What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
After the end of the three major battles, the former Northwest Field Army, the Central Plains Field Army, the East China Field Army, and the Northeast Field Army respectively established the First Field Army to the Fourth Field Army according to the numerical training, and the North China Field Army was reorganized into the North China Military Region under the direct command of the head. After the reorganization of the troops, all field armies were organized in corps, and each soldier was composed of three corps to four corps. The Fourth Field Army and the Third Field Army both have four corps, the First Field Army has two, the North China Military Region also has three, and the Second Field Army also has three.
However, after the end of the three major battles, the Second Field Army and the Third Field Army jointly launched the Battle of Crossing the River, and a million troops crossed the Yangtze River to directly attack the ruling center of the Chiang Family Dynasty, successfully liberating Shanghai, Nanjing and other major cities.
Soon after, Grandpa Mao gave the major field armies a new combat task, that is, to liberate the whole country and pursue and annihilate the fugitive nationalist forces. The task of the Second Field Army was to march into the southwest and liberate the four provinces of Yunguichuan. Friends who may know history know that after the Central Plains Field Army was reorganized into the Second Field Army, it had 3 corps, why? When the Second Field Army marched to the southwest, there were only two corps, and where did one corps go.
In November 1949, the Second Field Army, under the leadership of Liu Deng and its two chiefs, was ready to march into the southwest, this time with the main purpose of liberating the great southwest of the motherland. Of course, in addition to the second field battle, Mao Ye also asked General He to lead the 18th Corps from northern Shaanxi into Sichuan to contain the Hu Zongnan clique in Qinling, and then directly approached Chengdu to cooperate with Liu Deng's army. Although at that time, the morale of our army was high, and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army was the general of the defeated army, but their troops in the southwest were still 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, and their strength was not underestimated.
Liu Deng
On November 12, the campaign to march into the southwest officially began, and Liu Deng's two chiefs gave the Third Corps and the Fifth Corps combat tasks. Chen Xilian's Third Corps advanced southwest from zunyi, Pengshui, and Qianjiang lines. Yang Yong's Fifth Corps headed for Guiyang, Luxian, Jiangjin, and then out of Yibin and Naxi, and detoured back to Chongqing. Of course, in addition to these two corps, there were also the 47th Army, the 50th Army, and the 42nd Army of the Fourth Field Army, which cooperated in the operation and were under the command of Liu Deng.
At that time, the opponents of the two corps leaders of the Second Field Army were Song Xilian Corps and Luo Guangwen Corps, and the combined number of the two corps was more than 200,000 people. However, under the wise command of Liu Shuai, and with the brave killing of the enemy by all the soldiers of the Fifth Corps and the Third Corps, Yang Yong's Fifth Corps soon advanced into the territory of Guizhou and liberated Zhenyuan, Sansui and other areas. Soon after, following the instructions of the commander, he captured Guiyang and Zunyi. Chen Xilian's Third Corps also broke through the two wings of Song Xilian's corps, crossing the Wuling Mountains and going deep into the Xiushan and Youyang lines. The speed of the Second Field Army's march was astonishing, which made Chiang Kai-shek very worried, so he sent the Luo Guangwen Corps to reinforce the Song Xilian Corps, but it still could not resist the attack of our army, and finally drove the two corps to the Pengshui and Qianjiang areas, but they relied on the natural barrier of the Wujiang River to resist stubbornly.
Song Xilian Corps
Liu Shuai was afraid that Song Xilian's army would withdraw to Yunnan and eventually to the Yunnan-Burma border, which would be difficult to deal with, because before the liberation of the southwest, Song Xilian proposed to lead his troops to withdraw to the Yunnan-Burma border, but Chiang Kai-shek did not agree. As the saying goes, there will be no fate in the foreign king, and at this critical juncture, Song Xilian may really withdraw to Yunnan. Therefore, Liu Shuai asked Yang Yong's Fifth Corps and Chen Xilian's Third Corps to speed up the march and strive to eliminate the enemy in the southwest. They overcame all difficulties, accelerated their advances, and called on all their subordinate departments to overcome all difficulties, and victory ultimately belonged to us.
It should be known that the Second Field Army was formerly known as the Red Fourth Front, and during the period of land reform, the Red Fourth Front once established a base area in Sichuan and Shaanxi, was familiar with the environment there, and also had rich experience in mountain combat. Some troops even traveled nearly 200 miles day and night. In the end, Song Xilian's army was successfully annihilated in the northeast of Xianfeng. He himself was also captured, and Luo Guang's army later revolted.
After Chiang Kai-shek's only regiment in the southwest was annihilated, the rest were all southwest warlords, and finally, under the planning of our party's underground personnel, they successfully plotted against Pan Wenhua, Deng Xihou, Liu Wenhui and other warlords. In December, Chiang Kai-shek left the mainland by special plane, ending more than 20 years of rule over China. After that, the Third Corps, the Fifth Corps, and the 18th Corps joined the division of Chengdu and successfully liberated the three provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Xikang.
Careful readers may have discovered that the Second Field Army did not still have a Fourth Corps? How to liberate the southwest when there were two corps. At that time, the Fourth Corps (commander General Chen Geng) was transferred to Siye, participated in the Battle of Hengbao, and then took on the task of making a major detour, leaving Guangdong in October from Gannan and then attacking Yunnan from Guangxi, completely cutting off the enemy's retreat from abroad. Why? When the Second Field Army marched to the southwest, there were only two corps of reason.