Admiral Liu Yalou
One day at the end of 1948 was really important for Liu Yalou, because on this day, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Tianjin Frontline Command, responsible for the unified organization and command of the campaign to capture Tianjin.
This battle was different from the past. Lin Shuai, Luo Shuai and Nie Shuai did not participate. All command rights were given to Liu Yalou, which made him nervous and excited.
"Don't trust the people you employ, and don't use the people you doubt." After a period of running-in, Lin Shuai figured out Liu Yalou's abilities. He wanted to create an opportunity for Liu Yalou to take the lead alone.
Lin Shuai sent a report to the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao in the name of Dong Ye, proposing that Liu Yalou should have full command of the Tianjin Campaign , and Chairman Mao readily agreed.
Lin Biao summoned Liu Yalou that day and said he had something important to discuss. Liu Yalou felt that Lin Shuai was different from before, and there seemed to be something hidden in his eyes.
Sure enough, Lin Shuai spoke.
Lin Shuai said: "Chief of Staff Liu, I leave it to you to fight Tianjin."
Liu Yalou touched his ears and couldn't believe what he heard. Although Lin Shuai's voice was not loud, for Liu Yalou , which was equivalent to the thunder in the sky, making his ears rumble.
Liu Yalou stood at attention and replied: "Please rest assured, Mr. Lin, and resolutely complete the task!"
Liu Yalou, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Tianjin Frontline Command this year, was only 38 years old.
Lin Biao
Why did Lin Biao let Liu Yalou serve as the commander-in-chief of the Tianjin Campaign? Generally speaking, there are two reasons:
On the one hand, it is because Liu Yalou is qualified enough for this task; on the other hand, it is because Lin Shuai and Luo Shuai need to negotiate with Fu Zuoyi. If they are directed by themselves or Luo Shuai, the negotiations will be directly carried out. The road was blocked, and out of the need to negotiate while fighting, the command of the Tianjin Campaign was handed over to Liu Yalou.
On the surface, it is a battle between Liu Yalou and Chen Changjie. In fact, there are three levels of duel outside, namely, the duel between Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek in the national strategy, the duel between Lin Shuai, Luo Shuai and Fu Zuoyi in negotiations, and the duel between Nie Shuai and Tianjin politicians. duel.
In June 1948, Chen Changjie was appointed as the commander of the Tianjin garrison. Chen Changjie was a very loyal person. Fu Zuoyi took a fancy to this and recommended him to be the commander of the Tianjin garrison. In order to repay his kindness, Chen Changjie obeyed Fu Zuoyi's words and vowed to work together in Tianjin. Survival or death.
The first thing Chen Changjie did when he came to power was to consolidate Tianjin's urban defense. In fact, as early as February 1947, Bai Chongxi, as the Kuomintang's Minister of Defense, proposed the "Appeasement Conference" of four provinces and cities in Peking . The two cities built permanent fortifications to prevent unexpected events.
Du Jianshi, the mayor of Tianjin at the time, received Bai Chongxi's order and began to carry out large-scale construction after returning to Tianjin. Based on Tianjin's terrain characteristics and taking advantage of the favorable conditions of many rivers, he presided over the design of Tianjin's city defense fortification line. In April 1947, Construction started in March and renovations were completed in December.
Chen Changjie
Du Jianshi used the advanced knowledge learned abroad to build Tianjin's fortifications into an oval fortification 12.5 kilometers long from north to south, 5 kilometers wide from east to west, and 42 kilometers in circumference, and built a group of bunkers in the fortifications. On the periphery of the blockhouse group, Du Jianshi also ingeniously built an earth wall 4 meters high and 2 meters thick, and excavated a moat 3 meters deep and 10 meters wide outside the earth wall.
This moat plays a huge role. It communicates with the South Canal near Sanyuan Village. After the river water was introduced, blockades were set up near Zhaogezhuang and Chentangzhuang, so that the moat water could not flow into Haihe River . This was artificial This resulted in a large flooded area. Du Jianshi attempted to use this barrier to increase Tianjin's defense capabilities.
Du Jianshi not only made a fuss about the moat, but also built a group of bunkers on a large scale. The bunkers were built on the earthen walls surrounding the city. The bunkers were vertical and were all built with red brick cement. A bunker was built every 30 meters at key defense points. In non-key areas, build a bunker every 50 meters.
On the entire earthen wall surrounding the city, Du Jian built more than 1,000 bunkers, plus more than 500 bunkers in depth, forming a deep group of bunkers.
In order to build Tianjin into an aircraft carrier, Du Jianshi spent more than 60 billion legal currency .
But as an emperor and a courtier, after Chen Changjie took office, he criticized Du Jianshi's actions. He told Du Jianshi that he was here to fight, which made Du Jianshi feel very uncomfortable. If it was just an accusation, then forget it, and it made Du Jianshi even more unimaginable. Yes, Chen Changjie actually rejected all the fortifications he had worked so hard to build and abandoned them. The 60 billion French currency was basically wasted.
Chen Changjie accused Du Jianshi of being ineffective in his defensive approach. So what is their main disagreement?
First of all, Chen Changjie believes that the People's Liberation Army is no longer in the era of millets and rifles. Xiu Ming Fort is a living target for artillery. It must learn from Taiyuan's city defense model and abandon Ming Fort and use bunker.
Secondly, Chen Changjie felt that the fortifications built by Du Jianshi were still not deep enough, so he built a 5-10 km deep zone outside the city's 45-kilometer circular position, allowing open and dark forts to be defended alternately.
Again, in order to clear the horizon, Chen Changjie ordered his troops to forcibly demolish people's houses, create a 10-kilometer "vacuum zone" in front of Tianjin's peripheral defense positions, and plant more than 40,000 landmines here.
Finally, the only point where Chen Changjie had the same opinion as Du Jianshi was on the moat. However, Chen Changjie was much more ruthless than Du Jianshi. He directly commanded the troops to close the sluice gates of Chentangzhuang and Zhaogezhuang, blocking the moat's access to the sea, causing the river to flood. The water rose sharply, and the water depth of the moat increased to 3 meters. The floods that crossed the river bed spread to more than 10 square kilometers south of the Jinbao Highway, turning the area into a marsh.
Du Jianshi
That's it Chen Changjie set up the " gold, wood, water, fire, earth " five-element array for Liu Yalou :
The "gold" array is a financial war, using legal currency to lock the RMB, and printing money to plunder the people's wealth to run the war Machine;
"Wood" array will jam all the wood and firewood that can burn, leaving the 340,000 People's Liberation Army unable to keep warm, roast their guns, and provide logistical support in winter;
"Water" array will dig moats and Filling the river with water, the moat of 3 meters deep and 10 meters wide will prevent the People's Liberation Army from attacking the city. If a pontoon bridge is built, it will only become a living target within the range;
"Fire" array builds open and concealed forts to form deep firepower The nets are intertwined to support each other, and mine arrays are placed in the outer positions to form an impenetrable cross tongue of fire;
"earth" array is to build a 4-meter-high and 2-meter-thick earth wall outside the bunker group. The wall is between the moat and the group of bunkers. Even if the People's Liberation Army breaks through the moat, it will still be blocked by the earth wall, which will cause a huge obstacle to the People's Liberation Army's attack on the city;
Faced with Chen Changjie's strict deployment, Liu Yalou remained calm and calm, and he thought of Chairman Mao Once said: "The commander's correct deployment comes from the correct determination. The correct determination comes from the correct judgment, and the correct judgment comes from thoughtful and necessary reconnaissance. And the coherent thinking of various reconnaissance materials . The commander uses all possible and necessary reconnaissance methods to select the rough and the essential from the various materials on the enemy's situation, discard the false and retain the true, think from one point to another, from the outside to the inside, and then add his own situation. Go up and study the comparisons and mutual relationships between the two sides. This leads to judgment, determination, and planning - this is a whole process of understanding the situation before a military strategist makes a plan for every strategy, campaign, or battle."
Chairman Mao
Chairman Mao's words kept passing through his mind, and he immediately became energetic, and a set of combat plans were formed. Based on the characteristics of Tianjin's defenders, "the troops in the north are strong, the fortifications in the south are strong, and the center is normal." It was decided to place the main attack direction in the middle, and adopt the combat policy of "advance east to west, cut off the middle, south first and then north, first divide and then encircle and annihilate, first eat the meat and then gnaw the bones".
Liu Yalou sent the prepared combat plan to Lin Shuai and Luo Shuai for review. Lin Shuai and Luo Shuai basically agreed with Liu Yalou's combat plan, except for fine-tuning the deployment of troops in individual areas.
Among the five elements arrays arranged by Chen Changjie, the most difficult to crack is the "water" array , and the "water array" is also the most dangerous.
"Golden" formation: Lin Boqu, Nie Shuai and the majority of cadres are cracking it. Chiang Kai-shek is unpopular and the people have long abandoned him, along with his pseudo-legal currency;
"Wood" formation: There are people With the support of the masses, the people have sent firewood, hot water, and hot meals to support logistics work, so that the soldiers can fight without worries;
"Fire" array : Artillery soldiers and engineering soldiers work together to complete the preliminary work, and all the later work is handed over to For the charging warriors, it is only a matter of time before the enemy's position is torn apart;
The method of cracking the "earth" formation is easier. As long as the "water" formation is broken, the "earth" formation will be easily solved.
But cracking the water formation made Liu Yalou and the other soldiers work hard. "If you want to defeat Duke Cao, you must attack with fire; everything is ready, all you need is the east wind", and cracking the water formation is the most critical "east wind".
The combat plan has been decided, and the combat time has also been determined. However, the moat suddenly swelled and was 3 meters deep and 10 meters wide. This brought great difficulties to the People's Liberation Army troops who were about to launch a general offensive. For this reason, Liu Yalou urgently summoned The heads of each column met to study countermeasures.
has limited time. Liu Yalou got straight to the point and introduced the current difficulties to everyone, allowing everyone to use their brains and quickly come up with a countermeasure. The
meeting suddenly became lively, and everyone began to offer suggestions: Someone suggested that the masses could be mobilized to build a bridge with reeds. There are many reeds in the local area, and the materials are easy to obtain. The reeds have high buoyancy and are easy to erect. After the pontoon bridge is set up, it will definitely be no problem if there is a company passing through in 3-4 minutes.
Some people also suggested using gasoline barrels and laying wooden boards on top of the gasoline barrels, so that even cannons can be pulled over. Some people also suggested using a loose-leaf bridge, that is, dividing the bridge planks into sections. After the battle begins, several planks can be pieced together at the same time, which is flexible and easy to use.
Some people also suggested placing the ladder directly on the moat. The soldiers had all been trained to climb the ladder and were relatively familiar with the road.
Everyone was talking about it, but they were all solutions that addressed the symptoms rather than the root cause. Liu Yalou stood up and walked to the map and told everyone that recently, comrades from the investigation team have come to report that the river water level is still rising sharply and has overflowed the dam. Many villages and farmland They are all flooded. This must be someone behind the scenes. The situation is very serious. I suggest that the meeting be adjourned immediately. Everyone quickly returns to the troops, mobilizes soldiers to investigate and study on the spot, and mobilizes the masses extensively to see if they can find out what is in the moat. Where does water come from?
tries to find the cause as soon as possible and completely solve the flooding problem. Everyone rode back to the army and began to assign tasks and investigate and study.
Coincidentally, not long after the meeting, an old man with a white beard broke into the 1st and 3rd companies and said that he wanted to meet with the commander. The sentry quickly asked the old man with a white beard what was going on?
The old man with white beard (picture on the Internet)
The old man with white beard said: " Something is going on, something big. Do you want to win the war? If you want to win the war, don't be nagging and take me quickly. "
The sentinel warriors dare not neglect, He quickly led the white-bearded old man to see the company commander. The company commander poured a glass of water for the old man. The white-bearded old man quickly said: "The water in the moat has risen and flooded a large area of land in the southwest of the city. You should take care of it." Forget about ".
The company commander replied: " Old man, to tell you the truth, we have just arrived and know nothing about the hydrology in this area, and we are worried about it! "
The old man replied: "This is not difficult, the South Canal is Upstream, there is a sluice. If the sluice is closed, the water in the canal will not go to the moat, so there will be less water in the moat."
The company commander finally figured out the key to the matter, which is to close the sluice and solve the problem. It's really hard to find anywhere, and it takes no effort. After the company commander sent the old man with the white beard, While reporting to his superiors, he personally took three soldiers to the upper reaches of the South Canal to find the sluice.
Because he was so excited, the company commander actually forgot to ask the old man what the name of the sluice was and how far it was. So the company commander sent another person! I went to find the old man with white beard and asked for details, but the old man had disappeared without a trace, just like he had evaporated from the world.
Fortunately, the company commander remembered the sluice in the upper reaches of the South Canal, and he led three soldiers to continue searching. The scope of the South Canal is so large that the four people in the group asked about the locks when they saw people, but no pedestrians knew about it. The company commander was a little suspicious that the old man with white beard had remembered it wrong.
But the company commander and the soldiers still did not lose heart. That was it. They walked for a day, and soon after they came out, it started to rain and snow, and the four of them were shivering with cold. It was not until night that the rain and snow stopped, and they also arrived at Sanyuan Village.
The company commander of the water gate
saw them. Fellow fellow, I quickly inquired about the situation of the sluices. The fellow asked the company commander, "There are more than a dozen sluices on the South Canal. Which one do you ask?" The company commander was completely confused. There was no other way. The company commander and the three soldiers could only go and check one by one. Rest is There was no rest, the military situation was raging, and the 340,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers were still waiting to attack the city?
The company commander mobilized 3 soldiers to display the spirit of not being afraid of hardship and persisting in fighting, and to complete the mission with quality and quantity, so the 4 people groped for a whole night. , 9 water gates were checked out, and it was already dawn. They arrived at Tangguantun and found the tenth sluice gate, but this gate was obviously guarded, and the lanterns were lit inside.
The company commander asked the three soldiers not to move, and he himself. We went over to investigate the enemy's situation. Soon the company commander returned and told the soldiers that the enemy was about one squad in strength. I will kill the sentries while you go into the house to catch the live ones.
The enemy was sleeping so hard that they never dreamed of the magic soldiers descending from the sky. The enemy was quickly captured. After interrogation, it was learned that the sluice controlled the water level of the moat.
The company commander ordered the prisoners to open the sluice. The water in the South Canal rushed towards the Haihe River. The water level of the moat dropped sharply. Chen Changjie had a premonition that something was wrong, so he hurriedly We dialed the number of the water gate guard, but it was our heroic company commander who answered the phone. The company commander also used the phone to report to his superiors that the water level problem in the moat had been solved.
Liu Yalou fought with Chen Changjie and finally cracked his "water problem." "Array", with an order, 340,000 soldiers of our People's Liberation Army attacked the city from the north, center, and south. The water array, earth array, and fire array collapsed. The People's Liberation Army liberated Tianjin in only 29 hours and captured Tianjin Garrison Commander Chen Changjie. .
After the liberation of Tianjin, the soldiers celebrated
Liu Yalou's outstanding mission of liberating Tianjin. However, it was a pity that the white-bearded old man did not leave his name, nor did the company commander who captured the sluice.
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