Under the command of Xu Xiangqian, the first deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, after 72 days of bloody fighting, the People's Liberation Army captured the jiancheng linfen on May 17, 1948, killing and wounding more than 24,000 enemy prisoners, and Liang Peihuan, deputy commander-in-chief of the 6th Group Army and commander-in-chief of the jinnan region, was captured on the way to escape.
Linfen City was the only remaining stronghold of Yan Xishan, director of the Taiyuan "Appeasement" Office, in southern Jin, and after this battle, all southern Jin was liberated, and the next step of the People's Liberation Army was bound to go north to Jinzhong. In order to cope with the new war situation, the Jin-Cha-Ji and Jin-Ji Luyu troops were reorganized into the First, Second, and Third Corps of the North China Field Army, the Jin-Ji Luyu Military Region was abolished, And Xu was the former commander and political commissar of the First Corps, and zhou Shidi, deputy commander and deputy political commissar of the First Corps.
The First Corps was composed of the Eighth Column, the Thirteenth Column, the Taiyue Troops, and the Jinsui Military Region and the Beiyue Military Region, with a total of more than 60,000 troops, most of these troops were previously local troops in Jinji-Hebei And Luyu, but after Xu Xiangqian's training and command and training in the battles of Yuncheng and Linfen, the combat effectiveness of these units can now be said to be the level of the main force.
Yan Xishan
The Jinzhong region is the granary of Shanxi, the fertile field is thousands of miles, is the main grain acquisition area of the YanxiShan Department, if jinzhong can be liberated, then the war in Shanxi is basically determined. Yan Xishan's strategy at that time was to "stick to Jinzhong and protect Taiyuan to the death" to wait for the situation to change, because the grain harvest was imminent, in order to grab grain, Yan Xishan arranged four-fifths of all his troops in the Jinzhong area, and also formed a so-called "blitzkrieg regiment" composed of 13 regiments of elite troops, "pro-training divisions" and "pro-training artillery regiments".
Yan Xishan's abacus was very good, he had a superior strength of 100,000 troops in Jin, plus the mobile corps could reinforce the strongholds in Jinzhong everywhere, and the PLA had just finished the Linfen Campaign with relatively large casualties and was also tired, so he was full of confidence at that time.
However, what Yan Xishan did not expect was that only a month after the end of the Linfen Campaign, the People's Liberation Army completed the rest and new campaign preparations. On June 13, the troops of the Taiyue Military Region captured Lingshi County at the southern end of central Jin, and the strategic location of Lingshi was so important that it was said that "qin and Jin were the main road, Sichuan and Shaanxi tongqu", and this place was only 150 kilometers away from Taiyuan, the old nest of Yanxi Mountain. Under the strict orders of Yan Xishan, the enemy's "blitzkrieg regiment" quickly rushed to Gaoyang Town and other places where the PLA had appeared one after another.
If this mobile unit is annihilated, it will be much easier to fight after the Jinzhong Campaign, and the "Blitzkrieg Corps" will also arrogantly advance the enemy into three ways, which is very conducive to fighting the annihilation war. On June 21, when the most elite pro-training division of the "Blitzkrieg Corps", the Pro-Training Artillery Regiment, marched to the area around Zhanglan Town, it was surrounded by the main forces of the Eighth Column of the People's Liberation Army and the Taiyue Army, and more than 7,000 enemy troops were completely annihilated. The pro-training division and the pro-training artillery regiment were the units painstakingly managed by Yan Xishan, and also the core of the "Blitzkrieg Corps", and the equipment was the best in the Yan army.
On June 23, the 13th Column of the People's Liberation Army surrounded the headquarters of the 19th Army and the 40th Division of the Yan Army north of Pingyao, and after a fierce battle, most of it was annihilated. Yan Xishan, unwilling to be defeated, sent Zhao Chengshou, commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army and commander-in-chief of the Field Army, to lead the 33rd and 34th Armies and the provisional 10th General Corps south to Qixian and the area east of Pingyao in an attempt to fight a decisive battle with the main forces of the People's Liberation Army.
Zhao Chengshou's troops moving south suffered heavy casualties in the battle with the PEOPLE's liberation army's blocking troops, and he also knew that if he continued to fight, he would not only be unable to advance but also be in danger of being cut back, on June 30, Zhao Chengshou asked his troops to stop attacking and prepare to flee north, but Xu Xiangqian had already taken the lead in ordering the Taiyue troops to insert themselves behind the enemy to carry out a large-scale railway breakout battle, and Zhao Chengshou's troops wanted to retreat by rail.
On July 6, Zhao Chengshou saw that the railway going north had been destroyed, so he asked the various units to retreat from the direction of Yuci and Xugou, but his northward escape route had long been calculated by Xu Forward, and one of the thirteenth column and the eighth column passed through the enemy's left flank, cutting off the way for his northward escape; other PLA units participating in the battle also arrived from other directions, at this time Zhao Chengshou made a fatal mistake, the encirclement circle was not strict at the beginning of the siege, and the main force of the eighth column of the People's Liberation Army was still coming, but he hesitated and let the troops break through in three ways. Suddenly, he let the troops stand still for help, and finally shouted for a decisive battle in the besieged land.
On July 10, the People's Liberation Army launched a general offensive against the besieged Zhao Chengshou's troops, and until July 16, more than 30,000 people, including the general headquarters of the enemy's field army, the 33rd Army (lacking the provisional 38th Division), the 34th Army (most of the provisional 45th Division), and the provisional 10th General Brigade, were completely annihilated, and Zhao Chengshou, Yang Cheng, chief of staff, and Shen Rui, commander of the 33rd Army, were captured. After Zhao Chengshou's troops were completely annihilated, the remaining enemy troops in jinzhong retreated to Taiyuan, and the People's Liberation Army took advantage of the victory to pursue and attacked all the way to Taiyuan City.
The Battle of Jinzhong lasted more than a month and achieved brilliant results, with the PLA annihilating more than 100,000 enemy personnel (including more than 70,000 of the main force of the Yan army and more than 30,000 local troops), 16 generals under Zhao Chengshou of the Yan army were captured, 9 generals above the division level were killed, and the headquarters of the Seventh Army of the Yan Army, five military headquarters, nine whole divisions, and two general units were completely annihilated. A large number of booty were also captured in this battle, including more than 3,700 artillery pieces of various types, more than 30,000 guns of various types and other materials, and 14 counties in Jinzhong, including Lingshi, Pingyao, Jiexiu, Qixian, Taigu, Yuci, Fenyang, Xiaoyi, Wenshui, Jiaocheng, Qingyuan, Jinyuan, Xugou and Xinxian, were liberated.
After the war, the superior called to give a high evaluation of the Jinzhong Campaign:
Under the direct command of the two comrades, the forward and the first two comrades, thanks to the struggle of the whole army, the support of the people, the efforts of the rear to produce the front, and the victorious coordination of the various battlefields, such brilliant achievements were achieved in only one month, which was of great help to the whole war situation. Now that our army has descended on Taiyuan City, the time has come to finally end the reactionary rule of Yan Xishan. I hope that you will continue to work hard, continue to work hard, and fight for the capture of Taiyuan and the liberation of the taiyuan people!
The Battle of Jinzhong was a classic battle, and Xu Xiangqian achieved an impressive record of annihilating 100,000 enemies with 60,000 troops, which was also one of the classic examples of Xu Qianqian's military career.