During the period of the War of Liberation, a number of outstanding high-ranking generals with command ability emerged in our Party and our army, and in the war they anticipated the enemy first and were invincible in all battles. On the Battlefield of Shanxi in 1947, Marshal Xu Qianqian, deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region of the People's Liberation Army, was even more of a leader.
In 1947, the Liberation War reached a scorching state, and Liu Deng and Chen Xie's army had already marched south to the Central Plains and Western Henan to fight for the great cause of the liberation of the people of the whole country. The Central Military Commission decided to appoint Marshal Xu Qianqian as deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region and lead all local troops to remain in the inner line to fight the enemy.
The Jin-Hebei Luyu Military Region spanned a number of combat areas, the most direct of which was the old warlord Yan Xishan, who had been operating in Shanxi for many years and was deeply rooted as a veteran warlord. Marshal Xu Qianqian thought about it and said: He has a way to deal with it, please rest assured by the chairman.
It's that simple. At that time, the strategy of the large army was shifted, and a large number of materials and equipment also set out with the large army, and the only soldiers that Marshal Xu Qianqian could mobilize were some local armed forces, and the feelings of these local armed forces for the revolution were no worse than anyone else's, but they had neither the combat experience of the large corps nor good equipment, and they could not fight a war with only a warm blood.
At that time, the difficulties facing Marshal Xu Qianqian were unimaginable to us; a company of infantry had more than a hundred people, and if any company had six machine guns in it, it would certainly be envied and envied by the other fraternal troops, and it would be even more difficult to have such a large killing weapon as a cannon at that time. At that time, the main eight columns only had the old mountain cannon three or the old one.
The confrontation of the Yan army was a completely different scene, and the "guys" of the Yan army could be called the only ones in the entire Republic of China period. Among them, the Taiyuan Arsenal, which is as famous as the Shenyang Arsenal, is one of the capitals that Yan Xishan is proud of. Large firearms have 150 mm howitzers, as small as imitations of The German Mauser weapon - the Jin-made barge gun Taiyuan Arsenal can be done. The comparison is a world of difference.
At that time, the troops were relatively large and complex, and the name of the army was mostly based on its military purpose, such as reconnaissance battalion. And the name of the Jin army to scare you, there are mortars (division-level units), submachine gun brigades (regimental units), sniper teams (at that time, there were no sniper rifles, with self-produced light machine guns)
These army names are not only scary names, but also represent their powerful firepower. The Jin army was not only excellent in weapons and equipment, but also more powerful in their fortifications. It can produce its own steel bones and ash, that is, steel and cement. Steel was almost rare in the Republic of China period, but Yan Xishan could produce it himself, which showed the equipment of the Jin Army.
Yan Xishan also once boasted that he specially invited journalists from the press to publicize that his fortifications could not be penetrated with large-caliber field artillery, which showed how difficult it was to liberate Taiyuan later.
What about Marshal Xu Qianqian's troops? The main force of the Eighth Column was the benchmark of Marshal Xu Qianqian's troops at that time, but there were only a few dozen mortars, and even the old mountain cannons and one of them were from ox carts, and the contrast could be described as a direct blow to the heart.
Yan Xishan's psychology at that time was also extremely proud, and he did not believe that such a force would pose any threat to him. However, this Wutai fellow who was eighteen years younger than him made him cry bitterly, and such a disparity in strength made him repeatedly frustrated and defeated at the hands of excellent PLA generals.
At that time, Marshal Xu Qianqian discovered that although the Jin army was well equipped, it was not good at field warfare, and their home field was position defense warfare, while our People's Liberation Army was an expert in field warfare, annihilating the enemy in the movement of combat, letting the enemy run by our nose, and depleting the enemy's living strength in the relative movement. Make the enemy tired and overwhelmed.
After repeated setbacks, Yan Xishan said that we had benefited from the aircraft artillery, that we knew how to use superior firepower to defend, and that we were also deeply affected by it, and that we did not understand movement and combat. The PLA troops led by Marshal Xu Qianqian won a lot in the two battles of Yuncheng and Linfen.
In the fiercest battles of the Jinzhong Campaign: Sanli Qing and Nanzhuang, a group of field masters emerged, they were the Ten General Corps of the Japanese Army. These Japanese troops were the Japanese troops retained by Yan Xishan after the War of Resistance Against Japan, and these retained Japanese troops Yan Xishan gave quite generous treatment, in addition to these Japanese soldiers who were repatriated to China and suffered combat casualties, there were more than 1,700 japanese soldiers, and their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the Jin army.
In the Battle of Jinzhong, the casualties of the Eighth Column of the People's Liberation Army were extremely large, and many outstanding soldiers and generals died heroically in this battle, and the troops went crazy, and when they saw that it was the Japanese army, they all stabbed to death. The Tenth General Brigade also completely disappeared from the stage of Chinese history, and the Battle of Jinzhong wiped out the living forces of the Jin Sui Army, and yan Xishan was no longer proud.
Conclusion: Yan Xishan's research on the People's Liberation Army can be described as extremely transparent, why did he still lose at the hands of Marshal Xu Qianqian? In the final analysis, it is the leadership and morale of the troops, the soldiers have faith, know that they are fighting for the liberation of the whole country, this momentum is overwhelming, no one can stop it!