Welcome to The History Column No. 2714. Xu, the former commander of the Red Fourth Front, was ranked eighth among the ten marshals in 1955. Although there was almost no suspense in the shortlisting of the founding marshal, Xu Shuai still expressed his humility, but he naturally could not resign from this marshal rank. In fact, during the Red Army period, Xu Shuai was the most brilliant senior general of the Red Army in military command, and if he followed the development prospects of the peak period, his position among the marshals would definitely not be eighth.
However, Xu Shuai's subsequent military career was quite bumpy, encountered major setbacks, and his status declined to some extent. Even so, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Xu Shuai had two personal opportunities. If he can catch any of them, his ranking among the ten marshals will be higher, but in the end he will be regrettably missed, what is going on?
The first opportunity came in April 1939. Due to the negative influence of Zhang Guotao, the former head of the Red Fourth Front, and the experience of the defeat of the Western Route Army, Xu Shuai's position in the early stage of the War of Resistance was somewhat awkward: with his seniority, he was obviously a little condescending to the deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and he was at the lowest point of his military career at this time. However, the central government attached great importance to Xu Shuai's ability, and in the first half of 1939 decided to establish the first column of the Eighth Route Army and send Xu Shuai (commander) to Shandong. The 115th Division was the strongest division of the Eighth Route Army at that time, and the division headquarters and some of the main forces were headed by Luo Shuai and Chen Guang, and had already gone to Shandong in advance, and at the same time there was also a Shandong column formed by Li Yu and other comrades.
As we all know, luo shuai became the highest person in charge of the Shandong region in the late stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but this was also due to personal opportunities. The cadre in charge before him was General Zhu Rui, and before Zhu Rui was Xu Shuai, who was the helmsman of the Shandong base area in the central plan. Xu Shuai has won many victorious battles in Shandong, and if he continues to develop as the core, the situation in the Shandong base area will also be very good. However, in 1940, he was transferred back to Yan'an by the central government for some reason, losing the opportunity to preside over the overall situation in Shandong, and objectively also achieved great progress and merits of Luo Shuai later. In 1955, Luo Shuai ranked seventh among the ten marshals, just one place higher than Xu Shuai. If this opportunity had been deflected at that time, it is not difficult to imagine how the results of the evaluation would have changed.
The Japanese army was very afraid of Xu Shuai's command ability, he only had more than a year in Shandong, but the enemy always called our army in Shandong "Xu Xiangqian Group". So why was Xu Shuai transferred out of Shandong in 1940? As a commander from the Red Fourth Front, Xu Shuai was still very cautious and somewhat evasive in his work for the 115th Division with the Red Army as his family, and although he had excellent combat results during his time in Shandong, he played a relatively limited role in integrating the two major combat forces of the Shandong Column and the 115th Division. After Xu Shuai left office, Zhu Rui, secretary of the Shandong branch bureau, presided over the overall situation, but the situation was still not ideal, and it was not until 1943, when the chairman hand-picked Luo Shuai to be responsible for the work of the party, government, and army in Shandong, that the Shandong base area really became strong.
Xu Shuai's second opportunity came in 1946. He had the opportunity to go to Shandong again and become the actual commander of the Shandong Field Army, but he missed it again. At this time, the War of Liberation had already broken out in an all-round way, the Shandong troops were strong in strength but their achievements were not satisfactory, Chen Shuai commanded the troops to suffer repeated losses, and the central authorities were not satisfied with the war situation. In particular, the defeat in the Battle of Sixian in August 1946 caused huge losses to the 8th Division, the main force of the Shandong Field Army, and Mr. Chen suffered military criticism and pressure within the field army, and even some people jointly reported to the central authorities, hoping to replace Mr. Chen.
At first, the central authorities decided to use Xu Shuai, who is in charge of the military, to go to Shandong to change the situation in which the operation was unfavorable and the base area was reduced, and General Manager Chen himself had even received a notice. Although he was sad in his heart, he conscientiously prepared to hand over the work with Xu Shuai, arranged a welcome party and did the ideological work of the troops. However, we are more familiar with the history behind it, Xu Shuai did not go to Shandong, and the central authorities adopted another employment plan with very good results: let the Central China Field Army and the Shandong Field Army merge, commander Su in central China was responsible for the operational affairs of the entire army, and Chen Shuai's position remained unchanged.
In this way, Xu Shuai missed the opportunity to re-emerge from the mountains to lead the strategic front. In terms of military standards, Xu and Su were on an equal footing, and Xu Shuai leading Huaye could also change the situation in Shandong, and successive victories on the East China battlefield could also be expected. If this opportunity can be obtained, Xu Shuai's ranking among the founding marshals is likely to rise upwards, even surpassing Mr. Chen and others. Missing the above two opportunities, Xu Shuai's military achievements in the later stages of his military career were still greatly discounted. Of course, the appointment of any general in the war years is first of all based on the needs of the organization and the army, and personal encounters are not the most important, and Xu Shuai, who has always been selfless and low-key, can also accept it calmly.
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