General Sun Liren
After the Burma Campaign, Chiang Kai-shek decided to award a medal to Sun Liren in view of his performance in the Burma War. On May 17, a Blue Sky and White Sun Medal was delivered to Sun Liren. Sun Liren stroked the medal and thought of Qi Xueqi who lived and died together and the soldiers who died in previous battles. He couldn't help but feel sad and burst into tears.
Sun Liren felt that there must be something wrong with Chiang Kai-shek not responding to his request to go abroad for inspection. He knew Chiang Kai-shek and was unwilling to miss this opportunity, so he decided to go abroad without waiting for Chiang Kai-shek's approval. On the 17th, Sun Liren, accompanied by his secretary Yi Fude, boarded a plane from Myitkyina to Europe. The New 1st Army, led by deputy commander Jia Youhui , was flown back to China one after another and concentrated in Nanning, Guangxi.
Sun Liren was in a hurry, arriving in India on the 20th, Naples, Italy on the 22nd, and Paris on the 23rd.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he heard that Sun Liren was leaving the country without waiting for approval. Sun Liren was too bossless and had no committee chairman. When the New 1st Army was assigned to Zhang Fakui's Second Front Army to prepare for the counterattack at Guangzhou Bay, he left without saying goodbye. He should be punished and revoked from his post. But then I thought again, Sun Liren had a close relationship with the Americans, and after the war, he had to rely on the United States to deal with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party, so he could only tolerate Sun Liren for the time being.
On the 25th, Chiang Kai-shek endured his anger and called Sun Liren in Paris: "Deputy Commander Jia Youhui will act as deputy commander during his stay abroad."
Sun Liren could not take care of this anymore. He arrived at Eisenhower's headquarters on the 27th, visited Eisenhower the next day, and then visited the US 12th and 15th Front Armies, the 5th Armored Division, the 3rd and 7th Armored Divisions, and the 3rd and 7th Armies non-stop from the 29th. On June 8, he visited France. The Chinese 1st Group Army, the French 4th Mountain Division, and the Tank Force visited the Canadian 1st Group Army on June 12, returned to Paris on the 13th, visited Normandy on the 17th and arrived in London, then visited the British Army Department, Staff College, and the Royal Air Force School. They flew to New York, the United States on the 23rd, visited Marshall Marshall on the 25th, and visited the U.S. Armored Infantry and other military schools from July 2 to 8. Along the way, Sun Liren was treated as a distinguished guest and treated very well. Sun Liren was eye-opening and returned home satisfied. At the end of July, we flew back to Bhamo. Chiang Kai-shek was displeased and ignored Sun Liren and did not give orders, leaving Sun Liren indifferent.
Chiang Kai-shek was determined to show off with the CCP in the Northeast. He is ready to make a bigger bet, not only to send more troops, but also to send elite troops. The New 1st Army and the New 6th Army have repeatedly made military exploits in Myanmar and India, and have well-equipped American equipment, so they should be transferred there. He immediately ordered the New 1st Army, New 6th Army, and 71st Army to be transported from Shanghai, Guangzhou, Vietnam and other places to land in Qinhuangdao to reinforce the Northeast battlefield.
html On February 26, the New 1st Army, under the command of Deputy Commander Jia Youhui, landed in Qinhuangdao, then rushed to gather near Shenyang, and advanced north on March 12.Due to the unfavorable situation in the Northeast War, Siping could not be captured for a long time, so Chiang Kai-shek placed his hope on the general Sun Liren. He secretly thought that sending this former general might bring him back to life. At this time, Sun Liren was still attending a meeting in the United States and was sitting on the bench, so he should be recalled immediately. Chiang Kai-shek immediately called Sun Liren and asked him to return to China as soon as possible.
Chiang Kai-shek is in a hurry, but Sun Liren is not. He felt that Chiang Kai-shek was neglecting him, and he could not get angry with him. He wanted to pay tribute to Chiang Kai-shek. Didn't Liu Bei invite Zhuge Liang to visit the thatched cottage? Besides, the environment in the United States is also good.
Chiang Kai-shek was very angry with Sun Liren. After the telegram was sent, there was no reply. This clearly did not take him as the chairman of the committee seriously. He called Sun Liren a second time to urge him to return. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek called Du Yuming to inquire about the candidate for the commander of the New 1st Army, and prepared to remove Sun Liren from his post.
Du Yuming is also very smart. He knew that Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use his hand to operate on Sun Liren. Du Yuming thought a lot and believed that Sun Liren did not have an American master to back him directly in the Northeast. Under his monopoly of power, Sun Liren would not disobey his orders like in Myanmar. At the same time, replacing a general without explanation would always cause a lot of criticism. It would be better to wait for Sun Liren to come back and see how he performs. Du Yuming told Chiang Kai-shek that it would be better not to change it for the time being, and Chiang Kai-shek agreed.
After the second telegram was sent, there was still no news. Chiang Kai-shek became a little angry and sent a third letter.
Sun Liren rushed to the Siping front line and ordered the three division commanders to hold a meeting in Siping City in the afternoon of the next day. Zheng Dongguo Siping, which could not be conquered in a month, Sun Liren took only three days to conquer.
Sun Liren received three telegrams in succession. He thought that Chiang Kai-shek was really anxious and it was time to give the leader some face. On May 10, before the meeting ended, Sun Liren flew back to China from Washington and went to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek on the 15th. Chiang Kai-shek was angry, but he still wanted to use Sun Liren at this moment, so he suppressed his anger and instructed Sun Liren to fly to the northeast immediately and lead the New 1st Army to capture Siping and complete the great cause of the party and the state.
Sun Liren met Chen Cheng again, and then flew to Shenyang on the 16th to meet with his immediate boss Du Yuming. When the two former enemies met, they were very polite to each other. With a tolerant and generous smile on his face, Du Yuming introduced the war situation in Northeast China and hoped that Sun Liren would go back to lead the New 1st Army and make further contributions to the party and the country.
Sun Liren was not convinced by Du Yuming, his immediate boss, and he recalled in his mind the embarrassing appearance of Du Yuming when he first retreated to India. After a few words of exchange, Sun Liren left and returned to the army two days later.
html At 4 pm on the 18th, Sun Liren rushed to the Siping front line and immediately gave a military report by combat staff officer Pan Dehui. Sun Liren immediately looked at the map and learned about the status of the three divisions and the situation of neighboring troops. Sun Liren believed that Siping could be captured soon, because the New Sixth Army's capture of Tazishan posed a major threat to completely block the People's Liberation Army's retreat in the city. If the People's Liberation Army continued to defend Siping, it would be in an extremely passive and dangerous situation.Sun Liren issued a military order and ordered the three division commanders to hold a meeting at the Catholic Church in Siping City at 4 p.m. the next day. The officers were deeply surprised and wondered how they could hold a meeting in the city before the city was captured. However, everyone saw that Sun Liren was dignified and calm, and he had a good chance of winning, so they did not dare to say anything. After each division received the notice of the meeting, the first thought that flashed into their minds was that the old army commander was back. They rushed to tell each other and their morale was boosted.
The New 1st Army, under the command of Sun Liren, pounced on Lin Biao's defense line. On May 16, the New 50th Division took the lead in making a breakthrough and conquered the 258th Highland in the southeast of Siping. Then, on May 17th, it conquered Wuxiang Mountain and began to attack Tazishan, the commanding height outside Siping. On the evening of May 18th, Tazishan was finally captured by the 50th Division and the 195th Division of the 52nd Army (later used by the New 6th Army). Lin Biao commanded his troops to counterattack continuously, but they were never able to recapture it.
html On May 18, the 114th Regiment of the New 38th Division attacking under Siping City broke through the three forest defense lines in the northwest of Siping. The 88th Regiment and the 89th Regiment of the New 30th Division broke through the defense lines of Wujianfang and Pingdong Village in the east of the city. It took Zheng Dongguo and Jia Youhui nearly a month to conquer Siping, but Sun Liren conquered it in just three days.After Siping was conquered, Lin Biao began to retreat towards Gongzhu Ridge. Gongzhu Ridge was originally a key point that Lin Biao wanted to hold on to. Unexpectedly, Sun Liren led the New 1st Army airmen to pursue them fiercely. Lin Biao had just retreated to Gongzhu Ridge, and Sun Liren personally led the New 50 The division forcibly crossed the Liao River and attacked Gongzhuling. At the same time, the New 30th Division was sent to capture another important stronghold of the People's Liberation Army, Lishu, to relieve the danger of being surrounded by Lin Biao's rebels (the People's Liberation Army had a large number of troops stationed in Lishu at that time).
In Gongzhuling, the New 1st Army and Lin Biao's troops started another fierce battle, which made Lin Biao's troops almost lose their will to fight. Lin Biao retreated northward in a hurry and was unable to launch organized resistance. Not only was Gongzhuling lost in one day, but Changchun was not even defended.
html On May 23, the 150th Regiment of the New 50th Division and the search company of the New 38th Division entered Changchun from the south and east respectively. After the New 30th Division captured Lishu, it captured Huaide on May 24. Subsequently, the New 50th Division left Changchun and continued its pursuit northward, while the New 38th Division set up defenses in Changchun City.The New 1st Army continued to advance northward, and on May 29, it captured Dehui, the gate on the south bank of the Songhua River, and then captured another important town on the south bank, Nong'an, on May 30.
html On June 4, Sun Liren gave an order, and the 149th Regiment of the New 50th Division crossed the Songhua River. On June 5, the Taolaizhao bridgehead was captured, only a few dozen miles away from Harbin. Lin Biao planned to withdraw to Jiamusi . At this time, the party and government agencies in Harbin were retreating towards Jiamusi.But just when the New 1st Army was about to take advantage of the victory, something incredible happened. On June 7, a three-person military mediation team including General Marshall of the United States ordered the New 1st Army to cease fighting, otherwise military aid to China would be cut off. Because it involved international issues, this was no longer a problem that Sun Liren could handle alone. Therefore, Sun Liren immediately left the 2nd Company of the 149th Regiment (commander Zheng Mingfa) to defend the Taolaizhao bridgehead, and the rest returned to the south of the Songhua River.
Lin Biao went to Jiangnan and killed nearly 2 regiments of the New 1st Army with more than 3,000 people. Sun Liren was so angry that he cursed Du Yuming for his incompetent command. In the second battle at Chengzi Street in Jiangnan, Lin Biao annihilated more than 2,800 members of the New 1st Army.
After the armistice in the Northeast, the Northeast Democratic Alliance carried out land reform, liquidated landlords and rich peasants, confiscated and distributed property, and mobilized the people to join the team, allowing the military to rapidly grow in just a few months. At the same time, the Soviet Union gave Lin Biao all the 700,000 Japanese Kwantung Army weapons that had been captured, together with North Korean weapons, and German weapons captured on the Soviet-German battlefield. This greatly increased the strength of the Northeastern Democratic Alliance Army and laid the foundation for fighting a big and vicious war with the Kuomintang army.
At this time, the Kuomintang army immediately exposed the problem of insufficient manpower. Lin Biao's troops had been pressed hard by the Kuomintang army after the Siping World War. They were retreating steadily, causing the Kuomintang army to occupy a large amount of land. However, every time they occupied a place, they had to divide their troops to defend it. The more land they occupied, the more dispersed their troops were, so the shortage of troops was particularly serious. Among all the units of the Kuomintang army at that time, the New 1st Army was the most prominent on this issue!
Four months after the armistice in Northeast China, fighting resumed in early October. In mid-December, Du Yuming formulated a "first south then north" plan, transferring almost all the original Kuomintang troops in northern Manchuria to southern Manchuria, leaving only two divisions of the New 1st Army to guard (the 30th Division was also transferred to southern Manchuria). The defense area assigned to the New 1st Army stretches from Laoye Ridge in the east to Nong'an in the west, to the south bank of the Songhua River in the north, and to Gongzhu Ridge in the south. It is 500 kilometers long from east to west and 300 kilometers from north to south. It is impossible to have a coherent defense line and can only be dispersed into battalions and regiments to defend at strongholds. It is inevitable to be surrounded by the democratic coalition forces for reinforcements.
At this time, the New L Army was under 10 times the pressure of other main forces. The troops were highly dispersed, and because they had to shoulder the task of defending the territory, they could not advance or retreat freely, which seriously restricted the mobility of the troops. Even if the gods came, they could not save the predicament at that time. At this time, Sun Liren had already seen that the New 1st Army was in an extremely unfavorable situation, and repeatedly made suggestions to the senior officials: "The troops should be concentrated in a few choke points, with the most important task being to annihilate the effective forces of the People's Liberation Army, and don't care too much about the gains and losses of one city or one place." However, none of them were adopted. Chiang Kai-shek's military thought must occupy points and lines, but ignore the surface. Therefore, territory is more important than anything else. If you want to shrink the defense line and voluntarily abandon some towns, it is never allowed. Du Yuming fully adheres to this military thought, so naturally he will not agree with Sun Liren's suggestion.
At this time, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army on the north bank of the Songhua River was already very powerful. It had three field columns: 1st Column, 2nd Column and 6th Column. Each column had three divisions, each with about 10,000 to 12,000 people. The three columns totaled more than 100,000 people. And there are still 7 independent divisions of and , with a total of 60,000 people. In addition, there are several artillery regiments , with a total strength of nearly 200,000 people. With only 2 divisions at hand to fight against nearly 200,000 democratic coalition forces, they still have to defend their territory. You can imagine the pressure on the New 1st Army!
html In early January, Lin Biao went to Jiangnan and used a division (about 10,000 people) to surround a battalion of the New 1st Army (more than 700 people) in Qitamu. At the same time, he ordered the rest of the troops to occupy all the strongholds around Qitamu (Bajiazi, Wujiagangzi, Zhangmazigou, Bee Camp, Wangjiafangfang, etc.). It was impossible for the New 1st Army to avoid the encirclement and go directly to Qitamu for rescue.To make matters worse, the call of the New 1st Army was intercepted by the Democratic Alliance Army, which allowed the Democratic Alliance Army to fully grasp the march time and route of the rescue force. After annihilating the reinforcements of the New 1st Army and finally conquering Qitamu, Sun Liren decisively sent troops to attack. Du Yuming also mobilized some troops from South Manchuria to return reinforcements, regained Qitamu, Wutai and other lost lands, and forced the People's Liberation Army back to the north of the Songhua River.During the entire Jiangnan battle, Lin Biao took advantage of the New 1st Army's highly dispersed situation and killed nearly 3,000 people from nearly 2 regiments of the New 1st Army. When the bad news came, Sun Liren was so angry that he cursed Du Yuming for his incompetent command. He dispersed his troops everywhere, and the strongholds were far apart from each other. They were annihilated by the People's Liberation Army before rescue.
After the battle in Jiangnan, the New 1st Army immediately held a military meeting, conducted a combat review of the People's Liberation Army's tactics of encirclement and reinforcements, and studied countermeasures. Sun Liren and the officers and soldiers of the New 1st Army put forward two propositions at the meeting. 1. Propose to the Northeast "Suppression General" that battalions and regiments should no longer be used to defend strongholds, because with the attacking power of Dongye at that time, the sacrifice of battalion and regiment units was obviously in vain. Instead, companies and platoons were used as units to defend the strongholds that were originally defended by battalions and regiments. They were only vigilant but not defensive. The small units had small targets and lacked heavy equipment. They were easy to evacuate and had strong mobility.
However, after this suggestion was reported to the Northeast Suppression General, it was immediately rejected by Du Yuming. In desperation, the New 1st Army retreated to the next best thing and adopted another method: after the war, if the military situation was urgent and needed to be dealt with on an ad hoc basis, all battalion and regiment defensive strongholds would be abandoned, and the troops would be reduced to maintain divisional strongholds for defense. Although this method is not as ideal as the first one, because the People's Liberation Army's marching speed is amazing, and it is often too late to withdraw by the time the situation is discovered, it is still better than rigidly waiting for the People's Liberation Army to attack. 2. In the command of reinforcements, we should emphasize the use of night operations and small road operations. We would rather bring less heavy equipment and ammunition, put the appearance of hostility first, and at the same time strengthen searches. These countermeasures achieved some results in subsequent battles with the People's Liberation Army.
In February 1947, Lin Biao led three columns, 1, 2, and 6, 3 independent divisions and 1 artillery division, with a total of about 160,000 troops to the south of the Yangtze River. The target was the 89th Regiment of the 30th Division stationed at in Chengzi Street.
When the news came, Sun Liren immediately ordered Zeng Qi, the commander of the 89th Regiment, to retreat quickly without any delay. However, Zeng Qi, the commander of the 89th Regiment, was still slow to move. The Democratic Alliance Army marched more than 100 miles within a few hours. By the time they wanted to withdraw, the Democratic Alliance Army had already surrounded Chengzi Street.
Zeng Qi was hesitant. At first, he wanted to withdraw the main force and use it as a mobile force in the rear. Later, he planned to retreat. While he was hesitating, the democratic coalition forces had already launched an attack. Zeng Qi had no choice but to order the entire regiment to return to Chengzi Street to defend, and called the airdrop troops, asking them to quickly airdrop food, weapons and ammunition.
In the early morning of the next day, Air Force planes arrived and immediately began airdropping. However, due to poor technology and lack of rapid and accurate cooperation, all the airdropped food, weapons and ammunition fell into the hands of the Democratic Coalition, which greatly boosted the morale of the Democratic Coalition.
html On February 23, the 89th Regiment finally lost Chengzi Street after two days of tenacious resistance. Throughout the Chengzi Street battle, Lin Biao annihilated and captured more than 2,800 members of the New 1st Army. The Northeastern Democratic Alliance made up a jingle: "Eat vegetables with cabbage hearts, and fight with the New 1st Army." "The New 1st Army claims to be an eagle, but it is actually a bear. It moves like a turtle and fights like a reptile." The officers and soldiers of the New 1st Army were unconvinced and were captured in the battle of Zhang Mazigou. Sun Weimin, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 113th Regiment, said angrily: "Our military commander, General Sun Liren, said that the New 1st Army only wins battles, not defeats. Your Commander-in-Chief Lin fights too shabbily and secretly. How about we open up our battle array and try to fight again?" . "
Lin Biao commanded operations in the Northeast battlefield
Lin Biao commanded the 6th Column and the 2nd Independent Division to besiege the 50th Division of the New 1st Army stationed in Dehui. Du Yuming wanted the 50th Division Immediately break out of the encirclement, Sun Liren ordered not to break out and stick to Dehui. Reinforcements arrived within three days. Immediately afterwards, Lin Biao commanded the 6th Column and the Independent 2nd Division, a total of 4 divisions with nearly 40,000 people, and began to besiege the 50th Division of the New 1st Army stationed in Dehui.
Seeing that Dehui was in danger, Du Yuming called Pan Yukun, commander of the 50th Division, and asked him to break out immediately. However, at the subsequent military meeting, Pan Yukun and other senior generals concluded that breaking out was a bad idea, so they decided to ask Sun Liren for instructions. After hearing the report, Sun Liren knew that Dehui's situation was critical, so he said very calmly: Respond calmly and never break out. Reinforcements will arrive within three days without delay. He also asked Pan Yukun to ignore Du Yuming's orders and stick to Dehui.
Starting from February 28, the Democratic Alliance Army launched an offensive. Four divisions, supported by 80 artillery pieces , were divided into three directions to attack Dehui. However, Division Commander Pan Yukun firmly believed that General Sun's reinforcements would arrive soon, so he ordered a resolute counterattack, giving full play to the advantages of the New 1st Army's well-trained artillery and well-equipped weapons, and held on for dear life. By the afternoon of March 1, except for Shandong Tun in the west of the city, which was once lost and then recaptured, the rest of the democratic coalition forces were all blocked by the New 1st Army in the peripheral ring fire network zone!
March 1st, Sun Liren quickly mobilized the troops of 3 regiments and divided them into 5 columns. They set off separately from Yongji and Changchun and rushed to Dehui quickly. The troops marched 130 miles a day and defeated the 1st column responsible for reinforcements along the way overnight. They arrived at Dehui in the early morning of March 3rd. Seeing Sun Liren personally leading the army, Lin Biao ordered the troops to start retreating in the afternoon of the previous day. Immediately afterwards, the 71st Army, led by Commander Chen Mingren, also arrived at Dehui, and the siege of Dehui was lifted.
The 149th Regiment of the 50th Division, which stood firm in the central area of Dehui, withstood the People's Liberation Army that was nearly eight times its size. It achieved such brilliant results in three days and was later awarded the title "Zhongzheng Regiment" by Chiang Kai-shek.
There is also the "Zhongzheng Company". As early as June 1946, when Sun Liren led the 50th Division across the Songhua River to pursue the People's Liberation Army, he discovered with his keen military vision that the Taolaizhao Bridgehead on the north bank of the Songhua River (more than 50 kilometers away from Dehui) , is a very strong stronghold built by the Japanese army when they occupied Northeast China. The entire bunker is made of the strongest steel bars, and the bunkers are airtight. It can withstand extremely violent artillery attacks, and there is a large amount of food and drinking water inside, enough to support the troops for several years. He then sent Zheng Mingfa, commander of the 2nd Company of the 149th Regiment, to hold on to this bridgehead, and ordered: No matter what happens, this important stronghold must not be abandoned easily. As long as there is this bridgehead, it will be much easier to eliminate the People's Liberation Army on the north bank of the Songhua River in the future!
When the war in Northeast China resumed, the Democratic Alliance Forces felt that this bridgehead was the biggest threat on the north bank of the Songhua River, so they ordered that it must be captured. Before the Dehui Battle started, they launched a fierce attack on the bridgehead. Du Yuming once ordered Sun Liren to withdraw the troops stationed at the bridgehead, but Sun Liren did not obey the order, but ordered Company Commander Zheng to hold on.
html On the 26th, the democratic coalition launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on the bridgehead, charging collectively countless times, but they were all repelled by the New 1st Army. On the evening of the 27th, they mobilized troops to launch an attack. At the same time, they used a small force to penetrate the bridgehead in the middle of the night, but were repelled by the New 1st Army. The Democratic Alliance Forces vowed to seize this important stronghold and rested for a day on the 28th. On March 1st, they mobilized dozens of artillery to bombard part of the bridgehead and destroyed part of the bridgehead. html On the afternoon of the 2nd, the democratic coalition forces retreating from Dehui passed by this bridgehead. Before the Kuomintang army had crossed the river to pursue them, they launched another fierce attack on the bridgehead, but were still repelled by the New 1st Army. html After Sun Liren led the reinforcements to Dehui on the 3rd, he immediately ordered the rescue of the 2nd Company stationed at the bridgehead. The reinforcements arrived at the bridgehead on the 4th and made contact with the 2nd Company face to face.In this battle, the 2nd Company of the New 1st Army stationed at Taolaizhao Bridgehead (only about 300 people), more than 50 kilometers away from Dehui, was besieged by 24 times the democratic coalition forces for 24 days.
The Battle of Dehui was one of the few complete victories in the history of the Kuomintang army. It was later greatly promoted by the Kuomintang army. A road in Taipei City was named "Dehui Road" to commemorate this battle. Many generals of the
50 Division received awards after the war. However, Sun Liren, with less than three divisions, guarded 500 kilometers of land on the south bank of the Songhua River, fighting against Lin Biao's nearly 200,000 democratic coalition forces on the north bank of the Songhua River. He repeatedly disrupted the People's Liberation Army's powerful offensives, preventing Lin Biao's troops from occupying any city or place on the south bank of the Songhua River. After the Battle of Dehui, the Democratic Alliance Army began to spread that "as long as it does not fight the New 1st Army, it is not afraid of the central government's millions of soldiers"!
According to the Central Daily News of the Kuomintang, on October 23, 1948, Changchun had fallen and the Liaoshen Campaign was coming to an end. The Kuomintang army's aircraft hovered over the northeast, but they were shocked to find that on the Taolaizhao bridgehead on the north bank of the Songhua River, the blue sky and white sun flag was still fluttering in the wind. Later, according to a report by a reporter from the Central News Agency, the "Zhongzheng Company" stationed at this bridgehead began to stand alone in June 1946 when Sun Liren ordered it to be held until the end of the three major battles in January 1949. Jiang Gong retired. At the time of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, he put down his weapons and walked out of the bunker. During this period, it withstood hundreds of major and minor sieges by the democratic coalition forces, creating an unprecedented miracle among the entire Kuomintang army. No other unit could achieve such results under the same conditions!
Du Yuming sued Sun Liren, and Chiang Kai-shek transferred Sun Liren away from the New 1st Army. Without Sun Liren, the New 1st Army was finally completely annihilated by the Northeast Field Army led by Lin Biao.
Chiang Kai-shek received the report of Dehui's victory and immediately ordered Sun Liren and Chen Mingren to cross the Songhua River to pursue the People's Liberation Army. Taking advantage of the high morale of the Kuomintang army, he could go all out to completely eliminate the People's Liberation Army. After receiving the news, Commander-in-Chief Du Yuming of the Northeast Security Department thought it was impossible, so he rushed to Dehui personally and ordered the New 1st Army and the 71st Army to withdraw to the south of the Songhua River. However, both Sun Li and Chen Mingren believed that this was a good opportunity to annihilate the People's Liberation Army, because the People's Liberation Army had just experienced heavy casualties and had low morale. They could use this opportunity to recapture Harbin and completely complete the mission of annihilating the enemy. Moreover, since the troops have crossed the river to pursue them, they cannot retreat at will, otherwise it will give the People's Liberation Army a chance to make a comeback. But Du Yuming insisted that Sun and Chen withdraw their troops, leaving no room for negotiation.
Because Sun Liren once again disobeyed Du Yuming's orders in the battle of Dehui, Du Yuming was deeply dissatisfied, so his tone was extremely harsh. In desperation, Sun Liren reluctantly issued the order. Chen Mingren's attitude was even worse. He didn't even respect the military salute and left angrily without looking back.
On March 7, the New 1st Army and the 71st Army followed Du Yuming's order and began to withdraw to the south of the Songhua River. Lin Biao immediately discovered this important situation. He decided to return the favor and avenge Dehui's shame, so he ordered his troops to rush.
html On March 9, the 2nd Column 5th Division (division commander Zhong Wei) took the lead in encircling 5 companies of the 264th Regiment of the 88th Division in Kaoshantun, annihilating more than 1,330 people of the 71st Army. Immediately afterwards, the main force of the 1st Column annihilated all of the 388th Division and most of the 87th Division in Guojiatun and Jiangjiatun, about six to seven thousand people.Seeing the critical situation of the 71st Army, Du Yuming immediately led the 54th Division of the 13th Army and the 22nd Division of the New 6th Army to rush for reinforcements, but was surrounded by Lin Biao's main force in Nong'an. Du Yuming then urgently called Tang Shouzhi, commander of the 30th Division of the New 1st Army, to lead his troops to rescue. However, Commander Tang knew the power of the People's Liberation Army's encirclement and reinforcements, so he adopted a circuitous route, first from Dehui to the Shuangmiaozi and Buhai areas, and then attacked Guojiatun, Sandaogou to the west, and finally avoided Lin Biao's encirclement and reinforcements.
When Lin Biao saw a division of the New 1st Army coming, he had to retreat to the north of the Yangtze River, and the siege of Nong'an was lifted. However, Du Yuming was furious that Tang Shouzhi arrived late and ignored the safety of his commander and troops.
After Du Yuming returned to Changchun, he immediately held a military meeting, at which he loudly accused Tang Shouzhi and wanted to remove him from office. However, Sun Liren believed that Tang Shouzhi handled the situation properly, and in order to protect his subordinates, he quarreled with Du Yuming on the spot. Subsequently, Du Yuming immediately sent Chief of Staff Zhao Jiaxiang to Nanjing to report to Chiang Kai-shek that Sun Liren did not obey orders.
It is said that Chiang Kai-shek put a lot of thought into dealing with this problem. Because Sun Liren had never failed in the Northeast, it was impossible to demote or remove him. However, Du Yuming was, after all, a first-term disciple of the Emperor, and his qualifications were there. Chiang Kai-shek also considered that Sun Liren was not from Huangpu and did not have any prominent factional background. He was afraid that Sun Liren would not cooperate well with other generals in the Northeast, so he issued a proclamation, first removing Tang Shouzhi from his post, and then promoting Sun Liren to deputy commander of the Northeast Security Department (the commander was Du Yuming). On the same day, an American newspaper published an article entitled "What is China Doing?" "", a large-scale report was made on the incident of Sun Liren being transferred from the New 1st Army.
On April 26, 1947, Sun Liren officially resigned from the post of commander of the New 1st Army and handed it over to Pan Yukun, commander of the 50th Division. When Sun Liren was leaving, many old subordinates of the New 1st Army became extremely negative and asked to leave the army. After Sun Liren's persuasion, they reluctantly stayed. Afterwards, Sun Liren returned to Nanjing to report on his work, and later went to Shenyang to take up a post.
Immediately afterwards, in July of the same year, Chiang Kai-shek transferred Sun Liren from Northeast China to serve as deputy commander-in-chief of the army and concurrently as commander of army training, and established the army training headquarters in Nanjing. In November, Sun Liren moved his headquarters to Fengshan, Taiwan, crossed the ocean, and began another military career on the island.
After leaving Sun Liren's New 1st Army, its morale plummeted and its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. It could not be compared with other main forces at all. In the summer offensive launched by Lin Biao in May 1947, the New 1st Army was defeated by two regiments in a row. Subsequently, Chen Cheng went to the Northeast and split the New 1st Army into the New 1st and New 7th Armies, which caused the strength of the New 1st Army to drop significantly again. In the autumn offensive in October 1947, another regiment was annihilated.
The New 1st Army, which Sun Liren had worked hard for many years and built on, and was known as the "No. 1 Army in the World", was finally annihilated by the Northeast Field Army led by Lin Biao during the siege of Changchun and the battle of western Liaoning. Only a few officers and soldiers escaped. Mao Zedong later said with emotion: "Sun Liren is the bravest and most skilled general in modern China. It's a pity that he was born in the wrong place."
