In November 1989, 33 senior PLA generals were awarded the title of "Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Experts" by the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. In August 1994, three additional personnel were added, for a total of 36. This is commonly known as the "36 military experts of the Chinese People's Liberation Army". The personality, conducting style, glorious achievements, and even anecdotes of these generals are often talked about, and they are often compared and commented on, among which Peng Dehuai, who "immediately crossed the knife", Lin Shuai, who is deep and wise, and Su Yu, who is the "head of the generals", appear very frequently and are talked about by people. Here we might as well compare the three military men.
Good at fighting downwind battles Lin Shuai rose to the height of art
The personalities and personalities of Lin Shuai and Peng Dehuai are obviously contrasting, and they are often compared and evaluated together. By analogy, "Peng Dehuai is a fire, a fiery fire that burns from the inside to the outside, ready to destroy the decay; Lin Shuai is a pool of water, a pool of unfathomable but untouched still water." ”
The distinctive characteristics of Lin Shuai among the founding generals are good thinking and good at war. This characteristic of his was reflected as early as the Whampoa Military Academy, and the American journalist Harrison Salisbury said in the book "The Long March, Unheard of Stories": "During his training at the famous Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou, Lin Shuai was also the darling of Chiang Kai-shek and Blühr (General Gallen), who later became a Marshal of the Soviet Union. ”
Later, he gave up almost all of his personal interests and hobbies to study the military, so that when he talked about his hobbies, his former comrades and staff in addition to the military had to recall and summarize them well. General Shock once recalled that Lin Shuai liked to read soldiers' books. He had read both "Records of Zeng Hu Zhibing" and Zhang Naiyan's "History of the First World War"; Lin Shuai not only read the army exercise code promulgated by the Kuomintang government in 1928 after the Red Army captured Longyan, but also selected a part of the carved wax board to print and distribute to everyone; finally, he simply gathered the cadres, appointed himself as a company commander, and led everyone to actually perform the exercise.
It was Lin Shuai's concentration, meticulousness and prudence that made him almost never have a record of defeat, won the reputation of a victorious general, and of course gave people the impression of "fighting a tailwind battle". In Huang Kecheng's memoirs, he once mentioned the performance of Lin Shuai in the Battle of Xiangjiang and the Battle of Loushan Pass during the Long March, and commented that Lin Shuai was quick enough to find the focus and center of gravity of the battle, and had a strong ability to grasp the battle. The Battle of Pingxingguan, which set a record for the first annihilation of the enemy in the War of Resistance Against Japan, is his "masterpiece" and is a typical "Lin's method of warfare": from the selection of the battle site (the only way for the enemy to retreat and support, there is only one main road, there is a mountain on one side), to the meticulous organization work (in order to prevent early exposure, the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple opposite the ambush site are temporarily not ambushed), which fully demonstrates his ability to command the campaign.
During the Liberation War, the command of Lin Shuai's large corps of troops had been perfected, and the Liaoshen Campaign, the Pingjin Campaign, the Battle of Crossing the River, and the pursuit and annihilation of Bai Chongxi's southern line of pursuit were all clean and sharp, leaving the opponent with no ability to fight back.
It is not difficult to understand why Lin Shuai has formed an indissoluble relationship with the word "main force" from the beginning of leading the army. In February 1928, the Nanchang uprising troops arrived at Leiyang City. After listening to the report of the local county party committee, Zhu De decided: A large force will attack the enemy at the table pass head-on, and draw out a main company to cooperate with the peasant army in attacking the city. Drawn out was the company led by Lin Shuai. Leiyang was conquered in one fell swoop. The company he was the company commander was the most effective company in the whole regiment, the battalion commander was the strongest battalion in the whole regiment, and the regiment that was the regimental commander was the first-class main force of the Red Fourth Army. For decades, the main forces of the people's army that have been brought out for decades have been brought out, which are good at field warfare and attacking strong points, and they cannot all be attributed to chance.
Lin Shuai is not only a natural warrior who is good at planning and commanding, but also a master of "generals".
From May 13, 1947 to June 30, 1947, Lin Shuai commanded the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army to turn into a strategic counteroffensive.
While achieving some victories, it also exposed the problems in the command of commanders at all levels of the troops, especially the failure of the Siping Offensive. As a result, Lin Shuai began to organize, digitize, and formulaize the key points of combat command through centralized rectification and training, and sorted out six tactical principles.
These six tactical principles include "one point and two sides", "four fast and one slow", "three fierce tactics", "four groups and one team", "three three systems" and "three situations and three ways of playing".
The "one point" in "one point and two sides" is to concentrate superior forces on the main attack points and oppose the equal division of forces at each point; "
"Two sides" means that a brave encirclement method must be adopted to prevent the enemy from breaking through and escaping.
"Four fast and one slow" means that preparations should be fast, advance should be fast, expansion results should be fast, pursuit should be fast, and launching a general offensive should be slow.
The "three fierce tactics" refer to hitting hard, rushing hard, and chasing fiercely.
"Four groups and one team", namely the firepower group, the assault group, the demolition group, and the support group. This principle was mainly proposed to remind the troops that there should be a division of labor in assault companies, and that groups should cover each other and cooperate with each other.
The "three-three system" refers to the formation of three groups per squad, which is mainly to solve the offensive formation during the attack, prevent the formation from being dense, and increase casualties.
"Three situations and three ways of playing" specifically means that if the enemy is defending, it is necessary to go through formal preparations and complete all preparatory work before attacking; if the enemy wants to retreat, we are ready to fight again, the enemy will run away, fight without preparation, and will be touched again, then the enemy should be surrounded first, surrounded but not attacked, or surrounded and small attack, fight with them in part, catch him, make him unable to get out, and then be ready to fight again; if the enemy retreats, we must chase after him, then do not wait for orders, not ready is in line with tactics, Preparation is not in line with tactics, do not be afraid of a small number of troops, do not be afraid of the situation is not clear, chase is, of course, the campaign commander should organize a planned pursuit.
The above tactical principles cover various forms and situations of operations such as field battles, offensive attacks, and positional warfare of troops, and have greatly improved the command quality and ability of commanders at all levels. Some principles are still important tactical guiding principles of our army.
In the face of setbacks, Su Yu became more and more courageous
The salient feature of Su Yu's military career is that the more frustrated and courageous, the stronger the Vietnam war. A major setback early in Su Yu's military career was the defeat of Huaiyushan.
On January 27, 1935, the Red Tenth Army, as the advance team to the north, was finally defeated in huaiyushan District, Yushan County, and on January 29, Fang Zhimin was captured together with Liu Yuxi, commander of the regiment and commander of the 20th Division, Wang Ruyi, commander of the 19th Division, and Hu Tiantao, commander of the 21st Division. At that time, the only people who stood out were Le Shaohua, political commissar of the regiment, Liu Ying, director of the political department, and Su Yu, chief of staff. In January 1935, with the help of the Cpc Fujian-Zhejiang-Gansu Provincial Committee and the Provincial Military Region, more than 800 people from the remaining units of the Red Tenth Army were formed into the Advancing Division, with Su Yu as the division commander, and entered Zhejiang to start a three-year guerrilla war.
At that time, the advancing division was very weak in combat, and its main force was a machine gun company without machine guns and an artillery company without guns, which was evident from the situation at that time. However, it was in such adversity, in the repeated dragnet encirclement and suppression of the enemy army's forty regiments or more, that the advancing division not only did not break up and collapse, but on the contrary grew and developed, but also attracted, contained, and destroyed a large number of enemies.
By November 1936, the guerrilla base area in southern Zhejiang under the leadership of Su Yu had expanded to the north and south banks of the middle reaches of the Feiyun River, including Ruian, Pingyang, Taishun, and Fuding, as well as parts of Qingtian, Jingning, Lishui, Shouning, Xiapu, Qingyuan, and Yongjia counties, spanning more than 250 kilometers, and it is worth mentioning that it also extended to Chiang Kai-shek's hometown of Fenghua Xikou.
During this period, Su Yu became the military commander in charge of a strategic region for the first time in his military career, which was a huge leap forward for his military thinking and command skills. Su Yu has been thinking about how to survive and hold firm behind enemy lines for a long time, and as a result, he has enriched and developed the sixteen-character principle of guerrilla warfare of "the enemy advances and retreats, the enemy garrisons us to disturb, the enemy wears me out to fight, and the enemy retreats and I pursue." In light of the reality of guerrilla warfare in the south, he summed up six principles: (1) exchanging the least sacrifice for the greatest victory; (2) not destroying the enemy, but consuming the enemy; (3) dominating the enemy and mastering the initiative; (4) actively attacking, with little defense; (5) being erratic and uncertain; and (6) the more the enemy's rear, the easier it is to succeed.
In terms of combat operations, Su Yu summed up a set of guerrilla essentials: (1) acting against the enemy's way and doing everything in his power to deceive, the enemy advances and retreats, the enemy gathers and scatters, the enemy avoids the big and I, the enemy is small, avoids the real and the virtual, and attacks the west with sound; (2) do not try too big, as long as there are often small victories; (3) stand on the enemy's flanks, rear, and circle periphery, and not be attacked by the enemy; (4) all combat actions must be rapid, courageous, and resolute, and hesitation is equal to waiting for death; (5) pay attention to the use of sudden white-knife attacks, as long as the bullets are fired. The bayonet is about to kill the enemy's belly.
Su Yu said: "Active attack is a major feature of guerrilla tactics. When the enemy attacks, we quickly move and fight a decisive battle with different enemies. When we attack the enemy, we make more surprise attacks. ”
In the three years of guerrilla warfare in the south, Su Yu preserved and developed the troops, and made important preparations for the next War of Resistance Against Japan. In May 1937, the National Council of Representatives of the Soviet Union was held in Yan'an. In his opening speech, Zhang Wentian, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, first solemnly declared his condolences to the comrades who died in the past struggles. Su Yu, who had lost contact with the central authorities for a long time, was ranked 34th on the list of martyrs headed by Li Dazhao.
Whether it was the eight-year guerrilla war behind enemy lines during the War of Resistance Against Japan or the period of the War of Liberation, for a long time Su Yu led a lone army to persist in fighting behind enemy lines, in the words of the ancients, "hanging behind the enemy alone." In such adversity, Su Yu is like a spring, often creating amazing results, the most typical of which is the Battle of Tianmu Mountain. The specific process and results will not be repeated here, the key is to make a clear understanding of its background and significance.
In the second half of 1944, the defeat of the Japanese militarist forces was decided, and Chairman Mao entrusted Su Yu with a new heavy task at this time: to go to the southeast coastal area to fight against the Japanese and strive to control the military strongholds along the coast. Therefore, Su Yu chose the target in the area of Tianmu Mountain, where he had fought. At that time, this area belonged to the defense zone of Gu Zhutong of the Third Theater, and as soon as Su Yu entered the Tianmu Mountain area, he was under the siege of the enemy's superior forces. In the eyes of Gu Zhu's peers, this is tantamount to "throwing a net at yourself."
In stark contrast to this is the weakness of Su Yu's department. Su Yu initially only took 3 regiments south across the Yangtze River, more with the nature and mission attributes of strategic reconnaissance. With the development of the war and the expansion of the scope of activities, Su Yu deeply felt that he had too few troops in his hands, so he eagerly hoped that Ye Fei's column in northern Jiangsu would go south.
Su Yu sent a telegram to the New Fourth Army Headquarters for the first time, and the Military Department considered the current situation and refused his request, and Su Yu reported it for the second time, the wording was somewhat strong, and the Military Department saw this and submitted the telegram to the Central Military Commission. Chairman Mao, after receiving the telegram, thought twice about it, and finally, because of his knowledge and belief in Su Yu, he agreed to Su Yu's request: Ye Bu could immediately order him to cross south. Receiving the order, Ye Fei crossed south and was organized into the fourth column of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region. Only then did Su Yu have the basic premise for launching a larger-scale battle with a strong enemy.
The Battle of Tianmu Mountain was a classic example of showing weakness and arrogance to the enemy, luring the enemy to go deeper, seeking opportunities to annihilate the enemy, and concentrating troops to break through each other. This is a skilful example of a transformation from guerrilla warfare to regular warfare in large corps. Liu Shaoqi praised the First Division of the New Fourth Army commanded by Su Yu for "establishing the greatest merit in the War of Resistance." In our whole army, the first division fought the most and achieved the greatest results. ”
The news of the great victory in the third battle of Tianmu Mountain reached Yan'an, and Chairman Mao personally drafted a text and telegram, and used this battle as an example to inform the whole army to study. Therefore, Su Yu was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee with a high vote, and later, after returning to the Central China Bureau, the director of the Organization Department of the Central China Bureau said the following words: "Comrade Su Yu fought several major battles in tianmu mountain in a row, and Chairman Mao gave Su Yu a high evaluation, saying: Comrade Su Yu will be able to command four or five hundred thousand troops in the future. This was Chairman Mao's greatest hope and prediction for Su Yu, and a few years later at the Battle of Huaihai, Chairman Mao's prediction came true.
Su Yu's personality characteristics of turning over in adversity and encountering strong (enemies) stronger "springs" were more vividly reflected in the Battle of Menglianggu. After the Second Year of the War of Liberation, the Kuomintang began a major offensive against the Liberated Areas of Northern Shaanxi and Shandong.
In Shandong, the Kuomintang army gathered more than 400,000 troops, including the main forces of Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division and Hu Lian's 11th Division, and learned the lessons of the Laiwu Campaign and adopted a method of warfare that strengthened depth, approached intensively, fought steadily, and gradually advanced. Su Yu led the East China Field Army to use the tactic of "playing with dragon lights" to find fighters and mobilize and divide the enemy army.
At first, however, even as the friendly reorganized 72nd Division was completely annihilated, it maintained a posture of going hand in hand. Su Yu's determination to divide the enemy army several times was not realized, and with the fall of Mengyin, the capital of the liberated areas, the scope of the east China Field Army's activities became more and more limited, and the situation was already tense to the point of suffocation. This situation is a great test of the commander's psychological quality, ability to resist pressure and command art.
Go? Is it to divide the troops to break through, jump to the outside line, or concentrate the main force to continue to wait for the opportunity? This is an extremely difficult choice for anyone. At this critical moment, which determined the fate of hundreds of thousands of armies in the two armies, it was Chiang Kai-shek who first failed to uphold principles and made a big mistake.
Stimulated by the "battle results" in the early stage, Chiang Kai-shek and Gu Zhutong thought that the retreat of the East China Field Army was exhausting from the offensive and unable to fight a decisive battle, so on May 10, they ordered three corps to boldly advance to the Boshan and Yishui lines. The right wing 1st Corps changed its original method of fighting steadily and steadily, and did not wait for the unified action of the 2nd and 3rd Corps, that is, with the integrated 74th Division as the backbone, with the cooperation of the reorganized 25th and 83rd Divisions, on May 11, it attacked Tanbu from the area of Duozhuang and Taoxu, in an attempt to take advantage of the gap to occupy the Yishui-Mengyin Highway; the 7th Army and the reorganized 48th and 65th Divisions served as cover on the left and right sides. On 11 May, Chen Yi, Su Yu, and others learned that the 7th Army and the reorganized 48th Division were dispatched from Heyang, and that the vanguard troops had occupied Miaojiaqu and Jiehu and were attacking Yishui, which was relatively exposed, and was ready to annihilate the enemy first and seek the enemy's assistance at the opportunity.
After the battle order had been issued, at this moment it was found that the action plan of the Tombaugh Corps and the integrated 74th Division were advancing towards Tanbu. The two enemy forces, in different directions, have moved separately from the heavy army group, and the situation of going hand in hand has been broken, but which one to attack has become a difficult choice, once again testing the determination and will of the commanders.
At the crucial moment of choice, Su Yu showed firm determination, resolutely changed his determination, and decided to adopt the tactic of "fierce tiger digging out his heart" to attack the reorganized 74th Division, one of the "five main forces.". On the morning of the 12th, the deployment of the reorganized 74th Division was made to annihilate the reorganized 74th Division from the center of its front under the situation of the enemy's heavy army group being densely approached: the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th columns and the special forces column should be the main attack; the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 10th columns should be used as reinforcements; and local armed forces should be used to contain all kinds of reinforcements and attack and sabotage behind the enemy along the Linyi and Lintai highways.
After two days of fighting, the remnants of the reorganized 74th Division and the reorganized 83rd Division Luo Wenlang regiment were finally annihilated, killing Zhang Lingfu. This battle smashed the Kuomintang army's "decisive battle in Luzhong" plan in one fell swoop, was of decisive significance in thwarting the Kuomintang army's key offensive against the Liberated Areas of Shandong, and effectively coordinated the operations in northern Shaanxi and other battlefields. The significance of the victory in the Battle of Meng Lianggu was, as the Xinhua News Agency commented at the time: it struck at Chiang Kai-shek's most powerful direction of attack; it struck at Chiang Kai-shek's most elite troops. This blow, which again occurred on the eve of an all-out offensive in the Liberated Areas, had a particularly significant impact.
Wei Zhao Su Yu, Zhuang Zhao Su Yu! Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Lin Shuai is very appreciative of Su Yu and says that he is fighting "immortal battles".
In a desperate situation, Peng Dehuai slashed at the knife
If Su Yu is a strong rebound "spring", then Peng Dehuai's consistent style and style is "horizontal knife immediately". Whether it was the agrarian revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, or the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, when faced with a desperate situation, Peng Dehuai has always been like this, showing the great wisdom and courage of the proletarian revolutionary army.
Peng Dehuai experienced various hard battles and vicious battles in his life. In the face of desperate situations, others will desperately sit still, but Peng Dehuai can always survive and play an earth-shattering reversal. This can be seen from the Battle of the Mountain Castle, which Peng Dehuai personally commanded.
In September 1936, Hu Zongnan led the Kuomintang First Army into Gansu, vowing to completely wipe out the Red Army. Hu Zongnan was one of the most famous generals under Chiang Kai-shek and a graduate of the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and Premier Zhou Enlai once commented on Hu Zongnan: The most capable commander under Chiang Kai-shek is none other than Hu Zongnan. From Premier Zhou's evaluation, we can see that Hu Zongnan is definitely a difficult opponent to deal with.
The troops led by Hu Zongnan into Gansu this time were not old, weak and disabled soldiers, but one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, with the title of "the first army under heaven", not only well-equipped, but also most of the soldiers were veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles.
Compared with the First Army led by Hu Zongnan, the paper data of the Red Army at that time was somewhat ugly, not only was the weapons and equipment far inferior to that of the enemy, but also had just experienced the Long March, whether it was mental or physical, it needed a certain amount of time to adjust, and the only thing that could overcome the other side was probably the will to fight without fear of death.
After Hu Zongnan entered Gansu, he led the First Army to launch a fierce pursuit and fierce offensive against the Red Army, and under the pressure of the First Army, the Red Army had to leave the area of Huining and Jingning, which had already gained a firm foothold, and retreated to the north, preserving its living strength for a future counteroffensive.
Hu Zongnan was also obviously well aware of the Red Army's intentions, and pressed the Red Army troops retreating north step by step, intending to completely eliminate the Red Army and put an end to future troubles.
Since learning the news of Hu Zongnan's entry into Gansu, the top brass of the Red Army has also been very shocked; they are well aware of Hu Zongnan's strength, and they are also well aware of how dangerous the current situation really is, and they are hesitant to make a strategic decision on whether to block Hu Zongnan. Not simply the top brass of the Red Army, at that time Hu Zongnan was famous for his fierceness, and the Central Red Army also lacked the confidence to win against Hu Zongnan.
In view of this atmosphere of worry and fear within the Red Army, Peng Dehuai stepped forward and decided to accept the heavy responsibility of blocking Hu Zongnan and reversing the current extremely bad situation.
By the time Peng Dehuai accepted this heavy responsibility, the Red Army had already retreated to Jingyuan. Once Jingyuan was lost, the Red Army would fall into the dangerous situation of being caught between the north and the south, so Jingyuan absolutely could not give it to the other side. Not only the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek also saw the military importance of Jingyuan and ordered Hu Zongnan to take Jingyuan at any cost.
Since Jingyuan could not make a mistake, the Red Army could only choose to confront Hu Zongnan hard, but the gap between the strength of the two sides was too large, and if it was hard, the Red Army would absolutely suffer losses, and even the total annihilation of the army was not impossible.
Faced with this desperate situation of not being able to retreat and not being able to advance, Peng Dehuai thought deeply and carefully formulated a battle plan to "lure the enemy" and laid a trap for Hu Zongnan, who was famous for his fierceness.
Peng Dehuai wanted to take advantage of Hu Zongnan's complacency and light enemy to lure him deeper, and then give him a head-on blow. However, Hu Zongnan was cunning, and in the face of the trap set by Peng Dehuai, he did not take advantage of the greed, but chose to advance in multiple ways and attack Jingyuan from another direction, resulting in the failure of the plan formulated by Peng Dehuai, and Jingyuan also fell into the hands of Hu Zongnan.
After winning Jingyuan, Hu Zongnan did not choose to stop there, but took advantage of the victory to pursue and wanted to completely eliminate the Red Army. After Jingyuan was occupied by Hu Zongnan, the Red Army could only go all the way to the east and retreat.
In the face of the Red Army that has been running away, Hu Zongnan has the illusion that the Red Army has become a "dog of the loser" and there is not much threat. So Hu Zongnan put the First Army at the forefront of the pursuit, and then divided his troops into three routes, hoping to completely lock the direction of the Red Army's escape.
Due to Hu Zongnan's indomitable pursuit, the situation of the Red Army became worse and worse. At that time, if the Red Army continued to retreat, I was afraid that the central organs of the Cpc Central Committee and the headquarters of the Red Army would be exposed to the enemy army, which also meant that the Red Army would have to abandon the base area in northern Shaanxi and carry out another Long March. Not only Peng Dehuai, but no one in the Red Army at that time was willing to accept this result.
In the face of this situation, Chairman Mao, who was in the security guard at the time, and Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing could not sit still, after all, this battle was already related to the life and death of the Red Army. Chairman Mao did not dare to be careless, and almost every day he had to send telegrams to Peng Dehuai to talk about the plan to encircle and annihilate Hu Zongnan; Chiang Kai-shek was not far behind, and frequently called Hu Zongnan to encourage him to completely wipe out the Red Army with a single blow.
In the face of Hu Zongnan's pursuit of poverty, Peng Dehuai could only be forced to fight a battle. After careful analysis, Peng Dehuai found that the mountain castle was a wonderful ambush site, and he was ready to give Hu Zongnan a little bit of a powerful look at this place.
The pursuit distance between Hu Zongnan and Peng Dehuai was always maintained at a distance of one or two days, and with this time difference, Peng Dehuai arranged ambush troops around the mountain castle in advance and waited for the arrival of Hu Zongnan's First Army.
At dusk on the 20th, the Seventy-eighth Division of Hu Zongnan's First Army ventured forward and entered the mountain castle without speculating that the Red Army would deploy ambush troops.
At dusk on the 21st, with the order of Peng Dehuai, the Red Army launched a fierce attack on the Eighty-seventh Division inside the mountain castle. After a fierce battle, the Eighty-seventh Division, except for a small number of soldiers who successfully broke through, was completely annihilated on the morning of the 22nd, and the ambush of the mountain castle achieved an unprecedented victory.
According to post-war statistics, this battle annihilated a brigade and two regiments in total, and the eighty-seventh division, the main force of Hu Zongnan's first army, was basically completely wiped out in this battle, and the Red Army completely reversed the previous bad situation.
In the face of such a result, Hu Zongnan has also thought about it countless times, not understanding that his strength is obviously far superior to the other party, and he still occupies the right time and place, how can he still lose to Peng Dehuai, who is born of mud legs?
This question did not come to mind clearly until his death, but Peng Dehuai said in a word: People and people! The world of those who win the hearts and minds of the people. When you lose the hearts of the people, no matter how powerful you are, it is a flash in the pan. The contingent of the Red Army, which represents the people, is the aspiration of the Chinese people, and it is naturally able to be invincible and invincible.