In 1948, the Kuomintang reactionaries were gradually defeated by the offensive of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the People's Liberation Army on all battlefields throughout the country fought the Kuomintang in a final decisive battle with overwhelming superiority and a destructive posture. The "Battle of Jinzhong" in Shanxi was praised by Chairman Mao as a classic battle that "greatly helped the entire campaign."
At this time, although more than seventy years have passed since the Battle of Jinzhong, this classic battle of winning more with less and defeating the strong with the weak has become more and more brilliant and dazzling with the passage of history. In this great battle, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has brought into play the fine combat traditions and the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice in our army.
Under the leadership and command of Marshal Xu Qianqian, he fought bravely and bravely, and finally defeated the enemy army of 130,000 with 60,000 troops, and achieved a major victory!
Not only liberated the Jinzhong region, but more importantly, liberated the people of Jinzhong and enabled the people of Jinzhong to go to a broad road from then on.
In 1948, the Chinese People's Liberation Army had liberated most of Shanxi, and only a few cities and areas were still held by the army of the Kuomintang reactionary Yan Xishan. Because from the perspective of the deployment of top-level strategic thinking, at this time, the large army that completed the task of liberation should be placed in the south of the motherland, so Liu Deng's army began to march south under the command of Chairman Mao.
In Shanxi, only the First Corps of North China and local troops such as Jinzhong and Lüliang were left to complete the remaining liberation tasks.
At this time, under the rule of Yan Xishan, only Jinzhong, with Taiyuan as the center and only fourteen county seats, remained. Yan Xishan also understood that at this time, the Kuomintang reactionaries had already gone, and there were only two roads in front of him. The first is to lay down their weapons in accordance with the will of the people and go out of the city and surrender. The second is stubborn resistance, sacrificing the lives of the warriors in vain to prolong the time for themselves. In the end, Yan Xishan still chose to disregard the tide of history and was determined to stand against the people and fight a decisive battle with the People's Liberation Army.
In order to liberate the masses of the people in The Jin Dynasty in Shanxi, and also to provide favorable conditions for the liberation of Pingjin and the whole of Northern China. The Central Military Commission and the North China Bureau decided that Xu Xiangqian commanded the Chinese People's Liberation Army North China First Corps to liberate Jin by force. At this time, Jinzhong was like an isolated island in the sea, completely surrounded by the People's Liberation Army.
In May 1948, after the liberation of Linfen, the People's Liberation Army could not rest, and quickly marched north, deciding to eliminate all the living forces of Yan Xishan. Yan Xishan had been occupying Shanxi for more than forty years, and he never dreamed that this land, which he was usually accustomed to being a mighty man, had all fallen into the encirclement of the People's Liberation Army for a time. Faced with the reality of the situation, Yan Xishan was naturally terrified. However, he still clung to the luck and hoped that the Kuomintang reactionaries would be able to resist the Chinese People's Liberation Army in the southern battlefield and then rescue himself. He also hoped that his troops would be able to withstand the attack of the People's Liberation Army and enable them to defend the Jinzhong region.
With the last glimmer of hope, Yan Xishan formulated the policy of "sticking to the defensive line and taking the attack as the defense." It tried to defeat the People's Liberation Army by virtue of its numerical superiority in troops and sophisticated equipment. Because Yan Xishan's troops were superior in number, he sent a part of his troops to firmly hold the urban and rural strongholds in the counties of Jinzhong and control the pass of Pingchuan in Jinzhong to the mountainous area. We are prepared to use the geographical advantage to contain the PLA offensive and try our best to cause damage to the PLA.
The main forces are mobile along various important railways and highways, and their purpose is to control the main roads of communication. Yan Xishan demanded that the main force must hold the counties of Jinzhong, because he knew that if the fourteen counties in Jinzhong were broken through by the People's Liberation Army one by one, then he would be the turtle in the urn and could only be slaughtered. Therefore, at this time, Yan Xishan's use of troops can be described as crazy, and he appointed Gao Zhuozhi as the commander to carry out mobile operations and attack and ambush the People's Liberation Army at various important routes. The garrison arrangements of the counties were Zhao Gong, commander of the Sixty-first Army, sitting in Wenshui, Liu Xiaozeng, commander of the Forty-third Army, Sitting in Fenyang, Wen Huaiguang, commander of the Nineteenth Army, sitting in Pingyao, and Gao Zhuozhi, commander of the Thirty-fourth Army, sitting in Jiexiu. Yan Xishan mobilized 3 corps, 3 corps, 22 security regiments, and 21 security brigades with a total of 130,000 troops, and armed the entire Pingchuan in jinzhong.
Yan Xishan ruled Shanxi for more than forty years, leaving the people with only tyranny and endless suffering. Under his so-called "integration of soldiers and farmers" and "three autobiographical training" systems, people's lives are in dire straits. During this period, under his rule, spies, landlords, bullies, etc. ran amok and oppressed the people. Let the people suffer unspeakable, and in times of war and chaos, it can be said that every day should not be done, and the earth is not spirited. It made the people groan and complain, and the people's grievances boiled over.
In order to expand his troops, Yan Xishan also forcibly ordered the establishment of "civil guards" in various localities, which was called so that every village could carry out self-defense, in fact, it was to organize and arrest Zhuangding to expand its own armed forces. They even launched a killing contest between counties and villages, which is the "three autobiographical training" mentioned above. Under this policy, countless people in Jinzhong were beaten to death with sticks.
According to the existing historical records, Pingyao County has the largest number of deaths, reaching more than 700 people, and the least Shouyang County has more than 50 people, and the number of deaths in other counties also varies from here. Therefore, there is a famous song in the local area: "Soldiers and farmers are united, and artemisia grass grows everywhere." "In order to overthrow Yan Xishan's rule in Jinzhong, Shanxi, and also for the sake of the broad masses of the people in Jinzhong, the Central Military Commission has decided to rescue the people of Jinzhong from the fiery life at all costs.
In June 1948, during the wheat harvest season in Pingchuan, Jinzhong, the people of Jinzhong had been busy for a year and had just seen a little hope of harvest. Before he could turn his hope into reality, he was severely hit by Yan Xishan. In order to provide logistical support for the 130,000 troops, he ordered that all the grain of the masses of the people be snatched up against all opposition and resistance. Since ancient times, grain has been the life of every peasant, and Yan Xishan, for his own rule, has no regard for the lives of the people. This move also made him completely lose the hearts of the people.
How much the masses of the people hate Yan Xishan reflects their desire for the arrival of the People's Liberation Army. On June 2, 1948, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and the North China Bureau of the Central Committee of China approved Xu Xiangqian's proposal and formally decided to organize the Jinzhong Campaign. After careful arrangements and arrangements, our army is determined to annihilate one of its main forces and to deal a decisive blow to all the main forces of the enemy before it can fully engage our army.
The person responsible for carrying out this mission was the First Corps of the North China Field of our army, after receiving the order. It was immediately decided that the Eighth Column and the Thirteenth Column of the First Corps of North China and the local armed forces of the Taiyue and Beiyue Military Regions would launch an attack. The tactics of the offensive adopt the strategy of dividing and encircling and breaking each other. Because this move can effectively avoid the numerical disadvantage of our army, it can achieve the purpose of obtaining the greatest benefit with the least sacrifice.
On June 11, 1948, the Lüliang troops of the People's Liberation Army launched an attack on the heartland area around Qixian and Pingyao. Due to the enemy's numerical superiority in numbers and equipment, we did not take the form of a strong attack. Rather, it is aimed at mobilizing the enemy and luring the enemy out of the heartland. After Yan Xishan's army saw the People's Liberation Army, it was really deceived and took the initiative to leave the area around Qi County and Pingyao. Our main regiment also took advantage of the cover of Lü Liang's troops to secretly advance north and raid into the hinterland of jinzhong. First, military operations were launched in the area of Gaoyang Town, west of Fenyang.
At this time, Taiyue's troops also began to march north, and occupied lingshi county on the 12th. When Yan Xishan saw the People's Liberation Army appear in Gaoyang Town, he knew that he had made a plan. Hastily mobilized troops to gather towards the town of Gaoyang in an attempt to annihilate our Army's Lüliang troops. At this time, Lü Liang's troops were waiting for Yan Xishan to come and fight, and as soon as they saw Yan Xishan's troops, the soldiers each bravely took the lead and rushed to kill the enemy. Although they are better equipped than we are, the discipline, integrity and mental outlook of our troops are far superior to theirs. Therefore, although Yan Xishan sent heavy troops to attack our Lüliang troops, they were still severely damaged by us. It also contained the enemy who came to attack. Seeing the opportunity, the main force of our army immediately took advantage of the situation to directly attack the hinterland of Jinzhong and form a divided encirclement of Yan Xishan's army.
On June 18, 1948, the Battle of Jinzhong was officially launched. The Eighteenth Column and the Thirteenth Column of our army successively attacked the positions arranged before Yan Xishan. Seeing the menacing PLA troops, Yan Xishan's troops only made a slight resistance, and began to give up, throwing away their armor and fleeing into the wilderness. In a short period of time, our army successively attacked Ke bodhisattva village, Yuantaigou, Dongxiquan, Yuebi, Beiwang, Yijinzhuang, Yuanjiazhuang, Duancun, Hongshan and other places. This also made Yan Xishan's elaborate arrangement and design before it a joke.
At the same time, Lü Liang's forces also began to counterattack most of Yan Xishan's 70th Division, annihilating the entire enemy 70th Division with the strength of two regiments and killing the division commander Hou Fujun. Then he continued to advance north, still holding Yan Xishan's troops back, making it impossible for them to withdraw from other battlefields. The other main forces also advanced in an orderly manner according to the original plan, and everywhere they went, the enemy army was holding its head and rats, and the people were cheering.
Because our First Corps suddenly broke into the hinterland of Jinzhong from Qi county and Pingyao, Yan Xishan's plan was chaotic. He was only able to hastily order the troops besieging The town of Gaoyang to return to reinforcements quickly, and ordered the troops of Yuci and Taikoo to advance to the south, in order to be able to assemble with the troops who returned to reinforcements.
However, all this was under the control of our marshal Xu Xiangqian, who first ordered Lü Liang's troops not to give up and insist on pursuing the enemy, and then ordered the Eighth Column and the troops of the Taiyue Military Region to march to the east of Pingyao and Jiexiu to intercept them. The 13th Column marched to the area south of Qi County and north of Hongshan to block the enemy coming from the south. At this time, the 34th Division of Yan Xishan's reinforcements crossed the river from the east of Fenyang and prepared to directly insert itself into the county seat of Pingyao. Yan Xishan's pro-trainers and pro-training artillery regiments returned to Jiexiu. On June 21, the pro-training division and the pro-training artillery regiment, which had already returned to Jiexiu, received orders to advance towards the county seat of Pingyao. We already knew their strategic intentions, so we carried out an ambush near the Zhanglan railway station.
When Yan Xishan's pro-trainer and pro-training artillery regiment arrived at the Zhanglan Railway Station, they were immediately wrapped in dumplings by our People's Liberation Army. In the face of our fierce attack, the pro-trainers and pro-training artillery regiments stubbornly persevered. After three hours of fierce fighting, most of the pro-trainers were completely annihilated, and a small part of the breakthrough was also annihilated by the PLA fighters we deployed in advance. In this battle, more than 7,000 enemy troops were destroyed, and 24 mountain guns and 12 heavy mortars were captured. For the People's Liberation Army, it can be described as a great victory, and for Yan Xishan, it is like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
After hearing the news that the pro-trainer had been annihilated, Yan Xishan was shocked. He immediately decided to send all his main forces to fight a decisive battle with the People's Liberation Army in Qi County and the area east of Pingyao. At the same time, Commander Xu Qianqian also deployed the next battle plan, he first decided to concentrate on annihilating the enemy's main living forces, and then deal with the enemy stationed on the east and west banks of the Fenhe River. From July 3 to July 6, the road to Taiyuan was first cut off by Yan Xishan's troops, and then Yan Xishan's thirty-ninth army was ready to return to Taiyuan.
Yan Xishan panicked when he heard the news, and from July 3, he asked the soldiers to start a deadly counterattack. The commander of Yan Xishan's Thirty-third Army hoped to break through the siege of the People's Liberation Army and flee back to Taiyuan. However, no matter what kind of attack we face from the enemy, our army will remain as stable as Mount Tai. Although we have paid a corresponding price, we have never taken a step back in the face of the enemy. Killed more than a thousand of Yan Xishan's army, of which we had only nine people left in one company, but still stuck to their positions, and finally won the glorious title of "stable as Mount Tai".
In the face of the heroic and tenacious combat style and combat spirit of our People's Liberation Army, Yan Xishan's troops completely gave up their dream of fleeing north. At this time, the remnants of Yan Xishan's troops no longer had the slightest rules, and could only seize the road and flee, and in the case of panic and no choice of road, they all fell into the ambush circle that our People's Liberation Army had long preset. It was solved effortlessly by our People's Liberation Army.
On July 7, the Eighth Column of the People's Liberation Army began to attack Qixian County, and in the face of the fierce fire of the defenders, our PLA fighters did not flinch in the slightest. In the fierce artillery fire and fighting, our army finally completely annihilated the enemy defenders and gained control of Qi County. He also captured Lei Yangtang, commander of Yan's Thirty-seventh Division, alive, which dealt a heavy blow to Yan Xishan. Yan Xishan, who saw that the general trend had gone, launched a desperate counterattack against the People's Liberation Army from the 8th. The Yan army around Yuci, Taigu, and Xugou began to launch a three-way onslaught on the northern front of the People's Liberation Army.
All the way, in order to ensure that the only supply line from Taigu to Dachang Town could maintain normal operation, the forty-sixth division of the 33rd Army of the Yan Army, starting from Hucun, attacked all the way to the west to attack the defense of the 117th Regiment of the 13th Column of our army. Along the way, in order to open up the connection with Xugou, the position of the 115th Regiment of the 13th Column of our army attacked. On the other side, there were more than a thousand people, starting from Dachang to the northeast to carry out a fierce attack, this battle was extremely fierce, in the face of the enemy's onslaught we bravely killed the enemy, the position was lost and retaken again, a soldier sacrificed, and the soldiers around him took his gun and continued to kill the enemy.
At the most critical moment, the enemy army was only two miles away from the headquarters of our army, but the headquarters of our army was not at all moved, and the strategists encouraged the commanders and fighters to fight bravely, and the 114th regiment of the Thirty-eighth Brigade of our army saw that the menacing enemy did not have any timidity, and the soldiers attacked bravely. Under the firepower and might of our army, the enemy was gradually defeated and retreated, and our army regained control of the position of King Zhuang of Chu.
In this fierce war, although we repelled the enemy's attack, the casualties of our army were also very tragic. Among them, the Brigade Commander of the Thirty-eighth Brigade of our army, An Zhongyuan, died heroically in the battle, in addition, a company of the 43rd Regiment of the People's Liberation Army held the Kuixing Pavilion, and finally fought until only one squad remained, but still did not lose its position. There were also Xiao Wenjiu's group and Yuci Independent Regiment, which were firmly defending the positions of Cheru village, and they also resisted the enemy's repeated attacks, and the battle lasted for four days and four nights, repelling the invading enemy again and again, and firmly guarding the position.
On July 10, 1948, Commander-in-Chief Xu Saw the Opportunity and Launched a Final Decisive Offensive. As soon as the order was given, the warriors rejoiced and immediately began a final general attack on the enemy. Along the way, our army broke through like a bamboo, and the enemy troops who fought threw away their armor and fled. From west to east, the People's Liberation Army seized village by village and divided and annihilated the enemy. After one battle after another, the headquarters of Zhao Chengshou's group and its remnants were finally surrounded in a small village of less than a hundred households.
For a time, "Capture Zhao Chengshou alive and liberate Quan Jinzhong!" The slogan resounded throughout the army. After fierce fighting, the last stronghold of Zhao Chengshou's clique was also breached by the People's Liberation Army, more than 10,000 Yan troops were all annihilated, and Zhao Chengshou and other senior officers and generals were also captured alive. On July 21, the Battle of Jinzhong ended in victory. In this battle, the Chinese People's Liberation Army annihilated more than 100,000 enemy troops with less than half the enemy's strength, and liberated 14 counties in central Shanxi, including Xiaoyi, Fenyang, Wenshui, Jiaocheng, Qingyuan, Jinyuan, Xugou, Xinxian, Yuci, Taigu, Qixian, Pingyao, Jiexiu, and Lingshi. The whole territory of Jinzhong was liberated.
The victory in the Battle of Jinzhong paved the way for the capture of Taiyuan and the liberation of all of Shanxi. The Battle of Jinzhong was the last step in clearing the obstacles around Taiyuan, and the victory of this battle made Yan Xishan truly isolated and helpless. It has written a brilliant stroke for China's liberation war and has also made outstanding contributions to the cause of China's liberation.
When Chairman Mao heard the news of the liberation of Jinzhong, he immediately sent a telegram praising:
"Achieving such brilliant results has helped the whole war situation tremendously." The original telegram was written as a "great help" to the whole war situation, and after Reading it, Chairman Mao felt that the word "very" was not enough to express the weight of this battle, so he crossed out "very" and replaced it with "great."
From this point, it is enough to see the position occupied by the Jinzhong Campaign in the history of China's liberation war.
The telegram is now in the Chinese Civil And Military Museum.
The reason why the Battle of Jinzhong is so classic is because of its particularity.
First, it is a battle in which less wins more, and the weak win the strong. The Jinzhong Campaign lasted for more than 40 days from its initiation to its end, and the People's Liberation Army annihilated more than 100,000 enemy troops and liberated 14 county seats with a strength of 60,000 people.
This kind of achievement, no matter which country it is placed in, can be written into the history books and praised by future generations. Second, this battle also fully proves that our party is deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of the people. Without the support and support of the masses, this battle would certainly not have gone so smoothly. It is precisely because the battle we have fought has won the hearts of the people, and the spontaneous organization and help of the people, that there is this classic battle in which less wins more. Third, this battle can also be seen in a small way, and the whole picture of the national liberation war can be seen from the battlefield of Jinzhong. At that time, not only did the people of Jinzhong support us, but everywhere the whole country went, all the people supported us, so we could be invincible and win the victory in the national liberation war in a very fast time.
Although more than seventy years have passed since the Battle of Jinzhong at this time, the people of Jinzhong and the people of Chinese will never forget this great battle that changed the path of survival of the people of Jinzhong from now on, let alone the contributions made to this campaign by the great commander Marshal Xu Qianqian and our spiritual leader Chairman Mao. Of course, the people we can least forget and should be most grateful for are our people's children and soldiers, without their bloody battles and heroic battles on the front line, and throwing their heads and spilling their blood for us would not have the happy life we have today.
Today, we stand at a new starting point and our country is at a critical stage in history. We should bear in mind the mission of our predecessors, ride on the east wind of the times, and strive to realize the great rejuvenation of our nation. Looking back on the course of a hundred years, it is no accident that our new China can have today's achievements. All this was bought by our ancestors, relying on their youth and life, who were never afraid of suffering, never afraid of tiredness, never complained, but only buried their heads in hard work, struggled hard, and conscientiously completed their work, so that our country has the status of a big country today. Only now let us feel that China is sonorous, with a spring breeze all the way; the well-off picture is messy, and the millennium dream is rich in thousands of families.