Chapter 23 Two, World War I and Siping

Open the map and you can see that on the Northeast Plain, the three major cities of Shenyang, Changchun, and Harbin are placed on an almost straight oblique line from the southwest to the northeast, and Siping is exactly between Shenyang and Changchun. At the junction of the north-south and east-west railways, the importance of its strategic location is clear at a glance. After several delays, in March and April 1946, the Soviet army was about to withdraw from the Northeast, and it was officially announced that the withdrawal would be completed from April 6 to 29.Chiang Kai-shek wanted his army to take advantage of this opportunity to occupy the Northeast as soon as possible.With the assistance of the Soviet Army, although the Kuomintang government sent administrative agencies to take over the major cities, except for Shenyang, which was under their control (the Soviet army withdrew from Shenyang on March 13, the same day that the Kuomintang troops entered Shenyang; April On the 5th, the Northeast Camp of the Kuomintang and the Northeast Security Headquarters moved to Shenyang), Changchun, Harbin, Qiqihar and other northern cities were only administratively received, because the Kuomintang basically had no troops in these places, and a small number of temporarily recruited troops even maintained Law and order are not enough, all rely on the support of the Soviet army.If the Soviet army withdraws, these cities will inevitably fall into the hands of our Northeast Democratic Alliance Army nearby, and Chiang Kai-shek will have to capture each city one by one.Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek intends to use the army to truly occupy these cities and the vast rural areas before all the Soviet troops withdraw as much as possible.His plan is: divide the troops into the north and south to attack me, use the New First Army and the Seventy-first Army to attack north of Shenyang, expect to capture Siping on April 2, and then develop northward; Attack the area south of Shenyang, wipe out southern Liaoning, and then concentrate our forces to the north.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had transported 7 armies to the northeast by air and sea, but it was a pity that most of these armies were in South Manchuria and had to wait for trains and cars.However, our army has already been distributed in various places, and it is light and fast in action. It has a clear advantage over the Kuomintang army in occupying cities in a hurry. On March 13, the Soviet army withdrew from Siping. On March 17, Huang Kecheng's 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division captured Siping with the cooperation of the 7th Column, and handed over the arms of more than 4,000 security guards from Liu Handong, chairman of the Kuomintang's Northern Liaoning Province.After the war, according to the decision of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army Headquarters, the First Security Brigade organized the Siping Garrison Headquarters to govern the Division’s First Regiment and the Seventh Column’s 56th Regiment, with a total of more than 6,000 people defending Siping. Carry out mobile defense and look for opportunities to annihilate the enemy.

Later, with the retreat of the Soviet army, while fighting fiercely in Benxi and Siping, our North Manchurian troops successively liberated the three big cities of Changchun, Harbin and Qiqihar from April 15 to 28 from the administrative officials appointed by the Kuomintang. city.In the Liberation of Changchun, the Seventh Division was the main offensive, investing a total of 20,000 troops and annihilating 18,000 enemies; in the Liberation of Harbin, the 359th Brigade was the main offensive and annihilating more than 5,000 enemies (there were no Kuomintang troops in Harbin, but when the Soviets withdrew At that time, a large number of bandits rushed in); the liberation of Qiqihar also took the Seventh Division as the main force, and wiped out more than 3,000 enemies.

The situation is very obvious. Most of the area north of Siping has been occupied by us. It is absolutely impossible for the Kuomintang army to develop from south to north without passing through Siping.In this way, it is impossible for our army to hand over the strategically important areas that our army has just occupied, and the Kuomintang must capture Siping if it wants to develop northward. The battle of Siping was clearly placed on the sand table of the commanders of both sides. Lin Biao went to Siping himself.What about Du Yuming?He is not in the Northeast, he went to Beiping for medical treatment after the battle in Xiushuihezi.He was suffering from kidney stones, and just the day before Huang Kecheng captured Siping, he had his left kidney removed in Peking Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and he was still lying in the ward.When asking Chiang Kai-shek for sick leave, he was ready to find a reliable assistant to take command on his behalf.He recommended Zheng Dongguo to Chiang Kai-shek.

Due to Du Yuming's relationship, Zheng Dongguo arrived in Jinzhou in early March 1946 and served as the deputy commander of the Northeast Security Command, acting as the chief.Since he had just arrived in the Northeast, and Xiong Shihui was higher than him in terms of official rank and seniority, Zheng Dongguo did not immediately take over the military command, but Xiong Shihui, who was also in Jinzhou at the time, was in charge. If the Kuomintang army wants to attack northward, it must first solve the worries in the Shenyang area, because our army still has a lot of troops in this area.On the other hand, our army intends to hold back the enemy troops in the Shenyang area and prevent them from going north to Siping, so as to cooperate with the Siping war.In this way, the battle on the South Road will start first.Xiong Shihui and Zheng Dongguo took advantage of their strong military strength. Starting from March 18, within a short period of time, the New Sixth Army successively invaded and occupied Liaoyang and Anshan, the 52nd Army invaded Fushun, and the 71st and 94th Army invaded Haicheng, Yingkou.Our army set out on the principle of not fighting for gains or losses in one city and one place. These cities were voluntarily evacuated, and the vital forces did not suffer any loss. Beginning on April 1, the 14th Division of the New Sixth Army and the 25th Division of the 52nd Army attacked Benxi twice and were repelled by us. The deputy commander of the 52nd Army Zheng Mingxin and the commander of the 25th Division Liu Shimao Killed by me.In the two defense battles of Benxi, our army wiped out more than 5,800 enemies.

On April 18, Du Yuming was discharged from the hospital and returned to Shenyang, where he decided to compete with our army in Benxi. Because he learned that our army had 10 brigades in the Benxi area at that time, and there were more than 100,000 people including local troops.Before he returned to Shenyang, the 25th Division and the 14th Division of the Kuomintang Army failed to attack Benxi twice, which shows the strength of the Benxi defenders.If this powerful force is not resolved, it is impossible to control the Shenyang area in their hands.Therefore, Du Yuming mobilized the 71st Army and the New Sixth Army, plus the original 52nd Army, a total of more than 80,000 people in 5 divisions, and launched an attack on me in three ways on April 28.The Third Column, Fourth Column, and Third Security Brigade of our Liaodong Military Region, under the command of Xiao Hua, withdrew from Benxi on May 3 after they resisted the enemy tenaciously.Although the defense of Benxi failed to keep Benxi, it achieved a main purpose, which was to drag nearly two armies of enemy troops into the Shenyang area and wipe out 11,000 enemy troops. This was a great blow to the Siping campaign in the north support.

Xiong Shihui's attack on Siping began in early April, and the main forces invested were the 1st Army of the New Army and the 71st Army.Originally, Chiang Kai-shek asked him to occupy Siping before April 2.Since our army held back the enemy in Benxi and other places, the battle in Siping did not start until after the end of the Benxi battle. Yi's Seventh Column and the original 359th Brigade and other troops were able to build a lot of fortifications. Starting from April 8th, our army first carried out mobile defense against the invading enemy in the area south of Siping and north of Changtu, and resisted steadily. More than 5,000 enemies have been wiped out. The 87th Division of the enemy has basically been wiped out by us. , It was not until April 17 that the New First Army entered the suburbs of Siping. On April 18, the enemy's New First Army was commanded by Zheng Dongguo (the commander of the New First Army, Sun Liren, was awarded an honor in the UK at the time and was not in the army). The Eleventh Army attempted to detour from the west to form a north-south pincer between Siping and Changchun.Our Seventh Column, Third Division, Seventh Division, and the First Security Brigade fought fiercely with the enemy on the Baili line of defense until the 26th, when the battle was in a stalemate.Zheng Dongguo ordered a temporary cessation of the offensive and asked Du Yuming to increase his troops.

For our Northeast Army, it was the first time that we were able to repel the attack of the New First Army of the Kuomintang Ace Army with all American equipment in a positional battle with the cooperation of aircraft and tanks.When the good news was reported to the Central Committee, Mao Zedong was very happy. He said in his reply on the 27th: (1) The defenders of Siping are very brave, and I look forward to sending orders to reward them. (2) Please consider adding a part of the defenders, turning Siping Street into Madrid (Note: Siping is also known as Siping Street. Madrid is the capital of Spain. During the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, the Spanish Popular Front fought the famous Madrid defense battle here. , received the solidarity and support of the international socialist forces).

This is no ordinary morale boost, and there is a national picture to consider.At this time, it was an important period for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to conduct peace negotiations under the mediation of the US special envoy Marshall, and the Northeast was the key area of ​​the negotiations. On March 27, the three-person team of the Executive Department of the Military Mediation Office formally signed a "Mediation Northeast Armistice Agreement", whether it can be implemented is still uncertain.If we can keep Siping, we will also keep Changchun, and we will have the strength to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek.If the armistice agreement can be implemented, the Northeast will become a situation where we occupy Changchun and Harbin, and the Kuomintang government occupies Shenyang.And if our army can't defend Siping and let the opponent go straight to Beiman, it will be difficult to hold Changchun. This will put us in an extremely disadvantageous position in the negotiation. Chiang Kai-shek will never cease fighting with us and negotiate peace. Northeast is more passive.It is precisely because of this overall consideration that Mao Zedong used the phrase "stick to Siping" more than once in his telegram to Lin Biao.

However, Lin Biao was not optimistic.He is very clear on the front line: the battle some time ago has exposed many shortcomings of our army that are not suitable for this kind of positional warfare, such as firepower equipment, methods of dealing with rocket launchers and tanks, and the construction of fortifications. There are many shortcomings.Another fatal problem is the supply of ammunition.Long-term positional warfare consumes a lot of ammunition. The ammunition we obtained from the Japanese warehouse after we arrived in the Northeast is almost used up. Our own arsenal has not yet been built. Guang, what should we do next?In order to supplement the ammunition on the front line of Siping, Luo Ronghuan asked the Soviet Union for help, and dispatched ammunition and medicine for eight trains by sea via North Korea. Unexpectedly, the Meihekou Railway Station was blown up by the Kuomintang Air Force.

After the enemy troops from South Manchuria captured Benxi, Liao Yaoxiang's New Sixth Army and other departments were transferred to the front line of Siping by Du Yuming. Sun Liren, the commander of the New First Army, returned to the army from abroad. The three main forces pressed towards Siping together. The New First Army and the New Sixth Army belong to one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang army, and they are twin brothers.The New First Army was established in January 1943 during the Anti-Japanese War. The first army commander was Zheng Dongguo, and the next two division commanders were Sun Liren and Liao Yaoxiang.This is the first corps of all American equipment in the Kuomintang army.After the establishment of Ramgarh in India, this army received strict American training, and a large number of young students were added.These two troops then became the backbone of the Kuomintang army in the Northeast.At this time, at the same time launched an attack on Siping. Since the three main forces of the enemy army pressed up on me together, and there were two ace troops of the Kuomintang army with strong combat effectiveness, our army's defense line had to be stretched, and the two wings were more than 100 kilometers long. The situation was obviously not good for me. .Lin Biao once truthfully reported the various difficulties in defending Siping to the central government, and Huang Kecheng even clearly suggested to the central government to abandon Siping and Changchun in order to preserve strength and fight again.However, starting from the overall situation, the central government still required Lin Biao to stick to Siping, because from the overall situation, "the longer the support for the defense of Siping Street, the better." When Du Yuming basically concentrated his main force in the Northeast to Siping, he launched an attack on our army again with 10 divisions from May 14th.At this time, the situation of the two sides is as follows: Huang Kecheng's Third Division and Liang Xingchu's First Division dealt with the enemy's 71st Army in the west, Cheng Shicai's 3rd Column and 359th Brigade newly transferred from South Manchuria to deal with the new Sixth Army in the east, Yang Guofu's Seventh Division and Peng Mingzhi The Seventh Brigade of the Chinese Communist Party faced the new army in the front, and Wan Yi's first column reinforced Tazi Mountain, the commanding height. On the 15th, fierce battles were fought in three directions at the same time.On the Sandaolinzi Beishan position, the New First Army attacked our army with the support of aircraft and heavy artillery. The Beishan position was no more than 20 meters high and less than 100 meters wide, but it had to withstand more than 100 rounds of heavy artillery shells and tens of The indiscriminate bombing of the heavy bombs completely turned the entire position into a sea of ​​flames and a mountain of blood.The New Sixth Army used part of its forces to fight against me, and at the same time used 600 large trucks to transport troops to detour and rush forward, and then used aircraft to cover it, broke through our three vertical defense lines, and then stormed Tazi Mountain, the commanding height of Siping, with the New First Army.My seventh column guarding Tazi Mountain and the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Division and 10th Brigade who quickly reinforced the Seventh Column fought until the 18th, with all casualties, and Tazi Mountain finally fell.As soon as Tazishan fell, Siping was completely exposed to the enemy's artillery fire. More importantly, our army was in danger of being cut off by the enemy.Lin Biao, unable to wait for the central government's approval, ordered the withdrawal of the entire army from Siping. On the 19th, the enemy entered Siping. The Battle of Siping was the first major battle our army fought after entering the Northeast. Our army invested a total of 80,000 horses, but failed to keep Siping. Although more than 10,000 enemies were eliminated, our main force suffered 8,000 casualties Some divisions and brigades have basically lost their combat effectiveness.This battle hit the enemy's arrogance and blocked the enemy's northward advance. At that time, it played an important role in consolidating the northern Manchukuo base. Therefore, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stated in a telegram to the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army: "Our army in Siping held on for a month and fought against 10 enemy divisions, which showed the high tenacity and heroism of the people's army. This struggle is of historical significance." Regarding whether this great battle should be fought at that time, and if it should be fought, how should it be fought, no matter at that time or in the future, the senior leaders of our army have different opinions.At that time, the Northeast Bureau concluded that: "Defensive warfare is not an effective means of destroying the enemy. Under the circumstances at that time, it was not appropriate to adopt a large-scale defensive warfare. The Siping defense war was formed due to a wrong estimate of the current situation. Peace can be achieved. This kind of combat is not suitable according to the general conditions at that time.” Decades later, General Han Xianchu, who personally participated in this battle, thought so in his memoirs: The Siping defense battle was a city defense war formed under specific historical conditions. It was a concentrated reflection of the leadership's different views and uncertain grasp of peace and war issues after our army entered the Northeast.When our army is in a disadvantaged situation, it is strategically wrong to place too much emphasis on the gains and losses of a city and a place, and to fight against the enemy under unfavorable conditions.However, after the negative education of the Siping Defense War and the Great Retreat, the illusion of peace was completely eliminated, and it had a positive impact on the unity of thought of the entire party and army in the Northeast on issues of peace and war and base area construction.