General Su Yu has a genius-like keen perception of the battlefield, and is good at commanding large corps to fight, which can be called a generation of war gods. He transported troops with ingenuity, used danger with danger, had a great appetite, and had great courage, reaching the highest level of "soldiers like water". In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, he made great achievements.
Speaking of the "famous generals" of the Communist Party, most people will think of Lin Biao in the Northeast Battlefield and Su Yu in the East China Battlefield. The former led 100,000 people into the Northeast, and three years later led a million soldiers out of the customs, from Shanhaiguan to Hainan Island, sweeping half of China. The latter commanded the East China Field Army to fight more with less many times, and even eliminated the elite main force of the Kuomintang in the Huaihai Campaign, "the first battle settled the country". Speaking of Su Yu's unparalleled military command ability, even Chairman Mao Zedong praised it, and he once said to General Montgomery who visited China: "Among my comrades-in-arms, Su Yu is the best at fighting!"
Su Yu's ability to fight a war is recognized by the whole party and the whole army, and cannot be questioned. In the early days of liberation, when someone said that Su Yu could not fight, Chen Geng immediately became angry: "What nonsense, Su Yu can't fight? Then am I not even worthy of the battlefield, and are there still people in China who can fight? Whoever said let him stand up, I will see how good he is at fighting!" Chen Geng has always admired Su Yu militarily. Kua Liyu "You lead the god of soldiers and like to take risks, and the famous generals of the ancient times use soldiers like gods and like to take risks, how many do you think about?"
In September and November 1991, in order to compile "Su Yu, God of War", he interviewed Comrade Yan Zhenheng. Yan Zhenheng came to Su Yu in the difficult years after the "Southern Anhui Incident", and successively served as the chief of the reconnaissance section and the operational section chief of the headquarters of the New Fourth Army, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Military Region, the Central China Field Army, the East China Field Army, and the Third Field Army. Yan Zhenheng told us from personal experience that Su Yu is different from ordinary generals, he can not only gallop on the battlefield to win by surprise, but also be able to strategize and control the battle situation, and he has not only outstanding military achievements, but also theoretical achievements, and noble character, and is a rare military wizard in the military history of China and even the world.
During the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, especially during his tenure as the principal leader of the Central and Zhejiang Regions, Su Yu faced the special strategic position of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, wonderfully handled the intricate contradictions and struggles between friends and foes, and broke through the "impossibility of using the water network to establish a fairly consolidated base area" In the areas of the Soviet-Chinese water network and in the hinterland of the Japanese puppet rule, the anti-Japanese democratic base areas were successfully opened up and adhered to, and the strategic counteroffensive in local areas was carried out in advance during the strategic stalemate stage, and the strategic change from guerrilla warfare to mobile warfare was realized in advance in the Cheqiao and Tianmu Mountain battles. Liu Shaoqi, secretary of the Central China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of the "four most" of the First Division of the New Fourth Army and the Central Soviet Region, saying: "The work of our First Division over the past few years has achieved the greatest results and made the greatest contribution in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In the whole army, the troops of the first division fought the most battles and achieved the greatest results. After inspecting the political, economic, and cultural construction of the Soviet Union and China, Zou Taofen, a democrat, said: I have seen real democratic politics here and the light of New China.
After the Battle of Tianmu Mountain in 1945, Mao Zedong and other leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee predicted that Comrade Su Yu would be able to command four or five hundred thousand troops in the future. Yan Zhenheng recalled his personal experience of following Su Yu to fight against the Japanese puppet army, and said with deep affection: "Division Commander Su is not only an expert in fighting and winning big battles, but also an expert in guerrilla warfare. He is not surprised by changes, walks like a danger, is bold and careful, and knows things like a god, and has long been an idol in the hearts of comrades." From June to October 1943, Yan Zhenheng accompanied Su Yu to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army in Huainan for a meeting, which lasted 3 months and 12 days, with a round-trip journey of more than 500 kilometers. On the way out, he took the South Road, passing through Dongtai, Xinghua, Jiangdu, and Shao Bo to Huanghuatang in Huainan, inspecting the troops of the Soviet-Central Military Region and the teachers and students of the Ninth Branch of the Kang Da University; on the way back, he took the North Road, passing through Huai'an, Baoying, the enemy-occupied areas and the areas where the enemy was engaged, including Cheqiao, Meadow, and other Japanese puppet army strongholds, to conduct on-the-spot reconnaissance of the terrain and enemy situation along the way. Yan Zhenheng said: "I had a lot of questions at that time, but it was inconvenient to ask more questions, and it was difficult to give up opinions. At the same time, I also deeply felt that the heavy responsibility of this trip was on my shoulders, and I sweated for the safety of the chief and the troops. Later, I realized that Division Commander Su had made this move to conduct a field survey for a future big war, and this battlefield would be chosen in this distant place." Only then did I truly realize that Comrade Su Yu was really a far-sighted, far-sighted, wise and courageous military strategist. "There were different opinions on whether to fight this battle or not. Rao Shushi, who presided over the work of the Central China Bureau, said: Don't fight, because if you do, it will excessively irritate the Japanese invaders.
Su Yu thought twice about it, believed that the opportunity could not be lost, and resolutely convened a meeting of the leaders of the party committee of the Central Soviet Region and the Central Soviet Military Region to put forward a proposal for launching the Cheqiao Campaign. He analyzed the situation of the Soviet-Chinese and national War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the strategic position of the Cheqiao area, and put forward an important thesis, that is, "in the stage of strategic stalemate, we should seize favorable opportunities to push forward a partial strategic counteroffensive." "There are many unique features to the Battle of the Axles. We concentrated five regiments to fight, and this is no longer a guerrilla war, but a real movement war." In this battle, 465 Japanese troops and 483 puppet troops were annihilated, 12 Japanese puppet army strongholds were destroyed, and a vast area of 50 kilometers in length and length was liberated.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in the face of the complex situation of war and interweaving, Su Yu always kept a clear head and demonstrated his strategic ability to control the overall situation and grasp the future. At that time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a judgment of "a new stage of peace and democracy" and once considered transferring the organs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Huaiyin, which was close to Nanjing. Under the influence of this ideology, an atmosphere of peace emerged in Huai'an, where the Central China Bureau was stationed. Some people say that in the future, a coalition government will be formed, the army will be nationalized, the guns will be put away, and the problem will be solved by political struggle. In the future, there will be no gunshots, and if they do, it may be that one of the comrades has gone off.
The person in charge of the Organization Department of the Central China Military Region greeted Yan Zhenheng and said that he was going to set up a guard battalion to defend the party Central Committee and let him serve as the battalion commander. Under the circumstances at that time, Su Yu always adhered to two points in both his external speeches and internal reports: On the one hand, it was necessary to see that through struggle, it was possible to strive for a peaceful situation; on the other hand, it was also necessary to realize that it was possible to continue to fight until a new China was struck. Now, Chiang Kai-shek is playing with a two-handed strategy, and we must also use a two-handed strategy against him, so as to talk to each other and fight to fight. Su Yu said to Yan Zhenheng: "If you can get along with Chiang Kai-shek, this is in the hands of the central government. As soldiers, we must think about whether Chiang Kai-shek's great strength, even if he is wiped out by hundreds of thousands, will he be able to force him to cease the war? Not necessarily. Therefore, we must prepare for fighting, not only for small fights, but also for big fights, not only for short-term fights, but also for long-term fights, and even to fight all the way to create a new China. ”
On March 6, 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sent a telegram to the Central China Bureau, North China, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan: "No matter what the situation is in the future, we must streamline our administration," "Your three places have the largest number of troops and the burden is extremely heavy. We are of the view that the first phase should be streamlined by one-third and completed within three months. ...... Experience was gained, and the second phase was streamlined by a further third. ”
Yan Zhenheng said: "Comrade Su Yu was worried when he got this telegram: The Central China Field Army has a total of less than 50,000 people, and the first phase has been reduced by more than 10,000, and the second phase has been reduced by more than 10,000, and there are still more than 10,000 left. There were six or seven armies of the enemy around Xuzhou, two more armies on the Xinpu Haizhou (Zhou) Company (Yungang) side, and six or seven armies on the southern section of the Jinpu Road and along the river. As soon as Chiang Kai-shek turned his face and launched an attack on me, what should I do with more than 10,000 people?" At that time, the Kuomintang army also carried out "reorganization" and changed the original army into a reorganized division, and in fact the personnel and equipment were more substantial. We have "treated others in the same way as others," "streamlined the old and weak, and enriched the troops," and only reduced the number of old, weak, sick and disabled personnel by 1,017, while the Central China Field Army expanded from more than 40,000 men in four columns to more than 60,000 in two divisions and three columns. At the same time, more than 60,000 local armed forces were expanded and strengthened, a front-line support and logistical support system was established, land reform was carried out, and the strategic build-up of military forces was completed in a timely manner, making full preparations for the upcoming all-out civil war.
Mao Zedong later summed up the lessons of this passage and said: "In January and February of this year, I thought that Chiang Kai-shek had the appearance of doing good things, but in the end he still did bad things. We suffered a loss in demobilization, the troops were not replenished, and the militia was reduced. (Party Literature, No. 4, 1994) However, in Central China, especially in the Central Soviet Region under the direct leadership of Su Yu, no such problem occurred. Chen Yi said at a meeting of senior cadres of the East China Field Army in April 1948: "At the beginning of the Soviet-Chinese self-defense war, Comrade Su Yu insisted on carrying out land reform first, which was a manifestation of a very high political level. At that time, the war situation was tense, and it was natural for the military commander to emphasize that the localities should carry out the work of supporting the front, but he paid attention to land reform, which was very good. ”
During the three-year war of liberation, at every strategic turning point, Su Yu put forward proposals related to the overall strategic situation in a timely manner. These proposals have grasped the key issues in the strategic turning point, conformed to the objective law governing the development of the War of Liberation, and made a unique contribution to the CPC Central Military Commission in making correct strategic decisions and providing practical strategic guidance. For example, in the early days of the Liberation War, there were initially divergent views on the strategic policy. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ordered the main forces of Taihang, Shandong, and Central China to attack on the outside line, and ordered Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin to lead the main force of Central China to march into Huainan, and cooperate with the Shandong Field Army led by Chen Yi and Shu Tong to take Xuzhou and occupy the Bengpu railway line.
At that time, the leaders of the three strategic regions all expressed their support, and Chen Yi repeatedly insisted that "the strategy of the whole army should still go west and south" and concentrated his forces to take Xuzhou. Su Yu suggested that the main force of the Central China Field Army rely on the inner line of the Soviet-Chinese base area to annihilate the enemy, first fight two battles in the Soviet Union, and then transfer to Huainan to participate in the outer line of operations. Yan Zhenheng said: "At that time, Comrade Su Yu was very dull, and he walked over with an aluminum keyed brain device, walked over, and rarely spoke. We knew that the big war was approaching and did not dare to disturb him. Comrade Su Yu's pressure was not because of how strong the enemy was, but because of how he should fight in terms of operational guidelines. Should the enemy be annihilated on the inside or attacked on the outside? Where should the battlefield be chosen? This was the question he considered the most. On the whole, we are at a disadvantage in terms of strength, and we are inferior in equipment to the enemy. When we go to the outer front, the local power is in the hands of the enemy, and we are fighting in the Chiang area, and the advantages of the base area cannot be brought into play. We may win some battles at first, but we may not be able to maintain our superiority, and if the enemy engages in our rear, we will lose our base areas. Where to choose the battlefield is a big question. To play to our strengths and strike at the enemy's weaknesses. Peace can only be achieved by destroying the living forces of the Kuomintang army. At the moment, the key is to win a few battles. He believed that only by placing the battlefield in the Soviet Union and China could it be possible to win the war.
Comrade Su Yu could not tell the Central Committee directly about these ideas, but he could only say what were the merits of fighting a war in the Soviet Union and China, and asked that in the first stage, he should first fight two wars in the Soviet Union and China to see what they wanted. "In the early days of the War of Liberation, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao did not formulate a strategic policy of 'strategic defense and annihilation of the enemy on the internal front', but a strategic policy of 'fighting on the outer front'. So, how did the strategic principle of 'strategic defense and annihilation of the enemy on the inner line' come about? This is Chairman Mao's wisdom and greatness. Chairman Mao approved Comrade Su Yu's proposal. Let him fight two battles and see, feel the situation of the enemy. Later, Su Yu's opinion was solicited many times and Su Yu's suggestion was adopted.
As a result, there was a "seven battles and seven victories". With more than 30,000 people, the Central China Field Army defeated more than 120,000 Kuomintang troops and destroyed more than 53,000 enemies, which was 1.76 times the number of troops participating in the war. Chen Yi, who presided over the military leadership work in Shandong and Central China, was critical of Su Yu's proposal. In the course of the Soviet-Chinese campaign, in his telegrams to the Central Bureau of China and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he also repeatedly criticized Su Yu for not going to Huainan for a long time during the Soviet-Chinese love war.
After the Soviet-Chinese Campaign, the Shandong Field Army merged with the Central China Field Army, and Mao Zedong ordered that "the command of the campaign be handed over to Su to be responsible", and successively fought the Subei Campaign, the Lunan Campaign, and the Laiwu Campaign. At this time, Chairman Mao made up his mind. He said: Now we should not consider the issue of fighting on the outside line, but should take the principle of destroying the enemy as the principle, and fight wherever we can destroy the enemy. Chairman Mao began to depart from the original policy of fighting on the outside line. "At present, some articles and war histories do not talk about this, as if our party has always been correct and prescient. It should be noted that the correct principles and lines are gradually perfected only after repeated revisions in practice, and there is a process of development and perfection. This is where Comrade Su Yu is valuable. He always flexibly implements the instructions of the central government according to the actual situation and is highly responsible to the central government. He put forward his opinions and made suggestions, and he was not afraid to take risks to protect the party's interests. In the end, Yan Zhenheng said to us affectionately: "Commander Su is like a candle, burning himself, illuminating others, and illuminating East China's ,......."
An old general who had followed Su Yu in the southern expedition to the north also introduced some information about Su Yu, the god of war, and the old general said:
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in late April 1938, Mao Zedong, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, approved the appointment of Su Yu as the commander and political commissar of the advance detachment of the New Fourth Army, responsible for the important task of strategic reconnaissance behind enemy lines in southern Jiangsu. The members of the advance detachment are all selected from the strong, brave and intelligent, and well-trained, so the quality of the troops is high and the combat effectiveness is strong.
On 17 June, Su Yu keenly seized the fighter plane and ambushed the Japanese automobile convoy in Weigang Town, 15 kilometers southwest of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, and fought fiercely for half an hour, killing and wounding more than 20 Japanese soldiers, destroying four cars, and seizing guns, ammunition, and military supplies. The military headquarters of the New Fourth Army praised it: "The advance team has indeed played a pioneering role and laid the foundation for our development and victory in Jiangnan." It also "praised the whole army and called on the whole army to study and Xi." The Military Commission of the Nationalist Government also sent a commendation telegram to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army: "The Su Division, which belongs to the Su Division, attacked Weigang and gained a lot, which is very Jiashang. ”
The ambush battle of Weigang won the first battle and shook the south of the Yangtze River. This battle is known as the New Fourth Army's maiden anti-Japanese war, and its strategic significance is extraordinary. Su Yu also became famous because of this. Subsequently, Su Yu served as the deputy commander of the Jiangnan Command and participated in the creation of the Maoshan Anti-Japanese Base Area. Together with Chen Yi, he led his troops eastward to the north, and then fought in the north and south of the river.
From the middle of the Anti-Japanese War to the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Su Yu led his troops to fight the Japanese army more than 100 times, and the combat style gradually rose from a movement war to a large-scale battle.
Battle of Yellow Bridge. Su Yu, who was then deputy commander of the Northern Jiangsu Command, adopted the tactics of concentrating troops, luring the enemy into depth, and breaking through each by taking the Yellow Bridge as the axis, using the main force for assault and a small force for defense, and unconventionally selecting targets to attack the enemy, first striking at the strong enemy and then attacking the weak. As a result, more than 10,000 enemies were annihilated, more than 3,500 guns of various kinds were captured, and the victory was won in the water network level movement war. The victory in this battle realized the meeting between the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army in Dongtai in northern Jiangsu, laid the foundation for the New Fourth Army's base area in northern Jiangsu, and opened up a new situation in the War of Resistance in Central China. This battle was also known for its adventures, which was the beginning of Su Yu's successful command of a large corps and an important symbol of his growth from an outstanding commander to a mature strategist.
Battle of the Axle. Su Yu, who was the commander and political commissar of the First Division of the New Fourth Army at that time, adopted the tactic of "digging out the hearts of the tigers", swooped down on the core stronghold Cheqiao Town with a part of his troops, and annihilated and aided the enemy with most of his troops, annihilating a total of 465 Japanese troops below the rank of Dazuo, setting a record for capturing 24 Japanese soldiers in a single time on the battlefield behind the enemy, thus achieving a double victory in attacking the point and sending reinforcements. This battle connected the four base areas of the Soviet Union, northern Jiangsu, Huainan, and Huaibei, and at the same time marked the leap of the Soviet-Chinese troops to the regularized corps.
Battle of Tianmu Mountain. Su Yu, then commander and political commissar of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region of the New Fourth Army, first adopted the tactics of resistance and counterattack to defeat the recalcitrant army attacking. Then, the tactics of concentrating forces to fight a war of annihilation were adopted, using a small number of troops to pin down the recalcitrant army in multiple ways, and concentrating the forces into a fist to attack and annihilate the recalcitrant army all the way. In the end, when there were many enemies and we were few, and there was a huge disparity in troops, Su Yu adopted the tactics of skillfully setting up suspicious formations, luring the enemy to advance, concentrating troops, and breaking through each other, and crushing and annihilating many stubborn enemies. In this way, in a period of more than four months, Su Yu led his troops to carry out three consecutive mountain movement operations, eliminating a total of more than 13,000 recalcitrant troops and winning the victory in the anti-recalcitrant campaign. This battle was the first in the whole army to realize the transformation from guerrilla warfare to mobile warfare, and accumulated experience for the troops to conduct large-scale mobile warfare and annihilation warfare.
During the liberation battle, the epicenter of the seven battles and seven victories was famous. The period of the Liberation War was the most glorious period of Su Yu's military career. At the beginning of the war, the CCP advocated peace and tried to avoid civil war. All strategic areas have launched attacks on all fronts, but the situation is not optimistic. On June 26, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a civil war, and on the day the gun rang out, the Central China Field Army was supposed to be ordered to go west out of the Jinpu line and fight in Huainan, but Su Yu proposed to fight a few victories on the inner line first, and concentrate superior forces to defeat the enemy individually, which was approved by Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission.
Su Yu immediately put it into combat action, and finally wrote the military myth of the seven victories of the Soviet Union and China:
In World War I, Xuantai was like a tiger pounced, eating more than 3,000 people of the 83rd Division of the Kuomintang Army very quickly, and set the record of annihilating Chiang Kai-shek's descendants with American weapons and equipment.
World War II was like the south, and the 49th Division was unexpectedly attacked for a long distance, and more than 10,000 enemies were annihilated. It was the first time that such a large number of enemies were annihilated at one time, and it was the first time in the War of Liberation.
In the third battle of Hai'an, Su Yu only used more than 3,000 troops of the seventh column to bravely resist the onslaught of more than 50,000 enemies in turn, creating an exemplary example of 15 to 1 casualties between the enemy and us.
In the fourth battle of Fort Lee, when the newly formed Seventh Brigade was changing defenses and handover, there was a random fight, and two regiments of the Kuomintang Army were "dumplings".
In the fifth battle, Ding Lin annihilated the traffic police corps, known as the "pocket ace army", which was trained by the cooperation of the American spy Melles and the Kuomintang military commander Dai Li, like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.
In the sixth battle of Huangqiao, he rescued Shao Bo, attacked the enemy, "attacked Wei and saved Zhao", annihilated the enemy and reorganized more than 17,000 people in two and a half brigades of the 65th Division, creating a new record for destroying the most enemies in one operation since the War of Liberation.
In the seventh battle of Shao Bo, each regiment of the tenth column took turns to garrison, stubbornly defended, bravely counterattacked, insisted on 4 days and 4 nights, annihilated more than 2,000 enemies, and the water network position remained immovable.
The Soviet-Chinese fought seven battles and won seven victories, and the scale of each battle was not very large, but each battle was very classic, and it was a model of guerrilla warfare turning into movement warfare, which lasted one and a half months and destroyed 50,000 enemies. These campaigns were mainly based on mobile warfare, and through the large-scale operation of troops, a local imbalance in forces was formed, favorable fighters were found, and the enemy was gradually eliminated with superior forces.
The Seven Battles and Seven Victories were not only the first shot fired by Su Yu to counterattack Chiang Kai-shek's strategic offensive in the East China Battlefield, but also the beginning of Su Yu's innovative use of Mao Zedong's military tactics when the enemy was strong and we were weak. He practiced the operational policy of advancing in great strides and retreating in great strides, concentrating superior forces, and annihilating the enemy in various ways, and skillfully used various campaign means to strike at the enemy. "The speed of the soldiers" shows their might, and "abandoning the strong and fighting the weak" to win is the biggest highlight of the seven victories in the seven battles between the Soviet Union and China. Su Yu created a rare victory in the war, and won a full house as soon as he made a move. Mao Zedong was overjoyed and immediately drafted a telegram and sent it to all strategic regions, introducing this experience of "bringing brilliant results" and hoping that all regions would follow suit. After seven victories in seven battles between the Soviet Union and China, Mao Zedong was convinced of Su Yu's outstanding military ability.
The veteran general went on to say that East China has always been a battleground for soldiers. Most of the main forces of the Kuomintang army were concentrated here. Chiang Kai-shek put three "trump cards" of his five main forces, including the 74th Division, the 11th Division, and the Fifth Army, and there were also units with strong combat effectiveness, such as the 25th Division and the Gui Army, which were mostly equipped with American and semi-American divisions. Mao Zedong, who had foresight and sagacity and had a commanding mind, attached great importance to the two most important strategic areas of the PLA, Northeast China and Shandong, and had a full view of the enemy's every move. At the beginning of 1947, the CCP promptly combined the Shandong Field Army led by Chen Yi and the Central China Field Army led by Su Yu into the East China Field Army, and decided to be led by Chen Yi, the major policies were jointly decided, and the campaign command was handed over to Su Yu. From then on, Su Yu took on the heavy burden of commanding the East China Battlefield. Soon, Huaye stood out in the five major battlefields, Subei, Lunan, Laiwu, Menglianggu, war miracles appeared one after another, and the record of destroying the enemy continued to refresh, and over the course of a year, Huaye annihilated more than 40 whole divisions of the main force of the Kuomintang army, and the number of enemies annihilated accounted for nearly half of the total number of battlefields in the country.
Battle of Subei. Su Yu pinned down the other 3 routes with one force, concentrated the main force of 3 columns and 2 divisions, a total of 24 regiments, and attacked the Kuomintang army that attacked from Suqian to Xin'an Town and Shuyang, which posed the greatest threat to the PLA and was also a Kuomintang army with weak combat effectiveness. This turned passivity into initiative, created fighter planes, and formed a situation in which forces were concentrated to fight a war of annihilation. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) eats more and eats less, attacks the weak with the strong, and focuses on movement warfare and encirclement warfare, supplemented by resistance warfare. After five days of fierce fighting, the National Army annihilated more than 20,000 people in three and a half brigades of the 69th Division. The Subei Campaign was equivalent to an enlarged version of the second phase of the Tianmu Mountain Campaign, and was the first victory in annihilating an entire division of the Kuomintang Army after the Shandong and Central China Field Armies joined forces. On December 26, an editorial in Yan'an's Liberation Daily called the battle an unprecedented victory in the liberated areas of central China.
Battle of Lunan. Su Yu still used his troops against the usual forces, first attacking a strong enemy, eating more and eating less, attacking strongly, focusing on mobile warfare, supplemented by encirclement and annihilation battles and attacking fortified positions, and concentrating his forces to attack the strong enemy divisions attacking Linyi all the way. In the end, he won a surprise victory, annihilating the 26th Division, the 51st Division and the 1st Fast Column of the National Army, and annihilating more than 50,000 enemies. This battle became the first unprecedented victory of the East China Field Army in the East China Combat Situation, and gained experience in the operation of mechanized troops, laying the foundation for the formation of the Huaye Special Forces Force.
Battle of Laiwu. Su Yu made great strides in the Shandong battlefield, got rid of the attack of the strong enemy, sought an opportunity to annihilate the weak enemy, and adopted the tactics of luring the enemy deep into the south and secretly crossing the Chen Cang, that is, "giving up the south to take the north, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak", "showing the form in southern Lunan and winning the decisive victory in central Lu", and only used two columns to pinn down the main force of the national army on the southern front, and used seven columns to move northward to carry out large-scale movement warfare. In the battle, more food is eaten, more is attacked, the weak is attacked, and the main is mobile warfare and encirclement warfare, supplemented by ambush warfare. In the end, the seven integrated brigades of the isolated and scattered Li Xianzhou Group totaled more than 70,000 people. This large-scale war of annihilation was a typical example of destroying the largest number of enemies in a single campaign since the War of Liberation, and the speed of annihilating the enemy, the sheer number of enemies, and the small price paid all set an unprecedented record for the PLA in combat. The Battle of Laiwu not only smashed Chiang Kai-shek's arrogant plan to meet forces in the north and south and occupy the whole of Shandong, but also completely connected the four regions of Bohai, Luzhong, Jiaodong, and Binhai. Chen Yi spoke highly of Su Yu's campaign command ability: the more strange it is, the more wonderful it becomes.
Battle of Menglianggu. Su Yu grasped the fleeting fighter plane, pinned down the attack with four columns, and attacked the enemy with five columns, and adopted the tactics of breaking through frontally, dividing the two wings, cutting off the enemy's retreat, and encircling and blocking the enemy from all sides in the north and south, forcibly separating the most elite reorganized 74th Division of the Nationalist Army from the 3rd Route Corps that "rolled into the group" and encircled and annihilated it. The 74th Division is known as the "Iron Army" and the "Five Main Forces" of the Chiang Dynasty, and the two strong forces of the two sides met, and the battle was extremely fierce, and each hill had to be fought over repeatedly. Zhang Lingfu, commander of the 74th Division, who regarded himself as a "victorious general," attempted to "blossom in the center" and form a counter-encirclement of the PLA. Su Yu counterattacked the central breakthrough of the national army with a central breakthrough, ordering the troops to attack without interruption day and night, like a tiger digging out the heart. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has concentrated its forces to fight a war of annihilation by eating more and eating less, attacking with strong attacks, and focusing on attacking fortified positions in the field, supplemented by positional blocking warfare. In the end, the reorganized 74th Division was wiped out. Su Yu commanded the main force of Huaye to fight a battle of annihilation under the condition of being attacked by the enemy on the back and the environment was very treacherous, which can be described as pulling teeth out of the tiger's mouth, and won a brilliant victory in the enemy's million-strong army, creating an earth-shattering war spectacle!
Battle of Eastern Henan. This campaign was a successful embodiment of the implementation of Mao Zedong's strategic decision and the concrete implementation of the operation of the large corps. Before the war, the strength of the two sides was almost the same, and with the other side being slightly stronger, the troops went through several large-scale operations, and Su Yu finally locked the Shounian Corps of the National Military Region moving eastward in the eastern Henan region. With the coordination of Liu Deng's army, he concentrated his forces to fight a war of annihilation by eating more and attacking the weak, and adopted the operational method of attacking fortified positions in the field and in cities, supplemented by positional blocking warfare, and won a major victory of more than 90,000 men of the main force of the Shounian Corps in the encirclement and annihilation area, creating a precedent for the PLA Corps to destroy the enemy in combat, breaking the defense system of the Central Plains battlefield of the Nationalist Army, greatly improving the strategic situation of the East China Battlefield in the Central Plains, and creating conditions for the strategic decisive battle of the Huaihai Campaign later。
Battle of Jinan. Before the war, for the first time, the strength of the People's Liberation Army in the East China Battlefield exceeded the strength of the Nationalist Army, so that Huaye seized the initiative in both campaign and strategy. The East China Field Army was determined to concentrate the whole army to attack and send reinforcements, and Su Yu formed a siege group with 140,000 people, accounting for 44 percent of the total strength of the troops participating in the battle, and after only eight days and nights of large-scale continuous assault, he conquered Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, which was well fortified, annihilated more than 100,000 enemies, and captured 34 generals under Wang Yaowu, commander of the Second Appeasement Zone, thus creating a precedent for the PLA to conquer large cities and connecting the Shandong Liberated Area and the North China Liberated Area. The Jinan offensive also became the prelude to the three major strategic decisive battles of the PLA.
Battle of Huaihai. This battle was a classic battle in which Su Yu accurately judged the battlefield situation with the strategic vision of a military strategist, and turned it from a small scale to a large-scale battle. Before the Jinan campaign was completely over, Su Yu suggested to the Central Military Commission the next campaign action: one was to capture Lianghuai, and the other was to capture Haizhou and Lianyungang, so as to create favorable conditions for crossing the river in the future, and soon won Mao Zedong's approval. This is the battle that is called "Little Huaihai" by military history experts. Later, the Central Plains Field Army conquered Zhengzhou and Kaifeng successively, advancing from west to east, and the situation was very favorable to the PLA. Coupled with the victory in the Liaoshen Campaign, Chiang Kai-shek's power was greatly weakened. Therefore, Su Yu suggested to the Central Military Commission that the main force should attack the Xubang line, keep the enemy in Xuzhou and its surroundings, and then destroy and gradually annihilate them respectively. In this way, it has evolved from "small Huaihai" to "big Huaihai". Finally, under the leadership of the Central Military Commission and the General Front Committee, the two major field armies in East China and the Central Plains fought in concert, and the diversified combat style of combining field movement warfare, pursuit and annihilation warfare, and attacking fortified positions, lasted 66 days and won a great victory in annihilating more than 555,000 enemy troops. Among them, the East China Field Army annihilated more than 440,000 enemies. The scale of the Huaihai Campaign and the number of enemies annihilated were unprecedented in the history of warfare in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. The People's Liberation Army defeated the 800,000 troops of the Nationalist Army with 600,000 troops, creating a miracle in the history of warfare! The Huaihai Campaign completely wiped out Chiang Kai-shek's elite troops on the battlefields in East China and the Central Plains! Mao Zedong said: "The victory in the Huaihai Campaign will not only greatly stabilize the situation north of the Yangtze River, but also basically resolve the situation in the whole country. "In the Huaihai Campaign, Comrade Su Yu made the first contribution!"
Battle of the River Crossing. Su Yu commanded the Central and Eastern groups of the Third Field Army, launched attacks and broke through the Yangtze River defense for thousands of miles, and then liberated Nanjing, ending the 22-year reactionary rule of the Kuomintang. Then, in the pursuit of thousands of miles south of the Yangtze River, Su Yu commanded the army, overcame the rainy environment and muddy roads, divided the road and marched quickly, implemented a roundabout campaign, cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou highway, surrounded and annihilated nearly 100,000 people of the five armies of the Kuomintang army who fled south in the Langxi and Guangde areas, and then liberated Hangzhou.
Battle of Shanghai. Su Yu used the tactics of "catching mice in the porcelain shop" to liberate the largest city and economic center on the mainland at that time. After the battle began, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) outflanked from both flanks, attacked Chuansha and Gaoqiao in the east, attacked Liuhang and Yuepu in the west, and lured the main force of the Nationalist Army to the periphery of Shanghai, and then the PLA encircled and pincered Wusongkou; then the PLA broke through from the middle, first attacking the enemy on the first line of the south line of Suzhou and Henan in the urban area, and then attacking the enemy in the north of Suzhou Hebei, and finally annihilated more than 150,000 people in the eight armies of the defenders.
After three years of the Liberation War, Su Yu was unique in commanding the large corps and defeated many heavyweight opponents of the Kuomintang army: first Xue Yue, Tang Enbo, Zhang Lingfu, and then Wang Yaowu, Huang Wei, Qiu Qingquan, Hu Lian, and Du Yuming. It is precisely because of his outstanding military achievements that Su Yu is among the most famous generals of the CCP. Of course, as a victorious general, Su Yu also made mistakes: after the Battle of Menglianggu, Huaye carried out the "July Division", and Su Yu's command post was defeated in the two battles of Nanma and Linqu; on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was defeated in the battles of Kinmen and Dengbu Island, all of which were due to paralysis and underestimation of the enemy.
Su Yu can be called a great military general who distinguished himself in the war of blood and fire in the 20 th century, and has been admired and admired by many Chinese and foreign people with lofty ideals. Mao Zedong and other central leaders were full of praise for Su Yu's military talents. During the war years, the people's admiration for Su Yu was also particularly heartfelt, and the most common people in East China posted a couplet at the gate of their homes: "Chairman Mao is in charge of the family, and Commander Su wins the war."
In order to write the book "Su Yu, God of War", I also interviewed some old comrades of the former Huaye Political Department, and they told me:
After Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war in June 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted Su Yu's suggestion to change the plan of the three armies of Taihang, Shandong, and Central China to attack the outer line at the same time, and agreed that the main force of the Central China Field Army would first fight on the inner line of the Soviet Union and China.
In mid-July 1946, the Kuomintang concentrated 500,000 regular troops and launched an attack on the Central China Field Army in the East China Liberated Area. Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin commanded more than 30,000 people from 19 regiments of the Central China Field Army to rise up to meet the attack. The two-stage operation, which lasted 45 days, annihilated a total of 53,000 people (two-fifths of the strength of the Kuomintang army) of six brigades and five traffic police brigades of the Kuomintang Army, and gained the initial experience of annihilating the Kuomintang army with US weapons and equipment on the inner line, which was one of the major victories achieved by the People's Liberation Army in the early stage of the Liberation War.
In the magnificent half of General Su Yu's magnificent horse, he has commanded countless wonderful battles, General Su Yu is one of the most capable generals among my founding generals, and the god of war Lin Biao is not far behind, Lin Biao also said that he did not dare to fight the battle did not dare to take the risk, only Su Yu dared to dare to take risks, and General Su Yu was brilliant in the annals of history, there was a popular success, that is the Soviet-Chinese campaign in 1946
On June 26, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek unilaterally tore up the Double Tenth Agreement reached by the Chongqing peace talks In disregard of the strong desire of the people of the whole country for peace, Chiang Kai-shek launched an all-out civil war and mobilized more than 4 million troops throughout the country to attack the red base areas established by the Chinese Communists; the Central Plains Liberated Area was its strategic core; while besieging the troops of the Central Plains Military Region, Chiang Kai-shek also mobilized heavy troops to attack the Central China Liberated Area with about 460,000 troops of the 58 brigades of the regular army, and the Soviet-Central Liberated Area was the outpost and grain base of the entire Central China, and its strategic location was dangerous, and it also directly deterred Nanjing, the center of Kuomintang rule, and was the most important task of the Kuomintang's attack. As early as the Chongqing peace talks, Chiang Kai-shek proposed that the CCP should give up the Soviet Union and China to the jurisdiction of the Nationalist Government, but fortunately, Chairman Mao had already seen through Chiang Kai-shek's wolf ambitions, knew that Chiang Kai-shek's peace talks were fake, and that it was true to win the support of US imperialism. As early as a month ago, Su Yu arrived in the liberated area of the Soviet Union and Central China to take charge of the rearmament of the troops, and he concentrated 19 regiments of various departments of the Huaye Army in the Soviet Union and Central China, made strategic arrangements in advance, conducted combat training for the troops, strengthened political work, and made sufficient pre-war preparations
In order to seize the Soviet Union and China, Chiang Kai-shek formulated a plan to attack from the south to the north with the main railway line as the axis, in an attempt to cut off the connection between the Shandong Field Army and Huaye, Chairman Mao believed that he could not passively respond to the enemy, but should take the initiative to attack, since Chiang Kai-shek wanted to encircle and annihilate Huaye, then he simply did not send the main force to defend, and directly jumped out of the encirclement of the Kuomintang and outflanked the depth of the rear of the Kuomintang. Su Yu and the chairman's strategy always coincide, because he is the most adventurous, the most radical combat style, at that time Su Yu was in the Soviet-Chinese Hai'an Huaye Command to carry out the Soviet-Chinese internal line of combat preparations, Su Yu carefully analyzed the strategy proposed by the chairman, he knew that the first battle must be won, otherwise it is likely to be outflanked by the enemy, and the central strategic instructions: hope that Huaye sword pointed at Huainan, it is likely to be with Qiu Qingquan's Fifth Army, There is also Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division, these two teams belong to the five trump cards of the national army, their combat effectiveness is very strong, and the whole army is equipped with American weapons and has high mobility ability, so it is very risky to attack Huainan. Su Yu felt that the main force should be placed in the Soviet Union, although there were nine divisions of the Kuomintang in the Soviet Union, but the combat effectiveness was much weaker than the national army in Huainan, and even if it fell into a disadvantage, it could still retreat to the rear, the Soviet Union and China were the old revolutionary base of the New Fourth Army, Huaye won the hearts of the people here, and could effectively organize and mobilize the masses to provide intelligence and logistics support for the PLA, so Su Yu asked the chairman for instructions on the plan to first attack the inner line of the Soviet Union and China, and the chairman and the Military Commission agreed to Su Yu's plan after serious discussions, and asked him to fight a few battles to try it first。 In mid-July, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Li Mo'an, the first phase of Huangpu, as the commander-in-chief of the attack on the liberated areas of the Soviet Union and China, with a total of 120,000 people in five integrated divisions and five brigades, and assembled in Yangzhou, Taizhou, Jingjiang, and Nantong, in an attempt to directly attack Huanglong and occupy Hai'an, the location of Su Yu's Huaye headquarters in the Soviet Union
Su Yu had long expected that the Kuomintang would have this move, and before Chen Bing had 19 regiments, a total of more than 30,000 people, waiting for this moment, Li Mo'an had planned carefully, and divided his troops into three routes to carry out a key attack around Hai'an. Wang Tiehan's 49th Division in the south road Nantong attacked Rugao in the north, the 99th Brigade in Jingjiang on the middle road and Li Tianxia's 83rd Division in Taixing jointly captured Huangqiao, and the 148th Brigade of the 25th Division in Tai'an on the North Road was used as a countermeasure to take the towns near Hai'an。 The Taizhou 148th Brigade on the north road was the latest, and if it attacked rashly, the 148th Brigade would be very troublesome to rely on the Taizhou city wall to hold on, and the 49th Division of Wang Tiehan in the south was easy to be outflanked by the middle due to the long distance, and the 49th Division was the weakest, and the enemy would be prepared instead, and the 83rd Division of Li Tianxia, a high-achieving student of Huangpu in the middle road, was the strongest, and Li Tianxia had an arrogant personality and shouted early in the morning: "One division can defeat the entire Huaye" The main reason is that the 83rd Division has not yet been assembled, and there are only two regiments near Taixing, so Su Yu decided to fight the elite 83rd Division first. On the morning of July 13th, the battle officially began, only the 57th Regiment of the 83rd Division was stationed in Taixing, and there was a 56th Regiment in Xuanjiabao next to it. The 1st Brigade of the 1st Division attacked Xuanjiabao, and the main force of the 1st Division and the 7th Column were responsible for blocking the main force of the 83rd Division and the 148th Brigade in the north. However, Su Yu took advantage of Li Tianxia's arrogance, and at the beginning he only sent a small force to pretend to attack and harass, and successfully paralyzed Li Tianxia, when the commander-in-chief Li Mo'an asked about the situation on the front line, Li Tianxia also comforted his boss without worry, Li Mo'an also believed in Li Tianxia's evil, and felt that Huaye was just attacking the east and west, and the main force must be going to fight the 49th Division in the south, so he hurriedly ordered the 49th Division to retreat, and Li Tianxia naively did not organize a large-scale defense. Su Yu saw that the enemy was in the middle of the plan, and directly pressed the main force up, and the enemy's two regiments immediately couldn't withstand it, Li Mo'an knew that he was fooled at this time, and urgently ordered the 99th Brigade and the 65th Division to the north, trying to intercept Su Yu's main force, but unfortunately it was too late, Li Tianxia's two regiments had been annihilated, the first battle of the Soviet-Chinese campaign, which lasted for a full 60 hours, Huaye annihilated two enemy regiments, captured more than 3,200 people, and captured a large amount of American equipment. After the victory in the first battle, the enemy's 65th Division and 99th Brigade have already touched up, trying to attack Huangqiao and block the main force of our Huaye, and Wang Tiehan's 49th Division is also approaching Rugao, Huangqiao Rugao is the left and right passes of Hai'an, if the enemy succeeds, Su Yu's headquarters will be like a turtle in an urn. With no way out, Su Yu made a move and made a dangerous move, leaving a small force to pretend to be the main force at Huangqiao and continue to block the feint attack of the former enemy, he expected that the enemy's 65th Division and 99th Brigade would not dare to rush forward, and led the main force of Huaye to attack more than 100 miles, interspersed with the 49th Division south of Rugao. Wang Tiehan never dreamed that Su Yu would suddenly kill him directly from Taixing, the 49th Division had the lowest combat effectiveness among several large armies, and it was not the opponent of Huaye's main force at all, the scouts had already discovered the 49th Division, which was separated in a triangle south of Rugao, with the main force on the left and the right side of the 79th Brigade and the 105th Brigade in the rear as a reserve, Su Yu directly interspersed the 1st Division with the 105th Brigade in the rear, and then cooperated with the 1st Division and the 7th Column to attack the main force of the 49th Division. Wang Tiehan was completely unprepared, and suddenly the whole army was in chaos, facing the main force of Huaye that was swarming around, he directly looked at the wind and collapsed, although the 79 Brigade next to him suffered heavy losses, but it was still resisting, Su Yu knew that it could not be delayed for too long, the 65th Division and the 99th Brigade on the side, and the 105th Brigade in the south were surrounding, so he decisively ordered a retreat, and the main force of the 49th Division was annihilated in this battle of about 15,000 people, and our casualties were 5,000, which was a big victory. After the defeat of the 49th Division, most of the enemy's troops were outflanked, Su Yu decided to break his wrist and temporarily abandon Hai'an, but such a major strategic decision, he had to ask the Central China Military Region for instructions, Su Yu only brought a guard, rode a motorcycle after a long journey of one day and one night to Huai'an for a meeting, and finally discussed and came to a decision: Su Yu led the main force to retreat, and the 7th column stayed behind and retreated while fighting. Kill and wound the enemy while preserving themselves, the 7th column is very flexible, when the enemy's large army advances to Hai'an, the 7th column keeps sending a small force to attack and harass, while fighting and retreating, and so on at night when it gets dark, the enemy stops to rest, the small force turns back again, intersperses with the enemy, and at the same time fires at the enemy on both sides, because the enemy is from different units, communication between each other is not smooth, our small group of troops quietly retreated, and then the enemy began to fight each other, their own people were in a mess, so several days passed, the 7 column killed more than 3,000 enemies in Hai'an, only lost more than 200 people, and created a 15 to 1 battle loss ratio myth。 After Li Mo'an commanded the army to occupy Hai'an, he let the troops line up from Taizhou to Hai'an to establish a blockade line, but what he didn't know was that after Su Yu led the main force to withdraw from Hai'an, he was stationed dozens of miles northeast of Hai'an, and rested under Li Mo'an's nose for more than ten days. Su Yu got the information that the 105th Brigade of the 65th Division would set out from Hai'an and be stationed at Fort Lee in the east, Su Yu knew that this was another excellent opportunity, and after the main force of the 65th Division was transferred out of Hai'an, only a new 7th Brigade was left stationed in Hai'an, and he immediately decided to attack Fort Lee, the 1st Division The 6th Division was responsible for the main attack on Fort Lee, and the 7th Column was responsible for reinforcing and blocking the enemy in the direction of Hai'an, in the face of the main force of Huaye that suddenly emerged from under his nose, the 105th Brigade was simply unable to parry, and was quickly defeated, and the reinforcements from the direction of Hai'an were also intercepted and routed on the side, and the surprise attack on Fort Lee Huaye annihilated more than 3,000 enemies, captured more than 5,000 people, and our army suffered only more than 900 casualties. Ten days later, Su Yu led the army south, Li Mo'an was still in the dark and did not know, there was the cover and support of the common people, providing a large number of enemy movements for our army, Huaye's actions were always quite smooth, even if the center of the enemy was interspersed back and forth, most of the enemy troops were unaware, Su Yu led the main force back to the south of Rugao, preparing to surprise attack the traffic police corps in Dingyan and Linzi, the Kuomintang traffic police corps is a military reorganized team, equipped with all American-style weapons, but the combat quality is worrisome, in front of Huaye is still vulnerable, the battle ended quickly, the battle killed and wounded more than 1,500 enemies More than 2,000 prisoners were taken. On August 25, in order to cooperate with the battlefield in northern Jiangsu, Li Mo'an ordered the main force of Huang Baitao's 25th Division to attack Shao Bo in the north, at that time Shao Bo only had 10 columns and some local troops, and it may be difficult to fight in the face of the reorganization of the 25th Division, so Su Yu transferred the Pi Dingjun Brigade as a reserve, and sent 7 columns to the Jiangyan area to contain Li Tianxia's 83rd Division, in the face of the onslaught of the 25th Division, Shao Bo has lost several positions in a row, and struggled to support, because the main force of Huaye is attacking the enemy on the Rugao line, as long as Su Yu leads the main force to win, the 25th Division will naturally withdraw. After Su Yu's surprise attack on the traffic police corps, Li Mo'an knew the movement of Huaye's main force, so he ordered the 99 Brigade in Huangqiao to advance to Rugao, but the enemy and Su Yu fought fiercely for more than a month, and was already scared of Su Yu's interspersed tactics, when the 99 Brigade entered Rugao in the east, the Rugao defenders sent three regiments to respond to prevent the 99 Brigade from being surrounded and interspersed, but this information was intercepted by the Huaye Intelligence Department, Su Yu wanted to make a big wave, and ate all the three regiments of the 99 Brigade and Rugao in one bite, and at the same time hoped to besiege the 99 Brigade to save Zhao and relieve the siege of Shao Bo, Su Yu sent the 6th Division and the Special Service Regiment to surround the 99 Brigade, and the 1st Division and the 5th Brigade to surround the three regiments of Rugao, but the 99th Brigade resisted fiercely, after a whole night of attack, our army still failed to break the enemy's defensive line, so Su Yu transferred the 1st Brigade from the 1st Division to support the 6th Division, concentrated superior forces, and finally defeated the 99th Brigade, and finally combined forces to annihilate Rugaosan's regiment, such as the Yellow Road battle to annihilate 5000 enemies, 1200 prisoners, after the 99th Brigade was annihilated, Li Mo'an let the 25th Division withdraw, and the siege of Shao Bo was also solved. The Soviet-Chinese campaign lasted for 40 days, from July 13 to August 31, Su Yu commanded more than 30,000 people of the East China Field Army, fought against 120,000 Kuomintang troops in the Soviet-Central region, and successively won Xuantai, Gaonan, Hai'an, Libao, Dingyan, Shao Bo, Such as the victory of the Yellow Road and other seven battles, a total of more than 53,000 enemies annihilated, this is the Liberation War, the first large-scale battle victory, Su Yu in the case of absolute inferiority in troops, successive battles, eliminated nearly twice his own enemy army, created a miracle in military history, Zhu Lao Zong later commented, "Su Yu in the Soviet-Chinese campaign to destroy the enemy, more than his own troops." The seven battles between the Soviet Union and China were not planned in advance, but each battle was linked by the same campaign guiding ideology, and Su Yu focused on the operational requirements in the early stage of the war, proceeded from the actual situation at that time, flexibly used troops, and chose the most suitable time This campaign not only dealt a heavy blow to the attacking enemy, covered the Central China Liberated Region to complete its comprehensive preparations for dealing with the enemy's large-scale offensive, but also preliminarily explored some regularities of the Liberation War and completed the strategic reconnaissance task. After winning a series of victories in the Soviet-Chinese campaign, Chairman Mao commented: "Su Yu was invincible in every battle and his morale was very high because he concentrated his absolutely superior forces to fight the enemy, and he was invincible and his morale was very high; he captured a lot of troops and was well equipped; he relied on the liberated areas to fight in the liberated areas, so he was able to make up for convenience; and in addition, Su Yu was able to achieve great victories because of his correct command, flexibility, and bravery, and this experience was a very good experience, and I hope that all regions will follow suit." This is a wave of Xi learning from Su Yu throughout the army. After the end of the Soviet-Chinese campaign, the spokesman of the Yan'an General Headquarters issued a statement to the Xinhua News Agency reporter on the disastrous defeat of the Kuomintang army's attack on the Soviet-Chinese attack, calling the battle "seven battles and seven victories" and "the headquarters of General Su Yu, with the cooperation of the broad masses of militia, defended the Soviet-Chinese army in seven battles and seven victories from 13 July to 27 August, and wiped out as many as seven divisions of Chiang's army before and after The spokesman of the Yan'an General Headquarters adhered to Chairman Mao's understanding of Su Yu and spoke highly of Su Yu, who was about to assume greater responsibility for the command of the campaign, saying, "The history of General Su Yu is a history of hard struggle for the liberation of the nation and the people, and today, General Su Yu has become the banner of the victory of the army and the people of Jiangsu and Anhui."
In order to write the book "Su Yu, the God of War", I also interviewed military history experts from the Academy of Military Sciences who specialize in Su Yu, and they told me:
Su Yu's god of war is by no means in vain! Su Yu's leading army is indeed powerful. If we talk about the generals who are the best at leading troops in the history of our army, Su Yu, the first general of the founding of the country, is undoubtedly one of the candidates who often enter the scope of discussion. Many people know that Su Yu is very good at fighting, and he can even be called the "God of War" of the Republic, but there may be no clear concept of why Su Yu is so powerful in leading the army and where it is so powerful.
In the eyes of military history experts, the "God of War" is by no means a wasted name; Su Yu is well versed in the art of war, familiar with strategy, and extremely rich in actual combat experience; he is not only known for his bravery, but also for his resourcefulness, and his profound and far-sighted tactics and changeable tactics have reached the realm of perfection. The following three aspects can be used to analyze the superiority of Su Yu's leading forces.
1. Su Yu is particularly good at creating fighters and making decisions because of opportunities
Su Yu, who has experienced a hundred battles, undoubtedly has an extremely profound and unique understanding of combat opportunities, and he believes that the creation of fighter planes and the capture of enemy planes are cause and effect, and without the former, there would be no latter. In the struggle between the two armies, they have tried their best to avoid passivity and strive for the initiative, believing that advantageous fighters can be obtained by 'waiting for the rabbit,' and that is not in accordance with the laws of war.
Therefore, whenever he went to a battlefield, he never passively waited for fighters, but always actively and actively used strategy to mobilize the enemy, artificially cause the enemy's mistakes, and once he grasped the enemy's vital point, he concentrated all his strength on attacking him.
For example, in the Battle of Subei, the enemy attacked in four directions, and Su Yu commanded the East China Field Army to take advantage of the relatively large gap between the enemy's various roads, and took advantage of the opportunity of the isolation and prominence of Subei all the way, and adopted the method of long-distance attack, and suddenly launched an attack, which caught the enemy by surprise, thus laying the foundation for victory. Another example is the Battle of Laiwu, Su Yu commanded Huaye to skillfully show his form in Lunan and win a decisive victory in Luzhong.
On the one hand, he left a part of his troops, disguised as the main force in Lunan to be responsible for blocking the attack, and sent local armed forces to force Yanzhou, build bridges over canals, and claim to go west.
On the other hand, he unexpectedly mobilized the main force to march northward, created fighters to encircle and annihilate Li Xianzhou's group on the northern front, and attacked the enemy by surprise.
On the other hand, in the Menglianggu Campaign, in the face of the enemy's 17 reorganized divisions (whose strength and equipment are equivalent to the army level) adopting the tactics of "intensively approaching, strengthening in depth, advancing steadily and steadily, and advancing gradually" to attack the situation in the mountainous areas of Luzhong, Su Yu commanded the various columns in Huaye to lure the enemy troops to march more than 1,000 kilometers back and forth by the method of "playing dragon lanterns" with a high degree of maneuver, thus greatly weakening, mobilizing, and confusing the enemy.
In the end, the Huaye troops dug out Chiang Kai-shek's elite main force and reorganized the 74th Division from the dense and advancing enemy heavy army group, completely annihilated it, and took the rank of general from the million-strong army.
There are countless examples of such battles, which fully demonstrate Su Yu's superb skill in using strategy to mobilize the enemy, create a favorable situation, and win in danger.
2. Su Yu is extremely flexible in his use of soldiers, and his playing style is rich and varied
The flexible use of troops and the use of troops by measuring the enemy are the soul of Su Yu's guidance in operations. He never rigidly set the principle of guiding operations, but adopted different fighting methods for different targets, places, and times.
The magic of the Lunan Campaign was the sudden launch of the attack, the battle encirclement and tactical division and combination, plugging the head and cutting the tail, encircling and dividing, and breaking each one, completely annihilating the enemy's 26th Division and more than 30,000 people in the rapid column. The battle of Laiwu is wonderful in attacking the east and west, seeking the near and far, a feint, the main force runs for a long distance, surprises the enemy, and annihilates the Li Xianzhou group in one fell swoop.
In the battle of Menglianggu, the magic lies in starting from a strong enemy, fighting-for-tat, breaking through the central and countering the central breakthrough, boldly interspersing and dividing, "digging out the heart of the tiger", and carving out the enemy's reorganized 74th Division and annihilating it all.
The battle of eastern Henan was wonderful in besieging the city to send reinforcements, storming Kaifeng, attacking the enemy's surprise, and attacking reinforcements, annihilating the enemy in the movement.
It is no exaggeration to say that Su Yu is far-sighted, strategizing, and his combat methods are colorful and wonderful.
Or surrounded on all sides, interspersed with divisions, or striking from the east to the west, encircling points to send reinforcements; or repairing plank roads in the open, secretly crossing Chen Cang; or pulling teeth from the tiger's mouth from a long distance; or skillfully using "walking as the best policy", etc., all of them are unexpected, unprepared to attack the enemy, and surprise troops win. Put the enemy army in the palm of your hand, invincible, sweeping thousands of troops like a sweep, so that the enemy is afraid and frightened.
3、粟裕指挥作战不拘一格，擅长临机应变
"War is a real chameleon", the situation is complex and confusing, and the key to victory lies in adaptation.
Su Yu is well versed in the way of "adaptation", and the flexibility of decision-making runs through the whole process of the campaign and the battle and all levels, and constantly follows up the decision-making according to the changes in the battlefield at any time, so as to change the enemy, the soldiers come to block, the water comes to cover the earth, the road is one foot high, and the magic is one foot high, and firmly grasps and controls the initiative on the battlefield.
In Su Yu's own words, it is-
In a war, after the operational plan has been preliminarily decided, a campaign commander must continue to think over and over again, envisage new situations that may arise and the corresponding arrangements that need to be adopted, so that he can lose no time in making new choices when the situation suddenly changes.
The combat mission of the second phase of the Lunan Campaign, according to the predetermined plan, was to take the opportunity to find and destroy the enemy's reorganized 33rd Army and recover Taierzhuang and Yixian, but after our army annihilated the enemy's reorganized 26th Division and the 1st Rapid Column, the army retreated to the south of the canal, backed Xuzhou, and defended according to the original fortifications.
According to the changes in the battlefield situation, Su Yu promptly put forward a proposal for the second phase of attacking Yixian and Zaozhuang, which opened up the situation in Lunan.
At the beginning of the Battle of Menglianggu, our army planned to first annihilate the enemy's Seventh Army, which was located on the enemy's right flank and was relatively exposed, and reorganized the 48th Division, and seek opportunities to send reinforcements.
Later, in view of the changes in the enemy's attack on Huaye on all fronts with the reorganized 74th Division as the center, Su Yu again put forward the proposal of changing his original determination to deal with the enemy's breakthrough by counter-breakthrough, wedging in the center of the enemy's battle formation by using the method of "digging out the heart of the tiger's belly" and annihilating the enemy's reorganized 74th Division, and completely annihilating the reorganized 74th Division, the head of the enemy's "five main forces," thus thwarting the enemy's key attack on Shandong.
During the battle, Su Yu knew that "the spectrum cannot be changed in the game, and the law cannot be used in the (war) of the wonder", and he never rigidly changed the dogma and the principle of rigidity.
He believes that in terms of battles, the strong and the weak are dialectical, the strong enemy has not been developed, although the strong is still weak, the strong enemy is not on guard, and the strong has become weak."
Sometimes, in order to quickly change the situation and turn the tide of the war, we also fight a strong enemy first when we are sure or have both a certain certainty and a certain risk.
Therefore, whether to fight a strong enemy or a weak enemy in every battle is flexibly determined according to the enemy's situation, terrain, and situation at that time. There were not only the weak enemies in the Laiwu and eastern Henan campaigns, but also the strong enemy in the Lunan and Menglianggu campaigns; there were the enemies who were fighting in motion or temporarily stationed in the seven battles and seven victories, and there were also the enemies who fought in the well-fortified towns in the Jinan and eastern Henan campaigns, and so on. As the so-called "use of the wonderful, in one mind", Su Yu has the long-term strategy of adapting to hunger and vision, and the "God of War" is by no means in vain!
