In early September 1949, at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party, the Soviet Union sent a film crew to China to assist the Chinese side in filming a documentary about the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the new life in the Liberated Areas. The famous Soviet photographer Vladislav Miksha also came to China as part of the film crew.
After the founding ceremony shooting mission, Miksha did not return to China immediately, he followed the Chinese People's Liberation Army to the forefront of the battle to shoot, so there is this set of old photos. This set of photographs reflects the real situation of the Northwest Field Army fighting on the front line in the winter of 1949.
The Northwest Field Army has a long history, and was first developed by the Eighth Route Army and local armed forces in the Jinsui Liberated Area and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Liberated Area in the late Anti-Japanese War.
On 1 November 1948, the Central Military Commission issued the "Regulations on the Unification of the Organization and Unit Numbers of the Whole Army," formally making a request: In accordance with the requirements of the September meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the further transition of strategic tasks from guerrilla warfare to regular warfare, the Central Military Commission has made a unified regulation on the organization and unit numbers of the whole army, and ordered the whole army to abide by them as one. The regulations divide the field army into four areas, which are distinguished by geographical names, namely, the Northwest Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (formerly the First Field), the Central Plains Field Army (formerly the Second Field), the East China Field Army (the former Third Field), and the Northeast Field Army (the former Fourth Field).
The PLA soldier was smiling, and he carried on his shoulder a Stern submachine gun that had been used for many years, which showed that the PLA's weapons and equipment had greatly improved in the later stage of the Liberation War. The Stern submachine gun has a long history, it was designed in the early 40s of the last century in the United Kingdom.
This submachine gun is low in cost, and the cost is as low as possible while meeting the most basic requirements. The Stern submachine gun is made up of 47 parts and is particularly easy to disassemble. However, the Stern submachine gun also has two fatal drawbacks: first, it is easy to jam during use; The second is that the safety device is very unreliable, and it will fire if you touch it slightly.
As can be seen from this photo, the PLA launched an attack on the enemy on the top of the hill through mountain artillery, which was a storm. In the later stage of the Liberation War, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had already accumulated rich experience in tackling tough fortified positions. This mode of warfare usually adopts the tactics of "fighting steadily and destroying the enemy one by one", first clearing the periphery, seizing the city passes, and then attacking the city, and finally winning the battle.
War means sacrifice, but also life and death. This tearful photo shows the PLA death squad using a ladder to climb the city wall. At that time, the remnants of the Kuomintang military force in the northwest region were still very large, such as Ma Bufang in Qinghai, Ma Hongkui in Ningxia and other local military groups, known as the "Ma Jiajun", they were extremely murderous.
These soldiers who are on the front line, they have the most important mission, and they will die at any time. In the War of Liberation, whenever there was a fierce battle, there would always be a death squad. The names of these death squads may have long been unknown, but their exploits will forever be recorded in the annals of history.
This photo moved countless people, and the four people in the photo were the top leaders of the Northwest Field Army, but they were dressed no different from ordinary soldiers, and they were extremely simple. At that time, if they had not seen the photos of these four people, no one knew that they were the senior commanders and fighters of the People's Liberation Army who commanded thousands of troops, and they were at the forefront of the battle.
According to the information, this photo was most likely taken during the liberation of Taiyuan by the People's Liberation Army. The Battle of Taiyuan was the last battle to liberate Shanxi Province and North China, and its process can be called tragic. The whole battle lasted for 6 months, and in the later part of the campaign, Chairman Mao ordered the 19th and 20th Corps (formerly the 2nd and 3rd Corps of the North China Military Region) and the 1st Artillery Division of the Fourth Field Army to support the Taiyuan front, and finally annihilated the enemy army on April 24, 1949.