The heavy responsibility for the liberation of Shanghai was on his shoulders, and Nie Fengzhi, commander of the 27th Army, chose Liu Jinghai as a forward: he had many ideas for fighting
In early May 1949, the Headquarters of the Third Field Army held a combat conference on the liberation of Shanghai in Suzhou, and Chen Yi and Su Yu entrusted the heavy task of liberating Shanghai to the 8 corps of the Ninth Corps and the 8 corps of the Tenth Corps (and later added one corps each of the Seventh and Eighth Corps), of which the 27th Army located in the battle sequence of the Ninth Corps was on the list, which made commander Nie Fengzhi very happy.
Figure: Deployment map of the Shanghai Campaign
After the meeting ended on May 8, Nie Fengzhi hurried back to the military headquarters and held a meeting of cadres at and above the regimental level together with Liu Haotian, the political commissar of the army, to convey the main tasks assigned by Noji to the 27th Army:
"The main task of our 27th Army is to march from Wuzhen to Shanghai, along the Jiaxing and Songjiang to Shanghai-Hangzhou railways, to launch an attack on Shanghai from the south, and to participate in the battle to liberate Downtown Shanghai."
Therefore, the troops of the three divisions under Nie Fengzhi's 27th Army set out from Wuzhen and marched rapidly to Shanghai. At this time, the rain in the south was endless, but the 27th Army was still traveling day and night, traveling hundreds of miles a day, and they knew very well in their hearts the importance of liberating Shanghai.
Pictured: The People's Liberation Army marching toward downtown Shanghai
One night, when the rain was pouring down, the soldiers had to rest for a while, and the comrades in the cooking class hurried to find a place to hide from the rain and burn the fire to cook. Who knew that a pot of porridge had just been boiled, and the correspondent immediately sent an order and ordered the troops to advance quickly. The warriors had just brought the porridge to their mouths, and when they heard the order, they immediately poured the rice back into the pot and raised their legs and left. The comrades in the cooking class could only carry a pot of porridge with a flat shoulder and let the soldiers drink as they walked; in that case, the enemy situation was undergoing intricate changes every day, and even if they did not eat or sleep, they had to strive for the liberation of Shanghai as soon as possible.
Pictured: On May 22, our army cleared the periphery of the enemy, which was a group photo of our army with the Pudong guerrillas on the outskirts of Shanghai
On May 24, after the entire 27th Army cleared the remnants of the enemy on the outskirts of Shanghai, it occupied Hongqiao Airport in the western suburbs of Shanghai, and then launched a multi-route attack on downtown Shanghai. Before the attack, Nie Fengzhi issued a solemn order to the whole army on behalf of the army:
"When the whole army attacks the city, only light weapons are allowed to shoot, and artillery and explosives are not allowed."
This is a decision made to ensure that Shanghai, a world-famous city, is safely preserved and that the lives of Shanghai citizens are protected.
Before attacking downtown Shanghai, Nie Fengzhi appointed the 79th Division as the vanguard unit, and the division commander Liu Jinghai (also known as Xiao Jinghai) looked quiet and quiet, tall, and looked like a cultural man, but he usually had strict requirements for the troops, and his main feature was that he loved to use his brains in war. The reason why Nie Fengzhi chose the 79th Division is because it is not simple to fight Shanghai, and we cannot rely only on brute force, especially in the case of not being able to use heavy weapons, we must be good at thinking, attacking Shanghai, what Nie Fengzhi needs is "stability."
Figure: Schematic diagram of the Battle of Shanghai
On May 24, the troops of the 79th Division successfully entered downtown Shanghai, of which the 235th Regiment went north from Chengjiaqiao to the Fanhuang Junction, while the 237th Regiment advanced south from Chengjiaqiao along Hongqiao Road to Linsen Road to clear the enemy.
At 9 p.m., Nie Fengzhi, who was waiting at the forward headquarters, heard fierce gunfire coming from downtown Shanghai, so he quickly picked up the phone and called Liu Jinghai, commander of the 79th Division: "How is the progress of the troops?" ”
"Report to the commander, we rushed in!" Liu Jinghai's voice has changed.
Pictured: Old photo of Liu Jinghai
"What, rushed in?" Nie Fengzhi asked again.
"Rush in, the enemy retreats!" Our troops are pursuing the city center, the workers and comrades in Shanghai are supporting us, and the electric lights on the road are still on! Liu Jinghai replied happily.
"Well, I ask you to cross the Suzhou River before dawn and find a way to force the enemy in Suzhou Hebei to surrender!"
Nie Fengzhi said firmly.
Soon after, the 80th and 81st Divisions also reported the progress to Nie Fengzhi, and the troops of the 27th Army had broken through the city from hongqiao airport and Xujiahui, firmly controlling most of the area of Suzhou Henan.
The 237th Regiment first entered Shanghai and surrounded more than 100 Kuomintang soldiers: surrender their guns and not kill them
At nightfall, the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division carried out an enemy campaign along Shanghai Linsen Road (present-day Huaihai Road) in the direction of the Bund in the direction of the Bund.
This road is a famous road in Shanghai, which has been renamed many times, after the outbreak of the First World War, in order to commemorate the famous French general Xiafei, this road was once named "Xiafei Road"; after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang government returned to Nanjing, which was renamed "Linsen Road", lin sen was the chairman of the Kuomintang National Congress.
Photo: Old photo of Linsen Road in Shanghai
The commanders and fighters of the 237th Regiment were all soldiers from the Jiaodong region of Shandong Province, who had been fighting and living in the countryside of Shandong for a long time, and now they were walking in the middle of such a wide road, and for a while they still felt a little unaccustomed, they were still the first time to see such a tall building, they always felt that they were crooked and slanted to fall, how could there be such a high house?
At this time, regimental commander Zhang Wen and political commissar Ding Rui knew very well in their hearts that although the surrounding situation was dead and silent, in fact, not far away, the two traffic police corps equipped with the most automatic firearms in the Kuomintang army were still active, but the troops still chose to drive straight in, which was to take a certain risk.
Thanks to the support of the comrades of the Shanghai workers to the People's Liberation Army, the electric lights on the shanghai roads were still bright that night, which was a testimony to the emotional exchange between the Shanghai working class and the People's Liberation Army during the meeting.
At 11:00 p.m., all the personnel of the 3rd Battalion of the Vanguard Of the 237th Regiment had already passed the Eight Immortals Bridge in the city center and reached the vicinity of the Great World. At this time, the battalion commander ordered: too far away from the main force of the regiment, all the personnel rested in place, the commander of the 7th Company, Mou Qijia, sent a platoon of fighters to guard everyone, and then the troops entered the surrounding alleys for a short rest.
Pictured: Shanghai citizens braved the rain to take to the streets and shake hands with the soldiers who entered the city
After 1 hour, the forward scout reported: "Report to the company commander, the enemy situation has been found in the front!" ”
Mu Qijia immediately woke everyone up to prepare for battle, and then instructed the reconnaissance platoon: "Continue to observe!" ”
After a while, the reconnaissance unit returned:
"More than 100 Kuomintang soldiers were found in the front, and there were no follow-up troops behind, most likely enemy search troops."
The soldiers of the 7th Company followed the instructions of the company commander and hid in the nearby alley. "Let's listen to my whistle later!" Mou Qijia gave orders to the warriors.
Sure enough, a search team of more than 100 Kuomintang soldiers came in the direction of the big world. After they entered the pre-designed encirclement of the 7th Company, they only heard a whistle, and the soldiers of the 7th Company jumped out of the surrounding alleys with submachine guns, and then pulled their bolts to click.
"Don't move, don't shoot, don't kill!"
"Sit all down!"
After preliminary interrogation, Mou Qijia learned that this was the search team of the Kuomintang 37th Army, and he immediately asked, "What are you doing here?" ”
Pictured: Old photo of Luo Zemin
A deputy company commander of the other side replied: "Commander Luo (Luo Zemin) told me that as soon as your army was in Hongqiao, Shanghai, he ordered us to conduct a search and prepare to occupy the Henan area of Suzhou." "But as a result, before they reached Suzhou Henan, they were all disarmed by the People's Liberation Army."
At 1:00 a.m. on May 25, the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division arrived on time at its location west of the Racecourse Hall, and the regimental headquarters was set up on the road at the intersection of Chongqing. At this time, an American jeep sped from west to east and was stopped by the soldiers of the regimental reconnaissance team. At this moment, a soldier raised the shell gun in his hand and asked, "Which part?" ”
Out of the window table came a small head with a duck-tongue hat: "Garrison Command's!" ”
But at this moment, the Kuomintang soldiers in the vehicle saw the red-rimmed black characters on the chest of the other party: "Chinese people's liberation army", and their hearts were suddenly half cold.
"Get out of the car for inspection!" The sound of PLA soldiers pulling bolts was heard next to the car window.
Photo: Old photo of Chen Daqing
It turned out that half an hour earlier, Chen Daqing, commander of the Kuomintang Songhu Garrison, had ordered several confidential documents to be sent to several military headquarters and two traffic police corps in Suzhou henan, but he never expected that the PLA would move so quickly. After searching, the comrades of the reconnaissance team found a document bag, only to find that it contained the enemy's confidential document, the "Enemy Intelligence Bulletin," and the "martial law order for the whole city" signed by Chen Daqing himself 1 hour ago.
After seeing these classified materials, the soldiers of the reconnaissance team humorously said to the captured Nationalist soldiers:
"You have done a very good job delivering the letter this time, and you can rest well."
The 235th Regiment was blocked in Suzhou Hebei, and all the soldiers of the "First Boat Crossing the River" died heroically
Just as the 237th Regiment was rapidly developing rapidly toward the center of Shanghai, the 235th Regiment was met with stubborn resistance from the enemy at dawn on May 25 and was forced to stop in front of several road bridges on the Suzhou Creek.
Pictured: Our army's occupation of the Huangpu River embankment is rapidly developing in depth to Shanghai
If we open the map and look at the whole of Shanghai, people know that Shanghai is divided into two major areas, Pudong and Puxi, and Puxi can be divided into two parts along the Suzhou Creek. The Suzhou Creek runs through puxi city, and more than a dozen bridges from east to west are lined up one after another, which is an important transportation point connecting the two sides of the strait, and it is also the most important link in the defense system on the north bank of the Suzhou River constructed by the Kuomintang army.
In order to be able to quickly break through the enemy's defense system, Wang Jingkun, the commander of the 235th Regiment, envisioned:
First of all, the Tibet Road Bridge was broken through to disrupt the enemy's defense system, which was the dividing line between the combat operations of the 79th Division, the 80th Division, and the 81st Division, and across the bridge was the famous Sihang Warehouse during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Pictured: Four-row warehouse scene
In the early hours of the morning, Wang Jingkun and several staff officers inspected the terrain from a distance, only to see that the enemy on the bridge was very heavily guarded, and not only a huge horse was erected on the bridge deck, but also a barbed wire fence was pulled: the sihang warehouse in the distance was also transformed into a fire point by the Kuomintang defenders, and a solid cement bunker was built to form a dense fire network. At dawn, the 3rd Battalion launched the first attack on the Tibet Road bridge, but did not achieve obvious results, and the regimental commander Wang Jingkun immediately decided to transfer his troops and attack other bridges instead.
After hearing that the goal was to be changed, the 1st Battalion and 3 companies quickly ran forward, and at the front of the team were 14 soldiers of the 7th Class, all of whom were all tall and tall. Just after running out of the Nanjing intersection, the company commander quickly ordered: "Everyone use the riverbank embankment to protect themselves!" The soldiers of the 7th Squad had just jumped to the flat ground along the river when they were violently strafed by the enemy's dense fan-shaped fire network, and all 14 fighters died heroically near the Waibaidu Bridge.
Photo: Historical photo of Waibaidu Bridge
Seeing this, all the soldiers of the 3rd Company were furious, and on the morning of the 25th, the 1st Battalion was fiercely confronting the enemy on the opposite side of the bridge, but soon the troops received a transfer order: "There are still foreign-related personnel in the Broadway Building, in order to avoid disputes, the regiment headquarters decided to attack the Sichuan Road Bridge." ”
The Sichuan Road Bridge, located between the Waibaidu Bridge, the Jiangxi Road Bridge and the Henan Road Bridge, is strategically important: along the main road on the bridge, it is the location of Tang Bo'en's headquarters. Because of this, the Sichuan Road and Bridge was also an important defensive point for the Kuomintang army. In addition to the bunkers and barbed wire on the bridge, the most dangerous enemy fire point is located in the Shanghai General Post Office Building north of the bridge, which shows that this is bound to be a vicious battle.
When they first reached the front of the Sichuan Road Bridge, the 1st Battalion was suppressed by enemy fire, and the troops were pressed in front of the various intersections of Sichuan Road and could not lift their heads. Just as the commanders and fighters of the troops were desperately trying to break through the enemy's fire point and approach the Sichuan Road Bridge, the enemy fire point from the Shanghai Post Office spat out a tongue of fire, and the charging fighters suddenly fell more than a dozen times.
Pictured: Commemorative statue of the first boat crossing the river
The 1st Battalion immediately decided to form an assault platoon, which included 1 battalion, 3 companies, and 2 platoons — this team was the heroic unit of the "first boat crossing the river."
。 They crawled forward in tactical formations, one set of cover, one group of advance, and soon approached the middle of the Sichuan Road Bridge. However, seeing that the assault platoon rushed to the front of a pile of sandbags, a burst of gun smoke suddenly appeared, and the heroic assault platoon fighters rushed to rush, suddenly "stopped", and then fell softly in the smoke of the enemy's fire, and never got up again, and this heroic unit was sacrificed in the battle to liberate Shanghai.
The soldiers indignantly asked to "fire the cannon", and the commander Nie Fengzhi burst into tears: cannons cannot be used
After learning that the attack of the 235th Regiment was blocked, Nie Fengzhi hurried to the Suzhou River to observe the situation, and what was in front of Nie Fengzhi was a cruel reality: the enemy used the high-rise buildings on the north bank to deploy extremely dense crossfire, and he clearly saw that the river surface and bridge deck on the south bank were exposed to the enemy's powerful firepower, and because the army headquarters issued an order not to open artillery and use explosive packs, it was impossible to cover the enemy's firepower, and the attacking troops almost became the enemy's living targets; he also learned that because of the "enemy". The soldiers of the first boat crossing the river were all sacrificed at the bridge of Sichuan Road, and the emotions within the troops were agitated, and some troops had already ordered the howitzers in the suburbs to be pulled over.
Pictured: Our army launched a charge against Suzhou Creek one after another, preparing to launch an attack on downtown Shanghai
At this time, Nie Fengzhi's heart was like overturning the five-flavor bottle, and his heart was very painful and bitter. If artillery fire is really not used, such fire points will be very difficult to completely destroy; if these fire points are not destroyed, it will be very difficult for the troops to cross the bridge.
Seeing the commander personally approaching the position, the soldiers' eyes burned with vengeful anger, and they said to Nie Fengzhi in a tongue-in-cheek manner:
"Commander, let us fire a few more cannons, we promise that one shot will kill a fire point, and never put more than one shot; to ensure that a few guns will let the enemy's fire point on the opposite side go to the sky!"
"Commander, you agree!" We only asked to use three packs of explosives. As long as three packs, guarantee to let the Rausch building opposite blow up in the sky! ”
Pictured: Nie Fengzhi during the Liberation War
The soldiers' passionate pleas forced Nie Fengzhi into a situation where it was difficult to choose.
How did he not know that if he had allowed the use of artillery and explosives, the troops would have already crossed the Suzhou River, and compared with the wide Yangtze River in the Battle of the Crossing River, the 30-meter Suzhou River was not a piece of cake for the 27th Army?
Compared with the countless cities that have been fought before, is the bridgehead of several tanks, armored vehicles and machine guns a thin piece of paper? One shot killed one of the enemy's fire points, and his troops could undoubtedly do it; 3 packs of explosives were sent to the Broadway building or the General Post Office building, and he also believed that the demolition team had this ability, and it was impossible for the enemy to rely on a few buildings and a small river to block the victory rate of the liberation of Shanghai. But......
Pictured: Old view of broadway building in Shanghai
Thinking of the groups of soldiers sacrificed in front of the enemy's firepower network, Nie Fengzhi couldn't help but burst into tears and revealed his true feelings to the soldiers: "If the artillery is not fired, the buildings and warehouses in Shanghai can be saved, but the casualties of cadres and soldiers will increase exponentially." If we want to talk about the value of each other, even if the high-rise buildings are all made of gold, how can it be more important than the lives and blood of our cadres and soldiers?
The building collapsed and could be rebuilt; but when the cadres and soldiers died, they could never be revived.
These cadres and fighters from all over the world, some are exemplary troops who have experienced hundreds of battles, some are liberation fighters who have abandoned the dark and cast their eyes, and some are peasants who have recently turned over after participating in the land reform; these cadres and fighters from all over the world have crossed the rough yangtze river and just seen the dawn of the liberation of the whole country, but they have fallen on this Suzhou River, which is only 30 meters wide! How can this not be deeply heart-wrenching and painful? ”
Pictured: Nie Fengzhi and his wife in air force uniforms
"But if the cannon is fired, some of the buildings in Shanghai will be gone, some factories and warehouses will be flattened, and more importantly, there are so many peaceful residents living in the densely packed houses on the other side of the Shanghai River, and I don't know how many casualties will be added to the shelling." Although the muzzle can be aimed, the shrapnel does not have eyes! Moreover, now that cadres and fighters have also been red-eyed, if the 'ban' is lifted, it will not be a problem of a single shell; as long as one cannon explodes on the opposite bank of the river, then there will be hundreds of cannons and thousands of cannons exploding, countless Shanghai citizens will be killed in our artillery fire, and the entire northern part of Shanghai will be razed by us.
Shanghai was not destroyed under the tyranny of the Kuomintang, but suffered damage from the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army. So what kind of stroke will history write? Once the cannon is fired, we become sinners of history!
”
Nie Fengzhi also remembered the phone call that Commander Chen Yi had called him two days ago: "When you fight Shanghai, you must achieve 'total military and political victory.' This is Shanghai, do you know?" Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee are watching you! ”
After returning to the military headquarters in Hongqiao, Shanghai, Nie Fengzhi heard some sharp comments from his subordinates about the prohibition of firing artillery:
"We are fighting a war, not a drill, so why should we not use artillery?"
Pictured: A certain unit of our army is marching to Suzhou Creek to encircle and annihilate the enemy
"Do you love the proletarian fighters, or do you love the buildings of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie?"
After hearing these discussions, Nie Fengzhi's heart was immediately deeply touched, he only felt that his body was hot and dry, drinking water cup after cup, but the pressure on his body made his whole body anxious and thirsty.
After thinking about it, Nie Fengzhi replied to the comrades in the military department: "
I love warriors and buildings!
I cherish the lives of the fighters as much as I do, and although these buildings are still occupied by the bourgeoisie, in a few hours we will take them back from the enemy, they are the property of the people, we have no right to destroy them, we must preserve them with all our might. ”
In the end, Nie Fengzhi insisted that the "ban" could not be lifted, and the shells were not allowed to be fired!
Nie Fengzhi learned that some soldiers had "fired a cannon" and immediately instructed: Do not arrest, lenient treatment
Therefore, you can't fire cannons, how to fight this battle? Nie Fengzhi naturally has a way,
On the one hand, he ordered his troops to wade through the river from the western outskirts of Shanghai and cut the enemy's rear road; on the other hand, he made contact with the Shanghai underground party organization to strive for a political offensive and urge the defenders on the other side to lay down their weapons at an early date and ensure the integrity of the city of Shanghai.
Pictured: Nie Fengzhi's old photo
But just as he was about to go to bed that night, the telephone of the military headquarters suddenly rang, and it turned out that the artillery regiment reported:
"One soldier fired a shot at the Broadway Building."
It turned out that on that day, after the artilleryman learned that three of his fellow countrymen had died in the battle near the Waibaidu Bridge, he said with great breath:
"If the commander doesn't let you fire the cannon, I'm going to let the commander show it!"
At that time, a deputy commander of the artillery regiment was at the scene, and he immediately stopped: "Don't come here, if you don't make trouble, you will be shot!" But before the words could be heard, the shell went out, hitting the Broadway Building in Shanghai on the other side, piercing a large hole in the front, but fortunately the entire building did not collapse. As soon as the deputy regimental commander saw that the situation was serious, he immediately arrested the soldier and immediately reported to Nie Fengzhi.
Pictured: In 1955, Nie Fengzhi was awarded the rank of lieutenant general
After learning of this situation, Nie Fengzhi couldn't help but smile slightly, from the heart, he even really liked such a warrior, of course, not like his "disobedience", but liked his "stunned" spirit of longing for victory.
"Okay, I see, you don't want to arrest!" During the phone call, Nie Fengzhi explained to the deputy regiment leader: "
This is also excusable! The soldiers suffered heavy casualties, he was very angry, and it was not incomprehensible that he had done some stupid things, so it would be good to criticize and educate.
However, as cadres, you should have a good grasp of the mood and attitude of the troops; he has already made mistakes, and it is not a mistake to make more mistakes than to make mistakes!
But be aware that this kind of thing must not happen again in the future!
Nie Fengzhi's order to "be lenient" came, and the warrior, who had thought he was going to be shot, suddenly jumped three feet high, of course, he was also deeply aware of his mistake: this is Shanghai, not to let him come by nature.
Pictured: During the Battle of Shanghai, a large number of Nationalist prisoners are passing through Nanjing Road in Shanghai
Thanks to the efforts of the comrades of the Shanghai Underground Party and the cordial care of Chief Chen Yi, most of the enemies in Shanghai surrendered their weapons under the political offensive, and a small number of stubborn rebels were quickly eliminated. On May 27, the 150,000 Nationalist defenders occupying Shanghai were completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army; on June 2, the 25th Army liberated Chongming Island, and the Battle of Shanghai ended in victory.