Chapter 31 7. Aim the muzzle at Tianjin Wei

Tianjin has long been called Tianjin Wei by the locals.This vividly shows that it is the most important military location to defend Beiping.The characteristic of Tianjin is that the entire city is formed along the Haihe River, and the upper reaches of the Haihe River have the Ziya River, the South Canal, and the North Canal. In this way, Tianjin is long from north to south and narrow from east to west.According to the urban area at that time, it was about 12.5 kilometers long from north to south and about 5 kilometers wide from east to west.Most of Tianjin's surroundings are coastal depressions, with vertical and horizontal rivers and complex terrain, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.In addition, after a long period of operation, the enemy has built a multi-layered and complex defense system, which has indeed added a lot of difficulties to our army's offensive.However, Chen Changjie relied on fortifications in Tianjin, and this fortifications surrounded Tianjin in a large circle.Chen Changjie only had 10 divisions and 130,000 people. Except for the 67th Division and the 151st Division, which were not wiped out by our army in the past, five divisions were rebuilt after being wiped out by our army. The 184th Division was even wiped out four times by our army.Of the other three divisions, one was reorganized from the security regiment, and the other two were formed by stragglers who fled back to the pass from the northeast.Therefore, overall, the combat effectiveness of the defenders is not strong.More importantly, 130,000 defenders were scattered throughout the entire encirclement, and their battle lines stretched for dozens of miles.

It was based on the above characteristics that Liu Yalou formulated a whole set of plans to deal with Chen Changjie.The specific content of this plan can be found in the telegram from Lin Biao to the Central Military Commission on January 7, 1949, which we have already quoted above.In a nutshell, this plan is "advance from east to west, cut at the middle, first south and then north, first divide and then encircle and wipe out, first eat meat and then gnaw bones". As mentioned earlier, Lin Biao gave Liu Yalou five columns, plus a division from the 12th column, and Liu Yalou specially asked for a division from the 6th column.In addition, there are entire artillery columns.Before launching the general offensive, Liu Yalou held a cadre meeting in Dongsangyuan, Yangliuqing, where his Tianjin frontline headquarters is located, and issued their respective combat tasks to the heads of each column and division.The purpose is to make everyone understand the enemy's situation in the area they are attacking, especially the terrain, features and enemy fortifications as much as possible, so that the attack can be carried out smoothly, unnecessary losses can be reduced, and the battle can be ended as soon as possible.Liu Yalou and his comrades have a favorable condition for this battle, that is, the comrades of the underground party in Tianjin have given the enemy's troop deployment map and the entire city defense fortification map to the commanders of the battle in advance, and they can prepare for the battle. fight.In the mouths of ancient military strategists, this was called "searching for the horse according to the map"; in the mouths of the commanders and fighters at that time, there was a very popular saying, "to catch a turtle in a jar, you can catch it with your hands."

The specific tasks given by Liu Yalou to each unit are as follows: Under the command of Li Tianyou, the commander of the first column, the first column and the second column launched an attack on the area north of Hepingmen (Xiyingmen) in the west city of Tianjin. After breaking through, they advanced from west to east.This is the main force of Liu Yalou's "advance from east to west, cut off from the middle", with a total of 9 divisions.In order to deal with the enemy's various fortifications and minefields, two engineer battalions were attached.In addition, two-thirds of the artillery firepower of the Special Forces Command was allocated, as well as 20 tanks.From the perspective of firepower, this siege team is the strongest.This is because, in Liu Yalou's heart, he regards the breakthrough to the west as the most important breakthrough in the entire campaign, and regards the first and second columns as the most important iron fists to smash Tianjin's city defense.Among the two troops, the First Column and the Second Column, Liu Yalou placed the heaviest burden on the First Column.Yizong was the general reserve team in the hands of Lin Biao in the Liaoshen Campaign. He didn't fight many tough battles, and he didn't get addicted to fighting big battles.This time, Liu Yalou wants to give Yizong a compensation, so that Yizong can use all their energy.In the words of the old Comrade Dongye at that time: Yizong was a little tiger. Lin Biao put it in his "sleeve" for a long time on the Northeast battlefield, and he was not willing to let it out.When it came to the battlefield in North China, Yi Zong was let down from the mountain.

Under the command of Deng Hua, the commander of the Seventh Column, the Seventh Column and the Eighth Column launched an attack on the Minquan Gate in the east city of Tianjin. After breaking through, they advanced from east to west.This is another main force of Liu Yalou's "advancing from east to west, cutting off at the middle". There are a total of 8 divisions and two engineer battalions.In addition, it is equipped with one-third of the artillery firepower of the Special Forces Command, and 10 tanks.The scheduled meeting place for the main attacking forces of the East and West is Jintang Bridge.

The 34th Division of the Ninth Column and the Twelfth Column, under the command of Zhan Caifang, the commander of the Ninth Column, broke through on the Jianzi Mountain line in the south of Tianjin, and assisted from south to north.After the breakthrough, it will develop northward, and the scheduled rendezvous with the brother troops is Yaohua Middle School. The main force of the Twelve Columns was placed in the Junliang City area, continuing to cut off the connection between Tianjin and Tanggu, and intercepting the enemy who fled from Tianjin to Tanggu in case. The guard regiment of the East Field Command and the East and West Group each feinted in the north of the city, and did not attack, but only used to confuse the enemy (this troop that confuses the enemy did not have any impressive records in formal sieges, but their deception It was a complete success. Since there are no rivers and few water marshes in the north of Tianjin, the enemy in Tianjin has long estimated that the north should be the main direction of our army's attack. Our army deliberately dug a number of communication trenches in the north position, and before attacking the city Pulling the cannon to the position and fighting it out, both Chen Changjie and Lin Weichou mistakenly believed that the north was the main attack direction of our army, so they put the 151st Division, the main force of the 62nd Army, there and never dared to mobilize it.)

The 17th Division of the 6th Column, known as the "tiger attacking fortification", served as the general reserve team. Under the command of Lai Chuanzhu, the political commissar of the 6th Column, and Long Shujin, the commander of the 17th Division, they were on standby at the fried rice shop in the western suburbs. Behind the siege army is a front army organized by party committees and local governments at all levels, which are a series of military depots, grain depots, warehouses and hospitals.Taking the Eastern Hebei region closest to Tianjin as an example, according to the instructions of the Northeast Bureau, preparations for the Battle of Pingjin have been under way since late November.Under the leadership of Wu De, Secretary of the Party Committee of Jidong District and Political Commissar of Jidong Military Region, and Pan Feng, Commander of Jidong Military Region, 2 million migrant workers were dispatched successively, including 700,000 car workers and 700,000 donkey workers (according to: local In the most tense period, there are about 20,000 horse-drawn carts and mule-drawn carts dispatched every day.A total of nearly 5,000 kilometers of roads were widened, flattened, and newly built, and more than 500 road bridges were renovated and reinforced. Air defense shelters and tank shelters (or shelters) were also built along both sides of the road.In three months, 130 million kilograms of military rations (average 14 kilograms per ordinary person), 400,000 kilograms of cooking oil, more than 500,000 kilograms of salt, more than 20,000 pigs, 1 million pairs of military shoes, and tens of millions of military uniforms were raised , more than 30 million kilograms of horse grass, and more than 85 million kilograms of firewood.The health department of the military region has prepared to build four field hospitals, and each military division has established a rest center.When the Tianjin campaign started, another 270 stretcher regiments were organized to follow the army in turn.

While preparing to attack Tianjin, the preparations for taking over Tianjin are also going on intensely and orderly.The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has issued an order to appoint a group of main cadres for our party to take over Tianjin. Among them, Huang Kecheng, political commissar of the Jireliao Military Region, is the director of the Tianjin Military Management Committee, and Tan Zheng, director of the Political Department of the Northeast Field Army, is the deputy director of the Tianjin Military Management Committee. Huang Jing, deputy political commissar of the North China Military Region, served as the mayor of Tianjin, and Xiao Jinguang, commander of the First Corps of the Northeast Field Army, served as the commander of the Tianjin Garrison.From this list, we can see that for the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, the cadres assigned by the Party Central Committee are very strong.Under the organization of these leading cadres, a large number of cadres mainly drawn from various fronts by the North China Bureau are doing various preparations for taking over the city with the siege troops.

At the same time, the Tianjin Underground Party, which persisted in its struggle in Tianjin, was also making active preparations for our party to take over Tianjin. For this reason, the Tianjin Liberation Action Committee (referred to as the "Mobile Committee") was specially established with Li Zhi as the secretary. In addition to cooperating with the siege troops in all aspects to attack the city, the more task is to find ways to protect factories, schools, hospitals, warehouses, docks and public facilities, and return all useful properties of Tianjin to the hands of the people as much as possible.For this reason, under the unified leadership of the "Mobile Committee", various industries have set up picket teams to carry out divisional contracting.

In addition, the "Mobile Committee" also printed and distributed a large number of propaganda materials such as the "Manifesto of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", "The Announcement of the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Pingjin Front Command", and "The Letter to the KMT Officers and Soldiers", which played a very good role in stabilizing the hearts of the people and disintegrating the enemy. .In order to minimize the enemy's damage, the "Movement Committee" also sent warning letters to the senior leaders of the Kuomintang military, political, police, constitutional, and special systems in Tianjin.

The preparations for the attack on Tianjin were quite sufficient, and the muzzles and guns were all aimed at Tianjin Wei.