The Advance into the Dabie Mountains
After their full-scale offensives on the Liberated Areas were repulsed, the KMT troops were forced to focus on the two Liberated Areas in Shandong and northern Shaanxi in March 1947, while finding themselves temporarily on the defensive on other battlefields. Their aim was to end the war in these two places as quickly as possible, so that they could turn their attacks to other battlefields.
To counter the KMT's strategic plan, the CPC Central Committee decided to use its main forces to fight on the exterior lines and force the enemy troops to reinforce their rear areas, thus carrying the war into the KMT-controlled areas and changing the offensive-defensive balance between the two sides. The Dabie Mountains on the Central Plains was chosen as the main target of the assault.
On June 30, 1947, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping led 120,000 troops from Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan provinces to cross the Yellow River southward and wage a campaign in southwest Shandong. This was the precursor of a series of strategic offensives of the War of Liberation.
On July 23, Mao Zedong telegraphed Liu and Deng and told them to give up the rear areas, and march to the Dabie Mountains within two weeks. On the evening of August 7, Liu and Deng led their main forces in three columns and set out on a journey of about 500 km to the Dabie Mountains from southwest Shandong.
The troops reached the Dabie Mountains in late August, where they were supported by the local people and repulsed repeated attacks by 200,000 KMT troops. By November, they had inflicted more than 30,000 casualties, liberated 24 county towns, and established democratic governments in 33 counties, initially fulfilling their strategic mission.
At the same time, part of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, led by Chen Geng (1903-1961) and Xie Fuzhi (1909-1972), advanced into western Henan, and the main force of the East China Field Army, led by Chen Yi and Su Yu (1907-1984), pushed into the area between Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.
These three armies formed a triangle posing a direct threat to the KMT's ruling center of Nanjing and the strategic city of Wuhan. In December, they coordinated with each other and defeated the KMT assault on the Dabie Mountains.
The advance of the Liu-Deng forces to the Dabie Mountains was decisive in changing the balance between the Communist and the KMT troops. Its failure in the Central Plains campaign forced the KMT into a position of strategic defense, and gave the PLA the foothold for a nationwide victory in the final battles of the War of Liberation.
千里跃进大别山
1947年3月，国民党对解放区的全面进攻受挫后，改为重点进攻山东、陕北两个解放区，而在其他战场转取守势，力求迅速结束这两个地区的战事，再转用兵力于其他战场。为了打乱国民党的战略部署，中共中央决定：以解放区主力打到外线，调动敌人回防空虚的后方，粉碎国民党蒋介石的战略企图和方针，把战争引向国民党统治区，迫使敌人转入战略防御，改变敌我之间攻防形势。中共中央选择地处中原的大别山区作为战略进攻的主要突击方向。
6月30日，刘伯承、邓小平率晋冀鲁豫野战军主力12万人强渡黄河，发起鲁西南战役，揭开人民解放战争战略进攻的序幕。7月23日，毛泽东致电刘邓：“下决心不要后方，以半个月行程，直出大别山。” 8月7日黄昏，刘伯承、邓小平率晋冀鲁豫野战军主力部队12万大军，在华东野战军外线兵团部分兵力佯动掩护下，分左、右、中三路，从鲁西南的巨野、郓城地区出发，拉开了千里跃进大别山战役的序幕。
经过艰苦跋涉和激烈战斗，刘邓大军于8月底进入大别山区。刘邓大军依靠人民群众，艰苦作战，粉碎20万国民党军队的轮番进攻，至11月歼敌3万余人，解放县城24座，建立了33个县政权，初步完成了在大别山的战略展开。同时陈赓、谢富治率晋冀鲁豫野战军一部向豫西挺进，陈毅、粟裕率华东野战军主力挺进豫皖苏边区。三路大军形成“品”字形阵势展开，直接威胁国民党的统治中心南京和战略要地武汉。12月，三路大军协同粉碎了国民党对大别山的重点进攻。
刘邓大军千里跃进大别山，对于改变敌我之间的攻防形势，起了决定性的作用。由于中原战场的失利，国民党被迫转入战略防御。由此，人民解放军吹响了夺取全国胜利的嘹亮号角。