Civil War
Throughout 1946-48, Yang faced very strong Nationalist forces in the area between Beiping (not yet renamed Beijing), Tianjin and Manchuria. In August 1946, Yang and Xiao Ke retreated in the face of an onslaught by three reinforced Nationalist corps concentrated on the rail lines between Beiping and Shenyang. In April 1948, Yang commanded the 2nd Army (later redesignated the 19th) under the North China Military Region of Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian. His deputy was Geng Biao and the political commissar Lo Ruiqing.
The 19th Group Army, established in August 1947, brought together several officers who would take prominent roles in post-liberation China. Among these were Geng Biao, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Chengwu, Pan Zili and Yang Dezhi.
In the Spring of 1949, Yang’s now 19th Army besieged Taiyuan, where Yang worked closely with Xu Xiangqian’s 18th Army. Following that battle, Yang reinforced Peng Dehuai at Lanzhou and remained with him into Ningxia through 1949. Yang Dezhi established the Ningxia Military Control Committee and Commanded the local Military District as the Civil War drew to a close.
Read more about this topic: Yang Dezhi
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, civil and/or war:
“Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“He was one whose glory was an inner glory, one who placed culture above prosperity, fairness above profit, generosity above possessions, hospitality above comfort, courtesy above triumph, courage above safety, kindness above personal welfare, honor above success.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 1 (1962)
“Let the erring sisters depart in peace; the idea of getting up a civil war to compel the weaker States to remain in the Union appears to us horrible to the last degree.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)