Chapter 53 4. Thirty-one hours to overcome Jinzhou

October 14, 1948 at 9:30. The position of our army appeared to be silent.However, if viewed from the high ground outside the city, several traffic ditches point to the enemy's positions, the nearest being less than 100 meters away. The soldiers dug the traffic ditches according to the distance that the enemy's grenades cannot throw; The squadron and the sharp knife company have all arrived at the designated position, and the communication line has been leading behind them; a little farther away, the muzzles of various artillery in the artillery position are pointing in one direction; farther away, there is the sound of rumbling guns , On the Tashan position, a fierce battle is going on to stop the enemy's Jin Corps.

Three green flares shot straight across the sky, and more than 900 artillery pieces of various types roared at the same time.This is the first time in the war history of the Chinese nation that more than 900 cannons roared at the same time. It not only heralds that the Liaoshen Campaign has entered a decisive period, but also heralds the arrival of a decisive battle between two destinies and two eras in Chinese history.In human history, the arrival of a new era or a new thing of great significance is often accompanied by violence and pain.The artillery fire outside Jinzhou City should be giving birth to a new China.

With the extension of the artillery fire, the units of our second, third, seventh, eighth, ninth, sixth and seventeenth divisions attacked the enemy at the same time from their respective positions. The first to rush into the city was the Nine Columns in the south of the city.Because the south of Jinzhou City is not the area where the enemy's defense is strongest, Dong Zong should equip the Nine Columns with fewer artillery pieces.The vanguard of the Nine Columns charged before the artillery fire extended, wading through the waist-deep Xiaoling River outside the city, and rushed to the city within 10 minutes.Although the enemy's firepower was fierce, the Seventy-Sixth Regiment of the Nine Columns decided to immediately climb the city while suppressing the enemy's firepower.Zhu Wanlin, a soldier of the Fifth Company, was the first to climb the city wall and raised the red flag.But he immediately fell under the enemy's bullets.Then, the second, third, and fourth raised the red flag four times, the soldiers went up, the squad leader went up, and the platoon leader went up.The feat of raising the red flags four times inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers, and they finally climbed the city wall and entered Jinzhou City.Nine Columns and Seven Columns marched side by side, attacking from south to north in the city, and started street fighting.There is a Central Avenue from south to north in Jinzhou City. The Seventh and Ninth Columns are based on the Central Avenue. The Seventh Column is on the west and the Ninth Column is on the east.

Under the command of Commander Deng Hua and Political Commissar Wu Fushan, the Seventh Column attacked with the 21st Division on the left along Xiaoling Street, and the 20th Division on the right along Daling Street, with the 19th Division as the second echelon. Attacking north, the general goal is to reach the vicinity of the railway station and join the second and third columns attacking from north to south.After successively capturing strongholds such as the Army Hospital, when attacking the Jinzhou Cinema, because of the thick walls and strong blockhouses of the cinema, a battalion of enemy troops resisted tenaciously inside relying on the solid fortifications. More than 600 kilograms of explosives were stacked to blow up the movie theater, killing or injuring more than 300 enemies inside before taking down the movie theater.

After the Seventh Column captured Xiguan, it had already approached the old city of Jinzhou. Under the command of Commander Zhan Caifang and Political Commissar Li Zhongquan, the Nine Columns crossed the Xiaoling River with the Seventh Column, entered the city, and attacked northward with the Seventh Column. The progress was relatively smooth, and captured the KMT's city hall in the afternoon.Then, together with the three verticals that attacked the center of the city, they surrounded the headquarters of the enemy's Sixteenth Corps. In the early morning of the 15th, the enemy regiment headquarters was captured.The 27th Division of the Nine Columns also occupied the airport in the west of Jinzhou.

The north is the main assault point for our army to attack Jinzhou. The 17th division with the second column, the third column, and the sixth column is also equipped with artillery and tanks, accounting for 43.7% of the total attack force and 53.2% of the artillery. The only tank battalion of the army is also here. Since the enemy had the most fortifications in the north of Jinzhou City, the second and third columns charged after bombarding them for a full 40 minutes.Under the command of Commander Liu Zhen and Political Commissar Wu Faxian, the Sixth Division of the Second Column first broke into the urban area with our tanks clearing the way.The north of the city is also the focus of the enemy's defense, and the enemy has also prepared tanks and armored vehicles, so not long after our army invaded, it opened the first battle in the history of our army where the enemy fought our tanks, we fought the enemy's tanks, and both tanks fought tanks.A tank nicknamed "Old Man" that made great contributions in this battle, under the driving of the heroic tanker Dong Laifu, participated in 5 battles successively. Tank", which is still on display in the hall of the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution.

Just when the second column broke into the city and passed the enemy's second fortification, another Dong Cunrui-style hero appeared, his name was Liang Shiying. Liang Shiying (1922-1948), a native of Fuyu, Jilin Province, joined our Northeast People's Self-Defense Army in the spring of 1946 and fought bravely. He joined the Communist Party of China this winter, and has been twice in our army's battles against Changtu and Zhangwu meritorious service.When Jinzhou was attacked, he was the combat team leader of the sharp knife platoon of the eighth company of the fifteenth regiment of the second vertical division and the fifth division.When the sharp knife platoon rushed to the enemy's second fortification, it was suppressed by enemy fire.Because the enemy's fortification was built using the original railway embankment, the fortifications are solid and the firepower is strong. In particular, the fanning fire of two heavy machine guns in a bunker next to the railway bridge blocked the offensive roads of our two companies. It was sealed.Liang Shiying took the initiative to ask to go to the blasting. With a blasting tube in his hand and a grenade in his waist, he gradually approached the enemy's bunker under the cover of our machine guns.He flicked the grenade first, and rushed towards the enemy's bunker in the thick smoke when the grenade exploded.Since he was standing under the bunker, the enemy's machine guns could no longer hit him.

At this time, he gradually moved towards the enemy's gun hole, and suddenly inserted the blasting barrel in his hand.Just as he was about to leave the bunker, the smoking blaster was pushed out by the enemies inside the bunker again.At this time, the enemy's machine gun suddenly went silent, and our army's sharp knife platoon charged again.At this critical moment, Liang Shiying did not hesitate to stuff the blasting tube on the ground into the hole of the bunker again. The enemy also pushed out at the same time. Liang Shiying firmly held the smoking blasting tube with both hands, feet He kicked hard on the ground.The blasting tube was about to explode, and Company Commander Mou Jinshan and Platoon Leader Jin Wenqing of the Eighth Company shouted to him to come back quickly. He only said two words, "No..." The blasting tube exploded in his hand, and the enemy's bunker was destroyed. It was blown up, and Liang Shiying, Dong Cunrui's hero, was honorably sacrificed at the same time.After the hero's sacrifice, the army recorded his third great service, and the fifth squad of the eighth company he was in was named "Liang Shiying's squad".In order to commemorate this young hero, the people of Jinzhou renamed the Jinzhou City Gate near the place where he died as "Shiying Gate", and the street where he charged, Hui'an Street, was renamed "Shiying Street".The people of Jinzhou also built tombs and erected monuments for the martyrs.

The Second Vertical and the Fifth Division followed the road opened by heroes such as Liang Shiying, successively captured Jing'an Street, the Red Cross Hospital, and went straight to Baiyun Park in the city center.At 3:00 p.m., the Fifth Division and the Fourth Division joined forces in the city center with the Seventh Column, which was attacking from the south of the city. After the three vertical attacks entered the city, it went relatively smoothly at first, but was soon hindered.The provincial government and the enemies in the nearby tall buildings formed a powerful and crossed firepower network, which caused many sacrifices of our attacking soldiers.Even after organizing several assaults, they couldn't get close. The provincial government building became a stumbling block, and they fought from morning to night.Later, Zhai Wenqing, the instructor of the 3rd Battalion and 8th Company of the 19th Regiment of the 2nd Column, 6th Division, and a blasting hero during the Anti-Japanese War, personally carried out the night blasting.Holding the explosive pack, he cleverly used the method of dodging from left to right and alternating lying and jumping to cross the more than 50-meter-long uphill road blocked by enemy fire. He stacked three packs of explosives together and blasted the provincial government building.

The Sixth Vertical and Seventeenth Division, known as the "Tiger Attacking the Fortress", was specially transferred from Siping to Jinzhou by Lin Biao, and it was actually used as the general reserve team for the siege.Lin Biao and Han Xianchu gave Long Shujin, the commander of the 17th Division, the task of allowing this "tiger attack" to capture Fan Hanjie's command post Railway Bureau Building after the three verticals opened the breakthrough moved to the basement of the Central Bank).Sure enough, the Seventeenth Division lived up to the heavy responsibility, and successively conquered the former Japanese Army Shrine, Zhongling Pagoda, Railway Police Station and other strongholds, and cooperated with the third and second verticals to conquer the provincial government building, and then conquered the spinning mill, approaching the railway bureau building .With the cooperation of the three vertical and eight divisions, it took only more than 30 minutes to capture the reinforced concrete railway bureau building, forcing more than 2,000 people from the fifty-fifth division defending the enemy to surrender.Only then did I know that Fan Hanjie's command post had moved.

Under the command of Commander Duan Suquan and Political Commissar Qiu Huizuo, the Eighth Column attacked from the east to the west. After the 22nd Division broke through the city defenses, they successively captured Gas Club and China Textile Company.The 23rd Division annihilated the headquarters of the enemy's 54th Division, surrounded Fan Hanjie's command post of the Central Bank and the special task force, and then, together with the Sixth Column and Seventeenth Division, wiped them out.The 22nd Division occupied the Central Bank at the same time.The 24th Division did not enter the urban area until the night of the 14th, but they not only wiped out several battalions of the enemy, but also captured Sheng Jiaxing, the commander of the 93rd Army of the enemy, Jing Jingyang, the commander of the 18th Division of the enemy, and the Fifth Division of the enemy's temporary formation. Huang Jianyong, commander of the 14th Division. Fan Hanjie's Northeast "Suppression General" Jinzhou Command Post and Lu Junquan's Sixteenth Corps Headquarters were captured by our army on the 14th, but we did not see Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan, two lieutenant generals of the Kuomintang army. They have fled for their lives.Other enemies fled into Jinzhou's last line of defense - the old city of Jinzhou. Jinzhou Old City is located in the center of Jinzhou. Although it is not big, the city walls and fortifications are quite strong.In order to make the last resistance, the enemy army fled in one after another if they could escape.It is estimated that more than 15,000 enemies fled into the old city. On the afternoon of the 15th, Lin Biao ordered the Seventh Column to attack the old city of Jinzhou with the cooperation of the Second Column.It took only 3 hours for the Second Column to conquer the last stronghold of the enemy army in Jinzhou, and the remaining personnel in the enemy command post, led by Yin Kaiben, chief of staff of the 93rd Army, hoisted a white flag.It was 6 pm on the 15th. Our army's attack on Jinzhou ended successfully. From 10:00 am on the 14th to 6:00 pm on the 15th, the battle of attacking Jinzhou took a total of 31 hours. Our army wiped out 100,000 enemy defenders in Jinzhou, including more than 80,000 prisoners.A large number of weapons and military supplies were seized.The most important thing is that this battle created the first example of our army's quick decision in a critical battle, fully realized the central government's strategic goal of "closing the door and beating dogs" in the Northeast, and made a significant contribution to the war situation in the Northeast and the whole country. On October 17, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a congratulatory message to the Northeast Field Army, calling the Battle of Jinzhou a "great victory."The full text of the congratulatory message is as follows: Celebrate your great victory of annihilating 100,000 enemies and liberating Jinzhou.This victory came at the beginning of your offensive this fall, and new victories will surely continue to come.I hope you will continue to work hard to fight for the complete annihilation of the Jiang bandit army in the Northeast and the complete liberation of the people of the Northeast! In this battle, our army also paid a big price, with a total of more than 24,000 casualties.In the post-war summary, a large number of heroes and models who emerged in the battle and collective heroes were commended, such as the Dong Cunrui-style hero Liang Shiying introduced earlier, "four red flags" at the head of Jinzhou City The fifth company of the 76th Regiment of the 26th Division of the 9th Column, and the 8th Company of the 49th Regiment of the 17th Division of the 6th Column, and the 49th Regiment of the 17th Division of the 6th Column, who were awarded the title of "Tiger Sword" for taking down 30 bunkers in a row and capturing more than a dozen buildings. The third battalion of the 23rd regiment of the 3rd vertical and 8th division was awarded the pennant of "no resistance at the point of the spear, and the first to reach Jinzhou City". Now it is necessary to explain the whereabouts of the two Kuomintang lieutenant generals Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan who were not in their respective command posts when our army attacked Jinzhou. On the afternoon of the 14th, Fan Hanjie had completely lost his fighting spirit under the onslaught of our army.At that time, both the ammunition depot and the underground gasoline depot in Jinzhou City were shot and caught fire. In the flames soaring into the sky, Fan Hanjie took his wife and children to Lu Junquan's headquarters, and discussed with Lu Junquan and Sheng Jiaxing, the commander of the 93rd Army, and other senior officers. Countermeasures.Their opinions were exactly the same: Jinzhou cannot be defended, reinforcements cannot come, there is only one way to die if you stick to it, and the only way to survive is to stand out. However, on how to highlight this point, because they all plan for themselves and want to keep a little more safety factor for themselves, they cannot reach a consensus.Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan decided to let Sheng Jiaxing be in charge of commanding the breakout. The direction was to leave the city from the east gate, cross the Xiaoling River and then go to Nanshan Farm, and then try to move in the direction of Gaoqiao and Tashan. The goal is to try to reach Jinxi.Breakout time is set at dusk.Sheng Jiaxing said that the troops had been dispersed and could not be commanded. He asked Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan to act on their own. On the night of the 14th, Fan Hanjie took his wife and Chief of Staff Li Ruhe, together with Lu Junquan, led some soldiers of the Secret Service Regiment to break out of the siege, but was dispersed by our army as soon as they arrived in Nanshi.So he had to give up breaking out and flee for his life instead.Under the cover of dozens of guards, they took advantage of the chaos in the city and selected the relatively calm southeast corner of the city wall according to Lu Junquan who had already sent people to scout (Lu Junquan's choice was good, because it was the junction of my eighth and ninth columns) Climbing over the earth wall, crossing the barbed wire, wading across the Xiaoling River, escaped in the dark night, but was discovered by our army at the foot of Nanshan.They ran as soon as they heard the gunshots, and the group broke up.Fan Hanjie ran several kilometers to the southeast, and bought worn-out clothes from ordinary people to change into. On the afternoon of the 15th, Fan Hanjie saw a plane of the Kuomintang Air Force circling over Jinzhou on the mountain path. Of course, the people on the plane did not know that even Fan Hanjie had nowhere to escape in the ravine at this time. On the 16th, Fan Hanjie and others encountered my Nine Columns rear organization in a place called Gujia Shack.An interrogation revealed Fan Hanjie, who called himself a "Shenyang refugee," and became a prisoner of our army. After being separated from Fan Hanjie, Lu Junquan hid in a ravine all night, eating cabbage in the field to satisfy his hunger. A group of five people also exchanged gold for worn-out clothes from ordinary people in an attempt to escape from the encirclement of our army. As a result, I didn't go far, and was discovered by my Nine Columns troops in a village called Niangniang Palace.Lu Junquan and his party were members of the Yunnan Army, and their Yunnan dialect could not conceal their true identities, so they entered the prisoner camp. At the headquarters of the Northeast Field Army at the foot of Cuiyan Mountain in the northwest of Jinzhou, Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan received Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan respectively.Lin Biao asked Fan Hanjie: "What do you think of the battle of Jinzhou?" Fan Hanjie said: "The move to fight Jinzhou cannot be done by a non-talented person. Jinzhou is like a shoulder pole. One end picks the Northeast and the other picks North China. Now It was broken in the middle." Luo Ronghuan asked him: "Strategically, we are superior, so what about tactics?" Fan Hanjie said: "Your artillery fire was fierce, unexpected. Our artillery fire was suppressed. Your army is very skilled in close-in trenching operations. You can't see the movement of troops on the ground, and you can't carry out an attack. Your army is charging, and we are really hard to resist." Fan Hanjie was sent to Harbin as a war criminal.His wife, released on humanitarian grounds.She went to the 54th Army of the Kuomintang and was sent to Huludao by the 54th Army.Chiang Kai-shek didn't say anything to her, and Guo Chan, the commander of the Joint Logistics Department, gave her some money and sent her to Tianjin. When Lu Junquan saw Lin Biao, Lin Biao told him that our army had sent someone to deliver a letter to him, hoping that he would put down his weapons, and asked him if he had received it.He said he hadn't received it, but he didn't want to call him. Lin Biao asked him to communicate with Zeng Zesheng, commander of the 60th Army in Changchun, which also belongs to the Yunnan Army system.Lu Junquan immediately drafted a telegram to Zeng Zesheng, telling Zeng that the Jinzhou defenders had been wiped out, and asked Zeng Zesheng not to make any further resistance.It was later learned that this telegram played a certain role in Zeng Zesheng's laying down his arms in Changchun. Many senior Kuomintang generals were captured by our army in the Battle of Jinzhou. Lieutenant-level officers of the same level as Fan Hanjie alone included Yang Hongguang, deputy commander of the 16th Corps, deputy commander of the Jireliao Border Region and director of the Jinxi Administrative Office, and the Northeast Army. He Kui, deputy director of the "Suppression General" Jinzhou Command Post, Sheng Jiaxing, commander of the 93rd Army, and others.