In May 1973, two former Kuomintang generals, Du Yuming and Song Xilian, visited the former residence of *** together. Before leaving, they made a request to the staff to record their words.
What is this statement? How did they feel after visiting the former home? Let's find out.
After the end of the Liberation War in 1949, Du Yuming, Song Xilian and other captured Kuomintang generals were sent to the meritorious forest for transformation.
Their performance won the amnesty and became part of the construction of the Motherland. On May 8, 1973, Du Yuming and Song Xilian, who were over sixty years old, came to the former residence, and after the guidance of the staff, they carefully visited the former residence full of historical memories of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.
Although this is the former residence of ***, the interior displays the history of the heroic struggle, which makes these two veterans who have sweated on the battlefield look focused and emotional.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the two famous generals proudly straightened their backs and made the greatest contribution to the expulsion of the Japanese invaders. However, when it came to the section of the Liberation War, the two had a disagreement.
Du Yuming insisted on watching, while Song Xilian wanted to turn around and leave. "You're also called a famous player, don't you want to know how you lost? Du Yuming said firmly, "Besides, we lost well in the War of Liberation, if not, how much more suffering would the people have to suffer!" ”
Song Xilian hesitated for a while, and was finally moved by Du Yuming's words, and the two continued to walk forward.
When the two of them visited the decisions and objects made during the Liberation War, it was as if they were transported back to those challenging years. Time passed, but they had no intention of leaving.
After more than an hour, the staff reminded them that the tour was coming to an end, and they reluctantly left. Before parting, they approached the staff and repeatedly emphasized: "* is the god of war!" ”
Du Yuming also added: "This is not an exaggeration, but to tell the truth, and those who study military history in the future should also remember this sentence!" ”
Witness history: Du Yuming and Song Xilian, two "henchmen of Jiang Gong" and "Eagle Dog General", were highly praised for their military command skills in the Kuomintang army. Du Yuming, the first cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy, he emerged in the battle of Chen Jiongming in the Eastern Expedition, gradually grew up in the Northern Expedition, and after the start of the Anti-Japanese War, he led the troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese army at the Gubeikou of the Great Wall for three days and nights, annihilating more than 2,000 Japanese troops in total, in 1937, he formed the first army armored corps of the Kuomintang, and led the corps to participate in the Battle of Songhu, and the Japanese army launched a fierce battle.
This heroic general created an immortal legend in the War of Resistance Against Japan. In 1939, when he was only 35 years old, he led the Fifth Army to carry out a fierce attack on the Japanese army at Kunlun Pass, and in one fell swoop he severely damaged the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army, known as the Steel Army, and annihilated more than 4,000 enemies.
In 1942, he was so ill that he could not even walk, but he still lay on a stretcher and commanded the troops, defeating the Japanese army. However, in the War of Liberation, although he was commanded by Chiang Kai-shek and traveled to the two main battlefields of Liaoshen and Huaihai, he played more of a role as a firefighting captain.
Eventually, he was captured in the Anhui region in January 1949.
Let's talk about Song Xilian again, some people praise him as the most heroic and good general during the Anti-Japanese War, and we will not comment on this for the time being. However, what is certain is that Song Xilian must have been one of the most bloody generals of the Kuomintang during the Anti-Japanese War.
When defending Nanjing in 1937, Song Xilian understood that he could not change the direction of the war, but he still firmly ordered the 36th Division to defend Nanjing. When the troops of the 88th Division under the command of his Whampoa classmate Sun Yuanliang were about to collapse, he personally picked up a machine gun and ordered them, "No one can retreat, if any of you take a step back, I will kill him with this machine gun!" ”
Song Xilian won the approval of Chiang Kai-shek with this strong military blood and courage. In April of the following year, he was appointed commander of the 71st Army. Even in a high position, Song Xilian still maintains his military blood.
He fought many fierce battles with the Japanese army in Nanfeng, Wuhan and other places, and the most fierce battle lasted for more than 40 days and nights.
In the Sino-Burmese border war, the Chinese expeditionary force suffered a setback. But Song Xilian led the LinkedIn Army to deal a fatal blow to the Japanese and successfully expelled them from the southwest border of our country, a battle that made him famous.
Because of his heroic performance on the battlefield and his unique command style, Song Xilian won the reputation of "Eagle Dog General". He was so proud of it that he wrote his autobiography under this title.
However, under the general trend of the overall decline of the Kuomintang, even the "Eagle Dog General" was powerless to change the outcome of the defeat. In December 1949, he was captured by the People's Liberation Army in the area along the Dadu River.
Although he was captured in the War of Liberation, the strength and exploits of the former famous Kuomintang generals are undeniable. So, why do they respect the best military command talent so much and regard him as the "god of war"?
Miracles in Strategic Shift: The Red Army, which showed the art of commanding like antelope's horns, had already demonstrated outstanding military command skills in the early battles, leaving behind many classic cases of defeating the strong with the weak, winning more with less, and winning by surprise.
Among them, the 123rd anti-encirclement and suppression operations, the Battle of Loushan Pass, the Battle of Zhangzhou, and the Battle of the Four Crossings of Chishui are particularly significant. One of the most eye-catching is the "Four Crossings of Chishui".
After the Zunyi Conference in 1935, when the Red Army marched to the Chishui River, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 400,000 Kuomintang troops to encircle and intercept it, leaving only more than 30,000 Red Army troops under siege.
In the face of such a critical situation, the chairman calmly responded to the situation, adopted military tactics such as the coexistence of virtual and real, the sound of the east and the west, and the golden cicada shelling, and successfully crossed the Chishui River four times in two months, broke through the encirclement of the enemy, grasped the initiative on the battlefield, and won a decisive victory in the strategic transfer.
This is a glorious example in the history of warfare of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, in which fewer victories were more and passivity was turned into initiative.
Harrison Salisbury once wrote in The Long March: The Unheard Story: "The Long March is unique and incomparable. And one of the most glorious and magical chapters is undoubtedly the four crossings of Chishui.
Also eye-catching are the three major battles commanded by ***. The legend of the military command circle, "the imperial soldiers are thousands of miles away", under the leadership of ***, has shone into reality.
In an adobe house in Xibaipo, Hebei Province, he relied on telegraphs to mobilize thousands of troops and horses to engage in fierce confrontations with Kuomintang troops thousands of miles away. According to statistics, during the three major battles, he sent a total of 197 telegrams.
It was with these 197 telegrams that he succeeded in mobilizing millions of the People's Liberation Army to launch deadly attacks on the Kuomintang forces that were trying to put up a stubborn resistance.
And admirably during that time, ** could only sleep three or four hours a day, and the rest of the time was in the telegraph room waiting for news from the front.
Some people may wonder how to ensure that the telegraph room, thousands of miles away, can command the battle in a timely manner and proceed unscathed, given that the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. In the process of commanding the three major battles, this doubt was verified.
Due to the limitations of distance and time, coupled with the ever-changing war, when the generals have different opinions on the decision-making of the first country, they will be directly fed back, and the two sides will negotiate.
The most typical example of this is Su Yu's "three reports". Many people were skeptical of Su Yu's decision at the time, but *** firmly believed in Su Yu's keen insight as a battlefield commander.
It is the firm belief of *** that finally created brilliant results. From this, we can see that the best decisions often involve not only tactics, but also strategy and thinking.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that ** is so unique in military history, and is heartily called the "god of war" by Du Yuming, Song Xilian and others.
From Instructor to God of War: The Growth Process of the Military Commander Known as the "God of the Army", his outstanding military ability occupies an important position in the world's military history.
However, few people know that this great military commander did not actually attend a military school and did not receive a full military education. In fact, before he officially set foot in the military field, he was a "primary school teacher" in charge of propaganda work in rural Hunan.
How do you grow from a primary school teacher to a military commander? At the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, ** attended as a representative, and the decision made by Chen Duxiu, Zhang Guotao, Li Da and others at that time was to "develop the party organization".
Therefore, for a long time, the main work of ** was to carry out propaganda in rural areas of Hunan. However, with the change of the situation of the struggle, he began to turn to the military field, and followed the agricultural movement expert Peng Pai and others to carry out agricultural activities, thus gradually accumulating rich practical combat experience, and finally grew into an outstanding military commander.
After the defeat of the National Revolution, the chairman found that the peasant movement was not the path he was pursuing. So, he set his sights on his area of expertise - military struggle.
Driven by the belief that "power comes out of the barrel of a gun", he began his military career. After the 87 Conference, he planned to capture Changsha, and although his first attempt failed, he was not discouraged, but instead distilled experience from the defeat, realizing the importance of leading the army and discovering talents.
As a result, new troops were established, and outstanding talents such as Chen Shiqu were also discovered. Although in the ranks of the Red Army at that time, the military command talent of ** was not outstanding, because judging from the results and leading methods, ** and ** and others seemed to be more excellent.
However, in this case, ** has gained experience in constant battles and found his unique path to growth.
When people are at a crossroads of confusion, the chairman is like a lighthouse, leading the way, shouting "A spark can start a prairie fire". In the face of people's doubts about the strength of the Red Army, ** and ** dispel people's worries with its unique 16-character decision, that is, "the enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy is stationed and disturbs, the enemy is tired and I fight, and the enemy retreats and I pursue".
On the confused revolutionary road, he used the pen as a sword to write "Strategic Issues of the Chinese Revolutionary War", illuminating the way forward. Under the attack of the theory of quick victory and the theory of the destruction of the country, ** wrote "On Protracted War", firmly telling people that the revolutionary war is protracted and difficult, but we have the belief that we will win.
The reason why his military command ability can be rapidly improved is that in addition to his ability to sum up experience, his practical spirit and pioneering spirit are also indispensable.
In the aftermath of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, ** faced a thorny problem: the composition of the troops was complex, the discipline was loose, and it was necessary to find an effective way to manage it. In order to solve this problem, he went deep into the troops, led the famous "Sanwan Reorganization", put forward the principle of "the branch is built on the company", and set up a soldiers' committee, which further strengthened the party's leadership in the army.
After that, he continued to explore and put forward three major tasks: destroying the enemy, fighting local tyrants and raising funds, and doing a good job in mass work. This spirit of putting theory into practice and making continuous progress in reality is very commendable.
In addition, his conducting style often looks like antelope hanging horns, elusive and imaginative, which is closely related to his pioneering spirit of daring to innovate and forge ahead.
Once upon a time, many people clung to the idea that the city surrounded the countryside, but *** did the opposite, firmly believing that the countryside surrounded the city and seized power by force. His unique military wisdom and thinking not only deeply admired Du Yuming, Song Xilian and others, but also an important cornerstone of our peaceful years and prosperous times.
Although the great man is gone, his influence is still far-reaching, and his military strategy has brought us to the peace and prosperity we have today.