On October 1, 1949, the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China was held in the eyes of hundreds of millions of people. This is an important step for the Chinese nation toward great rejuvenation, and it marks that the Chinese people have truly stood up from now on. However, at this exciting time, some disturbing details have also been revealed. It is reported that in order to prevent possible air raids, the planners of the founding ceremony have made a series of countermeasures. In the event of an attack, the leaders will be evacuated to the gates of the Tiananmen Gate Tower, while fighter planes loaded with live ammunition will take to the air to intercept enemy aircraft. These details make one wonder: what really happened at that time? Who was going to carry out the air raid on the founding ceremony, and how did our warplanes intercept it? Let's find out.
1. Chiang Kai-shek's "annoyance and anger"
In the early morning of October 1, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek was pacing anxiously in the Chen Jitang Mansion in Dongshan, Guangzhou.
As the "president" who had just been ousted from power, he was furious when he learned that the founding ceremony of New China would be held in Beiping. Chiang Kai-shek originally thought that the Kuomintang's successive defeats in the civil war were only temporary setbacks, but he did not expect that he had now been completely ousted from power.
Chiang Kai-shek's anger stemmed from his unwillingness to accept the loss of his ruling position, but also from a deep hatred of the Communist Party. In his view, the Communist Party was nothing but a gang of "bandits," and how could it have the legal right to rule in this ancient land of China? He paced around the house, and the slogans of "the people have stood up" and "New China has been founded" echoed in his mind, like a hammer smashed into his heart.
At this juncture, Chiang Kai-shek made a crazy decision -- he immediately summoned Zhou Zhirou, commander of the Kuomintang Air Force, and ordered the preparation of bombers to launch an air raid on Tiananmen Square! Chiang Kai-shek did have this strength, and the Kuomintang still had more than 110 American-made B24 heavy bombers at that time. This four-engine all-metal fuselage bomber has a maximum bomb load of 8 tons at a time, a range of 3,400 kilometers, and a speed of 340 kilometers per hour, which is enough to fly from Zhoushan to the sky over Beiping in one breath.
Chiang Kai-shek's idea was to take advantage of the founding ceremony to launch a surprise attack on the Tiananmen Tower with heavy bombers to blow up the camp of the CCP leaders, thereby disrupting the great cause of the founding of New China. The plan was crazy and sinister, but Chiang Kai-shek did have the ability to carry it out in the context of the time.
After Zhou Zhirou received the order, he immediately began to deploy. He drove the bomber to the Zhoushan airfield, the closest to Beiping, ready to take off at any time. At this moment, Chiang Kai-shek was given extremely painful news -- the party, government, military, and people in Guangzhou had begun to revolt, and the People's Liberation Army had already marched into the city of Guangzhou! This was tantamount to choking Chiang Kai-shek's throat.
Under the uprising of the party, government, military and people in Guangzhou and the onslaught of the People's Liberation Army, Chiang Kai-shek had to give up the crazy idea of bombing Beiping. He painfully wrote the words "extremely sad" in his diary, and then ordered the cancellation of the air raid on Beiping. In this way, Chiang Kai-shek's "annoyance and anger" could only end up in nothing, turning into a long sigh.
2. Careful preparation for the founding ceremony
At the end of March 1949, after the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China were stationed in Beiping (now Beijing), they immediately began to prepare for the founding of New China.
According to the original plan, the founding ceremony was scheduled to take place on New Year's Day 1950. But Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, when he met with Liu Shaoqi, suggested that China hold the ceremony three months in advance.
Stalin believed that New China had just been born, the situation at home and abroad was still very unstable, and that major tasks such as land reform and army reorganization were to be carried out, and that holding the founding ceremony as soon as possible would help consolidate the position of the new regime. Mao Zedong and other central leaders agreed with Stalin's proposal and quickened the pace of preparations.
In July, the Central Committee set up a preparatory committee for the founding ceremony, chaired by Zhou Enlai, with Peng Zhen, Nie Rongzhen, Lin Boqu, Li Weihan and other heavyweights participating. The Preparatory Committee divided the ceremony into three sections: the founding ceremony of the founding of the new Chinese government, the military parade and the mass procession.
Mao Zedong and other central leaders will attend the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, so their personal safety must be taken seriously. Although Beiping had been liberated at that time, there were still a large number of Kuomintang spies lurking among the people. According to statistics, within half a year, the public security department cracked more than 1,200 major enemy cases.
These agents accept the task of "assassinating the target of the general or minister or above, and each person who succeeds will be rewarded with 50 taels of gold". It can be seen that they are all specially trained killers, which has brought great pressure to the public security department. Fortunately, thanks to the assistance of the masses, the public security organs quickly arrested more than 90 lurkers including Xu Zong and extinguished many conspiracies.
At the same time, Nie Rongzhen, Yang Chengwu and others were intensively preparing for the military parade. They repeatedly selected and consulted troops, designed formations, determined orders, and even took into account the issue of horses going to the toilet. The workers in charge of the renovation of Tiananmen Square also worked overtime to renovate it, and in accordance with the instructions of Zhou Enlai and Peng Zhen, the gate hole of the city tower was reinforced.
It turned out that the Kuomintang army still controlled air supremacy at that time and often sent bombers to harass the area around Beiping. The continent's air power is meagre and can only be passively defended. In order to prevent possible air raids, the Preparatory Committee decided to let the leaders take refuge in the reinforced doorway in case of emergency.
At the same time, the specific date of the founding ceremony has not been announced to the public, and it was not until the evening of September 30 that Nie Rongzhen announced that the opening ceremony would be held at 3 p.m. the next day. It's all about ensuring that the ceremony can be held safely and smoothly.
It can be said that at this important moment of the founding ceremony, the new Chinese government attaches great importance to security precautions and has made careful arrangements to ensure that this solemn and solemn historical moment can be foolproof.
3. The top-secret deployment of the PLA's air interception
The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 was an important step towards the rejuvenation of New China.
In order to ensure the safety of this solemn moment, the central authorities have made a series of secret arrangements, the most crucial of which is the preparation for air interception.
At that time, the remnants of the Kuomintang air force still controlled air supremacy over China, and they also had more than 110 American-made B24 heavy bombers. This four-engine all-metal fuselage bomber, with a maximum bomb load of 8 tons, a range of 3,400 kilometers, and a speed of 340 kilometers per hour, is fully capable of carrying out surprise attacks over Beiping.
In order to guard against possible air raids, the central authorities decided to take up fighter planes to intercept them during the founding ceremony. However, the mainland's air power at that time was meager, and it could only select the most elite part from the limited number of fighters.
After repeated screening, it was finally determined that four fighters loaded with live ammunition would undertake the interception mission. Two of them were British-made two-seat wooden "Mosquito" light bombers, and the other two were American-made single-seat "Mustang" fighters. Although its performance was limited, it was already the entire elite fighter force of our army at that time.
The pilots of these four planes were all veteran pilots who had defected from the Kuomintang Air Force, and they were not only experienced, but also extremely loyal to the revolutionary cause. Among them are the famous meritorious pilots Zhang Xianglong and Wang Haiou.
Zhang Xianglong was the ace pilot of the 5th Air Force of the Kuomintang Air Force, and during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he made many sorties to bomb Japanese positions and made great achievements. At the beginning of 1949, he led the whole team to revolt and joined the People's Liberation Army.
Wang Haiou, on the other hand, aspired to be a pilot since he was a child, and later joined the Kuomintang Air Force. In 1948, during an air raid on the Japanese invaders, he was shot in the fuselage and was forced to parachute, and since then the lower half of his body has been paralyzed. But he did not give up his dream of flying, but instead devoted himself to the revolution and became one of the first disabled pilots in New China.
In addition to these two, the other two drivers are also veterans who have been trained in actual combat, and their determination to defend New China is extremely firm.
On 1 October, under the personal command of Nie Rongzhen, four fighters were located at a secret airfield in the suburbs of Beiping in advance, waiting to strike at any time. As soon as they detect an enemy aircraft intrusion, they will immediately break out of the clouds and hit hard with their on-board artillery.
At the same time, ground posts along the route are also on standby, and once an enemy plane is discovered, it will immediately report to the higher authorities, thus forming a three-dimensional air defense surveillance network. In addition, there are other reserve fighters as reinforcements.
Although our army's air power was very weak at that time, this series of careful deployments was sufficient to deal with unexpected situations. If Chiang Kai-shek really ordered the bombers to attack, they would have been intercepted by forceful air.
It can be said that at this important moment of the founding ceremony, the new Chinese government attached great importance to security precautions and made a series of secret arrangements, the most crucial of which was the preparation for air interception, which showed the determined side of our army at that time, although its strength was limited.
Fourth, Chiang Kai-shek's reluctant exit
On October 1, 1949, the founding ceremony of New China was solemnly held in Beijing, marking that the Chinese people had truly stood up from then on.
At this exciting moment, Chiang Kai-shek originally wanted to use the remnants of the Kuomintang air force to carry out an air raid on Tiananmen Square and disrupt the process of the ceremony. But in the end, he was forced to give up and had no choice but to leave.
Chiang Kai-shek's withdrawal was due to the uprising of the party, government, military and people in Guangzhou and the onslaught of the People's Liberation Army. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek still regarded Guangzhou as a base and planned to make a move there to block the PLA's southward movement. But on October 14, Guangzhou was conquered by the People's Liberation Army, and Chiang Kai-shek had to flee in a hurry.
After the fall of Guangzhou, Chiang Kai-shek moved to Chongqing in an attempt to regroup there. But the PLA's offensive was like a storm, and it could not give him a chance to breathe at all. On 24 November, Chongqing was also captured, and Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to flee westward.
In early December, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Chengdu, where he "held out" for two months. But in January 1950, the first column of the Sichuan People's Rebel Army invaded Chengdu, and Chiang Kai-shek could no longer gain a foothold in the interior. He had to move the Kuomintang "central government" to Kunming, Yunnan.
However, before Chiang Kai-shek's plane landed in Kunming, the Yunnan People's Rebel Army had already captured the airport. Chiang Kai-shek was extremely saddened to see the five-star red flag fluttering over the airport on the plane. In the end, he could only retreat to Taiwan with the remnants of the Kuomintang forces.
After Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, he once fantasized about "counterattacking the mainland". However, as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conquered Hainan Island, Xisha Islands and other places one after another, his dream of a "counteroffensive" was completely shattered. In 1958, Chiang Kai-shek had to officially declare the end of the "mobilization campaign" and recognize the new regime on the mainland.
Looking back on Chiang Kai-shek's retreat, it can be said that he was embarrassed all the way. From Guangzhou to Chongqing, and then to Chengdu and Kunming, in the end he could only retreat to Taiwan, and his base areas were lost one by one, and his strength was exhausted little by little.
Among them, the onslaught of the People's Liberation Army is of course the main reason. But more importantly, the broad masses of the people have warmly embraced New China. It was precisely because of this strength of the people that Chiang Kai-shek's "counteroffensive" was doomed to failure without water and roots.
It can be said that Chiang Kai-shek's withdrawal not only marked the complete end of the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, but also indicated that the Chinese people had truly stood up from now on, and the prospects of New China were bright.