In the process of reorganizing the army after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, about 70,000 people were demobilized and disarmed in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and the total strength increased from 2570,000 people (excluding the Jireliao Military Region) was reduced to about 20The 80,000 men, especially the field army capable of mobile combat missions, has been sharply reduced to 520,000 people.
Such a large-scale reorganization and demobilization of the army not only directly led to the small number and inadequacy of the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, but also had an impact on military training, aggravated the difficulties of the anti-encroachment struggle, and consumed a large amount of manpower and material resources, thus becoming an important factor affecting the development of the war situation in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region after the outbreak of a full-scale civil war.
On January 31, 46, the CPPCC adopted a resolution on military issues, which determined the principle of the separation of the military and the party and the separation of the military and the civilian population, and asked the three-member military group to "agree on the method of reorganization of the squadron as soon as possible."
The next day, the Chinese Communist Party issued the "Instructions on the Present Situation and Tasks," urging all strategic regions to make preparations for the reorganization of the armed forces and "stand by for implementation."
The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Bureau quickly put forward a preliminary reorganization plan to the Chinese Communist Party: The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region "has a total of 225,000 people" and "is divided into field armies."
2. In the first proportion of the local army, the field army has a total of 150,000 men and the local army has 75,000 troops, of which "the field army has a total of five columns," "each column has 25,000 men, and the military region and the Jireliao Military Region have a total of 25,000 men." The surplus personnel were "sent home by the old and weak", while the young and middle-aged "organized production teams or set up factories to specialize in agriculture, handicrafts, and salt production." (Decision of the Jin-Cha-Ji ** Bureau on the Number of Armed Forces", "Selected Materials on the History of the Third Domestic Revolutionary War in North China", Vol. 2).
On 16 February, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Bureau revised the reorganization plan and sent a telegram to the bureau: In order to reduce financial expenditures and ensure that the officers and men will not miss the agricultural time after they are demobilized and return to their hometowns, it is recommended that "large-scale streamlining be carried out immediately."The size of the army will be reduced by one-third, of which the field army will be organized into four divisions, each with 20,000 people, plus 20,000 troops in the organs and directly subordinate units of the military region, "a total of 100,000 people in the main force and 50,000 in the local army";"Fighters were sent home in large numbers ,..Generally speaking, it is not concentrated in the reclamation area", "a large number of cadres are concentrated in the whole training, ready to be transferred to the city work, and transferred to the production and education department." (Proposal of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei ** Bureau on Further Downsizing the Size of the Troops).
On the 22nd, the CCP replied to the reorganization plan and demanded that "large-scale streamlining should be started immediately". On the 25th, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party signed a plan for the reorganization of the army. The next day, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Bureau held a demobilization and reorganization work meeting to make comprehensive arrangements for the demobilization of the whole army. On March 6, the CCP** sent a telegram to the leaders of various strategic areas in Guannai on the issue of demobilization of the whole army, suggesting that "the first phase should be streamlined by one-third and completed within three months." After gaining experience, the second phase will be streamlined by one-third," and specifically asked the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region to "consider and formulate a detailed plan again" on the basis of "the general plan that has been put forward earlier." Archives, ed.: "Selected Documents of the Communist Party of China", Volume 13).
On 18 March, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region formulated and submitted a detailed plan for reorganization. The main contents of this plan are programmatic documents guiding the reorganization and demobilization of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and the main contents are: The steps of the reorganization are to be carried out in two phases, and "each phase will be completed in proportion to the reduction by one-third." In the first phase, the existing eight columns and five military regions will be reduced to four columns (divisions) and five military regions (small provinces), with a downsizing of 160,000 people."60,000 people, "this step must be achieved in April and May, and efforts should be made to complete it by the end of May," and "the second phase is planned to be reduced from four columns to three national defense divisions, and five military regions to five small provincial security forces, so as to suit the plan of one army and five provinces, and gradually complete it from August this year to February next year." The first phase of reorganization "transfers an appropriate number of main forces to local armies, and demobilizes a large number of existing local armies into militias, so as to strengthen the armed forces of the old base areas." ”
For the following statistical data on the strength of each unit before and after the reorganization, see the "Appendix to the Draft Reorganization of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region", "The Statistical Table of the Strength of the North China Military Region during the Domestic Revolutionary War", and "Selected Historical Materials of the Third Domestic Revolutionary War in North China" Volume 19).
When the reorganization plan was announced, the total strength of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was 2572.71 million (excluding the organs and directly subordinate teams of the Jireliao Military Region), including 11 field troops68.95 million people, 12 local troops29.25 million people, 174.51 million people. At this time, the field army consisted of 8 columns (the field army of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region originally had 9 columns and 1 independent brigade, and in early March 46, the two columns of Jicha Guo Tianmin and Liu Daosheng were combined into the Jicha Column, but the department did not reduce the number of soldiers on a large scale for some reason, and the Yang Dezhi column was transferred from the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region 125.53 million people, 115.02 million people, Zhao Erlu column 151.75 million people, 162.59 million people, 9,595 people in the Huang Shoufa column, and 2 people in the Jicha column34.13 million people, Rehe Huang Yongsheng column 137.62 million people, Jidong Zhan Caifang column 107.56 million people, 3,880 Zeng Yongya Brigade composed of the 14th Army Division of the Eastern Hebei Military Region;The local army includes 5 ** military regions, including 2 in the Jijin Military Region69.69 million people, 507.02 million people, Jicha Military Region 169.04 million people, 125.04 million people, 158.46 million people.
After reorganization, according to statistics in July 1946, the total strength of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was 2077.74 million people, a decrease of 4 compared with before the reorganization94.97 million people, the scale has been reduced by 192% 。What is particularly serious is that the strength of the field army capable of carrying mobile combat missions has been sharply reduced to 5 percent after the reorganization1.65 million people, the scale has been reduced by 558%, which is even lower than the original 4 columns in the reorganization plan for a total of 6The establishment of 40,000 people.
Among them, the 3rd Brigade and the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the Huang Yongsheng Column, the Zhao Erlu Column and the Yang Dezhi Column were combined into the 1st Column 120.46 million people, Chen Zhengxiang's column and the 1st Brigade of the Zhaoerlu Column and the 5th and 6th regiments of the 2nd Brigade were combined into the 2nd Column 132.29 million people, Yang Chengwu and Huang Shoufa were combined into the 3rd column 133.17 million people, the Jicha Column was renamed the 4th Column, and the strength was reduced to 113.15 million people, and an artillery regiment with 1,743 troops. The redundant personnel of each column, the Zhan Caifang Column and the Zeng Yongya Brigade in eastern Hebei were transferred to the local army, and the other was demobilized.
At the same time, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region also reorganized the local army and demobilized a number of officers and men. After the completion of the reorganization, the number of ** military regions under the jurisdiction of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was increased from 5 to 6, and the number of military divisions was reduced from 23 to 19, but the total strength of the local army was not reduced to 7 in accordance with the provisions of the reorganization plan50,000 men, on the contrary, increased slightly to 14 by the incorporation of a large number of field troops20.04 million people. Among them, the strength of the two military regions of Hebei, Jin, and Jicha remained basically unchanged, and the former was reduced to 263.04 million people, the latter increased slightly to 170.61 million people, the Jizhong Military Region was greatly reduced to 3130,000 people;The strength of the Jireliao Military Region has increased a lot, and the number of subordinate ** military regions has been adjusted from 2 to 3, of which the Eastern Hebei Military Region has increased to 323.88 million people, the Rehe Military District increased to 222.69 million people, 126.82 million people;Each military region has two or three independent brigades under its jurisdiction, and most of them are formed by the field army or are combined with the former local army, and some brigades are formed by the units of the former local army, and the number of each brigade varies greatly and the combat effectiveness is also uneven. In addition, after the reorganization of the organs and directly subordinate units of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, the strength of the troops was reduced to 14.12 million people.
As for the specific number of officers and men to be demobilized, many military history works or the recollections of the people concerned believe that it is about 100,000, but this is only the figure planned by the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region in the reorganization plan, and it has not actually been reached, so the data used in the original text is wrong.
On May 30, 1946, after the Jin-Cha-Ji ** Bureau issued instructions to prepare for a full-scale civil war, although part of the reorganization work was not completed, demobilization was stopped and recruitment of new soldiers began. Therefore, from the beginning of the reorganization to the outbreak of a full-scale civil war at the end of June, the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region were directly reduced by 50,000 troops, and the statistics of the total strength before the reorganization did not include the organs and directly subordinate units of the Jireliao Military Region, so the actual number of demobilized troops should be about 70,000.
Although the leaders and organs at all levels of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region have attached great importance to the demobilization of the whole army and have organized it tightly, they have misjudged the situation and weakened the combat effectiveness of the troops, and there are also shortcomings and deficiencies in the work of reorganizing and demobilizing the army, which has caused rather serious consequences, and the lesson has been quite profound.