Liaoshen Campaign

After two years of fighting, by autumn 1948 the Liberation Army had grown to 2.8 million men while the Kuomintang army had fallen to 3.65 million. The Party Central Committee judged the time ripe for decisive strategic battles and launched in turn the Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin Campaigns. The Northeast was where the decisive battles began. There, 550,000 Kuomintang troops were split and confined in three isolated areas, Changchun, Shenyang and Jinzhou, and were considering withdrawing south of the Great Wall. On 12 September 1948 Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan led the Northeast Field Army in launching the Liaoshen Campaign. Mao Zedong decided to strike Jinzhou first, "shutting the door to catch the dog," to seal the Kuomintang forces in the Northeast and destroy them where they stood. After fierce fighting the Northeast Field Army took Jinzhou on 15 October, wiping out its garrison of over 100,000 and capturing Fan Hanjie, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Northeast Bandit-Suppression headquarters, which cut the land route of withdrawal into China proper. At Tashan, the Northeast Field Army held off Kuomintang reinforcements advancing on Jinzhou from the direction of Huludao, securing victory at Jinzhou. After Jinzhou fell, part of the Changchun garrison rose in revolt and the rest surrendered, and Changchun was peacefully liberated. The army then surrounded and destroyed Liao Yaoxiang's army group in the Heishan and Dahushan area as it advanced west from Shenyang to try to retake Jinzhou. On 2 November the army took Shenyang and Yingkou, ending the campaign. The Liaoshen Campaign lasted 52 days, destroyed over 470,000 Kuomintang troops and liberated the entire Northeast. After it the Liberation Army for the first time outnumbered the Kuomintang army. The Liaoshen Campaign Memorial Hall stands in Jinzhou, Liaoning.