Chen Yi's telegram had obvious intentions
At the beginning of 1947, Su Yu fought several major victories in northern Jiangsu, among which the Battle of Menglianggu achieved a huge victory, and the morale of the troops was high, at this time Su Yu's prestige in the troops reached an unprecedented height.
Perhaps it was the soldiers who had the idea of a light enemy in the face of the Kuomintang army, and as a result, in the two battles in July, our army was temporarily inferior to the battlefield.
Just because the two battles commanded by Su Yu were not fought well, the morale of the troops began to decline, and even some people questioned Su Yu's command ability at this time, and comrade Su Yu, who was in charge of command, had some fluctuations in his mood and often faced the map.
As commander, Chen Yi always stood behind Su Yu to give him the greatest support, and in order to explain the situation of the battle to the Party Central Committee, Chen Yi sent a telegram to Chairman Mao of the Central Committee in August 1947 to conduct a detailed analysis of the reasons for the defeat in the battle, and also fully recognized the performance of Su Yu and Chen Geng in the telegram:
"There are not many outstanding military figures we have created in more than two decades. Recently, Su Yu and Chen Geng have stood out one after another, and they have a great future and will advance side by side with Peng, Liu and Lin. They even praised their early performance as "standing out", and also predicted that the outstanding military figures created by our party would have an unlimited future, and their merits could be shoulder to shoulder with several famous military generals Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, and Lin.
Chen Yi's telegram was a high recognition of Su Yu and Chen Geng and a great encouragement and trust for the generals who were temporarily at the trough of military command.
Chen Yi and Su Yu met after the Nanchang Uprising, Su Yu has talent, Chen Yi loves talent, the two have been together for a long time, forming a perfect combination of "Su does not leave Chen, Chen does not leave Su".
The reason why Chen Yi praised Su Yu and Chen Geng so much was entirely a high recognition of the special talents displayed by the two in military command. Su Yu began his journey of leading his troops to fight in battle from Jinggangshan, and when he was in the Central Soviet Region, he followed Chairman Mao to fight the Kuomintang army and constantly summed up combat experience; during the Long March of the Red Army, he led his troops to fight guerrillas, and gained great tempering of will during the three years of hardship; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, under the leadership of Chen Yi, he fought a bloody battle against the Japanese army and fought the Japanese army bitterly; in the face of the rampant action of the Kuomintang army, Chen Su resolutely faced the battle, and the Battle of Huangqiao became a classic; the performance in the Liberation War was even more atmospheric, and the seven victories of the Seven Wars between the Soviet Union and China became the military beauty of the Chinese Communists. The great victory in the Battle of Huaihai allowed Su Yu to stand on the top of the mountain where he commanded the large army to fight.
Chen Yi was an authentic literati before joining the army, and during his work-study trip to France, he was noticed by Zhou Enlai and Cai Hesen because of his ability to speak eloquently and his outstanding organizational skills. Chen Yi, who once wanted to save the country through industry and education, slowly saw the reality of China, resolutely threw himself into the revolution, joined the Communist Party of China in 1923, and followed the Communist Party of China to fight for the people.
After the Nanchang Uprising, Chen Yi led his troops to launch the Shonan Uprising, and then followed Comrade Zhu De up Jinggang Mountain, where he met Mao Zedong's troops in victory.
After the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area was besieged by the Kuomintang troops, he followed Zhu De and Mao Zedong to the Fujian-Guangdong border. During this period, Chen Yi's organizational ability was brought into play, and Zhu De and Chen Yi jointly led the troops to negotiate with the Kuomintang troops, and experienced life and death many times, but the revolutionary will never wavered, preserving the flames of the Nanchang Uprising and constantly expanding the ranks of the Red Army.
In the process of partnering with Su Yu, Comrade Chen Yi gradually clarified the division of labor between the two, Su Yu was mainly responsible for directing the battle and formulating specific tactics, and Chen Yi not only gave guidance in strategy, but also gave full support behind it.
No matter what resistance Su Yu encountered in command, Chen Yi would always come forward in time to clear all command obstacles for Su Yu. And another important role of Chen Yi is to integrate forces and unite people.
Chen Yi once made a statement about his long-term position as commander: I am more often playing the role of political commissar.
Comrade Chen Yi fully supported the talented Su Yu with unparalleled trust, and the intention of this telegram was even more obvious.
Chen Su is a partner, long-term side by side
The long-term cooperation between Chen Yi and Su Yu can be said to be Chen Yi's achievement of Su Yu, and it can also be said that Su Yu has achieved Chen Yi. Su Yu was particularly good at commanding battles, formulating fighting methods, carrying out operations, and charging into positions, but he was lacking in the organization of the troops, and Chen Yi's strengths just made up for this shortcoming of Su Yu.
In early October 1940, Chen Su jointly discussed the Battle of Huangqiao, which created a great miracle of military victory over more with less. Chen Su had a strength of 6,000 or 7,000 troops, but he had to face the more than 30,000 troops of the Kuomintang Han Deloitte, and the disparity in strength between the two armies was huge, and the equipment was even far apart.
Before the Battle of Huangqiao began, Su Yu pondered in front of the map many times, repeatedly studied the terrain, and formulated a specific battle plan. At the mobilization meeting, Chen Yi showed everyone the great significance of the Battle of Huangqiao, and that victory would open up a new situation, and defeat would be driven into the Yangtze River by the Kuomintang to feed the fish.
Chen Yi commanded Yan Xuzhuang in the rear, and Su Yu personally went to the front line of Huangqiao, and the division of labor between the two had their own priorities. According to the operational plan formulated by Su Yu, our army adopted the strategy of luring the enemy into the Yellow Bridge, cutting it off, and eating it one by one.
On October 4, Su Yu carefully deployed troops to ambush, and after the enemy entered the encirclement, Su Yu telephoned Chen Yi to instruct him to start a fight. Chen Yi still wanted to wait and fight again until the enemy went deeper, but Su Yu insisted that this was the best time to strike, and Commander Chen Yi resolutely agreed with Su Yu's opinion.
The Battle of Huangqiao lasted fiercely for three days, annihilating more than 10,000 enemy 12 regiments and capturing a number of enemy weapons. Forcing a Kuomintang brigade commander to shoot himself in desperation, Li Shouwei, the chief officer of the Kuomintang ace unit, fell into the river and drowned in the chaos, and the entire team was in chaos, and finally it was completely annihilated.
In July 1946, Su Yu led his troops to fight in the Soviet central area, Chen Yi at this time proposed to the central government to transfer Su Yu's troops to the west, but Su Yu boldly suggested to the central government and Chen Yi to stay in central Jiangsu and fight several battles to annihilate the Kuomintang before making plans, and finally the central government and Chen Yi agreed to Su Yu's suggestion.
Su Yu commanded more than 30,000 troops in his hands, severely damaged the Kuomintang 120,000 Soviet central defenders in a month and a half, annihilated more than 50,000 enemies, and created an unprecedented record of seven battles and seven victories in the central Soviet region, which was praised by the Central Committee and Chairman Mao.
Su Yubu's strength was far inferior to that of the Kuomintang army, and as a result, the Kuomintang army of 120,000 was defeated. Afterwards, Chairman Mao commented on Su Yu's command of Su Yu and held that Su Yu adopted the method of concentrating superior forces to break through one by one, and achieved victory in every battle; after each battle, a lot of capture was made, his morale was greatly boosted, and his equipment became better and better; with the support of the people in the Soviet area, the replenishment was timely, and the most crucial thing was to command correctly, so that such a huge victory could be won.
Zhu De later praised Su Yu's Su Zhong commander, saying that Su Yu had annihilated more enemies than his own troops.
In May 1948, Chen Yi, commander of the East China Field Army, was transferred by the Central Military Commission to the Central Plains Field Army as the first deputy commander, and Ti Suyu served as the commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army, but Su Yu did not resign, insisting that Chen Yi still serve as the commander of the East China Field Army, and he still served as Chen's deputy. Finally, the central government agreed to Su Yu's request, and Su Yu served as the acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army.
In the ensuing Battle of Eastern Henan, Su Yu's East China Field Army and Chen Yi's Central Plains Field Army cooperated with each other to annihilate more than 90,000 Kuomintang troops in World War I, eliminating a major hidden danger for the smooth opening of the Huaihai Campaign.
In the subsequent Battle of Jinan, Su Yu commanded a large army to adopt a combination of siege and reinforcement, annihilating more than 100,000 enemies and taking Jinan.
In November, the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army jointly launched the first major battle of the Liberation War---- the Battle of Huaihai.
According to Su Yu's proposal and with the approval of the central authorities, the two major field armies came under the command of Chen Deng (Chen Yi and Deng Xiaoping). At that time, the two major field armies of our army had 600,000 troops, while the Kuomintang army had 800,000 troops, and commanding such a large-scale corps operation required superb military command skills.
After 66 days of fierce fighting, the Huaihai Campaign achieved a major victory, and our army absorbed, transformed, and annihilated more than 550,000 Troops of the Kuomintang at the cost of 130,000 casualties, laying a solid foundation for the Platon Army to swing its division in Nanjing.
Chairman Mao greatly praised Su Yu, who had performed outstandingly in the Huaihai Campaign, and held that Su Yu had made the first meritorious contribution in the Huaihai Campaign.
After that, Su Yu participated in a series of battles such as the Battle of The Crossing River and the Battle of Shanghai, showing the unique talent of a military scientist. He was appraised by Liu Bocheng as a general who won every battle and won every battle, and was an excellent military general of our party and our army.
After liberation, Su Yu was ordered to actively prepare for the capture of Taiwan, but due to the outbreak of the Korean War, the attack on Taiwan was shelved and postponed. When considering the commander-in-chief of the troops entering the DPRK, the Central Committee and Chairman Mao decided to make Su Yu the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Border Defense Army, but due to Su Yu's illness, he could not come to the post, and peng Dehuai was later appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Volunteer Army.
Su Yu began serving as deputy chief of the general staff of the Central Military Commission in 1952, and became chief of the general staff in October 1954, advising on the construction of the army and the war affairs of the country, and dedicating his life to the country.
In 1955, Su Yu was awarded the rank of First General for his outstanding command skills and great contributions to the liberation of New China.
Chen Geng joined, like a tiger adding wings
Chen Geng cooperated with Chen Yi in the first half of 1948, Chen Geng was placed under the command of Liu Deng in July 1947, and later established the Central Plains Military Region in May 1948, with Liu Bocheng as commander, Deng Xiaoping as political commissar, and Chen Yi as first deputy commander (also as commander of the East China Field Army). Chen Geng served as the commander of the Fourth Column of the Central Plains Field Army and began to accept Chen Yi's leadership.
Chen Geng's Fourth Column was a well-known team in the Central Plains Field Army that could fight hard battles, and it was also the team that annihilated the most enemies in the Central Plains Field Army.
Chen Geng completely annihilated the Kuomintang ace brigade in the Battle of Linfu and captured Brigadier Huang Zhengcheng alive; in the Battle of Luoyang, he took the lead in the Battle of Luoyang, completely annihilated the Kuomintang 206th Division, and captured division commander Qiu Xingxiang alive; in the Battle of Zhengzhou, he played a huge role and made positive contributions to the liberation of Zhengzhou.
Under the leadership of Chen Geng, the four columns achieved brilliant results and were praised many times by the leaders of the legion, and Chen Yi greatly appreciated Chen Geng's talent. In the Battle of Huaihai, he made a pioneering contribution to the annihilation of the Huang Wei Legion and showed excellent military command skills.
After liberation, he participated in the Battle of Southern Yunnan and commanded the border battle in the name of the Chinese military advisory group to defeat the French army, and in 1951 he went to the Korean battlefield and served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the volunteer army.
Later, in June 1952, he returned to China to organize the Harbin Institute of Technology, and in October 1954, he became the deputy chief of the general staff of Su Yu, and also served as the president of hitchhiker, devoting all his energy to the country's military industry and military education.
When he was awarded the rank in 1955, Chen Geng was awarded the rank of Grand General for his outstanding command skills and great contribution to the cause of the liberation of New China.
Five Tiger Admirals, in fact, this is not the case
In an August 1948 telegram to the Central Committee and Chairman Mao, Chen Yi praised Su Yu and Chen Geng as two rising stars, and mentioned Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, and Lin, who were famous for shaking China, and the Five Tiger Generals who were named Mao Zedong in some articles.
In fact, the five tiger generals have never been mentioned in China's official historical materials, because there are far more than five generals in New China, and a large number of military generals who made great contributions to the country during the period of the agrarian revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China have extraordinary military command ability and military theoretical ability.
For example, Comrade Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, and a large number of generals who can be called new Chinese military experts, such as Deng Xiaoping, He Long, Chen Yi, and Luo Ronghuan. The Five Tiger Generals alone cannot cover the generals who have made great achievements in the establishment of New China.
Peng Liu Lin Gong, rare in the world
As for the three Peng Liulin mentioned in Chen Yi's telegram, they are only very representative military figures in our army. Comrades Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, and Lin Biao showed extraordinary military ability in the early days of the revolution, and they were recognized and respected in their respective ranks.
For example, Peng Dehuai also used 20,000 horses to turn the Kuomintang's 200,000 troops around, using the "mushroom tactic" to encircle and annihilate many powerful Kuomintang forces in three battles and three victories, effectively restraining the Kuomintang's encirclement and blockade of the party Central Committee.
In the later period of the Liberation War, he led the Northwest Field Army to liberate the five northwestern provinces and made great contributions to the liberation cause of New China. After liberation, he served as the leader of the Central Military Commission for a long time, and in October 1950, he led the Chinese Volunteer Army to Korea. He has fought a tough battle to promote the prestige of the country and build up the style of a great country, and has displayed the backbone and indomitability of the Chinese people in front of the world, and is a well-deserved representative of outstanding military experts. He was awarded the rank of Marshal in 1955, ranking second among the top ten marshals.
Another example is Liu Bocheng, who participated in the Xinhai Revolution and followed Sun Yat-sen.
In 1916, in a battle, the bullet shot through the right eye from the head, the eyeball removal surgery was performed without the use of anesthetics, and the unbearable pain of ordinary people was endured with tenacious willpower, and he was amazed by German doctors as the "god of war", and his performance was praised as the modern version of Guan Gong's "scraping bone to cure poison".
He participated in the Nanchang Uprising, studied at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union, commanded the anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, crossed the Chishui River four times during the Long March, and forcibly crossed the Dadu River, leading the Red Army to Yan'an in northern Shaanxi.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army fought a bloody battle with Deng Xiaoping at the Taihang Mountains, struck hard against the Japanese army and created the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Anti-Japanese Base Area. After the outbreak of the Liberation War, he organized a movement war with Deng Xiaoping, and annihilated more than 100,000 enemies in less than two years.
Thousands of miles advanced into the Dabie Mountains, into the heart of the Kuomintang, and opened up the situation for the war of liberation. Later, Chen Geng was absorbed and joined forces with Chen Su to annihilate nearly 300,000 enemies between Jianghuai and Huai.
In the Battle of Huaihai, he was even more well-commanded, and with the close cooperation of Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Su Yu, Chen Geng, and others, annihilated more than half a million Kuomintang troops and sounded the great clarion call for the liberation of the whole country.
After the founding of New China, he and Deng Xiaoping were stationed in the Great Southwest, and after more than a year, they liberated the Great Southwest and quelled the bandit rebellion in the southwest. In November 1950, he was ordered to establish the Nanjing Military Academy to cultivate military talents at all levels for the country, and was also a model of outstanding military figures in New China. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of marshal, ranking fourth among the ten marshals.
Other generals, national records
Comrade Chen Yi did not mention other senior generals in his telegram, which is actually excusable. At that time, Chen Yi's main experience was in the East China Field Army and later the Central Plains Field Army, and he did not know much about other generals living in various places.
For example, Xu Xiangqian, an outstanding cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy, participated in the Guangzhou Uprising and later became the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front of the Red Army.
During the Long March, he did not decisively support Chairman Mao's idea of going north, and followed Zhang Guotao through a detour, but fortunately joined Mao Zedong in time, joined the army going north, and later participated in commanding the Ningxia Campaign.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the base area in southern Hebei was created, and during the Liberation War, he commanded major military operations such as the Battle of Linfen, the Battle of Jinzhong, and the Battle of Taiyuan, annihilating hundreds of thousands of enemies, and often due to physical reasons, he could not fully devote himself to the wisdom of commanding the great war, which became a major regret for Xu Xiangqian.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as chief of the general staff, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other important posts, and made major contributions to the construction and development of our party and our army.
In addition, at the end of 1989, the Central Military Commission made a systematic evaluation of the senior generals of our army in the more than 60 years since the founding of the party, and at that time 33 military experts were selected, and then added 3 more in 1994, that is to say, as many as 36 generals in New China can be called military experts.
Among the 36 military leaders were Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Yang Shangkun, and Li Xiannian, five major party and state leaders. There are ten marshals and ten generals, and there are also 11 senior generals who died before the founding of the country, such as Ye Ting, Zuo Quan, Fang Zhimin, Liu Zhidan, and so on.
Some of the personnel who were rated as new Chinese military experts
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the 36 military personnel who sacrificed personnel, none of the generals were among them, which also shows from another side that if the 11 military generals who died were alive, they were at least generals and above.
In particular, Ye Ting, his ranking in the list of military experts was before General Su Yu, so it is entirely possible that Ye Ting was a marshal-level rank.
In addition, in the late 1980s, after the death of some founding generals, the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission used the title of "military expert" in their eulogies or obituaries to affirm their great contributions to the country and the army, including Wang Zhen, Li Da, Yang Dezhi, Chen Xilian, Zhang Aiping, Yang Chengwu, Hong Xuezhi, Xiao Ke, and so on.
This also makes us realize that there are not only 5 military experts in New China, but also more than 36, and their number may far exceed these numbers, after all, in the process of the founding of New China, a large number of generals who can fight, can fight, and win wars have emerged in the People's Liberation Army.
Perhaps the state did not give them the title of "military man", but they are real heroes who have made contributions to the party, the cause of the country, and the welfare of the people.
Let us be proud that our country has so many outstanding people!