Su Yu and Chen Geng are both founding generals and one of the most capable generals.
However, these two generals, who were able to act independently during the war years, had completely different experiences after the founding of the People's Republic of China: Su Yu, who was the first general of the founding of the People's Republic of China, was criticized for serious "individualism" in 1958, and gradually faded out of the military circles after that.
The main reason why Su Yu was criticized was that he "offended" two and a half marshals, namely President Peng, Nie Shuai and Mr. Chen, while Chen Geng, who was the fourth of the founding generals, was very good at dealing with the world and handled the relationship with the founding marshal with ease.
During the war years, Su Yu's promotion was faster than Chen Geng's, but in peacetime, Chen Geng's work coordination ability was obviously smoother than Su Yu's. As a famous general who sympathizes with each other, why is there such a big difference between Su Yu and Chen Geng's situation before and after liberation?
The ruler is short and the inch is long, and the three shortcomings of General Su Yu are precisely Chen Geng's long board.
General Su Yu is a pure military talent, his military talent is impeccable, and his ability to command and fight wars, especially the combat ability of the large corps, has reached the pinnacle.
However, everything has multiple aspects, and the "God of War" Su Yu also has his own shortcomings.
The first shortcoming, Su Yu's qualifications are shallow, and he is always "a little bit closer" from the marshal;
The second shortcoming, Su Yu's personality is "indisputable", and when he is treated unfairly, he often forbears and retreats, and will not take the initiative to attack;
The third shortcoming, the means of controlling his subordinates, Su Yu does not have as many "ideas" as Chen Geng.
Whether in war or peacetime, these three shortcomings have restricted Su Yu's development.
Chen Geng is 4 years older than Su Yu, but his military experience is many years earlier. Chen Geng joined the Hunan Army at the age of 13, and Su Yu, who was 9 years old at the time, was still in elementary schoolAfter Chen Geng graduated from the first phase of Huangpu, he served as the company commander of the second phase of the enlisted student company, at this time Su Yu had just entered the Ye Ting Independent Regiment as a soldier, 8 years later than Chen Geng.
From the perspective of qualifications, during the 10 years of the agrarian revolution, the gap between Su Yu and Chen Geng was also all-round.
Nanchang uprising, Chen Geng is the battalion commander, Su Yu is the squad leader;During Chen Geng's time in Shanghai Special Branch, Su Yu served as division commander, army chief of staff, and corps chief of staff, but Chen Geng served as the regiment commander as soon as he arrived in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and was later promoted to division commander and chief of staff of the Red Fourth Front Army.
In other words, Su Yu during the Red Army was always one position different from Chen Geng.
Chen Geng, commander of the 386 Brigade during the Anti-Japanese War, and Zhou Xihan, chief of staff].
General Su Yu's second shortcoming is that his personality is not as tough as other generals.
As the top ten marshals of the founding of the People's Republic of China, all of them are good at military and political affairs, and their personalities also have their own characteristics. Even if he was praised by the chairman as an "honest man", he also had a strong executive ability in the whole army and the construction of base areas, and he has always been vigorous and resolute during his tenure as acting commander.
The top ten founding generals have distinct personalities, and Su Yu, the head of the generals, is a well-known "honest man".
Su Yu is decisive on the battlefield, never drags mud and water, but never argues with others in his usual work and life, and is very generous. During the Red Army period, the relationship between Su Yu and Le Shaohua, the political commissar of the Red Seventh Army, was always relatively passive, and during the three-year guerrilla warfare, the relationship with Liu Ying, the political commissar of the Advance Division, was also tense for a time.
During the War of Liberation, Su Yu encountered a strong challenge in cooperating with the Shandong Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army in Central China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Su Yu's work contact with Mr. Peng and Nie Shuai restricted the "God of War" to a higher level. Zhang Aiping saw that Su Yu was wronged and quietly shed tears, and asked him to take the initiative to find Mr. Peng to make the matter clear, but Su Yu was good at forbearance, and finally endured everything silently.
On the other hand, Chen Geng has a big personality, and he dares to joke with the chairman and Mr. Peng in private.
How bold is Chen Geng?At the meeting in Yan'an, during the chairman's speech, one of the "three masters" of the first phase of Huangpu dared to run to the rostrum and pick up the chairman's water tank and drink it all, and at the end he said to the chairman "excuse to drink water".
Su Yu's personality is more restrained, serving as the commander of the guard company for the chairman, and getting along with President Peng and Nie Shuai in the General Staff, which is generally official and has not developed into a good personal relationship. Coupled with the different work concepts and methods, Su Yu, Mr. Peng, and Nie Shuai repeatedly had work conflicts.
The third "shortcoming" of General Su Yu is the lack of "means" to control his subordinates.
In terms of controlling his subordinates, the ten marshals have their own tricks: for example, the cold and majestic of President Peng, let his subordinates order to prohibit them;Mr. Lin's unfathomable profundity made his subordinates fearful, and Liu Shuai's amiability made his subordinates respect him like a division commander.
Honest man "Nie Shuai, he also has his own methods in controlling his subordinates:
In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, for Deng Hua and Huang Yongsheng, who could not be tied in a trough, divide and conquer;Guo Tianmin, the founding general who openly criticized himself at the summary meeting, was coldly dealt with to the endHuang Shoufa, the chief of staff who saw a different idea and killed his wife for a new love, took decisive measures to shoot him and make an example.
Chen Geng, the founding general, is also very clever in controlling his subordinates.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the 386 Brigade was clenched like a fist, and some people even said that it was "monolithic". Even if Division Commander Liu asked someone to develop southern Hebei, Chen Geng only gave up a deputy brigade commander Chen Zaidao, and the few companies needed were also borrowed from the 385th Brigade.
The headquarters of the 129th Division accidentally borrowed the 772nd Regiment from the 386th Brigade for a use, and as soon as the battle was over, it was as impatient as going home to see the newlywed daughter-in-law. The famous generals of the 386 Brigade are like clouds, Wang Xinting, Xu Shiyou, Zhou Xihan, Wang Jinshan, these unruly generals, once they arrived under Chen Geng, they were all obedient.
Su Yu has only one ability to control his subordinates, and that is to win the battle!When encountering those "thorns" who are older than themselves, sometimes there are not many ways to do it, and they can only rely on the chairman's orders and the majesty of the chief to help.
The three major shortcomings of the founding general Su Yu are precisely Chen Geng's strengths.
Chen Geng is the elder brother of the first phase of Huangpu, who saved the life of President Jiang during the Eastern Crusade, worked in Shanghai for 4 years in the red **, and was seriously injured in the leg twice, but unexpectedly escaped the purge. After being caught by President Jiang, he was released on bail by more than a dozen Whampoa alumni, led the cadre group to carry Guo Xunqi, and personally carried Zhou Gong's stretcher across the grassland.
Such an experience is unique among all the generals and commanders of our army!
It is precisely because of his old qualifications and bold personality that Chen Geng is very handy in handling interpersonal relationships.
As the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, Mr. Peng rarely joked in front of him, and Chen Geng was an exception.
Chen Geng joined the Hunan Army at the age of 13 and was assigned to the regiment where Mr. Peng belonged, but Peng was always the commander of another company. The friendship between the two has laid the foundation in the years of the Hunan army. Chen Geng has been in Shanghai Special Branch for 4 years, serving as the head of the Intelligence Section, and has escorted many leaders in Shanghai, such as *** and others.
It is precisely because of Chen Geng's old qualifications that he was the head of the regiment as soon as he arrived at the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, which can be described as "the peak of his debut", and later served as the commander of the Red 12th Division, and the three regiment commanders produced 1 general Xu Haidong and 1 general Xu Shiyou, only Gao Shao died first.
After the liberation, General Chen Geng boasted many times: he was more majestic than the marshal back then.
General Su Yu has a high evaluation in the market, and General Chen Geng is not far behind.
During the Liberation War, Chen Geng's troops and combat exploits could not be compared with Su Yu, in addition, during Su Yu's tenure as the commander-in-chief, Chen Geng served as a deputy, and most of the rest of the period, Chen Geng's halo and legend on his head were brighter than that of General Su Yu.
After the liberation, Chen Geng was named by Ho Chi Minh to guide the fight against the French army;When the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, Chen Geng was ordered by General Peng, commander and political commissar of the Volunteer Army, to go to the 38th parallel to guide the digging of tunnels and fight a tug-of-war with the US-South Korean coalition forces.
Su Yu and Chen Geng are also the highest in the evaluation of our army leaders.
For Su Yu, the pinnacle was in the Liberation War, and the chairman praised him for "Huaihai made the first contribution", and Liu Shuai also praised Su Yu as the best general in our army. As for Chen Geng, Mr. Peng's words are quite representative: Chen Geng fought the Japanese army and fought the Jiang army, the Jiang army fought the French army, and the French army fought the American army, and he was invincible all over the world.
As the old saying goes, "there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts", in fact, the founding generals have their own merits.
Su Yu is good at foresight, and Chen Geng is good at winning by surprise;Su Yu is good at fighting in large corps, and Chen Geng is also very good at taking different countermeasures against different opponentsIt is precisely because of the founding generals of our army that they can defeat the strong with the weak.
Su Yu has Su Yu's strengths, and Chen Geng also has Chen Geng's advantages, and our army can be invincible.