General Su Yu did not have many times in his lifetime, zeng Tao, who had served as ambassador to France, recalled and recounted an incident about General Su Yu abroad in his later years, Zeng Tao said: "General Su Yu gives people a very kind impression, his mind is always thinking about how to win the war, I received General Su Yu in Paris, and many of his words have benefited me for life!" ”
Photograph of General Su Yu's military uniform
The incident that Zeng Tao said occurred in 1970, when General Su Yu led a military delegation to visit the Congo, and after the visit, Su Yu passed through France on the way back to China, and when Chairman Mao learned that Su Yu had arrived in France, he personally called Su Yu and said: "Su Yu! This trip to Congo you have worked hard, I heard that France is a good place, you can stroll around the streets of Paris, relax and then return home! ”
Because Chairman Mao spoke personally, Su Yu decided to stay in Paris for a few days, and the staff responsible for receiving Su Yu at that time was Zeng Tao, who was then the ambassador to France.
When Zeng Tao saw Su Yu, his first impression of General Su Yu was: "General Su Yu is very kind, full of smiles, speaking at a speed that is not fast or slow, and there is no shelf at all!" ”
After a brief exchange between Zeng Tao and General Su Yu, he asked, "Commander Su! Paris is known as the 'City of Fashion', there are many places to visit, where you want to go, I can do a guide for you! ”
Su Yu thought for a moment and then smiled and said, "I don't like shopping very much, if I can, I want to see the ruins of the Normandy landings!" ”
Zeng Tao was stunned at first, and then he said, "Of course! I'll arrange your trip, the site of the Normandy landings is in the town of Arlomanche, not very far from our embassy, and the scenery along the way is good! ”
Su Yu smiled and nodded and said, "Trouble Ambassador Zeng!" Thank you! ”
Zeng Tao hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No trouble! No hassle! ”
Su Yu's words of thanks made Ambassador Zeng Tao very happy, Zeng Tao felt that General Su Yu was really too kind, this 63-year-old General Su Yu was humble and courteous, really there was no shelf at all, and getting along with him made people feel like a spring breeze.
As Ambassador Zeng Tao said, there was a beautiful scenery on the way from Paris to the town of Alomanche, Su Yu sat in the back seat of a car, and for less than an hour, General Su Yu never looked up at the scenery outside the window, but kept writing things with a pen and a small book.
Zeng Tao sat next to General Su Yu, and from time to time he looked at the small book in Su Yu's hand, only to see that General Su Yu drew a lot of maps on it, marked some place names, and then wrote a lot of text about the Normandy landings under the map.
Zeng Tao has been in France for many years, he saw at a glance that this map drawn by General Su Yu is the area around The town of Arlomanche, Zeng Tao was a little surprised, to know that this is Su Yu's first visit to Paris, but also the first time to go to the town of Arlomanche, he actually drew the local map so accurately.
Li liking to study maps is one of the three major hobbies of General Su Yu, and General Su Yu's son Su Rongsheng once said: "My father had three hobbies in his life, reading maps, collecting telescopes, and liking all kinds of good guns!" ”
Admiral Li Da, who had been with Su Yu for many years, also admired Su Yu's ability to read maps, and General Li Da had an elegant name called "Living Map", which means that General Li Da has a high level of research on maps.
During the Battle of Huaihai, Li Da's Central Plains Field Army fought side by side with the East China Field Army led by Su Yu, and Li Da once looked at the map in the command post, and he always felt that there was something wrong with this map, but he couldn't say that there was anything wrong. General Su Yu happened to be passing by Li Da's side, so he casually asked Li Da, "What's wrong?" ”
Photo of General Su Yu
Li Da said the doubt in his heart, Su Yu lowered his head and quickly browsed the map, and then Su Yu said: "The location of the double stack is wrong, and the depth difference is about 30 kilometers!" ”
Su Yuyi reminded Li Da immediately where the problem was, and Li Da smiled and said, "Commander Liu Bocheng often calls me a 'living map', and today it seems that Commander Su Yu's research on maps is much more powerful than mine!" ”
Su Yu and Zeng Tao and their party soon arrived in the town of Arlomanche, and two local guides from Paris plus a French military scholar accompanied Su Yu to this place, and the three Parisian locals wanted to explain to Su Yu some of the processes and heroic deeds of the Normandy landings.
As soon as Che Suyu walked to the center of the Normandy landings, he said to Zeng Tao: "You see that the east side of this place is an endless sea, from the map, the 50 kilometers deep in the south of this place should be one of the main battlefields of that year, the place we are in now should be the frontal battlefield where the Allies landed, and the place to the west of this place should be the main battlefield from Weiwan to the Orne River!" ”
The interpreter on the side translated Su Yu's words to the three French staff members accompanying him, and the French military scholar with wide eyes asked, "Has this general named Su Yu ever been to the town of Arlomanche before?" ”
The translator told him, "No! This is the first time that our Commander Su has come to Paris! ”
The local military scholar shook his head repeatedly, saying that it was incredible that Su Yu liked to study many classic battles inside and outside, this Normandy landing battle was one of the most classic battles in World War II, and Su Yu had already mastered the whole process and the whole details.
Su Yu continued: "In 1944, Eisenhower and Montgomery, as the two supreme commanders of the Allied forces, led 3 million troops across the English Channel, landed from Normandy in France, and successfully opened up the second main battlefield in Europe, which turned the whole situation in World War II around and was a great achievement! ”
Su Yu talked about the Normandy landings in a number of ways, which made the three French locals next to them useless, they had prepared a lot of explanatory materials, and now they found that the general from China was so familiar with the Normandy landings.
Su Yu found a high place to climb up, and then crossed his hands at the waist, facing the sea, Zeng Tao followed behind Su Yu, looking at the back of this 63-year-old old general, Zeng Tao also felt a thousand emotions in his heart, Zeng Tao wrote in his later memoirs: "At this moment, I feel that General Su Yu's body is shining all over his body, I don't know what General Su Yu's thoughts are in his heart at this time, but his look at the distance is full of pride, I respect General Su Yu! ”
Then Su Yu slowly came down from the high ground and walked to the side of the French military scholar, Su Yu asked with a smile: "The Normandy landing battle is the largest landing battle in the history of war, I have carefully studied the whole process, but there are still 4 questions in my heart that I can't understand, mainly due to the lack of detailed data on this big war, can I ask you?" ”
Realistic photos of the Normandy landings
The French military scholar finally felt that his knowledge could be put to good use, but the next four questions raised by Su Yu made the scholar dumbfounded, because the scholar could not answer Su Yu's questions.
I would like to summarize the four questions raised by General Su Yu:
General Su Yu was very interested in the weapons and means of transport for this large-scale landing, and he asked: "In this landing battle, the Allied forces have 3 million troops, and what transportation and landing tools were used by the Allies to transport these troops, including the subsequent landing war, and the number is about what?" ”
General Su Yu was very interested in the artificial port built by the Allies in the Sena Bay at that time, and Su Yu always believed that the artificial port built by the Allies in the Seine Bay played a great role in the Normandy landings, so Su Yu's second question was: "What was the artificial port built by the Allies in the Seine Bay at that time, and what are the important structures?" ”
In addition, General Su Yu paid great attention to the details of this battle, he knew that after the completion of the artificial port in the Bay of Seine, it suffered a large-scale counterattack by the German army, but the cement piers at the front of the artificial port in the Bay of Seine blocked the Artillery fire of the German army, so Su Yu's third question was: "How many cement piers were built in the artificial port of the Bay of Seine, what shape were these cement piers, and did they have specific parameters?" ”
There is also Su Yu knows that the allied landing battle in the early stage was to use 170,000 vanguard troops, a total of 5 beaches, but there have been questions about how the tanks and other heavy weapons used by the Allies at that time were coordinated, so Su Yu's fourth question was: "About the Time the Allies dispatched more than 9,000 warships, but the depth of the battlefield was only 50 kilometers, plus tanks and other heavy weapons, how did these weapons and equipment cooperate in a small space?" ”
The four questions raised by Su Yu suddenly confused the French military scholar, and he looked at Su Yu with wide eyes, unable to answer the four questions raised by Su Yu.
Su Yu saw the embarrassment of this French military scholar, so he smiled and said, "I will ask casually, it doesn't matter if you don't know!" ”
Hearing Su Yu say this, the French military scholar was relieved, and the two French tour guides around him looked at each other and had a question on their faces, because most of the two French tour guides usually explained to tourists the process of the Normandy landings and some heroic deeds, and Su Yu's questions were so professional, just like a question issued by a commander before the war, they naturally could not answer.
Zeng Tao was also shocked by Su Yu's question, he did not expect that Su Yu would raise questions about the Normandy landings from several different angles, Zeng Tao could not help but say to the people around him: "General Su Yu is admirable! His question was to go with the purpose of studying and studying, and General Su Yu was collecting precious materials for China's military research! ”
Su Yu then walked to many places in the Normandy ruins, and along the way he took out a pen and a notebook to record the terrain in detail, as well as his own thoughts and opinions on the landing battle.
General Su Yu was like this, he spent his whole life studying all kinds of military tactics, Su Yu's wife Chu Qing once said: "Su Yu has only one thing in mind all day long, that is, to study how to win the war, he can not eat or drink, but he can not stop studying military war!" ”
Chu Qing said this for a reason, in 1949, Su Yu commanded the Shanghai Campaign to win, after the liberation of Shanghai Su Yu took Chu Qing to Shanghai for a reunion, the two walked together in the streets of Shanghai scattered, Su Yu looked around, Chu Qing was next to Su Yu has been talking to Su Yu.
At this time, Su Yu stopped in front of the building at a certain street entrance, Chu Qing asked Su Yu what was wrong, Su Yu did not speak, just circled around the building, two or three minutes later, Su Yu happily ran to Chu Qing and said: "Chu Qing! If you look at this building, if I arrange a few light machine gun shots upstairs and downstairs, then I can hold this whole street! ”
Chu Qing stared at General Su Yu with wide eyes, and then Chu Qing burst out laughing, and she said to Su Yu, "My Grand Commander Su Yu! Did you invite me for a walk, or did you want to direct me to the battlefield to fight? ”
Su Yu also laughed after hearing Chu Qing's words, and the couple walked on the streets of Shanghai where the smoke of the war gradually dissipated, and the sudden calm of that year made everyone feel very happy.
Photo of Su Yu and his wife Chu Qing
On this trip to Paris, Su Yu gained a lot, and soon after Su Yu returned to China, he sorted out his thoughts and understandings of visiting the Normandy landing battle into a detailed article, just when Ye Jianying and Qin Jiwei came to Su Yu's house as guests, Marshal Ye Jianying read Su Yu's article in detail, and Marshal Ye Jianying said approvingly at that time: "Su Yu! You are really amazing, your article has studied in detail the issue of coordinated operations of various arms of the Normandy landings, which has important guiding significance for the coordinated operation of our army's sea, land and air! ”
After reading the entire article, Qin Jiwei also admired Su Yu with great admiration; General Su Yu has always had a high ability to comprehend and is extremely talented in the military field; there is an important reason for Su Yu's careful study of the Normandy landings, and he thought that if our army launches a landing war to reclaim Taiwan in the future, these studies can come in handy.