Nie Rongzhen was one of the founding marshals of the Republic, and commanded operations in North China for a long time from the All-out War of Resistance to the War of Liberation. The main founder of the famous Jin-Cha-Ji base area in military history was Nie Rongzhen, who made great contributions to the people's army and the revolutionary cause. However, the process of the Liberation War was not so smooth for Nie Shuai, and the internal and external pressures he faced were not small, especially in the first half of the war, when the Jin-Cha-Ji troops fought more defeats.
The most bitter battle that Nie Shuai felt was the Battle of Jining in Datong in 1946, which was defeated by Fu Zuoyi's troops with more battles and fewer defeats, and after that, the situation of our army in North China was very passive. In his later years, Nie Rongzhen recalled: The victory of the Kuomintang army was a fluke, and Fu Zuoyi himself admitted this, when Dong Qiwu's troops were besieged by our army and were under great pressure. However, the front-line commander made a mistake in decision-making and divided his troops to fight the reinforced Kuomintang 101st Division, which eventually led to the deterioration of the battlefield situation and the victory of our army turned into defeat.
This "commander", Nie Shuai, who had a long-term relationship with him, was General Zhang Zongxun, who was the commander of the Datong Front Command at the time. After the war, when the two of them did not give in to each other, they both thought that the other party's responsibility was greater, and finally Zhang Zongxun was transferred and went to the Northwest Battlefield to assist Mr. Peng, and became the first deputy commander of the Northwest Field Army. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Nie Rongzhen was awarded the rank of marshal, and Zhang Zongxun was a general. In fact, according to the overall resume, the gap between Zhang Zongxun and Nie Shuai is not so obvious, and he is qualified even if he is a general. Objectively speaking, the Battle of Datong Jining did affect Zhang Zongxun's reputation and status.
In the early days of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Zongxun served as the first brigade commander of the 358th Brigade of the 120th Division, while Nie Rongzhen was the deputy commander of the 115th Division, and the two were only half a level apart. When the two worked together in 1946, Nie Shuai was also very polite to Zhang Zongxun and trusted his command ability. But with the defeat of the battle, the Jinchaji base area was forced to shrink, and Nie Rongzhen was very angry. The battle of Datong Jining also indirectly led to the loss of the important town of Zhangjiakou. Subsequently, Nie Shuai pointed out at the meeting that Zhang Zongxun should not arbitrarily divide the troops at that time, but should concentrate on defeating Dong Qiwu's troops first, and Zhang Zongxun needed to take the main responsibility for the defeat. Zhang Zongxun refuted this viewpoint on the spot, saying that according to the strength of our army, the timing of launching the Datong Campaign was wrong and immature, and the decision-makers had the element of "rejoicing in great achievements," which did not accord with the original intention of the central authorities.
Nie Shuai said that Fu Zuoyi's victory was a "fluke", but Fu Zuoyi did say this. However, it was after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Fu Zuoyi had already launched the Beiping Uprising before, since he abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, I am afraid it is not suitable to publicize his past achievements, Fu Zuoyi humbly said "luck", it should be. In 46, due to the mutual accusations between Nie and Zhang, the contradictions became bigger and bigger, and it was obviously difficult to continue working together. Nie Rongzhen was a figure of the founding father of the Jin-Cha-Ji Dynasty and would not move easily, and the central authorities transferred Zhang Zongxun away after deliberation and coordination. After that, he played well in the northwest battlefield, and also saved the face he lost against Fu Zuoyi's troops, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also served as deputy chief of general staff, director of general logistics and other important positions.
Nie Shuai and Zhang Zongxun had a poor relationship for a long time, and there was almost no private contact, but both of them were important military cadres who took the overall situation into account, and their direct contact at work was limited, and they no longer argued face-to-face about the unpleasant past of those years. Interestingly, the two generals wrote military memoirs in their later years, mentioning the Battle of Datong Jining in their respective biographies, basically adhering to their personal views of the year, but not naming them. At the military and historical level, they are very principled.
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