won but also lost! A war started due to political needs brought hundreds of thousands of people to the battlefield. However, in this battle, the victorious Kuomintang did not advance all the way and win the civil war in one fell swoop. This victory ruined its initiative in the civil war. It turned from victory to defeat, from offense to defense, and lost the entire civil war.
Siping War March Map
Battle of Siping
Starting on April 18, 1946, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party launched a month-long Battle of Siping in Siping, Northeast China. This was also the first major war between the two sides since the end of the Anti-Japanese War. Scale head-on.
In order to win the Battle of Siping and increase his bargaining chips with Chiang Kai-shek, Lin Biao rushed to Siping Street starting from April 4th and conducted a preliminary survey of the local battlefield terrain. At the same time, he stated to the central government that " Resolutely fight the enemy to the death." After Mao Zedong received it, he immediately called back and also expressed his determination to hold on to Siping.! The Battle of Siping is inevitable.
Chairman Mao's determination to stick to Siping
On April 8, the two sides began to have a preliminary confrontation outside the Siping area. On April 16, Du Yuming returned to the Northeast from Peiping . The Communist Army was also under the command of Lin Biao in order to respond. The enemy attacked, attacked day and night, built fortifications, dug communication trenches, and blocked rivers to form swamps to prevent the advancement of enemy tanks. In Siping City, he stocked up a large amount of food, weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies, and was determined to fight the enemy until the last moment.
On April 18th, the Battle of Siping began! The New First Army of the Kuomintang took the lead in launching an attack. Its newly formed 30th Division moved from south to north, its newly formed 38th Division moved from west to east, and its 50th Division pointed directly to the southeast of Siping. They took turns attacking under the cover of aircraft and tanks. Before each attack, the national army will conduct up to three hours of preparation work to ensure that its own artillery, aircraft and other heavy weapons have sufficient ammunition to support the frontal battlefield in time.
Siping War
Faced with the enemy's reckless attack, our Siping blocking position was filled with smoke and craters, and the defense fortifications were almost flattened by enemy artillery fire. Our soldiers, who had no time to rebuild the fortifications, tried every means to use anything available on the battlefield, such as steel plates, bomb craters, etc. as cover to avoid enemy artillery fire, and waited until the enemy approached our position. Rush out and fight the enemy.
html On April 27, Chairman Mao sent a message to "turn Siping Street into Madrid" and demanded resolute defense of Siping. Lin Biao said "try to turn Siping Street into Madrid". At this time, Lin Biao deeply realized the gap in military power between the two sides during many days of fighting with the enemy. In addition, due to the lack of experience in urban combat, Our team's coordination and firepower deployment are not ideal in terms of level and depth. It is difficult to effectively attack the enemy in terms of blocking, and it may be difficult to win if this battle continues..
The Cruelty of War
On May 18, Lin Biao, who had been defending Siping for a month, first ordered the troops defending Tazishan to "hold on for one more day as much as possible", and then ordered "to hold on for at least half a day" and to generate electricity for the central government, which showed this. Due to the crisis situation at the time, Tazishan fell a few hours after the telegram was sent. Lin Biao judged that the entire army might be annihilated if he did not retreat. He issued an order to withdraw the entire army without waiting for a reply from the central government. Siping fell, and the month-long battle to defend Siping ended in failure.
Why should we stick to Siping?
As a result of the Battle of Siping, the CCP lost tens of thousands of people and was forced to evacuate Siping and Changchun, across the Songhua River, and retreated to the North Manchuria region. It became a failed battle that caused heavy losses.Why did the central government order Siping to be defended at that time, even at the cost of causing such huge losses? Why did our side not choose mobile warfare, which we have always been best at, but instead choose to fight this head-on and unfamiliar positional warfare?
Lin Biao insisted on Siping
and stood on the position of the Communist Party of China. At that time, due to the mediation actions of the United States between the two parties, the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party entered a very critical moment. And there are fierce debates and bargaining on the Northeast issue. The purpose of adhering to Siping is not only to ensure that the Northeast is under our control, but more importantly, to use the Siping war to increase our bargaining chip and let Our words carry more weight.
The central government asked Lin Biao to adhere to the strategic deployment of Siping, which was for this purpose. Therefore, this is a clear strategy of military serving politics.
Political goals determined this military choice. At that time, our primary political goal was obviously to gain a say at the negotiating table. Therefore, we hoped to force the Kuomintang to make concessions through such a military competition and agreed. Peace talks are used to create a coalition government, promote peace and stability throughout China, and gain more seats and voice in the coalition government .
Promote peace and stability throughout China, and gain more seats and voice in the coalition government
If the coalition government can be successfully established, then by taking advantage of the opportunity of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, we will vigorously develop our own military, economy and other aspects, Achieve harmonious unity for the whole of China, take this opportunity to turn around, and improve China's international status in one fell swoop. This was the situation that Chairman Mao hoped to achieve after the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time.
It was precisely for this purpose that Chairman Mao ordered Lin Biao to stick to Siping, hoping that at this critical moment, the Kuomintang would know that it was impossible to conquer the Communist Party, so as to give up the strategic goal of eliminating the Communist Party and choose peaceful development. .
At the same time, the United States and the Soviet Union did not want a large-scale civil war to break out in China due to their own strategic policies at the time and the benefits they could obtain in China. Instead, they hoped that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party could resolve this issue. A peace treaty was reached and ceased war to weaken China's military strength and reduce its international influence.
The Communist Party hopes for peace, but does not want a civil war to break out.
But The Communist Party hopes for peace, but does not want a civil war to break out., but the Kuomintang does not intend to give up. Chiang Kai-shek Although on the surface he was conducting peace talks and hoping for an armistice in this negotiation, his fundamental purpose was still to eliminate the Communist Party and achieve the goal of unifying all of China.
At the negotiating table, his demands to the Communist Party were more aimed at getting it to lay down its arms and accept the Kuomintang's "recruitment" to achieve his solemn strategic purpose, rather than a divide-and-rule pattern of separatism. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek's proposition in the Siping Battle was to fight and win Siping at all costs. It would be best to end the battle in a crushing way, so as to force the Communist Party to accept the Kuomintang's demands at the negotiating table.
The tragic situation of the Siping Battle
The two sides did not give in to each other politically. Both sides urgently needed a victory to gain more say and force the other party to make concessions first. All these factors combined led to the Siping Battle. The tragic situation . The final result was that the Kuomintang won the battle here, ending the battle, but it was precisely this that led to Chiang Kai-shek's subsequent defeat. The Communist Party was able to take this opportunity to regroup and drive the Kuomintang to Taiwan in one fell swoop.
Won and lost
Why is it said that the Kuomintang won but lost? This is about the impact that the victory of the Siping Battle had on both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but as for the situation in China as a whole! The victory of this battle greatly increased Chiang Kai-shek's confidence. He was no longer just gaining half of the power to rule the Northeast, but more to control the entire Northeast.
How difficult was it to win the Battle of Siping
So he sent Du Yuming to continue to pursue the victory, and they fought all the way to Changchun. However, it was precisely because of this move that he stretched the front line too long , not only in terms of supplies, but also in terms of routes Troops must be divided and garrisoned in each city, which directly led to a significant reduction in military strength. After
arrived in Changchun, it was difficult for him to continue to divide his troops to pursue Lin Biao's troops for this reason. The result was that if he retreated, the long pursuit and the results obtained would be in vain, and was "in vain." ", but if we do not retreat, such a huge front will also have insufficient troops everywhere, making the frontline troops extremely tense. If they are defeated one by one by the Communist Party, huge losses will be caused.
Chiang Kai-shek sent Du Yuming to continue to pursue the victory, creating such a dilemma. This was also a major mistake made by Chiang Kai-shek in this battle, which directly led to the situation of successive defeats in subsequent battles. But why did Chiang Kai-shek make such a mistake?
The author believes that the root cause is that Chiang Kai-shek did not do a good job in the strategic deployment at the beginning, so he fell into such a situation. Suppose, if Chiang Kai-shek had not been dazzled by the victory in the Siping War, he would not have sent Du Yuming to lead the pursuit all the way to Changchun, but would have taken root here, or he would have stopped when he saw the opportunity, not going so deep, but slowly moving towards radiation in surrounding areas.
At the same time, took this opportunity to consolidate the corruption, military and economic problems that occurred within the Kuomintang at this time, enhance its overall strength, and lay the foundation for the subsequent war. Then the Kuomintang will face the counterattack of the Communist Party in the future. I'm afraid the ending is hard to say.
Chiang Kai-shek was too anxious and did not formulate a detailed strategic plan.
But then again, it was precisely because Chiang Kai-shek was too anxious and did not formulate a detailed strategic plan. In the strategic plan , the fundamental purpose of each battle is not clear, and it is not known what purpose it is fought to achieve. If you fight randomly, your own strength will be greatly reduced in such a war, giving the Communist Party an opportunity to take advantage of it. In the end, The battle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party ended in failure!
