Some history enthusiasts have taken stock of the five tiger generals in the People's Liberation Army: Peng Lin Liu Xusu, referring in turn to Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian and Su Yu, such a ranking has become a consensus in the hearts of most online history enthusiasts. However, many netizens believe that among the five tiger generals who look indistinguishable, Peng Dehuai should be at the top of the list of tiger generals, and from the six aspects of military position, number of commanders, fighting opponents, seniority, rank and personal character, the reason why Peng Dehuai can be at the top of the list is given. Then, in today's program, we may wish to look at the history of Peng Dehuai from these six aspects, why can he become a marshal who is highly respected by netizens and comrades-in-arms to this day.
Military position
Military position refers to the position that soldiers assume in the army, which is a direct manifestation of the army's recognition of the command ability of soldiers, and is also a direct factor that determines how many soldiers can be commanded by soldiers. Therefore, netizens took the military position as the first element to judge the comprehensive ability of the five tigers.
Before Peng Dehuai joined the revolution in 1928, he actually had a military position. In 1916, Peng Dehuai joined the Beiyang government as a soldier in the Xiang Army, and later in 1922, he was admitted to the Hunan Army Officers' Lecture Hall, and after graduation, he was promoted from an ordinary soldier to a platoon leader and had a military position. After experiencing large and small battles, Peng Dehuai was successively promoted to company commander and battalion commander, until 1928, when Peng Dehuai officially threw himself into the revolution and set foot on Jinggangshan, his military position had reached the position of regimental commander. Therefore, it can be said that Peng Dehuai's military starting point is higher than that of many soldiers: for example, when he was in Jinggangshan, Lin Biao and Su Yu, who were still battalion commanders and company commanders respectively, Peng Dehuai had already walked several steps more than their military career before going to Jinggangshan. However, compared with Liu Bocheng and Xu Xiangqian, Peng Dehuai's military position before 1928 did not occupy an advantage - because Liu Bocheng and Xu Xiangqian, two marshals, who joined the military position before the revolution in 1928, were at the brigade level, one level higher than Peng Dehuai's regimental military post.
(Young Peng Dehuai)
However, after ascending Jinggang Mountain, Peng Dehuai became the best of the five tiger generals. In 1928, Peng Dehuai launched the Pingjiang Uprising and led his troops to join the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and was the same general as Marshal He Long at the time of the Nanchang Uprising who led his own soldiers to join the revolutionary ranks. Therefore, after ascending JinggangShan, Peng Dehuai was promoted to the commander of the Red Third Army, and later served as the deputy commander of the main force of the Red Army: the Red Army. During the Eighth Route Army period, Peng Dehuai was promoted to deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army, second only to Zhu De in the Eighth Route Army. During the Liberation War, Peng Dehuai was promoted to commander of the Northwest Field Army. During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Peng Dehuai was promoted to commander-in-chief of the Chinese Volunteer Army and also held the post of political commissar, becoming the supreme commander of the Chinese Volunteer Army.
The other four tiger generals held military positions during the Red Army period, the Anti-Japanese Period, and the Liberation War period: Lin Biao, who served as the commander of the Red First Army, the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the commander of the Northeast Field Army of the People's Liberation Army; Liu Bocheng, who served as chief of staff of the Red Army, the commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the commander of the Central Plains Field Army of the People's Liberation Army; Xu Xiangqian, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front, the deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the deputy commander of the North China Military Region; Su Yu, who served as chief of staff of the Red Seventh Army and commander of the New Fourth Army. Deputy Commander and Acting Commander of the East China Field Army of the People's Liberation Army. None of these four tiger generals had ever been on the Korean battlefield like Peng Dehuai.
Therefore, in this round of military inventory, Mr. Peng won.
- Number of conductors
There is an old Chinese saying called "Han Xin points soldiers, the more the merrier." Although a general may not be able to fully reflect the comprehensive strength of the general, it must be able to consider the upper limit of a general's command ability on the battlefield. In modern warfare, soldiers' marching, deployment, logistics, weapons, and morale are all issues that need to be considered, which test a general's ability to withstand pressure and adaptability on the battlefield. Commanding troops and carrying out large corps operations is a compulsory course for a general to become a famous general in modern warfare.
When it comes to leading troops, the first of these five tiger generals to lead the troops to reach 100,000 people is probably Marshal Xu Qianqian. Because Marshal Xu Qianqian once served as the supreme commander of the Red Fourth Front, and the number of the Red Fourth Front in its heyday was exactly 100,000 people. However, the large number of troops does not necessarily mean that the general's ability to carry out large corps combat is strong. Because during the Red Army period, our army still adopted guerrilla warfare tactics and rarely carried out large corps operations. The real operation of the large corps was in the middle and late stages of the Liberation War, when our army fought in the first large corps operation, which was the Laiwu Campaign commanded by Su Yu. Therefore, Marshal Xu Qianqian was the first of the five tiger generals to lead the army to 100,000 people, but he was not the first person to carry out a large army battle. Moreover, during the Liberation War, the number of soldiers led by Xu Xiangqian in the North China Military Region was also about 100,000, and there was no obvious change compared with the Red Army period.
Although the number of troops led by Liu Bocheng and Su Yu was higher than that of Xu Xiangqian during the Liberation War, it was inferior to Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai. Among them, the Central Plains Field Army led by Liu Bocheng was 280,000 people in the heyday after the Battle of Huaihai. Although the East China Field Army of Su Yu Belt is known as the "Million Male Division" in history, in fact, according to relevant statistics, the real number is 825,000 people, second only to Lin Biao's Northeast Field Army among the five major field armies, but it still does not reach one million. Among the five major field armies, the only one that really reached one million was Lin Biao's Northeast Field Army, with about 1.5 million people. The Northwest Field Army led by Peng Dehuai had about 344,000 people in its heyday.
(Peng Dehuai)
However, this does not mean that Peng Dehuai's command on the battlefield is less than Lin Biao's. Because in the later Korean War, Peng Dehuai commanded the Chinese Volunteer Army as high as 1.4 million, only less than 100,000 people in the Northeast Field Army - however, when Lin Biao commanded the Northeast Field Army, Luo Ronghuan served as the political commissar, so Lin Biao did not command the 1.5 million army alone, while Peng Dehuai was both commander and political commissar on the Korean battlefield, and had more power to mobilize troops.
Therefore, judging from the number of commanders, Mr. Peng won for the second time.
- Engage your opponents
Just as the so-called "chess meets the opponent, will meet the good talent", who is the opponent encountered on the battlefield, which is also the criterion for measuring the comprehensive strength of a general.
During the Red Army period, the five tiger generals all fought against the Kuomintang troops and repelled the Kuomintang's encirclement and suppression of the Revolutionary Base Areas of the Red Army. In the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, they all fought against the Most Armed Japanese Army in the East Asian battlefield at that time. Among them, Lin Biao won the Ping-type Guan da victory, which was the first battle won by the Chinese army on the anti-Japanese battlefield since 1937; Liu Bocheng's 129th Division fought with the Japanese army in the Jin-Cha-Ji region, repeatedly made battle achievements, and was once considered to be the most effective unit of the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army; Xu Xiangqian also led the 129th Division to fight the Japanese army in the Shandong base area for many years; and the New Fourth Army Division led by Su Yu engaged the Kuomintang diehard army and the Japanese Kou in the southern region of China. The Japanese puppet army considered one of the most difficult units.
As the deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army, Peng Dehuai naturally had no choice but to fight with the Japanese and shock the "Hundred Regiments War" that shocked the Japanese army in North China, which was initiated by Peng Dehuai. However, in addition to fighting with the Japanese army, Peng Dehuai was also the only general among the five tiger generals to set foot on the Korean battlefield, and fought against the US military, which was known as the first military power at that time, forcing the US military to change the commander three times in a row: MacArthur, Ridgway and Clark, who were famous generals during World War II, were helpless against Peng Dehuai.
Whether it is from the perspective of the number and quality of the opponents, Peng Dehuai is the best among the five tiger generals.
- Qualifications
Another important factor in judging the comprehensive ability of military personnel is seniority. Seniority can be seen in a soldier's personal military experience and influence.
When it comes to his early qualifications, Peng Dehuai may not have the advantage, because Peng Dehuai launched the Pingjiang Uprising and led his troops to Jinggangshan in 1928, the last of the five tiger generals to climb Jinggangshan. The other four tiger generals joined the revolution basically in 1927, and Peng Dehuai was about 1 year later in seniority than the other four tiger generals.
However, after Peng Dehuai ascended Jinggang Mountain, he quickly became a "rising star" in seniority. As we mentioned earlier, when Peng Dehuai went to Jinggangshan, he was a general who joined the revolution with his own ranks like He Long, who was also a marshal of the Ten Greats. Therefore, after going to Jinggangshan, Peng Dehuai soon became the commander of the Red Third Army, the deputy commander of the Red Army, and also the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission—a position that meant that Peng Dehuai was eligible to participate in the discussion of major matters in the Jiangxi Soviet District at that time. The qualifications of the other four tiger generals are different: among them, Liu Bo assumed the post of chief of the general staff of the Red Army, but Liu Bocheng did not enter the Politburo and was not considered a political core figure during the Red Army period. Although Xu Xiangqian served as the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front, the Red Fourth Front was mainly controlled by Zhang Guotao at that time, so Xu Xiangqian did not enter the decision-making level of the Red Fourth Front. Lin Biao and Su Yu, on the other hand, were mainly generals who rushed to kill at the front, and at that time, they did not ask about political affairs, so at that time, Peng Dehuai's seniority was the highest among the five tiger generals.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Peng Dehuai's seniority was constantly improved: he was one of the first to be promoted to vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, second only to Zhu De.
- military rank
In terms of military ranks, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, and Xu Xiangqian were all field marshals, while Su Yu was a general rank. Initially, Su Yu was also awarded the rank of marshal in the plan, but after several resignations from Su Yu, he was eventually awarded the rank of DJI.
Although Peng, Lin, Liu, and Xu were all marshals, they were called the "Ten Founding Marshals" along with Zhu De, He Long, Chen Yi, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying, and Luo Ronghuan. However, the arrangement of the "Ten Marshals" is also before and after. Among them, Peng Dehuai ranked second among the ten marshals, second only to Zhu De. Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, and Xu Xiangqian are all ranked after Peng Dehuai, which is an unquestionable historical fact.
- Personal character
From the perspective of personal character, Peng Dehuai is also a historical hero and tiger general who is very worthy of respect. Peng Dehuai himself called himself "stone wear", taking the idiom "dripping stone wear". From the Red Army to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Peng Dehuai commanded victory without arrogance or defeat, fought many vicious and hard battles, and made great contributions to China's revolutionary cause. Moreover, Peng Dehuai personally was jealous and hateful, and he liked to fight and hold on to injustice, and was called by Chairman Mao as "this man is Zhang Fei in the army." This is a very lofty evaluation of Peng Dehuai's moral character.
(Peng Dehuai and Chairman Mao)
At the end of the article, what we want to explain is that this article is not to show that Peng Dehuai is the best of the five tiger generals, but to score a point for the five tigers, but from different historical perspectives, take everyone to see another Peng Dehuai. Every one of the Five Tiger Generals is an example worth learning and learning from our descendants, and is an eternal revolutionary monument in the history of New China!