Please do a multiple-choice question.

What day was the start of the Crossing of the Yangtze River Campaign?

A April 20, 1949 B April 21, 1949

Before you answer the question, let's take a look at their answers.

Nanjing Crossing the Yangtze River Victory Memorial Hall: Choose option B. The exhibition hall's Chen and the book "Crossing the River" published by former director Yang Bo both believe that the starting point of the campaign should be the "Order to Advance Nationwide" issued by Chairman Mao Zedong and Commander in Chief Zhu De on April 21.

Former Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Jinan Military Region, Gui Hengbin, selected A. In his book "Complete Record of the Life and Death Battle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party from 1946 to 1950- Sweeping the Yangtze River", he believed that crossing the Yangtze River on April 20th was the start time of the battle.

Wu Guoyou, former director of the Second Research Department of the Central Party History Research Office: None of them are selected. The book "A Million Heroes Descend to Jiangnan" edited by him only vaguely mentions the duration of the campaign, without a clear indication of the specific launch time.

So, which one should we choose?

Recently, Wang Gao, Director of the Research and Preservation Department of the Crossing of the Yangtze River Memorial Hall, published an academic paper titled "Re analysis of the Launch Time of the Crossing of the Yangtze River Campaign". The full text discusses the campaign symbols and decision-making from two aspects, answering this question.

From the perspective of campaign symbols, it is clearly inappropriate to use the "Order to Advance Nationwide" (hereinafter referred to as the "Order") as a symbol. Firstly, the target of the 'Command' is all commanders and fighters, including the People's Liberation Army in various guerrilla areas in the south, and obviously not just our troops crossing the Yangtze River in the north; Secondly, the focus of the "Order" is to advance nationwide, with the combat area covering the Nationalist controlled areas that have not yet been liberated, including the southwestern and northwestern regions. The Crossing of the Yangtze River Campaign aimed to liberate important cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, as well as southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui. As part of the nationwide march, the Crossing of the Yangtze River Campaign was not mentioned in the "Order". Again, in terms of time, the Crossing of the Yangtze River Campaign actually started fighting on the evening of April 20th, and the "Order" was issued the next day, April 21st. The military action on the evening of April 20th cannot be explained from the operational order.

From the perspective of battle decision-making, who was commanding the Crossing of the River Campaign? Who ultimately issued the order to cross the river? On December 12, 1948, as the second stage of the Huaihai Campaign was about to be won, Comrade Mao Zedong had a far sighted vision and, in the name of the Central Military Commission, sent a telegram to the Huaihai Campaign Front Committee, clearly stating for the first time the policy and objectives of the cross river operation, and initially setting the time for the cross river campaign in May or June of the following year. From February to April 1949, there were six changes in the crossing time, and the specific decision was not made by the General Front Committee of the Crossing Campaign, but by the Central Military Commission. So, the crossing of the river on April 20th was directly determined by the Central Military Commission.

Overall, the answer to this question from the Crossing of the Yangtze River Memorial Hall is A.

So, what is your answer?