Where is the Hunchun Timber Storage Factory?

The mystery of the surge in combat power of the People's Liberation Army during the War of Liberation Sunday, March 4, 2007 19:03 When it comes to the War of Liberation, the usual saying is: the People's Liberation Army relied on "millet plus rifles" to defeat American aircraft and artillery. of the Kuomintang army. However, anyone who has experienced the war years knows that "millet plus rifle" is just a metaphor for the People's Liberation Army to use inferior equipment to defeat the enemy with superior equipment. In a real war, strategies and tactics are important, but weapons are a condition that cannot be ignored. The reason why the People's Liberation Army was able to win the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin and liberate the whole of China is closely related to the considerable military industrial system established in the Northeast Liberated Area

From 72 Days From Linfen to Jinan in 3 days

In March 1948, Xu Xiangqian commanded the North China Corps to attack Linfen, and the Kuomintang army relied on the city wall to hold on. The People's Liberation Army did not have heavy artillery, so they had to dig tunnels and blow up the city walls. It took 72 days to capture Linfen. But by the end of the year, the situation had changed dramatically. In the Battle of Jinan in September, the People's Liberation Army fired a salvo of heavy artillery, and the Kuomintang general Wang Yaowu was so beaten that he fled from the tunnel. The fortified city of Jinan was captured in just three days. During the Battle of Liaoshen in October, the Northeast Field Army concentrated more than 500 heavy artillery pieces to bombard the Kuomintang military town of Jinzhou, and the defender commander Fan Hanjie hid in Tibet. This city attack took only 30 hours.

Where did the People's Liberation Army's artillery come from? The Kuomintang insisted that the heavy weapons of the People's Liberation Army were secretly given to the Soviet Army when the Soviet army retreated from the Northeast. A senior receptionist at that time wrote in his memoirs: "Almost all the Japanese and puppet troops in the Northeast were captured, and the Russian army obtained countless weapons. According to Moscow at the time: a total of 800,000 rifles and 20,000 light machine guns. 5,000 heavy machine guns of various types, including 5,000 mortars, 1,500 combat vehicles, 600 tanks, 800 aircraft, and ships in the Songhua River. The refugees who escaped from the Northeast saw this: In addition to supplying the Japanese army with tanks and weapons at any time, the Russian army has been transporting them to Jiamusi in an endless stream, where they are concentrated."

What the reception official said is undoubtedly the Kuomintang. Looking for excuses for the military's failure. General Liu Yalou, who was the Chief of Staff of the Fourth Field at that time, clarified this issue in a speech on December 13, 1962. He said: "Most people always think that the Soviet army left a lot of weapons to the four fields. This is a misunderstanding. Since this war history (referring to the history of the four fields being compiled) is for archiving, this issue can be written clearly. Not only was it not given to Our weapons also killed many of our troops. We can also write about another important issue in order to take care of the relationship with the Kuomintang: At that time, we proposed to the Central Committee to ask for some weapons from the Soviet army in the name of the Central Committee. The chairman immediately telegraphed: China's revolution mainly relies on China's own strength, and it is forbidden to ask them for things in the name of the central government. I have personally read this telegram and want to check it. Later, in the name of the four fields, I exchanged some weapons with them. . ”

So, how did the People’s Liberation Army transform from “millets plus rifles” to having powerful artillery and large-scale field operations and offensive capabilities? In addition to capturing the weapons of the Kuomintang army on the battlefield, this important transformation was mainly accomplished by establishing its own military industry. Speaking of the military industry, many people have read "Dedicate Everything to the Party" written by Wu Yunduo in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. This little book truly records how the New Fourth Army built its own military factory from scratch during the Anti-Japanese War. Yashan in the Shandong base area had the largest military factory of the Eighth Route Army, with more than a hundred rooms and a monthly production of 8,000 hand grenades, which was a considerable output at that time.

In the early days of the Liberation War, the military industry developed greatly compared with the Anti-Japanese War. During the liberation of Handan, Linyi, Yantai, Dezhou and other cities, the People's Liberation Army confiscated enemy and puppet factories and built a number of military factories capable of producing bullets, grenades and mortar shells. The East China Military Region's military factories in southern Shandong and Jiaodong can produce 160,000 rounds of bullets, 13,000 rounds of mortars and mountain artillery shells, and 3,000 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder every month. This scale is a great improvement compared to before, but it is not enough for the East China Field Army to fight a medium-sized battle.

Because there is no heavy artillery, the People's Liberation Army mainly relies on soldiers to rush to the front when attacking and use explosive packets to destroy the Kuomintang army's fortresses and fortifications. Such battles involve heavy casualties, slow progress, and poor quality ammunition. In May 1948, when the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army attacked Wei County, they used self-made mortars to attack the city. After the cannon was ejected from the chamber, the tail fin fell off during flight, leaving the bare projectile unbalanced and half of it falling to the ground. How can such quality guarantee victory in the battle?

Mao Zedong instructed the Northeast to build up military industry on a large scale

Mao Zedong set his sights on the Northeast. It was the most industrially developed area in China at that time. In his "One-Year Operation Summary and Future Plan" instructions to the liberated areas on July 10, 1947, Mao Zedong specifically instructed Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan: "The Northeast military industry should make every effort to support the customs. Within one year from now, you must vigorously establish Large-scale military industry." Within four months, he telegraphed three times to the Northeast Bureau to fully strengthen the construction of military industry. The urgency is palpable.

After the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army entered Northeast China at the end of 1945, they originally planned to obtain Japanese weapons and equipment with the help of the Soviet army. However, the Soviet army used the excuse that it had an agreement with the Kuomintang government, and the Northeast was to be handed over to the Kuomintang government, and restricted the actions of the Eighth Route Army. The Soviet army transported the Northeast's major factory equipment, captured weapons, and a large amount of property back to the Soviet Union as "trophies." Our army's wishes have basically come to nothing. 100,000 troops are in the Northeast, with no guns, no money, no winter clothes, and no base. They are in a very difficult situation.

At that time, each unit was trying to find its own way to collect the materials left behind by the Soviet army and those that had not been taken away in time. Weapons and military supplies abandoned by the Japanese army can be seen everywhere in small and medium-sized cities and rural areas in Northeast China. Zhu Rui, who was responsible for preparing to build the artillery school, made a decisive decision: disperse the artillery school cadres and collect supplies. From the artillery school to the principal, down to the cooks and grooms, everyone is sent out, no matter it is a city, a country, a ravine, or a wilderness, wherever there are cannons. Even if you haven't heard of a cannon, go there and see if you can find any unexpected gains.

Once I received a report from a fellow villager: When the Japanese retreated, they pushed several cannons into Jingbo Lake. After Zhu Rui learned about it, he personally led a company to the lake to search. Everyone used pickaxes to cut through the ice and found the cannon body. Zhu Rui shouted happily: "Go find the rope and pull it up!" Everyone tightened the rope, shouted slogans, and worked together to pull up the three cannons.

A secret warehouse of the Japanese army was also found in this area, and 150,000 rounds of artillery shells were found at once. By February 1947, Zhu Rui led the artillery school to collect more than 700 artillery pieces, large and small. Among them, there are 49 cannon howitzers, 97 field guns, 108 mountain guns, 141 infantry guns, about 300 mortars, and 137 anti-aircraft guns (including anti-aircraft machine guns and aircraft machine guns). There are also 65 tanks and tractors. After repair, these artillery pieces became the basis of the artillery unit of the Northeast Field Army.

The self-collected weapons and ammunition became the main source of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army's operations in the first two years.

Stalin assisted Dongye with some weapons

After the summer offensive in 1947, as the People's Liberation Army grew stronger and the scale of the battle became larger and larger, the ammunition collected alone was no longer enough. In June of that year, the People's Liberation Army stormed Siping, and the Kuomintang troops under the command of Chen Mingren resisted tenaciously. The People's Liberation Army concentrated 7 main divisions and hundreds of artillery pieces, but they failed to capture it for half a month. Later, Lin Biao learned that the artillery had only 8,000 rounds of artillery shells and did not have an advantage in firepower. To this end, on June 25, Lin Biao wrote a letter to Stalin in his own name, emphasizing: "The only condition currently lacking is the shortage of weapons, especially ammunition (especially artillery shells). To this end, I ask you to give With the help of weapons and ammunition, we will hand over the Japanese weapons and ammunition captured by the Red Army and currently in the Far East, and hope that German weapons and ammunition will be allocated to us as much as possible."

Soon, Stalin instructed the Soviet army. Some of the captured Japanese weapons were allocated to the People's Liberation Army. He Changgong recalled: In October 1947, when he had just become the Minister of Military Industry, Li Fuchun gave him an important task. At that time, there was a large number of weapons stored in Manchuria on the Sino-Soviet border. The Soviet army had captured the Japanese Kwantung Army and was preparing to transport them back to the Soviet Union. Steelmaking.

This batch of weapons was useless to the Soviet Union, but it was extremely needed by the People's Liberation Army. He Changgong went to negotiate with him, but the negotiation couldn't work out at first. He responded hard and said: "These weapons of the Kwantung Army were obtained by the Chinese people with their blood and lives. Why don't you give them to us? You can't take them away. We exchange them with scrap steel, one ton for one ton." "Kavalov still refused. He Changgong became anxious and shouted at him: "You are a conservative and have no internationalism at all. If you don't agree, I will have to come and grab you. I will push you and walk in front. The Soviet soldiers guarding the weapons will shoot and kill you first." You. If you insist on taking him away, I will fight with you. I will call Stalin and accuse you of not having internationalism." Kavalov softened his attitude after seeing that this Chinese was not easy to bully. Hand over these weapons.

The quantity of this batch of weapons, according to Lin Biao’s letter to Stalin on December 28, 1947: “We have equipped 30 infantry regiments and 2 mountain artillery battalions with the weapons you gave us. "At that time, in order to conduct a strategic decisive battle with the Kuomintang army, Dongye formed a second-line regiment of 300,000 people. Lin Biao asked Stalin for more weapons support, "try to give us 200,000 rifles, 15,000 light machine guns, 7,000 heavy machine guns, 700 regimental and battalion mortars, 1,000 company mortars, 100 anti-aircraft guns, 200 Menshan field artillery, a larger amount of ammunition and communication equipment (mainly radios and telephones) for 20 divisions. This batch of weapons is expected to be allocated from the Japanese weapons captured by the heroic Red Army. If there are not many Japanese weapons left, I hope it will be appropriated from the German spoils."

However, Stalin did not reply. Lessons have shown time and time again that Soviet aid is unreliable. To achieve the final victory in the War of Liberation, we still have to rely on our own strength. Therefore, the Northeast Bureau decided to vigorously strengthen the construction of the military production system. Li Fuchun said: "In the past, we relied on the artillery shells left by Japan, but now we have to make them ourselves."

Starting from scratch, he worked hard to create his own military industry enterprise

When he entered Northeast China at the end of 1945, The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China dispatched a group of military industry cadres from Yan'an and various liberated areas to carry out work in the Northeast. They collected some machinery and equipment in Shenyang, Anshan, Tonghua and other cities, and planned to establish a military industrial base in Tonghua. In the summer of 1946, the Kuomintang army launched a massive attack on Southern Manchuria and occupied Tonghua and Dandong. Han Zhenji, then Minister of Military Industry of Northeast China, led everyone to transport machines and materials to North Korea, along with a group of workers and technicians recruited along the way. At the end of July, they arrived at Hunchun, a small town on the border between China, North Korea and the Soviet Union. Hunchun is a mountain basin where the Tumen River and Hunchun River converge. It is only separated from North Korea by a river and has convenient transportation. It is only 30 miles from the Soviet Union border and only 10 miles from North Korea. It is accessible by roads and railways. Everyone thought that the concealment conditions here were good, and the resources, power and transportation conditions were also good, so they decided to establish a military industrial base in Northeast China here.

Based on the existing conditions, Han Zhenji decided to focus on the production of bullets, grenades and mortar shells that were urgently needed by the troops. The technology of gun production is too complex and cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. They first built a machine factory, a bullet factory, a grenade factory, an iron smelting factory, a powder factory and a lumber factory in Hunchun. These six factories were the earliest military industry base in the Northeast Liberated Areas.

The bullet factory was built on the basis of a factory left by the Japanese on the outskirts of Yanji. It turned out that there were more than 300 machines with a daily output of 400,000 rounds. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the factory was destroyed, the machines were stolen, and not much was left. Han Zhenji organized the remaining items of the factory to be moved to Hunchun. The factory had 14 bullet machines, 3 million semi-finished warheads, 20 million empty cartridge cases, and more than 20 Japanese technical workers. After a month of intense installation and trial production, the first batch of bullets was produced in early September. According to statistics in the first month, *** produced nearly 130,000 rounds of three types of bullets. This is really an amazing result.

After the problems of cadres, equipment, and raw materials are solved, the most important problem is the problem of workers and technical personnel. The workers and technicians at the Hunchun base come from China, North Korea and Japan. Many complex political and policy issues have arisen. Military industry cadres have spent a lot of effort. After the ideological and political work is completed, seven to eight hundred technical workers will be needed.

But there were only 240 workers at the time, and even fewer of them truly understood technology. Anyone with special skills will be given high priority by the leadership and appointed as the heads of production departments at all levels. Some of these skilled workers were brought from Anshan, Benxi, and Tonghua, and some were recruited locally. Yu Zhenmi, the head of the bullet factory, is a recruited technician and enjoys salary benefits. He saw that the GCD cadres were working under the supply system and were still working at the front. He was moved and took the initiative to cancel their salaries and live on the supply system like the other cadres. He has been doing excellent work since he became the unit chief.

Due to the lack of mid- to high-level technical personnel in the military factories, they can only choose from the retained Japanese. In the military factory in Hunchun, the Japanese held key technical jobs. For example, there are more than 60 Japanese in the grenade factory, almost all of whom are in important technical positions. The chief of the manufacturing department is a small capitalist who originally opened a factory in Japan. The US military blew up his factory before coming to China to make a living, and he is an expert in grenade manufacturing technology. The main process of assembling grenades is the fire-pulling powder unit. The chief of the unit is also an old Japanese man. He is very stubborn, but he works very seriously and has a lot of research on the firing technology. The assembly workers of the fine medicine team are also all Japanese.

Because of their difficult life and depressed mood, these Japanese people often plan to return home together and are passive and slow in work. In August 1947, Japanese expatriates from Northeast China were repatriated back to China. When the Japanese got the news, they held a secret meeting and wrote slogans in the factory: "We are going back to China, you are going home!" Due to the language barrier, they talked a lot, but with little effect. Cadres use both hard and soft tactics, issuing orders without heeding advice, and establishing strict statistics in the workshop. Those with high output will be praised every day, and those with low output or poor quality will be criticized. Severely condemn the activities of bad people at the conference and not allow fascist ideas to rise. The Japanese have a strong sense of obedience, so they don't cause trouble.

In the three major battles, the People's Liberation Army's artillery fire showed off

1946 was spent in hard struggle. By 1947, the military production in Northeast China had begun to take shape, and the troops had obtained Continuous supply of ammunition. The Hunchun base led by Han Zhenji is the largest in North Manchuria, and several military factories have been built in other places. Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan personally took charge of military production work. In August 1947, the Northeast Bureau appointed Huang Kecheng as deputy commander and logistics commander of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, in charge of logistics supply, military industry and military supplies. In September 1947, the Northeast Bureau held a Northeast Military Industry Conference in Harbin, at which He Changgong was appointed Minister of Military Industry and Wu Xiuquan was political commissar. Han Zhenji and Wang Fengyuan are deputy ministers. Northeast military production bid farewell to scattered and small-scale operations and entered a period of great development.

Production status in 1947: 50,000 hand grenades were produced per month, and 100,000 mortar shells were completed throughout the year. Use old bullet casings to reload bullets and complete 5 million rounds. The production of 100,000 rounds of grenade bombs has laid the foundation for production in steelmaking and chemical plants next year.

In order to complete the military production tasks in 1948, the Northeast Bureau financially allocated 1.8 million Northeastern coins, equivalent to 90,000 tons of grain. Deploy another group of cadres to strengthen the military industry sector. This important military-industrial conference unified the military-industrial production in Northeast China and formed a joint production department with leadership and planning. Set up offices where there are military factories, directly under the leadership of the Ministry of Military Industry. At that time, there were 9 offices in Hunchun, Xingshan, Jixi, Dong'an, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang, Jilin, Harbin and Dalian.

The Northeast Military Industry produced sufficient ammunition, providing material guarantee for the Northeast Field Army to conduct large-scale battles. Therefore, the Northeast was the first to conduct a strategic decisive battle to annihilate the Kuomintang's heavily armed group and liberate the entire Northeast. However, due to the long distance, the ammunition produced in North Manchuria cannot meet the combat needs of the People's Liberation Army in the pass. The Central Military Commission made a decision to build a military production base in Dalian.

The establishment of the military-industrial system in Northern Manchuria and Dalian laid an important material foundation for the victory of the War of Liberation. The People's Liberation Army's artillery has sufficient ammunition, which has changed the long-standing basic situation in which the enemy is strong and we are weak. In the three major battles at the end of 1948, the People's Liberation Army's artillery fire exerted great power. After the Liaoshen Campaign, the People's Liberation Army took over several large arsenals and ammunition warehouses in Shenyang, obtained a large amount of arms, and greatly enhanced its production capacity.

With the liberation of Northeast China and the completion of the railway line, trains loaded with supplies and ammunition were transported to the pass day and night to support the Central Plains area and cross-river operations. During the Battle of Huaihai, the Central Plains Field Army surrounded Huang Wei's regiment. Huang Wei relied on numerous American artillery to shrink into a circle and use intensive firepower to prevent the People's Liberation Army from approaching. He calls himself a "hard nut" that cannot be chewed. The East China Field Army mobilized heavy artillery and blasted hard, and finally cracked this "hard walnut". General Su Yu said with emotion: "The victory of the Huaihai Battle,