Liberation of Shanshi Battle Site

Liberation of Shanshi Battle Site

The Liberation of Shanshi Battle Site is a cultural tourism attraction.

In the early hours of January 31, 1949, Xiang Zhiqing, the Nationalist mayor of Shanshi Town, and the local tyrant Wei Mingqi were preparing to flee by boat to Wenzhou. Zhu Zhiyu, the Party branch secretary of Tanqi Village, immediately organized militiamen to intercept the boat, capturing Xiang Zhiqing and others. They also learned that the Shanshi plainclothes team was planning to flee to Danan. That afternoon, the Tanqi Party branch immediately notified party organizations on both sides of the Feiyun River, subsequently establishing the overall headquarters for the liberation of Shanshi. Over ten thousand militiamen were mobilized to surround the Liyu Mountain artillery position, which was held by the Nationalists in Shanshi. At dawn on February 2, militiamen transported the homemade "Da Jiu Jie" cannon, loaded it with gunpowder and scrap iron, and fired three shots at the artillery position, but without success. The overall headquarters of the Shanshi liberation immediately sent people to Fengwen in Taishun to seek assistance from the Qingjingli County Team and the Pingyang Independent Regiment. By noon, news of the militiamen’s attack on Shanshi had reached Danan, prompting over 300 members of the Second Squadron of the Wencheng County Self-Defense Corps and the plainclothes team to come to Shanshi in reinforcement, but they were ambushed by militiamen and driven back to Danan. In the evening, over 40 soldiers from the Pingyang Independent Regiment arrived in Shanshi. After thorough and meticulous combat deployment, they carried out a zero blasting operation against the Liyu Mountain Nationalist artillery position, though the effect was still limited and the offensive on the position was temporarily stalled. Meanwhile, by dusk of the same day, upon receiving a request for help, the county committee dispatched Deng Futan and Zhu Daxiao to lead over 70 soldiers from the county team, who set off from Fengwen and arrived in Shanshi at 0:30 a.m. after a rapid march. Some soldiers from the Third County Team (Taishun County Team), operating in the Taidongbei area, also arrived on time. At 4:30 a.m. on March 3, a full-scale and powerful assault was launched. Seeing their bunker about to be breached and escape routes cut off, the Nationalist Shanshi garrison opened the artillery position door and surrendered with raised hands. One machine gun, over 30 rifles, one handgun, and over 60 grenades were captured, and Shanshi was declared liberated.

The Liberation of Shanshi Battle Site is located on Liyu Mountain in Shanshi Town, Wencheng County. Liyu Mountain is about 40 meters high, over 300 meters long, and approximately 50 meters wide. It is named for its resemblance to a carp when viewed from afar. The artillery position was built on the cliff-top “head” of Liyu Mountain. It is a two-story building shaped like a square box, standing three zhang tall and more than two zhang wide. The roof has a protruding watchtower for observing all directions. The building has firing ports and machine gun holes facing all four directions, along with dense rifle loopholes. The walls of the artillery position are made of compacted yellow mud, 1.05 meters thick. A sentry post was set up 200 meters at the “tail” of the carp, and a one-person-deep trench was dug between the sentry post and the bunker.

The Liberation of Shanshi Liyu Mountain Battle Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Wencheng County.

Source: Party History Research Office of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee