The East China Field Army was formed on the basis of the anti-Japanese armed forces in Shandong during the Anti-Japanese War and the New Fourth Army. Since its formal establishment in March 1947 (the former East China and Central China Military Regions were merged), they quickly liberated a large area of Shandong and won a series of victories such as the Battle of Eastern Henan and the Battle of Jinan.
By the autumn of 1948, the PLA's military successes in Henan, Shandong, and northern Jiangsu prompted the Chiang Kai-shek clique to deploy its main forces to the Xuzhou and Bengbu fronts. Under these circumstances, the People's Liberation Army also quickly organized the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army, and gathered more than 600,000 soldiers to contend with them, and the Huaihai Campaign, which determined China's future fate, began.
In the Huaihai Campaign, the East China Field Army undertook a very heavy task of attacking fortifications and blocking them, so the casualties were relatively large, with the casualties as high as 91,000, accounting for 67% of the total casualties. Among them, the first phase of the campaign to encircle and suppress Huang Baitao's corps suffered the greatest combat losses, with more than 60,000 casualties. As a result, many units need to take long breaks to make up for their losses and move on to the next phase of the battle.
With the exception of the lack of water in the Huaye 4th Column led by Tao Yong, he not only succeeded in solving the problem of troop attrition through a fairly flexible policy, but also increased the strength of the 4th Column by more than 30,000 after the end of the Huaihai War.
So, what kind of method did Tao Yong use?
1, Tao Yong, who does not attrition in war
Let's take a look at who General Tao Yong is.
Tao Yong, formerly known as Zhang Daoyong, was a native of Huoqiu County, Anhui Province (now Lu'an City), and was born in 1913 into a poor peasant family.
In April 1929, the Red Army fought in Anhui and opened up the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, Tao Yong joined the revolutionary team at this time, and became a member of the Communist Youth League at the same time.
In 1932, in the battle of the Red Fourth Front Army to open up the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area, Tao Yong participated in the anti-"three-way siege" and "six-way siege" battles in response to the suppression of the Kuomintang authorities in northern Sichuan, and became a regiment commander of the Red 10th Division.
By the time the Red Fourth Front Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, he was already the division commander of the Red 9th Army.
In 1936, when the Red Fourth Front Army launched the Hexi Campaign and fought with the Ma Jiajun, Tao Yong fought desperately with the Ma Jiajun in Gulang, Gaotai, Linze, and Zhuangdu in Gansu. Especially in the battle of the Ni family's camp in Linze, he persevered to the end.
This time, due to the defeat of the Hexi Campaign, the Red Fourth Front Army suffered heavy losses, and Tao Yong was also captured by the Ma Jiajun and imprisoned in Liangzhou, Lanzhou and Xi'an. It was not until 1937 that he was rescued by the party organization, came to northern Shaanxi to study, and went to the Suzhou-Anhui region in the winter of that year to serve as the deputy chief of staff of the 1st detachment of the New Fourth Army.
It was also during this time in the New Fourth Army that Chen Yi changed his name from Zhang Daoyong to "Tao Yong", which is similar in pronunciation to "Daoyong".
Tao Yong cooperated with Lu Sheng and others during the Anti-Japanese War, resisted Japan in Yangzhou, Tianchang and other places, was very active, opened up a large base area, and also participated in the Battle of Huangqiao, the Battle of Tianmu Mountain and the Battle of Cheqiao, which gave the Japanese puppet army in the Soviet Union and Central China and eastern Anhui a headache, and his position became the commander of the 3rd Column of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Military Region.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang in the context of "returning the capital to Nanjing" and "receiving", the Communist forces in the Jiangsu and Anhui regions were very concerned, at that time, in order to alleviate the clouds of civil war, and in order to avoid the superior forces of the Kuomintang, most of the New Fourth Army led by Chen Yi and Su Yu turned to Shandong for development, and on this basis, together with the friendly troops in Shandong, laid the foundation of the later East China Field Army.
Tao Yong also participated in a series of major battles in Huaye during this period, such as the Battle of Laiwu, the Battle of Menglianggu, and the Battle of Jinan. He also served as commander of the 8th and 4th columns.
After the outbreak of the Huaihai Campaign, Tao Yong's 4th Column completed the capture of Xuzhou Canal Station and Pixian County in the first stage of the campaign, cutting off the connection between Huang Baitao's army and other Kuomintang troops.
In the ensuing siege and annihilation battle, the 4th column is one of the main attacking forces, Tao Yong's troops regardless of the enemy's artillery fire and their own losses, always maintained a fierce offensive posture, they first opened the breakthrough of Huang Baitao's defense line in the battle of Daxingzhuang, and then took Huang Baitao's headquarters where the Zhuang Zhuang was located, liberated Youjiahu where Huang Baitao's remnants were based, and finally completed the goal of encircling and annihilating Huang Baitao's corps.
In the second phase of the battle to encircle and annihilate the Huang Wei Corps, Tao Yong commanded four columns to form an East Road Blocking Force to stop the Kuomintang Li Yannian, and Liu Ruming's Corps reinforced the Shuangduiji Huang Wei Corps, firmly blocking the enemy from the defensive line, and then captured a lot in the battle to pursue the enemy army in Xuzhou, and completed the task perfectly.
It should be noted that Hua Ye also lost a lot of fighters in this series of battles, and the problem of attrition has always plagued Hua Ye. After all, the interval between battles on the Huaihai battlefield is too short, and there is often not much time to rest after the last battle, and the replenishment must be put into the next battle as soon as possible, which has high requirements for the manpower replenishment of the troops. How to make the troops have sufficient reinforcement in the continuous battle was an important problem that Huaye needed to solve at that time.
In this regard, the method proposed by Tao Yong to the Huaye Command at that time was not so special, that is, "that is, capture, replenishment, education, and war".
That is, it was necessary to concentrate the captured Kuomintang soldiers for ideological education, and then replenish them directly to the army, and immediately put them into battle after some training.
After Tao Yong's suggestion was learned by Su Yu, Su Yu was very supportive, he said: "Your suggestion is very good, and it solves the difficulty of excessive casualties among the troops."
At that time, whether it was the first phase of the siege of Huang Baitao's corps or the second phase of the siege of Huang Wei's corps, the PLA captured a large number of Kuomintang soldiers.
And it is worth noting that many of these captured Kuomintang soldiers were born in Chiang Kai-shek's direct army, so their combat literacy is also very good, and converting them into the People's Liberation Army can greatly save the time and cost of training new soldiers. Moreover, they can also be matched with the weapons of the Kuomintang army captured by the PLA, and they no longer need to consume too many weapons supplies from the rear.
In terms of mobilizing prisoners, Hua Ye, like many friendly troops at the time, would hold a general meeting to preach the policies of the People's Liberation Army and let the prisoners complain about their grievances and state the unfair treatment of the Kuomintang army.
Most of the prisoners of war were also from ordinary families, and of course they were dissatisfied with the corrupt and incompetent Kuomintang authorities, for whom the PLA's friendly policy towards workers and peasants was clearly a huge appeal.
Moreover, the liberated areas had already generally implemented the policy of dividing land and land at that time, and as long as the prisoners of war of the Nationalist army had normal logical ability, they naturally knew that they could have a better future by following the Communist Party.
It was through this method that Tao Yong's 4th Column not only did not reduce its strength after the war, but expanded its strength by more than 30,000 people.
Not only that, but the strategy of capturing prisoners of war and replacing them was also popularized in other friendly units. As a result, after the Huaihai Campaign, the strength of the East China Field Army increased from nearly 400,000 before the war to about 550,000 after the war, and its strength was further enhanced.
2. From Huaihai to East China Sea
After the Huaihai Campaign, Tao Yongsuo led 4 columns to form the 23rd Army, which was then deployed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, preparing to participate in the river crossing activities.
As a result, on April 20, 1949, the United Kingdom destroyers "Purple Quartz" and "Mate" were found on the river near the 23rd Army, and the two United Kingdom warships clashed with the People's Liberation Army, and later called for reinforcements from two warships, the "London" and the "Black Swan".
In the face of the provocation of the United Kingdom warship, Tao Yong was unceremonious, he said, "No matter whose ship he is, it will not be able to stand in our way", insisted on artillery battle with the British army, and finally the British warship could only escape from the Yangtze River in embarrassment.
Tao Yong's 23rd Army then immediately took part in the Battle of Crossing the River, liberating Hangzhou and participating in the Battle of Shanghai.
In 1950, Tao Yong led the army to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, served as the deputy commander of the 9th Corps, and performed well in the Xingnan Campaign.
A year later, in 1952, Tao Yong was transferred back to China as commander of the East China Military Region Navy, which was soon renamed the East China Sea Fleet.
In the cause of building the navy, Tao Yong was very serious and did not slack off in the slightest; he not only worked hard to learn all kinds of relevant knowledge, but also personally went to live with the sailors on some of the most difficult ships and learned about the life of the navy soldiers. In addition, he also strengthened the strength of the escort fleet and formed a force to protect the fishing with the air force and the four main surface ships, thus effectively ensuring the safety of coastal fishermen going to sea.
You must know that although the Kuomintang army had been defeated from the mainland at that time, the battles with the PLA in the coastal areas and the attacks on the mainland were still very frequent. Tao Yong led the East China Sea Fleet to win three naval battles in the waters of Zhejiang, making it difficult for the Kuomintang army to threaten the coast of Zhejiang.
In 1954, Tao Yong cooperated with friendly troops to participate in the battle to capture Yijiangshan Island. In this operation, the East China Sea Fleet under Tao Yong was an indispensable protagonist, shouldering the heavy task of seizing sea supremacy, guarding the perimeter and landing transport troops. During the campaign, the East China Sea Fleet dispatched 137 ships, which not only completed the task of cooperating with the operation, but also sank the "Taiping" and "Baoying" gunboats of the Kuomintang army.
Tao Yong then won successive victories in the sinking of the Kuomintang gunboat No. 63 and the naval battle east of Chongwu, making great contributions to the protection of maritime security until his death in Shanghai in January 1967.
With his outstanding performance on the revolutionary road, Tao Yong was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955 when the whole army awarded the medal, and won a well-deserved honor.
Resources:
1,2024.5.29-Party History Expo-Mao Zedong called on cadres to become soldiers: Vice Admiral Tao Yong, commander of the East China Sea Fleet, became an ordinary soldier, but solved many big problems
2,2021.2.23-Communist Party of China News Network-Tao Yong
3,2022.3.31-Party History Expo-Founding Lieutenant General, long-term partner Tiger General Tao Yong, the first political commissar of the 23rd Army