Chapter 4 2. The all-out civil war started from Xuanhuadian

Just less than a month before our party's "Smash Chiang Kai-shek's offensive with self-defense war" was issued, that is, on June 26, 1946, after careful deployment, the Kuomintang army launched an attack on Xuanhuadian, where the Central Plains Military Region is located, with 300,000 troops. Under the all-out siege, the troops of our Central Plains Military Region successfully broke through under the leadership of Li Xiannian.A full-scale civil war, which the vast majority of the country's population did not want, finally broke out. The modern history of China has turned a new page.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was aggressive, because at this time the balance of power between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was in favor of the Kuomintang reactionaries: in terms of the number of troops, Chiang’s army was 4.3 million (this was the largest army in all countries in the world at that time), and we Fang has 1.2 million people; in terms of geographical area, Jiang Fang is about 7.3 million square kilometers, and our side is about 2.3 million square kilometers; in terms of the number of cities occupied, Jiang Fang has 1545 cities and our side has 464; in terms of population, Jiang's side has 338.92 million people, and our side has 136.06 million people.So Chiang Kai-shek and his chief of staff, Chen Cheng, openly announced that they would "solve the entire CCP militarily within five months."The number of troops used to attack our Central Plains liberated area this time alone is 300,000.

The Central Plains Liberated Area is located between the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River, and Hanshui River. With the Tongbai area as the center, it spans hundreds of miles and controls a vast area of ​​Henan, Hubei, and Anhui provinces. It is like a sharp knife inserted in the heart of the Jiang Dynasty. middle.If Chiang Kai-shek wants to launch a full-scale civil war, he must first unplug this confidant blade. Our Central Plains Military Region is composed of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army and the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War, plus a number of local troops, with a total of more than 50,000 people.Li Xiannian, commander of the military region, and Zheng Weisan, political commissar, have two columns and three military regions under their jurisdiction.Commander Wang Shusheng of the first column, Wen Jianwu, commander of the second column, He Bingyan, commander of the Jianghan Military Region, Zhang Tixue, commander of the Eastern Hubei Military Region, and Han Dongshan, commander of the Henan Military Region.At the time of Japan's surrender, the area of ​​control and activity consisted of nearly 60 counties.Under the continuous attacks of Hu Zongnan, Liu Zhi, Gu Zhutong, Xue Yue and other main forces of the Kuomintang army, in order not to cause a full-scale conflict, the Tongbai and Zaoyang areas have been abandoned and gradually compressed to about 60 kilometers centered on Xuanhuadian. narrow area.Chiang Kai-shek decided to use the elimination of our Central Plains Military Region as a breakthrough point to launch an all-out attack on the CCP. He mobilized a total of 11 armies, 26 divisions, and about 300,000 troops. Army" must be "encircled and annihilated in one fell swoop".In order to smash the enemy's conspiracy, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ordered our Central Plains Military Region to immediately break through. On the night of June 26, the Central Plains Military Region, in addition to the Pi Dingjun Division of the First Column and First Brigade moving eastward to "lead the cows" in Henan, creating the illusion that our army was going to move eastward, all the main forces were divided into two routes to break through to the west.After more than two months of hard work, they finally broke through the enemy's encirclement and interception, smashed Chiang Kai-shek's "iron barrel" composed of 300,000 people, completed the transfer task, preserved their strength, and smashed the enemy's plot.

While attacking the Central Plains Military Region, Chiang Kai-shek's army also launched attacks of different scales in other areas.In the Suzhong and Huaibei areas of the East China Liberated Area, the Shandong Field Army led by Chen Yi and the Central China Field Army led by Su Yu completely repelled the enemy's invasion.Su Yu commanded troops to fight 7 consecutive battles in Central Jiangsu within 45 days from July 13 to August 27, and wiped out more than 50,000 enemies. This is the famous "seven battles and seven victories" in the history of our army. In the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, Chiang Kai-shek attempted to open up the Ping-Han Line and the southern section of Tongpu Road.Our Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, under the command of Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping, took the initiative to attack the Longhai Line and completely wiped out the two brigades of the 3rd Reorganized Division and the 47th Reorganized Division of the Kuomintang Army in the Dingtao area of ​​​​Shandong. Zhao Xitian, commander of the Third Division of the Reorganization of Prisoners.In the south of Shanxi, the main opponent of our army is Hu Zongnan, the direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek and the commander of the Kuomintang First Theater.The Four Columns of our Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army and the troops of the Taiyue Military Region fought fiercely with it on the Tongpu Road line many times.During the more than four months of fighting from July to October, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan People's Liberation Army wiped out more than 75,000 people from 12 brigades, including the 1st Division of the First Division of the Southern Reorganization of Hu Zong, known as the "No. 1 Brigade in the World". trip.

In the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Liberated Area and the Jinsui Liberated Area in North China, Chiang Kai-shek's plan was to occupy Chengde, Zhangjiakou and their respective areas, and divide the Jinchaji, Jinsui, and Northeast three liberated areas.Under the leadership of Nie Rongzhen, commander and political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, He Long, commander of the Jinsui Military Region, and Li Jingquan, political commissar, our army successively organized the Northern Shanxi Campaign and the Datong and Jining Campaigns, killing more than 20,000 enemies.Due to strong pressure from several major enemy groups (i.e. Yan Xishan Group in Northern Shanxi, Hu Zongnan Group in Southern Shanxi, Fu Zuoyi Group in Pingjin, and Du Yuming Group in Northeast China), our army followed the instructions of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China on September 18: " Don't focus on conserving individual places, so that the main force can move freely", abandoning Chengde and Zhangjiakou.

In the Northeast, the scale of the war is not small.The situation in Northeast China will be introduced separately below. On October 11, 1946, under the command of commander Xiao Ke and political commissar Luo Ruiqing, the front-line headquarters of our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, which was in charge of defending Zhangjiakou, withdrew from Zhangjiakou.Chiang Kai-shek was dazzled by the success of the city, and ordered the convening of the "National Assembly" that afternoon to completely tear up the resolutions of the CPPCC. Four days later, the so-called "National Assembly" opened in Nanking.Chiang Kai-shek attempted to formulate a constitution at this "National Assembly" held by his delineated representatives and establish his legal authority in China.Therefore, on the day of the meeting, the KMT's mouthpiece "Central Daily" even published an extra issue, declaring that "major events in the world are settled"!

The Communist Party of China, the China Democratic League, the Democratic National Construction Association, the Jiu San Society and other 13 democratic parties and social organizations unanimously opposed and boycotted the Chiang Kai-shek "National Assembly" and did not recognize the Chiang Kai-shek Constitution passed at the meeting. In order to show his so-called sincerity, Chiang Kai-shek also issued a so-called "truce order" three days before the Chiang Kai-shek "National Congress", while the original military dispatch department still exists.That is to say, despite the raging civil wars everywhere, the so-called peace negotiations are still going on.

At that time, the situation in the whole country was actually in the midst of fighting and talking.Since the Chiang Kai-shek attack on our Central Plains Liberated Area in June 1946, Zhou Enlai, the chief negotiator of our party, had held talks with Chiang Kai-shek, Marshall and others many times, without any results.Our party regards these talks and various activities in the Kuomintang-controlled areas as a battlefield for propagating the CCP’s ideas, exposing the enemy’s conspiracy, and carrying out united front work.This situation of fighting while talking can be maintained for a long time, the main reason is of course that our party has effectively resisted the attack of Jiang Jun.Another reason cannot be ignored, which is that the US government at this time believes that Chiang Kai-shek's power is not yet possible to wipe out the CCP's military and civilians, and it still needs to use the hand of singing peace.However, Chiang Kai-shek, who is determined to go his own way, does not see it this way. He always overestimates his own power and underestimates the power of the people, and he does not even listen to the advice of the United States. On January 19, 1947, the U.S. government decided to withdraw from the military mediation team of three and withdraw all personnel participating in the mediation in China.So Chiang Kai-shek also determined to completely tear off the pretense of peace.

On February 21, 1947, Chiang Kai-shek publicly announced that the CCP representative Ye Jianying and others who wanted to participate in the work of the Military Adjustment Department would withdraw to Yan'an. On the 27th, it was also notified that all negotiators, staff and their families stationed in the Kuomintang-controlled areas of the Communist Party of China must all evacuate before March 5.Claiming that "in the future, if a member of the Communist Party of China is found, he will be punished as a gangster and spy."Immediately afterwards, Xinhua Daily, the only publicly issued newspaper of our party in the Kuomintang-controlled area, was seized. On March 9, 1947, the Chinese Communist Party personnel stationed in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chongqing withdrew to Yan'an.In this way, Chiang Kai-shek completely closed the door to peace talks, the dawn of peace that appeared after the end of the Anti-Japanese War completely disappeared, and the peace negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party finally broke down.At the Third Plenary Session of the KMT Central Committee held on March 15, Chiang Kai-shek officially declared that "the political solution is hopeless".At a press conference held on March 20, Chen Cheng, Chiang Kai-shek's chief of staff, stated more clearly: "The purpose of the government's use of troops is to quell the rebellion, not until the communist army is completely disarmed." What's more, the Kuomintang government's The Supreme Court issued "Ping Zi No. 1906 Instruction" on June 25, announcing that Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was "wanted".

Less than a year and a half after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, China entered a period of all-out war. This is not an ordinary war, but a war that determines two futures and two destinies of the Chinese people.One future is to continue to maintain the dark rule of semi-feudal and semi-colonial society under the oppression of the three mountains represented by Chiang Kai-shek; the other is to carry the democratic revolution to the end under the leadership of the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong. Overthrow the dark rule of the three mountains and establish an independent, democratic new democratic new China.This is a great struggle between light and darkness, a great struggle between revolution and reaction, a great struggle to change the historical status of the Chinese people who have been oppressed and exploited for thousands of years, and let the Chinese people be the masters of their own country.

Just before the Kuomintang reactionaries completely closed the door to peace talks, on February 1, 1947, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Zaoyuan, Yan'an, known as the "February Meeting" in history.Attending the meeting were Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Ren Bishi, Peng Dehuai, Kang Sheng, and Lin Boqu, members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and 28 other members of the Central Committee, alternate members of the Central Committee, and relevant responsible persons, a total of 36 people.The meeting analyzed the national situation and believed that a national civil war is inevitable, and that it is not only absolutely necessary but also entirely possible for us to completely smash the Kuomintang's military offensive. The meeting decided on the strategic policy of carrying the War of Liberation to the end, and passed the party directive document "Meeting the New Upsurge of the Chinese Revolution" drafted by Mao Zedong.The meeting held that in order to meet the new upsurge of the revolution, we must continue to implement the policy of annihilating the vital forces of the Kuomintang army, and at the same time build artillery and engineers; The nation's united front against Chiang. The "February Conference" further enhanced the confidence of the whole party in winning the war, and made ideological preparations for the turning point of the war situation, that is, our army's strategic counteroffensive.