Chapter 350 9. Liberation of Lanzhou City Entry Ceremony

The smoke of the war in Lanzhou City had not completely cleared away. On the afternoon of August 26, Peng Dehuai, Zhang Zongxun, Gan Siqi and others led the headquarters of the First Field Army to Lanzhou. The headquarters of the First Field Army was located in "Sanaitang".Peng Dehuai said: "Ma Bufang did us a great job this time. If he had left Lanzhou and continued to retreat, it would have taken a little time to eliminate him. He wanted to use a trick to eliminate us in this battleground. However, he never expected that we would follow our plan and come to a bottom." Subsequently, the Lanzhou Municipal Military Control Commission was established, with Zhang Zongxun as the director, and Zhang Desheng, Wu Hongbin, Han Liancheng, and Ren Qian as the deputy directors.

On August 30th, which is the fifth day after the liberation of Lanzhou, on this day, the sky was high and the clouds were light, and the sky was clear. After liberation, the ancient city of Lanzhou, bathed in the warm autumn morning sunshine, looked particularly refreshing and pleasant. A large red slogan was hung on the Dongshao Gate, which read: "The sky is shaking, the earth is shaking, and the people of Lanzhou are liberated!" On this day, the First Field Army held a grand ceremony to liberate Lanzhou and enter the city. Early in the morning, workers, citizens, students, businessmen, religious figures, and people of all ethnic groups living in Lanzhou flooded the streets from all directions with joyful hearts and small flags in their hands.

Peng Dehuai and other leaders of the First Field Army inspected the troops entering the city and the parade together with representatives from all walks of life and leaders of various mass organizations who were invited. At 8:30, the grand entrance ceremony began.I saw the commanders and fighters of the 194th Division and the 581st Regiment of the 65th Army of the 19th Corps lined up in a neat square team, walking with mighty steps, and walked into Lanzhou City from Dongshaomen on time.Regiment leader Yang Wanhua and political commissar Zhang Zhenchuan rode on horses, marching heroically at the front of the infantry formation.

Immediately afterwards, the phalanx of artillery, motorized infantry, and anti-aircraft artillery came over, rolling forward like a giant stream of steel. As the square teams approached one by one, the crowd on both sides of the street burst into enthusiastic cheers and thunderous applause. Suddenly, there was a low roar in the sky. It turned out that the central government of the Kuomintang finally responded to Ma Bufang's request and sent two planes into the sky over Lanzhou.However, the parade did not panic, and the advancing anti-aircraft guns immediately opened fire on the enemy planes. One enemy plane was hit and fell, and the other quickly slipped away.

After the entering ceremony, Peng Dehuai broke the convention and held a dinner.He happily said to everyone: "This dinner celebrates the victory of the Northwest Liberation War, and welcomes the 18th Corps and the 19th Corps."