After Japan announced its surrender in August 1945, the Kuomintang government headed by Chiang Kai-shek invited Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to Chongqing for peace negotiations, and mobilized a large number of troops to launch an attack on liberated areas. In mid-August, after the commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone of the Kuomintang Army, Yan Xishan, 2, occupied the towns along Taiyuan and Tongpu Railway (Honglingdu) under the Japanese and puppet troops, Shi Zebo, commanded four infantry divisions and one advancing column (equivalent division), and together with the recruitment of the puppet troops in Changzhi area (known as Shangdang County in ancient times), the troops of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region were holding a full-scale counterattack against the Japanese and puppet troops, attacked Changzhi and its surrounding areas, built fortifications, and strengthened garrisons. Its military headquarters led three main forces and one artillery unit to defend Changzhi, and the remaining troops and local teams were deployed in Xiangyuan , Changzi, Tunliu , Lucheng and Huguan , in an attempt to rely on this to further open up the Bai (Gui) and Jin (cheng) railway, expand the entire southeastern , and cooperate with the Kuomintang army's first and 11th war zone troops to advance along the Zhengtai and Pinghan Railways to Shijiazhuang, Peiping (now Beijing).
In order to defend the fruits of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China instructed the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Regions to carry out a self-defense counterattack in late August, first annihilate the Kuomintang army entering the Changzhi area, recover lost territory, and clear the hidden dangers in the liberated areas, so that the main force will be transferred to the Pinghan Line (now Beijing-Hankou) to block the Kuomintang army's advance northward. It is also pointed out that the six castles in Shangdang area are strong and must be fully prepared for counterattacks. They should not be hasty. They should choose one or two cities to defeat them one by one, and should not attack at the same time. If they attack but fail, they can be besieged and attacked.
Commander of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region Deng Xiaoping followed the above instructions and in view of the characteristics of the isolated and dispersed garrison of the Kuomintang Army's Second War Zone, they were determined to use the 1 column and local armed forces of each of the Hebei Military Region, including one column and local armed forces. With the cooperation of 50,000 militias, they first seized the cities outside Changzhi from north to south one by one, attracting the Changzhi defenders to come out to aid, and strive to annihilate them in the movement, and then recover Changzhi and annihilate the Kuomintang troops that may have come from Taiyuan and Pingyao.
All the participating troops of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Regions will advance to the Shangdang area, while reorganizing and political mobilization. On the way south, the Taihang Column conquered Xiangyuan on September 1. On September 10, the battle was officially launched, and the Taihang Column attacked Tunliu for the first time. Shi Zebo organized the Changzhi defenders to come out for assistance twice, and both contacted the Taiyue and Ji'nan Columns that were attacking the aid and quickly retreated. On the 12th, the Taihang Column conquered Tunliu. On the 17th, the southern Ji Column conquered Lucheng and cut off the connection between Changzhi and Taiyuan. On the 19th, the Taiyue Column and the Taihang Military Region troops conquered the eldest son and Huguan respectively. At this point, the troops of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region conquered five cities in a row and wiped out more than 7,000 Kuomintang troops, leaving the Changzhi defenders isolated.
When the troops of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region began to seize the cities outside Changzhi, Yan Xishan was afraid that Changzhi would be ineffective, so on September 15, ordered Peng Yubin, deputy commander-in-chief of the 7th Army, to lead the 23rd and 83rd Army units and other units to go south to reinforce from Dongguan Town, Qi County through Qin County .
html Starting from September 20, the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region will concentrate its main force to siege Changzhi. Because the city was high and the moat was deep and the fortifications were solid, many attacks failed to work. On the 24th, it was learned that the three divisions of the Kuomintang army that had arrived from Taiyuan had arrived south of Zihong Town, so they left the southern Hebei Column, part of the Taiyue Column and local troops to continue to besiege Changzhi and attract the aid of the enemy, and ordered the main forces of the Taihang Column and the Taiyue Column to go north to fight for aid.
htmlOn October 2, the Kuomintang reinforcements were surrounded in Laoyeling, Xiqian, Mopandan, and Yulin areas south of Wuting. During the encirclement and annihilation process, it was found that reinforcements were 2 armies and 6 divisions. In addition, the 4th regiment of the 3rd Army of the Shanxi Provincial Defense Forces, adapted from the puppet army, were also dispatched from Qin County, with all reinforcements of about 23,000. In order to ensure the superior force for aid, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region urgently dispatched the Hebei-South Column to the north to participate in the war, and ordered it to advance during the day, deliberately exposed it to shake the morale of the enemy's aid.On the 5th, the troops of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region launched an attack from both wings to the main force of the Kuomintang reinforcements retreating to Laoyeling, and left a gap in the north to lure him to break through. That night, the Kuomintang reinforcements broke north after the loss of their Laoyeling position. The Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region took the initiative to seize the commanding heights of Tuluo Village north of Wuting and cut off its retreat route; the main force carried out pursuit along both sides of Wuting and Tunliujian Highways. By the 6th, except for more than 2,000 reinforcements of the Kuomintang fled back to Qin County, all the rest were annihilated and Peng Yubin was shot dead.
After the Kuomintang reinforcements were annihilated, the Changzhi defenders were hopeless to wait for reinforcements. On the 8th, they broke through the west, attempting to cross Taiyue District and escape back to Fushan and Yicheng . In addition to following the siege troops, the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region also took a shortcut from the pavilion to the south and went straight out of the horse wall north of Qinshui , controlled Qinhe , and intercepted. On October 12, all the Kuomintang troops that broke through were annihilated in the areas of General Ring and Taochuan Village east of Qinhe, and captured Shi Zebo.
Shangdang Battle was the first large-scale annihilation battle carried out by the liberated areas troops in counterattack of the Kuomintang army after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. More than 35,000 Kuomintang troops were wiped out, more than 24 mountain artillery pieces, more than 22,000 machine guns, and more than 16,000 long and short guns were seized, and about 4,000 military troops were injured and killed, consolidating the rear of the liberated areas of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, and strengthening the position of the Communist Party of China in the Chongqing peace negotiations.
