Seventy years ago, on April 22, 1948, the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army recaptured Yan'an. Fast forward more than a year, in March 1947, when the Kuomintang troops launched a major offensive against northern Shaanxi and Shandong during the Liberation War, Hu Zongnan's 200,000-strong army captured Yan'an, the seat of the CPC Central Committee at the time, which on the surface seemed to be an unprecedented victory, but then Hu Zongnan's troops fell into a quagmire in the valleys and ravines of northern Shaanxi.
Hu Zongnan commanded 34 brigades of about 250,000 people, focusing on attacking northern Shaanxi, although he once occupied Yan'an, the seat of the head organ of the Chinese Communist Party, but in the end he was defeated by the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army, which had only more than 20,000 people, and lost soldiers and generals, and finally lost all the land. Therefore, in May 1950, Li Mengbiao, a member of Taiwan's "Control Yuan" Shaanxi nationality, and 46 other "supervisory commissioners" jointly proposed impeachment under the name of Hu Zongnan, who was "the heaviest in office, the most in command of the army, the longest in trouble, and the greatest in the military and the country.", which was a sensation at the time. Chen Cheng, then president of the "Executive Yuan," and Hu Zongnan had a long-term discord, and after receiving the impeachment, Chen Cheng, unwilling to give people the excuse of declaring a personal vendetta, first went to investigate Chiang Kai-shek's tone, saw that Chiang Kai-shek had no intention of disposing of it, and did not want to deepen the contradictions between them by taking advantage of this matter, so he handed over the impeachment case to the "Ministry of National Defense" for handling. At the same time, Hu Zongnan's friends and subordinates went around to carry out activities, and 108 "legislators" jointly signed a letter to lay out a good appraisal for Hu Zongnan, and finally the big thing became small and the small thing was turned into a small matter, and it ended with a dismissal.
In 1947, hu Zongnan (center) entered Yan'an and avoided the grand and generous guest house, but chose to live in a cave next to the bank in the border area
Although Hu Zongnan escaped being impeached, some people still felt that his performance in the northwest battlefield was difficult to explain with "great ambition and talent", and even if his ability was too bad, it was difficult to explain, so he speculated that Chief Hu was an underground party.
Hu Zongnan sent troops into the pockets of the People's Liberation Army several times and three times: the People's Liberation Army had already set up an ambush at Qinghua 4 days before the Battle of Qinghua, and Hu Zongnan's integrated 31st Brigade had only received orders from Hu Zongnan to rush to Qinghua Tung the day before. According to the recollections of Zhou Guichang, deputy brigade commander of major general of the 31st Brigade, they had already discovered that the People's Liberation Army had set up an ambush before they arrived at Qinghua, and immediately telegraphed Hu Zongnan to request a change of route, but Hu Zongnan sent a telegram back reprimanding: "Greed for life and fear of death, cowering and not advancing, non-military morale, absolutely as planned to advance north, quickly occupy Qinghua, otherwise they will be afraid of the crime of flinching." The 31st Brigade had to know that there was an ambush and rushed forward, and as a result, it was completely annihilated.
The Battle of Qinghua was tantamount to exposing the position of the main force of the People's Liberation Army, but Hu Zongnan still did not march northeast, but instead ordered the troops to occupy Yanchang, nearly 100 kilometers from Yan'an, and then to the north to occupy Yanchuan and Qingjian. At this time, the central organs led by Mao Zedong were marching towards Wayao Fort in the northwest of Yan'an, and when Mao Zedong marched west, he also stipulated a "marching plan": a day of sixty miles, a small break of fifteen miles, and a big break of thirty miles. It was as if he were on a hiking outing, until April 3, seven days after Mao Zedong left Wayao Fort, when Hu Zongnan's troops arrived at Wayao Fort from Qingjian.
In April 1947, At Yan'an Airport, the artillery and cavalry of the southern huzong at the military parade ceremony were neatly groomed
The tank battalion in Hu Zongnan's army, although light tanks, was still a rare heavy equipment among the Kuomintang. Originally on standby near Yichuan, the unit subsequently entered Yan'an, and although the firepower was strong, its role in the special terrain of the northern Shaanxi Plateau was limited
As a supply base for the whole army, In such an important place, Hu Zongnan only sent one regiment of the 167th Brigade to garrison the direct subordinate unit of the brigade headquarters, while the original seven and a half brigades there were sent to Suide in the far north, and the main force departed from Panlong two days later to find that the large troops of several brigades of the People's Liberation Army were moving towards Panlong. They proposed that "it is not appropriate for the troops to continue to advance toward Suide", but Hu Zongnan still insisted on ordering "rapid advance to Suide" and arrived in Suide on May 2, where of course there was no main force of the People's Liberation Army, and on the same day the People's Liberation Army began to besiege Panlong.
The 167th Brigade of the Baolong Defenders had already discovered the presence of large PLA troops around it a few days ago, and immediately reported to Hu Zongnan that "we judge that the main force of the PLA has indeed been concentrated in the Panlong area and has an active attempt to besiege Panlong." However, Hu Zongnan ignored the 167th Brigade's belief that it was "deliberately exaggerating the enemy's situation."
When the People's Liberation Army occupied Panlong, all the hoarded materials fell into the hands of the People's Liberation Army. According to Xu Pillow, a company commander of the Kuomintang troops, "Due to the loss of supplies, the main food of the troops was dropped by air, the weather was hot, and they could not take off their winter coats full of blood and sweat, and the single military uniforms fell into the hands of the communist army because they were stored in Panlong." The soldiers had no shoes to wear, so they had to take off their cloth shoes from the rotting corpses, and although they tried their best to clean them, they still smelled badly. The disease spread, but the medicines were also lost with the loss of the dragon, and the loss of combat strength was difficult to estimate. ”
From the evacuation of Yan'an to the annihilation of the reorganized 36th Division in Shajiadian, for a period of 5 months, Mao Zedong's range of activities was very narrow, in the area centered on Wayao Fort, no more than 50 kilometers from east to west, and no more than 100 kilometers from north to south, of which Wangjiawan, west of Wayao Fort, lived for a hundred days, and every day high-power radio stations and radio contacts throughout the country were continuous, but Hu Zongnan could not find it.
The most typical is the Battle of Yichuan, when the 30,000 people of the reorganized 29th Army fell into a heavy siege or were even completely annihilated on Wazi Street, the entire northwest war situation also changed. After this battle, it is not far from the day of recapturing Yan'an.