In 1949, with the great victory of our army in the Battle of the Crossing River, the fate of the defeat of the Chiang Kai-shek clique was already doomed, so Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Taiwan with the wealth looted from the mainland.
From then until Chiang Kai-shek's death, he never had the opportunity to return to the mainland, and after Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, he repeatedly summarized the reasons for the defeat in the war.
In Chiang Kai-shek's diary, the "transport brigade commander" strenuously denied that it was his own fault, causing the war to collapse, and also threw all the black cauldron of defeat on the Kuomintang generals.
At the same time, he also wrote in his diary that the failure to evacuate the elites stationed in the northeast in time was the main reason why he was out of control!
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For this reason, Chiang Kai-shek is constantly remorseful in his heart, so is there any truth in what Chiang Kai-shek said? If, as he said, the elite stationed in the northeast were evacuated in 1948, would the liberation war really have a turnaround?
Let's explore in depth the background behind Chiang Kai-shek's remarks and understand the real reasons for the defeat of the Chiang Kai-shek clique.
First of all, we will set the time point back to August 15, 1945, because on this day, the Emperor of Japan announced his acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation and unconditionally surrendered to the Allies.
Japan's surrender represented a six-year-long World War II that ended with a complete Allied victory
At the same time, it also means that the Chinese people have won the first victory in the modern century.
(This battle didn't actually count because China didn't sign a treaty and Shandong was occupied by the Japanese.) ）
Japan's surrender also plunged the people of the whole country into a jubilation, and at this moment, chiang kai-shek's national government, which represented the legitimate regime in China at that time, undoubtedly gained great prestige, and Chiang Kai-shek himself was also respected by all walks of life in China.
But what Chinese people who longed for peace could not imagine was that behind Chiang Kai-shek's smile, there was a huge threat!
In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek openly tore up the "Double Tenth Agreement" and gathered heavy troops to launch a large-scale attack on the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains, and the War of Liberation officially broke out.
Liberation
At the beginning of the war, Chiang Kai-shek undoubtedly occupied an absolute superiority, with more than 4.3 million regular troops, eighty-three integrated armies, and a full set of American equipment, plus the militia regiments of local departments, chiang kai-shek's actual strength was absolutely more than six million!
Moreover, after nearly a year of deployment, Chiang Kai-shek, with the help of US aircraft, quickly transported a large number of the main forces gathered in the rear during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression to the eastern region and seized strategic places.
At that time, the scope of the Kuomintang region included seventeen provinces from south to north and from east to west, especially in the economically developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, all under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek.
On the other hand, after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although the strength of the army has increased compared with the beginning of the War of Resistance, it is only more than one million, most of the weapons are still captured by the Japanese army, and many people still use old guns such as Hanyang-made and old sleeves.
With no cannons, no aircraft, let alone naval warships, some troops, even logistical support, became a difficult problem.
Although during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our army opened up one base area after another in the vast occupied areas, these base areas were not connected and their interconnection with each other was also very weak.
With the help of the American army, Chiang Kai-shek's elite soon occupied most of the cities, and then relied on lines of communication and began to divide our liberated areas in an attempt to encircle and completely destroy them.
Therefore, in the early stage of the Liberation War, our army obviously fell into an absolute disadvantage, and even Yan'an was forced to temporarily choose to give up and let Hu Zongnan successfully occupy it.
Of course, this also made Chiang Kai-shek lose his eyes, thinking that he could quickly annihilate our party and our army, so he repeatedly gathered heavy troops to launch a strong attack on our army.
At this time, the Party Central Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Mao,
On the one hand, it flexibly commanded all the departments of the whole country, fought a large-scale movement war with the Kuomintang army, and waited for an opportunity to annihilate the main force of the enemy army in the movement.
On the other hand, a resolution was made to send troops to the northeast, and this decision was obviously made by the Party Central Committee after careful consideration.
Northeast China, as the absolute heavy industry base in modern China, even after the establishment of New China, the status of the Northeast Industrial Zone is very stable, with the reputation of "the eldest son of the republic".
In fact, the industrial development of the northeast region can be traced back to the time of Zhang Zuolin, who was known as the "King of the Northeast" and formed a northeast army of more than 300,000 people.
Zhang Zuolin relied on the northeast soybean trade and earned a lot of foreign exchange from the West, and then Zhang Zuolin used this foreign exchange.
Buy machines, build factories, and train skilled craftsmen.
At the same time, Zhang Zuolin also vigorously attracted intellectuals to the northeast, offered them the highest monthly salary in China at that time, and promised never to default.
Although Zhang Zuolin colluded with the Japanese government during this period and also betrayed the interests of the northeast to the Japanese, in general, under the rule of Zhang Zuolin, the northeast developed into a chinese economically developed area at that time.
Zhang Zuolin also established a complete military production line in the northeast, and the daily consumption of the northeast army can also be self-sufficient, coupled with the development of agriculture in the northeast region, which gives Zhang Zuolin the courage to go out of the customs and go south and fight a warlord war.
However, with the explosion of Huanggutun and the successful assassination of Zhang Zuolin by Japanese spies, Zhang Xueliang was not enough to subdue the veteran generals of the Northeast Army, so he chose to "change the flag and change the banner" and expressed his submission to the Nationalist Government in Nanjing, and Chiang Kai-shek also completed the nominal unification.
However, after the September 18 incident, Zhang Xueliang withdrew from the northeast without firing a single shot, and gave up thousands of factories to the Japanese, which also made the Japanese immediately "fat".
Later, with the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the Soviet Red Army, in accordance with the signed agreement, gathered heavy troops to occupy the northeast region, and the last Japanese field force, the Kwantung Army, launched a general offensive.
Under the devastating offensive of the Soviet Union, the Kwantung Army was completely destroyed, the survivors were sent to Siberia by the Soviets to dig potatoes, and the northeast naturally fell into the hands of the Soviet Red Army.
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Before the outbreak of the War of Liberation, the Soviet government intended to return the northeast to China, but Chiang Kai-shek showed that he did not want the northeast at this time.
In many later generations, many sources have shown to a greater or lesser extent that Chiang Kai-shek was actually not interested in the northeast, and that it was Marshall's reasons that really prompted Chiang Kai-shek to garrison the northeast.
So why didn't Chiang Kai-shek want the northeast? Doesn't he know that the Northeast Industrial Zone has a huge help for the development of its own strength?
In fact, he understood, he was very aware that the Northeast Industrial Zone was of great help to the Kuomintang or to himself.
But why is he still unwilling to garrison the northeast? Even after the garrison, the faint strokes and wrong moves appear continuously?
Speaking of Chiang Kai-shek's National Government, it is actually a fig leaf formed by the leaders of warlords everywhere, and the National Government has no appeal to local warlords, such as Shanxi, Guangxi and other places.
Chiang Kai-shek relied militarily on the Whampoa department and reorganized them into the Central Army, which was his own lineage, and was the best in terms of weapons and equipment and logistical supplies.
Chiang Kai-shek has always regarded the local troops as cannon fodder, not to mention weapons and equipment, and even logistics supplies.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek naturally did not trust the northeast generals and the northeast army, plus Zhang Xueliang was still one of the masterminds of the Xi'an incident, so Chiang Kai-shek has always had a resistance to Zhang Xueliang.
Even later high-level officials within the Nationalist government, such as Chen Cheng, He Yingqin and others,
They had suggested that Chiang Kai-shek put Zhang Xueliang back and let him go to the northeast to preside over the overall situation.
However, all of them were reprimanded by Chiang Kai-shek, and even after the defeat of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek took Zhang Xueliang to Taiwan and continued to be placed under house arrest.
Politically, Chiang Kai-shek was born in Zhejiang, so he often reused people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to achieve so-called checks and balances and consolidate his own power.
Although Chiang Kai-shek did not want the northeast, there were still some far-sighted people within the Nationalist government who suggested to Chiang Kai-shek that the northeast must be defended, and that elites should be sent to defend it.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Marshall has also urged Chiang Kai-shek many times, claiming that the northeast region must be firmly in his own hands and absolutely cannot be handed over to the Communist Party.
Chiang Kai-shek reluctantly mobilized some of his elite to garrison the northeast, and in November 1945, clashes broke out for the first time at Shanhaiguan.
At that time, in order to win this battle, Chiang Kai-shek successively mobilized seven integrated armies including the New 1st Army, the New 6th Army, the 52nd Army, the 53rd Army, the 60th Army, the 71st Army, and the 93rd Army!
In particular, the New 1st Army and the New 6th Army, as the main force of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, not only completed the rearmament of all-american weapons, but also had extremely rich combat experience.
At this time, our army was not superior in the northeast region, and the troops urgently drawn from north China could not rival the elite Central Army of the Kuomintang.
Therefore, in the early days of the Liberation War, the situation in the northeast was extremely bad, which also caused Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan, who presided over the overall situation in the northeast, a big headache.
Although later the Party Central Committee ordered that 120,000 elite backbone cadres from North China and Central China be drawn into the northeast,
The intention is to open up the situation, but in fact it is still in a passive beating situation.
After the withdrawal of the Soviet Red Army from the northeast, although the Northeast Field Army received a large number of weapons and equipment from the Soviets, the combat quality and combat will of the Kuomintang Central Army at that time were still relatively high, or comparable to our army.
At this time in the northeast, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized a total of eight integrated central armies, plus local troops, and the actual strength of the Kuomintang army was more than one million!
At this time, the Northeast Field Army experienced defeat and loss, although it was later replenished, but the strength was always at a disadvantage, but only more than 300,000.
But just when our army was in a disadvantageous position and the Kuomintang troops stationed in the northeast were preparing to launch a general offensive, Chiang Kai-shek once again gave new instructions.
In Chiang Kai-shek's view, prioritizing the security of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other regions was the most important thing, so when Liu Deng's army advanced into the Dabie Mountains and directly threatened the core of Chiang Kai-shek's rule.
Chiang Kai-shek was shocked, and he was very worried that Liu Deng's army would attack Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he mobilized troops from northern China and even northeast China to go south to encircle and suppress it.
Therefore, the general offensive of the Northeast Nationalist Army has always been unable to be launched because of insufficient troop strength, logistical support and other issues, and was finally successfully completed by our army to "counter-kill".
Although our army suffered repeated defeats in the early stage of entering the northeast, the Party Central Committee and the Northeast Field Army did not lose heart because of this.
Under the in-depth development of our Party's work, land reform has been greatly promoted in the Liberated Areas, and at the same time a large number of new recruits have been recruited.
In the long-term training and actual combat, the Northeast Field Army soon cultivated many units that can fight hard battles, such as the 38th Army, the 39th Army, and the 40th Army, which are known as the "three tigers of the Northeast Field Army".
With sufficient troops and a strong public opinion base, the Northeast Field Army began to attack the Nationalist army entrenched in the city.
From mid-1947 until the outbreak of the Liaoshen Campaign in 1948, the Northeast Field Army was in motion, waiting for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
A large number of the main forces of the Kuomintang army were annihilated by our army, and the New 1st Army and the New 6th Army, which were known as aces, although in the early stages of the war, achieved great victories.
But all this relies on the "American style of play" regardless of logistical attrition, during the expedition to Southeast Asia,
Both units enjoyed American-style logistics supplies, so the mode of operation did not change after they were transferred back to China.
As a result, the military stocks in the northeast were quickly depleted, and the corruption of the Nationalist government was well known, and logistics could not keep up.
In addition, after the return of the troops, the top brass of the army was soon corrupted, and for a time, corruption was rampant within the two armies, and the combat effectiveness declined sharply.
At this time, our army has been rapidly improved in both quality and quantity, so the situation in the northeast has been reversed, and the Kuomintang army has been suppressed and beaten by our army.
Before the liaoshen campaign broke out, most of the northeast had been successfully liberated by the northeast field army.
The Kuomintang defenders had to rely on Jinzhou, Changchun and other large cities to defend the city, and the contact between them was also cut off by our army.
However, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek, after seeing the deterioration of the situation in the northeast, strengthened his former ideas and once wanted to withdraw the Kuomintang army in the northeast.
However, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek also believed that once he withdrew hundreds of thousands of elite troops from the northeast, wouldn't he declare himself a failure?
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek ignored the persuasion of some generals and insisted that Wei Lihuang should die in defending the northeast, but at this time, the northeast was already in no danger.
Even if Wei Lihuang exhausted all his strength, it only temporarily stabilized the situation, until Wei Lihuang was transferred away and Du Yuming took over as the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Bandits, and the situation collapsed immediately.
When the Liaoshen Campaign broke out, the Northeast Field Army, under the instructions of the Party Central Committee, attacked Jinzhou, and successfully conquered Jinzhou in only 31 hours, completely annihilating the defenders.
This also shocked the Liao Yaoxiang Corps that came to reinforcements, and liao Yaoxiang wanted to evacuate, in fact, he had the opportunity to leave the northeast from Yingkou and board a warship.
However, Chiang Kai-shek gave instructions to Liao Yaoxiang's corps to rescue Jinzhou, so Liao Yaoxiang had to obey Chiang Kai-shek's orders and engage our army for a week.
Seven days later, Liao Yaoxiang thought that the general situation had gone and Jinzhou could not be saved, so he wanted to withdraw, but at this time our army was ready and the support troops were in place, so he launched an offensive against Liao Yaoxiang's corps.
Liao Yaoxiang was defeated so he prepared to move closer to Shenyang, and on the way to Shenyang, he was ambushed by our army, and since then Liao Yaoxiang's corps has been completely destroyed.
After the Liaoshen Campaign, the entire northeast region was conquered by the Northeast Field Army, and the Kuomintang army lost four corps headquarters.
The 11 integrated armies totaled more than 472,000 people, lost more than 4,700 artillery pieces of various calibers, and more than 200,000 guns of various types!
As the first of the three major campaigns, the Liaoshen Campaign was launched, and our army won a successful victory.
Since then, the Kuomintang army has completely lost the initiative on the battlefield and has to fall into a situation of passive beating until it defeats Taiwan.
Therefore, later Chiang Kai-shek regretted that he did not withdraw the elite Kuomintang troops stationed in the northeast in advance to Guannei in time and throw them into the battlefield of North China.
In January 1949, at the summary meeting of the Kuomintang troops in the Liaoshen Campaign, he scolded Marshall, believing that he had caused heavy losses to the Kuomintang troops.
But is this really the case? The corruption of the National Government is already a top-down corruption, it is already "rotten" to the root, and the people will not support the National Government at all.
Militarily, Chiang Kai-shek made a series of faint moves, and he was always on the lookout for local troops, and even if the Northeast Nationalist Army successfully withdrew, it could not save the fate of the defeat of the Nationalist Government.
In fact, the choice of the northeast as the first place to start the decisive battle was determined by the change of the situation, when our army took the initiative, so we launched a general offensive.
Even if the Northeast Nationalist Army successfully fled, it was only to change the location of the decisive battle from the northeast to North China, and the later Battle of Pingjin profoundly confirmed this!
Once the Kuomintang army abandoned the northeast early, the northeast field army would be able to restore its strength in advance and launch a decisive battle in advance, and the northeast field army would also enter the pass in advance.
Our army will take the northeast as the large rear and continuously send the main force into the customs operation, so it seems that the war of liberation will probably end early.
Therefore, no matter what the situation, the defeat of the Chiang Kai-shek clique is doomed, and new China will certainly be successfully established under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.