Zhu De's four important speeches on the battlefield of liberation
Speech on August 23:
1. The Central Plains Battlefield is the battlefield of decisive battles. Since ancient times, the question of who won the victory in the Central Plains and whose final victory belonged to could be solved, such as the decisive battle between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in the Han-Chu war was in the Central Plains. The reason why General Han Xin was able to "get more is better" is because of the large population and the vast area. 2. This year (the third year of the Liberation War) the first month (July) of the war has been greatly won. August is almost over, with ten months left. In these ten months, militarily, we hope to solve Fu Zuoyi, pull out the Jinan and Taiyuan points, and then concentrate our forces to continue to advance toward the Chiang Kai-shek region, implement Chairman Mao's instructions, and continue to lead the war to the Chiang kai-shek region. Now the enemy is organizing many large armies in the Central Plains in an attempt to fight a decisive battle with us, but we do not fight a decisive battle with them, because the time has not yet come, and a decisive battle is not good for us prematurely. Therefore, at present, it is only some mobile operations with them in the Central Plains. We must do everything in our power to develop production, prepare material conditions (mainly artillery shells and explosives), and then fight a decisive battle with them in the Central Plains when the conditions are ripe. At that time, those who "can't move" must also be nibbled, and those who "can't be pulled out" must also be pulled out.
3. What we have suffered militarily for the past twenty years is that we cannot break through the enemy's fortified cities, but as a result of the study in the past six months, we have been able to break through the enemy's larger fortified cities. The capture of Shijiazhuang was the first successful test, and then the cities of Luoyang, Weixian, Kaifeng, and Yanzhou were successively conquered. As long as we work hard in military production, there will be no cities that cannot be broken in the future. At this point, Mei Jiang underestimated us. Taiyuan and Jinan can be beaten down.
4. For the enemies in the northeast, we cannot let them enter the pass. Chiang Kai-shek said that he would hold Changchun and Shenyang, which was very good. Because they put so many troops in such a far place and rely on aircraft to transport them every day, this increases their many troubles and attrition. If they are allowed to enter the customs, whether it is increased to North China or Central China, it will increase our troubles a lot.
5, our victory, in today's sense, is more assured. But if many of our policies —agrarian reform, industry and commerce, the suppression of counter-revolution, production, the struggle for captives,' etc.—are not properly implemented, they can cause us to fail. The success of winning over captives militarily (now sixty or seventy percent of our army is liberation fighters) was a big victory. Policy issues such as land reform and industry and commerce have also been solved almost completely. In the future, we must focus on solving the problem of "raising production by one inch." Everyone has a share in this, and they must work hard to do it and strive for success.
October 1 Speech:
In the past, we were afraid of the enemy in the northeast entering the pass, because after entering the pass, no matter where it was added, it would be unfavorable to us. Now that it is impossible for the enemy to enter the pass, we can eliminate them in the northeast. The enemy in Changchun may escape, but we have eight motorized divisions capable of eliminating them.
The last problem in North China was to solve Fu Zuoyi, who learned some of the Methods of the Japanese in combat and also learned our set. In north China, his strength is still greater than ours, so Fu Zuoyi is relatively difficult to fight. But we will still be able to solve him.
Hu Zongnan had more than 200,000 people, larger than our Northwest Field Army, and he could not be eliminated for a while, and time would slow down.
Laying down Jinan is very beneficial to us, and we can use its original industrial base for production. Shandong's transportation is also very convenient, with railways and canals, which is an important rear area for supporting large corps operations in the future. At the same time, we can free up more than 100,000 people, plus tens of thousands of prisoners, enough to deal with the enemy in the south. Wu Huawen's uprising, which we cannot underestimate, played a considerable role in our laying down jinan. In future operations, there is a need for such an uprising. Of course, even if Wu Huawen did not revolt, we could still conquer Jinan. On the Xuzhou side, our forces can destroy any of the three corps of Qiu Qingquan, Huang Botao, and Li Mi.
This year's task is to eliminate a hundred enemy brigades and to grow the Plakmen to five million within three years. This year is the year of victory or defeat. The Central Plains is the battlefield of decisive battles, because the Central Plains are rich in grain and the terrain is flat, which is convenient for large armies to fight. Our favorable conditions in the region are: first, the masses are ours; second, our strength is relatively large; third, our transportation lines are smoother than before; and fourth, we have our own arsenal, which can produce a large quantity of ammunition. The enemy's military production is inferior to ours, and they mainly rely on the help of the United States.
This time, a lot of explosives were seized in Jinan, which was of great use to us. Jizhong can produce more than 10 million catties of nitrate every year and can be used as explosives. Explosives, the enemy does not dare to use, for fear of killing themselves, but it can play a great role in us, it is much more powerful than artillery.
Transportation, which is a very important issue for the operation of hundreds of thousands of people today, was somewhat wasteful in the past and is still not ideally organized. This doesn't matter much when fighting on the inside, but it doesn't matter much when fighting on the outside. So in the future, we must organize our transportation well. It is also necessary to organize hospitals, stretcher teams, etc. Now there are six people carrying a stretcher, and if it is well organized, two people can save transportation power.
At present, the question of man's thinking is an important issue. Peasants can fight hard to defend the land and property of their hometown, but they are not necessarily so resolute in fighting and liberating others, so they need to be educated ideologically. Of course, in addition to relying on our mobile forces, we need the people everywhere to liberate themselves. In addition, liberation fighters account for a very large proportion of our army, and in the future, we must strengthen education for liberation fighters and give full play to their role.
The enemy is now pursuing a plan of triangular, quadrilateral, and thirteen o'clock, which the Americans have drawn up for them and which are also a plan to be carried out for a longer period of time. We will have to face the enemy's plan and find some way to fight them.
October 16 Speech:
On the northeast issue, the Americans once told Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw from the northeast and not to stand still. Although Chiang Kai-shek also saw this situation, the reactionary ruling class still had to make a final struggle and was unwilling to withdraw. Now that Jinzhou has been laid, he cannot withdraw it. Jinzhou was of great strategic importance, as a supply and transit base for the connection between Kannai and the northeast, and the enemy had done its best to defend it, but it still failed. Now we have two methods, one is to fight Jinxi, which is easier to fight; the other is to fight the enemy from Shenyang. It would be better to take jinxi and make the enemy in the northeast more isolated. The enemy in Changchun also wanted to take advantage of this time to retreat, but Jinzhou was soon defeated, and the strength could be withdrawn, so it was not easy for the enemy to retreat. Chiang Kai-shek's strategy has now changed, and he has abandoned a number of isolated strongholds, which was changed only after we captured Jinan. By laying siege to Jinzhou, we have better gained the experience of tackling tough battles and conquering big cities. At present, the main battle is in the northeast, and the situation is favorable to us, so we can fight several good battles and solve the northeast problem this winter.
When the northeast is solved, our army can enter the customs and finally solve Fu Zuoyi. Fu Zuoyi mainly relied on the Ninety-fourth Army, the Ninety-second Army, the Sixteenth Army, etc., while his own was not. His long snake array could be cut into several sections if it was struck by us. What he was most afraid of was that we would engage him in Zhangjiakou. Suiyuan was also an important rear for him, while the Beining line was not what he needed. So now his power is placed on the west side. However, Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was to protect Beiping and Tianjin, and he did not want Fu Zuoyi's main force to continue to advance westward.
If Taiyuan is laid, it will also be of great strategic significance. Even if it cannot be opened at once, the long-term encirclement of the regiment will starve the enemy to death. Except for the eighth column of the Taiyue Military Region, the troops we fought in Taiyuan were all newly formed new units, so they were not so skilled in tactics and offensive techniques. But such a force can fight such a big city is not simple.
Peng was much more difficult there than elsewhere. At present, there is no more reinforcement for his side, because there is no food to eat. If Taiyuan is laid, Peng Shaohui's column can be transferred.
The Shandong problem has been solved, and only one Qingdao remains. Qingdao is a strategic point of attention not only for China but also for the world. We're not going to fight it now, because there's American troops there, wait until the future to concentrate on fighting it. Shandong has now drawn up a lot of strength, and Su Yu, Xu and Tan can meet to fight a big battle. It was relatively difficult for xuzhou to fight with three enemy corps leaning together, and if one or two corps could be eliminated, it would be easy to solve the problem. Although Shandong has fought some big battles now, it is not yet a decisive battle.
Chiang Kai-shek has also learned from us recently, abandoning the cities and conducting mobile operations, not from the rear, and also engaging in brigade marches. But he had no masses, so he had no food to eat, and it was too late to do so. His withdrawal from isolated cities is also in our favour so that our rear can be more consolidated. The United States told him to withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River, and if he did so, putting two million troops together would be more troublesome for us.
In the future, we must pay attention to the art of tackling tough problems, study it well, compare the books with the actual ones, and see if they are right. The issue of personnel replenishment is an important condition for us to continue to win. This year's additional personnel are trained and stronger than in the past. After the capture of some cities, some personnel were also added. Now that 100,000 prisoners have been replenished to our troops, we must focus on educating the prisoners well in the work of these months. In addition, it is necessary to collect material materials, step up military production, and prepare for a decisive battle. Another aspect is to strengthen political work and oppose the phenomenon of non-discipline, anarchy, organization and fragmentation.
In the past, there was no experience in the receiving city, but now it is different, and it can master the policy and have experience. In the past, Shijiazhuang was liberated for two months, and the shops did not dare to open their doors, but after the liberation of Jinan, they opened in a week. Enemies cannot recover from losing a place now. We must step up our preparations for the sudden change of the enemy.
Speech on November 26:
We are fighting the enemy with all our might. In the revolutionary war of the past twenty years, it has always been the enemy who has come to us for a decisive battle. Today, the situation has changed, and we are concentrating our main forces to find the enemy for a decisive battle. The decisive battle in the northeast has eliminated the enemy, and now a decisive battle is being fought in the Xuzhou area, and the decisive battle of Pingjin is about to begin.
Xuzhou has been an ancient battlefield for decisive battles since history, with a wide terrain and dense population, and the army has food to eat and housing. Now I have concentrated the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth columns of the East China Field Army, plus the eleventh column of the Liangguang, Special Forces, Lu Zhongnan, Bohai Sea Column, and the Central Plains Field Army, for a total of seventeen columns, plus the six columns of Liu Deng in the Central Plains, which are a little more numerous than the enemy in number, much higher in quality than the enemy, not worse than the enemy in weapons, and I have prepared eight cardinal numbers of ammunition. These are the material basis for our decisive battle against the enemy.
Liu Zhi's command is of great help to us, he is not as cunning as Bai Chongxi and will escape. Liu Zhiyuan estimated that we were fighting him from the west of Xuzhou, and as a result we were fighting from the east, he realized that it was too late and hurriedly changed the original deployment. The uprising of the Feng Public Security Department had a great impact on the war situation and greatly confused the enemy's original deployment, which was a major taboo for soldiers, especially for large troops, and it was even more impossible to immediately adjust the deployment. Therefore, the Fengbu uprising was just in time, and it was planned and organized by our comrades.
At the same time as eliminating Huang Botao's corps, I originally hoped to be able to lure Qiu Qingquan's corps out of Xuzhou, so I blocked the reinforcements and deliberately retreated a little. Liu Zhi thought we were going to run, and told the following to chase, but the following did not dare to chase. The Central News Agency also blows. However, Qiu Bu's rear tail never left Xuzhou, despite watching the Yellow Army regiment being annihilated. However, the Losses of the Qiu and Li Corps under my scheduled blockade were not small. At present, Xuzhou has concentrated three corps of Qiu, Li, and Sun that are not easy to fight.
Our main force has gone south to fight the Huang Wei Corps. Huang Wei is old, but his command is not very clever. The more clever one was Bai Chongxi, who saw that he wanted to lose the battle and refused to come. Huang Wei's corps came a long way, walked in a hurry, crossed the river a lot, was harassed by our guerrilla attacks, fell heavily on the back road, the car had no oil, and mechanization turned into a great harm. He is not in an unknown situation and has no idea where our Troops liu Deng are, because our proletarian ranks have a mass base. Huang Wei's corps consisted of eleven divisions, with a large number of troops, and he estimated that we would not dare to fight him, in fact, the more soldiers there were, the easier it was to chaos. He did not have a strong position to rely on (Huang Botao's strong point was that he was not chaotic, stuck to the villages, and left a village not to rescue, so that we suffered some losses). His original direction of advance was Xuzhou, we hit him from the flank, he could not get close to Li Yannian and Liu Ruming to the east, and the team could quickly solve him as soon as the team was chaotic. Did Li Yannian and Liu Ruming go north? We wanted them to come, but they were not very energetic, and the troops who had withdrawn from the northeast were not in high spirits. I monitored the enemy in Xuzhou with four or five columns, determined to fight continuously, without fear of casualties, and to replenish prisoners at any time; this is the key to victory, and only our proletarian contingent can do so. After Huang Wei, Li Yannian, and Liu Ruming were solved, the enemy in Xuzhou could not run, they had no food to eat, and they had no reinforcements.
Fu Zuoyi is smarter, but his housework is only so big. If he escapes, Tanggu will be a frozen port, and the road by sea will not be accessible; if the ShunpingHan and Jinpu railways are withdrawn south by land, it will take a long time, and the masses in our liberated areas are organized, and although they cannot completely eliminate his troops, at least they will cause him to suffer great losses. At that time, our northeastern army is bound to follow and pursue, and the troops to the south of my country can still intercept. The possibility of him sticking to it exists. Fu Zuoyi had become famous in Shouzhuo Prefecture in the past, and the Northeast Army did not open it. He also saw that Yan Xishan had temporarily held Taiyuan, so he was likely to stick to Pingjin, but as a result, he still could not escape the fate of being annihilated.
After eliminating the enemies in Xuzhou and Fu Zuoyi and Yan Xishan, Ma Hongkui, Ma Bufang, and Southern Hu Zong remained. Our Northwest Field Army is relatively small, and in the future, the northwest side will increase its strength a little more, and seek to wipe out the southern part of Hu Zong in Shaanxi, if he retreats to Sichuan, it will be more troublesome. Our army must have a good supply line when entering Sichuan. If you don't go, the dust will not fall off where the broom can't reach. In addition, Bai Chongxi's Gui army retreated back to Guangxi was also more troublesome. As for Chiang Kai-shek's troops, they had no worries, and at most they had to go back to Guangdong to rebuild their household chores.
Our victory has been affirmed, but there are still difficulties in victory. It is necessary to quickly organize the masses in the newly liberated areas and resume production in order to support the army to continue to advance until the liberation of all of China. Don't be carried away by victory and not see the difficulties.