Our army captured the enemy garrison headquarters.
On the afternoon of January 14, 1949, our army bravely attacked the enemy’s Ningyuan defense line.
On January 15, 1949, our officers and men marched on the streets of the city.
On January 15th, 1949, our army passed the present-day jiefang bridge.
Our army broke through the defensive line of enemy city.
Create a model for tackling tough battles
The liberation of Tianjin 60 years ago had an important historical role and influence in military and political aspects, and created the "Tianjin Way" which was called by Mao Zedong as one of the three ways to solve the remnant military groups of the Kuomintang at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which wrote a brilliant chapter in the history of the War of Liberation.
Create a model for tackling tough battles
1, formulate operational guidelines in line with the characteristics of the city.
On the eve of liberation, Tianjin is the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, with a population of more than 2 million, while the enemy defenders have 130,000 people. It has painstakingly built an outer defense line of the Yugoslav capital with a length of 82 Li, a diameter of 25 Li from north to south and a diameter of 10 Li from east to west.
In addition, the Kuomintang military and political authorities have also formulated urban operational plans and divisional defense arrangements. In this regard, Chen Changjie, the enemy Tianjin garrison commander, proudly thought: "This kind of troop deployment, like the tail of a scorpion, can bend back and sting people." For the "fire array" composed of 40,000 mines set up on the periphery of the Yugoslav capital, he confidently declared that "on the Tianjin 90-mile line, Fiona Fang is a big minefield every 30 miles, and if the communists don’t come, they will be able to play a big role and cause the enemy to die."
In order to lay a solid foundation for Tianjin in a relatively short time, according to the terrain characteristics of Tianjin and the defensive situation of the enemy, the PLA Front Command formulated the operational policy of "East-west advancing, stopping at the waist, first south and then north, first dividing and then panicking, first eating meat and then gnawing bones". Subsequently, the "Three Principles of Tactics for Attacking Tianjin" was put forward: in the battle, infantry, artillery, tanks and engineers must be "coordinated"; In terms of "thinking and deployment, there is a preparation for repelling the enemy and counter-charging"; In the tactics of warfare, the division tactics of "first dividing, then panic in, first eating meat, then gnawing bones" are used. Thus, the operational policy is more substantial and complete, and its power has been brilliantly exerted and embodied in the subsequent tough battle in Tianjin.
The liberation of Tianjin was the first time that the People’s Liberation Army used infantry, artillery, armored forces, engineers and other arms to participate in a large-scale battle. In order to strengthen the preparation for siege and the pertinence of battlefield training, Tianjin Frontline Command has drawn up the Order of Coordinated Action of All Arms in the Frontier Breakthrough Stage, which clearly defines the different tasks of infantry, artillery, armored forces and engineers in each stage of the campaign, and closely coordinates the action norms. According to the characteristics of the moat, the Tianjin-attacking troops also invented and made simple and portable crossing equipment such as reed bridge, movable leaf bridge and boat bridge. Ten major breakthroughs were selected, and the terrain conditions such as attack roads were defined.
2, surprise attack.
At the end of December 1948, after the Northeast Field Army was transferred from Tanggu to Tianjin, it followed the instructions of the Central Military Commission and completed the siege of Tianjin in three steps according to the development and changes of the situation, and made all the preparations before the war, which laid the foundation for Tianjin to win the tough battle quickly in a certain sense. At the same time, all the troops in Dongye devoted themselves to political mobilization, close-in operations, military drills and logistical support before the war. During this period, grass-roots companies have extensively carried out the activities of "three good companies" to strive for "good fighting, good policy discipline and good unity" in order to win both military and political victories; In order to achieve the maximum results, all units have adopted the operation of digging traffic trenches and other close-to-close fortifications, which is close to the front of the enemy line. At the same time, we launched a training craze and practiced tactical actions such as "one point and two sides" and "four groups and one team" in the cold; In order to ensure the logistics support of the campaign, the Dongye Logistics Department and the Party and government departments in the liberated areas such as Jizhong, Jidong, Beiyue, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, under the guidance of the principle of "everything is for the front line", actively organized the former army to transport all kinds of materials to the front line in Tianjin in time.
In order to carry out the operational policy of liberating Tianjin, the Northeast Field Army formed two major assault groups, East and West, and North and South assist groups with absolute superiority, and carried out feints in the north of the city. Among them, the 1st and 2nd columns (38th and 39th armies) attacked from west to east from the north and south of Xiyingmen; The 7 th and 8 th columns (44 th and 45 th armies) attacked from east to west from the front line of the National Gate and the Civil Rights Gate; The 34th Division of the 9th Column (46th Army) and the 12th Column (49th Army) assisted from south to north in Jianshan, Jinnan. The 8 th column alone has 4 divisions, and the 2 nd column alone has 7 divisions, etc., to carry out feints in the north of Minsheng Gate and Dinggu; The 17th Division of the 6th Column (43rd Army) is the General Reserve; The main force of the 12th column is located in the commissary city area, monitoring the defenders in Tanggu. According to the instruction of the Beijing-Tianjin Front Command that "the combat troops are in the non-main attack areas, so as to make my main attack direction surprise", Liu Yalou, the commander of Tianjin Front Command, ordered the troops located in the north of the city to take a feint posture, which caused the illusion that our main attack direction was in the north of the city, so as to skillfully transfer the 151st Division of the enemy 62nd Army to the north of the city for protection, thus reducing the pressure of our main attack direction.
Since then, Tianjin’s rich practice in tackling key problems has fully proved that because our army flexibly and decisively applied the operational policy of east-west confrontation, it not only concentrated its absolute superior forces in the two main attack directions, but also implemented the north-south assistance strategy. At the same time, according to the characteristics of street fighting in big cities, it divided its troops in time after the main force entered the deep battle, so that eating "meat" first and then eating "bones" eventually became eating "meat" and eating "bones" at the same time. At the same time, the main force attacked the enemy troops on the defensive in the north and south respectively. As Liu Yalou later said: "By strengthening the attack forces on both sides, we can quickly and reliably get through and cut off the enemy." This will not only "disrupt the enemy’s entire defense system, but also freely expand the troops to the two wings."
This is also the case in the course of combat: from 10: 00 a.m. on January 14th, 1949 to 3: 00 a.m. on the 15th, all our east and west opposing forces broke through the defensive lines and entered into deep fighting, and the southern auxiliary forces also quickly attacked the north. At dawn on the 15th, Jintang Bridge, Jingang Bridge, Shengli Bridge (now Bei ‘an Bridge) and Zhongzheng Bridge (now jiefang bridge) were captured, and at the same time, the main attack in the north and south also achieved great results: at 5 o’clock on the 15th, the attack on the enemy’s core defense area was launched, and at 7 o’clock, the enemy garrison headquarters was captured and the commander Chen Changjie was captured alive; At 1500 hours, Yaohua School, the last stronghold in the city on the defensive, was captured. Thus, in just 29 hours, 130,000 defenders were wiped out, which set a precedent for conquering the enemy’s heavily fortified cities in the shortest time and became a classic of the People’s Liberation Army’s urban warfare.
Have powerful deterrent power.
1. Tianjin liberation and Chiang Kai-shek’s "downfall"
At the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong put forward "Tianjin Way", "Peiping Way" and "Suiyuan Way" to solve the remaining Kuomintang troops in the future. Among them, the "Tianjin way" is a high generalization of the way of resolutely, thoroughly and cleanly annihilating all enemy troops who dare to fight hard by military means. As Mao Zedong emphasized at this plenary session: "Solving the enemy by fighting, such as solving the enemy in Tientsin, is still the first thing we must pay attention to and prepare for." On January 14th, 1949, the People’s Liberation Army launched an attack on the enemy troops on the defensive in Tianjin, which refused to accept peaceful conditions. On the same day, President the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong’s Statement on the Current Situation (hereinafter referred to as "Statement") was published, and eight peace conditions representing the wishes of the broad masses of the people were put forward. Mao Zedong’s choice of this day to publish the "Statement" has profound political significance, thus marking the formal implementation of the "Tianjin Way" summarized at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party.
On April 17, 1949, on the eve of the Battle of Crossing the River, Zhou Enlai pointed out in his speech when he met some patriotic Democrats attending the meeting of the New Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference: "The eight conditions put forward by Comrade Mao Zedong in his statement on January 14 are the conditions for true peace. Chiang Kai-shek did not accept it. As soon as Tianjin was liberated, he had to step down. " This is the correct conclusion drawn by Zhou Enlai on behalf of the CPC Central Committee based on the objective judgment of the situation, thus raising the "Tianjin Way" to a strategic height that affects the development direction of the war and the change of the political situation.
On December 15th, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek personally issued a warrant to Chen Changjie, demanding that all the important machinery, equipment, gold and silver of the enterprise be shipped to the south within three days, and sent Li and Lan, the second chief of staff, to Tianjin, to instruct the defenders to "be sincere in their work, unite their will, and obey the unified action commanded by Commander Fu". More importantly, it is necessary to ensure that nearly 400,000 direct troops in the Pingjin area can withdraw south by sea when the situation is critical. On January 10th, 1949, Du Yuming Group was wiped out in Huaihai battlefield. On the 14th, the People’s Liberation Army launched a general attack on Tianjin. On the same day, Mao Zedong issued a statement on the current political situation, with a clear political purpose, that is, any Kuomintang military group that does not accept peace conditions can only be resolved by military means. This undoubtedly dealt a fatal blow to Chiang Kai-shek. On the 16th, the day after Tianjin’s liberation, he ordered the Tanggu garrison to "retreat by sea", and at the same time, he instructed the central bank and China bank in Nanjing and Shanghai to quickly transfer foreign exchange abroad, so as to "keep a chance for the country". At the same time, it was ordered to transport the silver dollar and gold stored in the national treasury to Taiwan Province, and even my family property, documents and three "Baikal" cars were transported to Taiwan Province in advance in February. On the day when the People’s Liberation Army captured Tianjin, the US Consulate General in Tianjin reached the following conclusion in its report to the State Council: "We witnessed the occupation of Tianjin by the communist party army, and almost all the equipment of these troops was the unused American weapons seized from the Manchurian Kuomintang army. The only consequence of the United States’ further assistance to such a government will only further enhance communist party’s strength.The (Kuomintang) government has proved to be so incompetent that most of our assistance has been transferred to communist party. Faced with the difficulties in domestic and foreign affairs, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Executive Yuan to hold a government affairs meeting on the 19th, and held a five-hour "solemn discussion" on the eight peace conditions put forward by our party, and decided to "send representatives to Yan ‘an to negotiate peace with the Chinese Communist Party". At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the envoys to move to Guangzhou. On January 21st, only 10 days before the peaceful liberation of Peiping, Chiang Kai-shek announced his retirement, announcing that Li Zongren was acting as president.
2. Shock and awe to the remnant military groups of the Kuomintang.
The liberation of Tianjin and the emergence of the "Tianjin way" had a considerable impact on the Kuomintang military clique, and thus produced the "Peiping way" and "Suiyuan way".
The conquest of Tianjin brought great shock to the spirit of more than 200,000 Kuomintang troops stationed in Peiping. In the Battle of Pingjin, Fu Zuoyi Group believed that it would take at least three months for the PLA to lay Tianjin. Therefore, after our army launched a general attack on Tianjin, Fu Zuoyi still ordered Chen Changjie to retake the breakthrough at all costs. However, the rapid liberation of Tianjin on 15th was unexpected by Fu Zuoyi and others, and broke their last hope. After the liberation of Tianjin, 800,000 troops arrived at the gates of Beiping. Under the strong military and political pressure, Fu Zuoyi Group finally reached the Agreement on Peaceful Settlement of the Peiping Problem with our army. Mao Zedong once profoundly pointed out the reason for the peaceful liberation of Peiping: "Tianjin was defeated, and within 29 hours, hundreds of thousands of people were disarmed. Chen Changjie, Lin Weichou, Du Jianshi and other gangsters were captured together, and Peiping was isolated and hopeless. Determined to take the second road, the possibility of a peaceful solution to the Peiping problem emerged."
The "Tianjin Way" dealt a heavy blow to the remnants of the Kuomintang military group. After the conquest of Tianjin, the 13th Army, 16th Army, 92nd Army, 94th Army and other Kuomintang central forces stationed in Peiping panicked. Chiang Kai-shek demanded for this: "The central armies will break through in different ways and make a plan for a narrow escape." While Li Wen, commander of the 4th Corps, Shi Jue, commander of the 9th Corps, and Yuan Pu, commander of the 16th Army, etc., wept bitterly and beat their chests, feeling that the tide was over. It also has a great deterrent effect on the remnants of the Kuomintang military groups such as Hu Zongnan, Bai Chongxi and Tang Enbo. The Yen Hsi-shan Group, which was trapped in Taiyuan, was also extremely frightened. Yen Hsi-shan was "restless day and night" and paid close attention to the development of the situation. In a telegram to Fu Zuoyi, he said, "Today, we have to do what is important and do our best with gravity."
Have a far-reaching political impact
1, create a combination of military and political.
Sun Tzu, a famous military scientist in ancient China, advocated "to defeat the enemy without fighting". On the eve of Tianjin’s liberation, in order to protect the lives and property of more than 2 million people and prevent the industry and commerce from being destroyed by war, the People’s Liberation Army issued a peaceful settlement initiative to the Kuomintang defenders. Since then, Liu Yalou has held two sincere talks with representatives of Tianjin Senate. For this reason, Mao Zedong promptly gave the instruction that "Tianjin can be dealt with separately as long as there are separate negotiations", and it was only on the premise that Chen Changjie and others refused to settle peacefully that they had to launch a general attack. Therefore, our army’s efforts to peacefully liberate Tianjin have touched Fu Zuoyi’s attempt to delay time by taking advantage of the Tianjin issue, which enabled our army to take the lead in politics, to show the way to peacefully solve the Tianjin issue in advance in a certain sense, and to point out two alternative paths for Peiping and other Kuomintang troops.
The "Tianjin Way" promoted the emergence of "Peiping Way" and "Suiyuan Way", and the double shock of its military means and political disintegration was the fundamental reason for the major changes in military and political trends in the late period of the Liberation War. After that, in the strategic pursuit stage, the strategic defense line of the Kuomintang army centered on controlling cities and traffic arteries was completely in a state of disintegration under the mutual influence of the military and political offensives of the People’s Liberation Army. The ultimate goal of "defeating the enemy’s soldiers instead of fighting, pulling out the city of people instead of attacking" was achieved without bloodshed. With the peaceful liberation of Changsha, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Xikang, Datong and Xinxiang, and the uprising, surrender and adaptation of 1.26 million Kuomintang troops, it became an unprecedented miracle in the history of Chinese and foreign wars.
Just as Zhou Enlai pointed out after the launching of the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River: "When the People’s Liberation Army is waiting for orders on the front line of the Yangtze River, there are two kinds of tasks in form: one is Tianjin-style progress; One is Peiping-style progress … The peaceful settlement is generally accepted and adapted according to peaceful methods; The advance of the battle is to receive and adapt it by fighting. "
At the same time, the successful experience such as operational principles and tactical ideas created by Tianjin’s tough battle played an important role in the subsequent urban warfare of the People’s Liberation Army. For this reason, the Central Military Commission informed the whole army to learn from Tianjin’s hard-fought experience. In the subsequent battles in Taiyuan, Shanghai, Lanzhou, Guangzhou and other cities, the People’s Liberation Army absorbed and adopted Tianjin’s experience in fighting tough battles, gave full play to its close synergy and the overall power of firepower, blasting and assault, and flexibly implemented interspersed division. This tactic was successfully applied to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which wrote an important chapter in the history of the People’s Liberation Army.
2. Have a strong social response.
On the eve of Tianjin’s liberation, people from all walks of life in Tianjin launched a movement calling for peace through various means, and opposed the perverse behavior of the Kuomintang authorities who were determined to destroy the city regardless of the safety of people’s lives and property. Professors from institutions of higher learning such as Nankai University and Beiyang University jointly wrote a letter demanding the maintenance of cultural and economic undertakings and the withdrawal of troops stationed in schools, so as to avoid "the danger of being subjected to artillery fire". In the meantime, the situation that the Tianjin Senate sent representatives to negotiate with our army attracted wide attention from all walks of life. Tianjin Ta Kung Pao, Yishi Daily, Republic of China Daily and other newspapers reported the whole process on the front page. Foreign news organizations, such as Associated Press, Reuters and AFP, also reported the news that four representatives made written statements after returning to the city. At the same time, all walks of life understand and welcome the four conditions put forward by our army for the peaceful settlement of the Tianjin issue, and strongly demand that the Kuomintang authorities respond to the people’s liberation army’s appeal for peace and negotiate to solve the Tianjin issue as soon as possible.
In order to cooperate with the military and political offensive of the People’s Liberation Army, Tianjin workers, students, citizens, businessmen, intellectuals and people from all walks of life, under the call and influence of the underground organization of the Communist Party of China, have launched various struggles such as protecting factories, schools and destroying enemy military production. The vast number of ethnic industrialists and businessmen and university professors have waged a struggle against moving south; Many workers braved gunfire to protect machinery and equipment; Nankai university students opened a propaganda car on the day of liberation; Many citizens are not afraid of danger and take the initiative to lead the way and guide our army. The People’s Liberation Army’s exemplary behavior of observing city discipline in Tianjin has won the heartfelt support and love of Tianjin people. Thereby expanding the influence of our party in the Kuomintang-controlled areas.
The liberation of Tianjin had a strong response in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. The highest military and political authorities of the Kuomintang believe that "Tianjin calls for peace" after the Beiping peace talks began, adding "annoyance" to the already tense situation. On January 7, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek personally telephoned Li Zhuchen and other business leaders, stressing that the negotiation should be based on his New Year’s Proclamation and should not be easily compromised; On the 13th, the presidents of the councils of seven provinces and cities in North China jointly called Chiang Kai-shek and Fu Zuoyi, calling for an immediate truce. "All problems are solved by political means." During this period, Shanghai Ta Kung Pao and other news media in the Kuomintang-controlled areas also commented in succession, calling on the Kuomintang authorities to hold peace talks with the Chinese Communist Party as soon as possible. This fully reflects the people’s desire for peace in the Kuomintang-controlled areas.
Editor: Wang Teng
