Chapter 35 3. Chen Cheng slipped away

Soon after World War II and Siping, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chen Cheng to the northeast to replace Xiong Shihui and Du Yuming.According to the specific situation in Northeast China at that time, Chen Cheng set his strategic policy as "ensure Beining, open up Jincheng, maintain the middle and long, and protect Haikou".That is to say, the troops will be greatly reduced, and they will only operate in big cities and along the main railway lines, with the focus on Shenyang, Changchun, Siping and Jinzhou. In view of Chen Cheng's passive defensive strategy, it created conditions for our army to actively destroy the enemy.After a period of rest and reorganization, the Northeast Army launched an autumn offensive starting in September 1947 according to the deployment of the Central Military Commission.At this time, Chen Cheng wanted to do everything possible to protect the Beining Railway (the "Beining Railway" is the Beining Railway, originally called the Jingfeng Railway, which was renamed the Beining Railway in 1929, that is, the railway from Beijing to Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province), especially the smooth flow from Jinzhou to Shanhaiguan. But his strength here is not strong, so our army decided to annihilate the enemy on this front.

On September 14, our Eighth Column exchanged fire with the enemy in Lishugou. With the cooperation of the Nine Columns, our army won three battles and three victories in western Liaoning. The enemy's 49th Army headquarters and two divisions were almost wiped out by us.Chen Cheng thought that our army was going to capture Jinzhou, so he urgently dispatched the New Sixth Army to the south for reinforcements.Chiang Kai-shek didn't know the real purpose of our army. He flew to Shenyang on October 8 to learn about the situation. He dispatched 6 divisions from the North China battlefield to reinforce the Northeast and consolidate Jinzhou under the command of the 17th Corps Commander Hou Jingru.While the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Columns of our army were attacking the enemy reinforcements from North China in western Liaoning, they also launched an offensive along the Zhongchang Road in the north. The First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Sixth Columns acted together .

Our army's tactics are not to fight a big city, but to destroy the enemy's vital forces.Until the first ten days of November, the autumn campaign ended, and a total of 69,000 enemies were eliminated, not only cutting off the Beining line, but also cutting off the medium and long line from Changchun to Siping (our army was still using tactics of destroying railways at that time). Chen Cheng's single-minded attempt to keep the railway unimpeded could not be realized. The people in Shenyang made up a jingle and said sarcastically: "Chen Cheng is really capable. The South Railway Station connects to the North Railway Station."

After the autumn campaign, our army began to plan the winter campaign.Since Chen Cheng was more cautious at this time, he completely shrank his 580,000 troops in 28 cities. If our army wants to destroy the enemy in large numbers, it must attack big cities, and there is no need to attack big cities at this time.Therefore, the goal of our army's winter campaign is still to concentrate our forces and use the method of besieging the city to fight for aid to destroy the enemy when attacking the city.Due to the ice and snow in the Northeast in winter, the river is generally frozen, which also provides favorable conditions for the movement of the troops.

On December 1, 1947, the Winter Campaign began.Our army first launched an operation in western Liaoning to remove the obstacles for our army to communicate between Northeast and North China, and at the same time cut off the Northeast Kuomintang army and the only land communication line in the pass-Beining Road.From Changtu, Kaiyuan, Faku, and Tieling in the north to Xinmin in the west, our army made an all-out attack on the northwest side of Shenyang, and our troops pointed directly at Shenyang. Chen Cheng urgently ordered the troops stationed in Changchun and Siping to come south for aid, and the troops stationed in Jinzhou and southern Liaoning to come north for aid.Our Second Column and Seventh Column captured Zhangwu on December 28 and wiped out more than 8,000 people from the 79th Division of the 49th Army. On January 7, 1948, the enemy's new fifth army was lured to the Gongzhutun area, and the second, third, sixth, and seventh verticals concentrated their forces to wipe them out. Taiwan was captured alive by me, and more than 20,000 enemies were wiped out in this battle.In addition, on other battlefields, our army also reported frequent successes.

Chen Linda was the first army commander captured by our army on the Northeast battlefield. After he was captured, he only said four words about the situation in the Northeast: "There is no future." More than 20,000 people in the newly formed Fifth Army were wiped out at one time, which greatly shocked the upper echelons of the Kuomintang, because this was the first time in the Northeast. On January 10, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Shenyang to supervise the war.Chen Cheng clearly knew that he was responsible for the situation in the Northeast War, but he couldn't bear it, so when the senior generals had a meeting, he admitted in front of Chiang Kai-shek: "The destruction of the New Five Army was entirely due to my own command. Fang, don’t blame the generals, please punish me according to party discipline and state law, so as to suppress military discipline.” He also said, “I am determined to defend Shenyang. If the Communist Party invades Shenyang, I am determined to live and die with Shenyang, and finally commit suicide with a pistol.” Behind his back, he followed his wife's route and tried to leave the Northeast.Chen Cheng's wife Tan Xiang (also known as Tan Manyi) is Song Meiling's goddaughter, and her marriage with Chen Cheng was facilitated by Song Meiling.Tan Xiang went to Song Meiling and cried, saying that Chen Cheng's gastric ulcer had recurred and had to be treated. So Song Meiling took over for Chiang Kai-shek and agreed that Chen Cheng should leave the Northeast to recuperate. On February 5, 1948, Chen Cheng quietly left Shenyang, preparing to go to the United States for medical treatment.

Chen Cheng's move not only made the military dissatisfied, but also the upper-class people in Northeast China, and even many people in the Kuomintang. Many Kuomintang members in Nanjing shouted "If you don't kill Chen Cheng, you can't thank the people of the country"! "Go to Shanghai, arrest Chen Cheng and release Beijing from law enforcement!" "Chen Cheng is not allowed to flee to the United States"! Chen Cheng originally asked for leave to go to the United States for medical treatment, but because of too much public outrage, he did not dare to go to the United States in the end, but went to a hospital in Shanghai.