(Editor/Cole Proofreader/Geng Ying)
On December 19, Comrade Mo Wenhua led the Fourth Column of the Northeast Field Army to the Western Front. The Central Military Commission considered that after the thirty-fifth army was annihilated, the enemy of Zhangjiakou might break through to the west, so it transferred the fourth column of the Northeast Field Army, which was in Kangzhuang, to the command of the North China Third Corps to strengthen the encirclement of Zhangjiakou.
Mo Wenhua is an old classmate of Comrade Luo Ruiqing and me at the "Red University". The old comrades-in-arms were reunited after a long absence and were very affectionate. Despite the harsh conditions on the battlefield, the corps logistics department managed to invite them to a meal and drank the famous Xuanhua wine.
When it came to sending Guo Jingyun the "Emergency Persuasion Letter", Mo Wenhua laughed loudly. I said, "Old Mo! We'd like to get another gift for them, but it's going to have to be borrowed from you. Mo Wenhua said, "Do you want me to come into the city as a lobbyist?" I said, "Lend us your artillery regiment." ”
I said, "Return the new security guards immediately, and don't delay your beating of Zhangjiakou." Mo Wenhua agreed. He asked us to ask the Central Military Commission for instructions, and he also asked the headquarters of the Northeast Field Army, and they all called back to agree. In the battle to liberate the new security, this artillery regiment played a large role.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, the corps ordered all the units to clear the perimeter and open the passage on the front of their respective attacks! The warriors who had been climbing ice and lying on the snow for twelve days and nights had long been holding their breath, and a whirlwind of iron swept through, and Guo Jingyun's deer, barbed wire, and bunkers outside the city were all sent to the sky by explosive packages.
At 7:10 a.m. on the morning of the 22nd, Comrade Yang Dezhi's very thick Hunan dialect exploded on the phone: "The general offensive has begun!" Suddenly, the first shells of many cannons flew out of the chamber at the same time. Almost at the same time, it "boomed" into the wall of the new security guard.
In the thick smoke, the red flags of the various demolition teams of our army in the southeast of the city began to fly, and the continuous blasts once again exploded into columns of smoke in the sky, and the city wall became a pile of broken walls. At 8:30 a.m., the charge horn sounded through the clouds, and the soldiers shouted killing. Soon, the red flag flew over the city.
At this time, another black smoke rose from the east gate of the city, which was the "coffin explosive" of the Tenth Brigade, which showed great power, the city gate was blown through, the troops swarmed in, and the sound of killing came from the hole in the city gate, emitting a low echo. From the telescope, it can be seen that there are already stretchers transporting the wounded and fighters taking prisoners.
At 9 o'clock, the eighth column to the west and northwest of the city also began to attack. It was close to the headquarters of the Thirty-fifth Army and was the focus of the enemy's defense. Guo Jingyun built a large number of low-level bunkers here, that is, hollowed out the lower part of the city wall and built it into a dark fire point. As soon as the demolition team approached the castle, they were attacked by dark fire points.
At 2 p.m., the Corps again adjusted its artillery fire for them. Chief of Staff Zhang Zhenchuan personally organized fire cover and then exploded. Deputy squad leader Xu Xueshun jumped up, pulled the fuse, and threw himself at the enemy with a "snort" explosive package. The enemy was so frightened that he threw down his machine gun and ran.
Xu Xueshun ran to the edge of the city, threw out the explosive package that was about to explode, and rolled into the moat himself. With a loud noise, along with more than twenty bundles of fifty pounds of explosives packages sent in front of him, all detonated, Xu Xueshun was stunned, and the city wall completely collapsed.
At exactly 5 p.m., the attacking forces met triumphantly. The enemy "Ace Army", the Thirty-fifth Army, disappeared forever in their army sequence.
One headquarters and two whole divisions of the enemy's Thirty-fifth Army were completely destroyed, and more than 8,000 officers and men were captured. Four hundred American trucks, more than twenty civilian sleeping cars, Guo Jingyun's "Chevrolet" sedan, and countless weapons and ammunition have become our booty.
Guo Jingyun committed suicide after our army broke through the city walls. We bought a coffin, buried him next to the train station outside the East Gate, and inserted a tombstone logo. In January 1949, in order to promote the peaceful liberation of Peiping, we lifted up the body and handed it to Fu Zuoyi's men.
On the third day of our total annihilation of the enemy's Thirty-fifth Army of the New Security Army, exciting news came from Zhangjiakou that our Third Corps in North China annihilated in one fell swoop one regimental headquarters, one military headquarters, and five whole divisions of the enemy, totaling 54,000 men, and Zhangjiakou returned to the hands of the people.
The destruction of the enemies of Zhangjiakou and the new security forces wiped out the main force of Fu Zuoyi's troops. There was no fighting on the Western Front. In accordance with the reorganization order of the Central Military Commission, our Second And Third Corps in North China were renamed the 19th Corps and the 20th Corps. Soon, the First Corps was renamed the Eighteenth Corps.
On January 4, 1949, the 19th and 22nd Corps of our army were ordered to go to the outskirts of Beiping. The pingjin front command gave us the following orders: The two corps attacked from Xizhimen and Dongzhimen to Deshengmen respectively, and after entering the city, they would attack the Drum Tower; and then with the Twelfth and Thirteenth Corps in the northeast, they would attack Tiananmen.
On 14 January, Comrade Mao Zedong issued a "Statement on the Current Situation," which put forward eight conditions for peace talks in response to Chiang Kai-shek's hypocritical peace proposals.
On the 15th, when an ultimatum was issued to the defenders of Tianjin, and the enemy was still trying to resist, our Northeast Field Army launched an attack, completely annihilating more than 130,000 defenders of Tianjin.
On the 16th, Lin Biao, commander of the Pingjin front, and Luo Ronghuan, political commissar, issued an ultimatum to Fu Zuoyi, who requested peace talks.
At 3:00 a.m. on the 18th, the secret agents of the military command created an assassination incident in the home of Mr. He Siyuan, a peace negotiator sent by Fu Zuoyi, and Mr. He's entire family was killed and injured five times.
On January 19, He Siyuan took the wounded out of the city and went to the Zizhuyuan garrison with ten other representatives, and after negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement on the peaceful liberation of Peiping. The ancient capital of civilization has finally returned to the hands of the people intact.
The great Battle of Pingjin ended with our total victory, and almost at the same time the Battle of Huaihai ended in Chiang Kai-shek's defeat. At the beginning of February 1949, we marched into Beiping and held a ceremony to enter the city of the People's Liberation Army, which caused a sensation throughout the country.
Comrade Ye Jianying, the new mayor of Beiping, and Comrade Peng Zhen, secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, hosted a banquet at the Beijing Hotel, which is where the delegation of the "Military Investigation Department" where we worked in Beiping in 1946 was stationed. Now walking into this palatial building, I really feel happy.
At the banquet, we met General Fu Zuoyi, who was still an "old rival" a few days ago, and everyone shook hands like a courtesy. We commend Mr. Fu for his profound understanding of the great righteousness and his contribution to the cause of the liberation of the motherland.
In the sound of victory gongs and drums, we were not intoxicated by flowers and praise. The whole army is studying Comrade Mao Zedong's New Year's Day message , "Carrying the Revolution through to the End." There are still half of the country's rivers and mountains that have not been liberated, and Taiyuan in northern China is still in the hands of the enemy.
(To be continued...) ）