What preparations have been made for the troops of China’s Second Field and Fifth Corps to enter Tibet?

In early January 1950, during Mao Zedong's visit to the Soviet Union, because the talks with Stalin did not go well, Mao Zedong seemed very irritable and often lost his temper at the Soviet liaison officers.

Once, Mao Zedong angrily said to the Soviet liaison officer: You called me to Moscow, what on earth did you ask me to do? Am I just here to eat, poop, and sleep here every day? The British news agency also spread rumors that Stalin had put me under house arrest!

When Mao Zedong received the telegram from Peng Dehuai, he felt even more irritable. He thought about the Tibet issue for a long time. He believed that what Peng Dehuai said was correct. It was indeed difficult to enter Tibet from the northwest. Judging from the current situation, the only option was to advance from the southwest.

But at that time, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping had just entered the southwest and had not yet established a firm foothold, and the local banditry was very serious. But the Tibet issue has reached an urgent stage. The Communist Party of China cannot allow beautiful Tibet to be split from China's territory. It must be liberated and can only tire Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and He Long.

Mao Zedong was sitting on a chair, smoking a cigarette, and thick smoke filled the whole room. He picked up his pen and started drafting a telegram. He hoped that the Southwest Bureau could enter Tibet as soon as possible and that time could not be delayed any longer.

At 4 a.m. on January 2, when the guards removed the second ashtray full of cigarette butts. Mao Ze let out a long sigh and handed the draft of the telegram to his secretary, asking him to send it to Peng Dehuai immediately and forward it to Bocheng, Xiaoping, and He Long.

Mao Zedong wrote in the telegram: Since it is very difficult to march from Qinghai and Xinjiang to Tibet, the task of marching to Tibet and managing Tibet should be determined to be shouldered by the Southwest Bureau. I believe that if there are no insurmountable difficulties, we should strive to start marching into Tibet in mid-April this year and liberate Tibet before October. To this end, it is recommended that Comrades Liu, Deng and He be invited to hold a meeting in the near future (for example, mid-January) to decide on issues such as the troops entering Tibet and the responsible cadres who will lead and manage Tibet, and start arranging everything immediately!

Mao Zedong also felt that the Southwest Bureau was working too hard, so he added another sentence in the telegram: Southwest has just been liberated, and the comrades of the Southwest Bureau are extremely busy at work. Now they are given the task of entering Tibet. However, because the task is important and There is a timeliness, so I pretend to be as suggested above. Whether these suggestions are feasible, please call the Southwest Bureau to plan and reply.

On the day it received the telegram, the Southwest Bureau held a meeting in Chongqing to study and formulate a plan to enter Tibet and decide on the troops to enter Tibet. The Eighteenth Army of the Fifth Corps of the Second Field is responsible for the mission into Tibet. Its commander is Zhang Guohua, who can choose three divisions in the Second Field at will. Liu and Deng then reported their plans to invade Tibet to the central government.

Next, the troops began the preparation stage before entering Tibet. The preparations before entering Tibet are much more complicated than those for entering other places. The troops entering Tibet made the following preparations: 1. Ideological preparation. Convey and study the central government's instructions, understand the significance of marching into Tibet, etc.

2. Policy preparation. Understand the general situation of Tibet and master necessary Tibetan language and ethnic and religious knowledge and policies.

3. Material preparation. Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all prepared. Each soldier has to carry half a month's worth of food (including egg yolk wax, fuel, etc.), clothing and tents for spring, summer, autumn and winter, etc.

4. Military training. Focus on marching and combat on plateaus.

5. Physical exercise. Each soldier needs to carry about 35 kilograms of weight when marching on the plateau. Therefore, the prior weight-bearing march training is to tie sandbags to the legs and carry stones, iron pots, millstones, etc. The horses also need to be trained to ensure the health of the people and horses.

Before the large force moved, two advance troops were dispatched. After conducting on-the-spot investigation and understanding, the large troops began to march toward Tibet one after another. They experienced countless hardships along the way and began a new round of the Long March.