What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
January 31, 1949, was a happy day, because at that time, under the leadership of Grandpa Mao, our army won the three major battles of the Liberation War, namely the Liaoshen Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign, and the Pingjin Campaign.
At this time, the three major battles are over, and there are basically no more major battles in the whole country, even if Chiang Kai-shek's defeat has been decided, our army has the victory in hand. However, at this time, there was another major offensive in the north, that is, the liberation of Taiyuan in Shanxi, which began in October 1948.
Friends who know the history of the Republic of China know that Taiyuan, Shanxi, is the home of the warlord Yan Xishan of the Republic of China, who controlled Shanxi for 38 years, so it is not an easy task for our army to successfully liberate Taiyuan, when the Taiyuan City of Yanxishan gathered 100,000 elite troops.
Warlord Yan Xishan of the Republic of China
Under the leadership of Xu Shuai, our army led 80,000 soldiers to prepare to attack Taiyuan and liberate Taiyuan, because in the Liberation War, the whole of Shanxi was liberated by Xu Shuai, and before that, Xu Shuai commanded many classic battles with fewer victories. But Taiyuan is different from other cities, this is the cultural and political center of Shanxi, but also the home of Yan Xishan, before that, in order to resist the Japanese Kou, many fortresses were built outside Taiyuan city with trenches and secret passages, relying on each other's multi-level, large-depth circular defense system. Moreover, the geographical location of Taiyuan is also very good, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Yan Xishan left the elite troops of the entire Jin army to defend Taiyuan, so it was doomed to a hard battle to liberate Taiyuan.
However, under the command of Xu Shuai, our army decided to first pull out the fortress built around Taiyuan City, and cut off Taiyuan's contact with the outside world, making Taiyuan an isolated city, and then attack Taiyuan City.
Xu Shuai
In the battle to clear the obstacles on the outskirts of Taiyuan, it was also difficult, the Jin Sui Army relied on a solid fortress, so that the soldiers of our army suffered great losses, and sometimes our soldiers threw grenades next to the fortress without any effect, and only by stuffing a large number of explosive packs into the fortress could they be blown up. In this way, many heroic soldiers sacrificed their young lives in order to destroy the enemy fortress, which shows the fierceness of Taiyuan City. Therefore, the liberation of Taiyuan is also known as the most capable city in the liberation war.
Although it was difficult to fight, under the wise command of Xu Shuai, and the spirit of courageously killing the enemy with the soldiers of our army and not fearing sacrifice, in November 1948, all the obstacles around Taiyuan City were cleared, and when they were ready to attack Taiyuan City, the superior ordered to come down in order to stabilize Fu Zuoyi and temporarily postpone the capture of Taiyuan. In fact, after a long period of fighting, the soldiers of our army also need to rest, and in addition, the capture of a big city like Taiyuan must have heavy weapons to attack the strongholds, and temporary rest is also beneficial to our army.
On January 31, 1949, the Battle of Pingjin finally ended in the victory of our army, at which time there were enough troops to attack Taiyuan, so the 18th, 19th, and 20th corps were all transferred to capture Taiyuan, at this time our army invested 330,000 troops, plus the early 80,000 troops, that is to say, to liberate Taiyuan, our army invested a total of 400,000 troops.
Battle of Taiyuan
Because Xu Shuai, who had been overworked for a long time, was unwell and could not serve as the commander-in-chief of the campaign to capture Taiyuan, he was replaced by Mr. Peng. In this way, in order to liberate Taiyuan City, our army successively used two commanders, and both of them were outstanding in the art of military command and command of our army, and later after the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were both with the rank of marshal.
Under the pressure of our army's large troops, Yan Xishan of Taiyuan City abandoned the city and fled by plane, leaving Shanxi, where he had ruled for 38 years, and handed over the command to Wang Jingguo, and Sun Chu let them continue to resist. However, under the heroic battle of our army, on April 24, 1949, it successfully attacked Taiyuan City, and after more than six months of bloody struggle, finally, this arduous battle was won.
But our army has also paid a heavy price. With 45,000 casualties, including 36,000 in siege battles and sieges, it was the most fierce battle and the most costly urban offensive in the Liberation War.