He once praised Su Yu: "The command is correct, flexible and brave, so he can achieve a great victory." * said, "Comrade Su Yu is wise and courageous, very good, victorious in a hundred battles, has the style of an ancient famous general, is the best general of our army, and is a strategist of China." ”
Su Yu is known as the "Kaleidoscope of Command", and his combat record is unmatched.
Under his leadership, our army won seven battles and seven victories in the Soviet-Chinese campaign, using only 30,000 troops against the enemy's 120,000, and finally annihilating the enemy army 530,000 people. Since then, General Su Yu has embarked on the road to becoming a god, and the ** marshal has also commented on Su Yu: "The future is great." ”
Today, the establishment of New China is inseparable from these revolutionary martyrs, and General Su Yu is also a very talented one of them. Throughout his life, he fought countless beautiful victories, but until the end, Su Yu did not become a marshal, but was demoted to one of the founding generals.
There are also many theories about why he did not become a marshal, and there are different versions, but without exception they express their awe and regret for General Su Yu.
In this issue**, let's take a look at the war history of the "God of War" Su Yu and take a look at the legendary life of the founding father.
Su Yu was born on August 10, 1907 in a small village in Huaihua City, Hunan Province.
Su Yu was diligent and inquisitive when he was studying, and he was always among the best in school, and was soon admitted as a guaranteed student in 1923 and sent to the Hunan Provincial Second Normal School.
This place was not easy to come by, but he unfortunately missed the examination period and failed to enter the school, but instead entered the Second Normal Attached Primary School and the Civilian Middle School by mistake.
With unremitting efforts, in the spring of the following year, Su Yu was once again re-admitted to the Provincial Second Division.
No matter what kind of setbacks he encounters, Su Yu can always balance himself quickly, be strict with himself, and always maintain his own pace of study and life.
But unfortunately, not long after entering the school, the principal of the provincial second division was **, and everyone had to suspend school.
However, a group of progressive students led by Su Yu were secretly transferred to Wuchang to continue their studies because of their excellent grades. Su Yu's outstanding organizational skills set an example for everyone, and he was also appointed as the class president of the students, leading the students to start a new study life.
In addition to studying, Su Yu has also been paying close attention to the party's movements, closely following the party's footsteps, and taking the party's ideology as the purpose. So in November 1926, Su Yu joined the Chinese Communist Youth League. This year was also the second year he had just arrived in Wuchang.
In June 1927, Su Yu successfully joined the Communist Party of China, and since then he has taken dedication to the party as the goal of his life, and also started his revolutionary career.
At this time, Su Yu was still a high-spirited teenager, only 20 years old, and no one thought that he would become the "god of war" revered by thousands of people in the future.
Just a year after joining the party, Su Yu began to participate in the battle, first as a guard squad leader to participate in the Nanchang Uprising, and then followed the Southern Hunan Uprising to Jinggangshan, and the veterans of the organization praised his performance on the battlefield.
After 1927, Su Yu made many military exploits and was successively promoted to the positions of battalion commander, regiment commander, division commander, chief of staff of the Red Fourth Army, chief of staff of the Red Eleventh Army, and chief of staff of the Red Seventh Army.
Su Yu spared no effort to complete every combat mission, but these were only the starting point of his combat career, and there were countless honors on his life path.
In the War of Liberation, Su Yu played an indispensable role.
According to statistics, the War of Liberation lasted for nearly four years, and there were 134 important battles, of which 38 battles were fought in which the number of enemies annihilated exceeded 30,000, and Su Yu commanded 12 times; There were 23 battles in which more than 50,000 enemies were destroyed, and Su Yu commanded 8 battles.
It is not difficult to see Su Yu's military achievements from these data, but just as good as his military talents are his charisma. Su Yu can calmly analyze any unexpected situation in combat and dare to express his views bluntly.
During the War of Liberation, Su Yu sent telegrams to the ** Military Commission three times in his personal name, putting forward reasonable suggestions and trying his best to turn the tide of the war.
On the question of operations on the outside line versus operations on the inside line.
In 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war, and the Kuomintang army launched an offensive into the liberated areas. **The battle plan formulated by the Military Commission is to take the main forces of Shandong and Taihang Liberated Areas as the outer line and march to the south; The inner line arranged for Su Yu to lead the main force of the Central China Field Army to Huainan to cooperate with the field army on the outer line.
* The commander also gave Su Yu an order to lead his troops immediately.
After receiving the instructions, Su Yu made a practical analysis of the battle situation, and he believed that it would be more advantageous to fight a battle inside Jiangsu as soon as possible.
Soon, he sent a telegram to the ** Military Commission and the ** army commander in his personal name to put forward his views, and the Central China Branch also expressed his approval of his combat proposal.
After receiving the support of the leaders, Su Yu immediately sent a telegram to the Military Commission again in the name of Zhang Dingcheng, Su Yu, and the four army commanders, expressing their suggestion to solve the problem of the internal line first.
**After reading the telegram sent by Su Yu, he carefully analyzed the battle situation, and finally decided to adopt Su Yu's suggestion.
As a result, from July 13 to August 31, 1946, the Central China Field Army quickly launched the "Soviet-Chinese Campaign" in central Jiangsu. Under the command of Su Yu, in just one and a half months, he set a record of "seven battles and seven victories" and eliminated the enemy 530,000 people. Through the victories of these internal wars, the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army have also greatly improved their self-confidence.
Su Yu's purpose was to reorganize the strength of the inner line as much as possible, first win a few battles on the inner line to boost morale, eliminate some scattered forces of the Kuomintang army, and better cooperate with the outer line.
After several great victories in the Soviet-Chinese campaign, he was also very happy to get the battle report, and proposed to the regions, "Su Yu's experience is a very good experience, and all districts can follow suit. ”
During the campaign, Su Yu repeatedly sent suggestions to the ** Military Commission asking for cooperation, and finally agreed. At the end of the telegram, Su Yu wrote "Courage to speak, Shang Qi to make it clear", which is the story of Su Yu's "courage to speak".
First, on the issue of developing strategic offensives
After the complete victory in the "Soviet-Chinese Campaign," Su Yu did not become complacent, and stopped the book of merits on the page of "Seven Battles and Seven Victories," and soon he once again put forward his views during the period of strategic offensive.
At the beginning of 1948, the Liberation War entered a period of strategic offensive, in order to further direct the war to the area under Chiang Kai-shek's jurisdiction, the ** Military Commission decided to send troops along the Yangtze River to continue southward and include the Jiangnan region in the scope of the war, so as to attract the military strength of the Kuomintang army. Su Yu was the commander of the main force of the army this time.
After repeatedly considering the battle situation, Su Yu believed that the PLA's continued annihilation of the enemy in the area north of the Yangtze River would be more conducive to our army's operations than directly crossing the river and launching a war in the Jiangnan region.
So he called ** and *** again to put forward his ideas, which is commonly known as "Ziyang Dian." "Ziyang" was sent on January 22, according to the convention of the naming of telegrams.
In the telegram, Su Yu suggested changing the tactics of the Central Plains battle situation, adopting the tactics of gathering and dividing suddenly, and gathering troops to fight a big battle. At the end of the telegram, Su Yu once again wrote, "Whatever you see, you have the courage to speak."
Every time Su Yu sent a telegram, he was rigorous and appropriately spoken. This time, the strategic proposal again attracted the attention of the Military Commission, and even circled the telegram received, read it repeatedly, and instructed the telegram to be sent to the general in **, so that he could make a proposal before making a decision.
Although in the end, Su Yu's suggestion was not adopted like the last time, but it laid the foundation for the subsequent strategic change.
* Continued to adhere to the original strategy, and asked Su Yu to continue to lead the army to cross the river and march south. But at the same time, he also sent a telegram back to Su Yu, asking him to make an accurate analysis of the plan to cross the river this time, and report the timing, place, and method of crossing the river.
At the end of the message, it was marked "familiar with the plan to see the reply", which was to let Su Yu carefully weigh the meaning of making a report, and also euphemistically informed Su Yu, "** has carefully analyzed your suggestion, and I hope to continue to follow **'s command and appointment order." ”
Su Yu was not discouraged because his suggestions were not adopted, on the one hand, he accepted the party's command and resolutely carried out the tasks assigned by the party; On the other hand, we will continue to analyze the battle situation and study the best plan for strategic offensive.
2. On the issue of not going to the river for the time being
Two months after the "Ziyang Electricity" was sent, Su Yu had been thinking about it repeatedly, and on April 18, he called ** again, suggesting that the three columns of Huaye should not cross the river for the time being.
Su Yu's many calls also made ** shake his determination, **immediately ordered a recall**, and Su Yu reported in person. So at the end of April, ** temporarily held a meeting to listen to Su Yu's report.
The five secretaries of Ren Bishi, who were present, collectively listened to Su Yu's ideas, and after careful consideration, decided to implement Su Yu's strategy: not to cross the river for the time being, and to continue to fight a war of annihilation in the Huanghuai region of the Central Plains.
However, while taking Su Yu's suggestion, ** also gave him a military order: he was asked to destroy 100,000 enemies within 8 months.
100,000 troops is equivalent to destroying at least 6 brigades of the other side, and this military order invisibly put a lot of pressure on Su Yu, but Su Yu calmly accepted the instructions of his superiors and did not have any dissatisfaction with it.
In order to allow Su Yu to show his talents, ** specially transferred ** general to fight in the Central Plains. At this time, the East China Field Army was led by Su Yu alone, as the commander-in-chief, and what achievements he could have depended on how much skill Su Yu had.
Unexpectedly, this instruction really confirmed Su Yu's outstanding military talent. Su Yu launched the Eastern Henan Campaign and the Jinan Campaign in June and September respectively, these two battles not only opened up a new way out for the Central Plains War, but also directly became the key point for our army to achieve the final victory, and the Eastern Henan Campaign also set a record of 9 enemy annihilationAn excellent record of 40,000 people.
**After learning the news of this victory, he commented on these battles, "The war of liberation is like climbing a mountain, and now that we have passed the mountain pass, the most strenuous climbing stage has passed." ”
It can be seen that these battles led by Su Yu made great contributions to the Liberation War.
These three "courageous statements" not only showed Su Yu's extraordinary military acumen, but also reflected his broad-mindedness of not being rash, daring to speak out, and being able to reflect.
Despite making so many important contributions, Su Yu did not receive the title of marshal, and there was a lot of controversy about this.
But everything must have a cause and effect, and Su Yu did not become a marshal for three main reasons:
1. Insufficient qualifications
Su Yu's military talent is obvious to all, he set an unprecedented record of destroying the largest number of enemies in the history of the PLA, and turned the tide of the war several times and won complete victories.
But he only shined in the War of Liberation, and compared with these marshals, Su Yu's credit book is still not rich enough.
2. Organizational differences
In 1955, when the military rank was assessed, there was an ambiguity in the organization, some people thought that Su Yu had worked hard and made great achievements, and the title of marshal was well deserved; Some people think that Su Yu is not qualified enough and should be awarded to others first.
It is worth mentioning that there was a requirement in the evaluation at that time: the father of the first place of gravity could not participate in the award for the time being.
At this time, the ** general, who served as the vice premier, should not participate in the awarding of titles, but *** repeatedly insisted that the old general participate. In this way, in terms of official positions, qualifications, and talents, Su Yu can only be ranked below.
In fact, Su Yu's attitude towards the evaluation of the title is very indifferent, he is indifferent to fame and fortune, does not fight or grab, and is a wise man who has high requirements for himself.
Su Yu grew up in war, and he always believed that his military talents were honed, not innate. So he is not sought after like everyone else, and he will not be resentful.
When there was a controversy within the party about his title of marshal, he took the initiative to propose, "It is already a high honor to evaluate me as a general, and what else do you want as a marshal, I am afraid of being high, and I am not too low." ”
Su Yu always believed that he was not qualified to compete with the marshals, which was also a reflection of his humility, self-reflection, and wisdom.
However, after this incident, some people still suggested that Su Yu should be rated as a marshal, and it can be seen that his prestige and his personality charm are also inseparable.
Although Su Yu has caused a lot of controversy in the evaluation of marshals, his contribution to the country is genuine, and his quality and character have also impressed many people.
Military rank is just a title, and the example that these great men have set for us is what really deserves people's attention.