Chapter 57 4. The siege troops rescued the hungry

The method of "long siege and long siege" adopted by our army has achieved considerable results in a short period of time. It has put the Changchun defenders in a very difficult situation. According to incomplete statistics, from June 25 to the end of September, 13,500 people left the city to surrender, including 3,700 from the New Seventh Army, 3,800 from the Sixty Army, and 6,200 from the Miscellaneous Army. Some of them surrendered collectively class by class.There are some jingles popular in the Kuomintang army in Changchun. The soldiers said: "The face of bean cakes is good food. Stand on guard with fear, grit your teeth and go to the eighth road to see the sunny day." The officials said: "The Central Committee Officers have three fears: first, they are afraid that the promissory note will not be paid, second, they are afraid of being blacked out on the battlefield, and third, they are afraid that the soldiers will not fight and surrender in groups."

However, the Changchun garrison's move to drive the hungry people out of the city was not expected by our siege troops in advance.When this serious problem was discovered, the siege troops immediately reported it to the Northeast Bureau, and the Northeast Bureau immediately ordered the Military-Civilian Joint Struggle Committee to take emergency measures, not only to ensure the success of the siege, but also to rescue the hungry people. On August 14, the Military-Civilian Joint Struggle Committee issued the "Decision on Handling Refugees in the Periphery of Changchun" and established a "Refugee Handling Committee" headed by Tang Tianji, deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the First Corps. All county magistrates from Yitong, Shuangyang and other counties participated.This committee was in charge of organizing three offices, Xinglong, Jingyue, and Changnan, to take care of the starving people.As mentioned above, more than 20,000 people were accommodated in August.But at this time, our siege troops did not let go of the checkpoints, and only took in a small number of them, and the hungry people were not allowed to leave the city freely.

In September, the number of people leaving the city increased significantly, and more and more hungry people stayed in the "vacuum zone", and some people died.After discovering the seriousness of this problem, Yang Bin, who was in charge of the enemy's work outside the city of Changchun, immediately wrote a report to the command post of the besieged city, and the report was quickly transferred to the leaders of the East Field Headquarters.On the one hand, the East Field Headquarters reported the situation to the central government, and on the other hand, it quickly took measures. Before the central government issued instructions, the leaders of the East Field Headquarters sent a telegram to the siege command post on September 11:

From now on, Changchun refugees who are blocked in and out of the city should begin to let them go, and all those who wish to come out will be allowed to pass.Because the people in Changchun have already run out of food, if they are not released, a large number of citizens will starve to death.I hope that you will make a plan based on this, and open it in batches as soon as possible, so that it will be released within ten days.For the refugees leaving the city, local party and military forces should be mobilized to organize relief, publicize condolences, and help transport manpower and horse-drawn carriages to the elderly, weak, and unable to walk.The first step is to evacuate and resettle the nearby counties in batches, mobilize the masses to provide relief, so that they will no longer die after leaving the city, or die less, so as to restore the influence and win the hearts of the people.The secret agents mixed with the refugees should be checked and detained; all enemy officers and soldiers will be taken in and sent to the Jilin Liberation Regiment for training.Secondary school students, technicians, experts, etc. should strive to come to our district to serve.The above-mentioned opening of refugees to leave the city is not to relieve the enemy of Changchun. The work of besieging the enemy must continue and must not be slackened.With regard to preventing the enemy from taking advantage of the autumn harvest to go out of the city to rob grain, the army and civilians should be organized to plunder the harvest in a timely manner, that is, according to the plan of the Corps Headquarters, the implementation will be reported by telegram at any time.

This is an important action taken by our army to carry forward the humanitarian spirit and further disintegrate the enemy.The siege command post on the front line of Changchun immediately took a series of measures in accordance with the instructions of the Dongzong to release all the hungry people and resettle them.In order to ensure that the hungry people released from the city can be resettled, this kind of release did not dare to be opened without restriction. Instead, about 2,000 people were released from each checkpoint a day, and they were resettled in dozens of temporary shelters.In order to prevent the hungry people from eating too much all of a sudden and causing gastrointestinal problems, the shelter gave the hungry people porridge for the first two days and then gradually changed to normal food.This work was carried out in an assembly line method. After the hungry people in the shelter were sent to the rural areas where they could live, the next batch of hungry people were accepted until the liberation of Changchun.At that time, only 4,000 tons of grain and 250 kilograms of salt were distributed in the shelters, and the hungry people released from the "vacuum zone" were brought back from the brink of death.In more than a month, a total of about 200,000 hungry people who left the city in Changchun were resettled.

In Changchun City, because Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zheng Dongguo to defend to the death, Zheng Dongguo knew he couldn't keep it but he had no choice but to do so.Under the guiding ideology of "Killing the People and Raising the Soldiers", and under the cruel driving of "As long as Changchun City, not Changchun people", 100,000 troops survived (in order to deal with our army's attack, Zheng Dongguo still controlled the city until Changchun City was broken) A large amount of military rations were prepared for the army to fight at the last moment. Therefore, many soldiers in the city suffered from hunger and edema, but they did not starve to death. In the relevant accounts of all the Kuomintang military and political personnel who guarded the city at that time, it is consistent Admitting that no soldier starved to death at that time), a large number of ordinary people starved to death.In his memoirs, the mayor of Changchun, Shang Chuanzhuo, had a section titled "The Result of the Policy of Killing the People and Raising the Soldiers". The noise is endless, like a hell on earth.” “By October 19, when Changchun was liberated, according to the actual statistics after the people’s government entered the city, a total of 120,000 Changchun citizens died of starvation and disease due to the Kuomintang’s policy of ‘killing people’. The people After the government entered the city, about 80,000 corpses were buried inside and outside the check post Almost every family within the Kashao had their relatives die, which is a rare catastrophe for the people.” Zheng Dongguo recalled his life in his later years: “The tragic scene in Changchun at that time was unbearable, and Changchun City became gloomy. world".Because of this, "Over the years, every time I recall the tragic situation during the siege of Changchun, I can't help but feel terrified. Especially for the huge disaster and sacrifice suffered by the people of Changchun at that time, I feel extremely painful and guilty. I will be ashamed in this life. The fathers and the people of Changchun".