Four Battles and Siping Create Necessary Conditions for Liao-Shen Campaign

Luo Pinghan
 

Xi Jinping visited the Siping Battle Memorial Hall. During the War of Liberation, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces led by the Communist Party of China fought four battles and drew four peace. Nearly 20000 soldiers died heroically, which created the necessary conditions for the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign and accumulated valuable urban battle experience for the War of Liberation. Xi Jinping watched carefully and asked from time to time to understand the magnificent battle course. He stressed: we must bear in mind the blood and lives paid by our revolutionary ancestors for the cause of China's revolution, and bear in mind that New China has not come easily. It is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a business. The broad masses of party members, cadres, and the masses of the people must learn and understand the history of the party and the history of New China, keep the great cause of socialism created by the party under the leadership of the people, and pass it on from generation to generation.

-People's Daily, July 25, 2020

Siping is located in the hinterland of the central Songliao Plain, at the junction of Liaoning, Jilin, and Inner Mongolia. The transportation is very convenient. The Zhongchang Railway (Harbin to Dalian), Simei (Siping to Meihekou), and Pingqi (Siping to Qiqihar) 3 railways meet here. It is located in the middle of Shenyang and Changchun, two important cities in Northeast China. The strategic position is very important. During the War of Liberation, the People's Liberation Army had four large-scale operations with the Kuomintang army here. The Four Wars and Siping can be said to be a microcosm of the Northeast War of Liberation and even the National War of Liberation.

(I)
 

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated the policy of "developing northward and defending southward" and decided to give up the 8 liberated areas south of the Yangtze River. While consolidating the liberated areas in North and Central China, it successively transferred more than 20000 cadres and 110000. The troops crossed the sea from Shandong or entered the northeast via eastern Hebei, and quickly established the northeast base area. In October 1945, the Northeast Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established the Liaoning Provincial Working Committee, the Liaoning Provincial Government and the Liaoning Military Region in Siping. At the same time, the Siping Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Siping Municipal Government were established.
 

On February 17, 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China instructed the Northeast Bureau: "It is estimated that if the country does not suffer a greater blow, it will not agree to a truce and will adopt a delaying policy. In this way, if you destroy more enemies, the country should have nothing to say. On the one hand, you strive for peace, but on the other hand, you still have to prepare for a long war." On March 5, the CPC Central Committee instructed the Northeast Bureau: "Before the diplomatic problem in Northeast China is solved, Chiang Kai-shek will use his army that has entered the Northeast to attack our army in an attempt to defeat my military force in the Northeast. He also wants to use the Soviet Union diplomatically to hand over more cities in Northeast China to Chiang Kai-shek so that there will be more legal basis to oppress us for concessions in future negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Therefore, the military confrontation and conflict between Chiang and our side in the northeast will continue for a period of time." "You must quickly prepare for a serious battle to smash the Chiang attack". On March 12, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called the Northeast Bureau: "You must win a few battles, so that Jiang Jun is in a difficult situation in the Northeast, and Jiang Jun will compromise with me under conditions that we can accept."
 

On March 13, Soviet troops withdrew from Siping. At this time, the regular army of the Kuomintang was still assembled in Shenyang, and the garrison of Siping was relatively weak. The Northeast Democratic Alliance decided to take the opportunity to take Siping as a strategic place. To this end, a total of more than 6000 main and local troops were concentrated. With Zhong Wei, commander of the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the West Manchuria Military Region as the commander-in-chief, the Siping Airport was captured on March 15. On the night of the 16th, the siege troops realized the encirclement of Siping from the west, east, and north. At 4 o'clock on the 17th, the general offensive began and the battle ended at 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Except for a small number of enemies who escaped, more than 2000 defenders were captured.
 

(II)
 

At that time, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were negotiating for an armistice in the Northeast. On March 25, 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called the heads of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces and the Northeast Bureau: The agreement on the unconditional armistice in the Northeast may be signed within days, but it will take some time for the executive team to go to the Northeast and convene representatives of both sides to agree on the actual armistice. Therefore, you will have to go through at least one or two weeks of fierce fighting, and perhaps longer, before you can actually reach an armistice. During this time, the stubborn side will attack desperately in an attempt to control more strategic resources, and you should do everything possible, at great sacrifice, to defend strategic areas, especially North Manchuria.
 

Whether or not to defend North Manchuria, Siping's gains and losses are extremely important. On March 26, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called the Northeast Bureau: Siping should be declared occupied by the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army or the Democratic Allied Forces, and the governments of the three northeastern provinces should formally perform their duties. "It should be dealt with in this way before the armistice between the two sides, in order to combat the prestige of the stubborn side and increase our momentum. Only by dealing with it in this way can the Kuomintang have to cooperate with us peacefully. If we dare not admit that our army occupied Siping, it means that our army is weak and will not be beneficial to peace. Now we should make every effort to protect Siping in our hands."
 

On March 27, the Kuomintang's New 1st Army (with 3 divisions under its jurisdiction), which had already occupied Kaiyuan, continued to advance northward along the medium-long railway. The two divisions of the Kuomintang's 71st Army advanced to Bumian City along Faku and Kangping. On March 28, the three-member military team reached an agreement on sending an implementation team to the Northeast to stop the conflict and decided to immediately form an implementation team to the Northeast to carry out the armistice mediation work. Three days later, the Kuomintang troops broke the Northeast Armistice Agreement and invaded Yingkou, Haicheng, Anshan, Benxi, Siping and other places in four ways.
 

Following the instructions of the CPC Central Committee, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces decided to gather their main forces on both sides of the China-Long Railway south of Siping and north of Tieling to seek fighter planes to attack the Kuomintang troops in the movement defense. Siping's urban defense is under the command of Ma Renxing, brigade commander of the 1st Security Brigade, and two regiments are deployed. The 1st Regiment of the 1st Security Brigade guards the west of the railway and the 56th Regiment of the 7th Column guards the east of the railway.
 

On April 7, the 38th Division of the New 1st Army of the Kuomintang entered the Xinglongling, Liutiaogou and Xinglongquan areas of Siping and Changtu. When the main force of the Northeast Democratic United Army was gradually dispersing with the strength of the Kuomintang troops advancing northward, they seized the fighter plane and on April 8 in the area of Xinglong Spring to the north of Changtu, encircling and annihilating the 4 companies of the 38th Division of the Kuomintang New 1st Army that entered the area. On April 15, the forces of 14 regiments were quickly concentrated. In the Dawa area in the southwest of Siping, the 87th Division of the 71st Army of the Kuomintang was divided and surrounded. After a day and night of fierce fighting, one regiment was annihilated and two regiments were defeated.
 

On April 17, the Kuomintang's New 1st Army and 71st Army approached Siping and formed an arc-shaped encirclement of Siping. Since April 18, the Kuomintang army has carried out a fierce encirclement and attack on Siping from the south, southwest and northwest, and the Northeast Democratic United Army has thus begun a month-long battle to defend Siping. After days of heroic and tenacious fighting, the garrison troops of the Northeast Democratic United Army repelled the attack of the Kuomintang army and consolidated the Siping position.
 

In early May, the Kuomintang army reinforced by the customs had reached the northeast, and the new 6th army and the 88th division of the 71st army, which were transferred from the south to the north, had reached the south of Siping. So far, the Kuomintang army in the Siping area has reached 10 whole divisions. For this reason, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces urgently ordered the main forces of the East Manchuria, South Manchuria, West Manchuria, and North Manchuria military regions to rush to Siping to participate in the war. The garrison in the urban area increased from the original two regiments to 5 regiments, and participated in the entire Siping Defense War. The total force has reached 150000 people from 14 divisions (brigades), accounting for more than half of the total force of the Northeast Democratic Allied forces.
 

At dawn on May 15, the Kuomintang's New 6th Army, New 1st Army, and 71st Army were divided into three directions: east, south, and west. Under the cover of aircraft and heavy artillery fire, they launched another fierce attack on Siping. On May 17, the Kuomintang army concentrated its strong firepower and launched a fierce attack on the position of Tazishan, 10 kilometers southeast of Siping. The 1st Battalion of the 58th Regiment of the 7th Column of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces fought bloody battles and beat back the enemy's charge 12 times in a row. Later, due to excessive casualties, it was defended by the 19th Regiment of the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the West Manchuria Military Region. At dawn on the 18th, the Kuomintang army once again launched a fierce attack on Tazishan. Although the 19th regiment repelled the Kuomintang army's charge again and again, it eventually lost its position due to excessive casualties. That night, the Kuomintang army occupied Hafu southeast of Siping, putting the Siping defense of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces in a disadvantageous situation. From midnight on May 18 to early morning on May 19, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces withdrew from Siping.
 

In the one-month Siping Defense War, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces wiped out 16000 Kuomintang troops, which not only delayed the Kuomintang army's attempt to occupy Siping by more than 40 days, gained time for the consolidation of the Northeast base area, but also tempered the troops, promoted the transformation of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces from scattered guerrilla operations to field warfare and large corps operations, and made the whole party fully aware of Chiang Kai-shek's false peace and real civil war, the illusion of peace held by some people in the party at that time was completely destroyed and ideological preparations were made for the imminent all-out civil war.
 

(III)
 

On May 13, 1947, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces launched a summer offensive. In less than 20 days, they successively captured dozens of small and medium-sized towns around Changchun and Siping, cutting off the China-Long Railway and the Jilin-Long Railway, leaving Changchun and Siping in isolation. state. In order to further expand the results, the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces decided to attack Siping.
 

The Siping defending enemy was commanded by Chen Mingren, commander of the 71st Army. Chen Mingren divided Siping defense into the first, second, third, and Siping defense. The enemy was commanded by Chen Mingren, commander of the 71st Army. Chen Mingren divided Siping Defense into five garrison areas, including the first, second, third and fourth garrison areas and the core garrison area. The Northeast Democratic Allied Forces that participated in the Siping Battle consisted of two parts: siege and aid, under the unified command of the first column commander Li Tianyou and political commissar Wan Yi. The siege deployment is as follows: the 1st and 2nd divisions of the 1st column will take the main attack from the southwest of Siping, and the 3rd division will assist from the southeast. The 7th column attacked from the northwest of Siping. The 17th Division of the 6th Column is a reserve team. In addition, 4 columns (2 divisions owed), 5 independent divisions and 2 cavalry divisions, totaling 17 divisions, were deployed in the south, southeast and north of Siping to form an aid group to block the Kuomintang troops from Shenyang to the north and from Changchun to the south.
 

On June 9, the northeast democratic coalition forces began to rally to Siping area. On June 11, the perimeter fighting began. The first unit of the Liaoji column captured the airfield and annihilated a battalion of the defenders. On June 13, the 2nd Division of the 1st Column captured Xinlitun and wiped out 4 companies of the defenders. At this point, the Kuomintang stronghold in the suburbs of Siping was basically uprooted.
 

At 20 o'clock on June 14, the general attack on Siping began. After more than 40 minutes of shelling, the 2nd division of the 1st column broke through the garrison position from the direction of Xinlitun, and the 1st division of the 1st column also broke through the garrison position from the direction of Haifengtun. The Liaoji column and the 3rd division of the 1st column failed to work due to insufficient preparation. The 1st and 2nd divisions of the 1st column continuously organized follow-up echelons, repelled the Kuomintang defenders for more than ten times in a row, consolidated the breakthrough and gradually pushed forward in depth, but the casualties were large and the progress was slow. By June 18, the Liaoji column had also broken through the defenders. By June 20, the 17th division of the 6th column took over the task of the 1st division of the 1st column, broke through the core garrison area of Siping garrison with the cooperation of friendly neighboring troops, occupied the seat of the 71st army headquarters of the Kuomintang, and Chen Mingxin (Chen Mingren's brother-in-law), head of the 71st army secret service regiment, who was the commander of the core garrison, was captured, and Chen Mingren withdrew the command post to the city east of the railway.
 

After the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces occupied most of the area west of Siping Railway, the 1st and 2nd divisions of the 1st Column withdrew from the battle due to heavy casualties. On June 21, the 17th Division of the 6th Column and the 3rd Division of the 1st Column jointly broke into Tiedong District from Siping Nanqiao Cave and launched an attack on the outer stronghold of the Catholic Church. The 54th Division of the Kuomintang garrison fought desperately against the strong Catholic Church, and the two sides fought fiercely. The 7th column of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces launched an attack on the Kant fire mill stronghold of the Kuomintang army on the north side of the flyover. They fought for 5 consecutive days and nights, and the assault was blocked. At this time, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces learned that the Siping defenders were not 18000 but more than 34000 as judged before the war. Although Siping Airport was occupied, the Kuomintang army airdropped a large amount of materials to the Siping defenders. The defenders had sufficient ammunition and food, and all of them retreated to the Tiedong District of Siping, with concentrated troops. In view of this situation, the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces decided to join the 16th and 18th divisions of the 6th column, which originally served as aid, in the battle of Siping Tiedong District. However, due to the siege force still did not reach the absolute advantage, coupled with the stubborn resistance of the Siping garrison, the siege force could not divide the enemy, and the attack was frustrated again.
 

At the time when the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces launched an attack on Siping, Du Yuming, the commander of the Northeast Security of the Kuomintang, concentrated 10 main divisions, with assistance from Shenyang and Changchun, in an attempt to fight the main force of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces under the city of Siping. On June 28, the Kuomintang army reinforcements arrived in Siping and fought with the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces. Since it was meaningless to continue to attack the city, the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces ordered to withdraw from Siping battlefield on the night of June 30 and move to the designated place.
 

The Siping battle lasted 18 days and nights. The Northeast Democratic Allied Forces captured most of the city of Siping and wiped out 16000 enemies, showing a strong combat capability and a heroic and tenacious fighting spirit. This is the first time that the Northeast Democratic United Army has attacked the enemy's heavily fortified large and medium-sized cities, and has accumulated extremely valuable combat experience.
 

(IV)

After the Siping battle, the Northeast Democratic Allied Forces launched an autumn offensive on September 14 after a break. During the two-month battle, a total of 69000 enemy soldiers were wiped out, forcing the enemy to retreat in Jinzhou, Shenyang, Siping, Changchun, Jilin, etc. Cities and nearby areas. In December of the same year, the Northeast Democratic United Army (renamed the Northeast People's Liberation Army in January 1948) launched another winter offensive, focusing on the Kuomintang occupied areas in Liaoyang and Anshan south of Shenyang. In order to solve the danger of Shenyang, Chen Cheng, director of the Kuomintang's northeast line, transferred the 71st Army headquarters, 87th Division and 91st Division guarding Siping to Xinmin area to strengthen the defense of Shenyang's periphery. The Northeast People's Liberation Army decided to take advantage of the insufficient strength of the Siping garrison, its weak combat power and its isolation to attack Siping again.

In the past two years after the Siping battle, the situation in the Northeast has achieved fundamental changes. For the first time in a strategic area, the historical transformation from the enemy is strong and we are weak to the enemy is strong and we are weak. By February 1948, more than 97% of the land and 86% of the population in Northeast China had been liberated, and 95% of the railway lines had been controlled. The Northeast People's Liberation Army had 12 infantry columns and formed artillery columns and railway columns, with a total of more than 700,000 people. In addition, there were 330000 local armed forces, with a total strength of 1.03 million, which greatly exceeded the Kuomintang army in number.

On February 27, 1948, the Northeast People's Liberation Army concentrated the 1st column, the 3rd column, the 7th column, the independent 2nd division and the artillery regiment directly under the headquarters, and went north from the west of Shenyang, Liaoyang and Anshan on a starry night to form a siege force to surround Siping, under the unified command of the 1st column commander Li Tianyou and political commissar Wan Yi. The ratio of the PLA's siege force to the Kuomintang's garrison force is 4 to 1, and the ratio of the number of artillery is 10 to 1. It has an absolute advantage in terms of troops and firepower, and has accumulated more experience and lessons through the last Siping battle. The combat capability and confidence have been greatly improved.

On March 4, the PLA launched a peripheral battle against Siping. The first column captured the airports in Haifengtun, Xujiayao and the west of the city in the south of the city, and occupied the Shidao School. On March 7, the 3rd column cleared the Beishan stronghold, occupied Liujiatun and Yifa Oil House, approached the east gate of Siping, and cleared the bunker group of three forests, the commanding height in the north of the city, and occupied Hongzui Zi. After several days of fierce fighting, the PLA eliminated the outlying strongholds of the Siping garrison, and the siege troops entered the city wall.

At 8 o'clock on March 12, the general attack on Siping officially started. At a density of 500 shells per minute, hundreds of artillery pieces of the PLA artillery carried out heavy shelling on the strongholds of the Kuomintang garrison. By 11 a.m., the 1st and 7th columns joined forces on Zhongshan street, and by 14 a.m., all the Kuomintang defenders in Tiexi were eliminated. The PLA took advantage of the victory to launch a new attack on Tiedong, disrupting the defense system of the Kuomintang garrison in Tiedong. In the fierce battle until the morning of March 13, the siege troops launched a final onslaught against the remaining garrison through the coordination of infantry artillery. At 7 o'clock on the 13th, the battle was over. After 23 hours of fierce fighting, the People's Liberation Army returned Siping to the hands of the people forever.

Source: Party building network, learning times