On February 5, 1984, at the age of 77, Su Yu passed away.
When Xiao Jinguang heard the news, he couldn't calm down for a long time. Then he said to the secretary:"You go and prepare first, I'm going to write an article for Su Yu. ”
After Xiao Jinguang finished the eulogy, he instructed the secretary:"You go and inform your superiors that I want to publish this article. However, the publication of the article was stymied. Xiao Jinguang, who learned of this, was furious: "Everyone is gone, do you still refuse to let him go?" ”
What's going on here?
Su Yu was born on August 10, 1907 in Fengmushujiao Village, Fulong Township, Huitong County, Hunan Province, to a relatively wealthy family.
When he was a student at the national school founded by his uncle, Su Yu was frequently praised by his uncle and other teachers, and his father also pinned his hopes on him to become the manager of the family finances and inherit the family business.
In 1923, at the age of 16, Su Yu was successfully admitted to the Hunan Provincial Second Normal School.
However, the news did not bring joy to his parents, whose father was worried about the high tuition fees and his mother was worried about the instability of the outside world, but Su Yu's stance was firm – his desire to get out of the house and into the school, even if it was necessary to beg outside, finally moved his parents, who scraped together the required tuition fees and supported Su Yu to continue his education journey at Hunan No. 2 Normal School.
During his time at school, Su Yu met Teng Daiyuan, one of the early leaders of our party.
Teng Daiyuan was the head of the organization of the student union at that time, and his guidance made Su Yu soon become an active member of the youth movement, and he began to read Marxist-Leninist books and participate in the discussion of national affairs, which gradually strengthened his determination to take the road to communism.
In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition was successful, and the sudden "purging of the party" action caused the Changde area where Su Yu was located to be purged by the Kuomintang.
His principal, Hu Zuowu, died heroically to protect his students, which made Su Yu, who was forced to move to Wuchang, understand the cruelty and hardships of the revolution.
He realized that only by picking up a gun could he defend the revolution, so he threw himself into the 24th Division Teaching Brigade led by Ye Ting without hesitation.
In the same year, Su Yu officially joined the Communist Party of China, participated in the Nanchang Uprising and the Southern Hunan Uprising, and followed the troops to Jinggangshan.
At the revolutionary base in Jinggangshan, Su Yu's post was constantly adjusted and promoted, and each adjustment was aimed at strengthening the management of grassroots companies and improving the combat capability of the troops.
He has also lived up to the expectations and trust of his superiors.
There were still many warlord habits in the army at that time, especially the casual attacks and insults against soldiers.
Su Yu expressed his resolute opposition to this.
At first, he believed that soldiers who violated military discipline should be punished severely, but over time he gradually understood why *** and ** put so much emphasis on the importance of ideological work.
He also began to turn punishment into ideological education, and gradually grew into an excellent Communist Party member and military instructor.
During the land period of the Chinese Revolution, Su Yu held many important positions, including company commander, battalion commander, detachment commander, and division commander of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, as well as chief of staff of the Red Fourth Army, the Red Eleventh Army, and the Red Tenth Army Corps, and also served as the commander of the 12th Division.
He was active in many anti-"encirclement and suppression" battles in the **Soviet region, and showed extraordinary military talent.
In the first anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle in the **Soviet area, Su Yu served as the commander of the 64th Division of the Red Army.
In the early morning of December 30, 1930, with the dissipation of the dense fog and the order of ***, the Red Army ambushed around Longgang was like a divine soldier descending from heaven, and the unsuspecting enemy immediately fell into chaos and collapsed.
Our troops seized this opportunity and launched a fierce attack, and the battle lasted until dusk, and finally completely annihilated the fleeing enemy and captured the enemy's division commander Zhang Huizan alive.
Subsequently, under the command of ***, Su Yu led his troops to attack the enemy Tan Daoyuan's troops and served as the main direction of attack.
The battle was extremely fierce, and the enemy used superior equipment to launch a counterattack against Su Yu's troops.
The enemy broke through the line of defense in front and rushed all the way to the command position of the division headquarters, and the situation was precarious.
At this critical moment, there was only one guard platoon left in the division headquarters, but Su Yu was calm and calm, commanded everyone to fight bravely, and finally did not let the enemy move forward.
Fortunately, the military headquarters was on the hill behind the command position of the 64th Division, only two or three hundred meters apart, and when it discovered the emergency here, it immediately sent a company of reinforcements to go around the enemy's rear from the flank, carry out a two-sided flanking attack, and successfully eliminate this group of enemies.
The enemy's first "encirclement and suppression" was completely crushed by us.
After the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the guerrillas scattered in the southern provinces were reorganized into the New Fourth Army, with Ye Ting as the commander, Xiang Ying as the deputy commander, and four detachments under its jurisdiction, while Su Yu served as the deputy commander of the second detachment, equivalent to the position of deputy division commander.
Soon after, Su Yu was ordered to form an advance detachment of the New Fourth Army, served as the commander of the advance detachment, marched into the southern Jiangsu region, and successfully ambushed the Japanese army in Weigang Village.
Weigang Village was a necessary place for the transportation of Japanese military vehicles.
In 1938, when the Japanese car entered the ambush area, Su Yu immediately gave the order, and then launched a fierce white-knuckle battle, annihilating more than 20 Japanese soldiers and destroying 4 cars, and achieving a very important victory, which also became a beautiful "good start" for the New Fourth Army to resist Japan.
From August to the end of the year, Su Yu commanded the troops to launch a large-scale guerrilla war near Nanjing, killing and wounding more than 50 Japanese puppet troops, and even successfully attacked Nanjing's Zhonghua Gate, Yuhuatai and Monk Bridge, which made the Japanese invaders and Wang puppet feel anxious.
On August 15, 1945, the Japanese emperor announced his surrender, and the Japanese troops all over the country laid down ** and surrendered to the squadron.
However, in the Gaoyou area of Jiangsu, there was still a stubborn Japanese army that refused to surrender.
As a result, the New Fourth Army decided to settle the problem by force.
On December 19, 1945, Su Yuqin led a large army to attack Gaoyou.
Gaoyou City was lost after a week of fierce fighting, and the Battle of Gaoyou became the last battle of the War of Resistance against Japan, so Su Yu also became a famous anti-Japanese general who fought with the Japanese army until the last moment.
Which battle did the important turning point in the War of Liberation originate? Ordinary history textbooks usually provide two answers:The first is the thousand-mile leap of Liu Deng's army into Dabie Mountain, which expanded the battle line from the inner line to the outer line; The second was the three major battles, namely the Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin battles, which completely wiped out the effective combat power of the enemy.
However, ** saw a different view: he believed that the real turning point in the war of liberation occurred in a crucial battle in June 1948.
**Once described as such:"After fighting this war, it is like the liberation war that has climbed the most difficult mountain pass, and it will be easier and easier to fight in the future. ”The turning point referred to by *** was the Battle of Eastern Henan in 1948.
Under the circumstances at that time, how our army could seize the leading position in the war in order to win the victory in the war of liberation at an early date became the biggest problem.
** and Su Yu, who were in charge of commanding the East China Field Army, especially Su Yu, thought that the time was not yet ripe, so they refused the order of the Military Commission to cross the river.
When Su Yu's telegram arrived in the hands of ***, ** immediately decided to support Su Yu's judgment.
The seven major victories in the Soviet-Chinese War made *** believe in Su Yu very much, he believed that after fighting on the battlefield for so long, Su Yu knew much more about the battlefield than he, who commanded in the back.
Sure enough, the battle was won.
In 1955, at a major award ceremony, Su Yu was awarded the rank of general for his outstanding achievements and ranked first.
There is no doubt that Su Yu showed unrivalled talent in the art of commanding war, however, his social skills were relatively weak, and he was not good at using those cunning red tape skills, and he was a straightforward man.
In the war-torn era, such a character does not attract too many doubts, and people pay more attention to his heroic performance on the battlefield.
However, after the founding of New China, his direct personality gradually became the focus of criticism from others.
In particular, after he became the head of the General Staff Headquarters, his unspeakable personality caused more and more misunderstandings among more and more people, and laid the groundwork for the convening of the "Criticism of Su" meeting.
In 1958, at an enlarged meeting of the Military Commission, Su Yu was criticized and labeled "bourgeois individualism".
In fact, this accusation was unjust, and Su Yu was wronged, but in the social atmosphere of the time, he was forced to accept this criticism.
In fact, since 1950, Su Yu's health has gradually declined, but despite this, he still insists on his work and investigation.
In 1980, he expressed his wishes to his wife Chu Qing about his death:"When I pass away, don't hold any memorial activities, try to keep it simple and avoid wasting the country's resources. At that time, scatter my ashes on the land where I fought, and I want to be reunited with my comrades who are buried there. ”
On February 5, 1984, the news of Su Yu's death made his old comrade-in-arms Xiao Jinguang feel very sad.
Since the time of the Red Army, the two military generals have experienced the birth of New China together, and the friendship between them has endured.
Xiao Jinguang planned to write an article in memory of Su Yu, but the publication process was hampered by the criticism that Su Yu had received in 1958.
After learning about this, Xiao Jinguang felt angry and puzzled.
He thinks alone, people are gone, and even nostalgia must be forbidden? Angry, he eventually deleted the criticism as requested out of his friend's memory.
On February 13, after some efforts, Xiao Jinguang's eulogy was finally published, expressing his deep thoughts and respect to Su Yu.
In 1993, it had been nearly ten years since Su Yu's death.
That year, Su Yu's former close comrades-in-arms jointly submitted a report to the Military Council, eager to clear Su Yu's grievances.
In 1994, the ** Military Council officially responded by restoring Su Yu's reputationAt the extensive meetings of the Central Military Commission, the erroneous accusations that Comrade Su Yu had suffered and the unfair treatment caused by this were confirmed to be historical miscalculations.
At this point, Su Yu's grievances have finally been clarified.
Reference: Memoirs of Su Yu
Recommended reading: "Victorious General" Su Yu".
Su Yu: The first of the top ten generals made many miraculous feats during the war years