First Field Army

Author: Hong Bing and Wang Xu (editors)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The Field Army was one of the five main forces of the People's Liberation Army during the War of Liberation, a crack division under the command of the Central Military Commission. It was formed by the reorganization and construction of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army and local armed forces from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia and Jin-Sui liberated areas during the Anti-Japanese War. Its development underwent stages such as the Jin-Sui Field Army, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Jin-Sui Joint Defense Army, the Northwest Field Army, and the Field Army. Under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Military Commission, and Chairman Mao Zedong, and under the command of Peng Dehuai, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army and (Northwest) Field Army Commander-in-Chief and Political Commissar, with the participation in decision-making and assistance in command by Zhong Xun, Political Commissar of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Jin-Sui Joint Defense Army (Northwest Military Region), relying on the strong support of the broad masses of the people and the coordinated efforts of neighboring units, the army successfully completed the glorious task of defending the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and liberating the Northwest. This heroic force made great contributions to the victory of the War of Liberation, the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the safeguarding of national sovereignty and security, establishing an unparalleled historical merit.
When Chiang Kai-shek, supported by U.S. imperialism, openly "descended from the mountain" to seize the fruits of the Anti-Japanese War victory and encircled and blockaded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region with his army, the Jin-Sui Military Region and the Jin-Sui Field Army, under the unified command of Commander-in-Chief Jialong and Political Commissar Li Jingquan, immediately launched a major counterattack against the Japanese and puppet forces, cutting off the Ping-Sui Railway and liberating vast areas. After Japan's surrender, the Jin-Sui Military Region was separated from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Jin-Sui Joint Defense Army, while the units of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region retained the designation of the Joint Defense Army, overseeing five divisions and five military districts, with a total of over 28,000 personnel. At the same time, the Kuomintang, with eight armies and three cavalry divisions totaling 200,000 troops, encircled and blockaded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, constantly provoking military skirmishes, and even attempting to raid the Communist Party of China's headquarters in Yan'an. The people of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region engaged in a countermeasure struggle against the Kuomintang's raids and localized offensives. The Northwest People's Liberation Army launched offensives southward, welcoming the 359th Brigade, which had broken out of Central China, back to Shaanxi in victory; through the campaign, it struck back at the northern raids of Deng Baoshan's forces from the Jin-Shan-Sui Border Region; it crushed Hu Zongnan's and Ma Hongkui's planned of Yan'an; and in the Guanzhong Military Subregion battle, it inflicted heavy casualties on the invading enemy. Zhou Shidi commanded the Jin-North Field Army to launch the Jin-North Campaign, while Zhang Zongxun commanded the People's Liberation Army at the Datong Front to launch the Datong and Jining Campaigns, delivering a heavy blow to the Kuomintang forces.
In the more than one year from September 1945 to February 1947, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region People's Liberation Army, along with militia and guerrilla units, fought 250 battles, eliminating over 10,000 enemy soldiers, winning over 5,000 enemy soldiers to defect, and safeguarding and consolidating the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, laying the foundation for the Kuomintang's focused offensives. When the Hu Zongnan Group launched a major offensive against Yan'an in February 1947, Peng Dehuai volunteered for the critical mission, assuming the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Northwest Field Army Corps. Faced with an enemy ten times his strength and better equipped, Peng Dehuai remained calm and composed, commanding the Northwest People's Liberation Army to rely on the superior mass conditions and advantageous terrain of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, correctly applying Chairman Mao Zedong's "mushroom" tactics. Through the Yan'an Defense Campaign and the three consecutive victories at Qinghuabian, Yangmaha, and Panlong, the Northwest People's Liberation Army the morale of the Hu Zongnan Group, turning's plan to "solve the Shaanxi problem within three months" into a.
After the Northwest Field Army was established, to draw the main force of the Hu Zongnan Group northward and support the Chen-Xie Corps crossing the Yellow River southward, Peng Dehuai commanded his forces to launch the Yulin and Shajiaodian campaigns and a series of counter-offensives, annihilating a large number of the Hu Zongnan Group's combat power. In 1948, the Northwest Field Army, facing an enemy five times its strength, decisively shifted to offensive operations, launching campaigns such as Yichuan, Huanglongshanfu, Xifu, Chenghe, Libei, and the winter campaign, turning the war from Shaanxi to the Guanzhong region north of the Wei River, continuing to contain and weaken the Hu Zongnan Group and effectively supporting and coordinating operations on other battlefields.
After the Liaoshen, Pingjin, and Huaihai campaigns, the War of Liberation entered the strategic pursuit phase, but on the Northwest front, the situation of an enemy stronger than the self remained unchanged. Under these circumstances, the Field Army launched the Spring Offensive and the Shaanxi Central Campaign before the 18th and 19th Corps entered Shaanxi, liberating the provincial capital of Shaanxi, Xi'an, and the vast areas of Shaanxi Central, repelling the joint counterattacks of the Hu and Ma armies, and creating conditions for liberating the Northwest. After the 18th and 19th Corps entered Shaanxi, the Field Army had a relative numerical advantage, and the engine for the Northwest showdown was ripe. To accelerate the liberation of the Northwest, the Field Army launched the Fumei Campaign under the decision to "trap Ma and strike Hu first, then Hu then Ma," annihilating the Hu Zongnan heavy force group; and launched the Lanzhou Campaign, a decisive campaign on the Northwest front, under the principle of "trapping Hu and striking Ma," capturing Lanzhou, which the Qing Ma army called the "impregnable iron city."
Advancing victoriously, the Field Army liberated Xining, completely destroying the feudal rule of the Ma Buofang family. Starting from September 1949, the soldiers and commanders of the Field Army, demonstrating the spirit of "press the enemy to the last ditch," swept across the Northwest with overwhelming force, liberating the entire region. The Field Army launched the Ningxia Campaign, the Hexi Campaign, cleared the remaining enemy forces in southern Shaanxi and southern Longnan, and liberated the entire territory of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. Subsequently, the army divided into two routes: one, led by Peng Dehuai, advanced into Xinjiang; the other, led by He Long, advanced into northern Sichuan. The Field Army also coordinated the Southwest Military Region's advance into Tibet, planting the five-starred flag across the northern mountains of the motherland.
After the Field Army merged with the Northwest Military Region, the units carried out tasks such as suppressing bandits, production, land reclamation and border defense, assisting local party and government construction, and land reform, making important contributions to consolidating the people's regime, maintaining social order, restoring and developing production, and ensuring the army's supply. The soldiers of the Field Army sacrificed their heads and blood for the liberation of the Chinese people. On the foot of the Baota Mountain, in the Guanzhong Plain, along the banks of the Yellow River, and across the northern mountains of the Tianshan, their footprints remain, and the graves of martyrs are buried. The people of all ethnic groups in China will forever remember this heroic force and cherish the heroic soldiers. The immortal merits of the Field Army will forever be recorded in history!