Conquering Luoyang in the Battle of Luoyang

In June 1947, the East China Field Army Chen (Tuqu) and Tang (Liang) formed an outside corps to cooperate with the army. Comrade Tang Liang wrote several major battles in this period as a reminiscence article of "Attacking the West and Moving to the Central Plains", which was published in the third issue of "Starting a prairie fire", and "Conquering Luoyang" was one of them.

1947 12 months later, the three liberated areas in Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and western Henan became one piece, and the enemy changed from "all-round defense" to "key defense". Especially after the great victory in Yichuan, northwest China, the enemies in the Central Plains battlefield (Pei Changhui, Sun, Qiu Qingquan) were even more panicked. In order to ensure Xi 'an, Hu Zongnan of Guanzhong urgently dispatched Pei Changhui Corps, originally stationed in Tongguan, to Luoyang to reinforce Xi 'an, unable to look east; Sun Bingtuan, who went south from Zhengzhou, found that my main force had assembled in the south of Luoyang, so he retreated to Zhengzhou. And hurriedly sent two brigades to Heishiguan and Surabaya; The main force of Hu Lian Corps, originally stationed in Xiping and Luohe, is heading for Xuchang, seven days away from Luoyang. The other part harassed Liu Dengjun, who was gathering and resting between Shahe and Huaihe rivers; Qiu Qingquan Corps in southwest Shandong seems to have signs of returning to the east of Zhengzhou on Longhai Road. On the 400-kilometer route from Luoyang East to Zhengzhou West to Tongguan, only the 206th Division of the Kuomintang Youth Army based in Luoyang and other regular troops without enemies were isolated, which was a good opportunity for me to conquer Luoyang.

In order to cooperate with the Northwest Field Army and cover the rest of Liu and Deng, according to the order of the Central Military Commission, the Luoyang Campaign was organized by the third and eighth columns of Hua Ye and the fourth and ninth columns of Nakano.

Luoyang is a strategic place in the Central Plains, bordering the three provinces of Qin, Jin and Henan, and it is a battleground for military strategists in past dynasties. Luoyang is also a famous ancient capital, one of the six largest Kyoto in China in history, also known as the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties. The Kuomintang reactionaries were also designated as the capital, which played a very important role in politics, culture and transportation. At the same time, Luoyang is the contact center between Zhengzhou and Xi. Conquering Luoyang can cut off the connection between Zhengzhou and Xi' an and increase the threat to the two cities; Longhai Road, which was regarded as the main artery by the enemy, was also cut off. If Chiang Kai-shek wants to send more troops to the northwest battlefield, he has to bypass the Qinling Mountains. For our liberated areas, after the capture of Luoyang, the new area of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi can be integrated with the old liberated area north of the Yellow River, and we will have a far-reaching rear area, which can be evacuated and assisted. At the same time, a large number of weapons and ammunition can be obtained to support the war.

Luoyang city is surrounded by mountains, high and deep, with hard soil and easy terrain to defend but difficult to attack. The enemy took advantage of the topographical features of the city to build a high-security and permanent low-level concealed fortifications, which are not easy to be destroyed by artillery fire and extremely difficult to blast. So Chiang Kai-shek boasted about "Jincheng Tang Chi". In addition to five regiments of the 206th Division, the defenders include four companies of the Central Artillery Corps and the 5th Battalion of the Independent Automobile Team, with about 20,000 people under the unified command of Qiu Xingxiang, the commander of the 206th Division. 1945 1 month, the division is composed of unemployed and out-of-school youths from Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. The 206th Division of the Youth Army was personally trained by Chiang Kai-shek. Officers are politically reactionary, and most soldiers come from the exploiting classes. After a long period of fascist reactionary education, there is a special inspection team inside to closely monitor and fight tenaciously, so it is not easy to surrender.

The enemy garrison deployment in Luoyang is as follows: the division leads a regiment to serve as the garrison of the northwest sports ground and Luoyang Middle School in the city, and the station section from Guandi Temple in the northwest to the northeast of the city; In addition to sending one company to the American hospital, the second regiment sent one battalion to the Shangqing Palace as a peripheral stronghold, and the rest were close to the brigade headquarters as a reserve; The third regiment served as the garrison from the northeast gate to Luze Hall in the southeast of the city; In addition to the north and south sections of the west gate of the guarding city, the fourth regiment is the reserve team controlled by the division; The sixth regiment served as the garrison of Zhougong Temple, Match Company and Xigong Power Plant in the west of the city; The division barracks are stationed at the East-West Station. The 38th Division Artillery Battalion (equipped with 6 field guns), 3rd Company of 8th Artillery Regiment (equipped with 3 howitzers) and 1 4th Artillery Regiment1Section (equipped with 3 heavy mortars) are the first artillery corps, which is located in the northeast sports ground and vegetable market to support the front-line troops and the battles around the city. The division artillery battalion is the second artillery team, which is distributed in every corner of the city to cooperate with the infantry. The camp is located near Wenfeng Tower. The artillery general observation station is located on Wenfeng Tower. The enemy plans to keep one-third of the garrison troops except the special forces. Luoyang Daily boasted at that time that Luoyang was a double bag-shaped position, "easy to get in, hard to get out" and "if the * * * army attacks this city, it will undoubtedly fall". There are several unique characteristics in the construction and composition of the city defense positions: First, the positions are chosen in the highlands, relying on natural terrain or isolated schools, temples and other original buildings to form the core garrison, but they each become independent support points and form a triangular position. In order to cooperate with each other and stick to it independently, the peripheral strongholds, the main positions and the core positions of the city wall have been formed, the fortifications have been cleared, and all the houses outside the positions have been demolished. The natural terrain was transformed, many hidden bunkers were built, and deep and wide outer trenches were dug. Everything is hidden, low-level, it is difficult to get close to attack, and shelling is not good. Second, there are piled bunkers. Each breakthrough point is composed of many plum blossom-shaped bunkers, which are connected with each other, and a single fortification is connected with the squad, platoon and even fortifications. On the wall more than 20 feet high, there are many castles. There are two or three layers of perforations on the castles, and the gun holes are as dense as honeycombs, forming walls, indoor and outdoor, trenches and trenches, which are open and hidden, protruding and inconspicuous, really. Third, there are complex multi-layer fortifications on the front of the city wall, such as outer trenches, horse refusal, barbed wire, traffic ditches, mines and so on. The outer ditch is generally five meters deep and five to ten meters wide, and the ditch wall is inclined by about fifteen degrees. Less than 200 meters east and west of the East Gate, there are five barbed wires, four refused horses, three hidden bunkers and two outer trenches. There are many mines in the gap between the fortifications. There are more than 1500 mines in Zhougongmiao position alone, and more than 1000 mines are laid in a row in the northwest corner. Each position has been stocked with food, drinks and a lot of ammunition for several days, as well as kitchens, wells, dormitories, toilets and so on. Large core positions are equipped with underground wires and basement bunkers, with a maximum capacity of one or two hundred people. This is the first-level fortification called "the iron wall" by the enemy. The enemy built fortifications in this way, which was gained from the experience of losing Siping and Yuncheng. Although they have tried their best, they also have fatal weaknesses, mainly from the point of insufficient troops. There is a big gap between points and it is easy to be divided and surrounded by us. The command post and the main gun are obviously easy to be destroyed by the gunfire I found.

Through the new-style army consolidation movement and vigorous training upsurge, the political consciousness of all officers and men of our army has been greatly improved, their mental outlook has been greatly improved, their fighting mood has been unprecedentedly high, their tactical skills have been further improved and their equipment has been strengthened.

According to the enemy's situation and the superior's operational instructions, make a campaign deployment, with the third vertical of Hua Ye and the fourth vertical of Nakano as the siege, the third vertical surrounded by the east and north sides, and the siege of Dongguan and Beiguan; The fourth vertical is surrounded by the west and south, and besieged by Nanguan and Xiguan. The eighth Hua Ye longitudinal is responsible for controlling Yanshi and Heishiguan areas, serving as the enemy corps that Zhengzhou may help in the west, and the enemy corps that Xuchang and Dengfeng may help in the west. Capture the Xin 'an and Mianchi areas, the nine main forces of Nakano and the five divisions of Taiyue, and stop the Peichanghui Corps, which may be aided by Tongguan to the east. After the battle begins, the main force will be close to Luoyang as the general reserve of the campaign. The total force participating in the campaign is four columns, a total of 28 regiments. The attack is scheduled to begin on March 9. At this time, after the tenth vertical captured Taihe, they were active in Zhumadian and Queshan in the southern section of Pinghan Road, actively fighting and cooperating with the Luoyang campaign.

After I attacked the leading comrades of each column in Luoyang, I held a meeting when I returned to the station to discuss and study the operational plan of this column. On March 4th, three cases set out from Xiangxiang and Yucheng and headed for Luoyang. At dusk on the 9th, the troops crossed the Yi River and Luohe River. When they reached the south bank of the Luohe River, they were stopped by the enemy's gunfire, and three cases immediately fought back. Regardless of the long-distance attack, cold and fatigue, the troops overcame the obstacles of deep water and wide river, defeated the enemy's sniper, and pursued troops to Luoyang at the gates. That night, the 23rd Regiment of the Eighth Division sneaked into the Luohe River from the southeast corner of the city with lightning speed in the dark and unfamiliar road. Unconsciously, the enemy captured the prisoners and arrived in Dongguan. The enemy on the defensive expected that when our army besieged Luoyang, they would be prepared to burn down the houses in Dongguan, lay mines and blow up the bridge between Dongguan and the city, making it difficult for our army to get close to the siege. The ninth division invaded Beiguan the next day, occupied the East and West Railway Stations, and got support. The troops approached the city gate smoothly, quickly organized reconnaissance of the terrain and enemy fortifications, chose to build fire positions, and arranged siege operations in detail, making full preparations for breaking through the city gate. /kloc-at dawn on 0/0, all the troops of the company have advanced to the scheduled position to launch an attack. 1 1 Before noon, except for two strongholds, Kowloon Terrace and Luze Guild Hall, the fortifications were strong and could not be captured several times, and other peripheral strongholds had been eliminated. On the 9th, the main force of Nakano's Fourth Vertical Army first captured Nishimiya and Xiguan with sudden and rapid actions, cut off the connection between the city and the periphery, and continued to develop to Nanguan, thus destroying the enemy of Nanguan. 1 1 captured the king's temple before noon, 1 1 occupied the Zhougong temple in the afternoon, and wiped out the enemy regimental headquarters and two battalions. By the evening of 1 1, except for the remaining strongholds in Dongguan, such as Jiulongtai, Luze Hall and Xigong Power Plant, all these strongholds had been cleared. Because these strongholds have little influence on the siege, they are surrounded by a few troops and monitored until the main enemies in the city are annihilated.

After redeployment, we decided that all siege troops would start the general attack at dusk on 1 1. The specific tasks are as follows: the third vertical, the 23rd regiment attacked the east gate, the 24th regiment attacked the north gate, and the 25th regiment attacked the north gate. Twenty-two regiments attacked the northeast gate, and twenty-one regiments were the second echelon; The 27th regiment is a column reserve. In the fourth column, the 29th regiment attacked the west gate, the 32nd and 31st regiments attacked from the south gate, and the 28th and 30th regiments attacked from the south and west respectively.

The whole army is preparing to attack the city nervously and orderly, and commanders at all levels braved the enemy's gunfire to check the terrain of the frontier positions. The first thing that unfolded before us was a dead rubble field, which was obviously a house demolished by the enemy. In order to build so-called modern fortifications, the enemy forced people to demolish houses with bayonets at the expense of people's lives and property. Although the people knelt on the ground begging, the bandits tore down the houses within 200 meters of the city wall, leaving thousands of people homeless and crying, and some hanged themselves and jumped into wells. The inhuman behavior of the enemy aroused the great anger of the comrades, who rushed into the city and destroyed the enemy in one fell swoop. After seeing the terrain, commanders at all levels convened meetings according to their division of labor, launched democratic discussions, and studied and formulated specific operational plans. At the same time, the troops seized the time to carry out large-scale training activities before the siege. Some troops also issued a call for everyone to investigate and offer suggestions. In the huts at the gate of Luoyang, under the big trees and in the yard, soldiers and cadres sat in front of their fellow villagers in twos and threes, holding notebooks to mark the enemy's fortifications. The soldiers also made models of every bunker, every road and every trench they observed and learned, and then put forward various problems that may be encountered from commanding actions at all levels to the tasks of individuals, groups and firearms, and formulated solutions to combine the commanding intention with everyone's combat actions. All commanders and fighters made careful preparations for completing their tasks. Some blasters tied their backpacks and practiced repeatedly. Some comrades installed long wooden handles or wrapped rubber on the hay cutter to prevent the power grid from getting an electric shock. Some soldiers rubbed their weapons at each other while encouraging each other and expressing their determination. The artillery polished the shells one by one and tried to aim with the gun bore ... The whole position was tense, warm and calm.

The weather has been bad those days, either windy or rainy. The soldiers' clothes have never been dry, and there is water and mud everywhere on the ground. Everyone is looking forward to good weather when the general attack tomorrow. 1 1 day, although it is not sunny, the sun will always appear and sway twice. After noon, the ground gradually dried up, which is also an advantage and gives people some comfort. After dinner at four o'clock in the afternoon, we stood outside the headquarters, feeling very uneasy, because it was only a moment of leisure after the deployment of the battle. Not long after returning to the house, I heard the sound of gunfire mixed with a violent explosion, which shook the world. The siege has begun! Four vertical and three vertical launched five attacks at the same time, and the time was exactly seven o'clock in the evening. We stood in front of the map of Luoyang spread out on the table, listening to the report on the progress of the battle from the staff officer on the phone. Three vertical reports: Twelve obstacles outside the East Gate have been completely removed, and now they are developing in the direction of Wengcheng. Just then, the dark clouds in the sky came down like monsters, thunder exploded on the roof, lightning flashed in front of the window, guns and thunder were mixed together, and nothing could be seen. We are worried about the commanders and soldiers of the attack. At 2300 hours, Company 1 Battalion 2 broke into Wengcheng, and after an hour of fierce fighting, the enemies of the two struggling companies were wiped out. /kloc-in the early morning of 0/2, three reports: "Zhang Ming's camp was attacked very well, the east gate was broken and the city gate was blown up! The towers are occupied, and the lights in the city are still on! " At this time, the enemy concentrated almost all the heavy artillery in the city and bombarded me violently. The follow-up troops could not move forward, and the telephone of the assault battalion was interrupted, causing heavy casualties. The third column first resolutely ordered the troops to "put all your eggs in one basket, and the follow-up troops will rush into the city and tear open the big breakthrough ..." Under the tenacious fighting of the assault battalion, the whole regiment broke into the city. Although heavy casualties were paid, the breakthrough was consolidated and the enemy's defensive positions were broken, so that the 24th, 22nd and 21st regiments of the 3rd vertical also followed into the city from the east gate, and the 25th and 27th regiments also rushed into the city from the east gate to launch fierce street fighting with the enemy.

/kloc-on the afternoon of 0/2, the 4th longitudinal army broke into the city from the west gate and the south gate, and the two armies joined hands to divide and surround the enemy. By nightfall, I had wiped out most of the enemy troops on the defensive, and Qiu Hangxiang retreated to the core position in the northwest corner with the remnants of the enemy. It rained heavily that night and stopped the attack. 13, the attack on the periphery of the northwest core fortifications was reorganized. After four hours of fierce fighting, they fought fiercely with the enemy from house to house, annihilated more than 2,000 enemies and forced all the remaining enemies back to the small enclosure.

The small enclosure is the enemy's last lair. It is a group fortification consisting of deep trenches, high fortifications and tunnels, which is very strong. Qiu Xingxiang, who was personally trained by Chiang Kai-shek, tried to stick to this position with a length of less than 100 meters and dreamed of waiting for Chiang Kai-shek's reinforcements with the rest of his main force and all the light and heavy firearms he painstakingly managed and the "death squads" he bought at a high price. Our department launched two attacks on Xiaoweizi that night, but both failed. When we organized another attack, it was dawn and we had to stop temporarily.

14, the enemy reinforcements have surpassed Dengfeng and Heishiguan and are approaching Luoyang. If the fighting continues, it will be bad for us. In order to solve the battle quickly, we came to the Third Longitudinal Command and called a meeting of cadres to study how to attack the enemy's core positions. Finally, it was decided that in the afternoon, the three vertical and twenty-three regiments would attack the small enclosure from the east, the twenty regiments from the north, and the three vertical and thirty-one and thirty-two regiments from the south. Before the attack, the troops concentrated all their artillery fire and bombarded the enemy positions violently. At the headquarters, we saw the intensive and fierce artillery fire hit the enemy's position, with thick smoke and flames, the fence and turret suddenly collapsed and the small yard became a sea of fire. The shelling lasted for forty minutes, throwing more than ten thousand shells at Qiu Hangxiang, which they never expected. The enemy was stunned by my powerful artillery fire and was at a loss. 17: 20, our general attack began. In a flash, ShaSheng deafening in all directions, stirred the whole night sky of Luoyang city, the breakthrough was opened one by one. Jiang Bing shivered and ran around like mud pigs, and the "death squads" ran away like frightened sheep. At the end of the battle, we came to the small enclosure, where we saw ruins, dead bodies everywhere, and the living became prisoners. When cleaning up the prisoners, I found a thin man wearing a soldier's hat and fat soldier's clothes, mixed among the prisoners, with his head drooping. He is Qiu Xingxiang, the famous division commander of the 206th Division of the Kuomintang Youth Army. At the same time, the remaining strongholds of Jiulong Terrace and Luzetang in Dongguan and Xigong Power Plant were all destroyed. At this point, the battle of Luoyang ended with our victory and the enemy's failure. The officers and men jumped up excitedly, and cheers came and went on the battlefield: "Luoyang is liberated!" " ""Qiu was captured alive! " "206 division in lordaeron! "

In the battle of Luoyang, two brigades, five regiments, four companies of the central artillery and the fifth battalion of the independent automobile team of the 206th Division of the Youth Army were all wiped out. More than 15,000 people were captured, more than 3,000 people were killed or injured, and more than 20,000 people were wiped out. Guns 18 1 piece, 7,000 other guns such as heavy machine guns and light machine guns, more than 22,000 shells, more than 670,000 bullets/KLOC-0, 40,000 kilograms of explosives, 46 cars, 2,000 barrels of gasoline, radios and transceivers 167 were seized.

In this movement, a large number of heroic collectives and individuals emerged. For example, in this campaign, the 23rd Regiment 1 Battalion of the 3rd Vertical and 8th Division was resourceful, courageous and fearless, and successively broke through the enemy's 15th-floor barrier fortifications, opened two city gates and took the lead in breaking into the city, which opened the way for our army to attack the city and played an important role in the victory of the whole campaign. In order to commend the advanced and further carry forward the revolutionary heroism of our army, the Hua Ye Party Committee awarded the battalion the honorary title of "Luoyang Camp". There are also many vivid deeds of obeying discipline. In Luoyang city, there are clothes and shoes left by the enemy everywhere, as well as a lot of food and supplies left by the citizens. Our officers and men fought continuously in the heavy rain, and many comrades ran away in shoes and torn clothes. Some comrades have not eaten for more than a day, but they can consciously abide by policies and disciplines. There was a company commander with only one shoe left on his foot. He walks barefoot and doesn't take the shoes of his hometown. Cadres set an example, set an example and abide by discipline, influencing and driving the soldiers. Some soldiers have blood all over their feet, leaving a blood mark every step, and they don't wear shoes left by their fellow villagers. There are also those who live in homes without fellow villagers. There are fifteen cigarettes in the house. Although some soldiers can smoke, no one goes to get cigarettes. At that time, Xinhua News Agency sent a report entitled "Watch on the Table" to the whole country. The report said that after a unit of our army rushed from the east gate, when searching for the enemy, the soldiers found a steel pocket watch on the desk of a common people, and many people took a look and put it back. Until the troops withdrew from the city, the assistant instructor checked the discipline and saw that the things upstairs had not moved at all, and the steel pocket watch was still on the table, ticking away. This is just one of many touching stories. We hear such words everywhere in the city: "You are late!" "You are teachers of righteousness!"

In the battle of Luoyang, Hua Ye and Nakano cooperated closely and fought side by side. The troops participating in the siege fought bravely and tenaciously. As the troops of the ninth and fifth divisions of Nakano and the eighth and tenth divisions of Hua Ye, they fought bloody battles with reinforcements from Zhengzhou, Luohe and Xin 'an respectively, ensuring a smooth attack on Luoyang City. The victory of Luoyang campaign is the victory of Mao Zedong's military thought, and it is also the first great victory after our army launched the new-style army consolidation movement. This victory shook the enemy's confidence in guarding the city, changed the situation in the liberated areas in western Henan, improved our army's tactical skills in tackling key problems, and laid the foundation for continuing to seize big cities. At the same time, a large number of soldiers were added, the equipment of the troops was improved, and a lot of materials were added for future operations.

After the liberation of Luoyang, another problem is before us: how to manage Luoyang well. When the battle of Luoyang was in full swing, we held a meeting of directors of the Political Department, inspected the management of Xuchang and Luohe in detail, earnestly summed up the experience and lessons of these two cities in implementing policy discipline, and discussed how to implement the central government's policy toward cities. Everyone agrees that we should not only fight this battle well and liberate Luoyang, but also manage Luoyang well. Many comrades said that we have the conditions to manage this city well, because our army has strengthened its policy concept and improved its political and ideological level through the new army consolidation movement; In addition, I accepted the lessons of Xuchang and Luohe, and initially explored the experience of managing urban work; I have made full organizational preparations for the management of Luoyang this time. Comrades involved in this work also said that they must learn a set of skills in urban work to adapt to the management of more and bigger cities in the future. In order to unify the city's work, the meeting decided to set up a city work committee, which consists of the municipal defense general, the municipal government, the pro-democracy movement steering committee and the secretariat. More than 100 cadres were transferred from various columns to participate in urban work, mainly former cadres. On March 12, the Luoyang Municipal Commission for Industry and Commerce held its first meeting, formulated unified working principles, defined working guidelines, and put forward several problems that should be paid attention to in future work. Emphasize caution, strive to make fewer mistakes and not make mistakes. It is better to let go than to make mistakes; Would rather do less than do anything wrong; Expand the scope of battle and narrow the scope of attack. Emphasize unity, not compartmentalization, and obey the leadership of the working Committee and the municipal government. It is also stipulated that when troops and government officials enter the city, they need letters of introduction from political organs at or above the brigade level, and they must go through the Administration for Industry and Commerce to buy things, and the housing must be approved by the Southern Defense Command. Troops who want to enter the city must inform the Southern Defense Command in advance, and militia migrant workers are not allowed to enter the city.

The battle to liberate Luoyang is arduous, and the work of managing Luoyang is also very complicated. From the vigilance inside and outside the city, to the management of culture, education, transportation, industry and commerce, from the investigation, registration, confiscation, storage and distribution of materials, to the investigation, organization, education and relief of society, it is necessary to formulate a feasible constitution in order to win the masses and consolidate victory. After we entered the city, according to the propaganda points and work plans we studied and formulated, we took various forms and started our work quickly. Such as distributing leaflets, publishing newspapers, posting notices, holding reports and theatrical performances, vigorously publicizing the policies of our party and army, publicizing the great victory of our army, exposing the nature of Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries, and expanding the political influence of our party and army. Millions of kilograms of grain have been given to the citizens with difficulties in life, and a large number of old military uniforms have been distributed, which has made the people get practical benefits, and they are more welcome to the People's Liberation Army and thank it. Someone automatically wrote the slogan "Kill Chiang Kai-shek and set fire to save the country and the People's Liberation Army". When our army voluntarily withdrew from Luoyang, many people came to see us off. Some old people have smiles on their faces and freshly fried oil cakes in their handkerchiefs. Some old ladies are on crutches, and their baskets are filled with big newly boiled eggs. Some young women are holding dolls and holding new shoes to see our troops off.

The battle of Luoyang not only achieved a great victory in annihilating more than 20,000 enemy troops and seizing a large number of military materials, but also gained a lot of experience in implementing urban policies and managing the city well. On April 25, the Central Military Commission said in a telegram to us: "We have received a summary of the work in Luoyang. This summary is very good, that is, it is transferred to the military for reference. "