On March 24, 1947, Hu Zongnan led his troops to Yan'an. This was the first time Hu Zongnan came to Yan'an in his life. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Communist Party of China invited Hu Zongnan to visit Yan'an. At that time, Hu Zongnan himself wanted to go and see it, but due to the obstruction of Chiang Kai-shek , Hu Zongnan failed to make a trip.
This time, Hu Zongnan set foot on the land of Yan'an in a majestic and proud manner. The day after arriving in Yan'an, Hu Zongnan asked his secretary Xiong Xianghui to guide him to see where the Chinese Communist Party leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai were living in Yan'an. Hu Zongnan looked carefully all the way. In the cave table where Mao Zedong lived, he found a note written by Mao Zedong.
After reading it carefully, Hu Zongnan laughed...
Chiang Kai-shek ordered an attack on Yan'an
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek's decision to attack Yan'an was very hasty. Ten days before attacking Yan'an, Hu Zongnan received an urgent telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, asking him to fly to Nanjing immediately. At that time, Hu Zongnan was paying attention to the development of the war situation in Longdong. After receiving the order, he took the Chief of Staff to the airport immediately.
Hu Zongnan arrived in Nanjing at 2 pm that day and was summoned by Chiang Kai-shek at 4 pm, asking him to take military action against Yan'an immediately and scheduled to launch an attack on March 10.
pic丨Cheng Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan
Why is Chiang Kai-shek so anxious to conquer Yan'an? On the one hand, on March 10, the foreign ministers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France would hold a meeting in Moscow to discuss the issue of China's civil war. In order to prevent the four foreign ministers from treating the CCP as an important military force, Chiang Kai-shek decided to launch an attack on this day.
On the other hand, the Third Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Kuomintang was held in March of that year, and it is necessary to summarize and review the situation of the civil war in the past year. In the eight months after the civil war broke out, although the Kuomintang had strong military power and occupied more than 100 towns in the liberated areas, it lost more than 700,000 troops, and the various battlefields were getting worse and worse.
html captured Yan'an, the political hub of the Communist Party of China, in mid-December, which not only reversed the national situation and increased morale, but also increased Chiang Kai-shek's prestige and allowed him to participate in the Third Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with confidence.
After Chiang Kai-shek issued the strategic task of seizing Yan'an, he asked Hu Zongnan: "Are you sure about the attack on northern Shaanxi?"
In fact, Hu Zongnan began to prepare for the capture of Yan'an half a year ago, but now he suddenly needs to implement it immediately, and there are still many difficulties. The main reason is that most of Hu Zongnan's troops are fighting in other provinces. They will pull the troops to designated locations in 9 days and make preparations for the attack. The intensity can be imagined.
pic丨Hu Zongnan
But Hu Zongnan is so happy that he is absolutely obedient to Chiang Kai-shek's orders, so he patted his chest to assure Chiang Kai-shek: "I'm sure!"
Chiang Kai-shek nodded with satisfaction and asked Hu Zongnan to discuss a specific action plan with Chen Cheng with the principle of "three points of military and seven points of politics" immediately and handed it over to him for review.
That night, Chiang Kai-shek specially hosted a banquet to entertain Hu Zongnan and asked Jiang Jingguo and his wife to accompany him. During the meal, Chiang Kai-shek asked Hu Zongnan again with concern, if he was sure of attacking northern Shaanxi? Hu Zongnan still answered with confidence, but asked Chiang Kai-shek to send more air force support.
The time to attack Yan'an was urgent. Hu Zongnan did not dare to neglect for a moment. He took out the combat plan that had been scheduled more than half a year ago, ran to the Ministry of National Defense to discuss and modify it, and re-formulated a new plan. The day after arriving in Nanjing, Hu Zongnan sent the combat plan to Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek reviewed as quickly as possible, and summoned Hu Zongnan and officials of the Ministry of National Defense that night to study and approve the combat plan, and to determine that the action will begin on the 15th. On the night when the combat plan was determined, Hu Zongnan urgently sent a message to the First War Zone and mobilized all troops to assemble at the designated location. As for combat orders, they will be issued after the troops assemble to prevent leaks.
pic丨The assembled Kuomintang troops
"Three-point Military" has been planned, but the "Seven-point Political" has made Hu Zongnan a little distressed. While studying the combat plan, Hu Zongnan thought about everyone from the Political Department of the First War Zone, and no one is suitable for political propaganda war. After thinking about it, Hu Zongnan thought of Xiong Xianghui, who is both military and political, and has cultural cultivation, which is very suitable for this matter.
Xiong Xianghui had just gotten married at that time and was about to take a tour before leaving for the United States. Hu Zongnan found out that Xiong Xianghui was in Hangzhou, so he managed to find him. He sent Xiong Xianghui on the train that night and arrived at Hu Zongnan the next day.
Hu Zongnan summoned Xiong Xianghui in his temporary office in Nanjing and told him that he would attack Yan'an. He asked him to postpone his trip abroad for three months and go to Xi'an to prepare a series of propaganda materials, focusing on promoting the Kuomintang's policy program. At the same time, he handed over two top-secret documents to Xiong Xianghui and asked him to draw a sketch based on the documents.
Hu Zongnan had not noticed that at that time, Xiong Xianghui was an underground intelligence officer of the Communist Party of China. After Hu Zongnan and others were summoned to meet Chiang Kai-shek, Xiong Xianghui secretly copied and saved the two documents, and recorded them all in his room that night, and then burned the copy.
Just as Hu Zongnan returned to Xi'an and was preparing to attack Yan'an, Xiong Xianghui had already passed the CCP intelligence station to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China through the CCP's intelligence station.
Picture丨Xiang Xianghui's old photos
Hu Zongnan's military plan has been mastered by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an before it was issued to the troops.
Hu Zongnan's two laughs
In a telegram sent by Chairman Mao to Liu and Deng, Hu Zongnan's action plan for attacking Yan'an was clearly pointed out. At the same time, he also called Zhang Zongxun, Liao Hansheng and others, asking the New Fourth Brigade to go to Yan'an immediately to defend Yan'an.
Just as the CCP was actively preparing for the war, Hu Zongnan received a secret telegram from Chiang Kai-shek that the US military observation team in Yan'an had not yet evacuated, and demanded that the original attack date be postponed by 3 days. Xiong Xianghui learned about this situation as a confidential secretary and sent the news back to Yan'an that night.
htmlOn December 9, Hu Zongnan secretly left Xi'an and went to Luochuan front to supervise the battle. Before leaving Nanjing, he asked Xiong Xianghui to bring a radio to the front line to facilitate listening to the radio broadcast in Yan'an. What he heard this time was the mobilization meeting for the defense of Yan'an held by the Communist Party of China.
Judging from the speeches of Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and others, Hu Zongnan predicted that the Communist Party was unprepared and had no time to prepare for the war with only a few days left. This time he will surprise him and take Yan'an.
Picture丨Mobilization Conference for the Defense of Yan'an
What is the real situation in Yan'an at this time?
As early as half a year ago, when Hu Zongnan mobilized his troops into Shaanxi to prepare for attacking Yan'an, Chairman Mao was mobilizing his troops to block Hu Zongnan's troops' actions, forcing Hu Zongnan's troops to withdraw from the southwest Shanxi , shattering Hu Zongnan's plan to attack Yan'an.
This time, Hu Zongnan mobilized heavy troops to invade Yan'an, while the People's Liberation Army in northern Shaanxi had only more than 20,000 people. Under the huge gap between 10 to 1, Chairman Mao and the Central Committee decided to voluntarily withdraw from Yan'an and evacuate various agencies and the people, leaving an empty city for the enemy.
Therefore, Chairman Mao ordered the Northwest Field Corps to carry out a tenacious blockade for seven days south of Yan'an. Such a decision is inevitably difficult for many commanders and fighters to understand. They have lived and fought in Yan'an for many years, but they have given up easily, which is inevitable that they are unacceptable. After the Yan'an defense battle started, Shizhe specially rode a horse to Wangjiaping dozens of miles away, hoping to convince Chairman Mao not to give up Yan'an.
When Shi Zhe asked Chairman Mao worriedly whether he could try to save Yan'an without retreating, and put forward his own ideas. Chairman Mao turned his back and smiled, then lit a cigarette, turned around and said:
"Your ideas are not clever and should not stop them from occupying Yan'an."
Picture丨Shizhe and Chairman Mao
Immediately afterwards, Chairman Mao started with Chiang Kai-shek's personality and carefully analyzed for Shizhe why he had to give up Yan'an. He did not arrange for Chiang Kai-shek to attack Yan'an, but was afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would not attack. Yan'an is a world-famous city and a heavy burden:
" Since Chiang Kai-shek wants to carry this burden, let him carry it...retract his fist to fight it more powerfully! "
Chairman Mao's confident analysis made Shi Zhe suddenly realize, and his previous concerns were swept away. He immediately wiped his horse and whipped back to Zaoyuan to speed up the preparations for evacuation and retreat.
htmlOn the afternoon of December 19, Hu Zongnan's entire brigade rushed into Yan'an City under the cover of the plane and found that Yan'an City was almost empty.
Hu Zongnan's army finally After occupying Yan'an, Hu Zongnan became a sensational figure in China and abroad. Then Hu Zongnan received a commendation telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, saying that Hu Zongnan had avenged the previous shame for the party and the country, and arranged for Chinese and foreign journalists to visit Yan'an ten days later, asking Hu Zongnan to "expose the hypocritical propaganda of the Communist Party of China."
Chiang Kai-shek's commendation telegram made Hu Zongnan feel relieved. After seeing it, he burst into laughter.
Occupy Yan'an The next day, Hu Zongnan ordered a pursuit and sweep north of Yan'an. The area was vast and sparsely populated. Coupled with the years of operation of the Communist Party of China, the people were completely hostile to Hu Zongnan's army, and the CCP army was more likely to hide and move here.
pic丨Hu Zongnan occupied Yan'an
. Hu Zongnan, who was in excitement, had no idea that his 100,000 troops were in the terrain of this area. Unfamiliar, unable to raise food, and logistics rely entirely on Xi'an supply, will be in great trouble.
Considering the gradual stability of the situation in Yan'an, Hu Zongnan decided to enter Yan'an. The next day, accompanied by his subordinates, Hu Zongnan went to see the previous residences of Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communist Party leaders, and found a note in Mao Zedong's cave:
" Hu Zongnan arrived in Yan'an and became a tiger, but he could not advance, and he could not retreat. What can you do! What can you do! "
After Hu Zongnan read it, he burst into laughter again.
This is a habit of Hu Zongnan. Haha, this act of laughing is either in line with his wishes or revealing his heart disease. Chairman Mao's note obviously hit Hu Zongnan's key point.
According to Xiong Xianghui, who was accompanying him at the time, this was the last time he heard Hu Zongnan Haha.
The farce after the capture of Yan'an
It was on this day that Hu Zongnan sent elite troops north of Yan'an to sweep the country were surrounded by heavy troops of the CCP's Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Field Army, and was in a critical situation.
pic | Hu Zongnan (central) arrived in Yan'an
it turned out that before the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China evacuated Yan'an, he expected that Hu Zongnan would definitely have a lot of time after occupying Yan'an Aoyed, instructed Peng Dehuai to lead his troops to concentrate on mobile warfare, lure the enemy into deep, and strive to wipe out the enemy. Hu Zongnan, without knowing the enemy situation, personally sent his elite troops into the ambush circle of the CCP field army.
Only one and a half hours, the entire battle ended, more than 3,000 people in Hu Zongnan were wiped out, brigade commanders, deputy brigade commanders and other commanders and soldiers were captured, and all weapons and supplies were seized. Although not many, it was a great supplement to the Northwest Field Army, which was short of ammunition.
When he heard that his elite troops were completely wiped out, the anxious Hu Zongnan immediately sent troops to reinforce. However, when they arrived, Peng Dehuai's troops had already left behind dozens of wounded soldiers with their prisoners, leaving only dozens of wounded soldiers.
This was the first heavy blow that Hu Zongnan suffered after invading northern Shaanxi. Although Hu Zongnan was very upset about his mistake in command, he was very happy with the achievements but ordered all insiders to keep it strictly confidential and not to report the failure to spread.
However, the CCP’s Shaanxi Radio Station soon reported the news of this battle on the radio. After hearing this, Hu Zongnan knew that he could no longer hide it. After fully authorizing the reporting of this failed, he did not ask any more.
html In early April, the Chinese and foreign journalists' group arrived from Nanjing quickly calmed down the sad Hu Zongnan. He not only convinced himself that the loss of more than 3,000 people was just a small blow, but also wanted to show his achievements in front of Chinese and foreign journalists.
Photo丨Hu Zongnan's troops took a photo with the main members of the Chinese and foreign journalists gang
In accordance with the spirit of Hu Zongnan's instructions, the subordinates began to busy arrange the "Region Showroom". In order to show the fierce battle and the huge victory, they not only forged fake graves and a large number of "seized" weapons, but also selected more than a thousand soldiers from the city defense forces to serve as "captives of the Communist Army."
In order to show the lively scene after "recovering" Yan'an, Hu Zongnan also sent people to invite some storytellers from Xi'an, and opened the "National Army Service Office for the People", distribute relief grain, free treatment, etc.
In order to make the service office lively, Hu Zongnan asked someone to post a notice that as long as the people who came to the "service office" for those days, regardless of men, women, young and old, would pay, cloth or rice as long as they came.
When the reporters arrived, these forged scenes were quickly discovered by careful reporters.
After being interviewed by several reporters, Hu Zongnan arranged for them to visit the "Region Showroom" and talk to the captured "CCP officers and soldiers", including a so-called "Deputy Brigade Commander of the Communist Army". According to the reporter's records in the report at that time, the deputy brigade commander of the Communist Party of China, the fat man, spoke a lot of hard-core terms, such as "If you attack our Yan'an, we can also capture your Xi'an", etc.
pic丨"Pregnated Deputy Brigade Commander of the Communist Army" faced Chinese and foreign journalists
When the reporter revealed to him that Wayaobao had been overcome by the National Army, the "Deputy Brigade Commander of the Communist Army" shook his head and said he did not believe this fact. Performances like
naturally confused some reporters, but the reporter with clear minds still saw the flaws. Among the "seied Communist Army weapons", there are many new weapons. Another example is that the fake prisoners arranged to appear in different prisoners of war management offices. The identified reporter was speechless when he asked, so he had to stand attentively and not give any answers. What's more, when the county government ordered a large group of children to perform dance Yangge to reporters, the words "reactionaries" and "traitors" were still shouted loudly by the children, making Chinese and foreign journalists laugh and cry.
Shortly after this farce that received Chinese and foreign journalists, various Kuomintang systems in the northwest region formed a group to Yan'an to express their condolences. Everyone competed to praise Hu Zongnan's "great achievements" in capturing Yan'an, and even proposed to rename Yan'an Zongnan County to commend Hu Zongnan's great merits for "recovering" Yan'an.
In these hypocritical glory, Hu Zongnan began to plan the future development of Yan'an. He wanted to open Yan'an into a famous tourist destination. In addition to instructing relevant departments to build a railway from Xi'an to Yan'an, he also prepared to move Xi'an's Stele Forest to Yan'an Baota Mountain, and asked Chiang Kai-shek to write the four big words "Touching the Yellow Dragon" and carve it on the stele and stand on the top of the Baota Mountain.
pictures丨The "lively" National Army Service Office for the People
Hu Zongnan, who was very happy with the arrival of this day, has been waiting for him again and again, as well as Chiang Kai-shek's furiousness and the punishment of "dismissing and retaining his post".
"It is a pity to do nothing." The Kuomintang authorities' later regret became the best summary of Hu Zongnan's strategy to northern Shaanxi.
