During the Liberation War, more than 8 million Nationalist troops were wiped out by our army. So why did Old Chiang Kai-shek, who had such a huge army, lose so badly in just three years? The Battle of Huaihai is the best answer. In order to fight this strategic decisive battle, Lao Jiang sent out all the elite soldiers and strong generals he could send, and encouraged the officers and men participating in the war: "800,000 vs. 600,000, the advantage is in me!" However, the outcome of this battle greatly exceeded Old Chiang's expectations, and the Nationalist army was defeated miserably. As a party with absolute superiority in troops, why did the Nationalist army not win the Battle of Huaihai? I think there are three main reasons.
The first reason is that the generals of the nationalist army are separated from Germany and scattered. Before the Battle of Huaihai broke out, Lao Jiang successively appointed Bai Chongxi, Du Yuming, and Song Xilian to command this strategic armageddon. The military command skills of these three men were among the best among the senior generals of the Nationalist army, but they all refused to take office under various pretexts. Bai Chongxi's demolition of old Chiang Kai-shek's platform is easy to understand, because the Gui clan and old Chiang kai-shek were originally sworn enemies, and there have been many wars between the two sides. Bai Chongxi couldn't wait to see Old Jiang's jokes, and of course he wouldn't share his worries.
Bai Chongxi refused to take office, and Old Jiang could only let Liu Zhi come forward to support the overall situation. However, he was not at ease with Liu Zhi's ability and was ready to find him a capable deputy to assist him. The candidate for this deputy commander, Lao Jiang first thought of Song Xilian, who graduated from the first term of Huangpu. So he personally sent him a telegram urging him to take office: "Xu Beng is the gateway to the capital and the security of the party and the state, and Xi Wudi resolutely bears this arduous task, and quickly goes to Xu and Liu commander-in-chief and the generals to make proper arrangements, and do not delay it any longer." ”
It is said that Song Xilian is a confidant of Old Jiang and should come forward at a time of crisis to solve problems for Old Jiang. However, he was worried that he would not be able to command Qiu Qingquan, and that if he lost the battle in the future, Old Chiang Kai-shek would put the responsibility on his own head, so he replied: "The only thing that cannot be done without presenting the matter in advance is that qiu Qingquan's corps is the backbone, Qiu Qingquan's army is arrogant and arrogant, his eyes are empty, and he cannot coordinate with friendly forces, and if there is another situation similar to the Battle of Eastern Henan in the future, so that the opportunity is missed, then the stakes are very big, and who is to blame?" ”
Old Jiang saw that Song Xilian had his own army, and knew that he did not want to be the deputy commander-in-chief, so he did not reluctantly, but instead found Du Yuming and asked him to come to Xuzhou to help Liu Zhi command. However, Du Yuming refused to take office on the pretext that the nationalist army on Huludao had not yet completed its retreat. Later, Old Jiang sent people to urge him many times, and Du Yuming had to come to Xuzhou with a hard scalp, at this time, Huang Baitao's corps was already heavily surrounded by Huaye. At the crucial moment when the "survival of the party and the state" was at stake, Bai Chongxi, Song Xilian, and Du Yuming, as senior generals, did not take the initiative to share the worries of the old Chiang Kai-shek. The commander will be separated from Germany to this point, and he will be undefeated!
The second reason is that the senior generals of the Nationalist Army have the same bed and different dreams, and they cannot be saved when they see death. Before the Battle of Nianzhuang broke out, Huang Baitao had a premonition that he was in danger of being surrounded by Huaye. Therefore, when he led his troops to Cao Baji, he personally went to Li Mi and asked him to retreat with him. In this way, the two corps combined had a strength of more than 100,000 troops, and it was quite difficult for Hua Ye to eat them. But Li Mi refused Huang Baitao's request, and he threw Huang Baitao in Cao Baji and ran away by himself.
After Huang Baitao was surrounded by Huaye, Li Mi was ordered to come with Qiu Qingquan to break the siege. In order to preserve their strength, these two people are not willing to fight to the death. Huang Baitao deeply felt this bad habit in the Nationalist army, and he said to Chen Shizhang, commander of the 25th Army, with emotion: "Who in the Nationalist army is willing to rush the difficulties of others regardless of their own losses?" Who is willing to sacrifice to save others? This question Chen Shizhang could not answer, he could only smile bitterly and shake his head. Due to the death of Li Mi and Qiu Qingquan, Huang Baitao was eventually defeated and killed, and the Nationalist army fell into a total passivity on the battlefield of Huaihai, and it was only a matter of time before it failed.
In stark contrast, there is close coordination between the PLA. When Hua Ye fully surrounded and annihilated Huang Baitao's corps, Nakano, who was extremely short of heavy weapons, blocked and surrounded the Huang Wei corps that had come to reinforcement with great courage, so that Hua Ye was relieved of worries. Later, Nakano encountered difficulties in encircling and annihilating Huang Wei's corps, and Hua Ye drew three columns from the forces surrounding Du Yuming, led by chief of staff Chen Shiyu himself to reinforcements, and finally completely annihilated Huang Wei's corps. It is precisely by relying on this close coordination that our army, despite having a total strength of 200,000 less than the enemy, can still concentrate superior forces on local battlefields to divide and encircle the enemy and then annihilate them one by one.
The third reason is that old Chiang kai-shek has lost the hearts and minds of the people. In the Battle of Huaihai, the logistics of 800,000 Nationalist troops relied on railway and air transportation. At that time, our army had neither trains nor planes, and logistics could only be solved by the people. The 5 million former migrant workers not only brought much-needed food and bullets to the front, but also sent wounded soldiers on the battlefield back to the rear for medical treatment, a logistical support capability that the Nationalist army could not match. The Nationalist troops in the encirclement were starving, but the officers and men of our army were able to eat steaming hot meals, and this scene could be seen everywhere on the battlefield of Huaihai.
Even the food was not enough, the morale of the nationalist army fell to the freezing point, and the battle naturally could not be fought any longer. When summing up the reasons for the victory in this great battle, Marshal Chen Yi once said: The victory in the Battle of Huaihai was pushed out by the common people with a small cart! This is the strength of the people's hearts and minds, and old Jiang will never understand it. Therefore, although he had an army of 8 million, the generals were separated from Germany, the senior generals had the same bed and different dreams, and the people's hearts and minds eventually led to the loss of the liberation war in just over three years.