As we all know, Marshal Xu Qianqian was a senior general of our army since the beginning of the Red Army, and as a student who graduated from the first term of Huangpu, Xu Xiangqian was not good at words, nor did he slap his superiors, and often spoke with a Shanxi "native dialect", and Chiang Kai-shek, who was a good look, was the first to fail to reuse him.
Judging from Xu Qianqian's performance after Marshal Xu, Old Jiang estimated that his intestines were all remorseful, and he missed a military talent. Xu Xiangqian's military command ability was first-class, and he was one of the most outstanding senior commanders of our army during the Red Army period and even the entire revolutionary period.
As mentioned earlier, Marshal Xu Qianqian was from Shanxi, and among the senior generals of the Nationalist Army, Yan Xishan was also an authentic Shanxi native, and the two were still fellow villagers, and they should have known each other since childhood.
Yan Xishan and Xu Xiangqian's identity are different, he is a warlord during the Republic of China, occupying Shanxi to "establish himself as king", even Chiang Kai-shek himself has no way to win him over Yan Xishan.
Before the Battle of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan killed our representatives
In 1948, the form of the War of Liberation had been reversed, our army began to change from defending to attacking, and the nationalist army was in a state of gradual defeat and retreat, and began to defend the big cities. As a powerful warlord in Shanxi, Yan Xishan held hundreds of thousands of horses and horses, and had operated in Shanxi for many years, and was the "earth emperor" of Shanxi.
With the successive victories of our army in the battles of Linfen and Jinzhong, Yan Xishan was already very passive, and he could only make a final desperate attempt to defend his old lair, Taiyuan. In order to liberate Taiyuan as soon as possible, our army decided to first send people to negotiate peace with Yan Xishan, hoping to liberate Taiyuan in a peaceful manner.
When Wang Shiying, deputy chief of staff of the North China Military Region, told Xu Xiangqian about the plan to start peace talks with Yan Xishan, Xu Xiangqian objected, believing that Yan Xishan could not surrender and abandon his dream of being "Emperor Tu".
Why did Xu Xiangqian say that Yan Xishan would not choose a peaceful uprising? According to Xu Xiangqian's own understanding of Yan Xishan, there are three main reasons.
First of all, Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek are the same kind of people, they are both hardcore reactionaries, and from Yan Xishan's later actions against his subordinates in order to defend Taiyuan, it can be seen that he never thought of the idea of peacefully liberating Taiyuan.
Secondly, at that time, Yan Xishan was not exhausted, he still had more than 100,000 people and horses in his hands, and he himself had been operating in Shanxi for many years and still had considerable influence in Shanxi.
On weekdays, Yan Xishan attaches great importance to the development of Shanxi's education, economy, and military industry, so Yan Xishan is still quite powerful in Taiyuan.
At that time, the number of the North China Military Region was comparable to the number of Yan Xishan's army in Taiyuan, and Yan Xishan was the defender, and from a military point of view, it had an advantage. Therefore, as long as Yan Xishan felt a little hope, he would not agree to the proposal to peacefully liberate Taiyuan.
In addition, Yan Xishan had strong fortifications in the Taiyuan area, which were not the same as those on other battlefields, and were built under the supervision of Yan Xishan himself.
In order to build a bunker, Yan Xishan recruited a large number of people to serve himself in Taiyuan City, and in the face of our army that was about to liberate Taiyuan, Yan Xishan even uttered harsh words:
"As long as the earth rotates for one day, the bunker will be built for one day." Blockhouses should be built on each position so that the position could be defended against the bombardment of ten thousand shells. ”
Although Yan Xishan's words have an element of bragging, it is undeniable that the bunkers in Taiyuan at that time were indeed many and strong, and on the difficulty of siege, Taiyuan was one of the most difficult big cities to fight during the Liberation War. Therefore, in the face of these strong and diverse bunkers, if our army attacks from the front, there will inevitably be many casualties.
After listening to Xu Xiangqian's analysis, although Wang Shiying felt that what he said was reasonable, he himself thought that he and Yan Xishan were old acquaintances, so he should give himself a face, even if he did not talk about it at one time, he might be able to talk about it a few times.
At this time, Xu Xiangqian advised Wang Shiying not to go to Taiyuan for peace talks, so as not to have to go back. Xu Xiangqian usually looks at people and sees things very accurately, this time Wang Shiying decided not to go by himself, first ask an old gentleman to help him explore the way, this old gentleman said by Wang Shiying is Yan Xishan's teacher.
What Wang Shiying did not expect was that in order to "show loyalty" to the Nanjing side, Yan Xishan brutally killed the old man regardless of his relationship with him as a teacher and student. After learning of this, Wang Shiying broke into a cold sweat, if he went, I am afraid that there will be no return.
Xu Shuai: Hit him in the suit
Wang Shiying probably did not expect Yan Xishan to be so vicious that he even killed his own mentor, and this incident finally alarmed Xu Xiangqian, who was very angry and pointed in the direction of Taiyuan and said:
"If you can't talk about it, you will fight until he serves!"
Although Xu Shuai was not in good health at that time, his momentum was very strong, and soon, the campaign to liberate Taiyuan officially began. In September 1948, the supreme leadership approved the north China Military Region's operational mission to liberate Taiyuan, and on October 5, the campaign to liberate Taiyuan officially began.
In the face of the mighty PLA soldiers, Yan Xishan's first line of defense was quickly breached, and our army gave Yan Xishan a blow in the head, annihilated more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, and occupied the Wusu airport, which is very important.
Immediately afterward, our army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Xu Shuai used the strategy of attacking the west from the east to make Yan Xishan think that the main force of our army was in the south of Taiyuan City, and Yan Xishan had calculated, and mobilized a large number of defenders from the east of Taiyuan City to support the south.
There was an emptiness of troops in the eastern part of Taiyuan City, and Xu Shuai seized this fighter and commanded a large army to launch a comprehensive attack on the east. The commanders at the grass-roots level of our army showed their own magic and used their experience on the battlefield to raid and take down the important town of the Yan army.
Soon, a large area of the eastern position of Taiyuan was taken by our army, but at this time we encountered a great problem, and in the position of Dumiao Diaoyu, our army's attack was blocked, because Yan Xishan had previously built a large number of pillboxes there, and this kind of pillbox could not be blown up with explosives.
In order to blow up the enemy's bunkers, the soldiers of our army charged forward with fearless spirit and used their lives to deliver explosives to the enemy's bunkers.
Yan Xishan, who had always been confident in the Taiyuan fortifications, realized that the situation was not good, and the defense of Taiyuan City was torn open by a large gap, and Yan Xishan was powerless to block this gap.
On November 16, the Central Military Commission considered the overall situation and suspended the attack on Taiyuan, mainly because of the coordination with the Huaihai Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign. By the end of the Pingjin Campaign in 1949, only four cities, including Taiyuan, remained in the Shanxi region that Yan Xishan could control.
In March 1949, after the North China Military Region replenished its combat strength, there were already three corps, with a total number of more than 300,000. In this offensive battle against Taiyuan, the Central Military Commission still made Xu Xiangqian the general front committee and commander, and Peng Laozong as the deputy commander.
Forced by the strong situation of our army, the Kuomintang top brass pretended to hold peace talks, but in fact delayed time. During the negotiations, Yan Xishan, the "Eight Articles of the Communist Party of China" put forward by our side, was resolutely opposed, and he still wanted to use Taiyuan to fight with trapped beasts.
But this time, he could not go back to Taiyuan, the airport had been occupied by our army, and without the airport, Yan Xishan could only remotely command the defenders in Taiyuan City and let them do the final "battle".
Under the powerful offensive of the People's Liberation Army, the fortifications of Yan Xishan did not stop the pace of our army's advance, more than 1,300 cannons bombarded the defenders of Taiyuan City, the defenders instantly lost their will to fight, and the siege battle against Taiyuan took four hours, and the vehicles of the People's Liberation Army entered Taiyuan City, and Taiyuan City was liberated.
Since then, Taiyuan, which Yan Xishan "ruled" for 38 years, has returned to the hands of the people. With the liberation of Taiyuan, heralding the collapse of Yan Xishan's power, he himself eventually had to follow Chiang Kai-shek to Flee to Taiwan, where he died of illness.
epilogue
The liberation of Taiyuan was indeed a tough battle, and in this battle, Xu Shuai fought very skillfully, and his military qualities were vividly reflected.
In the later period, Xu Shuai was unwell, and Peng Zong took over his command of the Taiyuan Campaign, which was also very decisive and very imposing, and a Taiyuan Campaign, with two founding marshals, was really not easy to fight.
Yan Xishan's vain attempt to use a Taiyuan city to block the pace of the People's Liberation Army is really unrealistic, and he led the defenders in Taiyuan City to resist not only failed to save Taiyuan, but also brought a large number of casualties to the soldiers and civilians in Taiyuan City.