On December 29, 1948, the headquarters of the Northeast Field Army requested the consent of the Central (Central) Military Commission and decided to adjust the original plan of attacking Lianggu first, and to attack Tianjin first, with Liu Yalou as the commander-in-chief of the front.
The troops participating in the siege of Tianjin were the first column, the second column, the seventh column, the eighth column, the ninth column of the Northeast Field Army, and most of the special forces units, as well as the sixth column and the twelfth column, with a total of 22 divisions and 340,000 people.
Tianjin is known as "Tianjin Wei", is the gateway to Beiping, and its city defense is famous.
During the japanese occupation period, a large number of fortifications were built, and in 1947, Jiang Jun spent a huge amount of money, captured tens of thousands of people, and built city fortifications, with 380 large blockhouses and thousands of small blockhouses.
The inner side of the moat is built with high walls and parapet power grids, and there are many open and dark bunkers.
Important intersections and tall buildings in the city are built with fire points, which are connected to the core fortifications.
Founding General Liu Yalou
The enemy wrote on the map of the deployment of the fortifications "impenetrable", Chen Changjie boasted that he was "a fortress of Tianjin", and the old Jiang also praised tianjin's city defense.
Tianjin defended more than 130,000 enemies, because it is of great significance to hold Tianjin against the enemy to support Beiping and maintain sea passages.
On January 31, the Ninth Column of the Northeast Field Army was ordered to prepare to attack Tianjin from southern Jinnan, and completed the preparations for the battle within one week.
Zhan Caifang (1955 lieutenant general), commander of the Ninth Column, and political commissar Li Zhongquan (major general in 1955) were puzzled by the two directives after accepting the specific task of Liu Yaxiaxiada.
First of all, the number of artillery fire assigned to the Ninth Column by the General Headquarters was very small, which made Zhan and Li feel very embarrassed.
It should be known that the enemy's fortifications in the south of Tianjin are very strong, and there are many isolated points, which are composed of tall buildings and bunker groups, which are both self-contained and mutually supportive.
Without strong artillery fire to strike at the enemy fortifications in Jinnan, this battle would not be easy to fight. It is reasonable to say that the General Command could not have been unaware of this, so why was the artillery fire rationed to the Ninth Column so weak?
In addition, there was another instruction that made it difficult for Zhan Caifang and Li Zhongquan to understand, that is, when the General Headquarters learned that the Ninth Column had decided to attack the Twenty-fifth Division and the Twenty-sixth Division, it proposed to change the attack to the Thirty-fourth Division.
The Thirty-fourth Division originally belonged to the Twelfth Column, but was only temporarily assigned to the Ninth Column. The division had rarely participated in siege operations before, and obviously lacked siege experience, which was undoubtedly not the ideal choice for the main attack.
The commander-in-chief of the Eastern Region could not have been unclear about these circumstances, so why did he suggest that the Thirty-fourth Division should shoulder the heavy responsibility of the main attack on Jinnan?
Although Zhan Caifang and Li Zhongquan had different views on this, they did not say anything about the enemy and the overall situation, and they did not say a word and resolutely carried out the situation.
Zhan Caifang and Li Zhongquan personally led commanders at the column and division levels to the forward positions many times to observe the terrain and choose a breakthrough point.
At that time, there were 4 regular divisions of the enemy in front of the Ninth Column, and the combat effectiveness was very strong.
The final battle arrangements were: the Thirty-fourth Division served as the main attack, supplemented by the Twenty-sixth Division; the First Division of the Twenty-seventh Division launched a feint attack at Ash Dui and Jijiazhuang to confuse the enemy; and the twenty-fifth Division and the Twenty-seventh Division's main force and the second echelon were put into deep combat after the breakthrough.
At 4 o'clock on January 14, the siege forces entered the position and waited for the order of the general offensive.
At 8:20 a.m., the artillery in the main direction of our army's attack opened fire, and the string of shells emitted a piercing whistling sound, crossed the front, and poured into the enemy positions and pillboxes. The cannons of friendly and neighboring troops on the east and west sides also sounded in one piece, shaking the entire city of Tianjin.
At noon on the 15th, the eastern, western and southern three-way siege army met in victory at Yaohua Middle School.
At 1:30 p.m., the enemy south of the Wall River was completely cleared, and the enemy garrison commander Chen Changjie and deputy commander Lin Weizhu were captured alive.
At 4 p.m., the 151st Division, the main enemy defender in northern Tianjin, laid down its weapons and surrendered, and Tianjin was liberated.
It is worth mentioning that Liu Yalou issued a military order to the east before the war, stating that it took 30 hours to capture Tianjin, but in fact it only took 29 hours.
The day after the end of the great battle, the General Headquarters of the Front summoned the commissars of the columns to report on their work, and then invited the people to dinner in a large hotel.
During the banquet, Liu Yalou suddenly walked to the table where Li Zhongquan was sitting with a wine glass and said with a smile: "Comrade Zhongquan, I didn't expect that your nine columns had also hit the city center, and at first I was very worried!" ”
Li Zhongquan felt very strange and asked, "What is the chief of staff worried about?" ”
"If you think about it, if the enemy escapes, hundreds of thousands of people will be crushed to Jinnan at once, will you be able to eat it?"
"This..." Li Zhongquan said for a moment.
Liu Yalou continued: "The intention of the pre-war General Headquarters is that as long as your Ninth Column can block the south and prevent the enemy from running away, even if the task is completed. I didn't expect that you had also broken through such a strong fortification in the south and participated in deep battles, which was very good! ”
Li Zhongquan suddenly realized why the artillery fire equipped to the south of the Ninth Column by the pre-war General Headquarters was relatively weak, and also suggested that the Thirty-fourth Division, which had little experience in besieging the city, be the main attack.
Founding Lieutenant General Zhan Caifang and Founding Major General Li Zhongquan
Li Zhongquan said, "Oh, my chief of staff! Why don't you give us a clue in advance? ”
Liu Yalou laughed loudly: "At the end, we can't tell you in advance, I hope you play a little more active!" ”
Li Zhongquan also laughed and said, "In such a big war, who dares to fall behind!" ”
"That's right!" Liu Yalou said approvingly, "In this battle in Tianjin, you nine columns have indeed fought well, and we must praise it!" ”
Many years later, when Li Zhongquan mentioned the Tianjin Campaign, he still sighed with emotion: "I am deeply pleased and proud that all the commanders and fighters of the Ninth Column resolutely carried out the orders of their superiors, fought with the spirit of bravery and fearlessness and sacrifice under the condition of insufficient artillery equipment, and exceeded the combat task!" ”