Chapter 17 1. The first battle was fought in Shanhaiguan

Du Yuming was mobilizing troops, preparing for the first battle at Shanhaiguan.Our army is also deploying troops, and is also preparing to meet the first battle in Shanhaiguan. Before Lin Biao arrived in the Northeast, the Northeast Bureau headed by Peng Zhen had been busy preparing for the upcoming war as soon as they arrived in Shenyang, and the Central Military Commission was also closely watching the changes in the situation.As early as October 4, Mao Zedong telegraphed Luo Ronghuan and others: "The center of the war will shift to the Northeast, and there will be a fierce battle." On October 16, Mao Zedong pointed out in a telegram to Peng Zhen:

It is inevitable that Jiang's army will land from Qinhuangdao and attack Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou.In addition to ordering all the ministries on the way to advance at the same time, the starry night sea transportation in Jiaodong, and ordering Lin Biao to rush to Shenyang to help you command the battle, I hope you will strengthen training with your existing forces, and mobilize the people to resolutely prevent the landing and buy time. At the same time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called Stalin, asking the Soviet army to postpone the retreat and denying the Kuomintang troops to enter the Northeast.The Soviet Union agreed to support it (this is why Du Yuming and Malinovsky could not negotiate).The central government also has another measure, which is to urge Lin Biao to go to the Northeast as soon as possible to take charge of the military and command the troops to fight the enemy.

Lin Biao arrived in Shenyang on October 29.He cannot have any rest and must rush to Jinzhou immediately.Because Shanhaiguan is about to go to war. On October 30, the 13th Army of the Kuomintang Army, with the cooperation of the US military, began to attack our defenders. On November 4th, I sent someone to issue an ultimatum to our defenders, asking our army to withdraw from Shanhaiguan, but our army sternly refused.The next day, the Thirteenth Army, under the command of Commander Shi Jue, launched a full-line attack on me. At this time, our army guarding the Shanhaiguan front line was Li Yunchang's department, which was the first to enter the pass from Ji Reliao.

After the battle started, Yang Guofu led his seventh division to come for reinforcements. After our army fought against the Kuomintang army for the first time in Shanhaiguan, the Kuomintang army retreated to Qinhuangdao. On November 15, Du Yuming personally went into battle to supervise the battle, using three divisions of the 13th Army as the main attack, and the 25th Division of the 52nd Army as a detour, pressing up four divisions at once.Since Li Yunchang's army was expanded after entering the Northeast (from 10,000 people at the time of entry to more than 100,000 in two months), its combat effectiveness was not strong, and it would disperse under the enemy's firepower. On the 7,000 men and horses of the Seventh Division who had just come from Shandong and had not received any rest and supplies.Under the pressure of the two armies of the enemy, in order not to be surrounded by the enemy, Yang Guofu voluntarily withdrew from Shanhaiguan on the 16th.The 13th Army and 52nd Army of the enemy all entered Shanhaiguan.Immediately afterwards, he moved forward to occupy Suizhong.Going forward, it is Xingcheng.

Lin Biao met Yang Guofu's withdrawn troops in Xingcheng.He saw that the department was extremely exhausted and the supplies were poor. Many soldiers did not even change their shoes when they were rotten. I have heard a briefing that all kinds of materials from the Japanese can be received everywhere in the Northeast, and the Japanese warehouses can be opened by the Chinese army for self-collection. In order to speed up the march, most of the troops are lightly armed and do not bring supplies. Some troops even left their guns behind and rushed to the Northeast with bare hands. Only after arriving in the Northeast did they realize that supplies are not available everywhere in the Northeast).Lin Biao immediately ordered Yang Guofu's troops to retreat to the rear to rest.

After carefully understanding the situation of the troops and the enemy, Lin Biao believes that it is not yet suitable for our army to fight the enemy head-on.The reason is very simple. All the troops rushed to the Northeast in a hurry. Not only were they short of men and horses, they were not acclimatized to the environment (especially the sorghum rice in the Northeast is not used to the southerners), and they were not familiar with the place where they were born, so it was difficult to get supplies from the place. The communication contact of the Communist Party of China was still unable to be carried out (at that time, even Lin Biao's radio station could not communicate with the various ministries, so he had to ask the Military Commission to convey it).In order not to be defeated by the enemy one by one, Lin Biao reported his opinion to the Military Commission and suspended the deployment of the Military Commission's original plan to counterattack the invading enemy in the Jinzhou area.Although Huang Kecheng had led the Third Division of the New Fourth Army to come at Xingye at this time, but because he could not communicate with Lin Biao, the two were only 10 kilometers apart, but they didn't know it.The third division came on foot from Yutian, Hebei. After days of autumn rain, the troops were extremely tired and could not get supplies. More than 4,000 people were reduced due to illness alone.Therefore, Huang Kecheng also sent a report to the central government, reporting the difficulties encountered, and suggested that our army not participate in the main battle for the time being, and take a short-term rest first.

According to the specific situation in Northeast China, the Central Committee agreed with Lin Biao and Huang Kecheng's opinions.The People's Liberation Army decided to abandon Jinzhou and an area two or three hundred miles to the north. When our army stopped blocking, Du Yuming successively occupied Xingcheng, Jinxi, Huludao, and Jinzhou.However, since our army retreated on its own initiative, the troops did not suffer any losses.