Time flies, and the storm has passed. In 1984, the hero Su Yu passed away, leaving a mystery unsolved. His widow Chu Qing was sorting through the old man's belongings when she found a telegram that had been preserved for 37 years. What kind of secret is hidden in this telegram? Will it uncover a contradictory conflict within Huaye back then? Why did Su Yu keep it for so many years? Did the appearance of this telegram add a twist and turn to our history like the battle of those years? The answer to all the mysteries is still waiting for us to see the day.
Victory in the smoke of war
At the end of 1946, the Shandong Field Army merged with the Central China Field Army to form the East China Field Army, the main force of the People's Liberation Army. Su Yu served as the commander-in-chief of the army and personally commanded a series of decisive battles.
At the beginning of the following year, the East China Field Army took the lead in establishing its military exploits in the Battle of Subei, annihilating more than 21,000 Kuomintang troops in one fell swoop, which was the highest record of the people's army at that time. This good start laid a solid foundation for the upcoming Lunan Campaign.
In the Battle of Lunan, Su Yu commanded well, refreshing the highest record of the previous battle to 35,000 people. The subsequent Battle of Laiwu took only 4 days to capture alive Li Xianzhou, deputy commander of the Kuomintang's second appeasement zone, and annihilated more than 56,000 enemy troops.
In the Battle of Taimeng in late April, the East China Field Army won another complete victory, with 20,000 enemy casualties. In May, Su Yu was far-sighted and commanded 270,000 soldiers against the 450,000 troops of the Kuomintang, and the Battle of Menglianggu was vigorously launched.
This classic battle in the world's military history, with a low casualty rate of 1 to 3, completely annihilated the 74th Division, the ace unit of the Kuomintang. Division Commander Zhang Lingfu was killed, which was Chiang Kai-shek's heaviest loss of personnel.
All the way to the good news, Su Yu is invincible, and his record is brilliant. By this time, he was already a well-deserved national hero of the Anti-Japanese War and was highly praised. Under his wise command, the morale of the East China Field Army was at its peak.
The soldiers were very fast, won successive battles, and won a complete victory, which became a portrayal of the current facts of the East China Field Army. But at this moment, the East China Field Army suddenly suffered an unprecedented major setback, setting off a stormy turning point.
Contradictions lurk
The East China Field Army is in triumphant glory all the way, but the undercurrent is surging, and a storm of contradictions is brewing.
In late June 1947, the Central Military Commission issued a telegram order, requiring the East China Field Army to divide troops into three ways to fight. In the face of this sudden adjustment of tactics and strategies, Su Yu couldn't help but be a little caught off guard. However, he obeyed the order and divided the army of 270,000 into three parts: left, right, and front.
On July 1, the three people rushed to their respective destinations. After the Left Route Army attacked Feixian, Zaozhuang and Yixian, it was blocked by heavy troops and its progress was blocked. Although the Right Route Army occupied Tai'an and Dawenkou, it suffered heavy losses in Jining and Wenshang.
The frontal troops are even worse. Su Yu personally led an army of 100,000 people, originally aiming at the enemy's 25th Division of Huang Baitao. However, it was found that Huang Guoliang's 64th Division was reinforced nearby, and the situation was precarious.
Su Yu immediately adjusted his tactics and launched a three-sided encirclement of the enemy's Hu Lian's integrated 11th Division in Nanma. However, a torrential rain struck, and our army's fortifications and siege methods were completely ineffective. What's even more terrifying is that Hu Lian's fortifications turned out to be densely packed with Zimu Fort positions.
Every time our army conquered a sub-fort, it had to pay the price of 100 casualties. What's worse is that Hu Lian promptly invited reinforcements from Huang Baitao and other 4 reorganized divisions.
Faced with the rapid reversal of the enemy's forces, Su Yu could only withdraw Chen Yi and his troops to the southwest of Linqu to rest. This sudden Nanma Battle brought heavy casualties of more than 10,000 to the East China Field Army.
The ensuing Battle of Linqu made matters worse, and our army lost 21,000 soldiers here. These two battles constituted a rare defeat of the East China Field Army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and they were also the most difficult shadow for Su Yu to let go of in his later years.
The morale of our army was at its peak, and it was once known as a prestige and won every battle. Now it is stuck in a quagmire, and its vitality is greatly damaged. Officers and men from all walks of life were all depressed and questioned the decision-making of the commanding level.
At this critical juncture, an undercurrent began to surge within the East China Field Army. Some officials secretly harbored misgivings and dissatisfaction with the strategic decisions made by their superiors and Su Yu's command ability, and contradictions were brewing.
Internal and external troubles are double troubles
The East China Field Army was mired in two major defeats, and the situation of internal and external difficulties became increasingly severe.
In terms of external troubles, the progress of the front has been hindered and it is difficult. The disastrous defeats in the Nanma Campaign and the Linqu Campaign caused a heavy setback to our army's strategic process in the hinterland of Shandong. The army, which was originally noble and powerful, suddenly fell into a quagmire and faltered.
In the face of the stubborn resistance of the Kuomintang army, it was difficult for the East China Field Army to turn the tide of the war in a short period of time. Su Yu had to move the defensive line west to the Jining line and adjust the deployment to recover his strength. However, with it comes a new wave of difficulties and challenges.
As the front moved westward, the hinterland occupied by our army suddenly expanded, and the strength of the troops was somewhat dispersed. The enemy took advantage of the gap to intensify guerrilla harassment and cut off the lines of communication of our army. For a time, it was very difficult to supply and transport ammunition, and there was also a shortage of daily necessities for the troops.
Coupled with the previous two fiascos, many officers and men were demoralized. At one point, rumors spread everywhere, questioning the command decisions of the higher-level leaders, and internal contradictions began to intensify. How to stabilize the morale of the army and rebuild its combat effectiveness? It's a big challenge.
In terms of internal troubles, the lack of command ability of many generals has been fully exposed. They are prone to narrow-mindedness and one-sidedness in complex environments, and it is difficult to see the overall situation, which often leads to improper decision-making and big mistakes.
What is more, some people are suspicious and indifferent to the unified command of the central authorities. For example, Tao Yong failed to complete the task of dividing troops on time, which affected the offensive progress of the Left Route Army. There are many more similar examples.
In the face of such a predicament, the prestige and combat effectiveness of the people's army have been greatly tested. The reshaping of the reorganization and the reform of the command system have all been placed in front of the East China Field Army.
At this juncture, Tan Zhenlin and others were dissatisfied with Su Yu's command, accusing him of making a mistake in judgment and causing heavy losses. Su Yu immediately called back to refute it, and a tense argument broke out between the two sides.
This undoubtedly deepened the rift within the East China Field Army. At one time, even the reorganization sequence, number, and personnel arrangements were affected by some "private goods" and were in a state of turmoil. When the war raged, the infighting was even worse.
Adjust the response
Faced with the dual predicament of internal and external troubles, the East China Field Army promptly adopted a series of countermeasures in an effort to regroup.
First of all, it is necessary to comprehensively strengthen the training of officers and improve their command quality and strategic level. Su Yu personally presided over the gathering of officers at all levels in batches and phases to Zibo, Yiyuan, and other places in Shandong Province for several months of intensive training.
During this period, they focused on learning theoretical knowledge such as campaign tactics, troop utilization, and terrain planning. At the same time, it also simulates actual combat drills to consolidate what has been learned and improve practical operation ability. Some biased and one-sided views are also corrected here.
Through this method of "studying in depth," the horizons of some officers have been broadened, and their overall quality in commanding operations has been markedly improved. Internal contradictions and differences have also been alleviated to a certain extent.
Second, in order to replenish the vital forces, the East China Field Army absorbed many Kuomintang soldiers on a large scale. Due to years of conquest, our army suffered heavy casualties and lacked senior backbones.
Therefore, a large number of Kuomintang officers and veterans became the backbone of our army. They injected new vitality into our army and made up for the vacancy in the squad. Some of them were also reused as division commanders, regiment commanders, and other senior command positions.
At the same time, in order to optimize the number establishment, the East China Field Army carried out a drastic reform of the existing regular number. A number of units of unknown origin and chaotic formation were simply dismantled and made available to the newly formed regular army.
The old numbers were broken up and reorganized, and the personnel numbers were adjusted accordingly. Through this round of rectification of "eliminating the false and retaining the true," military discipline has become stricter and stricter, and the order of the number has begun to be sorted out.
Finally, in view of the difficulties in transportation, the East China Field Army mobilized a large amount of civilian resources to set up a special transportation service team. They were responsible for transporting grain, grass, ammunition and other materials, providing strong logistical support for the large-scale operations in Huaye.
As a result of this series of training and rectification, the East China Field Army began to regain its vitality. It is preparing for a decisive battle in the future, striving to reverse the passive situation and win the final victory.
The decisive battle in East China exterminated the recalcitrant army
After a period of training and rectification, the East China Field Army finally regained its vigor and reversed the passive situation. In the spring of 1948, under the command of Su Yu, it began a general offensive against the Kuomintang troops.
In mid-April, the East China Field Army concentrated a large number of troops and carried out a decisive siege on the Kuomintang troops stationed in Jinan and Dezhou. After a fire blockade and persistent fighting, our troops finally conquered these two important cities.
The main force of the enemy army was defeated all the way and was pursued by our army taking advantage of the victory. He successively annihilated a large number of enemies in Dong'e, Wudi, Guangrao and other places, and captured tens of thousands of soldiers. By the end of May, the remaining enemy forces had been swept away in present-day Jinan, Dezhou, Binzhou, Dongying, and other places.
Over the course of more than two months, the Kuomintang army lost about 100,000 soldiers in the region, dealing a heavy blow to its foundations of rule in eastern China.
In June, Su Yu immediately commanded the army to advance to northern and central Jiangsu. After months of unremitting fighting, they finally conquered strategic fortresses such as Lianyungang, Yancheng, Nantong, Taizhou, and Yangzhou. The dust has settled in most parts of northern Jiangsu.
The troops that marched into the Soviet Union and Central China continued to break through the resistance and successively took Mituo, Xuzhou, Suxian and other cities. By the end of August, the Battle of Xuzhou was in full swing.
After several days of fierce fighting, Huaye finally conquered Xuzhou City and completely destroyed the surplus strength of the Kuomintang Huai Navy. After the war, more than 50,000 enemy corpses were laid down. It was the largest victory on the battlefield in East China to that time.
After that, our army quickly advanced to the west and south, sweeping away the remaining enemy forces in the Henan-Anhui Soviet region. By mid-December, the few remaining enemies in the Taihu Lake area were also completely wiped out by our army.
Since the spring offensive began, in just over half a year, the East China Field Army has swept through all northern and central Jiangsu, conquered more than 10 cities, and captured and annihilated more than 300,000 Kuomintang troops.
The results are extraordinary. The haze of Nanma's defeat that year has been diluted by the brilliant record. Su Yu finally showed his superior command talent in this decisive battle and won the final victory.
This glorious battle marked the basic completion of the liberation of East China. Only the last small part of the people's army was left to purge the stubborn enemy. The entire land of East China has cleared the last obstacle for the birth of New China.