In the Tashan Blockade Battle, both the Kuomintang and the Communists knew the relevance and importance of this battle, so they also took some extraordinary measures. For example, in order to strengthen the supervision and implementation of the war, both sides have sent "supervision troops". On the Kuomintang side, Chiang Kai-shek sent Roach, the leader of the Fourth Inspection Group. On the Communist side, Lin Biao sent Su Jing, the chief of the operations department of the Dongye headquarters. But the final result is that the "supervising troops" sent by the two sides have roughly the same purpose, but the results are very different.
One of the contrasts: both sides are resistant to the "supervision army" and not "cold".
The practice of "supervising the army" in wars is not new to the army from ancient times to the present. From the perspective of the commanders and departments at the same level who dispatched the "supervision army," it is mainly through the "supervision army" to convey and implement the operational intentions at the same level and ensure that the front-line troops will implement it without discount.
For the units that are "supervised", it will certainly not be comfortable. This is a natural thing to do. Because of the dispatch of the supervision army, at least there is not enough trust in this unit.
In this Tashan blockade battle, the "supervising army" sent by Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang was Luo Qi, who was known as "Luo Chitose". From this nickname, we can see the attitude of the troops towards him. According to the recollections of many Kuomintang generals who participated in the Tashan Blockade Battle, Luo Qi presented himself as Chiang Kai-shek's "Chincha", and not only did he not pay attention to the generals of the Kuomintang Army Division in the Tashan Blockade Battle, including Que Hanqian, commander of the 54th Army, Lin Weili, commander of the 62nd Army, and others, but even did not pay attention to Chen Tie, chief of staff of the Northeast "Suppression General" Army, including Hou Jingru, commander of the 17th Corps, the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Army in charge of the direction of Tashan, and had to act in the eyes of Luo Qi. In the TV series "Armageddon", it specifically reflects the dispute between Roach and Que Hanqian, Lin Weili and others. Que Hanqian was even severely punished for Luo's small report in front of Chiang Kai-shek.
As for Lin Biao's dispatch of Su Jing to the 4th Column to "supervise the army," the column commander Wu Kehua and the political commissar Mo Wenhua certainly had feelings, and even "complained." They later recalled that the Communist army had never done so since the days of the Red Army. This time Lin Biao sent Su Jing to come, which inevitably made Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua feel that Lin Biao did not trust them enough and did not have enough willpower to defend Tashan. Fortunately, Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua were able to understand Lin Biao's intentions, after all, this was an obstruction battle that had a bearing on the fate of the entire Jinzhou Campaign and even the entire northeast, and with Lin Biao's style of acting and Lin Biao's heavy caution, he sent a "supervising army", although extraordinary, it was also reasonable.
Contrast two: Roach's Yue Li Dai And Su Jing's only listen.
Roach was nominally a "overseer", but he was not at ease and did a lot of things that were overstepping. As mentioned earlier, in addition to not looking at the front-line generals of the Kuomintang army, there was also his deeper intentions. In his opinion, this time the Tashan Blockade Battle, with the strong comprehensive advantage of the national army, will not be a problem in taking Tashan. To this end, first, he brought his veteran unit, the Independent 95th Division in North China, that is, the "Zhao Zilong" Division, to the front line of Tashan; second, in order to enable the "Zhao Zilong Division" to seize the first place and compete for his name, on the grounds that the "Zhao Zilong Division" had just arrived at Tashan and was not familiar with the terrain, he actually made a one-day truce after fighting in Tashan, so that the "Zhao Zilong Division" could specialize in inspecting the terrain and familiarize himself with the entire battlefield environment. As everyone knows, the truce on this day gave the defensive Wu Kehua 4th Column a rare opportunity to renovate the fortifications and remobilize the troops.
The Nationalist army, which originally had the advantage, should take advantage of the situation to attack and not give the 4 columns any chance to breathe. But apparently Roach had his "little nine-nines." Looking back, this "little ninety-nine" precisely deprived the Kuomintang army of the best fighter for continuous attack.
Unlike Luo Qi's arrogance and blind command, Su Jing, who was sent by Lin Biao, only listened and did not speak, but only conveyed Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan's campaign intentions to the 4th Column, and did not express more opinions. Even when su jing participated in the combat meeting of the fourth column, he did not express any opinion. He is more about understanding the real situation on the battlefield in real time, and through his line, he will feedback these real situations to Lin Biao in real time, so as to provide a basis for Lin Biao to make a decision to fight. There is such a scene in the TV series: When Liu Yalou and others suggested that Lin Biao send the general reserve to the top, Lin Biao still insisted that the general reserve was not on the top, and still gave the 4 columns personally an operational order to hold Tashan. The issuance of these orders must have been supported by the intelligence factors that Su Jing had fed back to Lin Biao.
Contrast three: Roach's reaction and Su Jing's positive effect.
The Kuomintang army was originally lined with factions, each blowing its own tune. This Time the Tower Hill Blockade Battle is no exception. Because of Luo Qi's "supervision of the army" and blind command, it added a lot of chaos to the command of the troops attacking the Kuomintang army at Tashan. As a result, there was considerable discord between Luo Qi and the commander-in-chief Hou Jingru, and between Que Hanqian, Lin Weili and other military commanders. Obviously, this kind of disharmony will have a negative effect and impact on the main offensive direction of the troops, the arrangement of the main offensive forces, the initiation of the combat time, and the coordinated support of the troops. In particular, some of Roach's "little nines and nines" not only did not succeed, but also caused greater resentment and dissatisfaction between him and the generals who participated in the war. This can be corroborated by the fact that Chiang Kai-shek was angry with Que Hanqian and others at the post-War conference at Tashan, and even shot him. In short, Luo Qi's role as a "supervisor of the army" added negative energy to the Kuomintang army, and Luo Qi bore an unshirkable responsibility for the failure of the Tashan Blockade Battle.
On the other hand, Su Jing, perhaps his role is not on paper, perhaps his practice is not a respectable practice, in the "Armageddon" TV series, Lin Biao sent Su Jing to the 4th column "supervision army" is not inked and reflected. However, although Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua were dissatisfied with this extraordinary approach of Lin Biao in the military history circles, Lin Biao's practice was still understood by people under the unprecedented war. And Su Jing's role as a "supervising army" in the 4 columns was more positive in the assessment. Because he brought pressure to Wu Kehua and Mo Wenhua rather than chaos. In particular, this pressure has been transformed into a driving force for holding Tashan. The most important thing is that he fed back the facts of the Tashan front to Lin Biao in real time for Lin Biao's decision-making reference. This was also the Tashan Blockade Battle, chiang kai-shek and Lin Biao both sent "supervision troops", but the final effect was a fundamental difference.
Main references: "Liaoshen Campaign", "Battle History of the Fourth Field Army", "Memoirs of Mo Wenhua"