The so-called "one general is incompetent and exhausts the three armies", such as Zhao Kuo, the commander of the Zhao Army at the Battle of Changping, and Li Jinglong, the commander of the Southern Army at the Battle of Jingnan. In the military, the commander-in-chief has a very large influence, is the center of an army, and to a large extent, can directly determine the outcome of a big war.
During the Liberation War, the Battle of Xu Beng (Huaihai) was a life-and-death battle for Chiang Kai-shek. If the war is lost in the confrontation with our army, it will basically declare the fall of the old Chiang Kai-shek. Since the beginning of the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek's army has developed from great superiority to local superiority, balance of power, and inferiority.
Before and after the Battle of Huaihai, Chiang Kai-shek's army lost successively in the battles of Eastern Henan, Jinan, and Liaoshen, and was on the obviously inferior side. Old Chiang Kai-shek was very eager to change the situation of the war, so he decided to fight a decisive battle with our army in the Xu beng area, investing 800,000 troops to form an advantage in terms of troop strength.
It is worth mentioning that before the Battle of Huaihai began, chiang kai-shek's originally selected commander was Bai Chongxi, the general of the Nationalist army known as "Little Zhuge Ge". In terms of military command ability, Bai Chongxi was indeed the best among the senior generals of Chiang Kai-shek's army, and compared with Liu Zhi, the advantage was still very obvious.
Nicknamed "General Pig", although he was one of Chiang Kai-shek's "Five Tiger Generals", he was limited to his anti-heaven performance during the Central Plains War. During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, Liu Zhi's performance was difficult to describe, he lost a lot of battles, and the victories were almost invisible, and he was able to gain the trust of Old Chiang Kai-shek entirely by relying on the word "loyalty."
So, at the Battle of Xu Beng (The Battle of Huaihai), why did Bai Chongxi refuse to command the Battle of Xu Beng, and if he commanded it, would the Battle of Huaihai change the sky? Let's briefly analyze it.
Why did Bai Chongxi refuse to command the Battle of Xu Beng
As we all know, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren are the main figures of the new Gui clan, and they are not Chiang Kai-shek's concubines. In terms of military level, Bai Chongxi is known as "Little Zhuge Ge" and his ability is still relatively strong. During the Northern Expedition, Bai Chongxi commanded a large army to defeat the warlord Sun Chuanfang in the Battle of Longtan, laying the foundation of the Nationalist government in Nanjing.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Bai Chongxi commanded the Battle of Kunlun Pass and won a great victory for the Chinese army in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. During the Liberation War, Bai Chongxi defeated Lin Zong at Siping. In addition, Bai Chongxi's strategic vision is quite clever, and he once mentioned to Chiang Kai-shek that "guarding the river must guard Huaihuai" and has his own unique views on many strategic issues.
Before the Battle of Huaihai, seeing that his generals had been defeated repeatedly, Chiang Kai-shek had to consider appointing Bai Chongxi, a new Gui figure who had forced him to abdicate many times. In order to get Bai Chongxi to command the Battle of Xu Beng, Chiang Kai-shek deliberately handed over the two groups of Xuzhou and Wuhan to him.
Bai Chongxi liked to lead his troops to fight, and seeing that Lao Jiang trusted him so much, he planned to take over xu beng's command, but he got off the plane to Nanjing, and after reading the battlefield layout, he refused Lao Jiang's appointment and did not want to command Xu Beng to fight. The reason why Bai Chongxi did this, in addition to the consideration of the interests of the new Gui clan with Li Zongren, there were three factors.
First of all: most of the senior generals of the Nationalist army who participated in the Battle of Xu Beng, Bai Chongxi, could not command. As everyone knows, Bai Chongxi is the supreme commander of the "Suppression General" in central China, and he is also the main figure of the New Gui clan, not the concubine of old Chiang Kai-shek. On the Xuzhou side, such as Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, Huang Baitao, and others, they would not obey Bai Chongxi's arrangement, and if he sat in Xuzhou, he would probably not be able to command the main army nearby.
Secondly, Bai Chongxi just wanted to command the Battle of Xu Beng, and it was too late in terms of time. Bai Chongxi's command structure is in Wuhan, Xuzhou, and he has no foundation, and I am afraid that he will not be able to mobilize a single soldier. If Bai Chongxi transferred the command system in Wuhan to Xuzhou, it would take a long time, and the big war was about to break out, and I was afraid that it would be too late.
In the end, Bai Chongxi knew that Chiang Kai-shek was a man, and he would not be able to command his Central Army with ease. During the Liberation War, Chiang Kai-shek had a habit of pointing fingers at senior generals commanding the front, commonly known as "micro-exercises." Chiang Kai-shek's habit sometimes killed high-ranking generals at the front. Bai Chongxi naturally could not absolutely control the command of the army, so why should he go to Xu Beng to be angry.
If Bai Chongxi commanded Xu Beng to fight, would it play a role in reversing Qiankun?
It is undeniable that compared with Liu Zhi and Du Yuming, Bai Chongxi is a more comprehensive person. Although Du Yuming had good ability and often came up with some constructive strategies, he did not have the ability to make decisions, and he was basically obedient to Chiang Kai-shek himself, and was not suitable to be a commander-in-chief.
If Bai Chongxi commanded the Battle of Xu Beng, would the victory or defeat between the enemy and us change? The answer is that it cannot be changed, and our army will still win the final victory in the Battle of Huaihai. According to Bai Chongxi himself, he once said to his subordinates: "The war situation cannot be recovered, and two more corps cannot be added, and one more corps will be sent to send one more corps."
Bai Chongxi was a professional soldier, and before the Battle of Huaihai, he already had a general understanding of the situation in the whole country and had some judgments of his own. If Bai Chongxi joined the Huaihai Campaign, the Nationalist army would definitely form a greater superiority in terms of troop strength, and the Seventh Army of the Gui clan and the Zhang Gan Corps might also all appear on the Huaihai battlefield, and the pressure on our army would probably be even greater.
The chairman said: The Battle of Huaihai is "sandwiching raw rice." The chairman's meaning is very clear, to put it bluntly, it is a hard battle, and this enemy is not so easy to eat. Assuming bai chongxi's command, the final outcome of the Huaihai campaign should not be very changeable, but it will bring greater casualties to our army, after all, if it really comes to that time, Bai Chongxi will definitely put the troops of the Wuhan side into the battlefield, and the increase in casualties is inevitable.
In general, Bai Chongxi's military ability was recognized, and he was considered to be the best among the senior generals of the Nationalist Army. During the Battle of Huaihai, the overall strength of the Nationalist army was superior, and the weapons and equipment were also superior, but in the end it was defeated, lost in the loss of the people's hearts, lost in the army factions, unable to unify command, and so on.
Whether it was to let Bai Chongxi replace Du Yuming or Liu Zhi, it would not be able to change the defeat of the Nationalist army in the Battle of Xu Beng. From the beginning of Chiang Kai-shek's insistence on launching a civil war, the fate of defeat was already doomed; this was the tide of history, and dictatorship could not become a climate.