It is our impression that even in times of war, the Communists never indiscriminately killed the enemy who surrendered. But in the face of such an army, there were rumors that Chairman Mao did not accept their surrender and ordered the total annihilation of the enemy. What kind of army is this that makes the chairman hate it so much? Or is the order itself made up?
In the west of the Thousand Mile River, there are monuments to the martyrs of the Western Route Army; the Gobi Snow Mountain has left the sonorous footprints of the heroes of the Western Route Army. Today's story we want to start with the formation of the Western Route Army!
In October 1936, the Red First, Second and Red Fourth Fronts met victoriously, gradually forming a situation in which the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army stood majestically in the northwest. In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's plan to sweep away the communists, the CPC Central Committee decided to march west, open up the situation in the northwest, and connect the land lifeline with the Soviet Union at an early date. To this end, the central authorities formed several units under the command of the Red Fourth Front into the Western Route Army, with Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao leading the troops to the west.
But moving west meant a fierce battle with the Majia Army in the northwest.
At that time, the Ma Family Army was mainly composed of the Qingma Ma Bufang, Ma Buqing brothers, and The Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin brothers of Ningma. The northwest region has been the location of frequent border riots in all dynasties and dynasties, and the Ma family army is the product of the chaotic period of warlords in the Republic of China, who occupy the land as kings, burn and loot without evil. In order to preserve their own strength, they were as loyal to the Central Plains as their ancestors, but they were indeed loyal to the National Government.
After the establishment of the Western Route Army, under the call of the slogans of "opening up the international line" and "establishing an anti-Japanese base area in the northwest," the Western Route Army continued to pull out to the west. In early November 1936, the Western Route Army conquered Gulang and was about to arrive in Liangzhou.
Gulang is the gateway to Liangzhou, the strategic position is very important, after being captured by the Western Route Army, Ma Bufang asked to retake Gulang at all costs.
The troops of the Ma family army were the traditional cavalry in the northwest. Since ancient times, it has been flexible and flexible, and in history, whenever the Central Plains army entered the northwest and did not study it in depth, it would suffer a big loss.
Someone once described Ma Jiajun like this:
"Whenever they fight, they are like hungry wolves on the steppe, roaring and whirring away, leaving only a mess, they see the powerful enemy quickly retreating, seeing the backward prey, and once again sweeping the fallen leaves by an autumn wind."
The best weapons against cavalry were artillery and machine guns, but for the Red Army, which did not even have a rifle at that time, these were nothing short of a fantasy. And before that, the Red Army had never collided with cavalry of such a large scale. The battlefield also changed from a mountain forest to a vast Gobi Desert. The difficulty of the Western Expedition can be imagined.
It was in this situation that when the Western Route Army collided with the First MaJia Army, it was already doomed to failure.
Although Ma Bufang has no military attainments, and there is no difference between being a man and a bandit, he still has some skills in fighting and commanding, otherwise it would be impossible to stand firm in the northwest. He saw clearly the disadvantages of the Red Army. He ordered the Ma family army not to fight head-on with the Red Army, but to play to its own strengths, and to charge back and forth, and the Red Army had nothing to do with them.
From mid-November to mid-March 1937, the Western Route Army suffered heavy casualties and was severely short of ammunition due to lack of supplies. Under the continuous pursuit of Ma Jiajun, more than 20,000 people of the Western Route Army were almost completely annihilated.
The soldiers of the Red Army who escaped from this western expedition once described the enemy as follows:
"The enemy has a lot of cavalry, and the movement is fast" "We walked hard all night, and we wanted to find a village to have a good rest, but the enemy caught up in less than two hours!" "As soon as we stopped and prepared to rest, they rushed forward and overturned the rice cooker that had just been prepared, and everyone couldn't eat at all."
In this western expedition, Ma Jiajun also truly embodied their bandit-like character.
Ma Jiajun has a strong bad habit of the old army, they not only shoot prisoners, but also the wounded and medical soldiers, and many female fighters are also defiled and tortured by them, and they have no concept of modern army at all.
The downfall of the Ma family army was completely the bitter fruit they had buried themselves.
After the end of the National War of Resistance, Chiang Kai-shek tore up the Double Tenth Agreement and provoked a civil war in an all-round way
And Ma Bufang, who has always liked to lick the ass of the National Government, stood up again.
He threatened to compete with the People's Liberation Army, and immediately sent troops to occupy five cities in the Longdong region, greatly expanding his armed forces, and Longdong was made miserable by them for generations.
In order to achieve a comprehensive victory in the War of Liberation, the Northwest Field Army decided to eliminate this reactionary army! Therefore, the 359th Brigade was sent to attack Heshui and surround Ma Bufang's troops in the Heshui area. However, because the enemy had already prepared, although our army eventually entered Heshui, because there was no reserve outside the city, coupled with the rush of Ma Bufang's son Ma Jiyuan to Heshui, the 359th Brigade, which was attacked by the enemy on its back, could only be forced to withdraw from Heshui, otherwise it would face the risk of being completely annihilated.
After this battle, Ma Bufang feasted on the three armies. Our army, on the other hand, has painstakingly pondered the pain, extracted useful experiences and lessons from the defeats, and formulated corresponding operational plans for the next battle.
In August 1949, Chairman Mao issued the Instructions on Annihilating ma bandits and bufang, which opened the prologue to the elimination of the Ma family army and the liberation of the great northwest.
Peng Dehuai immediately began to plan the battle after receiving the order. In his opinion, after such a long period of development, the First Field Army, whether it is weapons and equipment or the size of the army, is no longer the weak Red Army it was then. Today's Ma Jiajun is just a ragtag bunch, a bunch of local bandits who burn and loot. What really needs to be considered is the Hu Zongnan troops stationed in the northwest.
In order not to aggravate ethnic contradictions, before sending troops, Peng Dehuai specifically ordered that pork lard and other foods should not be carried.
At this time, Hu Zongnan and Ma Bufang were also staring at each other, and neither of them wanted to be cannon fodder for each other. In June 1949, Hu Zongnan retreated to Shaanxi, while Ma Jiajun retreated to the Changwu area.
Since it was decided to deal with Ma Bufang, Peng Dehuai, according to the instructions of the Central Military Commission, two armies watched Hu Zongnan's regular Kuomintang troops, and the other troops pursued Ma Jiajun. This also led to the Battle of Lanzhou, before that, Peng Dehuai took the lead in conquering Linxia with the 62nd Army of the 1st Corps and the 18th Corps, and how to reach Xining, cutting off Ma Bufang's retreat.
The Northwest Erma watched as his territory was liberated and shouted at Hu Zongnan, don't run, or we'll all be doomed!
Erma and Hu Zongnan, after a period of confusion, began to make plans for the Battle of Lanzhou. In the end, Ma Bufang used Lan to deplete the strength of the People's Liberation Army, and Ma Hongkui and Hu Zongnan took the opportunity to pinch each other from both sides.
Ma Bufang also threatened:
"Lanzhou is an iron city, and if Peng Dehuai attacks the city, our plan to lure the enemy deeper will surely annihilate them all!"
On August 22, 1949, after a tentative attack on the Majiajun position on the outskirts of Lanzhou, the officers and men of Yiye, who were accustomed to fighting bayonets with Hu Zongnan's troops and slightly light enemies, suddenly encountered the outlaws of the Majiajun wielding sabers, and they failed to take the outer positions.
On August 25, the Lanzhou general offensive began. The People's Liberation Army opened the way with heavy artillery that captured Hu Zongnan, and the Majia army was completely defeated. The 7th Division of the 3rd Army of the 2nd Corps even burned a wall of fire on their inevitable path, cutting off the enemy's retreat! This time, our army swept away the previous haze and annihilated the main force of the Majia Army in Lanzhou, and when Lanzhou was successfully liberated, the Majia army suffered more than 10,000 casualties and 42,000 people were captured; and our army also suffered more than 8,000 casualties.
The victory in the Battle of Lanzhou opened the door for the liberation of the northwest!
The next step was to deal with the more ferocious Ma Hongkui, who, after being defeated by Peng Dehuai, set fire to Yinchuan, broke the Yellow River, used countless cruel means, and even threatened to burn ningxia. In the end, even his men were willing to listen to his orders and expressed their desire to surrender!
But did Chairman Mao really say that "do not accept surrender, annihilate all"?
Our army has always given preferential treatment to prisoners, especially prisoners in the northwest region, and the political work department also clearly wrote that "the communist party's liberation of the northwest is fundamentally different from the historical Pingxi, Zhengxi, and Western Regions..."
Those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world, and if they want to liberate the northwest, they fundamentally want to emancipate themselves ideologically; it is easy to destroy one Majia army, but it is not easy to talk about destroying thousands of Majia army. Only by truly liberating them ideologically will they not say to stand up again to another Ma Jiajun!
It is also written in the history of the Party and the Military:
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has shown more favorable care for prisoners in the northwest; it has adopted more generous reforms for the minority nationalities in the northwest.
Therefore, this decree itself was invented by people, and in order to resolve ethnic contradictions, Chairman Mao has been working on the settlement of the national question since the founding of New China. How could he make a move to completely annihilate the Ma Family Army!
The Communist Party has always been a civilized division, a people's division armed with workers and peasants, and has always adhered to the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, doing practical and good things for the people!