On December 15, 1948, the 2nd Column of the Northeast Field Army, which was ordered to go south along the Beining Railway Line, arrived at Shanhaiguan day and night, marking that the combat operation for the main force of the East Field Army to enter the Shanhaiguan Pass had been

On December 15, 1948, the 2nd Column of the Northeast Field Army, which was ordered to go south along the Beining Railway Line, arrived at Shanhaiguan day and night, marking that the combat operation for the main force of the East Field Army to enter the customs has been fully launched. According to the latest order from Ye Si, the Dongye 2 Column led by Commander Liu Zhen must rush to Tanggu, the entrance to Tianjin, in a week's journey to cut off the enemy's escape route by sea.

(Liu Zhen)

Dongye 2nd Column then continued to advance rapidly, and rushed to the outskirts of Tanggu on December 21, and joined the main force of Dongye 7th Column, 9th Column and artillery column that had arrived successively, completing the battle assembly. All the above-mentioned troops will be under the unified command of Deng Hua, commander of the 7th Column, and will be responsible for capturing Tanggu. In terms of military strength alone, it would be a piece of cake for Dongye's nearly 200,000 troops to take down the 50,000 people from Hou Jingru's regiment.

However, Hou Jingru had already moved the Corps Headquarters onto the warship, and there were endless salt-alkali flats outside Tanggu. Not only would an attack cause huge casualties, but it would also be impossible to encircle the enemy. If the enemy was defeated, they could board the ship and escape at any time. After Liu Yalou personally inspected the front line and reported it to the Pingjin frontline headquarters for approval, it was decided that the main force of Dongye would attack Tianjin first.

After the battle plan changed, Liu Zhen led the Dongye 2nd Column to immediately evacuate Tanggu and entered the northwest region of Tianjin on December 30, preparing to participate in the Tianjin siege operation.

1. Dongye Ace Army

Special explanation: After the successful conclusion of the Liaoshen Battle of , the Northeast Field Army, according to the order of the Military Commission on November 1, 1948, the original field columns have been renamed "armies", so The official designation of Dongye 2nd Column should be the 39th Army.

However, at this point in time, Dongye was not renamed as the "Fourth Field Army" as a whole, so during the Peking-Tianjin Campaign, whether in war historical documents or generals' memoirs, it was still customary to refer to each army as "column" .

This habit did not end until March 1949, after the victory of the Pingjin Battle, when Dongye was officially renamed and Siye . However, the division-level designations of the various verticals (armies) of Dongye did change during the Pingjin Campaign.

When describing war history, we should still be more professional, so the article still refers to each column as "army", so don't get confused.

(Chen Changjie stills)

In November 1948, the 2nd Column of the Northeast Field Army was renamed the 39th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, with Army Commander Liu Zhen, Political Commissar Wu Faxian, Deputy Army Commanders Tan Youlin and Sun Ziren, Chief of Staff Wang Liangtai, and Director of the Political Department Li Xuesan. .

The original 2nd Vertical 4th Division was renamed the 115th Division, with division commander Hu Jicheng and political commissar Li Shian.

The original 2nd Vertical 5th Division was renamed the 116th Division, with the division commander Wu Guozhang and the political commissar Shi Ying.

The original 2nd Vertical 6th Division was renamed the 117th Division , with division commander Zhang Chengcheng and political commissar Li Shaoyuan. The additional independent 1st Division was renamed the 152nd Division, with division commander Luo Huasheng and political commissar Qiu Ziming.

The 39th Army is now said to be strong and strong. The entire army has more than 68,000 troops. It is equipped with 14,517 long guns, 3,427 short guns, submachine guns, 4,072 machine guns, 1,394 light and heavy machine guns, rifle grenades and grenade tubes 305, There are 717 rocket launchers, 7310 60 mortars, 100 mortars of other calibers, 55 mountain howitzers, and 713 other artillery pieces.

Higashino Headquarters’ evaluation of the army is: “The 39th Army has an older history, basic combat effectiveness, and strong offensive power. Among them, the 116th Division has the strongest combat effectiveness, followed by the 115th Division, the th Division, and the 117th Division. All units are good at field combat. , the main force in the Northeast Army."

Tianjin Campaign , the Pingjin Campaign General Front Committee authorized Higashino Chief of Staff Liu Yalou to unified command all five Higashino corps and part of two armies, a total of 22 divisions and a strong corps of 340,000 people to fight, the new "103" His position is Tianjin frontline commander.

The siege force is also equipped with 538 large-caliber artillery pieces, tanks and armored vehicles affiliated to the Special Forces Command. If the enemy does not put down their weapons, they will resolutely eliminate the Tianjin Security Commander commanded by Chen Changjie. .13 million defend the enemy.

The main siege forces were of course the Higashino Ace 38th Army and the 39th Army. So starting from January 3, 1949, the 39th Army, together with its brother troops, began to clear out the peripheral strongholds of Tianjin. The battle lasted ten days, during which our army had Chen Changjie was asked three times to put down his arms, but was refused every time.

Since Chen Changjie chose to fight to the end, Liu Yalou was certainly not polite, and the general attack on Tianjin was about to begin.

Second, the 39th Army took the lead in breaking the city.

The main feature of Tianjin's urban area is that is long from north to south and narrow from east to west. Therefore, Liu Yalou formulated "Advance from east to west, cut off from the middle, first from south to north, first cut and then encircle, and break through each one" "'s combat policy is to use the main force to first cut off Tianjin's defense system in the middle, and then eat the enemy one by one.

In other words, the troops responsible for the east-west attack are the decisive force in the battle. For this reason, Liu Yalou deployed two ace armies, the 38th Army and the 39th Army, to carry out the main assault from west to east of Tianjin, and from east to west. The attacking troops met at the front line of Haihe .

In order to ensure the success of this main assault direction, the Higashino Special Forces Command allocated two-thirds of its large-caliber artillery (including heavy artillery 89 and anti-aircraft artillery 15) and 20 tanks to the two armies. Fight hard.

Among them, the 39th Army is responsible for the main offensive task in the Hepingmen section of the city. The Army deploys the 115th Division and the 117th Division on the front line, which are the two assault spearheads on the left and right; while the 38th Army is on the right side of the 39th Army, responsible for the attack from Xiying Gate. Duancheng District implements the task of breakthrough.

troops are all very competitive, so the commanders and fighters of the two ace armies are full of energy, vowing to fight it out in the battle of Tianjin to see who can be the first to plant the red flag on the city of Tianjin.

At 10 o'clock in the morning on January 14, 1949, with Liu Yalou's order, Dongye's general attack on Tianjin City began. The opening was a 40-minute rapid artillery attack. More than 500 cannons roared and began a fierce salvo towards the intended target. Shoot bombardment.

In the direction of the 39th Army's attack, the enemy's blockhouses and bunkers were raised to the sky one after another, and the solid city walls were also blasted with large gaps dozens of meters wide by our powerful artillery fire. At this time, the Dongye Artillery, as in the past two years Totally different from before.

The 117th Division of our 39th Army was eager to fight. The assault troops did not wait for the artillery fire to be ready. Before our artillery fire extended to the city, they jumped forward at the risk of being accidentally injured by our own artillery fire and began to eliminate bunkers in the breakthrough area. Group battle.

Through the billowing smoke on the enemy's forward position, the commando team of the 117th Division can be vaguely seen placing the red flag on the enemy's bunker group. After the assault force of our 38th Army discovered it, they were not to be outdone. They began blasting, bridging, attacking and other offensive operations before the impact order was issued.

When the observation post of the artillery force saw this, they were so angry that they even cursed the infantry for their lives. However, in order not to accidentally injure their own people, they had no choice but to notify the artillery group to extend the artillery fire in advance. Therefore, the assault troops of the 39th Army and the 38th Army followed almost closely. Extended artillery fire advanced simultaneously.

This kind of life-threatening fighting style made the enemy's frontline officers and soldiers who were stunned by our army's artillery fire become prisoners before they woke up. After the 39th Army took the lead in completing the breakthrough, the Tianjin Frontline Command immediately informed the entire army that the 2nd Column, 4th Division, and 6th Division (still using the old designations) were the first to break through the western city wall.

3. The attack of our 345th regiment was blocked

By the evening of January 14, 1949, the 39th Army had fully penetrated into the urban area of ​​Tianjin, and all departments were developing in depth. Among them, the 345th Regiment of the 115th Division took the lead. Under the leadership of regiment leader Yan Wenbin, they attacked bravely and captured three important enemy strongholds in one go.

At nightfall, the 35th Regiment surrounded the headquarters of the enemy's 62nd Army 67th Division: Shoufeng Flour Company. The 62nd Army is a centralized Cantonese army. The commander of the 67th Division is Major General Li Xuezheng. Objectively speaking, The 62nd Army's combat effectiveness is quite strong.

The Shoufeng Flour Company is located in a solid five-story building that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The enemy chief Li Xuezheng led his division and two regiments to resist stubbornly here and refused to surrender.

(Liu Yalou in the Battle of Tianjin)

Error : Some online articles write the enemy defenders there as the 151st Division, and write the name of the division commander as Chen Zhi or Liang Tiebao, which is irresponsible and wrong. War history articles should try their best to precise.

Carefully observe the Tianjin defense deployment map, and you can find that the enemy in front of the 39th Army is indeed the 67th Division of the 62nd Army. The 199th Regiment of this division has been wiped out in the front line. Major General Li Xuezheng, the commander of the division, led the division headquarters plus the 200th Regiment. and the 201st Regiment.

After Chen Changjie fell into Liu Yalou's trap, the 151st Mobile Division, which was urgently transferred to the north of Tianjin, was eliminated by the 39th Army at the last moment of the battle. That was already the afternoon of January 15th. Major General Chen Zhi was eventually captured.

(Major General Yan Wenbin)

Although Yan Wenbin is just an infantry regiment commander, he is an old Red Army and founding major general. He is brave and resourceful in fighting. He surrounded more than two enemy regiments with one regiment, and he was not afraid at all. He was afraid of his feet, but ordered an attack from all sides.

After a fierce battle, Li Xuezheng thought that he was heavily surrounded by the People's Liberation Army and that the rest of the 67th Division was alone and the situation was over. He ordered a white flag to be hung at the window and demanded "negotiations" with the People's Liberation Army.

Yan Wenbin sent someone to ask, and it turned out that the condition of the 67th Division and Li Xuezheng was that they could lay down their weapons, but they had to admit that they were an "uprising."

(Head of 103)

Captain Yan couldn’t laugh or cry, and he really couldn’t make the decision on this matter, so he asked the military department for instructions on the phone. After discussion with the 39th Army Political Commissar Wu and Deputy Commander Wu, he replied to Yan Wenbin:

“Tell them, now they don’t have any Rights negotiations, let alone uprising, can only be unconditional surrender, otherwise they will all be wiped out”!

After the enemy's 67th Division's so-called "uprising" request was flatly rejected, it felt that it was the end of the road, so it began to resist frantically. Although our 345th Regiment continued to attack bravely, its strength was at a disadvantage after all, and it failed to succeed in two consecutive strong attacks.

Yan Wenbin knew that he had to ask for help from the military headquarters, otherwise it would affect the progress of the entire army and delay the rendezvous between the eastern and western armies. The first person who answered the phone at the military headquarters was Liu Zhen himself. Commander Liu picked up the phone and said loudly: "Are you Yan Wenbin? Do you have anything to tell me?"

After Commander Yan finished explaining the situation, Liu Zhen immediately gave instructions: "Don't be anxious, surround the enemy first, and I will send you a regiment right away"!

Not long ago, a deputy division commander of the 152nd Division of the 39th Army (formerly the 1st Independent Division, Army Reserve) led a regiment of the division to run to the battlefield and brought a note personally written by Commander Liu Zhen.

Yan Wenbin opened the note and looked at it. It read : Commander Yan, I sent the deputy commander of the 152nd Division to bring a regiment to your place and put it under your command.

Yan Wenbin was a little confused at the time. He was the deputy division commander and I was the regiment leader. Why should I command them? Was there an error in the commander's order? So I called the military headquarters again:

"Chief, there has never been a regiment commander to command the division commander. You should ask the deputy division commander to provide unified command. I promise to obey."

Liu Zhen got a little angry and said in a very decisive tone: "I tell you to take command, you just take command, that's it"!

At this time, the deputy division commander on the side also said: Commander Yan, Commander Liu's note has been written very clearly. There is no need for you to call. You can rest assured and command boldly. I promise to obey the order.

Yan Wenbin had no choice, and there was no room for his mother-in-law on the battlefield. He said to the deputy division commander on the spot: "I order you to lead the regiment to the southeast to intercept and eliminate the enemies who are trying to escape from the flour company." So the deputy division commander led his troops and left, Completed the double encirclement of the building.

Yan Wenbin then ordered the 345th Regiment to concentrate all explosives and blast the flour company building. In this way, the deputy division commander led a regiment to block it, while Yan Wenbin led his own regiment to carry out the blasting attack.

Ju Haiqing, a 17-year-old soldier from the ninth squadron of the fourth company of the 345 regiment, after receiving the order, led two other soldiers to rush to the building carrying three packages of explosives weighing a total of 75 kilograms. After arriving at the predetermined location, Ju Haiqing ignored his personal safety and acted decisively. The ground was detonated with a fuse only four inches long.

At about 1 o'clock in the morning, with a loud "boom" of , one side of the Shoufeng Flour Company's five-story building finally collapsed. regiment leader Yan Wenbin and political commissar Yin Peiliang immediately organized mountain artillery, 92 infantry artillery and Light and heavy machine guns covered the second battalion's forced assault. Enemy division commander Li Xuezheng saw that the situation was not good and led his troops to escape from the building and began to break out.

Once the enemy leaves the solid fortifications and faces the powerful Northeast Field Army, there is no chance. As soon as the two armies come into contact in the streets, the enemy will lose the will to resist and completely let go.

All that was left was the issue of capturing prisoners. At the end of the battle, our 345th Regiment captured about 3,000 enemies, and the 152nd Division captured more than 4,000 enemies. A total of more than 7,000 enemies were wiped out. This battle was fought cleanly.

39 Army units took advantage of the victory and advanced. In the early morning of January 15th, they rushed across the entire line to the bridges in the middle reaches of the Haihe River. They joined forces with the 45th Army troops on the eastern front at Jintang Bridge, completely splitting the Tianjin enemy defenders into two parts. The fighting was fierce during the day and ended at about 3 p.m.

The entire Tianjin Campaign only took 29 hours. During this period, the 39th Army wiped out 28,065 enemy personnel, seized 270 artillery pieces of various types and a large number of firearms and equipment, and captured the enemy's 62nd Army's 67th Division Major General Li Xuezheng, 151st Division Major General Chen Zhi, etc. Five general-level officers.

(Chen Changjie was captured)

5. Liu Yalou criticized Liu Zhen

During the battle, Liu Zhen broke the rules and made decisions and used people in an eclectic way. After the war, it became a good story in the entire army, and also spread to the Tianjin frontline commander and the field army. In the ears of Chief of Staff Liu Yalou, his first reaction was that he was unhappy. This was not playing the piano randomly!

So "103" specially called Liu Zhen, and was not polite to his face. He criticized directly: "If you let the regiment commander command the deputy division commander, the impact will not be good, right?"

Liu Zhen explained with a smile: "I made this arrangement with some considerations. First, Yan Wenbin is an old regiment leader with command experience; second, he has already established three strongholds before and is familiar with the situation."

"Third, the 152nd Division is a new force and needs to be commanded by a commander with command experience and familiarity with the situation. Therefore, considering the overall situation of the campaign, I decided to be commanded by Yan Wenbin."

Liu Yalou understood and knew that Liu Zhen's decision was correct. After his expression softened, he said: "It's not bad."

After the war in Tianjin, the promotion of Captain Yan was also taken seriously and resolved. Yan Wenbin was an old Red Army member from Jiangxi. During the Long March, he was a platoon leader of the Red Army, both in terms of qualifications and military exploits. Needless to say, by 1949 he was still only a regiment leader, so his progress was indeed a bit slow.

A veteran of the Yan regiment later recalled: "Yan Wenbin fought like a fierce Zhang Fei, fighting hard and rushing forward. Before attacking Tianjin, the regiment leader mobilized and said that the whole regiment had no reserve teams, they were all death squads, and the regiment headquarters had to rush up. . The whole group listened to the leader's words, and everyone was excited!"

Yan Wenbin must fight for the first place in every battle. His whole body is covered with battle wounds, with a total of 18 scars, including 10 serious injuries and 3 surgeries. He can be called one of the most injured founding generals.

Such a brave and capable old Red Army soldier must be reused. In addition, he performed well in the Tianjin Campaign. Therefore, after research by the 39th Army Party Committee and approval by the Secretary General, Yan Wenbin was immediately promoted to Chief of Staff of the 115th Division. This old Red Army soldier Finally entered the ranks of division leaders.

(Join Jintangqiao)

On October 1, 1949, on the day when New China was founded, Yan Wenbin, who was on his way to fight south, was promoted from chief of staff of the 115th Division to deputy division commander of the 115th Division; after the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was promoted to the 39th Division. When the titles of division commander, deputy commander and other positions of the 115th Army Division were awarded in 1955, Yan Wenbin was not awarded the rank of major general among the first batch due to a gap of 10 days between Yan Wenbin's appointment as deputy commander.The superiors considered that he was an old Red Army veteran who had participated in the Long March, suffered the most injuries, and had outstanding military exploits. As long as he said so, he could actually be given special care.

But Yan Wenbin said: "I have no objection and obey the organization's arrangements." It was not until 1964 that he was promoted to the rank of major general.

On April 1, 2014, General Yan Wenbin passed away at the age of 100. It is said that when the old general was on his deathbed, he saw in the news that the Japanese were justifying their invasion of China, and he was so angry that he slammed the table: "Give me a gun, and I will lead you to fight the Japanese." go"!

(Liberation of Tianjin)

Postscript:

Shortly after the Battle of Tianjin, Peking also announced the peaceful liberation. The 39th Army was ordered to assemble in the western suburbs of Tianjin and was responsible for reorganizing Fu's 31st Army Headquarters and a division (independent 72nd Division).

After careful work and ideological transformation, the division's direct team (excluding the guard battalion) was finally incorporated into the 39th Army, the 214th regiment and the division guard battalion were incorporated into the 152nd Division, the 215th Regiment was incorporated into the 115th Division, and the 216th Division The regiment was organized into the 117th Division, and the 39th Army successfully completed the task of reorganizing Fu's headquarters.

In May 1949, when the Fourth Field Army was on its way south, the 39th Army was incorporated into the newly formed 14th Army. Liu Yalou, Chief of Staff of the Field Army, became the commander of the Corps. Liu Zhen was promoted to the second deputy commander of the Corps and still served as the commander of the 39th Army. .

The former military political commissar was promoted to deputy political commissar and director of the political department of the Corps. Deputy Army Commander Wu Xinquan was promoted to military political commissar. Later, Wu Xinquan was appointed army commander and Xu Binzhou was appointed military political commissar.

(Lieutenant General Wu Xinquan)

On July 26, 1949, the Central Military Commission sent a message to the Fourth Field and Central China Bureau: "It has been decided to establish the People's Liberation Army Air Force Headquarters, and Liu Yalou is the most suitable candidate to serve as commander. The Air Force Headquarters will transfer the 14th Corps Headquarters again. With the addition of air force personnel, the 13th and 14th Corps can be combined into one corps to command five armies to enter Guangxi operations."

As a result, the Fourteenth Corps was ordered to be disbanded, and the 39th Army was transferred to the command of the Thirteenth Corps. Liu Zhen was appointed deputy commander of the Thirteenth Corps and commander of the 39th Army on August 1. Two months later, he was renamed Zhongnan. Commander of the Military Region Air Force.

can find an interesting phenomenon. General Liu Zhen is indeed the favorite general of "103". From the Battle of Tianjin to the 14th Corps, and then to the People's Air Force system, he was always under the direct leadership of Liu Yalou.