Kovalev "commanded" the Liaoshen Campaign
On November 2, 1948, the 52-day Liaoshen Campaign officially came to an end. At the cost of 69,000 casualties, the Northeast Field Army annihilated more than 472,000 nationalist troops and won an epic victory. As the first important strategic decisive battle in the Liberation War, the opening of the Liaoshen Battlefield also provided the best opportunity for the launch of the two major battles of Pingjin and Huaihai.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the troops drawn from the liberated areas in Guannei advanced into the northeast, and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Group was formed into the Northeast Democratic United Army. At this time, the total strength of the PLA troops in the northeast region was only 270,000, and the equipment was old, and some troops even went to the battlefield "bare-handed". But only four years later, the Fourth Field Army's million-strong army marched south, won two major battles, and fought from the black land to the end of the world on Hainan Island.
However, this too "miraculous" transformation has also caused some people to disagree with the history of Shino's fortunes, the most typical of which is that The improvement of Shino's weapons and equipment and strategic command is due to the Soviet Army. For example, after the Soviet army defeated the Kwantung Army, it transferred most of the captured weapons to the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army. The 21 "advisers" led by Kovalev became the most important think tank for Shino. Some people even directly proposed that the Liaoshen Campaign was planned and commanded by Kovalev behind the scenes.
Kovalev: Xiao He behind Zhukov
In July 1939, Marshal Zhukov, who was fighting the Japanese in the Far East, complained to Stalin that "the lines of communication here are very bad, my troops and logistics cannot reach the Khalekhine River front, and I need a Kutuzov-style general." Kutuzov, in Zhukov's mouth, was a Russian marshal in the 18th century, who was once hailed as the most learned man in the West at that time, a great organizer. In the eyes of the Soviet Army, he was a genius who possessed both Han Xin's military talent and Xiao He's organizational talent.
The "Kutuzov" that Stalin chose for Zhukov was kovalev, who was still unknown at that time. Kovalev, who went to the Far East, creatively proposed the "transport spider web" plan, which unified the deployment of train and automobile transportation lines in the region, urgently built railways, and helped Zhukov on the front line to completely solve logistical problems. After this battle, Kovalev, who shined greatly, was also awarded the rank of lieutenant general and was known as the "logistical authority".
What role did the Soviet "advisers" play
In April 1948, Kovalev, who had been in the transport sector for many years, once again accepted a new task: to lead an advisory group to the northeast to support the PLA in economic construction and front-line support. But the team brought by Kovalev is not a "military regiment" of 21 experienced generals, as many people say, but an "economic expert group".
In fact, including Kovalev himself, who has always been called "lieutenant general of the technical army", there is nothing commendable about military strategy, saying that he taught the generals of the four fields to fight, and even commanded the Liaoshen campaign is pure nonsense. After Kovalev arrived in the northeast, he was tasked with cooperating with the People's Liberation Army in quickly transporting the large army and supplies gathered near Changchun to the Jinzhou front thousands of miles away. Do his old job, keep the railway line open, and repair the traffic line damaged by the war.
For the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign, Kovalev did make great contributions. At his suggestion, the Northeast Field Army expanded the railway column on the basis of the railway regiment, equipped with some of the mechanical equipment and tools supported by the Soviet army, and learned about railway and bridge repair with experts. It can be said that in the Liaoshen Campaign, the Northeast Field Army was able to change battles in various thousands of miles, and we must thank this Soviet "logistics master" who stood behind the scenes. However, insisting on giving him a share of the credit for military command is reluctant, because Kovalev is only half a "Kutuzov" in the end, and will only organize Xiao He and will not have Han Xin's art of war.
Fighting wars, foreigners' set does not work in China
In fact, there are great loopholes in the view that the Soviet advisers commanded the four fields of operation. In 1933, the German Li De served as an adviser to the Red Army, and with bogu's support, he held absolute military command. It was this foreign expert who graduated from the Frunze Military Academy who copied the strategic and tactical theories of the West and allowed the Red Army, which was at an absolute disadvantage in overall strength at that time, to fight position warfare against the bombardment of aircraft artillery, which led to the failure of the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, and the Red Army was forced to start the Long March.
The great man had opposed Li De's "arbitrary" military power, believing that this foreign adviser did not understand China's specific conditions, and that he was bound to lose the battle in all kinds of ways. It is precisely because of the lessons of Li De that Siye, who has his own unique military concept and tactical system, cannot pin his hopes on different national conditions and military intelligence and foreign advisers. The Liaoshen Campaign was a tactical feast that belonged purely to the Chinese.