Chapter 19 Appendix II: Overview of the Battle of Qamdo

The Battle of Qamdo was a battle in which the Chinese People's Liberation Army wiped out the main force of the Tibetan army in the Qamdo area of ​​Tibet in October 1950, and it was also the only battle to liberate Tibet.In this battle, the troops rushed across the siege and marched for more than half a month with heavy burdens, achieved the expected goal, opened the door to march into Tibet, and laid the foundation for the peaceful liberation of Tibet. 1. Situation before the war (1) Political situation In 1949, the People's War of Liberation achieved a decisive victory.The pro-imperialist separatists in power in the Tibetan local government further colluded with the imperialists and the Indian reactionaries and conspired to betray the motherland, seeing that the Kuomintang reactionaries were gone.In order to quickly unify the motherland, expel the imperialist forces from Tibet, and allow the Tibetan people to return to the big family of the motherland, on the one hand, it has carried out a vigorous diplomatic struggle, and on the other hand, it has issued a call to the Tibetan government to quickly send representatives to the central government for negotiations , and strive for the peaceful liberation of Tibet.At the same time, order our army to prepare for marching into Tibet.

The pro-imperialists in power in the Tibetan local government, with the support of imperialism and Indian reactionaries, claim to be an "independent country" and try their best to expand their armies and prepare for war. The government's old method proposed the plan that "China and Tibet should still maintain the previous border (according to: the Jinsha River as the boundary) reconciliation", and killed Geda Living Buddha sent by the Southwest Military and Political Committee to Lhasa to persuade .The further intensification of political and diplomatic struggles has made military contests inevitable. Our army is determined to launch the Battle of Qamdo.

(2) Military situation In early 1950, Chairman Mao Zedong issued instructions on marching into Tibet, and assigned this task to the Eighteenth Army of the Second Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and other departments.The 18th Army and other ministries immediately organized advance troops to march to Tibet.When the advance troops marched into Ganzi and Batang separately and advanced to Dengke with one part, the Qamdo General Administration of the Tibetan Army also actively took measures to prepare for war and stepped up the deployment of defenses in the west of the Jinsha River. The (not included) line is the focus, in the vicinity of Dingqing, Leiwuqi, Qamdo and its front along the narrow strip from the south of the Jinsha River to the north of Yanjing to Guode.

The specific deployment of the Tibetan army is as follows: the entire eighth-generation base (regiment), one part of the seventh-generation base, one part each of the second and sixth-generation bases, and the Jilun Guards will gather in Qamdo; Ben and Zhenbradai are located in Yayao Songduo, Guode, Kasongdu, and Yiquka with Shengda as the center; the fourth generation is located in Dingqing; the tenth generation is located in Gangtuo, Tongpu, and Jiangda The first line; the Nine Daiben are located in Ningjing and Yanjing areas. There are seven Daiben above, with more than 4,500 people, accounting for about 2/3 of the total strength of the Tibetan Army.In addition, more than 3,500 militiamen and monk soldiers were attached to each generation, and they were scattered in the above-mentioned areas.There are a total of more than 8,000 regular soldiers and civilian monks, all under the command of the Governor-General (Shawang in Tibetan) in Qamdo.

According to the enemy's situation, terrain, transportation, and supply conditions, our participating troops decided to use the entire 52nd Division of the 18th Army (owing to the 156th Regiment and one battalion), the 157th Regiment of the 53rd Division, and the artillery company and engineering company of the division. There are three battalions of direct artillery, reconnaissance and engineering of the 18th Army, an artillery company of the 54th Division, a battalion of the 126th Regiment and the 125th Regiment of the 14th Army of the Yunnan Military Region, and about 2,000 cavalry detachments of the Qinghai Navy Region. The two lines were dispatched to participate in the battle.I participated in the war with a total strength of about 18,000 people.

The main force of the 52nd Division set off from western Sichuan to Ya'an by car in batches in September, and then entered Tibet on foot.Enter Ganzi in the middle ten days, and move forward in batches in the second ten days.As of October 6th, all our troops participating in the battle have assembled and made all preparations for combat; the 52nd Division and other headquarters are located in Dengke, the Army Direct Investigation, the Second Industrial Battalion and the 54th Division Artillery Company are located in Dege; The regiment and the artillery company of the 53rd division are located in Batang; the 126th regiment is located in Deqin; the Qinghai cavalry detachment is located in Yushu.The above-mentioned ministries have formed a horseshoe-shaped encirclement situation against the enemy.

2. Our army's campaign deployment According to the political and military situation of the enemy and ourselves and the forecast of the battle, our army decided to adopt the policy of combining frontal attack and flank detour, and each combat unit split to make centripetal maneuvers.Tactically, a combination of frontal breakthrough and encirclement was adopted to occupy Qamdo, gather and annihilate the enemy in the west of the Jinsha River, east of the Lancang River, Leiwuqi, and Enda areas, and mainly annihilate the enemy's vital forces.The specific deployment is: (1) North Group:

It is composed of three regiments of the 52nd Division, three battalions of artillery, reconnaissance, and engineers of the 18th Army, an artillery company of the 54th Division, and a Qinghai cavalry detachment. It is under the unified command of the 52nd Division. 1. The right road—composed of the 154th Regiment, the Qinghai Cavalry Branch (the 52nd Division Cavalry Reconnaissance Company is attached to the Qinghai Detachment), and the 52nd Division Artillery Company. The battle area covers and covers the entire enemy's position, so that the frontal troops can wipe out the enemy.The Qinghai Cavalry Branch and the 52nd Division cavalry reconnaissance company set off from Yushu on October 9, via Nangqian, and after knowing that the teeth came out of Leiwuqi, they first surrounded the enemy and wiped them out if they could, otherwise they would hand them over to the 154th Regiment. , and then went straight to Enda, the 154th Regiment and the 52nd Division's reconnaissance company and artillery company crossed the Jinsha River from Deng Ke on October 6, reached the outer wing by themselves, detoured Batang, and rode out to Leiwuqi, and then left. A reinforced battalion controlled the outside of Leiwuqi, and the main force quickly moved southward, along the inner wing of the cavalry branch, and went straight out of Enda. Together with the cavalry branch, they cut off the enemy's retreat, prevented Dingqing's enemy from eastward, and approached from west to east depending on the situation, and cooperated with the frontal troops to attack Enemy of Qamdo.At this time, part of the cavalry branch was inserted into the area south of Qamdo to prevent the enemy from turning around and fleeing south.The purpose of this road is to achieve a detour and cut off the enemy's retreat. Therefore, during the movement, one should ignore the obstruction and entanglement of a small group of enemies, and rush to the intended goal quickly and simultaneously.

2 Middle Road - It is composed of the 52nd Division, the 156th Regiment, the 155th Regiment, and the Artillery Battalion. Its mission is to attack from the front, intersperse and divide the enemy's positions, capture Qamdo, and annihilate the main force of the enemy.The 155th Regiment, the 52nd Division's Direct Artillery Battalion and the 156th Regiment crossed the river in secret on October 7, 8, and 9 respectively, advancing side by side in an oblique trapezoidal shape. Combined tactics, wipe out Shengda, Guode, and Yayaosongduo front-line enemies, and then leave a small force to wipe out the remnants of the enemy, the main force will take shortcuts and go straight to Qamdo, gathering and annihilating the main force of the Tibetan army.

3. The left road (that is, the middle road in the deployment of the entire campaign) - composed of the Israeli reconnaissance battalion, the engineering battalion and the artillery company of the 54th Division. On the 8th, under the cover of artillery fire, they forcibly crossed the river from Gangtuo, annihilating the enemy and advancing slowly, so as not to alarm the enemy in Qamdo and flee westward too early.When the road approaches Qamdo, a powerful part should be used to detour to the south of Qamdo to prevent the enemy from fleeing south. (2) South Group: It is composed of the 157th regiment (commanded by the front finger of the army), the artillery company and engineer company of the 53rd division (commanded by the former finger of the 53rd division), and a battalion of the 126th regiment and the 125th regiment.Commanded by the Southwest Military Region.Cooperate with each other to fight in Tranquility and Yanjing.

1. The headquarter of the 53rd Division crossed the river in three ways from the foot bottom to the Zhubalong line: first, the two main battalions and regiment artillery companies were used to smuggle across the foot bottom. The troops wiped out the Xisong workers and defended the enemy, and the main force quickly detoured westward and went straight to the west of Ningjing. When they left Daba and Sanba, they cut off the enemy's retreat. Then join Ning Jing, and the other battalion is divided into two groups to cross the river from both sides of Zhubalong, pincer attack the enemy on the opposite bank, and then attack Ning Ning from the left wing, and cooperate with the main force to wipe out Jiudaiben.After accomplishing the above tasks, in addition to retaining a small force to control the area and wipe out the scattered enemies, the main force should go northward at night and night, and rush to Bangda via Alatang, Zuogong, and Tunduo to make up for our army's deployment in the campaign. Due to supply difficulties and terrain constraints, the lack of left-wing troops and the unblocked gaps in the direction of Bangda and Baxiu. 2. One battalion of the 126th Regiment and the 125th Regiment, divided into two groups from Deqin and the area north of Gongshan to attack the enemies of Yanjing, Mengong, and Bitu: at the same time, a powerful part went north from the left wing and inserted to the To the west of the combat area, control the mountain passes and main roads to prevent the enemy from fleeing in the direction of Zayu. 3. After the battle Phase 1 - October 6-17 (1) Battle of Salt Well A battalion of our 126th Regiment and 125th Regiment launched the battle one day earlier (October 5th) and first captured and annihilated the enemy of the gate workers. Because the frontal troops moved too early, the battle was launched before the encircling troops arrived at the predetermined location , the enemy collapsed at the first touch, we only captured a few of the enemy, and the rest fled north to Duliang.Our army immediately carried out a parallel pursuit from the left and right wings, and at the same time inserted one part into Zana, northwest of Yanjing, to prevent the enemy from fleeing westward. On the 6th, the enemy of Duqu (400 militiamen) surrounded me and fought for 2 hours to wipe out the enemy.At this time, I had already advanced from the right wing to the enemy's rear. On October 11, I entered the vicinity of Yanjing. The troops attacked the defending enemy, annihilating one of the enemy's capital and a part of the militia, and the remnants of the enemy fled north, intercepting and annihilating for the 157th regiment.In the Yanjing battle, more than 500 enemies were wiped out. (2) Quiet battle Part of the 53rd Division crossed the river in three ways, and the main force was smuggled by footworkers on the night of the 7th.After Xi Songgong found out the enemy, he fled to Tranquility. I only captured and wiped out part of the militia.At this time, in addition to a small detachment of our army advancing along the right flank and tailing the enemy, the main force rushed from the outer wing lightly to the quiet northwest and arrived on the evening of the 11th.The command post personally led all the directly subordinate units to successfully cross Fuxiao at Niujiaodu on the 8th, and the main force followed up. The other department crossed the river covertly on both sides of Zhubalong on the night of the 8th, pinching the enemy on the opposite bank. After the enemy was completely wiped out on the morning of the 9th, it marched westward from the left wing, and arrived at the quiet suburbs of the city at dawn on the 12th.The ninth generation Ben Gesang Wangdui led the uprising.In the quiet battle, more than 400 enemies were wiped out. (3) Battle of Gangtuo On the evening of October 6, our army first smuggled across the Jinsha River from Raton, north of Gangtuo, with two companies, and detoured behind the enemy.The frontal troops crossed the river under the cover of artillery fire on the morning of the 7th.The detour troops were able to arrive at the designated place on time because they lost their way forward.The frontal troops carried out the assault according to the original plan. Due to the paralysis of underestimating the enemy in command and insufficient firepower organization, when the two squads of the vanguard troops successfully smuggled in, the follow-up troops were blocked by enemy firepower.The cross-river detachment fought against the enemy all day long in unfavorable terrain, while the main force did not cross the river until night.In this battle, only 32 people were killed, wounded and captured. I suffered 21 casualties, 15 people were drowned when the boat capsized, and a lot of bullets were consumed. (4) Attack on Jueyong After the battle of Gangtuo, the enemy retreated to Tongpu, rectified a bit, and continued to join forces with Xisa and Jiangda's enemy.On the 13th, our troops on the left side of the northern line entered Jiangda and encircled the enemy with two wings.The enemy retreated to 15 kilometers to the west of Jueyong, thinking that our army had been thrown away, and camped there. I rushed to Jueyong on the evening of the 16th. After finding out the enemy's situation, I continued to pursue fiercely from the flank and attacked the enemy of Jueyong with sudden movements. , The battle was launched day and night that day, the fierce battle lasted for an hour, more than 110 enemies were wiped out, some supplies were seized, and the remnants of the enemy fled westward. (5) Shengda battle On October 12, the 1st Battalion of the 15th and 6th Regiment came into contact with the enemy Zhenbradaiben at Guode Mountain, and immediately controlled the commanding heights with one part, and sent out a detachment from the left and right wings to outflank the enemy.The enemy made two consecutive counterattacks to our front, and both were repelled.Because I turned around and went the wrong way, I followed and chased for more than 10 kilometers, but failed to intercept the enemy. On the evening of the 13th, the 3rd Battalion of the 155th Regiment arrived at the fork near Shengda. (6) Battle in Little Wulashan —After the battle of Yu Shengda, the Fifth and Sixth Regiments continued to advance westward. On the evening of October 16, the reconnaissance unit of its vanguard was ambushed by the enemy in Xiaowulashan.The follow-up main force proceeded lightly and detoured to the enemy's rear with a company, but failed due to terrain restrictions.At that time, because the artillery failed to catch up, the frontline command hesitated, resulting in a stalemate with the enemy.The next morning, our artillery arrived and immediately attacked the enemy from the front under the cover of artillery fire.The enemy defended against danger, and my two attacks failed.Although the enemy has been shaken, I have not been able to reorganize our forces to launch an attack.Instead, the main force used detours and detours. When I adjusted the offensive deployment, the enemy had already retreated to Qamdo. (7) Lei Wuqi battle On the night of October 16, the leading troops of the 154th Regiment entered the Jiazangka Bridge north of Leiwuqi, and on the other side of the river stationed the enemy Qidaiben and two Jiaben. Due to the depth of the river, our army could not wade in vain. attack.The enemy retreated at the first touch, only wounding more than 10 of them, and the rest of the enemy fled south.On the morning of the 17th, the cavalry detachment launched an attack on the enemy stationed in Leiwuqi. Because the enemy was scattered in mountainous and forested areas and spread widely, they fought against me in a sparrow battle and only wiped out more than 20 enemies.The remaining enemies fled. In the first stage of the campaign, more than 1,300 enemies were wiped out, and the main force of the enemy's southern line was basically wiped out.At dawn on the 19th, the cavalry detachment entered Enda, and the 154th regiment entered Leiwuqi, cutting off the main retreat route of the enemy, while the attacking troops from the front quickly approached Qamdo. All other roads have been blocked by me. Phase Two - October 18-24 (1) After the 26th Regiment and part of the 125th Regiment completed the Yanjing battle, they were on standby in Yanjing, Mengong, Zana, and Deqin. (2) After the 53rd Division completed the battle of Tranquility, in addition to leaving a small force in place to control Tranquility and clear up scattered bandits, the main force moved northward from Tranquility on October 15, heading towards Bangda and Basu , Blocking and annihilating the enemies of Qamdo fleeing south.The unit advanced to Zuogong on the 20th, arrived in Tunduo on the 21st, and rushed towards Bangda that night. (3) The reconnaissance and engineering battalions and the artillery company of the 54th Division continued to advance westward after Jueyong's victory, and approached Qamdo on the evening of the 19th. (4) After the two battles of Jingshengda and Xiaowulashan, the main force on the northern front, the enemy retreated steadily toward Qamdo.The 155th and 156th Regiments, the 52nd Division and the Artillery Battalion followed suit.The lightly armed advance battalion of the 156th Regiment took a shortcut from the left wing and arrived in the suburbs of Qamdo on the evening of the 19th. (5) The cavalry detachment and the 154th regiment of the left-wing detour troops occupied the main roads of Nda and Leiwuqi mountain passes on October 18, and gradually approached east: to narrow the encirclement.The main force of the cavalry and a part of the 154th Regiment moved south of Qamdo on the 19th.Our above-mentioned troops have made rapid progress, which is beyond the enemy's expectations.When the frontal troops approached Qamdo, the Governor-General in Qamdo led four agents and their governor-general agencies and guards to flee in the direction of Enda and Leiwuqi on the morning of October 18. When they arrived in Bindo that night, they found Enda and Leiwu Qi's route of retreat had been cut off by our army, so they turned around and headed south, and fled in the direction of Bangda and Basu. The advance battalion of the Fifth and Sixth Regiment, one of the frontal attack troops, liberated Qamdo at 20 o'clock on October 19 and captured more than 200 enemies.That night, in addition to the advance battalion of the 156th Regiment staying in Qamdo to guard and search for remnants of the enemy, the main forces of the reconnaissance and engineering battalions pursued the enemy in parallel from the left wing.At the same time, more than 120 remnants of the seventh generation of the enemy who fled to the northwest disarmed me in Leiwuqi. After our right-wing cavalry detachment discovered that the enemy had turned around and fled southward, it immediately detoured from the outer wing to the south, "advancing to Zongyi Mountain day and night, and controlling the mountain pass. The Qamdo General Administration, four Daiben and guards rushed to Zongyi on the morning of the 20th. Yishan encountered obstacles and had nowhere to go. Under my political struggle, they all disarmed me, with a total of more than 2,700 people. At the same time, the reconnaissance battalion entered Zongyishan from the left wing to join forces with the cavalry branch, captured and wiped out more than 30 remnants of the enemy, and stayed quietly On the way north, the troops and the South Route troops captured and wiped out more than 50 sporadic and remnant enemies. When the right-wing troops wiped out the main force of the enemy in Zongyi Mountain, the main force of the 52nd Division, which was responsible for the frontal attack mission, had arrived in Qamdo, and immediately arranged divisions to wipe out the remnants of the enemy: on the 23rd, the 154th Regiment wiped out more than 200 enemies in the southeast valley of Enda; On the 15th, the 154th Regiment captured more than 50 enemies in the southwestern area of ​​Qamdo, and more than 500 Chaya militiamen surrendered to us;As of the night of October 24th, the Qing campaign had wiped out about 1,100 enemies.So far, the Battle of Qamdo has ended victoriously. The Battle of Qamdo started on October 6 and ended in victory on October 24. It lasted 18 days and involved 21 large and small battles.Annihilating the General Administration of the Frontier Envoy in Qamdo and the six editions of the third, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth editions (the third editions include two editions of Ge Qiongba and Mou Xia), all of the editions of the second, fourth, and sixth editions One, more than 5,700 people including the uprising, and seized a large number of foreign weapons.