The Advance into the Dabie Mountains

After their full-scale offensives on the Liberated Areas were repulsed, the KMT troops were forced to focus on the two Liberated Areas in Shandong and northern Shaanxi in March 1947, while finding themselves temporarily on the defensive on other battlefields. Their aim was to end the war in these two places as quickly as possible, so that they could turn their attacks to other battlefields.

To counter the KMT's strategic plan, the CPC Central Committee decided to use its main forces to fight on the exterior lines and force the enemy troops to reinforce their rear areas, thus carrying the war into the KMT-controlled areas and changing the offensive-defensive balance between the two sides. The Dabie Mountains on the Central Plains was chosen as the main target of the assault.

On June 30, 1947, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping led 120,000 troops from Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan provinces to cross the Yellow River southward and wage a campaign in southwest Shandong. This was the precursor of a series of strategic offensives of the War of Liberation.

On July 23, Mao Zedong telegraphed Liu and Deng and told them to give up the rear areas, and march to the Dabie Mountains within two weeks. On the evening of August 7, Liu and Deng led their main forces in three columns and set out on a journey of about 500 km to the Dabie Mountains from southwest Shandong.

The troops reached the Dabie Mountains in late August, where they were supported by the local people and repulsed repeated attacks by 200,000 KMT troops. By November, they had inflicted more than 30,000 casualties, liberated 24 county towns, and established democratic governments in 33 counties, initially fulfilling their strategic mission.

At the same time, part of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, led by Chen Geng (1903-1961) and Xie Fuzhi (1909-1972), advanced into western Henan, and the main force of the East China Field Army, led by Chen Yi and Su Yu (1907-1984), pushed into the area between Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.

These three armies formed a triangle posing a direct threat to the KMT's ruling center of Nanjing and the strategic city of Wuhan. In December, they coordinated with each other and defeated the KMT assault on the Dabie Mountains.

The advance of the Liu-Deng forces to the Dabie Mountains was decisive in changing the balance between the Communist and the KMT troops. Its failure in the Central Plains campaign forced the KMT into a position of strategic defense, and gave the PLA the foothold for a nationwide victory in the final battles of the War of Liberation.

千里躍進大別山

1947年3月，國民黨對解放區的全面進攻受挫后，改為重點進攻山東、陜北兩個解放區，而在其他戰場轉取守勢，力求迅速結束這兩個地區的戰事，再轉用兵力于其他戰場。為了打亂國民黨的戰略部署，中共中央決定：以解放區主力打到外線，調動敵人回防空虛的后方，粉碎國民黨蔣介石的戰略企圖和方針，把戰爭引向國民黨統治區，迫使敵人轉入戰略防御，改變敵我之間攻防形勢。中共中央選擇地處中原的大別山區作為戰略進攻的主要突擊方向。

6月30日，劉伯承、鄧小平率晉冀魯豫野戰軍主力12萬人強渡黃河，發起魯西南戰役，揭開人民解放戰爭戰略進攻的序幕。7月23日，毛澤東致電劉鄧：“下決心不要后方，以半個月行程，直出大別山?！?8月7日黃昏，劉伯承、鄧小平率晉冀魯豫野戰軍主力部隊12萬大軍，在華東野戰軍外線兵團部分兵力佯動掩護下，分左、右、中三路，從魯西南的巨野、鄆城地區出發，拉開了千里躍進大別山戰役的序幕。

經過艱苦跋涉和激烈戰斗，劉鄧大軍于8月底進入大別山區。劉鄧大軍依靠人民群眾，艱苦作戰，粉碎20萬國民黨軍隊的輪番進攻，至11月殲敵3萬余人，解放縣城24座，建立了33個縣政權，初步完成了在大別山的戰略展開。同時陳賡、謝富治率晉冀魯豫野戰軍一部向豫西挺進，陳毅、粟裕率華東野戰軍主力挺進豫皖蘇邊區。三路大軍形成“品”字形陣勢展開，直接威脅國民黨的統治中心南京和戰略要地武漢。12月，三路大軍協同粉碎了國民黨對大別山的重點進攻。

劉鄧大軍千里躍進大別山，對于改變敵我之間的攻防形勢，起了決定性的作用。由于中原戰場的失利，國民黨被迫轉入戰略防御。由此，人民解放軍吹響了奪取全國勝利的嘹亮號角。