Shanghai, the largest metropolis in the Far East, is now facing a life-and-death struggle. How to capture this city, which has a population of more than 6 million, a mixture of various forces, and international influence, is the focus of the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

Chiang Kai-shek, who wanted to fight the beast, had a deliberate plan and arrangement, and he believed that as long as he held Shanghai for six months to a year, he would be able to prepare the Americans to intervene in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and even expand the war into a third world war; after all, Shanghai is an international metropolis, and the interests of many foreign businessmen and foreign groups are in between, and if the interests of these foreigners suffer losses in the event of a war, they will certainly not sit idly by, and will certainly let their home country exert pressure on the Communist Party. At that time, the Kuomintang will be able to use foreign forces to launch a counteroffensive and force the Communist Party to retreat, so as to achieve the goal of dividing the river and ruling the country.

Therefore, Shanghai is a top priority trump card in the hands of Lao Jiang, Nanjing as the national capital can be lost, Hangzhou, a paradise on earth, can also be lost, and even half of the rivers and mountains north of the Yangtze River can be abandoned. But only Shanghai, the ten-mile foreign field, the largest metropolis in the Far East, Lao Jiang's birthplace cannot be lost.

As for Lao Jiang's opponent, "It is advisable to chase the poor with the remaining bravery, and not to sell the name of the overlord." "With the whole of China in my chest, it is impossible to give up Shanghai.

However, Shanghai is an extremely special and sensitive place, how to fight?

As early as two months ago, during the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, *** said: "Entering Shanghai is a great difficulty for the Chinese revolution, and whether the Communist Party has the ability to take over the city, especially Shanghai, the largest city in China, is related to the image of the Communist Party of China in the world." ”

In order to seize Shanghai, our side also made two preparations, in addition to military preparations, the other is political preparations. A huge Shanghai takeover team was set up in Danyang, Jiangsu, with more than 20,000 people. The staff of the Social Department of the East China Bureau of the Communist Party of China also collected 30 volumes of materials about Shanghai, with more than 1 million words. These materials contributed greatly to the takeover of Shanghai.

He once said: "To fight Shanghai, you must fight with literature, not with martial arts." It is necessary not only to enter the city militarily, but also politically. Chen Yi, commander of the Third Field Army, said: "When we attack Shanghai, we are like fighting rats in a porcelain shop. ”

At that time, the policy was to quickly occupy the metropolis, to minimize the loss of people's lives and property, and to hand over the whole city to the people.

It is necessary to fight a tough battle in the city, but not to destroy the city, and to take over Shanghai completely. It's a lot of work. The Chinese People's Liberation Army once formulated three tactics for attacking Shanghai:

The first is the siege tactic. Based on previous experience, this method of warfare had liberated several cities, but the plan was quickly abandoned due to the fact that Shanghai had a population of 6 million and was of international interest.

The second tactic is to choose the south of the Suzhou Creek, where the enemy's defenses are weak, to carry out an assault. Although this tactic avoids the key point of the enemy's fortification, Wusongkou, and the casualties may also be reduced, the main battlefield is in the urban area, and the city will be destroyed.

The third method of warfare is to make a detour on both wings and attack Wusongkou with heavy troops. In this way, the enemy's retreat by sea could be blocked, and the enemy's passage to rush supplies to Shanghai could be quickly cut off. This tactic will be a hard-fought battle, a fierce and repeated battle. For this, the PLA will have to pay a large price.

For the sake of the people's Shanghai, no matter how heavy the casualties are, it is worth it. In the end, the third method of warfare was decided.

In order to reduce the damage to urban facilities and the loss of residents, the PLA tried not to use artillery fire and blasting, but mainly used infantry weapons to annihilate the enemy in close combat. But this will take a huge toll on you. The comrades-in-arms rushed forward in batches and fell down in batches.

On 12 May, the Battle of Shanghai officially began. Five days earlier, Chiang Kai-shek had fled Shanghai and embarked on a warship bound for Taiwan. Looking at the vast sea, Chiang Kai-shek, who was at the end of his rope at this time, must have sighed with emotion, this world no longer belongs to him, the vast mainland territory is about to change the world, and in the future he can only shrink on this southeastern island, he no longer has the capital, and he has no ability to compete with the Communist Party. Becoming a king or losing a king has become his fate.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army formed two corps on the eastern and western fronts and went into battle.

The Western Front Corps consisted of the 10th Corps led by Ye Fei and Wei Guoqing, including the 26th, 28th, 29th, and 33rd Armies. The task of the Western Front Corps was to first carry out the main assault in the direction of Taicang and Wusong, capture Wusong and Baoshan, block the mouth of the Huangpu River, cut off the enemy's retreat by sea, and then strike from the northwest to the downtown area of Shanghai.

The Eastern Front Corps consisted of the Ninth Corps of Song Shilun and Guo Huaruo, including the 20th Army, the 27th Army, the 30th Army and the 31st Army. The task of the Eastern Front Corps was to first launch a surprise attack on the enemy on the east bank of the Huangpu River, coordinate with the Western Front Corps to block the Huangpu River, and then attack the downtown area of Shanghai from the east, south, and west.

And the entire Shanghai campaign was divided into two phases. The basic task of the first stage was to pincer Wusongkou and block the Huangpu River in order to cut off the naval retreat of the Kuomintang army in Shanghai, which was called the peripheral attack. The second stage is the battle for urban areas.

"Annihilate Tang Enbo and liberate Shanghai!" Braving the drizzle, the overseas Chinese general Ye Fei commanded the four-way army to kill on the beach.

The 29th Army, which served as the main attacker, quickly conquered the Liuhe River. However, the People's Liberation Army, which won the first battle, soon encountered hard bones.

When attacking the three towns of Liuhang, Yanghang, and Yuepu, the enemy's main positions in Puxi, suffered heavy casualties. This place was an important gateway to Wusong, and Tang Enbo built a strong defensive position equipped in depth. With the permanent bunkers hidden in the woods, haystacks, and graves, and with the support of the powerful firepower of the navy and air force, Wang Chuying commanded the first part of the 52nd Army of the Kuomintang to frantically block Ye Fei's corps.

The battle was fought very hard. Sometimes, if our army wants to annihilate a battalion of the enemy, it has to pay the price of more than 1,000 casualties. In the first three days of fierce fighting, the 28th and 29th armies suffered more than 8,000 casualties.

Tang Enbo was very happy and invited the generals of the 52 nd Army to hold a grand celebration meeting at the Shanghai International Hotel. Tang Enbo encouraged the soldiers: "For the needs of the country, everything is legal; For war use, everything is reasonable. The victory of Wolpo is enough to prove that the steel fortifications of the national army are indeed stronger than Stalingrad. As long as everyone is as brave and tenacious as the 52nd Army, we will definitely be able to ensure the safety of Shanghai! ”

In order to allow the officers and soldiers of the country not to flinch on the battlefield, Tang Enbo also issued the "Ten Killings Battle Order":

1. Those who disobey orders and retreat from battle will be killed

2. Those who are not strong-willed and collaborate with the enemy and betray the country will be killed

3. Killing those who leave their posts without permission or without permission

Fourth, those who abandon their positions and cannot recover them will be killed

5. Spreading rumors to confuse the public and disrupt the army. Kill the co-ordinator

Sixth, those who do not emphasize secrecy and leak military aircraft will be killed

Seventh, sit and watch the success or failure, and kill those who do not come to the rescue

8. Delay communication and kill those who lose contact

9. Those who do not spare weapons and ammunition and who detain the army are killed

10. Killing those who violate military discipline and are negligent

This "Ten Kills Battle Order" made all the officers and men of the Kuomintang tremble and panic all night, but to a certain extent, the Kuomintang had no way to retreat, so they could only break the kettle and fight against the water, and defend their positions to the death.

The attack of the Western Front Corps was blocked, which attracted the great attention of the leaders of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chen Yi, and gave clear instructions: Don't be in a hurry!

Seeing this, Su Yu, Zhang Zhen, Ye Fei and others took the initiative to change and change their tactics. The field style of thrusting, rushing, and slamming is a small group action, seizing forts one by one, and attacking must be broken.

Change the formation and receive the miraculous effect immediately! The People's Liberation Army (PLA) suddenly adopted the tactics of cross-covering and attacking fort-by-fort, using projectile canisters to send explosives to blow up pillboxes. After 10 days of hard fighting, the Western Front Corps annihilated more than 20,000 enemies and captured the pre-war positions on the outskirts of Shanghai.

At the same time, the Eastern Front Corps was also progressing well.

In the first battle of Pudong, our army captured Wang Bingyue, the commander of the enemy's 51st Army. Gaoqiao Town, the most important stronghold of the enemy on the outskirts of Pudong. The capture of Gaoqiao Town directly threatens the only retreat of the enemy from the sea - Wusongkou. Towneberg would never give up on Takahashi easily. He dispatched a large number of planes and concentrated artillery to indiscriminately bombard the positions of the 30th and 31st armies of the Eastern Front Corps.

And the artillery of our army is also powerful. Knowing that the battle at Takahashi was fierce, our army immediately mobilized the elite artillery units of Mino to support the Takahashi Eastern Front Corps in the operation. By 23 May, the first phase of our army's combat mission was basically completed.

The 200,000 remnants of the enemy defending Shanghai were defeated and retreated in a narrow strip of land from downtown Shanghai to Wusongkou.

On 22 May, Tang Enbo, seeing that the general trend was gone, hurriedly handed over all command of the Shanghai operation to Liu Changyi, deputy commander of the Songhu Garrison Command. Late at night, Tang Enbo and his entourage fled to Zhoushan by warship. At this time, the People's Liberation Army had completed the posture of tightly encircling the Kuomintang army in Shanghai from the east, south, and west.

On the night of 23 May, the general attack on downtown Shanghai began.

Su Yu and Zhang Zhen proposed a plan to attack the downtown area of Shanghai from all directions. It was determined to first capture the urban area south of Suzhou Creek, then the urban area north of Suzhou Creek, and finally gather and annihilate the remnants of the Kuomintang army that might retreat to the Jiangwan area of Wusongkou.

The railroad had been completely blown up, and the soldiers rushed along the Shanghai-Hangzhou Highway toward Shanghai at a speed of 12 miles per hour, despite the pouring rain and the muddy roads. When they heard that they were going to fight Shanghai, the soldiers were excited. At that time, it was one or two o'clock in the middle of the night, and the troops were marching hard in the rain. The soldiers had only one belief, which was to participate in the Battle of Shanghai as soon as possible. In this way, the troops marched day and night for more than two days in a row, and some of the soldiers fell asleep while walking. From Songjiang to downtown Shanghai, there was still more than 80 miles to go, and although the troops were very tired, the soldiers still rushed forward. In less than four hours, we arrived at Xinzhuang.

At about 8 o'clock on the morning of 25 July, after only more than 10 hours of fighting, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) took advantage of the victory to pursue the attack with the momentum of devastating and withering, and the entire downtown area south of the Suzhou Creek was liberated.

Just when everyone thought that there would not be too many battles in this urban battle, a Suzhou Creek blocked the hero's road. The Suzhou Creek, which crosses the downtown area of Shanghai, is about 30 meters wide, and the enemy, relying on the high-rise buildings on the north bank, condescendingly formed a fire network, and tightly sealed off the streets and buildings on the river and the south bank. Groups of soldiers fell into the Suzhou Creek, and the blood stained the river red......