On June 26, 1946, despite the strong opposition of the people of the whole country, the Kuomintang launched a large-scale attack on the Liberated Areas, and a full-scale civil war broke out. The authorities of Zhejiang Province of the Kuomintang adhered to Chiang Kai-shek's will and implemented a high-pressure policy throughout the province. In July, the Kuomintang established the fourth sub-district of the eighth "Qing" district of Zhejiang Province on the borders of Yongjia, Yueqing, Huangyan, and Xianju. In August, the "Quzhou Appeasement Office Zhejiang-Fujian Border Command Post" was set up in Taishun. The KMT county governments have also set up county and district "cleansing of townships" committees, which began in August and ended at the end of September.
After the outbreak of the full-scale civil war, the CPC Central Committee soberly assessed the situation at home and abroad, promptly determined the policy of crushing the Kuomintang military offensive with a war of self-defense, and put forward the slogan of "armed self-defense." In order to obtain instructions from the higher-level party organization, the CCP sent Wu Rongjiang, a political traffic officer, to northern Jiangsu to find the Central China Branch to report on the work of the party in southern Zhejiang. On September 17, the Central China Bureau issued a letter of instruction to the party in southern Zhejiang, stating that "a full-scale civil war has broken out and peace is desperate," and instructing the special committee in southern Zhejiang to launch a guerrilla war and cooperate with the main forces of the People's Liberation Army.
In accordance with the instructions of the Central China Bureau, the special committee analyzed the situation and held that guerrilla warfare in southern Zhejiang should be carried out gradually from small to large, so as to eventually achieve the goal of strengthening oneself and destroying the enemy. On October 20, the Special Committee issued the Decision on Future Tasks, proposing eight major tasks with strengthening ideological construction as the core: strengthening ideological construction; strengthening leadership over Party branches; Cultivate a large number of cadres; developing the Party's organization; the development of new districts and the strengthening of cities; active mass campaigns; strengthening united front work; Carry out army work. This decision was a major decision to implement a strategic shift from covert and capable to guerrilla warfare.
At the same time, the Special Committee made several decisions on organizational issues, requiring all counties and districts to restore the committee system and set up working departments under the committee; Strengthen collective leadership and strictly enforce systems such as planning, inspection, and requesting instructions; Improve the life of the branches, strengthen the role of the branches as fighting bastions in the new situation, change the mode of activities in which the branches are less than the organization of life and individual contacts with Party members during the period of hidden activities, and strengthen the education of Party members. Since then, all counties and districts have successively restored the committee system. In this way, the Party's organization and mode of activity were adapted to the needs of waging guerrilla warfare.
In order to carry out the eight major tasks, the special committee first carried out extensive and in-depth education and ideological mobilization among the party and troops, and launched a rectification study campaign in the leading organs of the special committee and county party committees. Second, strengthen political propaganda. It has successively founded three newspapers and periodicals, including the semi-monthly magazine "New Democracy", "Zhejiang South Monthly" and "Zhejiang South Weekly". Third, a large number of cadres should be absorbed and trained, especially military cadres. In May 1947, the special committee held the first training course for military and political cadres, and the main cadres of various counties were sent to participate in the training. In July of the following year, the special committee held the second training course for military and political cadres, which was attended by more than 30 cadres at the battalion level. All county party committees and border district party committees have also successively held training classes for military and political cadres and party affairs work according to the needs of their work.
In November 1946, the Kuomintang established two "appeasement" offices in southern Zhejiang, Wencheng and Gucang. In December, the Security Command of the Eighth District (Wenzhou) also set up a "counter-insurgency" brigade. In this way, the Kuomintang invested troops in southern Zhejiang including the 2nd, 4th, and 5th regiments of Zhejiangbao, plus the armed landlords of the special districts and counties, totaling about 15,000 people. In the course of their "clean-up," they wantonly burned, killed, and looted, and did all kinds of evil. South of the Oujiang River, a small village in Shuangshan Village, Gaolou District of Ruian County, was "cleaned up" twice, with 9 people killed, 33 houses burned, and 26 animals taken away. From the second half of 1946 to the spring of 1947, more than 1,000 people were arrested in Xinanxi, Yongjia, and some were tortured such as cutting off their ears, amputating their hands and feet, cooking on fire, digging their hearts, or burying them alive. In addition, the Kuomintang "Appeasement" Office also sent troops to "clear and suppress" the guerrilla base areas in southwestern Zhejiang.
In the face of the enemy's attack, the party organization in southern Zhejiang rapidly rebuilt and expanded the revolutionary armed forces. North of the Oujiang River was originally the area where the Yongle People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Guerrilla Corps operated, and although the Yongle Corps had been revoked and streamlined twice, it still retained dozens of armed cadres. In December 1946, the Yueqing Central County CPC Committee made the decision to rebuild and expand the revolutionary armed forces and launch a guerrilla war. On the basis of the original retained armed forces, the original streamlined cadres and fighters were successively recalled from various places, and the weapons buried in the cold temples and the corners of the fields were taken out to expand the revolutionary armed forces. The Yueqing Central County Party Committee expanded the special agent class of the organ to more than 20 people and changed its name to the organ guard team. In January of the following year, three district armed engineering teams were established in Dajing, Sidu and Yubei. At the same time, the Haishan Armed Forces Corps was expanded, and the number of commanders and fighters increased to more than 100. At the same time, the counties south of the Oujiang River also generally expanded their armed forces and militia organizations.
The revolutionary armed forces in southern Zhejiang actively carried out armed struggle before and after reconstruction and expansion. In June 1946, the Haishan Armed Forces defeated the bandit forces rampaging along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian in the Nanyang fishing grounds. On September 17, one reinforced company of the 4th Zhejiang Regiment launched an attack on Qingdao, the garrison of the Haishan Armed Workers, and the armed forces stubbornly counterattacked, capturing one ship, killing 4 people, capturing 8 people, and capturing 2 light machine guns, 3 rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. At the beginning of 1947, the Dajing District Armed Forces attacked one squad of the Kuomintang's Dajing Police Station, wounding one sergeant and seizing one wood-shell gun and eight rifles. In mid-February, the eastern district of Ruian mobilized the entire militia to destroy 18 pillboxes of the Kuomintang army overnight. In addition, other counties in southern Zhejiang also adopted night operations, using internal lines and internal and external methods to eliminate a number of Kuomintang "township cleansing teams" and township offices, and suppressed a number of extremely reactionary Kuomintang township and town security chiefs, secret agents, and bully landlords, thus consolidating their base areas.
At the same time, in accordance with the strategic principle of the Central China Sub-Bureau and in light of the actual conditions in southern Zhejiang, the special committee actively adopted the strategy of developing guerrilla warfare from north to south. With regard to development to the north, the special committee instructed the Yueqing Central County Party Committee to focus its activities on the basic areas of Yong (Jia) Le (Qing) Huang (Yan), Yong (Jia) Xian (Ju) Huang (Yan), Xian (Ju) Lin(Hai) Huang (Yan) Bian, Yu (Huan) Wen (Ling) and Le (Qing) Bian and the sea, and advance in a planned manner to the Gucang Mountain Range in preparation for the establishment of a base area here. In accordance with the instructions of the Southern Zhejiang Special Committee, the Yueqing Central County Party Committee decided to develop the work of the Oubei Party to the north, west and south, and to establish extensive footholds and base areas around the Gucang Mountain Range so as to connect with eastern Zhejiang and its subordinates. Therefore, the Oubei party organization actively developed into the western and southern regions of Taizhou, and in June 1947 it got in touch with the party organizations in eastern Zhejiang and Taiwan.
In terms of development to the south, the special committee took the Donggongshan mountain range south of the Oujiang River as a support point to develop towards Jingning, Qingyuan, Shouning, and Longquan, and tried to get in touch with the Fujian party organization. At the same time, relying on the basic area of Taishun to develop towards Xiapu, Zhirong and Fu'an in eastern Fujian, they also tried their best to get in touch with the Fujian party organization.
While the Zhejiang South Special Committee was actively developing in the direction of Fujian, the Fujian Party organization was also trying to get in touch with the South Zhejiang Special Committee. In April 1947, Long Yue, secretary of the Southern Zhejiang Special Committee, suggested to the East China Bureau through the radio of the Fujian, Zhejiang, and Gan District Party Committee [5] that the Southern Zhejiang Special Committee be placed under the leadership of the Fujian, Zhejiang, and Gan District Party Committee nearby, based on the situation that the Southern Zhejiang Special Committee was far away from the Central China Branch and persisted in the struggle alone. In May, the East China Bureau agreed to Long Yue's suggestion and transferred the Zhejiang South Special Committee and the Special Committee of the Department to the leadership of the Fujian, Zhejiang and Gan District Party Committee, and Long Yue was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Fujian, Zhejiang and Gan District Party Committee and secretary of the South Zhejiang Special Committee, and contacted and guided the work of the special committee of the department. Since then, the party committees of Fujian, Zhejiang and Gan districts have issued many important instructions on guerrilla warfare in southern Zhejiang and southwestern Zhejiang, which has effectively promoted the development of guerrilla warfare in the two regions.
While formulating the strategic guidelines for the development of local guerrilla warfare, southern Zhejiang began to build the main armed forces and carry out guerrilla warfare. On May 17, 1947, on the basis of basically completing the eight major tasks, the special committee issued the "Instructions on Current Work", proposing to train cadres and cultivate various talents; Five major tasks, including expanding the revolutionary armed forces. In order to meet the needs of the development of guerrilla warfare, in July the special committee decided to expand the armed work teams of each county to county or district teams, and by November, the first, second, and third county teams (Ruian, Qingjingli, and Zhejiang and Fujianbian), Jiangbei county teams (north of Oubei), the 10th district team (Pingyang), and the thirteenth district team (Yongjia) were established, and the armed forces had grown to more than 500 people, including cadres of the leading organs at the special committee and the county party committee and local cadres who were off production. By September 1947, more than 200 Kuomintang troops had been wiped out, three light machine guns, more than 200 long and short guns, more than 23,000 rounds of ammunition had been captured, and one enemy ship had been sunk.
From 3 to 29 October, the special committee held the eighth enlarged meeting in Meishan, a high-rise building in Ruian, and put forward six major tasks, including expanding the troops, training cadres, opening up new districts, developing party organizations, launching mass movements, and strengthening leadership. In order to implement the strategic policy of developing from north to south and strengthen the work in the Gucang area and the border area of Zhejiang and Fujian, on November 15, the Yueqing Central County Party Committee was renamed the Gucang Central County Party Committee, with Qiu Qinghua as the secretary, and the 10 districts under the former Yueqing Central County Party Committee were adjusted to four districts, including Shanmian Central District, Yongle Huangbian Central District, Nanxi District and Yuhuan District. At the same time, the Jiangbei County Team was officially expanded into the Gucang Detachment, with its leader Zhou Pizhen and Political Commissar Qiu Qinghua. The detachment has 4 squadrons, 1 directly subordinate guard unit and 1 independent detachment, with a total of more than 340 commanders and fighters. On November 21, the CPC Zhejiang-Fujian Border District Committee and the Taishun County Party Committee were abolished, and the CPC Zhejiang-Fujian Border Central County Committee was established, with Chen Hui as the secretary, directly leading the district party committees of Taishun County, and guiding the work of the Dingping County Party Committee and the Fuding County Work Committee [6].
During the meeting, Shen Honglie, chairman of the Kuomintang Zhejiang provincial government and commander of security, once again went to Wenzhou to supervise the "clean-up". The local armed forces led by the special committee carried out the tactic of spreading the net, looked for the opportunity, and took the initiative to attack. On October 13, Zhou Pizhen, captain of the Jiangbei County Team, led dozens of Jiangbei County Brigade and some militiamen to attack the No. 1 Squadron of the Kuomintang Yueqing County Security Police Brigade stationed in Baishi Town, Yueqing, capturing more than 80 officers and men, including the squadron leader. On the same day, the Qinger County team, which was active on the south bank of the Oujiang River, captured the town of Xiaoshun in Jingning and completely annihilated one detachment of the enemy. Then he attacked the enemy stronghold in Qingtianzhang Village and eliminated one detachment of the Kuomintang Qingtian County Self-Defense Force. The capture of the two strongholds of Xiaoshun and Zhangcun opened up the struggle situation in the north of Qingjingli. After the meeting, on December 23, the Second County Team annihilated one detachment of the enemy in Taishun and captured one light machine gun and other weapons and ammunition.
With the reconstruction of revolutionary armed forces and the development of guerrilla warfare in various parts of southern Zhejiang, the work of restoring and creating rural revolutionary base areas has become increasingly important and prominent. Proceeding from the urgent wishes of the vast number of peasants, the special committee put forward opposition to conscription, grain requisition, and all kinds of exorbitant taxes and taxes. In particular, in the struggle against "catching Ding," we gradually transitioned from using methods such as dragging and avoiding to collective resistance. In the autumn of 1947, as the people's enthusiasm for struggle increased, the special committee publicly called for a campaign to carry out the struggle against Dingding, grain, tax, donations, rent and interest reduction. Rent reduction in various places ranges from 25% to 30% or 40% to 30% or 40% to the original rent, and in some places rent reduction for different targets. Except for obvious usury, interest rate reductions are generally resolved through negotiation between borrowers and borrowers.
Through the struggle of "four resistances and two reductions," the vast number of peasants have been fully mobilized, and organizations such as the Federation of Farmers, the Women's Federation, the militia, and the Children's League have been established one after another. By the end of 1947, a guerrilla base area had been restored and established on the border of Yong (Jia) and Qing(tian), and the work of the central county party committee in Gucang had developed from Oubei to parts of Taizhou. In addition, the main islands of Yueqing Bay were used as bases to establish maritime guerrilla bases.
From the outbreak of the full-scale civil war to the end of 1947, party organizations at all levels in southern Zhejiang restored and rebuilt the revolutionary armed forces and actively launched attacks against the enemy in accordance with the instructions of their superiors, and guerrilla warfare was widely launched in all parts of southern Zhejiang. The development and victory of guerrilla warfare in various parts of southern Zhejiang not only dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang's rule in southern Zhejiang, but also played a positive role in destroying the rear of the Kuomintang army and cooperating with the PLA's frontal battlefield.