When it comes to Xu Shiyou, everyone may not feel strange. This is a famous veteran general, who has experienced many wars during the war, commanded a series of important battles, and even organized large corps to fight.
And this general fought all his life, even when he was over seventy years old, he still chose to stand on the battlefield. In 1979, due to the Vietnamese army's repeated provocations against our army, our army finally decided to launch a counterattack war against Vietnam and never let anyone bully.
1. Who to send?
In the face of this difficult and important battle, "who to send" is naturally a question that needs to be carefully considered. At that time, when making the choice of general command, there was a headache in the current situation, that is, many of the founding generals were already old, such as Su Yu, Huang Kecheng, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, and considering the various physical sequelae left by their long-term combat, it was obvious that these people were not suitable for going to the battlefield at such a time. Thinking about it, in the end, the Central Military Commission chose Xu Shiyou, who was in relatively good physical condition.
Second, why him?
Putting aside the physical factor, why did the Central Military Commission finally choose the elderly General Xu Shiyou instead of a new person? There are three reasons behind this. The first is that Xu Shiyou was a veritable tiger general in his previous battles, with countless meritorious achievements and outstanding contributions, and everyone knew that his ability was absolutely up to standard.
The second is that because Xu Shiyou was the commander-in-chief of the Guangzhou Military Region at that time, it was relatively close to Vietnam and geographically close, so Xu Shiyou had the advantage of being more adapted to the Vietnamese weather and understanding the Vietnamese terrain better. The third reason is that Xu Shiyou participated in "verbal support" in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, so he is relatively more familiar with the tactics of the Vietnamese army and is conducive to commanding operations. To sum up, Xu Shiyou is undoubtedly an excellent commander in this counterattack against Vietnam.
Third, special regulations!
But in any case, Xu Shiyou is indeed not young, for this reason, the central authorities have specially formulated a special regulation for him: it is not allowed to inspect the front line without authorization, and if there are special circumstances, it must be reported to the Central Military Commission and let Deng Gong personally approve it! And Xu Shiyou's personality is also direct, no matter what the regulations, he agreed to come down first, thinking of going to the battlefield first.
And when this grumpy old general Xu Shiyou really arrived at the battlefield, he couldn't help but start to "make a fool of himself". In his lifetime of fighting horses, Xu Shiyou has long developed the habit of going to the front line to inspect and command. So he still planned to go to the front, but this was contrary to the regulations of the central authorities and caused headaches to the staff officers.
Xu Shiyou insisted on going to the front, and at first the generals were really worried about him, and they were worried about the regulations, so they all tried to dissuade him, but this made him anxious to make a big fuss, and strengthened his heart to go to the front. In this way, everyone knows that his decision cannot be stopped, but the orders of the central authorities cannot be disobeyed, which is really contradictory.
In the end, the people thought of a plan, they agreed to let Xu Shiyou go to inspect, but they must go back on the same day, and if the Central Military Commission calls to inquire, they will say that Xu Shiyou went down to the grass-roots inspection work unit. In order for the plan to go smoothly, they also carefully arranged the standby personnel in various places. With everyone's help, Xu Shiyou got his wish.
Xu Shiyou stood on the front line and saw the enemy's position machine guns, which made him excited. Although this position is really dangerous, it may be found and strafed by the Vietnamese army at any time, and once exposed, it will not only be a matter of his own life, but also affect the entire PLA position, but fortunately he was not detected.
Xu Shiyou, who had a plan in mind, had a clearer idea of the battle plan he had set earlier and had a deeper understanding. In the end, Xu Shiyou lived up to the heavy trust of the central authorities, commanded the heroic battle of our army, fought the Vietnamese army in successive defeats, lasted more than 20 days, and finally took more than 20 cities in Vietnam, and this war also lived up to expectations and won victory.
Summary: Although General Xu Shiyou was short-tempered and had an unspeakable fierceness in the fight, every time he acted in this way, it was not out of personal selfishness, but really wanted to win this battle better, and was a choice made sincerely for the motherland and the people.
Such Xu Shiyou is so real and so touching, he disregards the orders of the central authorities and his own body, he also wants to go to the most dangerous frontline, desperately trying to make the battle plan more thorough, save more soldiers, and better defend the motherland.