On September 12, 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign began. At that time, the Nationalist army had two ace armies, the New One and the New Sixth, and wei Lihuang, Zheng Dongguo and Liao Yaoxiang and other famous generals, so many people thought that this battle would be difficult to fight. However, in the end, Higashino won a complete victory, killing and wounding 470,000 enemy prisoners at the cost of 69,000 casualties.
The reasons for this result are, of course, manifold. In fact, before the Liaoshen Campaign began, the Nationalist army was already in a position of inevitable defeat. There are three main reasons.
The first reason is that before the Liaoshen Campaign began, the Northeast Nationalist Army was already in an unfavorable situation of being divided and encircled. At that time, Dongye had controlled 97% of the land and 86% of the population of the northeast, and the main force of the Nationalist army was divided into three disconnected areas of Shenyang, Changchun and Jinzhou.
Since the Bac Ninh line had been cut off by Dongye, the supplies of the Nationalist army could only be maintained by airlift. Changchun alone requires 60 tons of materials per day, and due to the high cost of air transportation, the supply can only be halved. The nationalist army was already in a divided disadvantageous position, the supply of materials could not be satisfied, and the morale was even lower.
Soon after, the People's Liberation Army occupied dafangsheng Airport, completely blocking the Kuomintang Air Force's airdrop of Changchun. After the air supply was cut off, the Changchun defenders began to starve. Six division commanders of the New Seventh Army and the Sixtieth Army jointly sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, telling about the difficult situation of the Changchun garrison under siege and requesting that reinforcements be sent to relieve the siege.
Soon, the six division commanders all received a reply from Old Jiang, with the same content: "I am like a brother and nephew to you and your soldiers, and I have not for a moment not cared about your hardships." However, if you are not ready, the reinforcements will be annihilated on the way, and I hope that you will work hard and persevere to the end. ”
Old Chiang's attitude was tantamount to leaving the Changchun defenders to fend for themselves. In desperation, Zheng Dongguo had to do his best to maintain the supply of the two main forces of the new Thirty-eighth Division of the New Seventh Army and the 182nd Division of the Sixtieth Army, and the other four divisions could only boil vegetable soup and drink. Eating has become a problem, how to fight the battle?
The second reason was that in the Liaoshen Campaign, Dongye had an absolute superiority in troop strength. At that time, the Northeast Nationalist Army had 4 corps and 14 corps, plus local security regiments and other armed forces, with a total strength of 550,000 people. Dongye had 12 infantry columns, 1 artillery column, 1 railway column, 15 independent divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, a total of 54 divisions and 700,000 people, in addition to 300,000 local troops.
In this way, The total strength of Higashino's army has exceeded one million, which is 450,000 more than that of his opponents! In terms of the comparison of troops, Higashino has an absolute advantage, whether it is a siege or a reinforcement, it is more than enough. In addition, the two aces of the Northeast Nationalist Army, the New First Army and the New Sixth Army, have suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, and their combat effectiveness has long been different from the past.
After the New First Army entered the Northeast Battlefield, the three divisions were each knocked out of two regiments, of which the New 30th Division lost the 89th and 90th Regiments; the New 38th Division lost the 112th and 113th Regiments; and the 50th Division lost the 149th and 150th Regiments. Subsequently, these six regiments were quickly rebuilt, but the added recruits were far less effective than the veterans who had been baptized by the War of Resistance.
The situation of the New Sixth Army is similar to that of the New First Army, of the three divisions, only the New 22nd Division has the smallest losses and is still alive. Let's take another example, the main force of the Changchun garrison, the New 7th Army, was expanded on the basis of the new 38th Division of the New First Army, and was a unit of the Central Army, with more than 30,000 people in three divisions under its jurisdiction.
Among these three divisions, the predecessor of the provisional 56th Division was the puppet Manchu unit, and although the whole division had 7,000 troops when it was reorganized, its combat effectiveness was very weak; the provisional 61st Division was also reorganized from the security forces, and its combat effectiveness was half a pound and eight two compared with that of the provisional 56th Division. The only thing that could fight was the newly formed 38th Division. The strength of the army was originally 450,000 less than that of Dongye, and the combat effectiveness of the ace army was seriously weakened, and it was strange that the national army did not lose.
The third reason, in the Liaoshen Campaign, Dongye's artillery completely crushed the opponent in numbers. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our army took the lead in entering the northeast, and the Soviet Red Army transferred many weapons and ammunition left by our army to the Kwantung Army, of which more than 1800 artillery of various types were used.
After the Liberation War began, Dongye continued to capture on the battlefield, and the number of artillery pieces increased. Before the Liaoshen Campaign began, Dongye had far surpassed the Nationalist army in terms of artillery. Let's take an example and you will understand.
During the Jinzhou Campaign, the number of artillery pieces in Dongye reached more than 900, of which more than 320 were heavy mountain guns, field guns, howitzers and cannons, in addition to 15 tanks. What was the number of artillery pieces of the Jinzhou defenders at that time? Only 70 doors! The two sides are not on the same order of magnitude at all.
Before the war, it was in an unfavorable situation of being divided, with 450,000 fewer troops than Dongye, and the number of artillery was not as good as Dongye, coupled with the wrong command of Lao Jiang, which doomed the national army in the Liaoshen Campaign to the end.