At the beginning of the establishment of the Eighth Route Army, the Central Military Commission received instructions from the 115th Division, asking if he could be replaced as a brigade commander, because the division commander felt that he was a little inappropriate in commanding Xu Haidong. Judging from the situation at that time, the division commanders and deputy division commanders of the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army all had both qualifications and abilities, and there were not many people who could make them feel that it was inappropriate to command, so why did they think that it was inappropriate to command Xu Haidong?
The job is there
Although the strength of the Red 25th Army was not large, it played a large role, and under the leadership of Xu Haidong, it overcame all the obstacles and successfully arrived in northern Shaanxi. Some people may not understand and think that the environment in which the Red Army's Long March took place was similar, but in fact, the situation of the Red Army on each Long March was different, and the Central Red Army was under the greatest pressure.
The Red 25th Army led by Xu Haidong was stationed in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base Area at that time, and suffered far less pressure from the enemy than the Central Red Army. But with an order from the central government, Xu Haidong still did not hesitate to start the Long March, and suffered the most serious wound in his life during the Long March, when an enemy bullet pierced the head, shot a little below his left eye, and shot out of the back of the neck.
The chances of surviving from a penetrating wound to the head caused by a bullet are really not high, but Xu Haidong has his own natural appearance, and it is simply a miracle that he woke up after being in a coma for four days and four nights under such a terrible medical environment at that time! Even in this case, the first thing Xu Haidong thought about when he woke up was not his own safety, but asked, "What time is it? It's time for the troops to leave?" and everyone present was moved.
After that, Xu Haidong led the 25th Army to northern Shaanxi, where it joined forces with Liu Zhidan's division of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and was reorganized into the Red 15th Army. Although Xu Haidong was an "outsider", Comrade Liu Zhidan trusted and recognized him very much, and took the initiative to serve as a deputy and let Xu Haidong take the main position, that is, the commander of the Red 15th Army.
Judging from such a position, although Xu Haidong may be slightly inferior in terms of qualifications, according to the comparison of positions in the same period when he was the commander of the corps, Xu Haidong is fully capable of serving as the commander of the Eighth Route Army. Because the commander of the 115th Division at that time was also the commander of the corps, the two were considered to be at the same level.
The power is there
It can be seen from Xu Haidong's words after experiencing life and death that Xu Haidong is a general with a strong sense of responsibility, and when life and death are at stake, he still focuses on the overall situation and puts his life and death aside. In fact, Xu Haidong was not only not afraid of sacrifice, but also had great courage, and when the Red Army was dying and dying, he dared to fight against the public opinion and fight with an enemy army 20 times larger than our army.
In 1935, Chiang Kai-shek was killed by Xu Haidong during the previous "encirclement and suppression" of the Red 25th Army, and he suddenly lost face, and gathered 31 regiments of troops in May to launch the second "encirclement and suppression" of the Red 25th Army.
This kind of strength is already equivalent to 20 times that of the Red 25th Army, and the troops of this "encirclement and suppression" are not only the Shaanxi Army that was defeated before, but also join a lot of the Northeast Army, and the combat effectiveness has been improved a lot.
At this time, the Red 25th Army was faced with two choices, one was to avoid the enemy's advance and go south to Sichuan to join the Red Fourth Front Army, and the other was to continue northward and fight with the enemy. At that time, someone proposed to go south to Sichuan, but Xu Haidong resolutely disagreed, and insisted on competing with the menacing enemy army and continuing to go north.
Is Xu Haidong's line of thinking correct or not? This is not only determined by the ultimate success or failure of the Red 25th Army, because the central government's order to the Red 25th Army at that time was to "go north first" in order to explore the way for the Central Red Army. The Central Red Army's goal has always been to cross the Yangtze River north, and even if Chairman Mao led the Red Army to cross Chishui four times, it has not changed the direction of "going north".
In fact, when the Central Red Army was facing the encirclement and interception of the enemy, some people also put forward the idea of going south to Sichuan first, and then looking for opportunities to go north in the future, but it was denied by Chairman Mao, which led to the later march into northern Shaanxi.
Why do we insist on going north? Because although it is advantageous for the Red Army to move south to Sichuan for a short time, the so-called "seeking opportunities to go north in the future" will be extremely difficult, and it is even very likely that it will no longer be realized.
Although Sichuan is known as the land of abundance and has the advantage of geographical advantages, it is not a good place to manage the world, and if it chooses to enter Sichuan because of temporary difficulties, it will not be conducive to the long-term development of the Red Army. Chairman Mao's vision has always been far-sighted, so he naturally disagrees with such a decision, and Xu Haidong's decision at that time coincided with Chairman Mao, which shows its correctness.
However, the problem is that going north is certainly a correct choice, and how to face the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" is also a fact that needs to be objectively faced. Xu Haidong's insistence on going north was not only motivated by loyalty and faith, but also because he also had a considerable degree of confidence in commanding the operation.
Xu Haidong is determined to fight the enemy, but the combat method is definitely not a head-on hard encounter, in his opinion, even if the casualty ratio of 1 to 10 is to consume himself, so a hard encounter is absolutely not good, and he must be outwitted. Xu Haidong led his troops to start a movement war with the enemy, pulling the enemy army into pieces, and complaining.
Just when the enemy army was chasing for several days, but could not catch up with the exhaustion of our army, Xu Haidong suddenly changed his combat strategy, from running by the enemy's nose to pretending that the Shaanxi army would take Bauhinia Pass directly. With this change in rhythm, the enemy army was unprepared, and Xu Haidong successfully led his troops to run more than 100 miles in one night, breaking through the supply center of the Kuomintang army at Bauhinia Pass, and completing a major replenishment.
By the time the Kuomintang army chased after Zijing Pass, Xu Haidong had already led his troops to leave, and he couldn't even see the shadow of our army. In this way, it was obvious that the Kuomintang was pursuing, but Xu Haidong took advantage of it, and the enemy army had the advantage in strength, but was exhausted and lost a lot of supplies, which is similar to the situation when Chairman Mao crossed the Chishui four times.
It can be seen from this command attainment that Xu Haidong's ability to command operations is very prominent, and he is completely competent to serve as the military commander of a unit. With Xu Haidong's position in the Red Army and his ability to command operations, he was fully capable of being a brigade commander when the Eighth Route Army was formed, and even a deputy division commander or division commander was also capable of serving as a brigade commander.
This is also the reason why the commander of the 115th Division asked the Central Committee if he could change someone, after all, with Xu Haidong's comprehensive status and ability, it seems that he can hold a higher position. And commanding a general of Xu Haidong's level to fight also requires extremely high military attainments, and it is normal for people to be worried. Of course, the central government naturally had deeper considerations in making such an arrangement, and in the end there was no substitution.