the Artillery School, went to the south of the city to observe the shooting situation of the artillery. Unfortunately, he was struck by a mine and died at the age of 43.In the message of condolence, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China spoke highly of "Comrade Zhu Rui's outstanding contributions in the artillery construction of the Chinese People's Liberation Army."Zhu Rui was the most senior general of the People's Liberation Army who died during the War of Liberation.

So far, after 20 days of fighting, the Northeast Field Army has successively conquered Changli, Beidaihe, Suizhong, Xingcheng, Tashan, Gaoqiao, Yixian and other cities, annihilating more than 20,000 Kuomintang troops, and achieved the goal of cutting off the Beining line and isolating Jinzhou . While fighting the Beining Line, the 1st, 2nd (less than the 5th Division), 10th, 5th, and 6th Columns of the Northeast Field Army respectively advanced to the northwest of Xinmin, Heishan and its northeast, south of Faku, and north of Kaiyuan Waiting in Heyitong area, monitoring the Kuomintang army in Shenyang area; Xiao Jinguang, commander of the 1st Corps, and Xiao Hua, political commissar, unified command of the 12th column and 6 independent divisions, and the 2nd Inner Mongolia Cavalry Division, and continued to besiege Changchun.