The Three Major Campaigns Against the KMT Rule

In the autumn of 1948, the War of Liberation reached a decisive stage. Based on an in-depth analysis of the situation, the CPC Central Committee headed by Mao Zedong recognized that the time was right to launch campaigns on three battlefields, and took advantage of the opportunity with well-conceived strategies. The three major campaigns – Liaoxi-Shenyang, Huai-Hai and Beiping-Tianjin – provided a firm foundation for nationwide victory in the War of Liberation.

In September 1948, Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan (1902-1963), commanding 1.03 million troops of the Northeast Field Army and the local armed forces, launched a campaign against the 550,000-strong KMT forces that had been isolated in the cities of Jinzhou, Changchun and Shenyang. The campaign lasted 52 days before the whole of Northeast China was liberated. The victory expanded the Northeast Field Army into a powerful force, and created favorable conditions for the liberation of the cities of Beiping and Tianjin and the whole of North China. Northeast China became a strategic rear area with strong industrial foundations for the War of Liberation.

In November, following the success of the campaign in Northeast China, the General Front Committee, with Deng Xiaoping as secretary, commanding more than 600,000 troops of the East China Field Army, the Central Plains Field Army and some local armed forces, launched a campaign in a vast region centering on the city of Xuzhou, extending from Haizhou in the east to Shangqiu in the west, from Lincheng (today's Xuecheng) in the north to the Huaihe River in the south. The campaign lasted 66 days and created the conditions necessary for the PLA to cross the Yangtze River and liberate the centers of KMT governance in Nanjing and Shanghai.

At the end of November 1948, under the leadership of the General Front Committee composed of Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan and Nie Rongzhen, the PLA started a campaign in a region extending from Zhangjiakou in the west to the coastal cities of Tanggu and Tangshan in the east, including Beiping and Tianjin. This campaign concluded after 64 days, with Beiping being liberated peacefully on January 31, 1949, and the whole of North China had thereby been liberated.

Through these three major campaigns, the PLA eliminated KMT forces of 1.54 million, including their crack troops, thus accelerating the pace toward a nationwide victory. The general population also played a great role in the decisive battles. Almost 9 million peasants supported the fighting at the front lines, providing more than 360,000 stretchers and transporting goods and materials with more than one million carts.

Victory in these three major campaigns demonstrated the strength of Mao Zedong thought on the military, and represented a critical turning point in the War of Liberation.

三大戰(zhàn)役

1948年秋，人民解放戰(zhàn)爭進(jìn)入奪取全國勝利的戰(zhàn)略決戰(zhàn)階段。以毛澤東為核心的中共中央科學(xué)地分析戰(zhàn)爭形勢，正確把握戰(zhàn)略決戰(zhàn)的時(shí)機(jī)，選定決戰(zhàn)方向，并針對(duì)不同戰(zhàn)場的特點(diǎn)制定作戰(zhàn)方針，連續(xù)組織遼沈、淮海、平津三大戰(zhàn)役，并使三大戰(zhàn)役各個(gè)戰(zhàn)役的各個(gè)階段之間環(huán)環(huán)相扣，推動(dòng)人民解放戰(zhàn)爭從勝利走向勝利。

1948年9月，林彪、羅榮桓指揮東北野戰(zhàn)軍主力和地方武裝共103萬人，在東北人民的支援下，向分割在錦州、長春、沈陽等地的55萬國民黨軍發(fā)起遼沈戰(zhàn)役。這次戰(zhàn)役歷時(shí)52天勝利結(jié)束，解放了東北全境，使東北野戰(zhàn)軍成為一支強(qiáng)大的戰(zhàn)略后備隊(duì)，為解放平津和全華北創(chuàng)造了有利條件，并為解放戰(zhàn)爭提供了一個(gè)鞏固的、具有一定工業(yè)基礎(chǔ)的戰(zhàn)略后方。

1948年11月遼沈戰(zhàn)役結(jié)束后，以鄧小平為書記的總前委統(tǒng)一指揮華東野戰(zhàn)軍、中原野戰(zhàn)軍及部分地方武裝約60余萬人，以徐州為中心，在東起海州、西至商丘、北起臨城（今薛城）、南達(dá)淮河的廣闊地區(qū)，發(fā)起規(guī)模巨大的淮海戰(zhàn)役。這次戰(zhàn)役歷時(shí)66天勝利結(jié)束，為解放軍渡江作戰(zhàn)，進(jìn)而解放國民黨反動(dòng)統(tǒng)治的中心地帶南京、上海創(chuàng)造了極為有利的條件。

1948年11月底，人民解放軍在由林彪、羅榮桓、聶榮臻組成的平津前線總前委領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，在西起張家口、東至塘沽、唐山，包括北平、天津在內(nèi)的地區(qū)，發(fā)起平津戰(zhàn)役。1949年1月31日，北平和平解放。這次戰(zhàn)役歷時(shí)64天，基本上解放了華北全境。

遼沈、淮海、平津三大戰(zhàn)役，共殲敵154萬余人，使國民黨的主要軍事力量基本上被摧毀，大大加快了解放戰(zhàn)爭在全國勝利的進(jìn)程。人民群眾在戰(zhàn)略決戰(zhàn)中發(fā)揮了巨大的作用，支援前線民工達(dá)886萬人，出動(dòng)擔(dān)架36萬余副，大小車100萬余輛。以三大戰(zhàn)役為標(biāo)志的戰(zhàn)略決戰(zhàn)的勝利，是毛澤東軍事思想和人民戰(zhàn)爭的偉大勝利，是中國人民解放戰(zhàn)爭史上一座光輝的里程碑。