Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Breaking open the stone door

Shijiazhuang has become an "isolated island on land" trapped in the liberated area, and it is just around the corner.The Northern Shaanxi Central Committee decided that our army in North China would fight an unprecedented battle against big cities.The Kuomintang boasted: Shimen's three lines of defense are better than the Maginot line of defense.The commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army personally participated in the combat meeting for the liberation of Shimen.In the bloody battle, Zheng Weishan and Hu Yaobang personally led troops to attack the city.To capture the thief and capture the king, Fu Chongbi led a sharp-edged soldier to penetrate the enemy's heart, making extraordinary achievements skillfully.

In the second half of 1947, the rumbling artillery fire of the War of Liberation resounded a year later, and it was gradually pushed from our liberated area to Jiang's area.After withstood the full-scale and key attacks of the Kuomintang army, our People's Liberation Army has shifted from strategic defense to strategic offensive in various battlefields across the country. Not only was Chiang Kai-shek's surprise that the balance of war was tilted so quickly, but even Mao Zedong was deeply excited and surprised by this rapid pace of advancement. North China battlefield.With a series of effective military operations by our army in North China, the Kuomintang army has only a few big cities such as Baoding and Shijiazhuang left.The victory of Qingfengdian opened the door of Shijiazhuang.Shijiazhuang has been set into the aperture of our army's target.

Shijiazhuang, also known as Shimen, was just a small village in Huolu County in its early years.It is said that because there are only a dozen or so families, it is called Shijiazhuang. It is also said that these ten or so families are all surnamed Shi, so it is also called Shijiazhuang.Only in modern times, due to the development of transportation, it gradually became a city. In 1900, the Ping-Han Railway was built, which passed through here, and a station was set up; in 1903, the Zhengtai Railway was built, starting from here, and after it opened to traffic in 1907, a railway bureau was set up in Shijiazhuang.As a result, merchants gathered, residents increased rapidly, and gradually became prosperous. Shijiazhuang Village was changed to Shijiazhuang Town.

In the troubled times of the early years of the Republic of China, in order to expand to the south, Fengjun, who occupied the north, changed the town into a city, named Shijiazhuang Town and Xiumen Town respectively, and named it Shimen City.After the opening of the Shide Railway, Shijiazhuang will become a transportation hub for the east to Shandong, the west to Shanxi, the north to Pingjin, and the south to the Central Plains, connecting Beiping, Baoding, Taiyuan, Datong, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Dezhou, Jinan and other important cities.With the development of railways and highways, Shijiazhuang, an unknown place, expanded rapidly. By the eve of liberation, the population had reached 280,000, and the city area was 20 square kilometers, making it an important town in North China.

The rapid development of Shijiazhuang is almost miraculous.And such a miraculous development begins with its superior geographical conditions.It borders the Taihang Mountains in the west, and can control Jingxing and Niangziguan.The combination of natural superior geographical conditions and the status of a transportation hub extending in all directions makes it an area where various military forces compete fiercely. After the July 7th Incident, the Japanese invaded North China in three ways, one of which went south along Pinghan Road to Shijiazhuang. In order to sever the connection between our two base areas of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Hebei, and extinguish the anti-Japanese flames of the soldiers and civilians in the base areas, the Japanese invaders placed one-third of the Japanese troops occupying North China in Shijiazhuang and the area east of Shouyang on Zhengtai Road.Shijiazhuang became a barracks of the Japanese army in North China, an important base for invading and plundering North China.

After the surrender of the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek also knew the importance of Shijiazhuang's strategic position, so he urgently ordered Li Wen, the 24th Army of Hu Zong's Southern Group, to lead the 3rd and 16th Army of his direct line to cross the Yellow River eastward and invade North China, and the 3rd Army to occupy Shijiazhuang .In order to make Shijiazhuang a stable base for combat preparations linking Hebei and Shanxi and safeguarding Ping, Tianjin, and Baoding, the Kuomintang army, regardless of the lives of the people, tried its best to search for people's wealth and strength, and drove more than 20,000 migrant workers every day to build a defense against the Japanese invaders for eight years. On the basis of the system, continue to operate, and turn this huge city with a radius of more than 60 li into a solid fortified city with many fortresses, criss-cross ditches, and open and hidden trenches like spider webs. More than 6,000 blockhouses are distributed on the main streets and intersections of Shijiazhuang.Three lines of defense form three underground walls.

Shijiazhuang has become a powder keg, and the fortifications built by the Kuomintang army are not weak.Among the three lines of defense, the first is Waishi Ditch, which is 60 li in circumference, 7 meters deep and 6 meters wide. There are deer villages, barbed wire and minefields along the outside of the ditch. There is also a power grid.It was followed by the circular railway, with six armored trains patrolling day and night. The second line of defense is Neishi Ditch, which is 36 Li long, 5 meters deep and 5 meters wide. High forts, low forts, forts and field fortifications.The villages between the inner and outer city ditches have strong fortifications, which are important support points.Among them, Zhentou Town, Chengjiao Village, Xili Village, Xijiao Village, Beiji Village, Bolin Village, Fan Village, Yuan Village and Huayuan Village are the strongest.There are traffic ditches or tunnel connections between the two ditches, and there are widely set up piles and deer villages in the ditches, which are the key defensive areas of Shijiazhuang by the Kuomintang army.

The third line of defense is the core fortifications composed of solid buildings such as the Dashiqiao, the railway station, the Zhengtai Hotel, the railway factory, and the power station in the center of the urban area.In addition to the three lines of defense, a large number of fortifications and firepower points were built in Daguo Village, East and West Three Religions, North and South Zhaiying, and Yunpan Mountain, the commanding height in the northeast of the city, as warning positions.With such strong and dense fortifications, coupled with heavily guarded troops, the Kuomintang is confident that it can ensure no war.The propaganda machines in Nanjing and Beiping boasted that "three lines of defense are better than the Maginot Line" and "the national army can defend the fortifications in Shijiazhuang for three years."Shijiazhuang defended the enemy and even asserted arrogantly: "The Communist Party has no planes or tanks, so it is impossible to take Shijiazhuang."

In Chiang Kai-shek's view, Shijiazhuang is like a nail nailed into our liberated areas. With this nail as a support, he can boldly attack our liberated areas in southern Hebei, central Hebei, Hebei, and Taihang. However, the process of the war of liberation was beyond Chiang Kai-shek's expectations, and his dreams were broken again and again.The Shijiazhuang battle was prematurely drawn on his combat map. In the spring of 1947, under the command of Commander Nie Rongzhen, the troops of our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region won successive battles and victories in the battles of Baonan and Zhengtai. The connection between Shijiazhuang, Baoding and Taiyuan was cut off. All supplies can only be carried out through the air.Shijiazhuang has become an "isolated island on land" deeply trapped in our liberated area.

In October, during the Battle of Qingfengdian, our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army wiped out one division after another of the main force of the Third Army committed by Shijiazhuang North with lightning speed, and captured Lieutenant General Luo Lirong, the commander of the Third Army alive.Chiang Kai-shek failed to steal chickens, but lost a lot of rice. In Shijiazhuang, there are only 32 divisions of the regular army left. Even if you add the first and second regiments of the Hebei security column and the security teams of 9 surrounding counties, there are only 20,000 people. .Chiang Kai-shek felt that Shijiazhuang could not be lost any more, so he had to dig out the flesh to make up for the sores. He urgently airlifted the Baoding Suizhou Independent Regiment and a howitzer battalion from Baoding to make up for the lack of defensive troops in Shijiazhuang.Chiang Kai-shek is betting on the fortifications he has painstakingly worked on for years.

As mentioned earlier, at 12:00 on October 22, only half an hour after the Qingfengdian battle ended, the gunfire had not stopped, and the smoke had not yet cleared. Commander Nie Rongzhen called the central government to take advantage of the victory to seize Shimen.The Military Commission analyzed the situation in North China and immediately agreed with Nie Rongzhen and the North China Military Region.Mao Zedong was excited and excited that our army in North China would first attack a big city like Shimen, and instructed our army in North China to spare no effort to attack Shimen on a more solid foundation, because Shijiazhuang was an important town for the enemy in North China, and Chiang Kai-shek would not sit idly by. If you don't save it, let me kill you. Three days later, on October 25, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army held an enlarged meeting of the front committee with the participation of cadres above the brigade under the auspices of commander Yang Dezhi and political commissar Yang Chengwu.Zhu Deyuan, commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, went all the way to the meeting, which also shows the importance the central government attaches to the battle of Shimen.According to the spirit of the Central Military Commission's reply, the meeting studied the combat plan and various preparations for the campaign in response to the enemy's situation in Shijiazhuang. The meeting begins. When Luo Ruiqing and others introduced the enemy's deployment in Shijiazhuang, Zhu De paid special attention to the "Shijiazhuang Semi-permanent Fortifications, Troop Deployment, and Firepower Distribution Map".The word "Top Secret" is prominently marked on the upper right corner of this "Essential Map". Suddenly, Zhu De asked: "Where did you get this "Essential Map"?" "It was seized in the Battle of Qingfengdian." "This is carried by Luo Lirong himself, and he intends to present it to Sun Lianzhong and Chiang Kai-shek when he arrives in Peking." Zhu De nodded slightly, looked at the map carefully, and said: "This map is very important. The enemy's fortification construction, defense system, troop deployment, and firepower distribution are all marked on it in detail. The right determination counts." Luo Ruiqing immediately ordered the chief of operations: "Copy dozens of copies of it and distribute it to each column, so that each unit can better understand the enemy's situation." The meeting was lively and successful.At the meeting, Zhu De said that the War of Liberation had entered a new stage, and the fight against Shijiazhuang required "bravery and skill", careful planning, and careful study of tactics and techniques.At the meeting, it was determined that "the offensive tactics based on the position as the main method" adopted the policy of steady progress, using tunnels as the approach to the enemy's bunkers, and after blasting with explosives and bombarding with artillery, quickly seize the enemy's positions with infantry. Shijiazhuang was the first big city that our army would attack in the War of Liberation, and it was also a big battle fought by the Jinchaji Military Region.Based on the experience and lessons of entering Zhangzhou that year, Commander Nie Rongzhen specifically raised the issue of discipline in entering the city and the protection of industrial and commercial production facilities in the city. In addition to working hard to complete military tasks, the discipline of entering the city has a very important relationship with the work of entering the city.... Striving to liberate Shijiazhuang and ensuring good discipline in entering the city are the two central tasks of the troops participating in the war.” "It is strictly forbidden to destroy machines, factories, hospitals, electric lights, running water, telephone wires, glass, and all urban buildings and equipment (except for military operations)....It is not allowed to use and move all materials, assets, and house utensils by yourself. For warehouses and storage rooms There is only the task of caring, the responsibility of reporting, and no right to use it...Do not infringe on urban industry and commerce, do not occupy schools, and do not enter churches privately. Especially the lives and property of the poor in the city should be protected....It is strictly forbidden for individual personnel to wander around teahouses and taverns, especially prostitutes In the Liao area, eating and drinking is not allowed, and attention should be paid to military appearance and neat uniforms." After the publication of the nine chapters of the constitution, it aroused great repercussions among the commanders and the general public. Some national capitalists privately said: Back then Xiang Yucheng dominated the industry and burned the Afang Palace and finally perished, and Liu Bang occupied Xianyang in the three chapters of the constitution.Now that the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Army has promulgated the nine chapters of the agreement, Shijiazhuang will be self-defeating. Nie Rongzhen's nine chapters of the law really showed his extraordinary military and political qualities.This is something. After careful study, the military region enlargement meeting made a determination to fight: Taking advantage of the current Shijiazhuang enemy's relatively weak strength, the third column commanded by commander Zheng Weishan and political commissar Hu Yaobang, the fourth column commanded by commander Zeng Enyu and political commissar Wang Zhao, and the Hebei The troops of the Shanxi Military Region and the Central Hebei Military Region launched a campaign attack on Shijiazhuang; the second column under the command of Commander Chen Zhengxiang and political commissar Li Zhimin and the independent Ninth Brigade, Third, and Ninth Army Division troops assembled in the north and south areas of Ding County to build positions. Prevent the enemy from coming to help.If we attack Shijiazhuang, the main force of the enemy will go south from the Ping-Han line for reinforcements, and we will continue to besiege and restrain Shijiazhuang with troops from the Hebei-Shandong and Central Hebei military regions, concentrate all the field troops between Baoding and Shijiazhuang, and annihilate part of the reinforcements or defeat them. After the reinforcements, attack Shijiazhuang; if the enemy does not reinforce, take active measures to attack Shijiazhuang. In terms of tactics, in view of Shijiazhuang's defense system, it was decided to first occupy the surrounding suburbs, transform the terrain, dig trenches to meet the enemy, break through the two city ditches, insert core fortifications, and annihilate the defending enemy.The specific deployment is that the third column is in the southwest, the fourth column is responsible for the main offensive task in the east, the troops of the Jizhong Military Region are in the southeast, and the troops of the Jijin Military Region are in the northwest to assist the third and fourth columns to attack Shijiazhuang.The second column commanded the rest of the troops to block enemy reinforcements. After the meeting, vigorous combat preparations were launched in the whole field army.The attack on the well-fortified Shijiazhuang was the first time not only for our army in North China, but also for the entire army, and it was of great significance.The army spent more than a dozen years in promoting military democracy, carrying out mass movements to solve difficulties and find solutions, giving full play to the enthusiasm of the liberation fighters replenished from the Battle of Qingfengdian, asking them to introduce the enemy's fortifications in Shijiazhuang, and to jointly study how to approach and pass the war. City ditches, destroying power grids, crossing roads, blasting bunkers, and dealing with tanks and armored vehicles. Then, carry out the actual exercise of attacking tough battles, drill tunnels and blast outer trenches, deal with armored vehicles, lay core fortifications, and fight street battles. Commander Yang Dezhi, in order to ensure everything was safe, summoned the captured third army commander Luo Lirong again, and asked him to introduce where he could break through and where the key points were based on the actual situation.In order to disintegrate the morale of the enemy in Shijiazhuang and shake the morale of the enemy, he also released nearly a thousand enemy officers and soldiers captured in the Battle of Qingfengdian and ordered them to return to Shijiazhuang. On November 1, the Field Army Headquarters issued an operational order for the Shijiazhuang Campaign. On the night of November 5th, our army surrounded the outskirts of Shijiazhuang with covert and sudden movements. A battle for the first attack on a heavily fortified city is imminent and imminent. At midnight on November 6, the land was silent.The silence before the war is often more tense and exciting. Suddenly, gorgeous fireworks danced in the night sky, the earth trembled, and the sound of guns was deafening. The battle of Shijiazhuang started. The attack is fierce, but steadily moving forward.Until dawn, our third column occupied Liuying, Zhangying, Dachechang, Beidu Village, Wangcun, Xisanjiao, and Tatan Village in the western and southern suburbs; the fourth column occupied the eastern and northeastern suburbs. Liuxin Village, Taoyuan Village, Xiaoyan Village, Nanzhai Camp, Beizhai Camp, Tangu Village, Northern Song Dynasty, and Fangbei; troops from the Jizhong Military Region occupied Da'anshe, Daguo Village, Mazhuang, and Xisanzhuang in the southeastern suburbs , and surrounded the airport. Since Shijiazhuang was surrounded, the airport has become the only channel for Chiang Kai-shek to support and defend the enemy.Therefore, capturing the airfield and cutting off the enemy's air reinforcements is the key to winning the battle.The enemy is also very clear that the airport is their lifeline and life-saving straw.At 8 o'clock in the morning, the enemy used planes to cover the main force of the Ninth Security Regiment, and rushed towards the Third Battalion of the First Independent Brigade and Regiment, which occupied Xiao'anju, in an attempt to recapture the village and ensure the safety of the airport.Surrounded by enemies several times larger than itself, the third battalion fought tenaciously, repelled more than 10 enemy attacks, and held on to the village. At dawn on the 7th, the first and second independent brigades of the Hebei-Shanxi Military Region attacked from the northeast and northwest respectively, annihilating a part of the Ninth Security Regiment of the enemy, occupying the airport and cutting off the enemy's only way out. .At the same time, our Hebei-Shanxi Fourth Army Division troops liberated Huolucheng. At 17:00 on the 6th, the 10th brigade of our fourth column, under the command of political commissar Fu Chongbi, began to attack Yunpan Mountain. Yunpan Mountain sounds imposing, but in fact the mountain is only four or five feet high and sixty to seventy feet in circumference.But in the northeast of Shijiazhuang, where Yimapingchuan is located, it is a huge monster.When the Japanese army occupied it, a bunker was built on this mountain.After the third army "received", with a temple on the mountain as the core, a three-story bunker was built with steel and concrete.At the foot of the mountain, there are two deep moats and two power grids. The enemy defense is a reinforced company of the security police force. There are 4 heavy machine guns, 9 light machine guns, and 4 60-gun guns. Cloud Mountain", ready to stick to it for a long time.This "mountain" is a stumbling block for my four verticals to march from the northeast. Fu Chongbi wanted to gnaw down the hard bone of Yunpan Mountain.This man is one of the most powerful generals in our army in North China, with courage and insight.He first commanded the field army artillery group assigned to the 10th Brigade to shoot directly at the core fortifications of Yunpan Mountain at a distance of 300 meters.Shells exploded on the core fortifications.The smoke cleared, but the fortifications were found to be intact through the telescope.The first attack failed. Obviously, Fu Chongbi encountered the first difficult bone in the Shijiazhuang battle. If one trick fails, do another trick.He instructed the troops to dig trenches to meet the enemy, put hundreds of catties of explosives in front of the core fortifications, and with an explosion, the troops rushed up with smoke.The enemy was not killed, and the core fortifications were still intact, but the enemy was stunned and lost the ability to resist.The 3rd Battalion and 8th Company of the 30th Regiment rushed forward before the enemy came to his senses, and stuffed the blasting tube through the shooting hole. The enemy of a reinforced company was wiped out. The last stronghold outside Waishigou was removed.On a whim, Fu Chongbi commanded the troops to mount cannons on Yunpan Mountain to bombard the enemy's power plant, destroying the power generation equipment, all the lights in Shijiazhuang were suddenly extinguished, and the power grid used by the enemy to block our army's attack no longer worked. After all, fighting big battles is different from the field battles that our army is good at.The deep and wide Waishigou in Shijiazhuang is like a giant python winding its way around the outskirts of Shijiazhuang.The terrain outside the ditch is open and inaccessible. With the assistance of the vast number of militiamen and migrant workers, our army began soil work on the night of the 6th to transform the terrain.All offensive troops use the first echelon to build offensive positions, the second echelon to dig communication trenches for the offensive positions, and the second echelon of the campaign to dig rear communication trenches with militias and migrant workers. After a day and two nights of soil work, by the early morning of the 8th, our army's traffic trenches had been extended to within 100 meters of the outer city ditch, and the hidden tunnels had been dug to the outer edge of the outer city ditch, completing the offensive preparations.Although this project is huge, it is very effective.Since each regiment of our army has two or three communication trenches, each about 5 kilometers long, all personnel and horses of our army have been transferred underground, and they can move freely. At 16:00 on the 8th, our army launched a full-line attack on Waishigou.The 20th Regiment of the 3rd Vertical and 7th Brigade first successfully blasted the Waixi Barracks, blasting two gaps of 8 meters to 10 meters wide in the Waishigou. The forward position, and then developed to the two wings, occupying the Agricultural Experimental Institute.The first and third battalions then occupied Xijiao Village and Xili Village.The 21st Regiment also broke in one after another, occupying key points such as Chengjiao Village and Sajiu Division, and destroyed an enemy armored train. At 16:30, the 22nd Regiment of the Eighth Brigade broke through from the northwest of Xisanjiao, and the 23rd Regiment also broke through west of Zhentou.The two regiments immediately clamped down on Zhentou Town, destroying most of the defending police team of Zhao County, and a few fled into Neishigou. Simultaneously with the actions of the third column, the tenth brigade of the fourth column broke through from the northeast and occupied Yitang Village and Balizhuang; The troops of the Central Military Region broke through from the southeast, occupied Dongsanjiao and Huaidi, and surrounded Yuancun and Pengcun; the troops of the Jijin Military Region broke through from the northwest and surrounded Beijiao Village. The attack on Waichigou went smoothly.By the morning of the 9th, all the strongholds between the enemy's inner and outer Shigou were conquered by us except for the four points of Fan Village, Yuan Village, Peng Village, and Beijiao Village.At this time, Yang Dezhi, the commander of the field army, ordered to send a force to encircle the unconquered point, but not to entangle the enemy too much. Instead, he transferred all the troops, militias and migrant workers to transform the terrain, and advanced towards the inner city ditch without losing the opportunity. The Waishigou was breached, and Liu Ying, the commander of the enemy's 32nd Division, lost his composure.He ran here for a while, and ran there for a while, with a high-pitched voice and a strong Jiangxi accent, yelling that he wanted to shoot this one and that one.The person who should be scolded almost made him scold him all over the place.He is determined to defend the inner city ditch. Not only are there strong and numerous fortifications here, but they are also directly defended by his thirty-two division.He knows very well that the "natural moat" surrounding Shijiazhuang's urban area is related to Shijiazhuang's life and death; if there is an inner city ditch, there will be Shijiazhuang, and if there is no inner city ditch, there will be no Shijiazhuang.Once there is a mistake, how can he, a third-term student of Huangpu, be worthy of the cultivation of the principal?How can he be worthy of the support of Chief Hu Zongnan? On the night of November 9th, Shijiazhuang in early winter was windy and drizzly.Under the cover of night, the various units of our army in North China started large-scale soil work against the wind and rain. The first echelon was deployed at the front of the enemy, first digging bunkers for lying down, then gradually forming bunkers for kneeling and standing shooting, and then building some bunkers into bunkers, and then connecting each bunker and bunker horizontally to form trenches.The second echelon built longitudinal traffic trenches, and the traffic trenches beyond the range of enemy fire were built by militiamen and migrant workers.In the dead of night, there was a slight noise, and there was a burst of gunfire from the enemy.All commanders, militiamen, and migrant workers worked non-stop, all night long, regardless of the threat of enemy firepower.The next day, when Zhaohui dispelled the morning fog, looking around, yesterday was still a flat field, which changed completely overnight, as if it had undergone a magical change: countless bunkers, criss-crossing trenches, traffic ditches, It is spread all over the open ground with a depth of 2000 meters between the inner and outer ditches.The main attacking regiments also dug tunnels 60 meters away from Neishigou, reaching the outer wall of Neishigou directly, and built charge chambers to complete the preparations for internal blasting.Although the enemy has land and air cooperation, deep trenches as obstacles, and groups of blockhouses to block it, what can we do in the face of our army's rustic but effective "human sea tactics"? At 16:00 on the 10th, the sun was setting and the red light was like fire. My powerful artillery group suddenly roared, and the general attack on Neishigou began. The artillery bombarded violently according to their respective performances and division of labor targets: mountain artillery shells roared and fired at the enemy's high towers; artillery shells from battle defense artillery and infantry artillery roared and exploded on the enemy's low towers and fire points; light machine guns blocked the enemy's Bunkers were perforated; mortar shells exploded on the enemy's field skirmish positions; heavy artillery fired suppressively into the depths of the enemy.Internal blasting and external blasting are carried out simultaneously.Shijiazhuang trembled in the deafening sound of gunfire and explosions.There was red light shining everywhere, thick smoke rising everywhere, and debris flying everywhere. At 16:30, the troops launched an attack.The third vertical and seventh brigade, which was mainly attacking in the southwest, used ladder tactics to lower the leading company into the ditch.But before he could lean the ladder against the opposite wall, he was killed by the enemy's intensive firepower. The howling rain of bullets swirled and expanded like a bloody whirlwind.The commanders and fighters of this company stained the bottom of the ditch with blood and sacrificed their precious lives for the liberation of Shijiazhuang. The main attacking group was unexpectedly frustrated and hit a snag, but to the comfort of Zheng Weishan and Hu Yaobang, the 23rd Regiment of the 8th Brigade who assisted them succeeded in the adjacent area. It turned out that the 23rd regiment dug the tunnel under the Neishi ditch and filled it with a large amount of explosives.After the general offensive began, once it was detonated, that section of the city ditch rose into the air like a small volcanic eruption, the bunker also flew into the sky, and the fallen soil settled down, making the ditch walls several feet deep into a gentle slope immediately.The warriors of the 23rd Regiment and 4th Company rushed up to this opening, but because the soil was too loose, the comrades in front got stuck in the soil as soon as they stepped on it.At the moment of charge, time is life and victory.The follow-up personnel continued to rush.The pioneers paved the way to victory with their own flesh and blood. At 16:40, the fourth company first broke through between the 23rd and 24th bunkers of the enemy's "Yingzi".The third battalion of the enemy's ninety-six regiment launched a frenzied counterattack under the cover of tanks.With the coordination of the fifth company and the sixth company, the fourth company repelled the enemy three times in a row.The enemy's counterattack became more rampant. The 23rd regiment entered the battle with the second echelon and three battalions, and most of the enemy was wiped out by us. At 16:55, all our 23rd regiments entered the South Barracks, consolidated the established positions, and covered the whole brigade to pass through Neishigou at 16:00. Liu Ying saw that his "natural moat" was torn open by me, and the doom was approaching, so he threw all his old second echelon ninety-six regiment in, and launched a counterattack frantically under the cover of tanks. The most intense and tense stage of the battle is also a crucial moment of the entire campaign.The second echelon regiment that cannot be defeated by the enemy may be turned back by the enemy, which means that all previous efforts will be wasted.Zheng Weishan, the commander of the third column, decisively commanded the 23rd Regiment to fight head-on with one part, and the majority of the 23rd Regiment went back to the enemy's side through the left and right wings, cutting off the enemy's retreat, and wiped out most of the enemy's 96th Regiment.At this time, the Seventh Brigade passed the breakthrough of the 23rd Regiment and also passed through Neishigou one after another.The Seventh and Eighth Brigades began to fight in the streets. While the three columns broke through the enemy's inner city ditch, the 29th Regiment of the 10th Brigade of the 4th Column also broke through to the east, repelling seven counterattacks by the enemy's 94th Regiment under the cover of tanks, and consolidated its position.The main force of the Tenth Brigade passed Neishigou smoothly and advanced to Zhongzheng Road.Then, the Twelfth Brigade, the Independent Seventh Brigade, and the Independent Eighth Brigade also broke through the enemy's positions one after another, occupied Fuxing Road, Daxing Mill, gasoline depot and other key points, and entered the street battle. The 11th Brigade of the fourth column, which was responsible for the mission of the second echelon, went into battle as early as 23:00 on the 10th, pounced on the tall buildings on Zhongzheng Road all the way; attacked the station from Minsheng Road all the way;The third column served as the ninth brigade of the second echelon, joined the battle between the seventh brigade and the troops of the Jijin military region, and developed an offensive along Ping'an Road and Airport Road to Dashiqiao. After 20 hours of fierce fighting, most of the urban area of ​​Shijiazhuang has been occupied by our army.By the morning of the 12th, the enemy's 32nd Division Division and the remnant of the 95th Regiment only defended the core fortifications to resist. The so-called core fortification is the defense system centered on Dashiqiao.Dashiqiao is a railway overpass, named after it was built with large square stones.After the enemy's three armies "received" Shijiazhuang, Luo Lirong took a fancy to the bridge as a command post, so he ordered all the bridge holes to be blocked, and walls were erected around it. The Dashiqiao became a huge fortress that could be fought and hidden. After our army broke through the Neishigou, the enemy's situation was over.In one day and two nights, Liu Ying sent as many as four or five urgent telegrams, but the replies he got were always "stand still and wait for help".But remembering that Chiang Kai-shek is called "brother", even though the check that Chiang "leads the land and air army" for support is empty, Liu Ying is still deeply honored and will die for it.Cooperating with Liu Ying's tenacious resistance, there were planes in the air, tanks on the ground, and armored trains on the station. The bombing, strafing, and shelling shrouded the entire urban area in smog. While the battle was raging, Yang Dezhi, commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, came to the fourth column command post in the city.After learning about the progress of the battle, Commander Yang immediately ordered the 11th Brigade of the 4th Column to attack the station and Zhengtai Hotel to create conditions for the final general attack on Dashiqiao; he ordered the 4th Column to cross the predetermined dividing line and cooperate with the 3rd Column to wipe out the enemies defending the core fortifications as soon as possible . At 8 o'clock in the morning, according to Commander Yang's order, the three columns attacked the enemy's core fortifications from the west, southwest, and northwest, and the four columns attacked the enemy's core fortifications from the east, southeast, and northeast.Under the fierce bombardment of our army's artillery fire, most of the enemy's reinforced concrete bunkers were destroyed.Various units of our army broke into the enemy's positions one after another. During the battle, an unexpected episode shortened the course of the battle.In the morning, Zeng Siyu, commander of the Fourth Column, received a report from Fu Chongbi, political commissar of the Tenth Brigade, and Liu Ying, commander of the enemy's 32nd Division, was captured.It was a real surprise.The position has not been completely broken through, and the enemy's supreme commander has fallen into the hands of our army. What's going on? It turned out that before the attack was launched, Fu Chongbi took cadres above the regiment to the front to observe the terrain and the enemy's situation in order to deploy troops.In front of them, a reconnaissance company was searching and advancing. They touched two or three miles quietly and found that they were not far from the train station. Although the night was heavy, they still saw many enemies in the station.They immediately seized the tall water tower on the right.The scouts at the front station moved forward without anyone knowing it. The enemy didn't find them, and they broke into the enemy's division command post. In the command post of the 32nd enemy division in Shimen, Liu Ying and the others hadn't woken up yet, the muzzle of their guns had already reached their chest.The scouts quietly brought back five or six prisoners, and reported happily: "Political commissar, we have captured the enemy's division commander!" "And the chief of staff..." At this moment, the enemy found out that the command palace had been lost, and they rushed towards the water tower. The enemy, obviously trying to get their commander back, charged in turns in desperation.But our department was personally commanded by political commissar Fu Chongbi, and relying on the favorable location of the water tower, the enemy's counterattack failed.After fighting for an hour, the enemy left more than 200 corpses and retreated. Fu Chongbi asked the guards to turn on the lights, and only then could they clearly see the attires of the prisoners.A prisoner was wearing the rank of a general, well dressed, of medium height and a little fat.Undoubtedly, this person is Liu Ying, commander of the 32nd Division of the enemy. Fu Chongbi said to Liu Ying: "We have surrounded the station. In order to reduce casualties, you immediately give an order to ask your troops to surrender!" Although Liu Ying was captured at this time, her mouth was still firm, and she said, "They are soldiers and won't listen to me. Besides, they can't receive my orders now." "I am the frontline commander, and I order you to write!" The enemy commander hesitated and refused to write. Fu Chongbi was furious. He took out his pistol and put the bullet on it with a bang: "If you don't write, I will kill you!" This was very effective, Liu Ying's face suddenly changed, and he said again and again: "I write, I write!" He wrote an order for a regiment of Zhengtai Hotel to defend the enemy and surrender, and asked a school officer to send it, and sent his adjutant to the train station Shout out in his name. Capture the thief first and capture the king first.Fu Chongbi's unexpected harvest has received unexpected results.The destruction of important points such as the Dashiqiao, the railway station, and the Zhengtai Hotel undoubtedly reduced the damage to the city and even reduced the casualties of the troops. At 11:00, the enemy stopped resisting.Some of the enemies in the four besieged strongholds between Neishigou and Neishigou surrendered and some were wiped out.More than 400 people who fled to the north were also wiped out by our Second Vertical and Fourth Brigade in the area east of Lingshou. Shijiazhuang, which the Kuomintang boasted "can sit for three years", was liberated in 6 days and 6 nights. On the situation map of the national strategic counter-offensive, the banner of our army has once again been planted in large and medium-sized cities.In just one month, the North China Military Region won two consecutive victories, and its reputation was greatly boosted for a while. The battle of Shijiazhuang is over, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians inside and outside Shijiazhuang celebrated the victory with gongs and drums! At the same time, telegrams from the central and local governments in northern Shaanxi came one after another to congratulate the victory.The people of Jinchaji are immersed in the ocean of joy.Commander-in-Chief Zhu De wrote a poem titled "Happy News Recovering Shimen" while sending out awards: The Shimen blocked the Taihang Mountains, and the warriors opened their fingers. Exterminate the entire division to close the important town, and don't ask Huma to return to Qinguan. ... On November 16, Xinhua News Agency released the comments of the spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army Headquarters on the Shijiazhuang victory. The spokesperson first pointed out: "This is an important victory, and it is the beginning of a series of victories in the future." The spokesperson went on to say: "This time Shijiazhuang defended more than 20,000 enemies, and received active assistance from the Chiang Kai-shek Air Force provided by the United States. However, the city was captured in just 6 days. When breaking through each enemy position, it only takes two Thirty minutes. The morale of Jiang's army is extremely low; and the military technology of our army, thanks to the new weapons delivered by Jiang Mei, has improved unprecedentedly." Nanjing and Beiping are full of gloom.The loss of Shijiazhuang seems to have made Chiang Kai-shek see a terrible scene: the failure is not limited to the vast countryside and small and medium-sized towns.If Shijiazhuang can be lost today, who can guarantee the fate of big cities such as Beiping, Tianjin, and Jinan tomorrow?What frustrates him even more is that the loss of Shijiazhuang has provided some Western news agencies with an excuse for ridicule, and these reports are quite eye-catching. According to Reuters, the battle of Shijiazhuang was a "new setback" for Chiang Kai-shek. A report from the United Press, which lacked confidence in the Chiang regime, said that the Battle of Shijiazhuang was a "remarkable victory" for the PLA.Although the scars of the Kuomintang army were not clearly exposed, it sounds uncomfortable. Another news from the United Press exaggeratedly stated that after the liberation of Shijiazhuang, "officials of the Baoding (Jiang) Provincial Government immediately fled to Peiping by car." Shijiazhuang's defeat did give Chiang Kai-shek too much bitterness and disappointment.If I knew today, I shouldn't have forced Luo Lirong's third army to go north to reinforce Xu Shui.If I had known that Shijiazhuang would change hands so quickly, I should have sent more reinforcements.Where did the soldiers come from?To this day, he feels passive everywhere. On the battlefield, he lost the most precious thing - the initiative.In a war where the initiative is lost, there is only one outcome, failure. At the end of 1947, Nanjing seemed to be facing a harsh winter.