The Northeast Field Army can grow from 110,000 to a million troops in just a few years, and the troops of the former Shandong Military Region naturally contributed the most, but many people ignored the Jireliao region, which is connected to the northeast region, and the Jireliao disciples in the eastern wilderness.
The Jireliao region refers to the northern part of Hebei, the Rehe River, and the junction of western Liaoning, and in a broad sense, the Jireliao region also includes the eastern Hebei region, which has been the old base area led by our Party since the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the Jireliao Military Region was established in the second half of 1944. During the Liberation War, the troops of the Jireliao Military Region, with their unique geographical advantages, made special contributions to the development and expansion of the Northeast Field Army and the victory of the Northeast Liberation War.
As early as the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao planned the national strategic layout after defeating the Japanese aggressors, they attached special importance to the Jireliao region adjacent to the northeast. At the same time as the launch of a major local counteroffensive against the Japanese army, the Jireliao Military Region came into being, and the troops in this area were unified and reorganized into 5 military sub-districts, 26 regiments, and 25 guerrilla detachments.
After Japan's surrender, the first unit of our army to enter the northeast was Li Yunchang from the 16th Military Subdistrict of the Jireliao Military Region. In mid-September 1945, the Party Central Committee also once upgraded the specifications of the Jireliao Military Region to make it a grand strategic area parallel to the northeast, central Plains, Shandong, central China, and northwest China, and appointed Lin Biao as the commander of the Jireliao Military Region and established the Jireliao Central Bureau with Li Fuchun as its secretary.
Later, with the development of the situation, the Jireliao Military Region was once again changed to a second-level military region and reattached to the jurisdiction of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Some of the troops from all over the country who went to the northeast stayed in Jireliao for some reason, so they were reorganized with the local troops and formed the Reliao Column (also known as the Huang Yongsheng Column) and the Jidong Column (also known as the Zhan Caifang Column).
By the first half of 1946, the Reliao Column and the Jidong Column were abolished, and they were replaced by three military regions and several field brigades in Jidong, Reliao, and Rehe, with Zhan Caifang, Duan Suquan, and Huang Yongsheng as commanders.
Although the Jireliao troops were in Guannei, they mainly cooperated with the battlefield outside Guanwai during combat, especially the 13th, 16th, and 18th Brigades of Huang Yongsheng's department, and sometimes under the direct command of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and used combat operations in the Chifeng area to contain the Kuomintang troops in northern and western Liaoning, strategically cooperating with the northeast battlefield, so that the northeast troops could let go of the big fight outside Guanxi without worrying about being cut off from the back road.
The Jireliao region is the throat of the northeast, and the war in Jireliao can be seen as a sub-battlefield in the northeast. When the Jireliao region is stabilized, the northeast war situation will be even more comfortable, and the northeast troops can also cut the back roads of the Kuomintang troops in Jinzhou and Huludao from the direction of Jireliao, and it is imperative to unify command and joint operations.
On April 20, 1947, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission made a decision to assign all 80,000 people of the Jireliao Military Region to the Northeast Democratic United Army, and the Jireliao Field Troops formed the Eighth Column with Huang Yongsheng as commander and the Ninth Column with Zhan Caifang as commander, and the local military region was organized into 5 independent divisions.
The Jireliao troops were assigned to the leadership of the northeast side, expanded the strategic depth of the main army of Dongye, expanded the strength of Dongye's troops, and played an important role in promoting the victory of the Northeast Liberation War and the battlefield in North China.
After the establishment of the Eighth Column and the Ninth Column, they participated in the Autumn Offensive of 1947 and achieved a major victory as soon as they appeared. The Eighth Column won four successive battles and four victories in the battles of Lishugou Gate and Jiumentai, and was subsequently ordered to carry out four attacks on Beining Road and Jincheng Road. Not to be outdone, the Ninth Column won a major victory in the first battle of Yangjiaweizi to annihilate more than 5,000 enemy troops, followed by the Chaoyang Offensive and the Yixi Campaign. Throughout the autumn offensive, the eighth column annihilated more than 28,000 enemy personnel, and the ninth column annihilated more than 11,000 enemy people.
In the following winter offensive, the Eighth Column completely annihilated the nationalist 26th Division in the Battle of Xinlitun. Nine columns and thousands of miles turned to battle, and four large battles were fought successively. Throughout the winter campaign, the eight columns annihilated a total of 5,610 enemy troops, and the nine columns annihilated more than 1,900 enemy troops.
Although the Eighth Column and the Ninth Column were new units in the northeast, they won successive battles on the black land and soon became the main force, and the commander of the Eighth Column was transferred to the Sixth Column of the main force in Dongye as the commander because of his command of the battle.
After three large-scale offensive campaigns in the summer, autumn and winter of 1947, the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves in the northeast fundamentally changed. In order to meet the needs of the final strategic decisive battle, in March 1948, the Northeast Field Army set up a number of field columns, and the independent 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions of the Jireliao Military Region were reorganized into the 11th Column, and He Jinnian, a famous "general of suppressing bandits" in the northeast, served as commander.
After the eleventh column was formed, it cooperated with the North China Field Army to launch the Jirecha Campaign, and successively carried out the battles of Elephant Nose Mountain, Longhua, and Changli, and the "combat hero" Dong Cunrui was from this column. Together with its fraternal forces, the Eleventh Column liberated the entire territory of Rehe and eastern Hebei, geographically dividing the Wei Lihuang clique in the northeast and the Fu Zuoyi clique in northern China, laying the foundation for the victory in the Liaoshen Campaign and the Launching of the Pingjin Campaign.
On September 12, 1948, the first shot of the Liaoshen Campaign was also fired by the 11th Column, the 11th Column and 3 independent divisions of Rehe rushed to fight in the area of Changli, Luanxian and Beidaihe, cutting off the Beining Road, which was the main traffic artery connecting Guanxi and the outside of Guan, and completely blocking the road of the Kuomintang army in North China to reinforce the northeast from land, and later the Kuomintang army was forced to support Jinzhou from the sea, which also laid the groundwork for their defeat at Tashan.
The new unit of the Eleventh Column was full of vigor and vigor, and after the battle on the Bac Ninh Line, it traveled north day and night, and participated in the defensive operations around Jinxi and Tashan together with the fourth column. The fourth column held out at Tashan for six days, while the eleventh column held out at Tashan and the entire Jinxi region for twenty-one days. The commanders and fighters of the Eleventh Column were determined to fight with the enemy in this desperate place, and resolutely defended, especially the position of the 97th Regiment of the 33rd Division was particularly tragic, and many soldiers were buried in the sand of the artillery bombardment and died.
In this battle, the eleventh column annihilated more than 20,000 enemy troops, completely dispelling the idea of the Kuomintang's two large armies rushing to aid Jinzhou. Without the 21-day bloody sacrifice of the eleventh column, the course of the Liaoshen Campaign would certainly have taken on a different look.
The Eighth column and the ninth column participated in the Battle of Jinzhou and conquered the city of Jinzhou. Subsequently, he participated in the Battle of Western Liaoning.
The Eighth Column first marched 200 miles to block the Kuomintang ace New Sixth Army on the south flank of DahuShan, and then rushed to the area of Six Rooms to block the way for Liao Yaoxiang's corps to retreat south, and when Liao Yaoxiang's corps turned around and fled back, it was ordered to detour to the northwest and block its way back to Shenyang again. This series of battles of the Eighth Column was wonderful, and it was intertwined with the Black Mountain Blockade Battle, ensuring the final victory in the Battle of Western Liaoning. The Ninth Column went straight from Jinzhou to Yingkou, chased and annihilated the fleeing enemy, liberated Yingkou, and prevented most of the enemy from escaping from the sea.
The eighth column blocked the way for the Liao Yaoxiang group to escape back to Shenyang, and the ninth column blocked the way for the Liao Yaoxiang group to escape from the sea. The Liao Yaoxiang clique ran into walls everywhere, and the fate that awaited them was to be surrounded and annihilated by the various units of Dongye, and finally the entire army was destroyed.
The three columns of Jire Liao's disciples joined forces and jointly staged a highlight moment in the Liaoshen Campaign.
On November 13, 1948, according to the order of the Central Military Commission to unify the organization of the whole army and the number of troops, the eighth column, the ninth column, and the eleventh column were renamed the 45th, 46th, and 48th armies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, respectively.
From December 1948 to January 1949, they successively entered the customs to participate in the Pingjin Campaign, in which the 135th Division of the 45th Army captured The Jintang Bridge in Tianjin, the 46th Army captured the mayor of Tianjin, and the 48th Army participated in the siege of Beiping, forcing Fu Zuoyi to finally accept peace negotiations, and the Pingjin Campaign won a comprehensive victory.
The 45th Army, 46th Army, and 48th Army later went south with Siye and liberated the central and southern regions. Later, the 45th Army (merged with the 44th Army to form the 54th Army) and the 46th Army both participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
During the Northeast period, the Dongye Army established the first and second forward command posts in April 1948, and the second command post was renamed from the forward command post of the Jireliao Military Region. On September 1 of the same year, the Second Command Post was renamed the 2nd Corps, and Cheng Zihua, the former commander of the Jireliao Military Region, served as the commander of the 2nd Corps. Compared with other senior generals in the northeast, the cadres of Cheng Zihua and Ji Reliao belonged to "outsiders", but Lin Biao still gave absolute trust and importance, and the Tashan Blockade Battle during the Liaoshen Campaign was specifically commanded by Cheng Zihua on the front line.
On March 11, 1949, the Northeast Field Army was renamed the Fourth Field Army, and the 2nd Corps was renamed the 13th Corps, with Cheng Zihua as its commander. When he went south, the central government transferred Cheng Zihua to Shanxi to work, and Huang Yongsheng took over as the commander of the 13th Corps.
Contributing to three field armies and two corps commanders emerging, the excellent performance of the descendants of the Jire Liao disciples made an indelible contribution to the development and growth of Dongye.
Rankless General Cheng Zihua