The marshal once gave Su Yu a very high evaluation, calling him "the best general in our army". Su Yu never went to military school, but he grew from an ordinary soldier to a first-ranked general, and he has an unparalleled talent in military command. Someone summed up the three major characteristics of Su Yu's use of soldiers:
One of them is very bold; Second, he is good at making strange moves; The third is to be good at calculations.
In this regard, I would like to add that Su Yu also has a characteristic that he does not mechanically carry out the orders of his superiors, but dares to put forward his own views in light of reality.
In 1946, the top boss **combined with the order and the situation at that time, and believed that Su Yu should lead the main force out of Huainan and fight to the outer line to lead the war to the enemy-occupied area.
However, Su Yu insisted that it was more advantageous to fight a few big battles on the inner line first, and he repeatedly put forward his own suggestions to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army and the ** Military Commission, and finally agreed that Su Yu would fight on the inner line first. And Su Yu also lived up to expectations, winning seven battles and seven victories in the Soviet Union and China.
Even if it is the strategic deployment proposed by ***, Su Yu dares to express his opinions. At the beginning of 1948, it was decided to let Su Yu lead three columns to cross the Yangtze River south, and Su Yu put forward different proposals three times.
In the end, he summoned Su Yu and others in Chengnanzhuang, Fuping County, and sharply proposed, "If you feel really difficult or unwilling to lead a corps south, we can consider changing the commander......."”
This time, will Su Yu still insist on his opinion?
Su Yu, photographed in the summer of 1941 In the summer of 1947, the war of liberation entered a new stage, and the enemy's key offensive against Shandong and northern Shaanxi was crushed. The first part of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army led by Su Yu advanced into the Dabie Mountains, the first part of the East China Field Army led by Su Yu advanced into the Henan-Anhui Soviet Border Region, and the first section of the Shanxi-Shandong-Henan Field Army led by Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi advanced into the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Border Region.
The People's Liberation Army has launched a strategic **, but the enemy still has an advantage in forces and equipment, and the Central Plains battlefield has also formed a stalemate for a certain period of time. How to break the deadlock in the Central Plains battlefield has become the key to influencing the trend of the liberation war.
In this regard, Su Yu summed up his own strategic concept, and the general idea is:
The three major strategic zones in the Central Plains are suddenly divided and merged, looking for fighters to annihilate the enemy all the way, and after two or three major battles of annihilation, the situation can be changed.
On January 22, 1948, Su Yu reported this strategic concept to the ** Military Commission. In the message, he used the phrase "to see what is within his reach, and to be bold and straightforward" to express his seriousness and caution. **What will be the reaction to receiving this message?
In fact, the big picture is also being studied, and conclusions are being reached. As early as December 1947, a meeting was held in Mizhi County, northern Shaanxi for deployment, and for this reason, ** was specially summoned to northern Shaanxi to explain the operational deployment. The general idea is:
Su Yu led the three Huaye columns to cross the Yangtze River south and carry out a wide and mobile combat mission.
Taking Su Yu as the commander is the result of **'s strong recommendation, ** also endowed with a poem, in which the sentence "five years of victory is now Kebu, and the Yangtze River is steadily crossed to send Su Lang" can be seen that he understands and trusts Su Yu.
After receiving Su Yu's call, ** discussed, but still decided to implement the original plan, that is, Su Yu led his troops to cross the Yangtze River south. There were realistic considerations in making this decision:
First, fighting on the outer front and leading the war to the enemy-occupied areas can not only consume the enemy's resources, but also disrupt the enemy's deployment and break the deadlock in the Central Plains battlefield.
Second, Liu Deng's army was heavily besieged by the enemy in the Dabie Mountains, which was very difficult. Crossing the river and marching south can attract a certain number of enemy troops, relieve the pressure of Liu Deng's army, and then create an opportunity for the Central Plains battlefield to annihilate the enemy.
Taken together, there is nothing wrong with either option. But Su Yu believed in his plan more, and while studying the plan to cross the river to the south, he wrote a telegram of more than 2,000 words and reported it again. It's just that ** still decided to implement the plan to cross the Yangtze River in the south.
Su Yu knew that he must resolutely obey the orders of his superiors, but he must not simply obey them mechanically. As a party member and a front-line commander, he must be responsible for history. So he never gave up his strategic vision.
But at this time, Su Yu has a few more worries, after all, he is on the front line, is there a limit to looking at the problem? If you stick to the book, will it affect your determination to execute the right strategy?
For this reason, Su Yu found the ** who came back from the **meeting** to discuss. The two discussed for several days, and it was difficult to decide for a while. At that time, *** was going to work in Puyang, and ** decided to visit him with Su Yu and listen to his opinion.
After learning more about Su Yu's plan, ** praised it again and again, and said: "I fully support this suggestion, and I believe that ** will definitely support it." * also expressed his attitude: "I agree to report your suggestion in my personal name again**."
On April 18, Su Yu reported his suggestion to ** again. put forward different suggestions three times in a row, so that ** felt Su Yu's resoluteness, and replied to instruct** and Su Yu to report to ** in person.
In 1939, Su Yu (second from left) and others took a group photo at the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army On April 30, Su Yu rushed to Chengnanzhuang, Fuping County. **Knowing that Su Yu was coming, he rarely walked outside the gate of the courtyard to welcome, and after meeting, he held Su Yu's hand tightly and said: "Comrade Su Yu, we have been separated for 17 years. "Speaking of which, Su Yu still has a deep relationship with ***.
In June 1929, ** lost his position as secretary of the former party committee at the Seventh National Congress of the Red Fourth Army, and suffered from severe malaria, and had to go to the deep mountains of Yongding to hide**, he experienced both mental and physical torture. Su Yu, who was the company commander at the time, was responsible for escorting and defending ***, so he had many opportunities to learn *** tactical thinking.
After lunch, Su Yu reported his strategic ideas to the ** "Five Secretaries" - Ren Bishi and others:
First of all,The enemy still has a large army, and in order to liberate the whole country, it will be necessary to engage in several large-scale decisive battles with the enemy army. The location of the decisive battle should be as far as possible in the area north of the Yangtze River, because Jiangnan is the center of the enemy's rule, and its manpower, financial resources, and technology are far superior to our army.
Secondly,The conditions are ripe for large-scale annihilation of the enemy in the Huanghuai region of the Central Plains. Our army has 10 main columns and some local troops in the Central Plains battlefield, and the strength is sufficient. In addition, the Central Plains Liberated Area already has a certain foundation, and it is also backed by Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, and the old Liberated Area, so it can receive a large amount of manpower and material support.
Finally,The flat terrain in the Central Plains is conducive to the rapid support of the enemy, but it is also conducive to the mobile operations of our army. Since the enemy has to defend the lines of communication, he will inevitably occupy a large number of troops, which is a great burden. Our army can move flexibly, first mobilize the enemy, and then seek opportunities to annihilate the enemy.
If you cross the river and head south at this time, the following situations will occur:
First of all,The three columns of our army, together with the necessary civilian workers and local cadres, totaled about 100,000 people, and if they were inserted into the heart of the enemy, they would inevitably be surrounded by heavy troops. It is estimated that there will be losses of more than 60,000 people, and the remaining forces can hardly pose a serious threat to the enemy.
Secondly,Although crossing the river to the south could attract some enemies, it was difficult to relieve the pressure on Liu Deng's army. The Fifth Army and the Eighteenth Army, the main forces besieging Liu Deng's army, were mechanized troops, and it was difficult to move when transferred to the south of the Yangtze River. The Seventh Army and the Forty-eighth Army were Gui troops, and Lao Jiang finally transferred them to the front line, and he would never let them go easily.
Finally,Even if the goal of crossing the river to the south was achieved, it attracted the enemy's four major armies to move south and liberate the Central Plains. However, the enemy's forces are more concentrated, and it is more difficult to find opportunities for large-scale annihilation. In addition, the economy of the south is relatively developed and densely populated, and a large-scale decisive battle is carried out here, which is not conducive to future construction.
So to sum up the above:Crossing the river to the south and fighting a huge price may be paid, and a large-scale battle to annihilate the enemy should be carried out in the area north of the Yangtze River.
At this time, Su Yu was more like a student who was conducting a defense, and the leading comrades took turns to raise their doubts to him, and Su Yu was always able to answer them one by one with confidence.
In the end, he raised his voice: "If the main force of 100,000 is withdrawn from the Central Plains, it will undoubtedly weaken the assault force, which means that we will lose more time, and may even delay the liberation of the whole country." ”
** took over the topic and said: "You go down to Jiangnan, it is true that you will not win easily, otherwise we would not have sent you there." ”
** Suddenly interjected: "Of course, if you feel that it is really difficult or unwilling to lead a corps south, we can consider changing the commander-in-chief ......."”
This sudden sentence made everyone a little puzzled, and they all turned their eyes to *** and then turned to Su Yu. I saw that Su Yu was also sweating nervously, and subconsciously unbuttoned the wind and discipline button, but suddenly seemed to realize that something was wrong and hurriedly buckled it.
The most anxious is **, he explained: "I'm afraid it's not appropriate to change the commander, no matter who goes, the whole army will be wiped out, only Su Yu can save 350,000 people and wait for rescue." ”
*'s words made the atmosphere solemn, but *** laughed out loud, he signaled for the meeting to be adjourned, and then led the "five secretaries" into another small conference room for a meeting.
When he came out of the conference room, he asked Su Yu, "How is it?" Comrade Su Yu, are you still sticking to your plan? ”
Su Yu replied firmly: "No matter what order ** gives, I will do my best." But personally, I still believe that the enemy should be annihilated in the area north of the Yangtze River. ”
** Lian Sheng said that it was very good, in fact, he had already planned for Su Yu's strategic concept. The sudden interrogation at the meeting was just to test Su Yu's confidence and see how determined he was.
The decision was then announced by ***:The Huaye 1st Corps will not move south for the time being for four to eight months, but will first join the Central Plains operation, striving to realize the new strategy of annihilating the enemy's main force north of the Yangtze River.
Just like the last Soviet-Chinese campaign, ** chose Su Yu's strategy again, but this time Su Yu can fight a fairy battle like "Soviet-Chinese Seven Battles and Seven Victories"?
Su Yu, who commanded the Battle of Menglianggu, targeted the enemy's Fifth Army, which was the first mechanized unit and participated in the expedition to Burma, and was known as one of the five trump cards. Du Yuming and Qiu Qingquan, who served as commanders of the Fifth Army, were all famous generals of the Anti-Japanese War, especially Qiu Qingquan, known as Qiu Maniac, who served as a division commander in the Battle of Kunlun Pass in 1939, and he personally drove a tank to charge the Japanese army.
To eat such an ace army, is it too much appetite? In fact, this is precisely the embodiment of Su Yu's courage, and he asked the troops to prepare according to the standard of annihilating the Fifth Army, annihilating the Fifth Army when they have the opportunity, and annihilating other armies if they have no chance. He has two sets of operational deployments:
The first was to annihilate the Fifth Army in southwestern Lu; The second is to open the seal first, and then annihilate the enemy.
The specific deployment is:
The 3rd and 8th columns marched from Xuchang to Huainan, attracting the Fifth Army to the south. Su Yuqin led.
The 1st, 4th, and 6th Columns crossed the Yellow River to the south, annihilating the defending enemy in southwestern Shandong and attracting the Fifth Army to turn back. If the conditions are ripe, the Fifth Army will be annihilated by a flank attack from the north and south. If it is not mature, it will attack Kaifeng by surprise.
The Fifth Army really fell into Su Yu's trap, and first went south to intercept Huayedi.
The 3rd and 8th Columns, after Su Yu led the main force south, urgently returned north. It's just that the enemy forces in southwestern Shandong are relatively dense, which is not conducive to separation. Su Yu decisively ordered the implementation of the plan of "opening the seal first, and then destroying the enemy".
Kaifeng City Defense is strong, but Su Yu has already made arrangements, Huaye.
The 3rd and 8th columns were built on the basis of the children of miners in southern and southwestern Lu, and they were especially good at blasting. The Battle of Kaifeng began at 9 p.m. on June 17, 1948, and was fought until the morning of June 22, when the enemy was basically wiped out, and more than 40,000 enemies were annihilated in this battle.
This is only the first step in the war, and the next step is to "annihilate and aid the enemy". After the People's Liberation Army conquered Kaifeng, Lao Jiang angrily ordered Qiu Qingquan's corps and Ou Shounian's corps to rush to Kaifeng. Su Yu duly decided to abandon Kaifeng and mobilize the enemy first.
Lao Jiang misjudged Su Yu's intentions and thought he was going to run. In addition to ordering Qiu Qingquan and Ou Shounian's two corps to go all out to encircle and block, he also ordered Huang Baitao's corps to go south, Sun Yuanliang's corps to move eastward, and Hu Lian's corps to go north, in an attempt to eliminate the main force of Huaye in one fell swoop.
Qiu Qingquan was arrogant, and after learning that Huaye had evacuated Kaifeng, he immediately occupied and chased after him. Ou Shounian, on the other hand, was more cautious and was not in a hurry to act before he figured out Qingye's intentions. That's all,The two corps, which were originally advancing in parallel, opened 40 kilometers overnight, creating an opportunity for Huaye to annihilate the enemy.
Su Yu decided to eat the relatively weak Ou Shou Nian Corps first, led by Ye Fei.
The 1st, 4th, 6th Columns and the 10th Column of Nakano formed an assault group and stormed the Shounian Corps from all directions. Su Yu pro rate.
The 3rd, 8th, 10th and 9th Columns of Nakano blocked the enemy's reinforcements, and among them, it was the 10th Column of Song Shilun that blocked Qiu Qingquan head-on.
After the battle began, Qiu Qingquan, who was chasing the third and eighth columns of Huaye, suddenly received an urgent order: quickly return to the Shounian Corps in the reinforcement area. However, after he turned around, there was behind him.
The three and eight columns pursued, and there were ten columns in front of them, and each step had to pay a huge amount.
The name of Qiu Madman is really not called in vain, and he attacks like crazy when he fights. By the end of the night on July 1, the battle had broken through the two lines of defense of Song Shilun, and it was only 5 kilometers away from the besieged Shounian Corps.
In 1948, Su Yu circulated a saying in the command post of the Eastern Henan Campaign that "if the artillery does not move, it must be ten columns", and Song Shilun, who graduated from the fifth phase of Huangpu, was good at fighting and blocking. In fact, July 1 was the party's birthday, and Song Shilun decided to annihilate the enemy as a gift, deliberately letting go of the second line of defense and bringing in the enemy to fight.
Sure enough, after Qiu Qingquan broke through the second line of defense, he was just about to report the good news to Lao Jiang, but his two wings suddenly sounded dense gunfire. It was night, and Qiu Qingquan knew that the night battle was not the opponent of the PLA, so he could only retreat. In this way, Qiu Qingquan lost a lot of troops and ** in vain.
On July 2, before dawn, Ou Shounian was crying on the radio and asking Qiu Qingquan for help, but his voice suddenly stopped. At this time, the People's Liberation Army had already broken through the location of the Corps headquarters in Ou Shounian, and he was preparing to flee by tank. However, several tanks collided with each other and just broke out of the encirclement.
Brave PLA fighters have already climbed into the tank, lifted the lid and shouted: "Surrender or not?" If you don't surrender, I'll blow you up. ”
A trembling voice shouted, "Surrender......."Then he stretched out two hands, holding a white handkerchief. Several men dressed in the uniforms of enemy generals climbed out of the tanks, one of whom said: ".I'm Ou Shounian, a friend of your Commander Su Yu, don't you want to kill me? ”
Why did the commander of the enemy corps say that he was Su Yu's friend? Ou Shounian was a native of Guangdong, and served as the commander of the 70th Regiment of the 24th Division of the 11th Army during the Nanchang Uprising. At that time, Su Yu was the head of the guard squad at the headquarters, and Ou Shounian often went to the headquarters, so he had a relationship with Su Yu.
When the rebel troops moved south, Ou Shounian and his uncle Cai Tingkai broke away from the army, and the two embarked on different paths. Friends are definitely not counted, but the People's Liberation Army has always had a tradition of treating prisoners preferentially, and Su Yu personally met with Ou Shounian and held a banquet to entertain them.
After eating the Ou Shounian Corps, Huaye's main force faced a problem: they were already very tired due to continuous combat, but at this time they had already been in close contact with Qiu Qingquan's corps and Huang Baitao's corps going south, and it was not easy to withdraw from the battle.
Su Yu came up with another clever move: he ordered to overcome all difficulties and launch a counterattack on Huang Baitao's corps on all fronts. Huang Baitao was eaten by two regiments at once, and he had to shrink his forces and hurriedly ask Qiu Qingquan for help.
Qiu Qingquan had just been tricked, thinking that Su Yu was good at encircling points and sending reinforcements, wouldn't the real goal of besieging Huang Baitao at this time be himself? With a symbolic movement, he shrank his forces, built fortifications, and prepared for battle.
Huang Baitao was violently attacked by Huaye, and he had already written a suicide note to prepare for a death battle with the People's Liberation Army. But suddenly the staff officer came in to report that the PLA offensive suddenly stopped. Huang Baitao thought to himself, this must be their general attack, and immediately ordered all departments to organize death squads and wait for help.
It wasn't until dawn the next day that Huang Baitao found that the Huaye troops on the front line were gone. It turned out that while storming Huang Baitao, Su Yu ordered that no intersperses were allowed, and the whole line was evacuated from the battlefield at 0:00 in the evening. After Huang Baitao found out that Huaye was gone, they had already entered the old liberated area of Lunan Province.
The victory of the Eastern Henan Campaign proved that the PLA had the ability to annihilate the enemy on a large scale in the Central Plains Battlefield, and at this time, the PLA fully accepted the strategic concept of annihilating the enemy's main force in the area north of the Yangtze River. In retrospect, this decision reduced the PLA by a large number of people, and also made the people in the Jiangnan area suffer less from the war. **The original plan was to liberate the whole country in 5 years, but it was finally realized in 3 years.
From this incident, the difference between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party can also be seen:
PLA generals have a very high sense of the overall situation and responsibility, never mechanically carry out the orders of their superiors, and dare to put forward different opinions. The leaders are also from the advice, can take the different opinions put forward by the subordinates seriously, and correct the policy in a timely manner.
On the other hand, internally, you often fight to the death because of interests. In the Battle of Menglianggu, Li Tianxia, who was also a first-class military descendant, was able to save Zhang Lingfu when he saw death. As the supreme commander, Lao Jiang could not listen to the opinions of others, and often insisted on going his own way, and even interfered in the front-line command.
Under such an atmosphere, subordinates naturally did not dare to raise different opinions. In the later Battle of Jinan, Wang Yaowu suggested abandoning the isolated city of Jinan, retreating to the south of the Yangtze River to rest and recuperate, or retreating to Xuzhou to fight a decisive battle with the PLA. But he was scolded by Lao Jiang so much that he didn't dare to mention giving up again, and was finally defeated and captured.