At the beginning of the establishment of the New Fourth Army, a standard for the classification of archives was established, in which the troops in the Jiangnan region were assigned to the Third Theater led by Gu Zhutong, while the troops in the Jiangbei region were subordinate to the Fifth Theater led by Li Zongren.
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the cooperation between the troops of the two sides was very tacit, and in the many documents kept by the Kuomintang, there were still many telegrams praising the New Fourth Army for "heroically killing the enemy" and "winning a victory by surprise."
However, this "honeymoon period" did not last long, and from the summer of 1939, the word "sanctions" frequently appeared in Kuomintang telegrams. And the target of the enemy's sanctions is not "Chen Su", but Ye Xiang.
First, the Xi'an Incident prompted the domestic anti-Japanese cry to rise; Second, international pressure is increasing.
Chairman Chiang has always adhered to the concept of "reassuring the outside world before reassuring the inside", although this strategy has not changed substantially after a long time. He agreed to KMT-CCP cooperation, in part out of overconfidence in himself.
This self-confidence stemmed from the fact that the Kuomintang clearly had a clear numerical advantage over the Communists. However, after the two-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Communist Party's mass line and people-centered policy achieved remarkable results, and the strength of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army grew rapidly, from 50,000 at the beginning to 500,000 two years later, which greatly surprised Chairman Chiang.
When Chiang Kai-shek had a respite in the southwest, he began to take action against the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, fearing the speed of the Communist Party's growth and believing that it would threaten his rule.
At the same time, he also noticed that there were also some problems in the development of the New Fourth Army, such as the lack of sufficient ** and supplies **, and even difficulties in daily life.
This gave him an opportunity to threaten the rule of the New Fourth Army if it was allowed to continue to develop. The New Fourth Army had two parts, one part was in southern Anhui and was in charge of Ye Ting and Xiang Ying, and the other part was in Jiangnan and was jointly commanded by ** and Su Yu.
Chen Su opened up an anti-Japanese base behind enemy lines in northern Jiangsu, and Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to do it because of the "Battle of Huangqiao". In July 1940, the victory of the "Battle of Huangqiao" would directly affect the foothold of the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu.
* It is even ready to "break the kettle", which fully reflects its determination and courage.
Han Deqin has more than 30,000 troops, while there are only 7,000 on the ** side, which looks like an unfair war in numbers. Han was convinced of this, believing that his numerical superiority would be enough to secure victory.
However, he overlooked a crucial factor: morale. Although there are more people in the Korean department, if the morale of the ** troops is high and the combat effectiveness is extremely strong, then the outcome of this war will be difficult to predict.
Chiang Kai-shek's diehards tried to stir up conflicts, but most of his soldiers were forced to join the army, and even if they volunteered, most of them did so out of a desire to defend their homeland and country.
However, Han Deqin pointed the finger at his own army, which greatly reduced the morale of the army. On the contrary, the "Chen Su" army faced difficulties in the process of marching into northern Jiangsu, and if they attacked, it would be directly related to their life and death.
In addition, the behavior of ** is "risking the taboo of the world", so the morale of the "Chen Su" army is high. However, Su Yu paid attention to surprise in battle, so when the battle was unavoidable, he actively responded to the battle, and according to Han Deqin's psychology, he finally decided on the tactic of "luring the enemy to go deeper".
General Su Yu skillfully used tactics in the battle, first letting one part of the army meet the enemy head-on, and then sending another part of the army to surround from the flank and rear, forming an ingenious "pocket formation".
In this battle, the troops surrounding the enemy from the flanks and rear marched very fast, and the seven-kilometer journey from the Yellow Bridge to the High Bridge quickly reached the predetermined position.
When all the enemy forces entered the ambush circle of the New Fourth Army, the troops immediately took action to divide the enemy who was rushing from the rear into several sections. The troops at the front saw that the rear could no longer be supported, so they fled in all directions.
Seeing that "friendly forces are in difficulty," the nearby Kuomintang troops carried forward the style of "nothing to do with themselves, hang high" and did not provide any assistance. In the end, the battle ended with the annihilation of more than 10,000 of Han Deqin's troops, and his defeat marked the end of the battle.
Under these circumstances, if the Kuomintang troops wanted to challenge the "Chen Su" army again, they would need to think carefully. In order to suppress the New Fourth Army "justifiably", the Kuomintang demanded that the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army be relocated to a vast area north of the Yellow River within a month, and at the same time wanted to reduce their strength.
In the face of such a complicated situation, the CCP also issued corresponding instructions and decided to accept the northward move, because the CCP believed that the primary task at present was to resist the Japanese invaders, and temporarily made concessions to the unreasonable demands of the Kuomintang in order to win the support of the middle forces, which was conducive to maintaining the stability of the anti-Japanese base areas.
In December 1940, at the beginning of the following year, the troops led by Ye Ting and Xiang Ying were suddenly surrounded by the enemy in the process of advancing from Yunling to the Maolin area.
In such an unfavorable situation, the New Fourth Army could only respond quickly. In order to understand the situation, the commander of the New Fourth Army immediately sent a telegram to the Kuomintang side and asked the other side to investigate the cause of the incident.
The KMT, however, responded by saying that it had ordered Gu Zhutong to investigate.
Under the command of Ye Ting, the soldiers of the New Fourth Army were brave and fearless, fighting fiercely with the enemy. The hypocrisy of the Kuomintang diehards has been exposed. ** The Southern Bureau resolutely confronted and counterattacked from propaganda and politics, winning the support of all sectors of society and the democratic parties, and the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and other countries also expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the Kuomintang diehards.
What happened to Ye Ting's troops once again proved that the previous decision of ** and Su Yu was wise, and if Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy succeeded, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Su Yu is known as a military god who is good at fighting evil and dangerous battles, and his tactical wisdom and bold spirit are commendable. His fighting style is often full of adventure and uncertainty, and he will not hesitate to launch an onslaught even if the odds of victory are less than fifty percent, and this courage and determination is awe-inspiring.
Chiang Kai-shek's jealousy of Su Yu, in addition to Su Yu's own military talent, there is another important reason, that is, Su Yu's fearlessness, even in a crisis, can remain calm and persevere, his mental outlook makes opponents daunting.
Once, Su Yu said: "Leaves and necks are like turtles in urns, and they are caught; And Chen and Su are like fish on the seashore, fleeting", this famous sentence fully reflects his superb military strategy and well-thought-out tactical arrangement.
Data within the Kuomintang show that Chiang Kai-shek had begun to implement his plans from February 1940. On April 2, Gu Zhutong began to pay attention to the New Fourth Army. During this period, Chiang Kai-shek may still be in the stage of "hesitation", and he may be criticized by the whole country if the action is not justified.
By September, he had finally made up his mind, and the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression" operations had become public, and even the Japanese troops in Central China knew Chiang Kai-shek's intentions. The incident in southern Anhui was not without warning, and the "Battle of Huangqiao" also deeply disturbed the KMT's top brass.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, from 1939 to 1940, the KMT's attitude towards the CCP underwent a fundamental change. Chiang Kai-shek had been thinking about how to deal with the CCP's two major military forces, especially the New Fourth Army.
At that time, ** and Su Yu were fully prepared, quickly crossed the Yangtze River, and moved the main force south of the Yangtze River north. This is also why the Kuomintang troops did not seize the army of ** and Su Yu.
It can be said that the strategic vision of ** is vividly manifested at this stage.
Although he knew that the eastward advance would be difficult, he saw that the Japanese were trying to advance westward, which meant that the rear would be empty, providing his men with the opportunity to fight guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.
At this time, the New Fourth Army should shake off the shackles of the Kuomintang, go deep behind enemy lines, go all out to strike at the enemy, and strengthen its own strength. In order to guard against possible interference by the Kuomintang, a sixth regiment was formed in the Maoshan area, which fully demonstrated his determination and ambition.
On the contrary, Xiang Ying's transfer was not timely, resulting in the outbreak of the Southern Anhui Incident, the military headquarters and six regiments of the New Fourth Army were severely hit, and the New Fourth Army led by ** to march into northern Jiangsu was almost unscathed.
The Kuomintang had cautiously avoided the two major armies of ** and Su Yu, and they knew that these two military giants were extraordinary. Su Yu's strength was later fully proven in actual combat.
In addition to the Battle of Huangqiao, in 1946, Su Yu only used 30,000 people to meet the 120,000 army of the Kuomintang, which not only successfully coped, but also achieved a brilliant victory of "seven battles and seven victories", thus winning the reputation of "God of World War I".
In the Battle of Eastern Henan in 1948, Su Yu was once again outnumbered and severely damaged the main force of the Gui army; He even successfully captured the enemy commanders Wang Yaowu and Du Yuming alive, laying the groundwork for the final victory of the Liberation War.