At the end of August 1947, Liu Deng's army marched into Dabie Mountain after an arduous trek. At this time, Su Yu, deputy commander of Huaye, received a telegram in which the commander of Liu Deng's army severely criticized the dereliction of duty of Huaye's 10th column. In the face of the blame, Su Yu did not defend the 10 columns, but took all the responsibility alone.
This historical message records a little-known historical episode that took place on August 22, 1947. At that time, the 10th Column of Huaye failed to complete the task assigned by Liu Deng's army in the interception battle along the Yellow River, resulting in the advance of Liu Deng's army being hindered and falling into danger. The always mild-mannered *** commander made an extremely rare severe criticism to Huaye's "Chen Tang Corps". In the face of criticism, Su Yu did not excuse 10 longitudinals, but took responsibility alone.
Su Yu's highly responsible actions reflect the many excellent qualities of this "Huaye God of War". He regarded the overall situation and the overall situation, advanced in the face of difficulties, and was good at summing up lessons and accumulating experience for the development of the army. It is precisely with a founder like Su Yu that Huaye can continue to grow in the future battles and lay the foundation for the victory of the ultimate strategic goal.
It starts from the beginning. In 1947, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party entered the decisive stage. In order to strive for the strategic initiative, Liu Deng led an army of 120,000 to break through the cauldron and plunge directly into Dabie Mountain. According to the deployment of the ** Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, Su Yu, deputy commander of the Huaye Army, led 200,000 troops in 6 columns of the outer line corps to respond to Liu Deng's army.
In order to cooperate with Liu Deng's army to advance into Dabie Mountain, the Huaye "Chen Tang Corps" led by Chen Shiyu and Tang Liang also went south to contain the elite. Among them, the Ten Columns are the most proficient at fighting, and they have made great contributions in many battles before. Huaye 10th Column was ordered to build fortifications along the Yellow River to block the Fifth Army's reinforcements from Nandu River to the north.
Surprisingly, however, the 10th Column quickly abandoned its defensive line and retreated from the south bank of the Yellow River in the blocking battle. As a result, Qiu Qingquan's Fifth Army drove straight into the south to pursue Liu Deng's army. Seeing this, the always mild-mannered *** was furious, and immediately sent an urgent telegram to the commander of Huaye's "Chen Tang Corps", severely criticizing the Ten Columns for leaving their posts without permission and demanding that they be investigated and punished.
The criticism is by no means apocryphal. At that time, Liu Deng's army had already penetrated deep behind enemy lines and was struggling to advance and retreat. The dereliction of duty of the Ten Columns directly led the enemy to pursue Liu Deng's army, which put the army in an extremely dangerous situation. According to the report of the 11th Column of Liu Deng's army, it was precisely because the 10th Column suddenly withdrew from the Yellow River defense line that Qiu Qingquan was given an opportunity.
In the face of Liu Deng and ***'s criticism, Su Yu, deputy commander of Huaye, did not excuse the ten verticals. In fact, he suppressed the telegram of the "Chen Tang Corps" defending the Ten Columns, and only assumed full responsibility with the sentence "The responsibility lies with me."
Su Yu's approach is quite puzzling. It stands to reason that the 10th Column was exhausted when fighting on the Yellow River defense line, and there was no backup ammunition, so it could not compete with the reorganized troops, and it was understandable that it would take the initiative to retreat. Su Yu could have raised these circumstances to excuse the Ten Verticals. But he didn't do that, he simply took full responsibility.
In hindsight, Su Yu's approach actually reflected his high sense of the overall situation and awareness of the overall situation. At the strategic juncture of 1947, Liu Deng's army had to smoothly advance into the Dabie Mountains and open up the situation. Although there are reasons for the dereliction of duty of the Ten Columns, it has caused a great obstacle to Liu Deng's army, and it must be taken seriously.
Therefore, Su Yu did not exonerate the ten verticals, but took responsibility alone. He realized that it is necessary to sum up the lessons of this time and enhance the combat capability of the troops, especially the ability to conduct sortie operations and mobile operations, so as to meet the needs of war in the new period. Only when the whole army from top to bottom unify their thinking and seriously sum up lessons and lessons can they play a greater role in future campaigns and accomplish strategic tasks.
In fact, just as Su Yu expected, the lessons of the 10th Column in the Yellow River defense line promoted the change of the PLA's operational thinking. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) began to pay attention to the relationship between friend and foe, and focused on concentrating forces to attack, rather than the previous average scattered use. After the Battle of Dabie Mountain, Su Yu made full use of this idea and won the Battle of Lunan by concentrating his forces to quickly annihilate the enemy.
It can be said that the reason why Su Yu was able to become the "god of war" of the People's Liberation Army in every battle was to a large extent because of his quality of constantly summing up lessons and accumulating experience. The dereliction of duty of the Ten Columns has just become an opportunity for Su Yu and the entire Huaye army to further grow. As later generations said, Su Yu used his practical actions to interpret what it means to be "loyal, honest, and serve the people wholeheartedly".