In February 1938, Liao's department was reorganized into the 656th Regiment of the 328th Brigade of the 110th Division, and Liao Yunzhou served as the colonel. Three months later, Liao Yunzhou took the lead in the Battle of Taierzhuang and led his subordinates to make many achievements.
In October 1938, the Battle of Wuhan was in full swing, and the Songpu Division of the Japanese army invading China was surrounded by Chinese troops. The Japanese army, which was outside the encirclement, was ordered to attack eastward to rescue the Songpu Division. When this group of Japanese reinforcements rushed straight to De'an, Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth Theater, in order to ensure that the battle would achieve the results of the total annihilation of the Japanese Songpu Division, in addition to ordering five divisions to go south to block the gap, also ordered the defenders with too large defensive areas to appropriately shrink and concentrate. Liao Yunzhou's regiment shifted its position with the large army and rushed to the front of the battlefield. After Liao Yunzhou led his troops to the small col west of Qixi, he met Xin Shaoting, the commander of the 328th Brigade, who had arrived first, and the two decided to deal a blow to the Japanese army who were in hot pursuit.
Liao Yunzhou
The Chinese army had garrisons stationed at Xiao'ao, but when they heard that the Japanese were about to kill, the defenders fled and abandoned this favorable terrain. What is even more shameful is that when he fled in a hurry, he ignored the ammunition depot behind the high ground and stored tens of thousands of shells. Fortunately, Liao Yunzhou's troops arrived first and were able to hit the Japanese with the remaining shells.
Brigade Commander Xin transferred 4 mortars to Liao Yunzhou to strengthen the firepower of the ambush, and with the original 8 guns, the chances of winning the ambush were even greater. For a time, the troops were filled with high enthusiasm for combat, and the officers and men of the whole regiment quickly entered the ambush position in accordance with the combat arrangement
After nightfall, the Japanese advance guard troops, who were closely pursuing the 656th Regiment, slowly entered the ambush circle. With the gunfire of Liao Yunzhou, the 12 guns of the 656th Regiment suddenly fired revenge shells at the Japanese convoy on the road. Only the sound of righteous cannons was deafening, and the mountains, rivers and the earth trembled. The tanks in front of the Japanese army were the first to be destroyed, the road to advance was blocked, and the convoy behind suddenly became the prey of our artillery. The gunners operated calmly, fired accurately into the enemy group one after another, and the Japanese military vehicles were shot one after another and caught fire, and the invaders who had lost their conscience were blown to pieces, and the highway became their graveyard. The angry Japanese set up their machine guns, but they could not even see the figure of a Chinese soldier, so they could only blindly strafe everywhere.
In this campaign, our army delayed a complete division of the Japanese army by more than a day with an ordinary regiment of the miscellaneous army, destroyed more than 20 tanks (including some combat vehicles) and dozens of trucks of the Japanese army, and annihilated hundreds of Japanese soldiers, but not a single soldier was killed or wounded. When this beautiful ambush battle became known to the Chinese people, it caused a sensation on the battlefields outside Wuhan for a time, and the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government also issued a special commendation order, praising Liao Tuan's "brilliant results", and Liao Yunzhou became a legendary anti-Japanese hero, which attracted the attention of the Chinese people.
Lying on the back and trying to raise the courage to revolt
In the autumn of 1939, Liao Yunzhou, then the commander of the 656th Regiment of the 10th Division, was transferred to the cadre training class of the 31st Group Army as a captain because he was suspected of collaborating with the Communist Party. Fortunately, after more than a year of investigation, the suspicion was lifted, and Liao Yunzhou was retransferred back to the 110th Division as deputy division commander in 1941, and took over the position of division commander in 1942. This incident was a big warning to Liao Yunzhou's overly frequent activities, and since then he has been more cautious and cautious.
In October 1945, the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan established the National Army Work Department, and Bo Yibo and Jing Renqiu, who were in charge of the work of the department, sent Comrade Xu Ren to contact Liao Yunzhou. Three months later, Xu Ren, who had a basic understanding of all aspects of the 110th Division, secretly returned to Handan and reported to the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China on the work of Liao Yunzhou's department, and reported Liao's hand-copied copy of the Kuomintang Army's "1946 Operational Summary and 1947 Key Offensive Plan" to the Central Bureau. The Central Bureau reported these materials to Yan'an, providing strong evidence for the timely exposure of the civil war conspiracy of the Kuomintang reactionaries.
At the end of the following year, Liu Hao returned to the 110th Division and announced the establishment of the working group, whose task was to organize an uprising in northern Henan. However, the situation changed suddenly, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 85th Army to quickly move to Xuzhou. The working group immediately sent Comrade Xu Ren back to the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan Central Bureau of the CPC to report to Comrade Kong Xiangchu, director of the Liaison Department. After studying, the Central Bureau approved the general policy for the work of Liao Yunzhou's department: to hold an uprising under the necessary condition of "the People's Liberation Army responding"; The task before the uprising was mainly to collect military intelligence for the PLA.
In February 1947, the 110th Division was transferred to Shandong, and Liu Hao went to Yanggu County to meet Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and Deng instructed to transfer the underground party relations of the 110th Division to the East China Central Bureau. Subsequently, Chen Yi, then deputy secretary of the East China Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China, gave special instructions to the party's work in the 110th Division: At present, intelligence is more important than the uprising, and it is necessary to give full play to the role of Liao Yunzhou. In view of Liu Hao's identity, the enemy was aware of it, and in order to unify the leadership, the East China Central Bureau approved the establishment of an underground party committee in the 110th Division.
In the summer of the same year, the underground party committee of the 110th Division of the Communist Party of China was established, with Liao Yunzhou as secretary, Liu Hao as deputy secretary, and Li Juncheng, Xu Ren, and Liao Yimin as members. After the establishment of the underground party committee of the 110th Division, it actively provided the PLA with the political and military intelligence of the Kuomintang, and effectively cooperated with the actions of our army. At the same time, Liao Yunzhou also took advantage of his relationship with the upper echelons of the Kuomintang to "recommend" Li Da and Wang Changfan, deputy division commanders who were hindering the work of the underground party in the army, to Hu Zongnan and Wang Zhongqian, and let them be "promoted" and transferred from the 110th Division. Liao Yunzhou also adjusted the positions of some officers who were stubborn in their thinking and were not easy to win over, and removed obstacles.
Chiang Kai-shek had always been extremely uneasy about the miscellaneous army, fearing that it would turn red, so he personally sent the "people's service team," a spy organization, to the division to supervise the troops and officers in the name of rectifying military discipline. Less than a month after they came to the 110th Division, these spies tied up and confined a company commander for playing mahjong, shot a squad leader, beat and scolded countless soldiers, and the soldiers dared not speak out. Seeing this, Liao Yunzhou, through the backbone of party members, secretly mobilized officers and soldiers to confront them. Whichever company they want to go to, they will ventilate and report in advance, so that the company can be prepared, or they will conduct training, or drills, or have meals in advance, so as to prevent them from stationing in the place casually, and not provide them with food and lodging, and so on. The spies are often dumb and eat coptis, and some of them can't bear it, so they ask for leave and slip away. Liao Yunzhou also often used the pretext of setting up condolence groups to go to hospitals in various places to comfort the wounded and sick, and to spend money on the "people's service team."
In carrying out these activities, in order to confuse Wu Shaozhou, commander of the 85 th Army, Liao Yunzhou also promoted Yang Liuying, commander of the 328th Regiment, whom Wu trusted more, to deputy division commander, and promoted Jiang Jixin, commander of the first battalion of the regiment, to regiment commander. Because these people are relatively progressive in their thinking compared to other diehards, it is estimated that there will be no major problems if they are placed in this position, and they can still be fought for. He also won over Liu Xiehou, the acting chief of staff of the division who was ideologically progressive, approved him as a reserve party member, and promoted him to the commander of the 329th Regiment; Jin Hanzhang, the deputy head of the regiment who fought bravely against Japan and was dissatisfied with the Kuomintang regime, was promoted to the head of the 330th Regiment.
Liao Yunzhou learned the lesson of the losses suffered by the PLA due to the lack of intelligence contacts in the previous two years of fighting, and strengthened the intelligence network between the division and the PLA: He sent Yang Zhenhai, an underground party member, to the reconnaissance company as deputy company commander, and still retained the name of adjutant to facilitate operations; Let Xu Ren, an underground party member, be in charge of the work of the Hankou Detention Office in order to collect Kuomintang military intelligence and keep abreast of its movements; Liao Yunzhou and Li Juncheng were also personally responsible for the front work. At that time, according to their division of labor, Li Juncheng was mainly responsible for liaison with the head of the Central Plains Bureau, Liao Yunzhou was responsible for operational and intelligence work, and Liao Yimin, an underground party member, was responsible for contacts inside and outside the party in the division.
Through the long-term work and efforts of Liao Yunzhou and the underground party members in the 110th Division, the 110th Division gradually became a Kuomintang army that was truly under the control of our party. As the time for the uprising on the battlefield was ripe, the patriotic officers and soldiers were all looking forward to it.
The battlefield uprising is a miraculous feat
The opportunity that Liao Yunzhou and others were looking forward to finally came: on November 6, 1948, the Second and Third Field Armies led by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping launched the Huaihai Campaign, dividing and encircling more than 600,000 Kuomintang troops. Under these circumstances, Chiang Kai-shek abandoned the plan to withdraw troops south of the Huai River and urgently mobilized troops to prepare for a decisive battle with the PLA in the Xuzhou area.
On the 8th, the third day of the Huaihai Campaign launched by our army, the Huang Wei Corps, which was assembled in the Central China "Suppression Commander" in the Queshan and Zhumadian areas of Henan, began to advance eastward to reinforce the Huaihai battlefield. Liao Yunzhou's 85th Army was subordinate to Huang Wei's Corps, so it also moved from the Hubei battlefield to the Huaihai battlefield to prepare for reinforcements.
Huang Wei's corps was Chiang Kai-shek's descendant, well-equipped and had strong combat effectiveness. In view of this, in accordance with the instructions of the Party Central Committee, the General Front Committee of the Huaihai Campaign decided to annihilate Huang Wei's corps at any cost, with the Central Plains Field Army as the mainstay.
On November 24, the 85th Army arrived near Zhaoji from Mengcheng. At this time, the People's Liberation Army took the initiative to abandon Nanpingji for strategic purposes. Huang Wei mistakenly believed that the PLA had been "repulsed", so he ordered all armies to actively reconnoiter and prepare to continue the attack on Suxian. But he never imagined that at this time, a large number of PLA troops were moving south, and had already occupied Mengcheng, cutting off Huang Wei's rear supply line, and his entire corps had automatically drilled into the PLA's bag-shaped position.
Soon, Huang Wei sensed the intention of the PLA, and he immediately carried out the deployment of troop transfers, abandoned the plan to attack Suxian, and prepared to break through, but it was too late. The next day, the march of Huang Wei's corps was unusually slow, and not a single unit reached its intended destination, but on the contrary, before its breakthrough operation began, the PLA began to attack in an all-out way, and on this day the encirclement of Huang Wei's corps was basically completed, and the PLA began to change from movement warfare to positional warfare.
At about 5 p.m. on the 26th, Huang Wei sent someone to find Liao Yunzhou, who had just returned from the front line, and told him: The air force reconnaissance report just now said that the enemy's encirclement of our corps had been formed at 3 o'clock this afternoon, and they were building fortifications. I want to take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold and take it by surprise. Therefore, it was decided to select 4 main divisions to advance in unison and quickly break through.
Liao Yunzhou immediately realized that Huang Wei's move was very powerful: although Huang Wei's entire corps was surrounded and the troops were somewhat consumed, the unit was well-equipped and the structure was still complete, and the People's Liberation Army had a firm foothold. At the same time, Liao Yunzhou also realized that this was also a good opportunity to take advantage of, and he must immediately hold a battlefield uprising to break Huang Wei's breakthrough plan. So, Liao Yunzhou asked Huang Wei to take the lead and was willing to be a pioneer. Huang Wei didn't expect Liao Yunzhou to support his decision-making so much, and praised and encouraged him.
Liao Yunzhou then sent the breakthrough plan of Huang Wei's corps to the top commander of the PLA front, and at the same time reported his plan to lead his troops to revolt, and in order to avoid misunderstanding on the battlefield, he also proposed to ask the PLA forward troops to make a hole on the left flank of the 110th Division's breakthrough, and then seal the opening after the 110th Division passed. After careful consideration, the front-line leaders of the People's Liberation Army approved Liao Yunzhou's plan.
Considering that both flanks of the 110th Division were enemy troops, and it was afraid that it would be detrimental to the uprising, Liao Yunzhou also met with Huang Wei again and suggested that the main division of the 18th Army should be left in the reserve of the corps and respond to the front-line battle at any time. Let the 110th Division act first, and if the progress is successful, the other divisions can quickly follow up and expand the results. Huang Wei agreed to Liao Yunzhou's plan.
On November 27, more than 5,000 people of the 110th Division (owed to the 328th Regiment) braved the cold wind of the Huaibei Plain to drive out of Zhouzhuang and Zhaozhuang near Shuangduiji on time, and rapidly advanced on the road leading to the PLA position according to the proposed route. Due to the relatively good mobilization and secrecy work before the uprising, during the 30-mile march from Shuangduiji to the destination Wudazhuang and Xizhangzhuang, although the walkie-talkies of each battalion were turned on, there was no leakage of secrets, and there were no desertions or stragglers. Huang Wei was not aware of the actions of the 110th Division, but kept asking about their progress, and Liao Yunzhou also kept reporting to him that "the breakthrough went smoothly".
In this way, on the fields shrouded in dense fog, the rebel troops, with white cloths tied on their arms, led by liaison officers sent by the PLA, quickly passed through the encirclement and reached the assembly area under the cover of the dense gunfire of the PLA. After all Liao Yunzhou's troops passed, the PLA troops immediately blocked the passage, and the uprising of the 110th Division was a complete success, and this uprising also became a turning point in the annihilation of Huang Wei's corps.
While Liao Yunzhou was celebrating with Commander Wang Jinshan, the front-line commander of the People's Liberation Army, after the uprising, Huang Wei and others were still confidently waiting for the news of Liao Yunzhou's victory. And when the news of Liao Yunzhou's battlefield uprising reached Huang Wei's headquarters, Huang Wei was so shocked that he was speechless for a long time.
On December 6, the field army units of our army launched a general attack on the Huang Wei Corps besieged in the Shuangduiji area. In just 10 days, more than 100,000 people from 11 divisions of 4 corps and 1 fast column of Huang Wei's 12th Corps were annihilated, except for scattered people who escaped. On 24 July, Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu also sent a congratulatory telegram congratulating Liao Yunzhou on "returning to the big revolutionary family" and leading the officers and men of the 110th Division to "embark on a bright road."
After the founding of the People's Republic of China
After the founding of New China, Liao Yunzhou successively served as president and deputy secretary of the party committee of the Shenyang Artillery School, director of the Jilin Provincial Sports Commission, member of the Standing Committee and secretary general of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, deputy director of the Working Committee for the Reunification of the Motherland (later deputy secretary of the party group), director of the Whampoa Military Academy Alumni Association, and was awarded the rank of major general at the first award ceremony held by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1955.
In 1995, in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, despite his old age and illness, he attended a symposium to review his personal feelings of participating in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and carry out patriotic propaganda. On May 11, 1996, General Liao Yunzhou died of illness in Beijing at the age of 93.