The victory of a war is not only related to its surroundings, but also to the commander of the operation. One of the outstanding generals we mentioned today, Xu Xiangqian, had outstanding combat ability and strong courage and courage, and finally won a war that seemed difficult to others with fewer victories.
Relying only on a "weak brigade", it has won one victory after another. Such a thing may be unbelievable to everyone, but it is true. In the Battle of Jinzhong, Comrade Xu Xiangqian reversed the situation and handed over achievements that surprised Chairman Mao, and he is truly worthy of being a military genius, so let us understand this amazing achievement.
I. Comrade Xu Qianqian's outstanding military ability
Xu Xiangqian's military ability was recognized as excellent, and during his tenure as Liu Bocheng's deputy, even the "god of war" Liu Bocheng praised his command ability, believing that he was a talent that could be created, and that he would succeed in time. In later generations, everyone also had great respect and respect for this general. There are even such comments: On the most outstanding people in the battle of the Large Army Corps, Xu Shuai and General Su!
Xu Xiangqian, the word is respectful. Great people have also praised: in the past, the king of Han had Han Xin, and I had Su and Zijing. All this is enough to prove his excellence, and at the same time, during the Red Army period, because of the experience of various wars, it also laid the foundation for his later strong military ability, and increased the probability of winning victory with less and winning victory with weak victory.
Xu Qianqian had rich combat experience, and during the Long March of the Red Army, he defeated the enemy's first and second counter-encirclement and suppression of our army, which brought a breathing opportunity to our army. Not only that, he was appointed as the commander and commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front, and successfully organized the army to smash the third anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, which was highly valued and praised by the organization. These achievements were only part of his military career, and in the later period of the all-out War of Resistance, Comrade Xu Qianqian gave full play to the brick spirit of "where it needs to be moved" and commanded and won many battles.
But when it comes to his record, the most famous is the one that won the weak victory during the liberation period. In June 1946, a full-scale civil war broke out, because the enemy had public opinion and material support from the United States, so our army was at a disadvantage in the early stage, and was occupied by the enemy army in many areas. Because of Xu Xiangqian's military talent, he was recommended to preside over the overall situation. However, at that time, he was also in the cultivation stage, and Chairman Mao hoped that he would cultivate well and restore his health, and out of love for Comrade Xu Xiangqian, he rejected his request to go into battle and kill the enemy.
Second, to adapt to changes in the situation to integrate the resources of the military region
However, in 1947, the base areas in northern Shaanxi were frequently attacked by enemy troops, and the environment was very unstable. Out of the dual consideration of Comrade Xu Xiangqian's illness and appearance, it was finally decided to transfer him to a more stable Shanxi and serve as the first deputy commander of the Jinji-Hebei-Yu Military Region. To Chairman Mao's surprise, even during his convalescence, he still handed over a lot of achievements.
In June, Xu took up his post and sorted out the troops as soon as he got there. He found that because the Jin-Ji-Yu Field Army had been sent elsewhere to support, the number of troops available to him was very small. Moreover, at that time, it was the critical period when Liu Deng's army was advancing into Dabie Mountain, how to best arrange planning and give Liu Deng's army a strong support? How to adapt to the needs of changes in the later situation? These are all imminent things.
Under these circumstances, in August, Xu Xiangqian was constantly arranging for the escalation of the military region's armed forces into field columns. At this stage, the army was integrated and readjusted in terms of resources, and some independent brigades and regiments of the Taiyue Military Region, the Taihang Military Region, the Ji'nan Military Region, and the Jiluyu Military Region were merged into 8 columns, 9 columns, 10 columns, and 11 columns. But even so, due to the special circumstances at that time, there were insufficient troops in various places, and in fact, there were only 8 columns of field troops that could be commanded by Comrade Xu Qianqian.
However, as a newly established unit, even if the soldiers in it also have large and small combat experience, it still needs to be honed to become an excellent team. At that time, the newly established 8 Columns was not a prominent team, not only had no backbone figures, but also lacked equipment. But it was such a team, such a not-so-good condition, that allowed him to deliver a beautiful result.
First of all, Xu Xiangqian adopted a "two-way parallel" approach, on the one hand, to make full use of the existing troops and upgrade some of them to field troops, so as to increase their strength. On the other hand, contact was made with the Central Army and the Northwest Field Army, asking them to reinforce some troops and take the 8 columns with them during the course of the battle. Through this method, he not only increased the number of troops available for deployment, but also allowed the 8th Column to gain richer combat experience and growth under the leadership of the old predecessors.
Third, relying on the "weak brigade" has won one brilliant victory after another
On December 28, 1947, the Battle of Yuncheng ended in victory, and the 8th Column was greatly tempered. The victory at the Battle of Yuncheng also cut off the connection between Hu Zongnan's group and yan Xishan's clique, and the general direction of the whole war gradually became clear. This battle also made the 8th Column Famous and gained a lot of attention.
Even though the 8 columns are already impressive, the lack of troops is a fatal weakness. In the whole campaign, only 20,000 people in the 8 columns could not turn things around. Next, Xu Xiangqian merged the former East China 1st Column Independent Division with the Independent First Brigade and the Second Brigade of the Taihang Military Region into the 13th Column.
In March 1948, Xu Xiangqian led 53,000 horses to attack Linfen City, a famous and difficult place in history. In this battle, our army still faced a difficult environment and finally won the victory. Comrade Xu Xiangqian used his excellent talents and limited conditions to command the troops with fewer troops to take this famous "Woniu City." The fierce battle lasted for a total of 72 days, and finally handed over the result of total annihilation of more than 25,000 enemy defenders.
After conquering Linfen, Xu Xiangqian immediately led his troops north to Jinzhong, directly facing the main force of the Jin Sui army in the south. The Battle of Jinzhong lasted for 40 days, and the strength of the two sides was very different, and our army only relied on the local armed forces of about 60,000 people to annihilate 100,000 enemy troops. Under the victory is a sacrifice that cannot be ignored, and our army has won more with less, but there are still huge casualties. Before the war, the 3rd and 7th Independent Brigades of Jinsui had more than 9,000 people, but after the war, only more than 3,000 people remained.
At this time, the troops were in urgent need of replenishment and recuperation, and in July 1948, Xu Xiangqian upgraded the troops of the Taiyue Military Region to the 15th Column, and mobilized the liberation fighters and peasants to join the army. Even so, our army still has only more than 80,000 people, which is a huge gap with the Taiyuan enemy army, which is as many as 100,000. In this offensive battle on the outskirts of Taiyuan, which was launched in advance, victory was achieved even when our troops were invincible and our equipment was backward, and a total of about 10,000 enemy troops were annihilated.
In this Jinzhong Campaign, Xu Qianqian relied on the remaining "old and weak" of the Jiluyu Field Army and created one military legend after another. Even Chairman Mao was puzzled and surprised by this, asking him why he could take more than 100,000 enemy troops with only one tired division. In this regard, Xu Xiangqian was very modest, believing that this was just the merit of the warrior. The chairman sighed: "You are really a military genius! ”
epilogue
Xu Xiangqian's excellence is beyond doubt, under such unfavorable conditions, he can also create conditions to win the victory and remain humble afterwards. The reason why the revolution has gone to light is precisely because there are many such excellent and difficult people who are fighting in blood. These revolutionary ancestors are not only worthy of our admiration, but also worthy of our study.
Reference: Marshal Xu Xiangqian