Zhang Lingfu was considered arrogant and arrogant, and led the reorganized 74th Division to go deep alone, and finally died in the Battle of Menglianggu. However, this statement is not accurate. Su Yu retorted in his memoirs: "Some sources say that the results of our army's capture of Meng Lianggu are due to the fact that the enemy's reorganized 74th Division rushed alone and took the initiative to send it to the door. This statement does not reflect the enemy's operational intentions and movements, nor does it reflect our army's foresight and campaign decisions. "In fact, before the campaign was launched, the enemy's two flanks were only four to six kilometers away from the 74th Division, because the enemy planned to carry out a breakthrough against us, and the situation of the enemy's 74th Division was bound to be slightly prominent. However, this did not mean that Zhang Lingfu's actions were groundless, on the contrary, his plan was carefully considered, with the aim of attracting the main force of Huaye to besiege it, and then let the Kuomintang peripheral forces carry out a counter-encirclement, and win a complete victory with internal and external attacks.
However, Zhang Lingfu overestimated the degree of cooperation of friendly forces, and also underestimated Huaye's reinforcement ability. Su Yu arranged 5 columns to besiege Meng Lianggu, and also arranged 4 columns to be responsible for blocking reinforcements, so the peripheral troops of the Kuomintang could not enter for a long time, which was inseparable from the strong reinforcements of our army. ** During the pre-war mobilization, it was clearly stated: "The difficulty of taking the rank of general from the million-strong army is that it is necessary to rip out this 'general' from the 'million-strong army' and then besiege it, and at the same time resist the reinforcements of the enemy's ten integrated divisions behind it, and the task is extremely difficult." The victory in this battle once again confirms this view. The battle of Menglianggu was like a tiger's mouth pulling out teeth, as Su Yu described.
He once vividly described this battle: "There is only a tiny gap in the tiger's mouth, and we must force our way into it, like a flyover handle that pulls a hard bowstring, stretches the enemy's left and right flanks, and destroys the 74th Division from the enemy's heavy army!"This description truly shows the situation of the battle of Menglianggu. This battle did not happen by chance, Zhang Lingfu went deep alone, not by chance, but with the belief that he would win. At the same time, the reason why Huaye was able to completely annihilate and reorganize the 74th Division was not entirely because of the ineffective reinforcements of the Kuomintang, but because he was fully prepared and effectively blocked the attack of the reinforcements, and he also had the belief that he would win.
The safety of the liberated areas of Shandong will determine whether the 74th Division can be wiped out within one day, and you must complete the task at any cost!"In general, this is a hard-fought battle, it is the peak duel of physical strength and will of both sides, both sides are not opportunistic, and in the end our army won a big victory, and it is precisely because of the tenacious struggle of the Huaye soldiers. Therefore, when Su Yu saw those self-righteous views in his later years, he deliberately clarified them in his memoirs, restored the truth of history, and also gave an explanation to the Huaye soldiers back then.