During the Liberation War, do you know which battle was the hardest to fight? The well-known Shenyang in the Liaoshen Campaign, Xuzhou in the Huaihai Campaign, or Beijing in the Pingjin Campaign are actually not. At the time of the liberation of the city, our army dispatched a total of three corps and nine columns, exceeding more than 300,000 troops, not only that, but also the personal command of two founding marshals, which was taken down, which is the Taiyuan area of Shanxi. Many cities have been easily taken, why has Taiyuan, Shanxi, been slow to take it? What advantage does this difficult bone have that allows our army to launch such a big battle?
In fact, there were many warlords formed during the Republic of China period, but the time of existence was generally not long, except for the famous Shanxi king Yan Xishan. Soon after the Wuchang Uprising, Yan Xishan became the governor of Shanxi, and later naturally Shanxi Province became his territory, after which Yan Xishan controlled Shanxi for 38 years, until the soldiers were defeated and fled in the Liberation War in 1949, the control ended, and the people really became the masters. Objectively speaking, this period coincided with the end of the Kuomintang-Communist civil war, the three major battles were over, and the reactionary forces of the Kuomintang were doomed to fall apart, but for us, the real liberation had not yet arrived, and the real victory was also a crucial step ahead, and the reason was that Yan Xishan, who had always "held firm" in the Shanxi region, had not yet surrendered. Thus began the battle to liberate Taiyuan.
On October 5, 1948, the longest-lasting urban offensive during the Liberation War------ the Battle of Taiyuan finally began. In old China, Shanxi is actually a very special region, since the end of the Xinhai Revolution, the warlords have been four, the Jin warlord Yan Xishan has been ruling Shanxi, a total of through the Beiyang government, the Central Plains War and the later War of Resistance Against Japan, until the War of Liberation was uprooted, ending the rule, and Yan Xishan is also one of the oldest warlords in Chinese history, forty years, enough Yan Xishan to control all aspects of Shanxi step by step, if you want to completely destroy this force, it is not an easy task. Not only because of Yan Xishan's familiar control of Shanxi, but also because of its topography. Taiyuan in Shanxi Province has been a military powerhouse since ancient times, the terrain is slightly more complex, surrounded by mountains on three sides, on the whole it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, more importantly, Taiyuan is also the central city of Shanxi Province, is an important industrial center in the north, Yan Xishan has been operating here for many years, and has long built a solid and perfect military defense project. Therefore, even if the People's Liberation Army was menacing, Yan Xishan never had a hint of panic, but constantly strengthened the defense of the Taiyuan area. It is precisely because Yan Xishan has a strong bunker that for our army, hard fighting is not a good strategy. Marshal Xu Xiangqian believed that in order to disintegrate this military defense system established by Yan Xishan, it was necessary to start from the periphery and gradually isolate Taiyuan City, and then it would be annihilated in one fell swoop, but things were far from being so easy to do, and the process of clearing obstacles also made our army suffer heavy losses. Moreover, compared with the two sides, from the perspective of military strength, Yan Xishan's troops have never lacked well-equipped weapons and munitions, coupled with the fact that there is a factory specializing in the production of weapons, ammunition and artillery in Taiyuan City itself, so weapons will not be a worry for them at all, but we do not have such sufficient rear supplies; from the perspective of troop strength, there are at least more than 100,000 elite soldiers in Yan Xishan City, and the number of troops led by Marshal Xu Qianqian to attack Shanxi is only 80,000 at most, and the gap in personnel is huge. It is also one of the important reasons why it is difficult for us to fight, and our army has just experienced many battles, the personnel loss is huge, the troops are in urgent need of adjustment, and they do not have enough energy to fight again.
In May 1948, Marshal Xu Qianqian fell ill due to long-term fatigue and was in urgent need of recuperation, and when his health improved slightly, he resolutely returned to the command front line again, and also served as the commander-in-chief and political commissar of the First Corps of the North China Field Army. Marshal Xu Qianqian's first challenge after leaving the mountain was his hometown of Shanxi, without the slightest hesitation, he quickly took Linfen, of course, the speed was so fast and fierce, Yan Xishan had not yet reacted in time, he had already lost an important gateway to Taiyuan. Subsequently, Yan Xishan quickly adjusted the plan in accordance with our army's operational plan, concentrated his forces to guard the Jinzhong area, and while defending our army, he also stepped up the construction of fortifications and prepared for a long-term battle with our army. Because with the loss of Linfen, Jinzhong was too important for him, and once this place was lost, Taiyuan City would really be isolated and helpless, and the consequences would be unimaginable. But how could such a plan stop the victorious general? In order to liberate Shanxi as soon as possible, Marshal Xu Qianqian once again succeeded in taking Jinzhong, liberated the two major gateways of Shanxi Province in a short period of time, and dealt a heavy blow to Yan Xishan's elite troops, laying a good foundation for the subsequent liberation of Taiyuan. On October 5, 1948, the People's Liberation Army began to take the initiative to attack Taiyuan City, first passing through the retreat of the defenders in Taiyuan City during some small peripheral battles. At this time, the situation in the North China Battlefield changed, in order to stabilize Fu Zuoyi and prevent him from fleeing south, it was finally decided to suspend the liberation of Taiyuan, besiege but not attack, and wait until the Pingjin Campaign was over before turning back to take Taiyuan. Fu Zuoyi was a talented military man, and if he was allowed to flee, it was bound to become a stumbling block for our army in the war of liberation, and at this time Xu Xiangqian once again fell ill due to excessive fatigue, his physical condition deteriorated, and he needed to be cultivated.
In January 1949, our army gathered the strength of three corps to reinforce, a total of 240,000 reinforcements, plus Marshal Xu Qianqian's 80,000 troops, attacking Taiyuan City with as many as 320,000 troops, which occupied an absolute advantage over the defenders of Taiyuan at that time. But despite this, the Battle of Taiyuan is still very difficult to fight, after all, this is the final nest of Yan Xishan, in the past few decades, he has done a very good job in Taiyuan's defense project, and has built many blockhouses, so no matter what, Yan Xishan will not easily give up Taiyuan and give in, even if it is the result of both defeats in the end. At this time, because Marshal Xu Qianqian's health was really not suitable for going to the front line anymore, Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, commander and political commissar of Yiye, came to Taiyuan and commanded the battle with Xu Xiangqian. Originally, the strategy made by our army was to focus on the encirclement and disintegration, stick to the positions that have been taken, and combine military encirclement with political disintegration to weaken the enemy's military strength step by step. However, this was not a good idea, until April 3, the siege plan was approved, and the liberation war of Taiyuan City also reached the decisive moment. On April 25, the war ended and Taiyuan was completely liberated. What is frustrating is that when Yan Xishan lost Linfen and Jinzhong, he was ready to destroy Taiyuan City, where he operated a large number of factories, manufactured weapons and ammunition, and even produced poisons, which shows that Yan Xishan has a "special love" for Taiyuan.
But in fact, even Yan Xishan, who occupies the mountain as the king, did not win the people's hearts in the end, and with the people's resistance, it could only end in failure. Throughout the Taiyuan Campaign, the long-oppressed people of Shanxi gave great support to the Plaster, and in addition to the most basic food support, rich materials were sent to the hands of the PLA, which was bound to overthrow Yan Xishan's rule and uproot his old lair. In addition, the morale of the guard soldiers in Taiyuan City, which has been besieged by our army for half a year, is low in morale, compared to the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army outside the city, but despite this, for such a difficult nail household, everything must be cautious, if you rush to fight, you may not be able to take Taiyuan City in one fell swoop, and there are many people in the city, if the war situation is fierce, it will definitely hurt the lives of innocent people, so, with the approval of the superiors, The siege plan, which was originally scheduled for ten days, was extended to three months. During the three-month protracted war, there were also quite a few of Yan Xishan's subordinates who did not want to continue to give him their lives, and the tragic losses made many officers and men of the Jin Army lose their way and began to find a way out for themselves. And Yan Xishan also knew that taiyuan, which he had painstakingly managed for nearly forty years, could no longer hold on, so he fled alone, and this difficult battle was completely over. In this war, the People's Liberation Army annihilated more than 135,000 Nationalist troops, causing the Kuomintang reactionaries to lose their last stronghold in north China and liberating the whole province of Shanxi Province. After more than six months of war, the People's Liberation Army caused 45,000 casualties, and during the siege of the city alone, more than 36,000 casualties were inflicted because of the enemy's bunkers, which was also the most tragic battle in the Liberation War. At this point, Shanxi was liberated, ending Yan Xishan's 38-year rule over Shanxi.
After the end of the Taiyuan War, Marshal Xu Xiangqian said: "If we want to reward merit, then this first merit must be attributed to the supply of the rear and the full support of the masses of the people to the front." It is precisely because of this layer of strong backing that a magnificent pattern of people's war has been formed, and it is precisely because of the people that the Taiyuan Campaign has achieved such brilliant achievements. Today's Taiyuan is striving to present a splendid scene, because it condenses the blood and tears of the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, and dissolves the warmth of the water conditions of the military and the people, and people always remember it. I hope that we will not forget the road ahead, in order to better start, in the future era of the journey, forge ahead!