It is recorded in the war history that the Eighth Route Army did not have a single aircraft in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and our side could only passively defend against the attack of the Japanese Kou. But in the Jin-Hebei Luyu Border Region, we have a secret airport, the existence of this airport began by chance, and later played an immeasurable role, related to the future and destiny of China.
On the eve of the War of Liberation, Chairman Mao made a bold decision to transport 21 senior Chinese generals from this airport back to the front, three of whom later became founding marshals.
What's going on here? It is also necessary to start with a chance talk during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
In the autumn of 1944, a plane of the American flying team was damaged by the Japanese army and fell into a ravine in Shanxi, the pilot parachuted and landed, was rescued by the militia in our base area, learned that they were Americans who assisted in the Chinese War of Resistance, and the unit sent Li Da's chief of staff to send them to the headquarters of the 129th Division in Xiangxian County.
As the American pilots passed by the village of Changning in Licheng, they pointed to an empty space in front of them and said, "If we knew that there was a secret airport here, we would have landed here!" After listening, Li Da was very confused, he said that this is just an open land, not an airport.
The Americans suggested that this open space be slightly rested and used as a simple airport in the future. After listening to this, the headquarters of the Taihang Military Region attached great importance to it, and after reporting it to Chairman Mao's approval, it organized the local people and soldiers to transform it into an airstrip, and the way to navigate was to light several firewood piles on both sides of the runway.
In the future, it became a transit station for the US military observation group to fly to Yan'an, which not only received the personnel of the US military observation group who went to our base area to collect war reports, but also saved many US casualties who were shipwrecked by the plane; at the same time, the US plane repeatedly traveled back and forth between Changning and Yan'an, and also sent a large number of materials and important documents to our army, which played a great role.
However, just after the victory of the War of Resistance, Chiang Kai-shek, with the support of the United States, openly used aircraft and warships to transport Kuomintang troops to seize major cities and key points of transportation. Faced with this situation, Chairman Mao demanded that all troops take up arms and defend the Liberated Areas.
Fighting a war will be needed outside. However, due to the rectification in Yan'an and the convening of the Seventh National Congress of the Party, from the second half of 1943 onwards, many responsible comrades in the anti-Japanese base areas were ordered to return to Yan'an to attend the meeting. Seeing so many high-ranking generals all gathered in one place, it was urgent to send them back to the front line.
But in terms of experience, the distance from Yan'an to Taihang was nearly 800 kilometers, and in that era, the carriages and horses were slow, the main means of transportation was still on foot, and it was extremely difficult to cross the enemy's layers of blockade lines with only two feet. A year ago, Yang Dezhi walked from Puyang to Yan'an for more than 70 days, and Jiang Hua traveled from the coastal area of Shandong to Yan'an for half a year.
Every second on the battlefield is a race against the clock, and Chairman Mao resolutely made a bold decision to let the US planes help us transport people to Changning Airport!
After receiving the task, Ye Jianying came to the residence of the members of the US military observation group, thinking that the two sides had long been friendly and cooperative, so the relationship was not bad. In a relaxed tone, he made a request to the US military observation group to "borrow" the plane, saying only that he wanted to transport a group of cadres to the front headquarters, without saying who. The US military observer army did not think much about it and directly agreed to it.
The plane was scheduled to depart on the morning of August 25, and our army made meticulous and rigorous preparations in advance, and only the night before did it notify the relevant personnel one by one, so that they could rush to the airport before 9 o'clock in the morning of the next day, and they could only go alone, could not take guards and staff officers, and were not allowed to be sent off. Each passenger must bring a parachute and inform the Taihang Military District to prepare for pick-up at the destination airport.
On the same day, Huang Hua, who was the liaison officer at the time, inquired about the situation when the plane arrived in Yan'an as usual, and suddenly saw so many senior generals: Chen Yi, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Geng, Xiao Jinguang, Song Shilun ... There were 20 people. He was so surprised that he hurried to inquire about the situation.
After knowing the reason for the matter, Huang Hua felt very nervous, because some of the comrades in charge could speak Russian, but none of them could speak English, and if they encountered an emergency, they could not communicate with the US pilots, which was very dangerous. He immediately made a request to Yang Shangkun, who was responsible for arranging the send-off, and followed him. In this way, Huang Hua, as the 21st and only passenger without a parachute, flew to the front line with everyone.
At noon on the 25th, Li Dalao rushed to changning temporary airport with people to pick up the plane, and this plane with extremely high "gold content" landed safely under the guidance of the burning firewood and grass pile. Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping said wittily: "We are home, please be a guest..."
After the telegram of the plane's safe arrival at its destination reached Yan'an, the stone in Ye Jianying's heart finally fell to the ground, and Chairman Mao immediately decided to fly to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek.