In the War of Liberation, the four major field armies of our army all played the role of mainstay. Among the four major field armies, if we talk about the level of equipment, then Dongye, which has been strategically and developed in the northeast, is the first in the number, and Dongye, who relies on capturing and searching the mountains and inspecting the sea to dig out weapons, even has to "trench" through the "Northeast Suppression General" opposite himself. According to incomplete statistics, of the 8 million national troops annihilated, 3 fields annihilated 2.45 million enemies, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total, the highest among all field armies.
Powerful HuaYe Special Column (stills)
In terms of quality, three of the five main forces of the Nationalist army were directly and indirectly involved in the annihilation of Huaye, namely the reorganized 74th Division, the 5th Army, and the 18th Army. Hua Ye's first contribution on the battlefield, who set a record of annihilating the enemy, should be Su Yu. Lu Nan, Meng Lianggu, and Huaihai were all under his direct command. However, what is surprising is that unlike Dongye, who is the full command of Lin Zong, Su Yu is not a commander in Huaye, but Chen Yi Chen Shuai. More often than not, Su Yu commanded battles as a deputy.
So why did Su Yu, who had achieved great feats, want to be under Chen Shuai?
Hua Ye's tacit understanding duo - Su Yu and Chen Shuai
To know that to become the commander of the field army (strategic group), in addition to having excellent military quality, it is also necessary to have a stronger twisting rope (game term: unity of team members, reunion of strength) and overall planning ability, and at key moments, it is necessary to calm down the generals below. Compared with Su Yu, Chen Shuai is the only one in this regard, usually does not express opinions, but at key moments, he can become a "cardiotonic agent" of the team and guide the right direction.
A very simple example: In the process of reorganization and construction of The Mountain Field (Shandong Field Army) and Huaye (Central China Field Army) in 1947, Chen Shuai's "reform" transformed the two field armies in the chaos of 1947 into the strongest combat strength of our army in Guannei.
Chen Shuai when he was young
Among the four major field armies, the most intricate composition of the team is Huaye.
It was originally composed of the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Field Army, the former being the Shandong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army and the Shandong New Fourth Army, and the latter being the Southbound Detachment of the Central China New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army. In 1946, the two sides were still fighting their own battles, Su Yu won seven battles in the Soviet Union, and the Shandong Field Army smashed the Nationalist army against Jiaodong.
Hua Ye captured a large number of enemy troops in battle
However, as the nationalist army's all-out offensive intensified, after the two field armies coordinated the Battle of Lunan (eliminating the Ma Liwu Rapid Column), the Central Military Commission intended to merge it into the new East China Field Army (Huaye). However, the two field armies were quite chaotic after the integration. It can be said that that period of time should be the "most confused" day in Huaye. Although the reorganization has been completed, because the central authorities have not clearly appointed and divided labor, they still maintain two sets of command structures during the operation, each commanding the operation. Especially after the merger of the two field armies, there was also constant trouble.
Huaye queue in the march
The first is the mountain problem.
As mentioned earlier, the composition of the two field army units is complex, and everyone comes from each hill, and no one obeys anyone. Why do you have to listen to you, so many times in battle, you also hit you, I attacked me.
In this regard, General Ye Fei, who was the commander of the First Column at that time, had a lot of say, and in central China, the 3 brigades of the 1st Column at that time were composed of: central Jiangsu, eastern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu, and the two sides were not subordinate to each other, and the coordination of combat execution was poor, and even because of some spoils of war, there would be disputes, which made Ye Fei very headache. This is still a problem within the Central China Field Army itself, and after the Shandong operation, this problem has also become a contradiction between the two field armies in Central China and Shandong.
Ye Fei during the Central China Field Army (first from the left)
Taking the booty captured in the Battle of Lunan as an example, the 1st Column and the Shandong Brothers Column, which were still Ye Fei at that time, often had friction in the process of capturing the booty. This is somewhat similar to Li Yunlong's 2nd Division and Li Li's 5th Division in "Bright Sword" robbing the warehouse. After Noji had him confiscated, the column and brigade commanders also frequently handed over bad radios, telephones, rifles, and motorcycles. Like some heavy artillery and mortars, they were reinforced into their own troops. There is even a kind of mountain mentality, that is, the more weapons you keep for yourself, the more you get the love of your subordinates, and the more cohesive the team is (this idea is very similar to Li Yunlong)...
The Bright Sword Snatching Material Fragment also happened to Yamano and Huaye
There is a hilltop approach on both sides, which sometimes extends to "contempt".
Most of the troops of the Central China Field Army came from the south, and the language was more southern official dialect (Wu), speaking lightly, in contrast to the Shandong soldiers with a very loud voice, and compared with the Shandong soldiers who cut their heads, many of the southern soldiers were divided and suited heads of international students, and they were despised as "student troops". Even on the cover of the quilt to argue, the central Chinese soldiers quilt is mostly satin, the color is also colorful has been disliked by the simple Shandong Han.
The Central China Field Army during the Seven Wars and Seven Victories in Central China
Second, there is ideological wavering.
Under the influence of the troops' hilltop doctrine, what pervaded the troops in central China was ideological wavering. After the second half of 1946, although the Central China Field Army still maintained victory in the Soviet Union, it was at the expense of the base area, and by 1947, the troops of the Central China Military Region, the party and government organs, and the arsenal had all moved into Shandong. And what accompanies it is the pain of "leaving home".
HuaYe's main leaders (Chen Shuai and Su Yu are also in it)
Speech and eating habits differ (Shandong people eat millet and flour cakes, while southern soldiers eat rice. Many soldiers and cadres of the organs were shaken in their thinking, and sometimes they also arranged to slip through the mouth to entertain themselves -- "Counter-offensive and counter-offensive, instead of going to Shandong; holding pancakes in hand and biting green onions; the situation is very good, the thinking is not clear; if there is any opinion, we must return to central China." Many soldiers were worried about the persecution of their relatives in Jianghuai and Suzhong, and they were also very anxious, always wanting to counterattack Suzhong and go back again. And this anxiety of the soldiers is not conducive to the improvement of morale in the long run.
Therefore, don't look at the beginning of 1947, after the merger of the two major field armies, the victory in the Battle of Lunan was achieved, but at this time, with the reduction of the base area, there was a problem in the reorganization and running of the field army, and Huaye at this time was also deeply confused.
Mobilization before the Battle of Lunan
For this kind of problem in the army, Su Yu, who was born in central China, Xu Shiyou, Chen Shiqu, and others from Shandong, were also helpless, after all, they also represented the field army behind them. At this time, only Chen Shuai, who had served as the commander of the New Fourth Army and the head of the Shandong Field Army, coordinated and twisted the rope.
In order to ensure the smooth progress of the reorganization, Chen Shuai delivered a report entitled "Fighting Wars on the One Hand, Building on the Other Side" at a meeting of the field army in Linyi. A series of "constructive proposals" were made to the troops to determine the future of Huaye.
The people's army in the course of reorganization
The first is aimed at the issue of integrated command of the troops.
Chen Yi signed the "Plan for reorganizing the Army of the East China Field Army," the main thrust of which is:
The East China Army formally formed the East China Military Region and the East China Field Army, and established the Committee of Former Enemies of the East China Field Army of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the Former Committee of the East China Field Army). The new Fourth Army, Shandong Military Region, Shandong Field Army, Central China Military Region, and Central China Field Army were abolished at the same time. Leading members of the East China Field Army: Chen Yi, commander and political commissar, Su Yu, deputy commander, Tan Zhenlin, deputy political commissar, Chen Shiyu, chief of staff, and Tang Liang, director of the Political Department.
The main leading bodies of the East China Military Region and Huaye
In January 1947, the field army was uniformly organized into 9 field columns (1-10 columns, missing 5 columns), each with 3 divisions (brigades) and 9 regiments. In March of the same year, two new columns were added to the needs of the Soviet-Chinese struggle, namely the 11th and 12th columns. The reorganized Huaye numbered 350,000 people, making it the largest field force in Kannai.
Powerful Huaye Artillery Unit (Stills)
The second is the issue of the hill of the troops.
In order to put an end to the problem of the army's mountain head, Chen Shuai also refuted and criticized the so-called "mountain head doctrine" at the meeting.
"Mountaintopism stands on its own mountain, self-righteous, only knows the glorious history and specialty of this mountain, and forgets the glory and strengths of other aspects, which it should learn and respect. Localism only focuses on the needs of its own units, lacks care for and understanding of the entire people's cause, and is bound to commit the problems of narrow-mindedness, complacency, selfishness, and undermining unity. Guerrillaism inevitably binds itself to the era of decentralized guerrilla warfare, and many of the old experiences that are not applicable are necessarily unsuitable for the requirements of a high degree of coordinated action in the era of regular warfare. In short, hilltopism, localism, and guerrillaism are all bad manifestations that hinder the overall soundness, the development of the overall situation, unity and progress, and victory, and must be resolutely corrected. ”
After the reorganization, Hua Ye, who had a strong combat power
In particular, when the troops seized the spoils of war, they handed over this matter, and Chen Shuai also simultaneously issued the "Order on the Unified Handling of All Seizures and Handing Over", which stipulates the number of trucks, jeeps, and transmitters that each unit can keep, and specifies the receiving organs and locations." ”
It can be said that in the reorganization and study movement of 1947, Chen Shuai injected a dose of cardiotonic agent into huaye, who was "impetuous" at that time, although the time was short, but the effect was good. Through Chen Shuai's twisting rope, the two major field armies began to merge in the true sense, unified their organization, and united the interior well before the Nationalist army focused on attacking Shandong. Bring the "confused" Huaye out of the trough.
Recruits in Huaye who are conducting shooting training
Many people talk more about "Huaye" when they talk about "Su Yu, the god of war". Indeed, the reason why Hua Ye was able to annihilate the enemy the most was inseparable from Su Yu's on-the-spot command. However, if you want to manage the nearly 1 million Huaye at its peak in an orderly manner, you must also have people with strong credibility and coordination ability.
Whether it was from seniority or prestige in the military, Chen Shuai was the first choice for Commander Huaye, so that when Chen Shuai went to The Nakano and Central Plains Bureaus, he did not concurrently hold the important position of Commander Huaye.
Therefore, when it comes to Hua Ye, who has annihilated the most enemies, in addition to remembering Su Yu, the soul chen Shuai behind him must not forget...
— The end —
bibliography:
"Decisive Battle: East China Liberation War 1945-1949" Liu Tong