Xu Shiyou is a rare tiger general in our army, full of courage, daring to fight battles that others dare not fight, the so-called "one force to lower ten meetings", and has made outstanding achievements for the establishment of new China.
However, such a tiger general has been described by some as a "reckless man" who can only fight hard and take the lives of fighters for granted, which is actually a serious distortion and slander.
The most favorite examples of these people are nothing more than a few, one is that Xu Shiyou liked to lead the death squad to charge during the Red Army period; the other is that after the Battle of Jinan, Xu Shiyou did not participate in any major battles, such as the Battle of Huaihai, which was hidden in the snow; and the other was the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam commanded by Xu Shiyou in his later years, which caused our army to suffer heavy casualties.
In fact, these are all blind speculations made by people who do not understand history, and they are not in line with historical truth at all.
In the period of the agrarian revolutionary war, the equipment of the Red Army was basically very inferior and rudimentary, and the strength of the enemy and us was very different; to boost morale and win a strong enemy, it was necessary for the commanders to have a fearless spirit and dare to rush to the front line, so as to encourage the soldiers to charge together and win victory!
In fact, most of the founding generals have this advantage, but Xu Shiyou is more representative, after all, he is from the Shaolin Temple, trained a hard kung fu, coupled with a bold personality, has served as the captain of the death squad nine times, leaving everyone with the impression of "brave and brave, insufficient wisdom", in fact, Xu Shiyou is very skilled in fighting, and is by no means comparable to "Mangfu".
As for some of the relatively large casualties in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, they were also caused by our army's long-term lack of training during the special period of ten years, which led to a serious decline in military quality, and must not be simply blamed on the old general Xu Shiyou.
There is also Xu Shiyou who did not participate in major battles after the Battle of Jinan, and did not even participate in the Battle of Huaihai, which determined the fate of the Kuomintang and the Communists, and some people believe that it was because he did not fight well in the Battle of Jinan and was hidden by his superiors. In fact, this is also a big fallacy, on the contrary, Xu Shiyou was not only not hidden in the snow, but was appointed to a more difficult task!
Let's first talk about whether Xu Shiyou fought well in the Battle of Jinan.
The Battle of Jinan was a classic "urban offensive battle" during the Liberation War, and under the painstaking management of the Kuomintang general Wang Yaowu, Jinan City built a super defense system, not only equipped with air force and armored units, but even backed by the support of the US Seventh Fleet stationed in Qingdao, Yantai and other places, which can be said to be impregnable.
The People's Liberation Army has always suffered from insufficient firepower, resulting in a weak offensive force, and in the face of such hard bones, it is not completely sure, so that some people before the war pessimistically predicted that the Jinan campaign was very likely to be fought for several months.
However, the actual situation was that under the continuous onslaught of the Shandong Corps commanded by Xu Shiyou, the morale of the Kuomintang defenders was completely overwhelmed by the fearless spirit of Xu Shiyou's corps, and it was conquered in only eight days!
After the Battle of Jinan, Xu Shiyou did not rest for several days and nights, and his old injuries and illnesses were in urgent need of recuperation, rather than being hidden in the snow. After the recuperation was over, Xu Shiyou took on a more dangerous task.
How dangerous is this mission? If it really happened, I am afraid that Lin Biao and Su Yu, who were the most popular at that time, would also have a headache!
The strategic position of the Shandong Peninsula in the War of Liberation is extremely important; in addition to being a place where soldiers and families must contend, it also determines the fate of the three main battlefields of Northeast China, North China, and East China.
It is precisely because of the importance of the Shandong Peninsula that as early as the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our party sent Luo Ronghuan, Xu Xiangqian, Xiao Hua, and other backbone forces to go deep into Shandong to open up base areas behind enemy lines.
Chiang Kai-shek also attached great importance to the Shandong Peninsula, not only sending the most elite troops and tough generals, but even trying his best to pull the United States into the water and "jointly defend Shandong." After the victory of the War of Resistance, the United States sent a huge Seventh Fleet and Marine Corps to occupy Port Cities such as Qingdao and Yantai, and the garrison even reached tens of thousands.
In 1946, the Kuomintang and the United States signed the Qingdao Mutual Defense Treaty, stipulating that the United States had the same obligation to support the Kuomintang troops in wartime as the Allies. It can be said that the US military can participate in the battle against the PLA at any time as an "ally" of the Kuomintang.
Shandong is a peninsula, in the modern war, this geographical form is a typical "land of four wars", there is no danger at all, even if you take the entire peninsula, the United States and the Kuomintang can also use powerful naval and air force at any time, landing in many places along the coast, at any time you can turn Shandong into a "fire-stricken backyard"!
What's more, after the Battle of Jinan, the Kuomintang army still occupied many cities along the coast of the peninsula, and it was completely possible to launch a counterattack with the cooperation of the US army. Therefore, after the Battle of Jinan, before the Battle of Huaihai, during this period, there must be a strong brigade led by a general to guard the Jiaodong Peninsula area at all times!
At that time, before there was a contest between China and the United States, it was not difficult to defend Chiang Kai-shek's army, but it was a big problem to choose a person to defend the US army.
You know, for a long time after World War II, the US military on this earth is the "dominant" general existence, its powerful military power, especially the power of the atomic bomb, is any army that fights with it will be deeply jealous.
In the face of such an unprecedentedly powerful enemy, if you use the idea of "rational analysis", there is definitely no chance of victory, and you do not dare to fight at all, at this time, you need a real tiger who dares to "shine the sword" to play an unexpected effect!
There is no doubt that General Xu Shiyou was such a tiger general who dared to "shine his sword", and he sat in Jiaodong during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and was most familiar with the situation in Jiaodong, so the central authorities sent Xu Shiyou to continue to guard Jiaodong and undertake this incomparably arduous task.
Therefore, in the later Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Crossing the River, Xu Shiyou was not seen, not because Xu Shiyou was hidden in the snow, but because he was performing another equally arduous task, which was very glorious and great!
Facts have proved that the central authorities were right in choosing Xu Shiyou, and in the subsequent battles, the US army did not dare to make trouble on the Jiaodong Peninsula, and it cannot but be said that Xu Shiyou had great merit!
(References: "The Legend of Xu Shiyou", "A Generation of Famous Generals Xu Shiyou", "Memoirs of General Xu Shiyou", "Battle of Jinan")
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.