In the War of Liberation, many outstanding generals emerged in our army, representing the commander-in-chief, commander, marshal and marshal Su Yu of different field armies, as well as marshals. In addition, there are also some highly accomplished generals in military affairs, among which there is one who is recognized as a genius general, that is, one of the ten marshals*** When it comes to ***, people may first think of his status and merits during the Red Army period, as well as the important positions he held after the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, his actions in the Liberation War are far inferior to those of other famous generals. Su Yu, who ranked first among the founding generals, performed well in the Liberation War and fully demonstrated his military talent, while his performance in the Liberation War was not too eye-catching. Some even say that *** is the only corps commander marshal. The corps commander mentioned here refers to the commander of the First Corps of the North China Military Region who served for a long time during the Liberation War. **Experienced in war, extraordinary ability, so why did he serve as the commander of the corps?The reason is not as simple as one might think. In 1946, Chiang's army launched a full-scale offensive, and our army suffered some setbacks in the first battle.
** Recuperating in the rear for a long time, he was so anxious that he sent a telegram to the headquarters, hoping to allow himself to go to the front to fight. After careful consideration, the headquarters decided to send *** to the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region as the deputy commander to assist *** In May 1948, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region were merged to establish the North China Military Region, and ** became the deputy commander of the military region and commanded the first corps. Work under the leadership of Marshal ***. **Marshal Because the headquarters of the First Corps of the North China Military Region is in Jinnan, it is far away from the headquarters of the North China Military Region. ** Not in the military district command for a long time. The two veterans have a very high prestige in the army, but their qualifications are low. Why did a genius general like ***, who had both military and political ability, work under the leadership of the two marshals Liu and Nie, and actually only command one corps?There's a reason for that. The Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region was established in May 1945, and its predecessors were mainly four military regions: Taihang, Southern Hebei, Taiyue and Hebei-Shandong-Henan. These military districts were fighting against Japan. **And *** have a close connection in the war.
At that time, ** led the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army to the area of Taihang Mountain and launched a fierce confrontation with the Japanese army, so it had a high reputation in the local area. In contrast, **, although he was the deputy commander of the 129th Division, he was transferred to Shandong in 1938 for health reasons and missed some important battles. Therefore, despite his strong personal ability and participation in the airborne landing of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, he cannot replace the highly respected and experienced military leader *** as Liu Shuai's deputy. The reason why the North China Military Region is headed by *** instead of *** is actually because after the merger of the military region, it is still dominated by Jinchaji. The Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region is strong, led by *** and Deng Gong, and has a vast territory and strong strength. Under the management of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, it has a number of base areas such as central Hebei, eastern Hebei, Pingbei and western Hebei, and the scale of the army has also rapidly expanded to hundreds of thousands. Considering the overall strength of the military region after the merger, the powerful Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region naturally occupies a dominant position. In order to coordinate and lead the troops, it is also a reasonable arrangement to become the commander of the North China Military Region.
As for *** not serving as deputy commander in the North China Military Region Command, this is related to his stay in the Jinnan area. Since he had a fellow countryman there, the warlord Yan Xishan. Yan Xishan, nicknamed "Yan Xi'er", is a veteran warlord who has been operating in Shanxi for decades, cunning and vicious, and has deep-rooted power. In order to deal with him, a famous general is needed to calm the situation. After thinking about it again, the headquarters decided to let *** guard Jinnan. ** Not only has a unique view on macro strategy, but also is unambiguous in raising and training troops. Liu Deng's southward movement led to the insufficient size of the troops in the Jinnan base area, making it difficult to confront Yan Xishan and lacking sufficient deterrence. In the face of Yan Xishan's taunting and provocation, Xu Shuai did not rush to fight back, but personally led the troops, personally organized training and demonstrated the soldiers. Xu Shuai was born in Whampoa and was good at training, and he taught the soldiers the essentials of training in an easy-to-understand manner. In addition, Xu Shuai also attaches great importance to the selection of command talents, and knows that it is easy to obtain a thousand troops, but it is difficult to find a commander. He selected a group of young, educated, and intelligent backbones, and often shared his conducting experience with them.
Under the personal guidance of Xu Shuai, the strength of the troops increased rapidly, and in the Jinzhong Campaign, they won more with less and achieved brilliant results, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent Taiyuan Campaign and even the liberation of Shanxi. Although Xu Shuai's position during the Liberation War may not have been as prominent as that of some other well-known generals, his role was equally important, and his meritorious service was indispensable.