Originally a small village during the Liberation War, Tashan was located between Huludao City and Jinzhou, and there were 100 families living in this place for generations. It sounds like a military fortress with towers and mountains. But in fact, it is not, Tower Hill has no tower or mountain, just a seemingly inconspicuous small village.
But who would have thought that such an inconspicuous small village played a considerable role in the Liaoshen Campaign and became the winner or loser of the battlefield.
How does such an inconspicuous place play a key role? We have to start with the War of Liberation.
After Japan's surrender in August 1945, the two parties, which had been cooperating with each other, suddenly became tense. The Kuomintang took the lead in launching a full-scale civil war and launched a large-scale attack on the Liberated Areas. However, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people of the People's Liberation Army fought hard.
After going through the stage of strategic defense and strategic stalemate. Our Party has finally ushered in the dawn of victory and has begun to launch a strategic decisive battle against the Kuomintang. The first battle of the strategic decisive battle was the Liaoshen Campaign in the northeast.
At that time, the strategic place connecting North China and Northeast China was a narrow corridor located around Jinzhou, and it can be said that Jinzhou was the place where soldiers and families of the two armies had to fight at that time. The two armies have differently realized the importance of this strategic position.
Mao Zedong also fully realized the importance of Jinzhou and called for the establishment of the Northeast Field Army to concentrate on attacking Jinzhou. At that time, Lin Biao, the military commander of the northeast region, also fully realized the importance of Jinzhou. However, on the issue of attacking Jinzhou, Lin Biao was also hesitant and repeatedly wanted to start the attack from Changchun. However, Mao Zedong unswervingly instructed him to attack Jinzhou, and Lin Biao finally made up his mind to attack Jinzhou.
The attack on Jinzhou was an act of closing the door and beating up dogs, and it was a great opportunity to encircle and annihilate the defenders in the northeast of the enemy. However, the enemy also has a large number of troops in north China, and reinforcements are possible at any time, so intercepting the enemy army has become an important task in attacking Jinzhou.
However, in the coastal corridor at that time, the plains were everywhere, there was no danger to defend, and it was impossible to adopt the method of sports defense. As a result, Tower Hill became the only place where the enemy could be stopped.
After recognizing the importance of this place, Lin Biao issued a death order to the bottom, Tashan is related to the survival of the entire northeast, no matter how much it costs, it must be defended. After Lin Zong's death order was issued, the defenders of Tashan realized the importance of the entire Tashan Campaign and shouted the slogan of "swearing to coexist and die with Tashan".
On the side of our army, there are frequent movements, and on the side of the nationalist army, Chiang Kai-shek is also fully aware of the importance of Jinzhou. Finally, he personally inspected the front line in Huludao and asked to organize the eastward troops to move in the direction of Tangshan and reinforce in the direction of Jinzhou.
On October 10, 1948, just after dawn, the Kuomintang troops officially began to attack in the direction of Tashan. With the simultaneous firing of thousands of guns, the roar of aircraft, and the attack of warship artillery, the entire Tashan became a dense firepower strike network, just like the Japanese attack faced by the Nationalist army on the Songhu battlefield.
The fierceness of the artillery fire caused the entire defense facilities of Tashan to be destroyed, and the battle line did not exist, and watching Tashan reached the most critical moment. But what was exacerbated at this time was that the Nationalist army actually launched a large-scale charge, and for a time the STRENGTH of the People's Liberation Army seemed to be very stretched.
It was also at this time that the Yushan position was lost, which made the entire Tashan defenders very concerned. The Yushan position was an important position in the entire Tashan defensive battle. If this position is captured, it can bypass the entire Tower Hill and then reinforce in the direction of Jinzhou.
This was extremely unfavorable news for the entire PLA, and in order to restore morale, Wu Kehua personally ordered that the entire position must be retaken and then a rapid counterattack should be launched.
On the first day of the Battle of Tashan, the two sides fought to the limit, and the positions changed hands repeatedly. Although the battle was very fierce, the defenders at Tashan still firmly held the enemy outside. At dawn on October 11, the Nationalist army attacked again with artillery, trying to blow up the entire Tashan area into ruins.
The enemy broke through the central area firmly, and the defenders of Tashan seemed to have been torn open, and the casualties were very heavy. Lin Biao, who was located at the command headquarters, also felt silent after hearing this news. But in an instant, his expression immediately became resolute again.
He said to the person who sent the report: "Now send the report immediately, I don't want casualty figures, I just want Tower Hill!" "For Lin Zong at this moment, Tashan is related to the survival of the war situation, and if Tashan does not exist, no matter how many casualties are counted, it will be useless."
How fierce was the battle? The PLA bunkers were all blown up, and the positions were full of fighting between officers and soldiers on both sides, and even on top of the ruins, bayonet fighting between the two sides occurred.
This little village, every corner and every lake, was dyed bright red by a large amount of blood. The resolute Chinese People's Liberation Army forged the steel position of Tashan, and after the main force of the Northeast People's Liberation Army conquered Jinzhou, Tashan was still firmly defended, and the defenders of Tashan were indispensable. In the entire Tashan blockade battle, the People's Liberation Army sacrificed more than 3,000 people, but also achieved the brilliant achievement of annihilating more than 6,000 enemy troops.
epilogue:
It was precisely because of the achievements of the Tashan Blockade That the entire Liaoshen Campaign was able to proceed smoothly, and finally swept through the entire northeast in less than three months, driving the Kuomintang out of the northeast.
What was even more unexpected was that the fourth column in charge of the Tashan blockade battle, with a total of eight senior commanders, was touched by the spirit of the entire Tashan campaign. Surprisingly unanimously asked to be buried in Tower Hill.
General Hu Qicai, who was the deputy commander of the Fourth Column of the Northeast Field Army and known as the "Tiger of Tashan", told his wife before his death that as a survivor of the Tashan Blockade Battle, he dreamed of that place. After his death, be sure to return to Tower Hill. In 1997, General Hu Qicai died of illness. Before his death, he made a clear wish: to bury Tashan.
In addition to General Wu Kehua and General Hu Qicai, the ashes of 6 generals were buried in Tashan, and they were mo Wenhua, Ouyang Wen, Li Fuze, Jiang Xieyuan, Jiao Yushan, and Jiang Minfeng, the commanders of the four columns who had commanded the operation on the front line during the Tashan Blockade Battle, and after the founding of the country, these soldiers in charge of the Tashan guard battle were also buried in Tashan. Maybe they didn't forget their duty to guard Tower Hill until the last moment.