On the military-industrial and heavy industrial fronts.
The arduous entrepreneurship of the military industry in the Northeast.
Under the guidance of the principle of "self-reliance, arduous pioneering work, and starting from scratch," the military industry in Northeast China was established on the basis of receiving some of Japan's machinery, equipment, and materials, and repairing some of the Japanese army's dilapidated barracks, warehouses, and houses for factory buildings, and with the efforts of the military cadres from the old liberated areas and all the senior workers.
First, the Hunchun area is the essence of our army's military industry in Northeast China, which was established by transporting some machines in Shenyang and other places.
After Japan's surrender, our party dispatched a number of military cadres from Yan'an, northwest Shanxi and other places to advance to the northeast with the army, and successively entered Shenyang, Anshan, Changchun and other cities, taking over some of the work and machinery and equipment. At that time, Shenyang was garrisoned by Soviet troops, and most of the precision machinery and equipment of new factories had been transported by Soviet troops. We received some of the supplies that they had left or had not yet moved. Even so, these supplies are very valuable to us. However, in November 1945, the Soviet army, bound by the provisions of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance and the pressure of the Kuomintang, suddenly decided to hand over Shenyang and other cities to the Kuomintang **, and asked us to quickly evacuate Shenyang. At that time, the Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the "Headquarters of the Northeast Democratic Alliance" were both in Shenyang, and after receiving the notice from the Soviet side, they had to prepare to evacuate immediately.
The Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China ordered the Ministry of Military Industry to move out the materials taken over within three days. It happened so suddenly, and we did not have the slightest mental preparation, so under the tense and hectic situation, only a small number of machines, equipment, Li metal materials, smokeless gunpowder, steel pipes, and other military raw materials were moved from Shenyang, Liaoyang, Fushun, Macao, Anshan, and other places. These supplies were lost in transit. In mid-December, after several setbacks, overcoming difficulties in transportation and other aspects, these materials were transported to Tonghua, and while actively building factories, we continued to collect machines and materials, and organized part of the forces for production.
In March 1946, Du Yuming launched a "fan-shaped offensive" from Shenyang along the Zhongchang Road to the east, south, and north, posing a serious threat to Tonghua. At this time, the Northeast Bureau immediately decided to move the military factory east to the Yanji area. Since the Kuomintang troops occupied Siping, Changchun, Jilin, and other places in May, our relocation work had to take a detour through Linjiang and Fusong, pass through the deep mountains and old forests of Changbai Mountain, and only reach Yanji and Tumen in July. Just as the factory was about to be built for production, the Kuomintang army entered and occupied the Lafaxin station east of Jilin City, posing a threat to Jidong. We decided to move the factory to Hunchun.
Hunchun is located in the southeastern part of Jilin Province on the Tumen River, in the triangle of the Sino-Soviet and Sino-DPRK borders, and is a small county in the remote mountainous area of Yanbian. After nearly a month of arduous trekking, about 300 wagons of various materials were transported to Hunchun through North Korea. On the ruins of a Japanese army hospital warehouse, we built a shell factory, a bullet factory, and a steel factory.
Second, the military industry in the Jixi area was mainly established by moving some machinery and equipment from Harbin. In May 1946, after occupying Changchun, the Kuomintang army continued to advance northward, reaching the vicinity of Tao Laizhao, which was more than 120 kilometers away from Harbin, and the situation in Harbin was very tense for a time. On the one hand, the Northeast Bureau and the Northeast Administrative Committee actively organized military production and supported front-line operations, and at the same time instructed Le Shaohua, Qian Zhidao, and others to lead a group of cadres and workers to transport more than 100 wagons of materials and more than 100 machines from Harbin to Jixi, and to take advantage of Jixi's coal, electricity, convenient transportation, and geographical proximity to the Soviet Union to establish another military industrial base. They used the dormitories left over from the Japanese railway workers to build factories such as grenade factories and artillery shell factories.
Third, the military industry in Xingshan in the Jiamusi area of North Manchu was established by a part of the factory equipment of Hunchunqian. Due to the excessive number of military factories in Hunchun, the inconvenient transportation, and the lack of coal power, the Northeast Bureau decided to move some of the military factories to the Xingshan area of Jiamusi. Xingshan is located in the northeast of Heilongjiang Province, and there is coal from Hegang that can be used. Comrade Wang Fengyuan was in charge of the relocation work. Three factories were moved one after another, plus the arsenal in Hejiang, and after adjustment, the old buildings left over from the Japanese puppets were used to build a grenade factory, a sand turning factory, a bullet factory, and a small steelmaking plant.
Fourth, Harbin's military industry was built entirely on its own feet and from scratch. This famous city in the north of the country, in the Japanese puppet era, there were only some timber processing factories, grain processing factories, tobacco processing factories and repair factories, and it was severely damaged when Japan surrendered, and there was no military industry at all. From Yan'an to the northeast, Le Shaohua, Qian Zhidao and Cui Zhendong led a group of military cadres and workers to use the gunpowder and explosives left by the Japanese army to first create anti-tank Molotov cocktails, which can be regarded as the germ of Harbin's military industry! After that, they overcame difficulties, tapped the potential of some equipment of the railway factories, organized hundreds of small private iron factories in the city, such as cast iron pots and plough birches, carried out military production in the form of processing and ordering, and produced detonators, sabers, artillery shells, propaganda shells, blasting canisters, and so on, and then established an ammunition assembly plant and a general experimental factory.
Fifth, the military industry in the West Manchurian region was established by the Third Division of the New Fourth Army after it entered the northeast with the use of some machines received from Fuxin, Bamiancheng, Qiqihar, and other places, and successively established a bullet factory, a small grenade factory, a six-o artillery shell factory, and a repair factory. The Third Division set up the Military Industry Department to grasp the military industry, which was later changed to the Military Industry Department of the Nenjiang Military Region and the West Manchurian Military Region, with Tian Rufu as the director. It has successively produced in Tongliao, Baichengzi, Nenjiang County and other places, and finally settled in Qiqihar.
Sixth, the military industry in South Manchuria was developed on the basis of the collection of a part of the machinery and equipment in the Xinkailing areas of Tonghua and Andong by our party cadres after Japan's surrender. Artillery shell factories, grenade factories, grenadier shell factories and other military factories have been built in Tonghua, Xinkailing, Huanren, Linjiang Dalizi, Andong and other places, and they have a certain scale.
Seventh, Dalian is the most important base for our army's military production in Northeast China. There is a Dalian Jianxin Company there, which was founded there by cadres of the East China Bureau. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in accordance with the provisions of the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance" signed between the Kuomintang and the Soviet Union in 1945 on the "internationalization of Dalian Port" and other articles, the Soviet Army administered Dalian, and the administrative power belonged to "China", that is, the Kuomintang. According to this regulation, neither the Kuomintang troops nor our troops were allowed to enter.
However, with the acquiescence of the Soviet army, our party still sent a group of people including Han Guang, a cadre of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation, to establish the Dalian Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China. At that time, the director of the General Bureau of Public Security and the deputy mayor were both cadres of our party. They generally do not interfere in all our activities, as long as they do not cause diplomatic difficulties to the Soviet side. This situation is very beneficial for us to carry out our work in the Dalian area. Seizing this favorable opportunity, in August 1946, the CPC instructed all localities to take advantage of Dalian's modern industrial conditions to build our munitions base. In accordance with this instruction, the East China Bureau and the East China Military Region first sent cadres to Dalian to investigate and understand the possibility of organizing military production. In the spring of 1947, Zhu Yi, director of the East China Financial and Economic Commission, brought a group of cadres to Dalian and began to organize military production. At this time, Jiang from Yan'an also arrived in Dalian with a group of cadres.
With the support and help of the Dalian local party, Zhu and Jiang, after negotiating with the Soviet army, took over four larger factories from the factories under their jurisdiction, and together with several factories controlled by the Dalian prefectural party committee, they formed the Dalian Jianxin Company. Zhu Yi is the general manager, and Jiang is the deputy general manager.
In September, the Northeast Bureau sent Zhang Zhen and more than 10 other cadres to Dalian to make preparations for reunification, and Zhang was appointed deputy general manager of the company. Jiang later served as vice minister of the Ministry of Military Industry until the end of 1947, when the new company was initially built and the conditions for large-scale production were met. The factories owned by Jianxin Company mainly include chemical plants (production of sulfur, nitric acid, etc.), iron and steel plants (refining bullet steel and tool steel), machinery factories (manufacturing machinery and equipment for each factory, etc.), metal factories (refining and processing of bullet steel), and artillery shell factories (divided into one and two factories). These factories have very good equipment and a number of technical forces. Jianxin Company is a comprehensive arms enterprise with a wide range of categories, mainly producing breech artillery shells. For the sake of secrecy and in order not to bring diplomatic trouble to the Soviet side, it appeared as a commercial enterprise and called Jianxin Company. It was first run by the East China Bureau with people and money, at that time. The East China Bureau is located in the area of Yidu, Shandong, and Dalian is only separated by the Bohai Strait, and although the sea traffic is blocked by the Kuomintang army, it is still relatively convenient to come and go.
It can be seen from the above situation that by the time our army entered Northeast China in the autumn of 1945 and the Ministry of Military Industry in Northeast China was formally established in the autumn of 1947, the military industry in Northeast China went through an extremely unstable stage of selecting sites, moving houses, and building factories. In 1948, at the First Congress of Military Production Workers, I described this stage as "a difficult stage in which factories move and machines fight guerrillas." However, we have finally come through the difficulties, and we have walked more steadily and steadily. This laid a good foundation for the development of the military industry in the future, and the work of the Ministry of Military Industry was carried out on the basis of this work.
The establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry of the Northeast.
In the first half of 1947, the Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China began to consider the formal establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry. The establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry had two strategic plans: First, proceeding from the needs of the development of the war situation at that time, it was necessary to establish a Ministry of Military Industry to unify the leadership of the military industry in various regions in Northeast China, so as to strengthen the leadership of military production and promote the victory of the Northeast and the All-V Liberation War; Second, considering that Northeast China has a certain industrial base, the development of the military industry in Northeast China will inevitably take the lead in terms of technical personnel. Become the base for the development of the whole industry in the future.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to implement the instructions of the CPC on establishing a consolidated base area in the northeast, our 100,000-strong army entered the northeast one after another and launched a fierce struggle with the Kuomintang for the northeast. In the first half of 1946, the Kuomintang transported seven armies to the northeast, totaling more than 250,000 troops, plus 150,000 local teams of puppet Manchurian troops and bandits, totaling more than 400,000 troops, far exceeding the number of our army. Taking advantage of the fact that our army had not yet gained a firm foothold, that it had no time to replenish and recuperate, that the main forces had not yet been concentrated, and that the newly formed troops lacked combat effectiveness and were not consolidated, the Kuomintang army launched a large-scale attack on our army, successively seizing Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, Liaoyang, Fushun, Siping, Benxi, Changchun, Jilin, and other cities from our army, and taking over Shenyang and other cities from the Soviet army.
In particular, after the defeat of our army in the Siping Defense Battle and the large loss of the living forces, the Kuomintang army attacked to the north, and our army was forced to withdraw to the north of the Songhua River.
3. The fourth column persisted in the struggle. At that time, the situation was serious, and it was difficult for us to realize the idea of monopolizing the Northeast. Under such a situation, it is impossible for the military industry in the northeast to have a stable and safe production environment, nor is it possible to centralize and unify leadership, so we can only adopt the "multi-nest doctrine" that is compatible with this turbulent situation, and produce as many bullets and grenades as possible under the conditions of a high degree of dispersion and moving from east to west, so as to meet the needs of the troops. Besides, the scale of the war at that time was not as large as it was later, the strength of our army was small, and the captured ammunition could still solve some problems, and the contradiction of relying on self-reliance to develop military production to solve the needs of the troops was not very prominent.
However, due to the series of instructions given by our army in the northeast and the resolution on the "Situation and Tasks in the Northeast" (also known as the "Resolution of '77") adopted by the enlarged meeting of the Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China in July 1946, the situation in the northeast took a fundamental turn in less than a year. From December 1946 to April 1947, our army won a major victory in annihilating more than 40,000 enemy troops, smashing the enemy's strategic plan of "attacking from the south and defending in the north, first from the south and then from the north". Our army has shifted from strategic defense to strategic offensive. In May, the Northeast Bureau held a meeting and made a resolution on the "Present Situation and Tasks in Northeast China" (also known as the "Fifth Five-Year Resolution"), which put forward a new task to the whole party in Northeast China: "Actively organize forces, make all-out preparations for the Great Invasion, annihilate the enemy in large numbers, recover a large number of lost territories, and consolidate and expand the liberated areas." Then, from 13 May to 1 July, the "summer offensive" was launched, recovering 42 cities and towns, annihilating more than 83,000 enemy troops, expanding the liberated areas by 160,000 square kilometers, and completely connecting the liberated areas of South Manchuria, North Manchuria, East Manchuria, West Manchuria, and Jichareliao. The emergence of this new situation has put forward new requirements for military production in Northeast China.
Judging from the development of our army's strength, at the end of 1945, our army had only 100,000 troops entering the northeast, but after the "Three Visits to the Jiangnan and Four Protections of Linjiang" campaign, our army had grown to five columns, eight independent divisions, and two security brigades, plus units directly under the General Headquarters and local units of the Northeast Military Region, with a total strength of more than 460,000 troops, and by the time of the summer offensive in 1947 and before the autumn offensive, it had grown to more than 730,000 troops. At the same time, the CCP once demanded that the Northeast Bureau develop 1.2 million troops within two years, of which 200,000 will be left to guard their homes and 1 million will enter the customs to fight. In accordance with this demand of the Chinese Communists, the Northeast Bureau and the "Dongzong Headquarters" (abbreviated as the "Northeast Democratic Alliance Army Headquarters") made a plan to expand the army: 126 new independent regiments with a total of 300,000 people were formed in 1948, but in fact, by the end of the year, 164 independent regiments with more than 370,000 men had been formed.
At this time, the Northeast People's Liberation Army (renamed by the "Northeast Democratic Alliance Army" in November 1947) and the Northeast Military Region had been organized into 12 columns, 14 independent divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 1 artillery column, and 1 railway column. A tank regiment with a total strength of one and a half thousand people. To build such a large army, it is no longer possible to meet the needs of battlefield capture alone, and it is necessary to vigorously develop its own military industry. At that time, Comrade *** pointed out that there are three tasks that are indispensable for building a regular army: the first is staff work; the second is to train 1,000 units; The third is the construction of the military industry. He put forward the construction of the military industry as one of the three elements for building a regular army. It can be seen from this that the leaders of the Northeast Bureau and the "East General Administration" have raised the construction of the military industry to an important strategic position.
Therefore, under the condition of the rapid development of our army, it is imperative to strengthen the construction of the military industry and establish a unified military industrial organization. Judging from the scale of the war, the scale of the war was relatively small in the early days of our army's entry into the northeast. However, since the campaign of "going south of the Yangtze River three times and protecting the Linjiang River three times," with the development and growth of our army and the continuous victory of the war, the scale of the war has become larger and larger, and the battle of fortified positions and in-depth warfare have become the main forms. In this way, the use of firepower is not known to be many times greater than in the past, the consumption of ammunition is also increasing, and the demand for attacking fortifications is also increasing.
At this time, there is only the need to strengthen military production, according to the needs of our army. Only by producing more first-class ammunition that is suitable for the situation of our army can we meet the needs of our army's operations.
Northeast military production should shoulder the heavy task of supporting the national liberation war, which is also an important reason for the establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry. On 13 November 1947, Comrade ** sent a telegram to the Northeast Bureau: "We should make every effort to strengthen the construction of the military industry and aim at supporting the nationwide operations." That is to say, the military production in the northeast will not only meet the needs of our army in the northeast, but also undertake the task of supporting the national liberation war. In fact, this is also true. In this way, the task of military production in the Northeast is even heavier. To accomplish this task, it will not be possible without the establishment of a unified governing body.
Judging from the environment of the northeast base areas, as a result of our army's successive victories in the northeast, the various base areas in the northeast have been completely linked, and this has prepared a stable rear for the construction of the army in the northeast and created a good environment for military production to change the "multi-nest doctrine" in the early stage of the war and move toward centralized and unified leadership. Therefore, under the above-mentioned situation, it is very timely, correct, and very necessary for the Northeast Bureau to consider the establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry.
Before the establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry, whose purpose was to achieve unified leadership, the Northeast Military Region nominally had a Ministry of Military Industry, with Comrade Wu Xiuquan, Second Chief of Staff of the Military Region, concurrently serving as the minister. The military-industrial production of the military districts is guided by him personally. At that time, because the situation was in a state of instability, the military factory had a lot of movement and moved at the same time. While building a factory, while producing. It can be said that everything is not on the right track, and the guerrilla style is very strong. Wu Xiuquan only had two secretaries to assist him in this work. He took his secretary to various military industrial bases to understand the situation, implement face-to-face leadership, and solve problems on the spot. Of course, this state of affairs could not meet the needs of the rapid development of the situation at that time. On 17 May 1947, in a "Report on Some Conditions of the Ministry of Military Industry," he proposed that the higher authorities send a cadre who understands technology to preside over the work of the Ministry of Military Industry, with him as his assistance. Unexpectedly, this errand fell on my head, and Comrade Wu Xiuquan and I are old comrades-in-arms, and we knew each other when we were at the Red Army School in Jiangxi. He is a very good person, very fair, very simple, very loyal, hard work, we have always worked well together, and the relationship is also very harmonious.
Soon after, Comrade ***, deputy secretary of the Northeast Bureau, first talked to me on behalf of the Northeast Bureau and asked me to be the minister of military industry. He said: Without the backing of the military industry, it is impossible for us to liberate the northeast and the whole country if we want to fight a big war. He asked me what difficulties I had in organizing the Ministry of Military Industry, and whether I could organize it? At that time, our military production was very scattered, the conditions were also very poor, and it was very difficult to engage in the military industry. However, I have always been very energetic in the work of opening up and tackling weak links, and I am not afraid of hardships or difficulties. Back then, wasn't it more difficult for Jinggangshan to transform Wang Zuo and Yuan Wencai's troops? Aren't you still facing the difficulties and going up the mountain? Besides, I studied machine building. This point, Comrade ** is very clear, this is in the absence of technical personnel at that time, the major I studied was also regarded as an expert! It is probably for the above reasons that I was appointed Minister of Military Industry. I happily accepted this great trust from the party, walked out of the gate of the military university, and stepped onto the military-industrial front.
Comrade ** also discussed with me the policy of military production and other issues, and he also told me that after taking office, he would definitely find a way to win over the captured Japanese Kwantung Army that the Soviet Army had in Manchuria at that time to be transported.
Subsequently, Comrade ** talked to me again. He had just returned to Harbin from treatment in the Soviet Union. While devoting all his efforts to the expansion of the armed forces, the organization of troops, and political work, he also devoted himself to the work of logistics and military production. He said to me: "Comrade Changgong, you want us to build a million-strong army within two years and prepare for the entry of a million-strong army." The Northeast Bureau decided that you should grasp the construction of the military industry and engage in ** ammunition. We ask Comrade Xiuquan to be your political commissar, all the cars and drivers in logistics are transferred by you, and they will take care of the affairs of the family more, and you will run and jump outside, what do you think? "I said that Comrade Fuchun had already talked to me, and I obeyed the party's decision.
After that, he and I talked for most of the night on the question of how to boost the production of the military industry. He encouraged me and said that I would definitely do this job well. I said: "To engage in military production, we should adhere to the principle of self-reliance. However, we currently lack technical talent. I think that among the Japanese expatriates who have not yet been repatriated, there are some skilled personnel and military workers, and we can organize them, give them preferential treatment in all aspects, mobilize their enthusiasm for our use, let them help find them, and teach us to go againIt's a lack of technicians. It is necessary to pay attention to recruiting qualified personnel and also to cultivating our own technical contingent; only with technological strength can our military production develop greatly. You go back and make a plan and get started! ”
He also asked me to continue digging up the secret ** warehouses that the Japanese were buried underground in the northeast to find ammunition**.
In September 1947, under the leadership of the Northeast Bureau and Comrade ***, the Northeast Military Industry Conference was held in Harbin. It lasted for more than 20 days and ended on October 7, so it was also called the "October Meeting." This was the first region-wide military industry conference since our army arrived in Northeast China, and it was also a turning point meeting held when the Ministry of Military Industry was established. The meeting was attended by the heads of the military industrial bases in Dongming and the leaders of the Ministry of Military Industry, including Ji You, He Changgong (minister), Wu Xiuquan (political commissar), Han Zhenji (deputy minister and director of the Huichun Office), Wang Fengyuan (deputy minister), Gao Changjiu, Le Shaohua (Jixi), Qian Zhidao (Xidong'an directly under the first factory), Wang Li, Cui Zhendong, Liu Zhengdong, Wang Huguo, Xu Liangtu (Wu Xiuquan's secretary), Liu Yuanyi, Xiao Shengyuan, Shen Yi (Mudanjiang), Wu Yunqing, Wang Qingcai, Zhou Jiannan (Dong'an directly under the second factory), Tian Rufu ( Qiqihar) and so on. The meeting was presided over by Comrade Wu Xiuquan, and the central topic was to discuss the issue of military construction. After more than 20 days of heated discussions, it was clearly made clear ideologically that the Northeast must be built into a military industrial base of the whole country, and that it must actively support the national liberation war. Organizationally, it was decided that all military production enterprises in Northeast China would be placed under the unified leadership of the Ministry of Military Industry, and that all military regions, columns, and divisions would hand over the repair of armaments to the Ministry of Military Industry for acceptance, and that the system, production plan, and product distribution would be unified. South Manchuria, Jilin, West Manchurian and other military departments are directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Industry. At the meeting, the establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry was officially announced, with He Changgong as minister, Wu Xiuquan as political commissar (concurrently), and Han Zhenji and Wang Fengyuan as vice ministers.
The Ministry of Military Industry is located in Harbin, and cadres come from all over the world. After a period of preparation, the office office, materials office, technical engineering office, supply office, party committee office and consultant office of the ministry have been set up one after another. Later, the Political Department and the Trade Union were established, with Gao Changchang as the director of the Political Department and Ma Wen as the deputy director of the Political Department.
The Ministry of Military Industry is subordinate to the Northeast Military Region, but in fact it is under the direct management of the Northeast Bureau. If we have anything to do, we will go directly to the leaders of the military region and the Northeast Bureau. At that time, I had the most contact with Comrade *** and Comrade ***. **It was a classmate of mine when I was studying in France for a work-study program, and I am very familiar with it. During my stay in Northeast China, he was in charge of logistics support, and he gave me great support and help. The decision of the Northeast Bureau was conveyed to us by him. Comrade Luo Rongji also had a very close relationship with me, and I often asked him for instructions to report on my work. He is also very caring and supportive of our work. Comrade Liu Yalou is the chief of staff of the Military Region, and we have had a lot of contacts with each other.
Not long after I became Minister of Military Industry, I also served as Minister of Ordnance. The Ministry of Military Industry is in charge of the factory in charge of munitions production, and the Ordnance Department is in charge of the first ammunition and its distribution, both of which are battlefield support work prices, so my burden was heavier at that time.