Chapter 326 8. Chiang Kai-shek ordered all troops to withdraw from Nanjing

Under the attack of the millions of People's Liberation Army crossing the south of the Yangtze River, the Kuomintang army and the Kuomintang government first wanted to fight like a trapped beast, and then scattered like birds and beasts. On April 21, Li Zongren called He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Gu Zhutong and other senior generals to discuss future strategies.All the people at the meeting were inclined to Bai Chongxi's plan, that is, to abandon Nanjing and Shanghai, and move Tang Enbo's main force to the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line and the Nanxun line, and form a corner with the 400,000 Kuomintang troops in central China, so as to firmly defend Hunan and Jiangxi and prevent the People's Liberation Army from entering the southwest. On the 22nd, Chiang Kai-shek invited Li Zongren, He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Qunren and others to discuss countermeasures in Hangzhou.Everyone gathered in the conference room of Jianqiao Air Force Academy with nervousness.

After a while, Chiang Kai-shek came slowly, dragging his sickly body and holding a cane. Chiang Ching-kuo and Tao Xisheng waited on him.The two sides exchanged pleasantries and sat down on both sides. Chiang Kai-shek smiled wryly at the crowd, and said with a strong voice: "Now, this, this situation, everyone has seen it. I thought it didn't matter. We still have a base in the rear of the Great Southwest. There are still millions of people, and there are elite soldiers in the sea and air, which are much better than when the Communist Army was in Yan'an, and we still have American aid, everyone, everyone, don't be discouraged."

When everyone heard the words, they all sighed in their hearts.Then discuss Nanjing, should Shanghai keep it?In the end, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Well, it seems that it is not easy to defend Nanjing, but Shanghai must be defended. Our preparations in Shanghai, the Communist Party has 3 million people and horses. I think we should defend Shanghai and the Shanghai-Hangzhou Road area. He struggled to say: "Let them pass the Yangtze River; the Qiantang River must be defended no matter what! The Zhejiang-Jiangxi Road is our main line of defense today. What do you think?" He Yingqin shouted: "We must resist to the end!"

Chiang Kai-shek said: "It is not about resisting the Communist army to the end, but fighting the chaos to the end." Li Zongren said: "I think today, our strategy of sticking to our strongholds in the past should be checked and checked to see if it is appropriate. It is good to defend our strongholds, but we have to eat each of our strongholds. This shows that this strategy is full of flaws! I advocate that From now on, we will engage in mobile warfare with the Communist Party, and we will no longer be able to fight positional warfare." He Yingqin also agreed with this, and advocated that it is appropriate to fight mobile warfare in the future.

Chiang Kai-shek didn't take Li Zongren's opinion seriously, and asked instead: "So Nanjing must give up?" Li Zongren bit the bullet and asked back: "If you don't give up, does Commander Tang have a clever plan to recover the disadvantage?" "Today is not a personal matter," Chiang Kai-shek said coldly, knowing the friction between Li Zongren and Tang Enbo, "Deputy President Li can't think of a way to defend the Yangtze River, and Commander Tang is even more useless!" While the meeting was in progress, another call from the front reported: "The Shanghai-Nanjing line has been cut off by the communist army. On the thousands-mile front from Hukou in the west to Jiangyin in the east, the national army is either surrounded or retreating. Nanjing is at stake. ” Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered: blow up Nanjing’s railway station, wharf, and hydroelectric power plant, and withdraw all troops to the Shanghai-Hangzhou area.

At 2:00 p.m., the Kuomintang army hastily deployed the Jiangfang General to retreat, Liu Ruming Group retreated to Shangrao on Zhejiang Road, 1 Sui District, 7 Sui District and Nanjing Garrison Headquarters retreated to Hangzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway, and part of 1 Sui District retreated to Shanghai. 7 Part of the Sui District retreated to Jinhua. By 23:00 on the 22nd, all the enemies on the front line of Jingzhen had withdrawn. On the morning of the 23rd, the enemies in the Wuhu area also retreated south.The Kuomintang army attempted to organize new defenses on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and the Shanghai area.

At the same time, important officials of the Nanjing Kuomintang government also fled for their lives with their families in panic. On the 22nd, the various chambers, ministries, and associations of the Kuomintang government were withdrawn to Guangzhou; its presidential palace was also withdrawn to Shanghai on the same day; on the morning of the 23rd, Executive Premier He Yingqin fled Nanjing to Shanghai, and Acting President Li Zongren abandoned the original plan to fly to Guangzhou But temporarily decided to fly to Guilin instead, wait and see the changes in the situation, and then make a decision.

On the morning of the 23rd, when the Kuomintang troops withdrew from Nanjing, they set fire to many houses in the city, and escaped from the "capital" that had ruled for 22 years in the thick of smoke and fire.In the afternoon, the 35th Army of the outpost troops of the People's Liberation Army arrived in the east of Nanjing and entered the city through the Heping Gate. From 12 o'clock on the night of the 23rd to the morning of the 24th, large troops of the People's Liberation Army entered the urban area from Xiaguan via Yijiangmen. , Male and female students paid tribute to the People's Liberation Army with flowers.Only three days after the People's Liberation Army launched the cross-river operation, it captured the capital of the Kuomintang government-Nanjing.

Song Xianzhang, a political commissar of the 105th Division of the 35th Army who participated in the battle for the liberation of Nanjing, described the end of the Jiang family dynasty in his memoir article "The Red Flag Is Planted in Nanjing City": "Stepping into this gate, you can see vermilion-painted pillars and gorgeous corridors everywhere. The 'Presidential Palace' is like a palace of a feudal dynasty. The ground and the corridors are in a mess with shredded paper flying around. Walking into the innermost house, you can see Chiang Kai-shek's 'throne'. On the desk's calendar, open to' April 22'. It seems to spread its hands and say to us, look, this is the end of the reactionary dynasty!"