Chapter 268 5. The Battle of Taiyuan broke out 13 days ahead of schedule

While the People's Liberation Army was resting, Yan Xishan was not idle either. In order to defend Taiyuan to the death, he ordered his subordinates to frantically arrest the strong men in Taiyuan City, and assembled several divisions and two columns successively.Chiang Kai-shek airlifted Hu Zongnan's reorganized 30th Division from Xi'an, together with the security forces, the total strength of Taiyuan's defense forces reached more than 120,000. At the same time, city defense fortifications are constantly increasing and strengthening.Yan Xishan frantically clamored: "Our fortifications must be strengthened as the earth rotates! Every time the earth rotates, our fortifications must be strengthened by one day! Build every main position into a permanent fortification that can withstand 10,000 rounds of shells."

Yan Xishan was determined. Taiyuan City must be attacked.A bloody battle is inevitable. According to this situation, in accordance with the instructions of the Military Commission, Zhou Shidi, deputy secretary of the former enemy committee, and the former committee of the 1st Corps reported to the Central Military Commission on September 28 the combat plan for attacking Taiyuan: First, gradually weaken the enemy by siege, disintegration, and attack, and then capture Taiyuan in one fell swoop, and strive to end the battle within 3 months. Second, the offensive steps are divided into three steps.The first step is to break through the enemy's first line of defense, control the north and south airports with firepower, cut off the enemy's foreign aid, and facilitate the disintegration of work; the second step is to capture the necessary strongholds for the southeast and northeast siege; the third step is to attack the city.

Third, the direction of attack is selected in two places, the southeast and the northeast, with the southeast as the main direction.Use two columns for the southeast and one column for the northeast. Fourth, try not to attack strongholds that are not too difficult to siege.Tactically strive for continuous attacks. Xu Xiangqian, who was hospitalized in Shijiazhuang, read the combat plan of the 1st Corps to attack Taiyuan approved by Mao Zedong, and replied: "...First of all, try to fight continuously. It is the best strategy to wipe out the enemy in the fastest time. It is the middle strategy to fight first and then surround the enemy, which consumes a lot of energy. The worst strategy is to increase your strength before attacking. In other words, influencing operations on other lines is only the last resort.”

"As for the distribution and use of the corps, I also agree with the decision of the former committee. It is also possible to start on the 18th. As the time is approaching, I have no time to rest. I plan to go to the front on the night of the 7th and wait until Taiyuan is captured. free time to rest..." When Xu Xiangqian was about to return to the front line in Taiyuan, he received a call from the front line. Yan Xishan, with 7 divisions, divided into three routes from October 1st along the east of the Fen River and west of Tongpu Road, and went south to attack in an attempt to take advantage of the autumn harvest. Go to the grain-producing areas in the south plain of Taiyuan City to grab grain to alleviate the food shortage in the city, and at the same time achieve the purpose of undermining the People's Liberation Army's campaign preparations and delaying the siege time.Xu Xiangqian considered that the enemy's departure from its strong fortifications was beneficial to the PLA's field operations, that is, the reply to the telegram was to launch an attack on the invading enemy on October 5 ahead of schedule.After the telegram was sent, he fell ill and returned to the front line in Taiyuan.

The Battle of Taiyuan broke out 13 days earlier.