introduction
In March 1949, Peng Dehuai attended the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee in Xibaipo, which had an important impact on the subsequent development of the Party. After the meeting, Peng Dehuai returned to the northwest according to the original plan to preside over the military command work there, after all, the Hu Zongnan army and the Ma family army at that time had not yet been destroyed, and his pressure was very high.
Just when Peng Dehuai returned to work in the northwest, the chairman talked to him and asked Peng Dehuai to stop by Taiyuan, Shanxi, when he returned to the northwest, to take over Xu Qianqian's command of the campaign to liberate Taiyuan. As we all know, when the war was in progress, it was a big taboo for soldiers to change commanders in the middle of the war, and the liberation of Taiyuan was fought fiercely, so why did the chairman ask Peng Dehuai to go to Taiyuan to replace Xu Xiangqian?
In terms of military command ability, Peng Dehuai and Xu Xiangqian are both outstanding senior generals of our army, and the two are inseparable. The reason why the chairman considered letting Peng Dehuai replace Xu Xiangqian and command the Taiyuan Campaign was mainly for three reasons.
Xu Xiangqian's illness worsened and he could not continue to command the battle
Xu Xiangqian is very disciplined, and he often says that "tasks are more important than life" During the Revolutionary War, Xu Xiangqian often commanded battles with illness and put his life aside.
Xu Xiangqian's physical health has not been ideal, and he spent most of his time recuperating in the rear during the War of Resistance Against Japan. During the Liberation War, Xu Xiangqian served as deputy commander of the North China Military Region and commander of the First Corps (reorganized into the Eighteenth Corps). In 1948, Xu Xiangqian, whose health had improved slightly, successively commanded the two battles of Linfen and Jinzhong, winning more with less and winning more with the weak, worthy of being the god of war of the Red Army.
In October 1948, after our army won the Battle of Jinzhong, Xu Xiangqian led the First Corps of the North China Military Region to Taiyuan to liberate the city. As we all know, Taiyuan City is a military town, and the defenders of the city are Yan Xishan, which has great roots in the local area.
Taiyuan garrison troops of about 100,000 troops, the main focus of our army is to liberate Pingjin, so the implementation of the plan to encircle Taiyuan without fighting, and then liberate Taiyuan with superior troops after the victory of the Pingjin Campaign. With the successful conclusion of the Pingjin Campaign, two other corps of the North China Military Region also went to Taiyuan to liberate the city with the strength of three corps.
Just when Xu Xiangqian was preparing to start liberating Taiyuan, his physical condition was very bad, he could not stand and command the troops to fight, and he needed someone to carry a stretcher and was admitted to the hospital for recuperation. Due to physical discomfort, Xu Xiangqian did not attend the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, and the spirit of the meeting was conveyed by Peng Dehuai to Taiyuan.
When Peng Dehuai returned to the northwest from Xibaipo, he stopped by to visit Xu Xiangqian, and after the two of them met, Xu Xiangqian said to Peng Dehuai: My physical condition is very bad, my pleurisy is serious, I have two outs of the water, my chest and back are sore, in order not to delay my work, General Peng stayed behind to direct it.
In view of Xu Xiangqian's physical weakness and inability to command the operation normally, the northwestern war was temporarily shelved, and Peng Dehuai stayed behind and succeeded Xu Xiangqian in commanding the final siege of the Taiyuan Campaign.
The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Armies participated in the Northwest Battlefield
As we all know, among the four major field armies, the number of the First Field Army is the smallest, which is determined by objective factors. Therefore, the superiors decided that after the liberation of Taiyuan, our army would take part in the operations of the 18th and 19th major corps of the North China Military Region in the northwest battlefield.
In the Liberation War, the main general in charge of the northwest battlefield was Peng Dehuai, and the opponent was Hu Zongnan and Ma Bufang's army. Since the beginning of the Liberation War, Peng Dehuai's troops have been limited, and although he has won many battles with less and more battles on many occasions, the gap between the strength of the enemy and us is still very obvious. By 1949, if our army wanted to liberate the northwest, it naturally needed to invest troops equal to or higher than the enemy.
Since the superiors had already decided to give the eighteenth and nineteenth corps to Peng Dehuai's command, it was only natural that he would stay and command the Taiyuan Campaign, and there was nothing wrong with it. After the Battle of Taiyuan, Peng Dehuai had to lead a new unit to liberate the Great Northwest, and it was not necessarily a good thing to familiarize himself with the troops first.
Peng Dehuai was very impressed with Xu Xiangqian's military command ability, and he said to Xu Xiangqian, who was recuperating from illness: After the Battle of Taiyuan is over, we will lead the troops to liberate the Great Northwest and eliminate Hu Zongnan and Ma Jiajun.
Xu Xiangqian's physical condition was even worse than expected, and after the liberation of Taiyuan, he failed to get better. In order not to delay the liberation work, Xu Xiangqian handed over the Eighteenth Corps to zhou Shidi's command, and he led the troops to follow Peng Dehuai to liberate the Great Northwest.
Yang Chengwu and Yang Dezhi were once Peng Dehuai's subordinates
During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Peng Dehuai was one of the leaders of the Pingjiang Uprising and founded the Red Third Army. Both the Red First Army and the Third Red Army became units of the Red Army, and Peng Dehuai served as the commander of the Red Army.
Peng Dehuai's seniority in the army was very deep, and many senior generals were his subordinates, such as the two corps that came to the Taiyuan front from the North China Military Region during the Liberation War, and the commanders were Yang Dezhi and Yang Chengwu, both of whom were from the Red Army.
Xu Xiangqian was from the Red Fourth Front, and was not very familiar with the senior generals of the Red Front, so Peng Dehuai, who had served as the commander of the Red Army, could better command Yang Dezhi and Yang Chengwu, the two corps commanders.
In the Taiyuan Campaign, the three corps of our army fought together, and the commander needed to have a certain degree of authority, and Peng Dehuai's prestige in the army was second only to Zhu De, which met this requirement. Among the three major corps, two corps commanders were from the Red Army, and Peng Dehuai was more convenient to command.
Of course, after Peng Dehuai took over Xu Xiangqian's command, in order to stabilize the hearts of the army, he took the 18th Corps as the main force, and most of the orders drafted were issued in the name of Xu Xiangqian. The reason for this was mainly to take into account the morale and morale of the 18th Corps, and when Taiyuan was liberated, many senior generals on the front line thought that Xu Xiangqian was directing them to fight.
epilogue
When our army liberated Taiyuan, Xu Xiangqian and Peng Dehuai both contributed to it. In the early stages of the campaign, Xu Xiangqian and all the personnel of the corps under his command made a lot of efforts to limit the military operations of Yan Xishan's army.
Peng Dehuai succeeded Xu Xiangqian in command, mainly because the latter had physical problems and needed recuperation and could not command the battle.
Moreover, it is also related to the two reasons that "Yang Chengwu and Yang Dezhi were once subordinates of Peng Dehuai" and "the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Corps participated in the operations in the Northwest Battlefield". In short, the three major reasons largely determined that Peng Dehuai succeeded Xu Xiangqian and commanded the campaign to liberate Taiyuan.