During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, most of the battles between the Red Army and the Kuomintang army were tens of thousands of people, and although the Kuomintang army could sometimes mobilize hundreds of thousands and 200,000 people, the scale of the Red Army's investment of more than 100,000 people was almost none.
The Red Army invested nearly 80,000 people in the Xiangjiang Campaign, and the Red Fourth Front Army invested 80,000 people in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Anti-Sixth Route Siege Red Fourth Front Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army invested more than 100 regiments and about 200,000 people in the Battle of 100 Regiments at one time.
The real large-scale decisive battle between our army and the Kuomintang army was during the War of Liberation.
For example, the Huaihai Campaign, a battle in which the People's Liberation Army invested 600,000 troops at a time,
The battlefield scope of the Huaihai Campaign covered Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and other provinces, involving a wide area.
The Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army of the People's Liberation Army were all dispatched and launched the Huaihai Campaign under the command of Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Su Yu and others
Both sides invested a large amount of troops and materials, including 600,000 PLA troops and 800,000 Kuomintang troops.
The two sides have 1.4 million troops, mostly elite troops. 1.4 million people fought fiercely for 66 days, and the battle process was thrilling, and the PLA annihilated a total of 550,000 Kuomintang troops.
The scale of the Huaihai Campaign and the fierceness of the battle are rare in the history of Chinese warfare, and it can be said that it is unprecedented.
Two of the ten marshals participated in the Huaihai Campaign, three of the ten generals participated in the Huaihai Campaign, and nearly half of the generals participated in the campaign. After this battle, the strength of the Nakano bird gun was greatly increased.
The Liaoshen Campaign was the first large-scale decisive battle between our army and the Kuomintang army, and our army surpassed the Kuomintang army in terms of strength in this battle.
At that time, the Northeast Field Army had 12 main columns, 15 independent divisions, three cavalry divisions, and special operations units, and a total of more than 700,000 field troops. The Northeast Kuomintang army had four corps of about 550,000 people. The combined number of the two sides is 1.25 million.
In September 1948, the Northeast Field Army attacked on all fronts, conquered Shenyang, Changchun, and Jinzhou, divided and encircled the 55th Kuomintang Army, and the two sides fought fiercely for 52 days, and the East Field wiped out a total of 470,000 Kuomintang troops and liberated the entire Northeast territory. Higashino was the first field army to complete the mission.
After the liberation of Northeast China, the main force of Dongye moved south, and in 1949, nearly 800,000 people attacked the Kuomintang army in North China.
The total strength of the North China Military Region and the Northeast Field Army is about 1 million. The Kuomintang army in North China numbered 520,000, and the total strength of both sides in the Pingjin Campaign exceeded 1.5 million.
The Northeast Field Army and the North China Military Region jointly launched the Pingjin Campaign. The North China Military Region successively conquered Zhangjiakou and eliminated Fu Zuoyi's ace 35th Army, and Dongye concentrated 320,000 troops to conquer Tianjin and annihilated 100,000 troops of Tianjin's defenders.
In the end, the People's Liberation Army eliminated and reorganized a total of 52 Kuomintang, and most of North China was liberated in this battle, leaving only an isolated city of Taiyuan.
The scale of the three major battles has exceeded the scale of one million, the Liaoshen Campaign People's Liberation Army 700,000 Kuomintang 550,000, the Pingjin Campaign People's Liberation Army 1 million, the Kuomintang army 520,000, the Liaoshen Campaign People's Liberation Army 600,000, the Kuomintang army 800,000,
However, there was one battle that surpassed the three major battles in scale, and that was the Battle of Crossing the River, which was the largest battle in the War of Liberation.
In the battle of crossing the river, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) participated in the battle of crossing the river with a total of 1.2 million troops from the Second Field Army, the third, fourth, and fifth corps, the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth corps of the Third Field Army, and two corps from the 12th Corps of the Fourth Field Army.
The Kuomintang army had 450,000 troops under Tang Enbo and 250,000 troops under Bai Chongxi, a total of 700,000 people formed the Yangtze River defense line to oppose the million-strong division of the People's Liberation Army.
The Kuomintang army also mobilized the navy and air force, and the three major arms of the armed forces were dispatched at the same time, 120 warships and 300 combat aircraft, in an attempt to cross the Yangtze River by using the People's Liberation Army, which is the main theme of the navy, land and air force.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao once used 800,000 people to cross the Yangtze River, but was burned by Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. This difficult problem is again facing the PLA.
Although the Kuomintang did not have an advantage in troops, they had an air force and navy superiority, and the PLA did not have a decent warship at all. Air support is almost blank.
Although the PLA has an absolute superiority in troops, this campaign had to cross the river, and more than 1 million people needed a large number of ships to cross the river, and the PLA did not have a navy, so it finally decided to cross the river by wooden sailing boats.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) was divided into three groups, which were divided into three attack groups: eastern, central, and western.
With the 8th Corps of General Chen Shiyu of the Third Field Army, he commanded the 20th, 26th, 34th, and 35th armies.
General Ye Fei's 10th Corps commanded the 23rd, 28th, 29th, and 31st armies and three independent brigades of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, a total of 2 corps, 8 corps, and 3 brigades with a total of 350,000 people to form the Eastern Assault Group, with General Su Yu as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Assault Group.
The 21st, 22nd, and 24th armies were commanded by the 7th Corps of General Wang Jian'an of the Third Field Army.
General Song Shilun's 9th Corps commanded the 25th, 27th, 30th, and 33rd armies, and a total of 300,000 people from 2 corps and 6 armies formed the Central Assault Group, with Tan Zhen as the commander-in-chief of the Central Assault Group.
The 10th, 11th, and 12th armies were commanded by the 3rd Corps of General Chen Xilian of the Second Field Army.
General Chen Geng's 4th Corps commanded the 13th, 14th, and 15th armies, and General Yang Yong's 5th Corps commanded the 16th, 17th, and 18th armies and the first unit of the Central Plains Military Region, with a total of 350,000 people in three corps and 10 corps, and a total of 120,000 people in the First Division of the Fourth Field Army also joined the Western Group
Liu Bo, commander of the Second Field Army, assumed the post of commander-in-chief
This campaign was attended by 1.2 million men from eight corps, and almost all the main forces of the Second Field Army and the Third Field Army were dispatched.
1.2 million troops were invested at one time, and the battle of crossing the river in the War of Liberation was the largest number of troops, and the Kuomintang army invested a total of 700,000 troops in the sea, land and air, and the strength of both sides was close to 2 million.
On April 20, 1949, the People's Liberation Army's million-strong division, 10,000 ships, and three assault groups rushed to the south bank of the Yangtze River like three giant dragons.
Braving the enemy's air and sea firepower, the PLA drove wooden sailing boats across the Yangtze River and successively conquered Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and other major cities, and after 42 days of bloody battles, the PLA wiped out a total of 430,000 Kuomintang troops, and the remaining enemy troops fled.
The battle of crossing the Yangtze River was the largest battle in the War of Liberation, and the PLA successively invested 1.2 million troops in eight corps, and two marshals, three generals, and more than 20 generals all participated in this battle.
The battle of crossing the river was also the only battle in which three field armies of the four major field armies of the People's Liberation Army participated.
Therefore, the battle of crossing the river is the largest battle in the War of Liberation.