Chapter 263 15. Inventory

The Battle of Liaoshen was the first battle in which the armies of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party fought a strategic decisive battle. From September 12 to November 2, 1948, after 52 days of decisive battles in the Liaoshen Campaign, the Northeast People's Liberation Army, at the cost of 69,000 casualties, annihilated the General Command of the Northeast "Suppression General" of the Kuomintang Army and the Northeast "Suppression General" The Jinzhou command post, 4 corps headquarters, 11 military headquarters, 36 entire divisions, as well as special forces and local security forces, totaled 472,000 people; 186 generals were captured; 4,709 artillery pieces, 234 grenadiers, heavy 2,387 machine guns, 10,900 light machine guns, 6 anti-aircraft machine guns, 18,300 submachine guns, 71 anti-war guns, 151,800 rifles, 4,957 short guns, 142 signal guns, 280 grenades, and 41.9 various shells 10,000 shots and 24.82 million bullets; shot down 11 planes, seized 16 planes, 76 tanks, 151 armored vehicles, 348 locomotives, 1,380 wagons, 2,170 cars, destroyed 6 armored vehicles, sunk 1 warship, 22 military ships; recovered 14 large and medium-sized cities, and liberated the entire Northeast.

The victory of the Liaoshen Campaign brought about a fundamental change in the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves.The total strength of the Kuomintang army has dropped to 2.9 million, turning from a long-term advantage to a disadvantage.The total strength of the People's Liberation Army has grown to more than 3 million people, turning from a long-term disadvantage to an advantage.The military situation in China has entered a new turning point.Since then, the People's Liberation Army has long had an advantage not only in quality, but also in quantity.The Northeast Field Army became a powerful strategic reserve force, which greatly accelerated the process of national liberation.

The victory of the Liaoshen Campaign made the Northeast a solid and reliable strategic rear base, and provided favorable conditions for winning the National War of Liberation and restoring and developing the national economy after the victory. On November 3, 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out in a telegram congratulating the liberation of Shenyang and the entire Northeast: "The Northeast is the largest center of China's industry, especially heavy industry. Once used great power to seize the Northeast, and successively invested in troops and incorporated puppet army bandits (Hu bandits, that is, bandits), a total of 1.1 million people. Relying on the unity of all the soldiers and civilians in the front and rear of the Northeast, they fought bravely and won The victorious cooperation of the Liberated Areas wiped out more than 1 million enemies in three years of hard work, and finally liberated nine provinces in Northeast China (after Japan surrendered in 1945, the Kuomintang government divided Northeast China into Heilongjiang, Xing'an, Nenjiang, Hejiang, Jilin, Songjiang, and Liaoning. , Liaobei, and the nine provinces of Andong) and 37 million compatriots, smashed the dream of the Chinese and American reactionaries to enslave the people of the Northeast and use the Northeast to provoke an international war, laid the foundation for liberating the whole of China within a few years, and then gradually building China into a The solid foundation of an industrial country." ("Liaoshen Campaign", p. 363)

The victory of the Liaoshen Campaign had a huge impact internationally.The liberation of the Northeast dealt a heavy blow to the U.S. imperialist policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek and anti-communism, and greatly inspired the oppressed people of the world who were striving for liberation.The French "Humanité" commented that the victory in the Northeast "is the victory of all the people fighting for independence."A reporter from the Telegraph Agency stated that the liberation of the Northeast "is the biggest military blow to the foreign policy of the US State Department since US imperialism began to strive for post-war world hegemony and oppose the democratic and socialist movement." (November 5, 1948, Xinhua News Agency: "Northeast Victory Shocks China and Foreign Countries") A Reuters reporter said: "The Kuomintang's military setback in Manchuria has now brought the Chiang Kai-shek government closer to collapse than at any time during its existence in the past two decades. On the verge.” U.S. Ambassador Leighton Stuart said in a report to Secretary of State Marshall on November 6: “We are very unwilling to come to the conclusion that the early collapse of the current Kuomintang government is inevitable.” ("Compilation of Materials on Sino-US Relations" No. Series 1, p. 906)