Chapter 19 Chapter 18 Advancing to Shanghai, Both Military and Political Harvests

Chiang Kai-shek personally inspected the urban area of ​​Shanghai and issued a statement expressing his determination: "I vow to follow my patriotic army and civilian compatriots as an outlaw, support President Li and President He to lead the fight, and fight to the end!" When Mao Zedong received the news that the People's Liberation Army had occupied Nanjing, his imagination was full of imagination and his heart was surging. He wrote a majestic seven laws-"The People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing".Mao Zedong said: "I didn't expect the situation to develop so fast. The next step is to consider the liberation of Shanghai."

Chen Yi and others came to the Shanghai Municipal Government Building, and Zhao Zukang, acting mayor of the Kuomintang, led a warm welcome. On April 26, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Shanghai. On the second day after arriving in Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek personally inspected the urban area of ​​Shanghai, and issued a statement expressing his determination: "I vowed to follow my patriotic soldiers and civilians as an opponent, to support Acting President Li and President He to lead the fight, and to fight to the end. !” Chiang Kai-shek sent the armored corps of his second son Jiang Weiguo to Shanghai, nominally to strengthen the strength of the defenders, but more importantly, to show it to others, so as to encourage his subordinates to defend Shanghai for the Chiang family .

Chiang Kai-shek was not active in defending the Yangtze River, but he spared no effort in defending Shanghai.He miscalculated the international situation, thinking that as long as Shanghai can persist for 6 months, the international situation will inevitably change and the third world war will break out.At that time, as long as the United States sends an army, it can help Chiang Kai-shek turn defeat into victory. When Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Shanghai, he first lived on Fuxing Island in the Huangpu River, where he summoned three batches of military officers above the group leader to give speeches to cheer them up.

Chiang Kai-shek said: "The issue of the Communist Party is an international issue, and it cannot be solved by our own country. To solve it, we must rely on the entire international force. But the current ally, the United States, requires us to give him a preparation time. This time will not be too long. We only hope that we will Fight in the Far East for a year. Therefore, I ask you to fight in Shanghai for 6 months. Even if you have completed the mission, when our second-line corps is completed, you can be replaced and rest." In order to completely dispel the panic among his subordinates, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Shanghai is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is very beneficial to us. We can defend or leave when we fight here. With our existing forces and the best modernization If we are willing to defend the fortifications, we will be able to defend them. If we are not willing to defend them, we have the convenience of sea and air transportation and can quickly withdraw our troops. Shanghai is by no means like Jinan, Shenyang, Xuzhou, Pinglu, etc., where the Communist Army can send our troops away. Snapped, surrounded and eaten whole."

Chiang Kai-shek sits on Fuxing Island and personally deploys Shanghai's defense. On May 7, Chiang Kai-shek left Shanghai and handed over the task of defending Shanghai to Tang Enbo. On May 11, on Sichuan Road in Shanghai, "Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Security General Headquarters". Tang Enbo is presiding over a military meeting, attended by dozens of people including commanders and army commanders defending Shanghai. Tang Enbo said: "Everyone is ready? The president asked me to convey to everyone that we must fight hard in Shanghai. As long as we persist for half a year, the international situation will definitely change."

Tang Enbo turned his face and asked Fu Kejun, the engineer commander: "Commander Fu, how is the fortification in Shanghai going?" Fu Kejun replied: "According to your instructions, we have built many 'steel positions' in Shanghai, which the Communist Army cannot break through." In order to defend Shanghai, the Kuomintang started building fortifications as early as January 1949.They built a large number of reinforced concrete bunkers around Shanghai, and the bunkers were connected with traffic trenches. There were also many small bunkers around the big bunker, forming a cross-fire network of mother-in-law bunkers that combined exposure and concealment.

On the evening of April 24, 1949, at Shuangqing Villa in Xiangshan. When Mao Zedong received the news that the People's Liberation Army had occupied Nanjing, he was full of thoughts and emotions. He wrote a majestic seven laws—"The People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing" Another week later, Mao Zedong got together with other leaders of the Military Commission. Mao Zedong said: "I didn't expect the situation to develop so fast. The next step is to consider liberating Shanghai." Zhou Silai: "Shanghai is the birthplace of our party and the basket of the Chinese revolution. Now we can return to the embrace of the people."

Liu Shaoqi said: "Shanghai is also the place where Chiang Kai-shek started. It is the main base of imperialist invasion of China and a paradise for adventurers. The situation there is very complicated. There are still tens of thousands of foreigners." "Shanghai is the essence of our country's industry, and it must not be destroyed." Ren Bishi said worriedly, "It seems that taking Shanghai down is not a problem now. The difficulty lies in bringing this big Shanghai back to the embrace of the people in its entirety. And take care of it." Zhu De said: "The General Front Committee has called to ask when we can launch an attack on Shanghai."

Mao Zedong said: "The liberation of Shanghai is not mainly a military issue. Shanghai has become an isolated island, and the People's Liberation Army has an absolute advantage. When to attack Shanghai is mainly a political, economic, and even international issue. Full preparations must be made!" Mao Zedong went on to say: "There are several points to consider in the liberation of Shanghai: First, whether it will cause the intervention of US imperialism and direct armed intervention. This possibility exists. Shanghai is the largest city in our country. It is also the stronghold of the imperialist powers invading China. Chiang Kai-shek is preparing to make the final gamble in Shanghai and pull the United States into the water. Second, to liberate Shanghai, the city must be preserved intact so that Shanghai will not be destroyed. To fight Shanghai, not only must The military must enter the city, and politics must also enter the city. Third, to liberate Shanghai, the largest city in the country must be well received and managed.”

After this meeting, the Central Military Commission sent a telegram to the General Front Committee, the East China Bureau, Li Yu, and Zhang Zhen, asking them to: "Shanghai must not be occupied before May 10, so as to have 10 days to make preparations. After May 10, two plans should be made. (A) To occupy Shanghai, this assumes that Tang Enbo is in Withdraw from the sea within 10 days, and Shanghai has become anarchic, forcing you to occupy it. Your preparations should mainly focus on this point, otherwise you will fall into a passive position. In the past when you were preparing to cross the river for three months, you did not I took a month to let the troops learn the policies and take over the affairs of the cities, but they did not make the mental and organizational preparations to occupy Zhucheng soon, and suffered a loss. Now I have to make up for this shortcoming within 10 days. (B) The time is extended to half a month Or go to occupy it in 20 days or a month. As long as Tang Sibo does not leave, it should be like this. The time for occupying Liuhe can also be postponed. We have already telegraphed you before, when to occupy Shanghai, you have to wait for our order. Please ask Su for this point , Zhang pay attention."

On May 6, Mao Zedong personally drafted a telegram to Su Zhang, and told Chen Rao and Liu Deng: "Please deploy Su Zhang immediately after Chenhui (May 10) and within a few days before Chen Chan (May 15). Wusong and Jiaxing are two points, blockade Wusongkou and Zhapu Haikou, cut off the enemy's retreat in Shanghai, so that Shanghai's supplies will not be transported by sea in large quantities." "After occupying Jiaxing, we should continue to occupy Jiashan, Jinshan, Pinghu, Zhapu, and Jinshanwei. But Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and other places should not be occupied for the time being." "The occupation of Wusong and Jiaxing does not give up the plan to postpone the occupation of Shanghai. When to occupy Shanghai, we still have to decide according to the degree of our preparations. It is best to have It will take about a month to fully complete the preparations, but you still have to prepare to occupy Shanghai as soon as possible in the event of unavoidable circumstances. The sooner your preparations can be made, the better." In early May, Su Yu and Zhang Zhen led the Third Field Army to move eastward from Changzhou to Suzhou.The commanders of various armies called one after another, asking when to attack Shanghai.Su Yu said to them: "The Military Commission and the General Front Committee have considered that the preparations for taking over Shanghai have not been completed. We cannot attack Shanghai for the time being, nor approach Shanghai, and do not alarm the enemy. Otherwise, they will be scared away, and Shanghai will fall into chaos. Therefore, attacking Shanghai is like hitting a mouse in a porcelain shop, and it may cause undue losses.” Su Yu and Zhang Zhen knew that the enemy defending Shanghai was not strong in fighting power. Four of the eight armies retreated from the Yangtze River defense line.Shanghai's economic situation was on the verge of extinction, its financial resources dried up and prices soared.From August 1948 to March 1949, prices in Shanghai rose by 8.3 times, and the price of rice was 400,000 yuan per stone.More than 5 million people in Shanghai are in dire straits, eagerly looking forward to liberation. Su Yu and Zhang Zhen actively prepared for the military. They analyzed three tactics for fighting Shanghai: First, the siege tactics.There are more than 5 million residents in Shanghai, and the means of subsistence depend on imports from other places, especially grain and coal, which are in great demand. Long-term siege will put the people's lives in a desperate situation.However, the enemy army has inherent sea routes, and we will not be able to surround them to death. Moreover, after our army crosses the river, we should strive to liberate the whole of China as soon as possible.Therefore, the tactics of long-term siege are not advisable. Second, choose the south of Suzhou Creek, where the enemy's defenses are weak, to carry out an assault.Although this method of warfare avoids Wusong, the key point of the enemy's fortification, casualties may also be reduced, but the main battlefield will be in the urban area, and the city will be smashed to pieces.Therefore, this tactic is not advisable. Third, focus the attack on Wusong, attack Wusongkou, and refrain from attacking the urban area for the time being.In this way, the enemy's sea retreat can be blocked, and the channel for the enemy to rush to transport materials to Shanghai can be quickly cut off.If the enemy wants to stick to it, they must concentrate their forces to fight our army around Wusongkou in order to protect their only sea retreat. If this happens, large-scale battles in the urban area can be avoided, and the city will be less damaged , to achieve the purpose of complete takeover.The area around Wusong is the strong point of the enemy's defense, so this method of warfare will be a head-to-head and arduous battle, a fierce repeated battle, and our army will have to pay a relatively high price.But we are the people's army. In order to preserve the integrity of the city and protect the lives and properties of the people of Shanghai, it is necessary and worthwhile to pay a certain price. Su Yu and Tang Liang reported the above ideas to the General Front Committee.The General Front Committee and the Third Field Army Front Committee weighed the pros and cons, and agreed that in order to preserve the city and protect people's lives and property, it is necessary and worthwhile to pay more.For this reason, it is determined to use the third plan to attack Shanghai. On May 7, the Third Field Army reported its plan for attacking Wusong, and the Central Military Commission replied by telegram the next day to agree. On May 10, cadres in a large temple in Danyang, Jiangsu, sat on their backpacks and listened to Chen Yi's report. Chen Yi said: "We marched into Jiangnan on April 21, occupied Nanjing on April 23, and occupied Hangzhou on May 3... The entire task of crossing the river has been completed very quickly. There has never been such a war in history. It is not so fast, in just 10 days, we crossed a big river, marched more than 500 kilometers, and wiped out most of the enemy's troops." Then, Chen Yi changed the topic to taking over Shanghai: "Let's talk about the issue of entering Shanghai. We must have revolutionary confidence and a cautious and modest attitude in occupying Shanghai. Entering Nanjing and Shanghai is a sign of our victory. In Nanjing, People all over the world know that Shanghai has committed a bad thing. We must compare our actions with the imperialists, the Kuomintang, and the puppet Wang. Who is for the people? We must show that the PLA is a good army, and it is brave to fight on the front line. But when you enter the city, you must show humility and caution, be careful, and show bravery in this regard. Our field army is 'wild', but we cannot be 'wild' in cities." Chen Yi said these words not only as the commander of the Third Field Army, but also as the mayor of the new Shanghai.As early as March, before the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stationed in Beiping, Mao Zedong decided to make Chen Yi the mayor of Shanghai. For this reason, he also consulted several old gentlemen such as democrats Huang Yanpei and Chen Shutong. Chen Yi has officially entered the role of "mayor" since arriving in Danyang, collecting and researching a large amount of data on Shanghai's economy, politics, culture, and social situation, and determining specific guidelines and steps for taking over Shanghai in accordance with the policies of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. At this time, the 7th Corps of the Third Field Army had controlled Hangzhou, Yuhang, and Xiaoshan, and was preparing to rest for a few days before continuing to advance to Ningbo, Jinhua, Wenzhou and other places with a force; The Nanjing and Zhenjiang areas took on the task of guarding, and the 25th Army cleared out scattered bandits in Jintan, Jurong, Lishui, Gaochun, Guangde, Langxi and other places.Therefore, only the 20th, 27th, 30th, and 33rd armies of the 9th Corps of Song Shilun, the 28th, 29th, and 31st Armies of the 10th Corps of Ye Fei, and the 26th Armies of the 8th Corps can be used to attack Shanghai. Army, a total of 8 armies. Su Yu and Zhang Zhen repeatedly studied, and finally decided: Ye Fei and Song Shilun, two corps, set out from the north and south corridors of Taihu Lake, detour from the two wings of Pudong and Puxi, aim at Wusong and Gaoqiao, pincer Wusong, and cut off the sea escape of the Kuomintang army. To force the Shanghai defenders to surrender and strive for a peaceful solution to the Shanghai issue, or to attract the defenders to Jiangwan and the outskirts of Dachang to gather and annihilate them. On May 10, Ye Fei received an order from the Field Army.He was ordered to lead the 28th and 29th armies of the 10th Corps as the West Route Army, set off from Changshu on May 12, and arrive at Wusongkou before dawn on the 14th.The Field Army assigned the 31st Army of the 10th Corps to the command of the 9th Corps of the Eastern Route Army. At 8 a.m. on May 12, Hu Bingyun, commander of the 29th Army, set off from Suzhou with his troops.At dawn the next day, they successfully crossed the Liuhe River and captured Jiading. The next night, the 29th Army invested two divisions and one regiment to attack Liuxing and Yuepu with the 87th Division as the main force. Here, the 29th Army encountered fierce resistance from the enemy. Yuepu is located on the west side of Wusong and Baoshan. It is an important barrier for Wusong and Baoshan. It is connected with the Shizilin Fort in the north and the Yanghang stronghold in the south.To annihilate the enemies of Wusong and Baoshan, we must first capture Yuepu Street. There are many reinforced concrete bunkers around Yuepu Town, and the mother-child forts are densely covered with good concealment. There are trenches and traffic trenches between the forts. Barbed wire, landmines, deer villages, bamboo sticks and other secondary defensive obstacle facilities with up to seven or eight floors constitute multiple defensive positions in depth.Each position uses artillery and light and heavy machine guns as the backbone of firepower, forming a dense fire net.Each fort group and position can also receive direct fire support from naval guns.The enemy's 52nd Army stationed at Yuepu is Chiang Kai-shek's direct line of troops. It is well-equipped. It boarded a ship from Yingkou and fled south during the Liaoshen Battle. It has basically not been attacked by our army since the Battle of Crossing the River. It has a relatively complete organizational system and strong combat effectiveness. . On the evening of the 13th, Army Commander Hu Bingyun commanded the 29th Army to attack the front position on Yuepu Street unstoppably. At this time, hundreds of enemy cannons on land and ships opened fire at once, blocking my way forward; enemy planes also bombed in turn, and bombs rained down; The dense bullets are like countless poisonous snakes spewing poisonous flames, and the way forward is blocked by the powerful firepower of the enemy. After a day of fierce fighting, although the 87th Division inflicted heavy damage on the enemy, it failed to break into Yuepu Town and paid a high price.The 260th regiment suffered more than 700 casualties, and 11 of the 12 battalion-level cadres were injured; the 261st regiment had more than 100 casualties; the 253rd regiment had nearly 300 casualties. On the same day, the 259th Regiment launched an attack on Ye Da Village on the west side of Lion Forest.The 3rd Battalion served as the main attack, with heavy casualties, the attack was frustrated, and the instructor Chen Dasheng died gloriously.The head of the regiment went to the front for reconnaissance, and after finding out the terrain and the enemy's situation, the 2nd Battalion, supported by a battalion of the Army Mountain Artillery Regiment, launched a second attack.After repeated fighting and captured Ye Dacun, more than 200 enemies were wiped out, of which more than 60 were captured. On the evening of the 14th, the 29th Army organized a new attack. Xiao Ka, the political commissar of the 260th regiment, Hai Haixi, the deputy head, and Li Zhongying, the chief of staff, divided more than 120 soldiers into 3 commandos, and attacked the central defensive position of Yuepu Town separately. The 251st and 261st regiments also rushed towards Yuepu Town from different directions. It was 10 o'clock at night, and the People's Liberation Army occupied Yuepu. After the 87th Division captured Yuepu, it opened the gate to the Wusongkou sea passage, which seriously threatened the survival of Tang Enbo Group's urban troops.Tang Enbo hurriedly dispatched the 146th Division of the 21st Army, which was defending the urban area, to strengthen the Yuepu area, and continued to organize counterattacks in an attempt to regain the lost position. On the 15th, the enemy launched a counterattack.Early in the morning, more than 10 enemy ships moored on the river launched a fierce bombardment at the Yuepu position just occupied by the 29th Army. The enemy planes also bombarded and strafed continuously. Next, rush towards Yuepu Town. On this day, our army repelled the enemy's 5 attacks from morning to dusk.Under the indiscriminate bombing of the enemy, the houses in Yuepu Town collapsed, bricks and tiles flew everywhere, and the troops suffered heavy casualties.However, the two battalions of the 260th, 253rd and 259th regiments have always been nailed to Yuepu Town like nails. Yuepu Town, which was only a few miles away, was in ruins.The enemy attacked Yuepu 5 times in total.In the days that followed, the fighting was intense.Every time the People's Liberation Army seizes a fort, every point it occupies needs to go through bloody battles and repeated battles. Zhu Shaoqing, commander of the 28th Army, led the troops into battle at the same time as the 29th Army.They braved the heavy rain and walked in the mud all the way, with overwhelming heroism, they attacked the main positions of Yang Xing and Liu Xing. This area is also the enemy's main fortification zone, with strong fortifications.Many attacking troops did not understand the enemy's strong bunkers and various complex obstacle facilities, and some regarded the bunkers as mounds and launched attacks blindly, resulting in heavy casualties and slow progress. When attacking Yuepu, Liu Xing, and Yang Xing, although I broke through some of the enemy's strong fortified positions and wiped out the enemy, I also paid a high price and suffered heavy losses in the battle. Su Yu, Zhang Zhen, Ye Fei and others realized at this time that the People's Liberation Army had entered the enemy's permanently fortified fortification area. It is completely impossible to conquer this fortress area and reach Wusongkou. Before attacking Shanghai, seeing that the Kuomintang army was still vulnerable to the natural danger of the Yangtze River, they thought that the enemy would run away in fright as long as they received the last blow. They did not expect to encounter such fierce resistance from the enemy in Shanghai.It turned out that the fundamental intention of the enemy's battle was not to stick to the Yangtze River, but to stick to Shanghai.The defending enemy in Shanghai relied on its permanent fortifications to resist tenaciously. From the 13th to the 15th, the 28th and 29th armies suffered more than 8,000 casualties, failing to achieve the intended combat objectives.Judging from the two days of fighting, the enemy guarding Shanghai is the strongest fighting force in the remaining Jiang army.Coupled with the support of solid positions, the People's Liberation Army has to pay a price of 1,000 people for every enemy battalion wiped out. The enemy cut down every tree in the defense area and bulldozed houses to clear the shooting range.In front of the bunker, there are 3-6 obstacles such as deer villages, bamboo and wooden nails, mines, and outer trenches.The firepower system of the defensive position is very strong. Each mother-child fort group has a platoon or two squads for defense. The mother fort is equipped with heavy machine guns, and the sub-fort is equipped with light machine guns. The enemy's defense is also very calm. The PLA does not attack close to the firepower net They don't fire. In response to these circumstances, Su Yu and Zhang Zhen believed that the current battle was different from field battles and general tough battles. It was another tough battle after the Battle of Jinan.In view of these characteristics, Su Yu and Zhang Zhen had to change their deployment after research, and issued 5 new tactical instructions to the combat troops on May 16: (1) After clearing the enemy's periphery, when attacking the main position, we should conduct careful reconnaissance, select the protruding part or joint part of the enemy to attack with a weaker enemy, wedge into the enemy's depth, and then attack from the enemy's back or from the inside out to tear Destroy the enemy's defense system. (2) Concentrate your troops (instead of small groups and attack in large groups), especially concentrate your firepower (implement suppressive shooting and sabotage shooting) and launch tubes to bombard a point, use explosives to soften the enemy's steel and concrete fortifications, and take turns incessantly attack. (3) When the traffic trench operation is approaching the enemy, we can use the pincer operation to attack alternately when Du Yuming was annihilated in the Huaihai Campaign, and strive to annihilate the enemy within the position. (4) Give full play to the spirit of attacking and defending alone, exert the power of blasting, use explosives to open up the road of charge and annihilate the enemy's counterattack troops, and conduct education on fighting tanks and armored vehicles. (5) Designate anti-aircraft shooting units. After the instructions were issued, the troops changed their tactics and achieved certain results. On the 17th, the 28th Army wiped out Liu Xing's remnant enemies, captured the International Radio Station on the 19th, and advanced towards Wusong. Song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps, and Guo Huaruo, political commissar, were ordered to attack Wusong from Pudong. Song and Guo decided that the 30th Army and the 31st Army would detour from Wujiang to Pudong, attack Fengxian, Nanhui, and Chuansha, and advance to Gaoqiao. The 10th Corps blocked Wusongkou; the 20th and 27th Corps attacked Songjiang and Qingpu from the south of Songjiang and Jiaxing and its west, and then attacked Shanghai with the 10th Corps from the east, south, and west. Pudong is located in the east of the urban area of ​​Shanghai. It is the traffic hub from the urban area to the sea, and it is also the only way for the Shanghai defenders to escape from the sea.The terrain here is narrow and complicated, and it is a typical Jiangnan water network area, with vertical and horizontal rivers.The defensive enemy uses the sea to transport supplies and troops for fire support, so it is difficult to attack. On May 12, Nie Fengzhi led the 27th Army to advance along the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. On the 13th, the vanguard seized Dadongbin Iron Bridge and Songjiang City with brave actions; another part attacked Qingpu City; The 20th Army attacked Pinghu along the Shanghai-Hangzhou highway, occupied Jinshanwei on the 13th, and waited in the area south of Songjiang. After the 30th Army followed the 20th Army, Army Commander Xie Zhenhua took the lead in the 88th Division flying forward.Passing through Jinshan, seizing Fengxian, and taking Nanhui, it took them less than two days to clear the obstruction of some small groups of enemy troops. They walked more than 100 kilometers and approached Chuansha on May 15. Chuansha County is an important gateway from downtown Shanghai to the sea, and Bailong Port to the east of Chuansha County is the most convenient entrance to the sea in Pudong.Therefore, Tang Enbo attached great importance to Chuansha and Bailonggang, and regarded them as the first line of defense in Pudong's third-line defense system. The 51st Army was the main force, and it was attached to the remnants of the 8th Division, a part of the 37th Army, and local traffic police. Army defense; the second line of defense is the urban area of ​​Pudong, mainly the 37th Army, attached to the traffic police to defend; the third line of defense is the Gaoqiao area, which is the core defense position of Pudong, and the 12th Army of Shu Rong, a direct descendant of Tang Enbo hold fast. The 30th Army was one step ahead of the enemy and launched an attack before the enemy had set up their defenses.The People's Liberation Army, which is good at close combat and night combat, outflanked from both wings and attacked fiercely.The enemy was completely confused in a haste.The 88th Division captured Chuansha in just two hours and wiped out more than 700 enemies. It was nearly midnight at that time, and the army commander Xie Zhenhua immediately made a new deployment, ordering the two regiments of the 88th Division to quickly insert behind the enemy's rear, detour north, take Gujialu Town, and cut off the enemy's 51st Army and 12th Army. Another five regiments were used to launch a fierce attack on the enemy in front of them. The enemy was startled from sleep and hastily fought.By 13:00 midnight, the enemy's 51st Army and the provisional 8th Division had been completely surrounded in a narrow area of ​​5 kilometers from north to south and 4 kilometers from east to west. As the People's Liberation Army approached the enemy with a rapid march, the artillery fell behind, and it was difficult to catch up with the infantry to attack the enemy for a while.After a period of hand-to-hand combat, the enemy also judged that the PLA's heavy weapons had not arrived, and the attack deployment was not fully ready. On the 16th, at dawn on the 16th, three regiments were organized to attack from Bailong Harbor along the dike under the cover of heavy artillery. The People's Liberation Army tried to tear a hole and break out of the encirclement. The 263rd Regiment of the People's Liberation Army is facing the enemy's breakthrough. They face the fierce enemy without fear and tenacious resistance, and constantly change defense to offense.After a day of hard fighting, the three enemy regiments were finally defeated and shrank back, thus tightly sealing the encirclement. Army commander Xie Zhenhua quickly adjusted the deployment of the divisions, and the artillery regiment that fell behind also overcame the difficulties of slippery roads and sad rivers in rainy days to catch up.At 7 o'clock that night, Xie Zhenhua ordered the final attack on the enemy, annihilating most of the enemy's 51st Army and part of the 37th Army during the movement. Zhou Zhijian, the commander of the 31st Army, led the whole army to attack and advance on the left flank of the 30th Army. In the middle of the night on May 15, the leading reconnaissance unit encountered two enemy companies in the west of Zhoupu Town.The reconnaissance unit acted decisively and fired at the enemy first with quick actions. The enemy was caught off guard and wiped out. At 4 o'clock in the morning on the 16th, the 91st Division surrounded Zhoupu Town, took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, rushed into the position, and fought fiercely with the enemy with grenades and submachine guns.Seeing that the position was lost, the enemy immediately organized a counterattack, but they were all repelled by the People's Liberation Army. On the 17th, the 31st Army continued to attack and advance. On the 18th, they captured Gaoxing and approached Gaoqiao, threatening the exit of Tang Enbo's Huangpu River. The area of ​​Gaoqiao is small, with open terrain and interlaced water networks. Most of the roads and bridges were destroyed by the enemy. The movement of troops was greatly restricted, making it inconvenient to deploy. Large-caliber artillery could not keep up. to great difficulty.The houses in the villages in this area are sparsely built along the river ditches. After the People’s Liberation Army occupied them, there were no solid buildings to support them. In addition, it was raining continuously and the water level rose, which made it inconvenient for soil work. Submerged, inconvenient for concealment and movement.Small arms are often blocked by mud and cannot be fired.The enemy has built permanent reinforced concrete group bunkers, and the various bunkers are connected by covered ditches and traffic trenches. Various fortifications and obstacles such as barbed wire fences and deer villages have been set up around them. Artillery and artillery support from warships on the Huangpu River and outside the mouth of the Yangtze River, as well as the cover of aircraft and tanks. In order to keep Wusongkou, the enemy repeatedly competed with the People's Liberation Army for positions.Under unfavorable circumstances, the People's Liberation Army fought fiercely with the enemy for 5 days and 5 nights. On the 21st, the enemy crossed the Huangpu River from Shanghai to the east, and attacked from the front of Gaoqiao on the other side. The warships on the sea used artillery fire to support the PLA. The PLA was attacked on three sides.Under the counterattack of several enemy regiments, the company guarding the outer position of Gaoqiao suffered too many casualties and was forced to withdraw from the position.After that, the 31st Army organized several battalions to circumvent the enemy's rear from the flanks, insert into the enemy group, fight hard with the enemy all day, and restore the positions captured the day before. On the 22nd, from dawn to dusk, the enemy poured a large number of artillery shells into the positions of the 31st Army, and its infantry, under the cover of tanks, launched multiple counterattacks against the positions of the People's Liberation Army. The positions of the 31st Army were repeatedly breached by the enemy. After fierce fighting, until the afternoon of the 23rd, the 31st Army finally gained a firm foothold outside Gaoqiao, threatening the Kuomintang army to retreat to the sea from Wusongkou. On the night of May 23, the People's Liberation Army launched a general attack on Shanghai. As night fell, the lanterns were first put on.The urban area of ​​Shanghai, immersed in the misty night, reflects patches of dazzling red light. Commander Nie Fengzhi walked out of the front command post temporarily set up on Hongqiao Road.When the bell of the Shanghai Customs Building rang nine times, the general attack on the urban area began.Nie Fengzhi excitedly picked up the phone, connected the phone directly to the front command post of the 79th Division, and found the division commander Xiao Jinghai. "How is the army fighting?" Nie Fengzhi asked with concern. "Commander! We rushed in, and the enemy retreated. We are chasing towards the city center along Nanjing Road and Linsen Road (now Yan'an Road)! Our command post will soon be moved into the city!" Xiao Jinghai replied excitedly . Nie Fengzhi called the command posts of the 80th Division and the 81st Division respectively to learn about their battle situation.The enemy's defense line, from Xujiahui in the south to Suzhou Creek in the north, has been broken through by the People's Liberation Army and is now engaged in street fighting. On some main streets in the urban area, the tanks and armored vehicles placed by the enemy in the center of the road are like bunkers made of reinforced concrete, spraying flames from time to time. On other streets and squares, the enemy used sacks and barbed wire as obstacles in an attempt to stop the PLA from advancing.Entire regiments and entire camps of enemies are hiding in tall buildings. Nie Fengzhi led the 27th Army to fight very smoothly in the southern urban area, but they did not expect that a narrow Suzhou Creek blocked their offensive. The troops attacked from dawn to noon without attacking across the river. Suzhou Creek is only 30 meters wide and runs across downtown Shanghai.Relying on tall buildings and factories, the enemy was condescending and blocked the entire river and a wide road on the south bank with a dense fire net. A bunker was built at the bridgehead and equipped with tanks and armored vehicles to patrol. At 10 am on the 24th, Tao Yong led his troops to the south bank of the Suzhou River. I saw that the enemy had covered the bridge with barbed wire, and there was a blockhouse at the head of the bridge, and sandbags were densely piled up on the bank to form a fortification, and troops were sent to defend.The Shanghai Building, the General Post Office, and all tall buildings that can be used have enemy firepower points.Tanks and armored vehicles patrolled back and forth on the road along the river on the north bank.The heavily guarded Kuomintang army not only blocked the river, but even the passage along the south bank was under its firepower control. Tao Yong believed that hard work was not enough, so he ordered the troops to closely monitor the enemy on the north bank along the line from Sichuan Luqiao to Tibet Luqiao. Through reconnaissance, the reconnaissance office found a specific location on the north bank of the Suzhou River that is easy to break through: near the West Station, 15 kilometers upstream from the army's position, although the Kuomintang army is heavily guarded, the river is only a dozen meters wide. After Tao Yong grasped the situation, he ordered his troops to bypass the West Station and cross the river.In the middle of the night that day, the leading troops advanced rapidly towards the West Station, and the follow-up troops followed closely. The vanguard seized the steward's Fangping sedan chair with swift and violent movements, avoided the main road, moved secretly to the west station, wiped out the cotton mills and defended the enemy, took advantage of the victory and went straight to the north bank of Suzhou River, and the enemy fled away.The People's Liberation Army approached the river, saw that there was no bridge, hurriedly found two boats, and built a "boat bridge" to cross the Suzhou Creek to the opposite bank. At dawn on the 25th, Tao Yong led his troops to cut off the Kuomintang's Suzhou River defense line.The Kuomintang defenders on the north bank were suddenly overwhelmed and had no intention of fighting.Tao Yong led his troops in hot pursuit, and the Suzhou River defense line carefully deployed by the Kuomintang army collapsed, and fled to Wusongkou in chaos. At the same time, under the instigation of our army, Liu Changyi, the deputy commander of the enemy's Songhu garrison, led the 40,000 remnants of the 21st, 51st, and 123rd armies to withdraw from the defense line on May 25 and moved towards Jiangwan. .In the morning of the next day, Liu Changyi led his troops to the south of Jiangwan Stadium, and was besieged by the 54th Army of the Kuomintang in the north and the 37th Army of the flank, and Liu Department fought back.At this time, the 26th Army of the People's Liberation Army came from the southwest and repelled the Kuomintang army. On May 27, Shanghai was completely liberated. On May 28, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government was established, with Chen Yi as mayor and Zeng Shan, Wei Wei, and Pan Hannian as deputy mayors. On the afternoon of the 28th, Chen Yi and others came to the Shanghai Municipal Government Building, and Zhao Zukang, acting mayor of the Kuomintang, led a warm welcome. Chen Yi came to the mayor's office to listen to Zhao Zukang's introduction to the work of the old Shanghai government.Then, a meeting was held in the lobby of the conference room for city government employees, including handymen and police officers.Mayor Chen Yi delivered a speech at the meeting. Chen Yi said: "My friends did not go to Taiwan, we welcome it. The victory of the People's Liberation Army this time is the victory of the people, which is different from the previous regime change. The Kuomintang has ruled for 22 years, and the people are struggling..." At this point, Chen Yi pointed to the wall The portrait of Mr. Sun Yat-sen hanging on the wall said: "How can I be worthy of him! The liberation of Shanghai is a great historical change. Shanghai, under the rule of the Kuomintang for decades, has become a city for the people today. It is important to transform the old Shanghai and build a new Shanghai. The fundamental purpose of the people's government." Mayor Chen Yi encouraged everyone: "Everyone should keep their duties, study hard, change the world outlook, and make more contributions to the revolution and the people. The Chinese Communist Party will not bury talents. We must follow the principle of 'the first evil must be dealt with, and the coercion will not be questioned. , meritorious service and reward' established policy implementation. I hope everyone will cooperate with the People's Liberation Army." After Chen Yi took office as mayor, Shanghai's takeover work started smoothly.