During his study career at the Whampoa Military Academy, Du Yuming was an outstanding representative of the first batch of cadets. So, how can his command be evaluated? In this regard, Su Yu, the "god of war" of the People's Liberation Army, once described it in a sentence: he is only good at winning battles, but not good at dealing with defeat. Du Yuming, born in 1904, was born into a wealthy landowning family in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. As a child, Du Yuming showed a more unruly personality than children of his age, not interested in reading and writing, but on the contrary, keen to practice military skills. So his father decided to send him to Beijing, hoping that pursuing higher education would change his rebellion. However, in Beijing, Du Yuming came into contact with revolutionary ideas, changed his path, and was eventually admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou to become a revolutionary party member. At that time, the Whampoa Military Academy had just been established, and Du Yuming became one of the first cadets. At the Whampoa Military Academy, Du Yuming finally had the opportunity to pursue the military field he had always been interested in. He studied hard and achieved the best results, becoming a typical Whampoa Military Academy student. After graduating in 1925, Du Yuming was assigned to He Yingqin's First Teaching Regiment as a deputy platoon commander and began his military career. In the ensuing Northern Expedition, due to Du Yuming's outstanding performance on the battlefield and the legitimacy of his command style, he gradually rose to prominence in the Kuomintang army and eventually became a senior general of Chiang Kai-shek. Of course, in this process, Du Yuming's political stance of firmly supporting Chiang Kai-shek is also a factor that cannot be ignored.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Du Yuming led the 5th Army of the National Revolutionary Army to Burma on an expedition, aiming to open up China's channel to receive material aid from the Allies to suppress Japanese operations in Southeast Asia. However, this large-scale military operation allowed Du Yuming to expose his command deficiencies. The 5th Army of the National Revolutionary Army had excellent mechanized units, including engineering regiments, armored units and artillery regiments, making it the first mechanized unit in China. In addition, the German guns and tanks of the 5th Army were also superior in quality to the "thin-skinned" tanks of the Japanese army. However, despite his power, Du Yuming failed to use it well. When he first entered Burma, relying on the powerful firepower of mechanized troops, Du Yuming achieved some victories, defeating the Japanese 21st Brigade and killing Major General Masao Nakamura. However, by 1942, with the hastily withdrawn of British troops from Burma, the Chinese Expeditionary Force was surrounded by Japanese troops. At this critical moment, Du Yuming faced two choices: first, to use the powerful firepower of mechanized troops to forcibly break through the Japanese encirclement; The other is to disperse the troops, reduce the whole to pieces, and use small flexible forces to break through the encirclement. Unfortunately, Du Yuming chose the latter. As it turned out, this choice was wrong. The advantage of the 5th Army was in the mobility and firepower of the mechanized units, which was lost after the division of troops. Moreover, the location where Du Yuming chose to break through was steep, which increased the difficulty of breaking through. In the end, although the 5th Army managed to break through, it was costly. The main 200 division was reduced from 10,000 to more than 4,000, of whom 3,000 died of illness and starvation, while losing precious German equipment in the dense jungles of Burma. From a tactical point of view, the expedition was quite a failure, and Du Yu clearly assumed important responsibilities.
In the Liberation War, Du Yuming once again revealed his problems, and was bluntly evaluated by Su Yu as "only winning the war, not losing the war." In Su Yu's view, Du Yuming was a typical dogmatic general. Despite his excellent performance at the Whampoa Military Academy, he was too rigid in textbook tactics and lacked flexibility. At critical junctures, it is difficult for him to make decisive and correct judgments. The Battle of Huaihai is a battlefield that reflects the difference between the two. At that time, Su Yu had successfully surrounded Huang Baitao's troops, but in the face of the powerful Huang Baitao troops, the PLA was difficult to overcome. In addition, Huang Wei's troops also pressed Huang Baitao's direction, trying to break through the encirclement of the PLA, increasing the pressure on the PLA. In general, Du Yuming hesitated at this critical moment, obeyed the orders of Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, gathered the Kuomintang troops in Xuzhou, and then tried to break through the siege. As a result, when a breakthrough was approaching, his subordinate Qiu Qingquan suggested not to risk a breakthrough, but to hold his position and defend with heavy weapons. Du Yuming hesitated and lost the opportunity to break through. Su Yu decisively mobilized the Huaye troops, eliminated Sun Yuanliang's troops of the Kuomintang army, and blocked Du Yuming's last chance to break through the Xuzhou siege. As a result, the first cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy and his 300,000 troops were all wiped out by the PLA, and Du Yuming was also captured and became a prisoner of "Gongdelin". However, Du Yuming was one of the Kuomintang generals with the best attitude towards reform during his capture. After his release from prison, he has been engaged in modern historical research and the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait, and has also served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth CPPCC National Committee. In 1981, Du Yuming died in Beijing at the age of 77.