1946, East China is in crisis, is it the fault of Chen Yi ? Chairman: Shandong Huazhong merged to form Huaye!
Chen Yi
The summer of 1946 was rainy in China, and the days of torrential rain turned many places into a swamp.
In this rainy day, the Kuomintang tore up the peace agreement and launched an attack on the liberated areas. Li Xiannian led the field troops of the Central Plains Military Region to "break through the siege of the Central Plains", and the war of liberation officially started.
Just when the PLA troops in the Central Plains broke out, the East China battlefield was also facing enormous pressure.
The TV series "Breakout from the Central Plains"
In 1946, East China is a very vast area. The Kuomintang has deployed heavy troops here, but our army is seriously insufficient.
The entire East China region is actually three major "war zones" from north to south, from north to south are: Shandong, Huaibei and Central China.
Among them, Chen Yi led the field troops of the Shandong Military Region from north to south, while Su Yu led the troops of the Central China Military Region from south to north.
Chen Yi and Su Yu
Before the war officially started, Su Yu and Mao Zedong had some disagreements on the strategic direction of the East China battlefield.
Mao Zedong believed that in the face of a strong enemy, we should take the initiative to attack, fight on the outside, "defend the enemy outside the country", and lead the war to the Kuomintang ruled area ; but Su Yu disagreed, he felt that the guerrilla tactics should be used The "lure the enemy to go deep" in the CCP led the enemy into the liberated areas and plunged them into the vast ocean of people's war.
believes that Su Yu currently has an absolute advantage in the enemy, and if he attacks rashly, it will not be easy to retreat. At this time, the enemy can divide troops to attack our rear, and there is a risk of losing the liberated area.
He and Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, Tan Zhenlin and others from the Central China Bureau respectively called the Central Military Commission and the New Fourth Army headquarters, hoping to change the battle from outside to inside.
Su Yu
Mao Zedong seriously considered the opinions of Su Yu and others, and discussed them with Chen Yi. He felt that their opinions were reasonable, so he called Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yi and agreed to introduce war into the liberated areas.
On June 26, 1946, the same day that Li Xiannian "breaks out of the Central Plains", Li Mo'an, a high-ranking general in the Kuomintang, rushed to Wuxi to serve as the commander of the first appeasement area.
Li Mo'an graduated from the famous Whampoa Phase I, and is also very illustrious in the first phase of famous generals. It is known as "Wen You He Zhonghan, Wu You Htm1 Hu Zongnan Htm2, and Wen You Wu Li Moan".
Mao Zedong and Su Yu
Li Mo'an knew very well what his principal Chiang Kai-shek was thinking.
After Chiang Kai-shek's victory in the Anti-Japanese War, he just moved the capital from Chongqing to Nanjing. As a result, Jiangbei, which is separated from Nanjing by a river, is the Central China base of the Communist Party. This made Chiang Kai-shek like a fishbone stuck in his throat, and what he said in his throat was Chiang Kai-shek's current psychology.
He was determined to pull the fishbone out.
Su Yu
But Li Mo'an underestimated the communist army on the other side of the river, especially Su Yu, the hero of Central China who had been fighting in the Soviet Union for a long time.
Su Yu's biggest characteristic is that he dares to make strange plans, and his use of troops is often unexpected. After the two sides of
started fighting, Su Yu gave Li Moan an unexpected surprise. He unexpectedly chose Li Tianxia's Reorganization 83 Division as the attack target.
Although the reorganized 83 Division is called a division, it is actually an army. Li Tianxia is the commander of the lieutenant general - he is one of the most arrogant generals under Li Mo'an.The 83 Division has participated in a series of major battles in Changsha, Changheng, Guiliu and Xiangxi during the Anti-Japanese War.
Su Yu
Su Yu did not entangle with the enemy too much, nor did he care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, so he was very flexible in his use of troops. In the middle of the Soviet Union, he faced the Kuomintang army with superior strength, and he was elusive, which gave Li Moan a headache.
Su Yu fought seven victories in seven battles in the middle of the Soviet Union, and used fifteen regiments to annihilate eight brigades.
Mao Zedong was very excited when he heard the news, and sent telegrams to the major liberated areas. Combat, so supplementary convenience; plus correct command, flexible and brave, so can achieve great victories..."
Monument to Seven Victories in Seven Battles
When Su Yu won seven victories in the Battle of Central Soviet Union, Chen Yi in the north fell into the quagmire.
The opponent of Chen Yi, the commander of the Shandong Military Region, is Wang Yaowu, the commander of the Second Appeasement Region..
Chen Yi first defeated the commander of the 92nd Brigade of the 69th Division reorganized by the Kuomintang in Chaoyangji area. In the heavy rain, the battle lasted a day and a night. , except for the brigade commander who ran away with a few followers, all 5,000 enemy troops were wiped out.
The victory of Chaoyang Set made the soldiers of the Shandong Field Army extremely excited, because they defeated the once mighty ace army! But the ensuing battle made them suffer a lot.
After the victory of Mao Zedong and Chen Yi
Chaoyangji, Chen Yi's army was ready to attack the two regiments of the 172nd Division of the 7th Kuomintang Army stationed in , Si county, .
Before the war, Zhang Dingcheng, Su Yu and other generals from the Central China Bureau called to remind them that the 172nd Division belonged to the Gui Army, and their combat effectiveness was very strong, so they had to be very cautious.
But Chen Yi disagrees. We have 19 regiments and the other party has only 2 regiments. Besides, our 8th Division has experience in attacking fortified forces, 19 out of 2, how can there be no reason to win? If you win Si County, you can take advantage of the victory to take advantage of Xuzhou, an important town in northern Jiangsu.
Mao Zedong also called here to remind Chen Yi to be especially cautious in the rainy season.
Chen Yi, Mao Zedong, and Tan Zhenlin
Shandong field troops marched rapidly towards Si County, but due to the torrents caused by heavy rain everywhere, all the rivers and small ditches swelled, and the soldiers were marching in the waist-deep muddy water, and they couldn't go fast at all.
What is even more terrifying is that the heavy artillery in the mountains cannot reach the designated location on time due to the obstruction of the flood, which greatly affects the firepower of the siege. The torrent turned the city around Sixian into a very dangerous barrier.
After the battle started, the soldiers jumped into the rapids and swam down the city in a torrential rain of bullets. The explosives and grenades on their bodies were soaked in the water, while the heavy machine gun sank in the water. the bottom of the river. Many people can only rely on hand-to-hand combat with the defending enemy who is waiting for work.
Peng Dehuai
Guangxi The combat effectiveness of the Gui army is indeed terrifying.
Chen Yi later recalled the battle with the Gui Army: "They were very feudal and united. They said: 'Guangxi people won't have food after defeating the war, and Lao Jiang wants us to win the battle.'... We eliminated a class of them, Destroying a bunker will cost 20 to 30 casualties, destroying a battalion will cost four or five hundred casualties, and destroying a regiment will cost nearly a thousand casualties."
Earlier, Peng Dehuai also compared the combat effectiveness of the Kuomintang party and army, and made up such a jingle: "The Guizhou army and the Yunnan army have two sheep, the Hunan army is a wolf, and the Guangxi monkey is the Guangxi army, as fierce as a tiger Evil as a wolf. "
Yimeng Old Area Memorial Hall
The battle lasted for three days and three nights. The main force in the mountains suffered heavy losses. Chen Yi saw that he could not win, so he ordered his troops to withdraw from the battle. When the army was besieged, Chen Yi had to send Shan Ye Yizong to guard, so that the weakly-strength liberated area of central Shandong quickly fell into the enemy's hands; at the same time, although Su Yu fought seven victories in the middle of the Soviet Union, but because the war was unfolding in the liberated area, the consumption was too great It is unsustainable, and Su Yu's department can no longer support it.
At this time, Chen Yi is in a dilemma, not knowing whether to retreat to the Shandong Liberated Area or to aid the Soviet Union.
The old site of the government of the Su-Wan Border Region
It was Chen Yi and Su Yu who were discussing whether Shanye should return to the north or not. When the problem of advancing south, bad news came again: the Kuomintang concentrated its forces and launched a fierce attack on Huaiyin, the capital of the liberated area of Jiangsu and Anhui. The large liberated areas in central Soviet Union fell into the Kuomintang ruled areas.
Therefore, Huaiyin must be preserved at any cost!
Chen Yi, Su Yu, Zhou Enlai, Ye Ting, etc.
But keeping Huaiyin is easier said than done!
After the defeat of Si County, the Shandong field army led by Chen Yi was entangled by the Kuomintang armies and could not go south; while the main force of the Soviet Union's field army led by Su Yu was in Hai'an, at least 400 miles away from Huaiyin! Days of torrential rain made it impossible for the army to march on land, and there were not so many ships on the waterway...
The scarier thing is that the Kuomintang army that attacked Huaiyin was the reorganized 74th division of Zhang Lingfu hidden among other troops!
Reorganized the 74th Division is well-known in the history of the Kuomintang, and is one of the five major trump cards. Under the leadership of Zhang Lingfu, this Kuomintang army launched a fierce offensive against Huaiyin. In order to stop its offensive, Pi Dingjun Brigade, who had just broken out of the Central Plains and transferred to Central China, even ripped open the embankment of the Grand Canal , but it couldn't work at all, Huaiyin still surrounded.
The bronze statue of the Fifth Front Committee
Huaiyin and Huaian on the other side of the canal are called "two Huai".
The battle to defend the two Huaihe Rivers is of special significance, because if the two Huaihe Rivers are lost, it means that a large area of liberated areas in central Soviet Union has been lost - but in the battle of the two Huaihe Rivers, Chen Yi was caught by the enemy's plan to attack the east and the west, causing his army It is concentrated in the and Shuyang area, which is a full 50 kilometers away from the two Huaihe Rivers! The road to the two Huaihe Rivers has long been blocked by the Kuomintang troops from all walks of life.
The commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang's various armies is Xuzhou Appeasement Office Commander Xue Yue.
Xue Yue used his brains to ask Zhang Lingfu to seize the two Huaihe Rivers.
Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, Soong Ching Ling, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi
First, the reorganization of the 74th Division was so powerful that it captured the capital of the liberated areas of Jiangsu and Anhui. Prestige, there is a determination to make two Huaihuai;
The last, and most important, Zhang Lingfu is Chiang Kai-shek's most admired young army officer, and this great favor is given to him, both Zhang Lingfu and Chiang Kai-shek are well aware of it - direct lineage The no-name Xue Yue is still very politically minded.
Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and Soong Ching Ling
18 morning, two companies belonging to the 74th Division of the Reorganization accidentally caught a soldier of the Central China Field Army and obtained the password for the city defense, so they pretended to be the PLA and infiltrated the city. At dawn, the reorganized 74th Division launched a large-scale siege outside the city. The two Kuomintang army companies tended to shell the city. The inside and outside should cooperate.
When Su Yu arrived in Huaiyin at 4:00 pm, the Kuomintang had already had a regiment of troops broke into Huaiyin City, and its troops were still pouring in continuously. Can't keep up.
So, Su Yu sent a report to the Central Military Commission and Chen Yi from under the city, and decided to evacuate Huaiyin.
Two days later, Huai'an was helpless and lost. The loss of the two Huaihe Rivers means that the Central China Liberated Area is completely lost, and a large area of land has been reduced to a white area. The situation in East China has reached the most critical moment!
Mao Zedong and Chen Yi
After the loss of the two Huaihe Rivers, the leaders of the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Bureau held a meeting to review the gains and losses of the war. Chen Yi was inevitably under enormous pressure and was criticized by some commanders and fighters. Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, Zeng Shan and others jointly signed a letter to the Central Committee, demanding that Chen Yi be replaced.
When Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission heard the news, they also considered the change of coaches in East China, and once wanted Xu Xiang to replace Chen Yi. Although Chen Yi was very disappointed, he still did not lose his generosity. He said that if Xu Xiang came forward, then he would do cultural work.
But after Mao Zedong considered it comprehensively, he felt that East China could not be without Chen Yi. In the end, he and the Central Military Commission made a decision: Chen Yi stayed, as the top leader of the East China Field Army after the merger of Shanye and Central China, and was in charge of overall responsibility, while Su Yu, who was good at military, was in charge of military affairs and had arbitrary powers in war.
Deng Xiaoping and Xu Xiangqian
Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission think this way is justified.
First of all, Chen Yi is qualified, has high prestige, has enough "tonnage", and has extremely high emotional intelligence and resource integration ability.
Secondly, on the premise that Chen Yi is the leader, let Su Yu let go of commanding the army and give full play to his strengths. The chemical reaction is formed where one plus one is greater than two.
Finally, the formation of Chen Su's army completely changed the situation in East China where the military was scattered and the battle situation was passive. Soon, the advantages of the combination of the two swords were brought into full play, and Hua Ye (later San Ye), who swept across East China, was born.
Chen Yi and Zhang Qian
So, let's look back and see, why is the situation in East China so critical, what responsibility does Chen Yi have to take? Or is there a more fundamental reason?
The answer is yes, Chen Yi does need to take some responsibility for the unfavorable situation in East China, such as mistakes in commanding the war, misjudging the war situation, etc., but the main reason is not on him.
Chen Yi
First, since the outbreak of the war of liberation, the situation in East China has been in a state of dispersion.
From Shanye Chen Yi in the north to Suyu in Central China in the south, our army is actually fighting the Kuomintang army's attack from different directions with limited strength: the battlefield is divided into at least three: Shandong battlefield, Huaibei battlefield and Central China battlefield.
This obviously violates the principle of "concentrating superior forces to destroy the enemy" that the PLA has always adhered to.
This can also fully explain why Su Yu won seven battles and seven victories in the middle of the Soviet Union, but still could not relieve the pressure on the liberated areas, and finally all became rivals.
Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi
Second, the strength of the enemy and us is too different.
In the early days of the war of liberation, the strength of the two sides was extremely disparate.
The Kuomintang army has received a large amount of assistance from and from the United States. Many troops are all American-style equipment; and our army is still in backward weapons and equipment, and the best weapons are nothing more than those captured by the Japanese during World War II.
Before the war started, the Kuomintang armies had occupied major strategic points with the cooperation of the aircraft and the ship of the United States, and fully possessed the strategic initiative.
In this case, the PLA started at a disadvantage, and it was not Chen Yi's fault.
Chen Yi and Nie Rongzhen
Third, in the early days of the war, the liberated areas were lost in large areas, and supplies were difficult.
Because the Kuomintang army marched too aggressively, and the wars were mostly carried out in the liberated areas, our army lost a large area in the liberated areas. The loss of the base area means that the army has no supply, no logistics support, no one to transport food, no one to rescue the wounded, and no source of troops to replenish...
Even in the area where the base area still exists, the supply capacity is almost completely exhausted...
From the Red Army From Eighth Route Army New Fourth Army to the People's Liberation Army, the base area has always been the foundation of the army.This was also one of the main reasons for the defeat of our army at the beginning of the war of liberation.
Chen Yi and the generals of the Republic
Fourth, the Kuomintang has a lot of US aid, but the PLA does not.
Because the United States supported the Kuomintang, the war in the early days of the Liberation War was one-sided. The United States provided a lot of assistance to the Kuomintang, from weapons to equipment, from ordnance to logistics, from politics to transportation, making the Kuomintang even more powerful.
While our army did not have any foreign aid, the help the Soviet Union gave to the CCP at that time was "limited". The most obvious example is when they retreated from Northeast , they were handed over to the Kuomintang instead of the Communist Party...
Marshal Chen Yi
Combining various factors, the unfavorable situation of the East China war in the early days of liberation is inevitable. There are many reasons, and Chen Yi cannot be blamed alone, because when the liberation war just broke out in the summer of 1946, none of the liberated areas in the country was in a favorable situation.
However, during the review of the war, Chen Yi, with his unique generosity and open-mindedness, assumed his responsibilities and made sincere self-criticism , thus winning widespread trust.
As the war progressed, the situation in the CCP gradually improved. With the merger of the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Field Army, the situation in East China gradually improved. Soon, through a series of battles, the newly established Huaye annihilated a large number of enemy forces and gained a firm foothold in East China.
Chen Yi
