Shijiazhuang operation

In 1900, the Beijing-Wuhan railway passed through the village of Shijiazhuang, and a railway station was built there, after which the development of the village began. In 1903, it was from here that it went west to the Shanxi province, the railway line to Taiyuan , which accelerated the growth of the settlement, which became an important transportation hub. In 1907, the village became a village, and in 1925 the villages of Shijiazhuang, Xiumen and the villages of Dongbeili and Sibaili were united into a city that received the official name "Shimen" (the first character from " Shi Jiazhuang" and the last character from "Xiu Men "), however, in everyday life it was still often called "Shijiazhuang."

During the Civil War, Ximen was squeezed between the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Soviet districts, and in the spring of 1947, after the Communists took control of the railway to Taiyuan, it became virtually isolated; the press called it “the lonely island”, and the commander of the Kuomintang garrison reported that he confidently controlled the territory only 5 kilometers from the city’s borders. Nevertheless, a powerful army group was located in the city, and it was well fortified (in addition to the fortifications created by the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war, the Kuomintang added two more defense belts).

However, in the fall of 1947, the Kuomintang command made an unforgivable miscalculation: in mid-October, the 3rd Army stationed in Shimen was sent north to help release the Xuishui besieged by the Communists, and was trapped in the village of Qingfendian . Immediately after the destruction of the encircled group, Nie Rongzhen put forward a proposal to seize Shimen, who remained virtually defenseless. October 23, Mao Zedong approved his proposal.

By the evening of November 5, the Chinese Communist forces surrounded Shimen, and at midnight they launched an offensive; The 3rd column attacked the western and southern suburbs, the 4th column attacked the eastern suburbs, the troops of the Central Hebei Military Region attacked the south-eastern suburbs. By November 7, the troops of the Central Hebei military region were able to fulfill the main task of the first stage: they seized the airfield, finally depriving the city of communication with the outside world.

Another important goal, in addition to the airfield, was located in the southeast suburb of grief Yunpanshan. It was a fortified defense unit, it housed machine guns and artillery. After capturing the forces of the 10th brigade of the 4th column, the Communists gained control of the southeastern part of the city.

On November 8, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army launched an assault on the first defensive line - a wide moat surrounding the city. After overcoming it, the Communists had to linger in front of the second defensive line - the inner city moat, which was covered by wire fences and minefields. On November 10, using the available artillery, the Communists broke through this obstacle.

By the morning of November 11, the Communists had already taken control of most of the city. By the morning of November 12, resistance continued only in the area of ​​the large railway bridge, where the headquarters of the 3rd Army was located, but by 11 a.m. it had ceased.

Ximen was the first large city of Northern China taken by the Communists. On December 26, 1947, the People's Government of Shimen decided to rename the city to Shijiazhuang .

• 中国 革命 战争 纪实。 解放 战争。 华北 卷 (The Complete History of the Revolutionary War. The War of Independence. Volume "Northern China"), - Beijing: "People's Publishing House", 2007. ISBN 978-7-01-003284-9