Chapter 25 Section 12 Rebirth of the New Seventh Army

New 1st Army expanded into New 1st Army and New 7th Army Chen Chenggang was arbitrary and "sent" Sun Liren away, but he cherished the troops he trained and vigorously expanded them. In November 1947, he expanded the New 1st Army into two armies, the New 1st Army and the New 7th Army. ), and three divisions of the 53rd Division (commander Xu Gengyang) temporarily; the new 7th Army consists of three divisions The new 38th Division (commander Shi Shuo), the provisional 56th Division (commander Liu Depu) and the temporary 61st Division (commander Deng Shifu), Li Hongsheng, the former commander of the new 38th Division, was appointed commander.

From December 1947 to March 1948, the Northeast People's Liberation Army (the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army was renamed the Northeast Liberation Army on New Year's Day 1948) launched a winter offensive. Lianke Zhangwu, Anshan, Yingkou, Siping, and Chen Mingren's main force were wiped out, and the Northeast KMT's army was compressed. In Jinzhou, Shenyang, Changchun and other large cities and regions. When Chen Cheng first arrived in the Northeast, he once boasted that "we must eliminate the Communist Army and build a new Northeast with the Three People's Principles", but in the end, he lost his troops and lost ground. He was defeated again and again, so that the Kuomintang could only shrink back to a few central cities and was in constant panic. .At that time, the people of Shenyang made up a rhetoric: "Chen Cheng is really capable, and the South Railway Station connects to the North Railway Station" (both the South and North Railway Stations are in Shenyang City) to satirize his predicament.At this time, the Northeast of the Kuomintang borrowed the voices of "killing Chen Cheng to thank the countrymen" from the ruling and wild people. Chiang Kai-shek saw that Chen Chengzhi was exhausted and had no way to return to heaven, so he went to the Northeast and established the Northeast "Bandit Suppression" General Headquarters. Wei Lihuang was appointed as the commander-in-chief.

Changchun has become a completely isolated city In view of the shortage of troops and the current situation of being surrounded everywhere, Wei Lihuang, who took office shortly after taking office, narrowed his front and deployed various ministries in a few central points and within a small range of activities nearby, waiting for reinforcements, or withdrawing to the south.According to its deployment, the New 1st Army was transferred to Shenyang to defend the "bandit suppression" headquarters, while the New 7th Army stayed in Changchun and, together with Zeng Zesheng's 60th Army, defended the northernmost stronghold of the Kuomintang. Commander and chairman of the Jilin Provincial Government, commanding the Changchun troops.

Changchun is more than 600 miles away from Shenyang, surrounded by the People's Liberation Army on all sides.As early as the beginning of the siege, the airport in the western suburbs had fallen into the hands of the People's Liberation Army. The distance between the two armies was as short as five or six hundred meters, and the distance was only more than a thousand meters. Therefore, Changchun is an isolated city in a complete sense. At that time, the People's Liberation Army was focusing on the enemy of Jinzhou. It planned to take Jinzhou first and then create a situation of "closing the door and beating dogs". It would encircle Changchun without fighting, but encircle and fight for aid. This is why Zheng Dongguo has a history of guarding the south and looking south.

Zheng Dongguo divided Changchun into a city, with the new 7th army guarding the west city and the 60th army guarding the east city.Although the New 38th Division of the New 7th Army has been hit, it is still the strongest among the troops defending Changchun, and its equipment generally maintains the level of India and Burma; each squad has a light machine gun, and the squad leader is equipped with a submachine gun; There are 2 60 mortars; the company has 8 heavy machine guns, and the division has a battalion of seven or five mountain guns. The division has more than 11,000 soldiers and nearly 300 large and small vehicles. He used his strength everywhere, and did not dare to exert his strength alone.

After being trapped, the biggest problem in Changchun was the food problem.At the beginning, Changchun still had some stored grain, cloth, and salt. Farmers in the surrounding suburbs occasionally pushed grain into the market for exchange. Yuan equivalent to 10 yuan in the customs currency) to forcibly buy food for the people in the suburbs. Later, as the siege of the People's Liberation Army tightened and shrunk, farmers stopped entering the market, and the city's reserves were depleted day by day, and food shortages emerged. In May 1948, the new 38th Division carried guns and dragged cannons to cover the provisional 61st Division out of the city to grab food, but the food was not grabbed, and the provisional 56th Division stationed in the west of the city was eaten by the People's Liberation Army. The New 7th Army no longer dared to go out of the city to do this kind of loss-making business, so they could only stay in the city and sit and eat.

Due to the longer garrison time in Changchun, the New 7th Army originally stocked some soybeans and bean cakes, while the 60th Army was transferred from Jilin City and had no food reserves. Apart from borrowing food from the New 7th Army, they had only Go to the soy sauce garden of the wine shop to dig some old distiller's grains to satisfy your hunger.Zheng Dongguo asked Chiang Kai-shek for an airdrop, and the plane came, but only five or six thousand catties of sorghum and rice each time, which is no different from a drop in the bucket for a city with 200,000 soldiers and civilians, but even so, the airdrop still depends on the weather conditions. In rainy weather, there was no food at all. In order to prevent the PLA from firing, these planes did not dare to fly low. A lot of the dropped food just fell on the PLA positions, and the defenders were so angry that they could not help it. .In order to compete for the airdropped food, the New 7th Army and the 60th Army once fought each other with swords and guns. Some troops were even more ridiculous: According to regulations, the airdropped food was collected by the Minister’s Department, and then planned and distributed, and some troops lit fire when the plane came. Water, if the bag of rice falls nearby by chance, grab it and pour it into the pot. When the people from the minister's department arrive, the uncooked rice has already been cooked. "Is it not too much to ask us to fight with our lives and let us eat a meal to die?" said the soldier.Looking at these sallow and emaciated people, what do the people from the Minister's Department have to say? !

The airdrop was undertaken by Chennault’s 14th Air Force. Chennault’s freight cost was very high, which accounted for almost half of the Kuomintang’s total military expenditure. Chiang Kai-shek couldn’t afford it, so the airdrops in the later period were intermittent, and food became more and more scarce. The mayor of Changchun, Pastor Shang, once encouraged Citizens plant food on the road (asphalt is dug up and used as fuel), but the seeds in June can only be harvested in October. Changchun people are so hungry that they can't wait for a day, let alone four months? Fuel is also a big problem.The trees in the wasteland on the outskirts of the city were all cut down, and the coffins in the cemetery were also dug up.

The wooden boards of doors and windows and the asphalt on the road have all become materials for cooking. Prices have skyrocketed even more.Sorghum rice was only a few cents per catty in May 1948, and it rose to 300 million yuan per catty by the time Changchun was about to be liberated. One tael of gold was only a few catties of sorghum rice.It turned out that the face value of 50 yuan and 100 yuan was not enough, so the Changchun Branch of the Central Bank had to issue "promissory notes". Even if ten staff members work day and night to issue promissory notes, they can't keep up with the rising speed of prices on the market!

With the development of the war, there was a serious disagreement between Wei Lihuang and Chiang Kai-shek on the question of whether to defend or abandon Changchun. Chiang Kai-shek insisted on abandoning Changchun to break through and move closer to Shenyang. , traveling more than 600 miles long-distance, will only kill itself, and there may be a glimmer of life if you wait for changes.During August and September, Shenyang had planned to gather several troops to go north to support the Changchun troops, and Jinzhou was besieged. Liao Yaoxiang led a westward army to aid Jin, but this proposal was shelved.

At the beginning of October, western Liaoning and Jinzhou were already under heavy artillery fire, and there was a lot of killing.Zheng Dongguo wanted to take back the Xijiao Airport while the two sides were fighting hard and unable to look north, leaving a glimmer of life for Changchun.He personally went into battle and commanded the new 38th division to fight for 2 days. As a result, he only advanced a few hundred meters before he could no longer move an inch. The new 38th division lost the lives of more than 300 officers and soldiers for this. The new 7th Army surrendered, Zheng Dongguo made a symbolic resistance in order to take into account his face and influence, and finally lowered his head In mid-October, it was becoming a foregone conclusion that Jinzhou would not be guaranteed. On October 10, Chiang Kai-shek airdropped a personal letter to each of Zheng Dongguo, Zeng Zesheng, and Li Hong, ordering the Changchun garrison to break out of the siege to the east on the same day, transfer to the camp, and then arrive at Yingkou. Li Hong, the commander of the New 7th Army, was suffering from typhoid fever at this time, and the military affairs were represented by the deputy commander Shi Shuo.Zheng Dongguo called Shi Shuo and Zeng Zesheng to his residence to discuss the matter.After the secret business, everyone thought that they were swollen from hunger for a long time, needless to say they couldn't go out, even if they went out without any reinforcements in the middle, they would die, so they didn't agree to break out. On the 12th, Jiang called again, urging Zheng to break out of the encirclement. Zheng and others still applied for the proposal after consideration. On the 15th, Jiang dropped the warrant for the third time and strictly ordered Zheng Dongguo to carry out the order. Otherwise, "if there is any further delay, he will be punished by military law." The column moved to Qingyuan: the 60th Army was on the left, and the New 7th Army was on the right. They each split up and took action in the early morning of the 17th. On the morning of the 17th, when the first-line battalion of the new 38th Division entered the southern suburbs and was about to set off, the military department called and said that the 60th Army had revolted! This immediately messed up the overall plan of Zheng Dongguo and others! Shi Shuo, Long Guojun, Chief of Staff of the New 7th Army, and Chen Mingren, Chief of the New 38th Division, rushed to Zheng Dongguo's residence immediately, requesting to deal with the matter. Before Zheng Dongguo got up, he sat on the bed with his clothes on. After listening to the introduction of the three people, he said helplessly: "If they want to do this, I have to listen to them!" After the three came out of Zheng's house, they sent people to contact the 60th Army and agreed: In view of the previous relationship between the 2nd Army, the two armies now use Central Avenue as the boundary, and they will do what they want without being hostile to each other.At this time, Zeng Zesheng kept sending letters after leading the uprising, asking the New 7th Army to rise up together. These have greatly touched the thinking of the top leaders of the New 7th Army, but Zheng Dongguo did not express his position at this time, and Li Hong, Shi Shuo, etc. could only operate secretly. On the 18th, Shi Shuo sent Wang Jiren, the artillery commander of the New 7th Army, Yang Tianting, the director of the news department, and Yao Fengxiang, the head of the 2nd Regiment of the temporary 61st Division, to contact the PLA and decided that the New 7th Army would lay down their weapons. Everyone's life and property are safe. On the 19th, the Northeast People's Army entered Changchun. The New 7th Army gathered in battalions, laid down their weapons, and was then organized into various divisions of the PLA. Two artillery companies were immediately sent to the front line of Jinzhou to participate in the battle to wipe out the remnants of Jiang's army. Since then, the New 1st Army has embarked on a new road. As the highest officer in the Changchun area, Chiang Kai-shek's confidant general, and the former commander of the New 1st Army, Zheng Dongguo was naturally not reconciled. Such a surrender to the Communist Party without a fight.When he heard that the new 7th Army was going to follow the same path as the 60th Army, this first-year student in Huangpu had committed suicide by drawing a gun. When the People's Liberation Army had already entered the city, in order to take into account his face and influence, he also commanded his special task force Symbolically, he resisted at the Central Bank Building (the Puppet Manchukuo Central Bank Building during the Japanese Puppet Period), where his commander was located, but in the end, he still lowered his head.