The Shangdang Campaign was the first large-scale annihilation war of the people's armed forces of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the counterattack against the kuomintang army's offensive. The victory in the Shangdang Campaign not only defended the fruits of our army's victory during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but also enhanced our Party's position in the negotiations with the Kuomintang in Chongqing.
Propaganda poster for the Shangdang campaign
The following is a review of the wonderful fragments of our army in the Shangdang campaign.
First, use the war of self-defense to open the prelude to the war of liberation
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan accepted the Potsdam Proclamation, declaring unconditional surrender and the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan. After Japan announced its surrender, Chiang Kai-shek, on the one hand, invited Chairman Mao to Chongqing for peace talks, and on the other hand, mobilized a large number of troops to launch an attack on the liberated areas.
In mid-August, when Yan Xishan, commander of the Kuomintang Second Theater of Operations, took advantage of the various units of the Eighth Route Army's Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region to launch a comprehensive counteroffensive against the Japanese and puppet armies, he ordered the army to attack the Changzhi area (known as Shangdang County in ancient times) controlled by the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Military Region, taking the lead in the first battle of the Kuomintang after the victory of the War of Resistance.
In accordance with the spirit of the instructions of the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to resolutely and completely eliminate the invading enemy, the Jin-Hebei Luyu Military Region, led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, concentrated more than 31,000 people in the three main columns of Taihang, Taiyue, and Southern Hebei and local troops, and mobilized 50,000 militiamen to launch a self-defense war - the Shangdang Campaign. This battle also opened the prelude to the great people's liberation war.
Pre-war situation map of the Shangdang Campaign
Second, the background of the campaign and the tactics of our army
After the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, although the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were fiercely sword-fighting, the call for domestic peace negotiations was higher than the wave, and on August 14, 20, and 23, 1945, Chiang Kai-shek sent three telegrams to invite Chairman Mao to Chongqing for negotiations, and he concluded that Chairman Mao did not dare to go to Chongqing. In this way, the ball was completely kicked to the side of the Communist Party, and Chiang Kai-shek could carry out the "suppression of bandits" with a straight face.
Chairman Mao saw through Chiang Kai-shek's duplicitous face, and on the one hand he replied to Chiang Kai-shek on August 24 and agreed to go to Chongqing for negotiations, while on the other hand, he quickly sent twenty senior generals of our army who had just attended the "Seventh National Congress" of the Party in Yan'an to the liberated areas under their respective responsibilities, and made preparations for both talks and war.
Before going to Chongqing for negotiations, Chairman Mao said to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, the principal responsible persons who would lead the Jinji-Hebei Luyu base area: "With regard to Chiang Kai-shek's invasion, you must strike hard, and the better you fight, the safer we will be in Chongqing." ”
Schematic diagram of the Battle of Shangdang
According to the comparative situation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time, the population of the Liberated Areas controlled by the Communist Party was about 100 million, the army was 1.2 million, and the militia was 2 million; the population of the Kuomintang-controlled areas was nearly 400 million, and the army was 4.3 million. In terms of numbers and population alone, communist forces accounted for a little more than 1/4 of the Kuomintang, and Chiang controlled all the big cities.
In addition, because our army has been fighting guerrilla warfare in the rear for more than ten years, its equipment and facilities are very poor, and it is only good at field warfare, but its siege ability is very weak; while the Kuomintang Yan Xishan troops are well-equipped and heavier than defending the city. In view of this characteristic, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were not afraid, and they decided to adopt the tactics of encircling the city from the countryside and besieging the city to provide aid to Yan Xishan.
Iii. Different tactics for the three stages of the campaign
After careful planning, in the early morning of September 10, 1945, since the end of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the first battle between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the Shangdang Campaign, was finally launched. The whole course of the campaign was divided into three stages, and our army adopted different tactics at each stage, winning more with less and defeating the enemy with the weak and the strong with the weak.
Battle of shangdang war scenes
From August 27 to September 19, our army liberated the five counties of Changzi, Tunliu, Huguan, Lucheng and Xiangyuan on the outskirts of Changzhi, annihilated all the provisional 38th Division of the Yan Army, and destroyed the 68th Division and the Provisional 37th Division, totaling more than 6,100 people. And surrounded Changzhi City.
In the second stage of the campaign, from September 20 to October 6, our army's method of operation was "siege and reinforcement", and after successfully encircling Changzhi City, we attacked reinforcements and the additional Ji'nan column to annihilate Peng Yubin, deputy commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army of Yan Xishan's Army, which the Kuomintang army had come to reinforce, and Peng Yubin was killed. A total of 16,500 enemy were annihilated. Among them, 4,500 were killed or wounded, 11,000 were captured, and 1,000 were evacuated.
The third stage of the campaign was to encircle and annihilate the enemy of Changzhi, and from October 7 to 11, after the Nationalist reinforcements were annihilated, the Changzhi defenders broke through to the west on the 8th, and were completely annihilated east of the Qin River on the 12th. Shi Zebo, commander of the Nineteenth Army of the Kuomintang Army, was captured, and the Battle of Shangdang ended in victory.
Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who commanded the Shangdang campaign
Fourth, the significance and impact of the campaign
The Battle of Shangdang was the first large-scale annihilation war in which the communist-led people's armed forces counterattacked the kuomintang army's offensive after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. A total of 13 divisions and 1 advancing column of the Kuomintang army were annihilated, and more than 35,000 people were captured, of which more than 31,000 were captured, dealing a heavy blow to the Kuomintang troops invading the liberated areas, and its direct significance was to consolidate the rear of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Liberated Area.
The victory in this campaign enabled the Communist Party of China to gain a certain degree of political and military initiative. Because it eliminated a large number of the main forces of the Yan Army, defended the fruits of the victory of the War of Resistance, and dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Kuomintang; at the same time, at a critical juncture in history, it enhanced the position of our Party in the Chongqing negotiations.
What is even more crucial is that the victory in the Shangdang campaign is of great significance in our army's readjustment of its strategic arrangements, the organization of field corps, and the realization of the strategic change from the main force of dispersing troops to fighting guerrilla warfare to concentrating forces to fighting movement warfare. It also opened the prelude to the War of Liberation of our people.
In short, the victory in the Shangdang Campaign not only defended the fruits of our army's victory during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but also enhanced our Party's position in the negotiations with the Kuomintang in Chongqing. We should learn from the valuable spirit of the old revolutionary predecessors who are brave and good at war, and at the same time we must take up their baton, carry the revolutionary cause to the end, and strive to realize the century-old dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The former site of Liu Deng's headquarters in the Shangdang Campaign
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