On August 6, 1947, Chen Yi wrote in a telegram reporting to the Central Military Commission and the East China Bureau: "I think that there are not many outstanding military experts created by our party in the past twenty years or so, and recently Su Yu, Chen Geng and others have successively stood out, and have a great future, and will march side by side with Peng (Peng Dehuai), Liu (Liu Bocheng), and Lin (Lin Biao), which is a great harvest for our party and the people." ”
From this telegram sent by Chen Yi to the Central Military Commission, we can know that in Chen Yi's view, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao, Su Yu, and Chen Geng were the most outstanding generals in our army during the Liberation War, and they were the five tiger generals in the People's Liberation Army.
Among the many generals of the People's Liberation Army, Peng Dehuai has very deep qualifications, and among the ten marshals, only Zhu De, commander-in-chief, He Long and Peng Dehuai can be called bosses. Peng Dehuai graduated from the Hunan Army's Lecture Hall and served as a platoon leader, company commander, and regimental commander in the Xiang Army in the early days. In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, and Peng Dehuai gave up all glory and wealth to join the Communist Party of China under the most critical circumstances of the revolution.
In July 1927, Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan, Huang Gongluo and others led the Pingjiang Uprising and formed the Fifth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, serving as commander and commander of the 13th Division. After that, Peng Dehuai led the Fifth Red Army to Jinggangshan, where he met with Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Zhu of the Red Fourth Army.
Peng Dehuai's position in the Jinggangshan period was very high, but he was strict with himself and very strict with his subordinates. At the beginning of 1929, during Peng Dehuai's struggle to guard Jinggangshan, the military manager and director once bought a chicken and half a kilogram of beef with food expenses, hoping to improve Peng Dehuai's life. After Peng Dehuai knew, he immediately called the manager and director and criticized: "I am not an old warlord, what am I doing with these special things!" In the ranks of the Communist Party, officers and men must have salt and salt, and no salt and light. In addition, Peng Dehuai ordered the manager to send chicken and beef to the wounded and sick people in the hospital to eat. He also warned the manager, saying, "The next time you don't correct it, I'm going to punish you!" ”
Later, Peng Dehuai served as the commander of the Red Third Army, and after the victory of the Long March, he served as the commander of the Red Army. After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Peng Dehuai served as deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army and commander-in-chief of the former enemy, commanding the troops to carry out independent guerrilla warfare and fighting a bloody war with the Japanese and Kou for eight years, making outstanding contributions to this anti-aggression war. During the Liberation War, Peng Dehuai served as the commander of the Northwest Field Army and the commander of the First Field Army, leading the 20,000 horses of the Northwest Field Army and more than 200,000 troops of Hu Zongnan for several years, and finally eliminated it and liberated the Great Northwest.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Peng Dehuai was again appointed as the commander of the Volunteer Army, and launched five large-scale campaigns in a row in seven months, fighting the United Nations army led by the US military from the vicinity of the Yalu River to the vicinity of the 38th Parallel, safeguarding China's national sovereignty and establishing China's national prestige and military prestige.
Like Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng also came out of the old army, Liu Bocheng graduated from the General School opened by the Chongqing Shu Military Government in February 1912, and later graduated from the Moscow Advanced Infantry School in the Soviet Union, the Frunze Military Academy of the Soviet Union. Liu Bocheng participated in major historical events such as the Patriotic Movement and the Law Protection Movement, and served as a company commander, battalion commander, and regimental commander in the Sichuan Army, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. In April 1927, Liu Bocheng was appointed by the Wuhan Nationalist government as the commander of the provisional 15th Army, the first military commander appointed by CCP members in the National Revolutionary Army, and shortly thereafter participated in the Nanchang Uprising. During the Red Army period, Liu Bocheng served as a staff officer of the Central Red Army for a long time, and after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as the commander of the 129th Division.
Liu Bocheng was called a Confucian general, but he had a strong personality, in 1917, Liu Bocheng was wounded in a battle, the bullet shot through the top of the skull, flew out of the right eye socket, blood flowed, he immediately fainted and fell to the ground. Walker, a well-skilled German doctor who treated Liu Bocheng's eye injury, saw Liu Bocheng's eye injury and decided to perform general anesthesia on Liu Bocheng. Liu Bocheng learned from Dr. Walker that the use of anesthetics may have adverse effects on the nerves of the brain, and he resolutely proposed to Dr. Walker that he should be given this operation without anesthesia.
Liu Bocheng was comparable to Guan Yu's bone scraping to cure poison, and during the 3-hour operation, Liu Bocheng never groaned, which made everyone present, including the doctor, look at it with shock, and everyone secretly admired the perseverance of this Chinese soldier. After more than half a month of treatment, Dr. Walker installed a fake eyeball on his right eye.
Whether it was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression or the War of Liberation, Liu Bocheng undertook the most arduous tasks, from the Taihang Mountains to the Dabie Mountains, Liu Bocheng led the troops to successfully complete the tasks assigned by his superiors. After the liberation of the whole country, Liu Bocheng resigned as chairman of the Southwest Military and Political Committee and founded the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Academy, actively working for the regularization and modernization of the army.
Compared with other generals, Lin Biao was relatively young, but he began to command the army alone very early, during the Red Army period, the Red First Army led by him and the Red Third Army led by Peng Dehuai were the two ace main forces of the Central Red Army, and they repeatedly inflicted heavy losses on the enemy army, and they were well-deserved victorious generals.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Lin Biao served as the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The first battle after the formation of the Eighth Route Army was commanded by Lin Biao, annihilating more than a thousand Japanese troops and dealing a fierce blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army. During the Liberation War, Lin Biao's 100,000 Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army developed into a million male divisions in just three years, fighting from the White Mountains and Black Water in the northeast to Hainan Island, making great contributions to the establishment of new China.
Among the many generals in the Republic, Chen Geng's generals can be called a legend. Although Chen Geng was later awarded the rank of general, his seniority was extremely deep, and he joined the party in 1923, earlier than many marshals joined the party. Chen Geng graduated from the Huangpu Phase I and was known as one of the Three Masters of Huangpu, and saved Chiang Kai-shek's life during the Eastern Crusade. Chen Geng had participated in the Shanghai Special Branch led by Zhou Enlai in the early days and was very good at intelligence work.
During the Red Army period, Chen Geng, who was the commander of the Division of the Red Fourth Front, was known for being able to fight. In the Battle of Huang'an, he led his troops to fight against the enemy Zhao Guanying and did not dare to fight, and more than 10,000 pieces of armor were not returned. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Geng commanded two ambush battles in Qiquan Village, the Battle of Shentouling, the Xiangtangpu Ambush and other classic battles, and his 386th Brigade was called "the best brigade in China" by Colonel Carlson, the US military attaché in China, and the Japanese even posted slogans on their armored vehicles with the slogan "Specializing in the 386th Brigade".
During the Liberation War, although the Nakano Fourth Column led by Chen Geng was only a column, it had a strength of 40,000 or 50,000 people, and the Fourth Column was always used by the Central Military Commission as a separate combat force. During the more than three years of the Liberation War, Chen Geng's command post was transferred to 13 provinces, annihilated 700,000 enemies, liberated more than 300 cities, captured 12 aircraft, 26 tanks, and more than 20,000 guns of various kinds, making outstanding contributions to the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people. In 1952, Chairman Mao personally ordered the general, and Chen Geng was responsible for creating a higher technical college, the Kazakh Military Industry, and served as the dean and political commissar. The creation of Kazakhstan's military industry has made great contributions to the development of the cause of two bombs and one satellite.
Compared with the above four generals, Su Yu was a rising star, and at the time of the Nanchang Uprising, Peng Dehuai and Liu Bocheng held very high positions, Chen Geng was the battalion commander, Lin Biao was the battalion commander, but Su Yu was only a squad leader. However, Su Yu soon showed his military talents, and in 1928, in the Battle of Qixiling, Su Yu only took 3 soldiers with clever wisdom and strategy, captured hundreds of White Troops, and was called "Young Tactician" by Zhu Laozong.
Whether it was during the Red Army period, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, or the Liberation War, Su Yu was in a very harsh environment, and he was always in the rear away from the central government, so Su Yu dared to take risks. Lin Biao later commented that Su Yu dared to fight as long as he had a 50% certainty, and often won by surprise.
The Liberation War was the peak period of Su Yu, from the seven battles and seven victories in Central Suzhou, to the Battle of Lunan, the Battle of Subei, the Battle of Laiwu, the Battle of Menglianggu, and then to the Battle of Eastern Henan, the Battle of Jinan, the Battle of Huaihai, and the Battle of Suyu was fought more beautifully than the first battle. The East China region where Su Yu is located is very close to the enemy's economic center Shanghai and the political center Nanjing, so it is also the area where the enemy focuses on encirclement and suppression, and the troops invested are also the most elite of the nationalist army, but Su Yu not only was not destroyed by the enemy, but fought more and more courageously, won successive battles, and finally crossed the Yangtze River in one fell swoop, killed several southeastern provinces, and made a major contribution to the liberation of new China.