Starting from January 19, 1949, the "front committee" of the East China Field Army held an enlarged meeting in Jiawang in the northeast of Xuzhou . The central topic was to summarize the Huaihai Campaign and deploy the tasks for the new year. This important event The meeting lasted for a whole week. Su Yu, acting front committee secretary of Huaye, gave a long report at the meeting. Of course, acting commander and acting political commissar Su was also anxiously waiting for the return of Chen Yi.
After Chen Yi was transferred to Central Plains Bureau deputy secretary, Central Plains Military Region and first deputy commander of the Central Plains Field Army, he did not participate in the East Henan Campaign . During the entire Huaihai Campaign, he also continued to act with the Central Field Command and the General Front Committee. After all, "Liu Chen and Deng" are members of the Standing Committee of the General Front Committee, so it is more convenient to work together.
At the end of December 1948, the Huaihai Campaign was not completely over. Liu Bocheng and Chen Yi had been ordered to report to Xibaipo . The two future founding marshals later attended a meeting of senior cadres held by the central government. After the meeting, it was already January 9, and Chen Yi immediately left for the south.
Because he is still the commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army, because the work of the Central Plains Bureau is on the right track, and because he and Su Yu want to preside over another important task of the East China Field Army: troop reorganization.
As early as November 1, 1948, before the Huaihai Campaign had begun, the Military Commission had already issued the "Regulations on Unifying the Organization and Unit Numbers of the Army". The East China Field Army would be reorganized into the Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army , just because the conditions are temporarily not met during the battle.
1. Huaye was ordered to reorganize
At the Jiawang meeting, Su Yu specifically conveyed the spirit of the central government’s instructions on the issue of Huaye’s reorganization and reorganization: “The central government requires that the establishment and designation be unified nationwide first, Field Army Each column will be changed into an army, and the subordinates of the army will be divided into divisions, with a three-three system. , all the way to the regiment, and the unified designation for the regiment and above will be unified across the country."
"The Central Military Commission has decided to form an army of about 30,000 people (excluding the artillery regiment ). However, it is currently difficult to unify the country. For the time being, it can be unified as a field army. Each of our corps has nine infantry regiments and another artillery regiment. , a total of about 35,000 people, in addition to unifying the establishment numbers, housekeeping, equipment, discipline, etc. must also be unified."
The last paragraph of the speech is very important: "We must clarify the military personnel, horses, and weapons. If there are more, they must hand over, and if there are shortages, they must be distributed. They must be handled according to certain procedures. All require a high degree of concentration and an increase in the degree of formalization."
Obviously, this reorganization was an unprecedented adjustment of the troop establishment during the rest period in Huaye. Due to the situation not allowing it, such a thorough troop reorganization had never been carried out before. This reorganization requires "a high degree of professionalism" in everything. Centralize and increase formalization.” The main problem
addresses is that Huaye once conducted separate operations. This is an objective reality. We know that after the East China Field Army was established in January 1947, it successively achieved great victories in the Laiwu Battle and Menglianggu Battle in the form of a centralized army.
However, the time for the entire army to concentrate on operations was less than half a year. By July 1, 1947, Huaye relatively hastily implemented the "July Division" due to changes in the situation and the requirements of the Military Commission.
In other words, by the time the Jinan Campaign the entire army concentrated on fighting again, the Huaye regiments and columns had been divided into battles and developed for as long as one year and two months (based on September 1948). The time even exceeds the concentration time.
Regarding the process and details of the division of troops in Huaye, the author has previously written a special article to describe it, so I will not repeat it. In short, under such circumstances, Huaye actually formed four major corps: Chensu Corps, Xu Tan Corps, Chentang Corps, and Weiji Corps, operating in the Central Plains, Shandong, and Northern Jiangsu regions respectively.
The four major corps are not completely balanced in terms of number of soldiers, equipment level, combat quality and even discipline style. They must each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of thoroughly implementing the reorganization is to bring every unit of the Third Field Army to basically reach a standard line.
On January 24, 1949, Commander Chen Yi arrived in Jiawang after a long journey, and the reorganization of the East China Field Army into the "Third Field Army" was fully launched.
2. The difference between organization and sequence
There has been endless debate on the Internet about the affiliation of the Huaye Corps. In fact, the difference between the "organization" and "sequence" of the army is not clear. The former refers to the organization of the army. Form, organizational system and designation, the latter refers to the wartime affiliation of the troops.
It must be noted that the two can overlap or differ. This is determined by the changing situation during the war. During the Liberation War, since all field armies were under the direct dispatch and command of the Military Commission, it was common to break the original sequence. matter.
If we only look at the establishment, the twelve field columns established by Huaye are all affiliated to the East China Field Army. Otherwise, why would the unit numbers be all "Huaye Column"? The truth is obvious.
However, during divided operations and cross-regional operations, in order to coordinate logistics supplies and implement battlefield coordination, no matter which unit can temporarily adjust the "battle order" and change the command relationship within a certain period, this is all deployed and issued by the Military Commission. commanded.
(Tang Liang, political commissar of the Chen-Tang Corps)
For example, Chen Geng's Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Field Army (the predecessor of the Central Plains Field Army) 4th column was of course owned by Liu and Deng in terms of organization, but was once assigned to the command of the Northwest Field Corps. In other words, in terms of battle order, within a specific period of time, the column had separated from the command of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Field Army.
Similarly, during the Battle of East Henan, the 11th Column, which originally belonged to the Central Plains Field Army, was also placed under the command of Su Yu's Huaye West Corps, known as the "11th Column of the Central Plains". This unit was not formally established until the Huaihai Campaign started. Return the midfield structure.
As far as the overall situation in Huaye is concerned, the two outer corps of the East China Field Army that advanced into the Central Plains , that is, the Suzhang Corps and the Chentang Corps, which were divided into two parts by the "Huaye West Corps", were all integrated into the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong Corps. Yu's battle order to facilitate unified command and supplies.
The Shandong Corps and Northern Jiangsu Corps , which insisted on fighting on the inside, were temporarily placed under the command of East China Bureau . These are the products of a special historical period. With the victory of the Central Plains Competition, it was a foregone conclusion that Huaye would again concentrate its entire army before the Battle of Jinan in August 1948.
(Shandong Corps Commander Xu Shiyou)
3. The four major corps of the East China Field Army
After Huaye was divided in July, the nine main columns were divided into two parts to fight separately (Northern Jiangsu separately formed the Huaye 11th Column and the 12th Column). By the time the East China Field Army successfully concluded the Battle of East Henan and planned to march directly into the south of the Yangtze River in three columns, it had already formed a pattern of four corps:
The First Corps : also known as the Suyu Corps or "Su Zhang Corps", led by Huaye It consists of 1st, 4th, 6th and special forces columns, preparing to carry out the strategic mission of crossing the river in advance and accepting the direct command of the field army headquarters.
The corps commander and political commissar is concurrently served by Su Yu, deputy commander of Huaye, deputy commander is concurrently served by 1st Column Commander Ye Fei, and chief of staff is concurrently served by Huaye deputy chief of staff Zhang Zhen.
(Deputy Commander of the First Corps Ye Fei)
The Second Corps: also known as the Shandong Corps (Xu Tan Corps), After the defeat of the Nanma Battle, the 7th and 9th Columns of Huaye went to Jiaodong to rest and replenish themselves. When they launched a large-scale attack on the Jiaodong Liberated Area, they temporarily formed a corps with the Huaye 2nd Column, which was originally operating in the Shandong Liberated Area.
The Shandong Corps initially still belonged to the Huaye combat sequence, also known as the Huaye East Front Corps. Later, due to changes in the battlefield situation, the Military Commission transferred it to the command of the East China Bureau, because the leadership of the East China Bureau was following the actions of the unit (Huaye Advance) The main force on the outer line, therefore called the Western Corps).
Later, the Huaye 2 Column went south to support northern Jiangsu, and the Jiaodong local armed forces were upgraded and organized into the " East China Field Army 13th Column ". Pay attention to this number. Why does it still have the prefix of Huaye? That is, in terms of organization, it still belongs to the East China Field Army, but the order of operations has changed.
(Commander of the Shandong Corps Xu Shiyou)
When the Shandong Corps was officially named, it had three columns: the Huaye 7th Column, the 9th Column and the 13th Column. After the Shandong Counterattack, the army developed and was upgraded to the local military region troops to form the Bohai Column. and Lu Zhongnan Column .
Therefore, the Corps had five columns at its peak and was very strong. It was ordered to return to the formation before the Battle of Jinan. "Su Yu is still responsible for the command of the entire army", which refers to the time when the Shandong Corps was returned to Huaye.
Corps commander Xu Shiyou (former commander of Huaye 9th Column), political commissar Tan Zhenlin (Huaye deputy political commissar and deputy political commissar), and chief of staff is Liu Shaoqing (founding major general).
(Major General Liu Shaoqing)
The Third Corps , also known as the Chentang Corps, is also part of Huaye's main force to fight outside. It consists of Huaye's 3rd, 8th and 10th columns. The corps commander Chen Shiju (Huaye Staff Officer Chief and concurrently), political commissar Tang Liang (Director and concurrently of Huaye Political Department).
This corps initially belonged to the Huaye combat order, and was later transferred to the Zhongye command for a short period of time. It was reestablished before the Jinan campaign. Did you see it? This is also an example of a sequence that has changed, so don't get too confused.
The Fourth Corps , also known as the Northern Jiangsu Corps, is composed of the Huaye 2nd Column supported from the south and south of Shandong, and the Huaye 11th and 12th Columns originally in northern Jiangsu. Its main task is to maintain the base area in northern Jiangsu and contain the enemy. During the internal line operations Under the command of the East China Bureau, the main force of the Corps returned to the formation before the Battle of Jinan.
Corps Commander Wei Guoqing (former commander of Huaye 2nd Column), political commissar Chen Pixian, deputy political commissar Ji Luo (Ji Pengfei), and chief of staff Qin Jian. Because Chen Pixian did not actually take office, the Fourth Corps was also called Wei Kyrgyzstan Corps.
(Wei Guoqing)
4. The four major corps of the Third Field Army
Starting from January 26, 1949, under the co-chairmanship of Chen Su, the East China Field Army officially reorganized and reorganized the army. The main work was the adjustment of the army establishment and senior cadres. , and submit it to the Military Commission for approval. The
reorganization order was issued on February 9. From then on, Huaye was officially renamed "The Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" .
The Commander and Political Commissar of the Third Field Army: Chen Yi
Deputy Commander and Second Deputy Political Commissar: Su Yu
The First Deputy Political Commissar: Tan Zhenlin, Chief of Staff: Zhang Zhen, Director of the Political Department: Tang Liang.
It can be seen that Su Yu, commander of the First Corps, Zhang Zhen, chief of staff, Tan Zhenlin, political commissar of the Second Corps, and Tang Liang, political commissar of the Third Corps, during the period of division of troops, still returned to the field to hold important positions.
Therefore, the personnel adjustment of the main leaders of each corps has become the next most important task and also the difficulty. After repeated deliberation and research, the final list of corps leaders is:
(Chen Shiju and Chen Geng)
Commander of the Seventh Corps : Member Wang Jianan, political commissar Tan Qilong.
The Corps Headquarters is based on most of the former Second Corps (Shandong Corps). Former Corps Commander Xu Shiyou was transferred to the Shandong Military Region under the jurisdiction of the East China Military Region. Because Wang Jian'an, the former deputy commander of the Shandong Corps Taking over is a matter of course.
Tan Qilong, political commissar of the 7th Corps, served as deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the 1st Column when Huaye was established (with concurrent political commissar Ye Fei). This time he was directly promoted to political commissar of the corps, which seems to be an exception.
In fact, this is not the case. During the preparations for the "Southeast Field Army", Tan Qilong had been appointed as the political commissar of the advance column crossing the river and secretary of the Jiangnan Working Committee of the Communist Party of China. Obviously, he was intended to be reused.
As for Commander Xu's transfer from the Shandong Corps, it was mainly because he had been recuperating in Jiaodong before the Jinan Campaign, so the physical reason was indeed a historical fact, and he returned to Jiaodong to recuperate after the Jinan Campaign.
However, before the Jinan campaign started, Commander Xu directly stated that the Military Commission had questioned the deployment of troops, as well as the remarks made by the Secretary of the East China Bureau at the Qufu Conference. These were not groundless. It can only be said that the reasons were very complicated.
(Seventh Corps Commander Wang Jianan)
Eighth Corps : Commander Chen Shiju, political commissar Yuan Zhongxian.
The Corps Headquarters was formed based on the temporary command structure of the former Third Corps (Chentang Corps), which was part of the original Huaye "Wild Division". Huaye Chief of Staff Chen Shiju became one of the original four Corps commanders. The only general who continues to serve as commander of the Corps.
This process is very similar to Chief of Staff Higashino 103 becoming the corps commander of Fourth Field . The Eighth Corps appointed Jiang Weiqing as deputy political commissar and director of the political department, and He Yixiang as chief of staff.
In view of the fact that Tang Liang, the former political commissar of the Corps, was transferred back to the Sanye headquarters, the political commissar of the Eighth Corps was transferred from Yuan Zhongxian, deputy chief of staff of the East China Military Region. Although political commissar Yuan Zhongxian is not so famous, he is an old revolutionary who graduated from the first batch of Huangpu . He has been introduced in previous articles.
(Commander of the Eighth Corps Chen Shiju)
Ninth Corps : Commander Song Shilun, Political Commissar Guo Huaruo.
The Corps Headquarters is composed of one department each of the original Second and Fourth Corps organizations (i.e., Shandong Corps and Northern Jiangsu Corps). There are actually early signs that Song Shilun was directly promoted from the commander of the 10th Column to the commander of the Corps.
In the Xudong Blockade of the Huaihai Campaign, Song Shilun was ordered to unified command the 7th, 10th, and 11th Columns of Huaye to form a "blocking and reinforcements corps" to defeat the Qiu and Li Corps' attacks. This was already the order of the corps commander. level is used.
Song Shilun graduated from the fifth phase of Huangpu, and his qualifications are very old. In 1938, he was appointed commander of the Hebei-Chahar-Liao Military Region. In 1945, he followed Chen Yi to work in East China. Before Huaye was established, he was already the chief of staff of the Shandong Field Army.
(Ninth Corps Commander Song Shilun)
Song Shilun’s job changed before the establishment of Huaye, and he later served as the commander of the 10th Column. Therefore, "If the artillery is not moving, it must be the 10th Column." It is not surprising that he was promoted to the commander of the Ninth Corps. .
Wei Guoqing, the former commander of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, was changed to the political commissar of the 10th Corps, so the political commissar of the 9th Corps was promoted from Guo Huaruo, the former political commissar of the Huaye 4th Column, and the fourth generation of Huangpu!
The Tenth Corps : Commander Ye Fei, Political Commissar Wei Guoqing.
The Corps Headquarters was established based on the majority of the Fourth Corps (Northern Jiangsu Corps). Ye Fei served as the commander, Wei Guoqing served as the political commissar, Chen Qingxian served as the chief of staff, and Liu Peishan served as the director of the political department.
Ye Fei was previously the deputy commander of the Huaye 1st Corps, the commander and political commissar of the Huaye 1st Column, and the Huaye 1st Column he led was a well-known ace main force. Without Su Yu's part-time job, he was promoted to the corps commander. It makes sense.
(Commander of the Tenth Corps Ye Fei)
5. The strength of the four major corps of the Third Field Army
In the process of reorganizing the East China Field Army into the three fields, it adopted the method of "dismantling and reorganizing" the corps headquarters and the columns under its original jurisdiction. In this sense, this is also to break the mountain-top doctrine and achieve a "high degree of concentration." Therefore, the armies under each corps are roughly arranged according to the numerical designations of the original Huaye columns.
The Seventh Corps : It has jurisdiction over the 21st Army (Huaye 2nd Column), the 22nd Army (Huaye 3rd Column), the 23rd Army (Huaye 4th Column), as well as the Jinan Campaign Uprising Force and the Shandong South Column. 35th Army.
The entire corps has more than 133,000 people in the four corps, ranking second among the four corps in terms of military strength.
The Eighth Corps : It consists of the 24th Army (Huaye 6th Column), the 25th Army (Huaye 7th Column), the 26th Army (Huaye 8th Column), as well as the Huaihai Campaign uprising troops (He Jifeng Department) and Jianghuai The 34th Army is composed of military region troops.
The entire corps has more than 127,000 people in the four corps, ranking third among the four corps in terms of military strength.
The Ninth Corps : It has jurisdiction over the 20th Army (Huaye 1st Column), the 27th Army (Huaye 9th Column), the 30th Army (Huaye 12th Column), as well as the Huaihai Campaign Uprising Force ( Zhang Kexia Department) and The 33rd Army formed by the Bohai Column.
The entire corps has more than 138,000 people in the four corps, ranking first among the four corps in terms of military strength.
The Tenth Corps : It consists of the 28th Army (Huaye 10th Column), the 29th Army (Huaye 11th Column), the 30th Army (Huaye 12th Column), and the 32nd Army adapted from the Jiaodong Column.
The entire corps has more than 108,000 people in the four corps, ranking fourth among the four corps in terms of military strength.
It can be accurately calculated that the number of troops in the 16 armies of the four major corps of the Third Field Army is more than 506,000, with an average of about 31,600. The number of troops and divisions is not exactly the same.
The three fields also retain two columns: the special forces column and the Guangdong and Guangxi column (later divided into the fourth field sequence). In addition to the guard regiment and directly affiliated and logistics troops of the field department, the total strength of the three fields totals more than 581,000 people.
To be honest, the biggest difficulty in military reorganization has always been personnel arrangements, so Huaye was no exception during the reorganization process. In particular, the list of corps and military leaders was the focus. Some cadres were dissatisfied with their appointments and complained. , and some even went to Mr. Chen directly.
For this reason, Chen Yi severely criticized standardism and individualistic tendencies at the meeting, and put forward four important opinions, the fourth of which can be regarded as a summary:
"The arrangement of cadres may have shortcomings and will not be 100% perfect. Yes, but this list is correct. It has been studied repeatedly and is relatively appropriate and cautious. I hope comrades will support it and refrain from gossiping."
This also fully illustrates the necessity for Mr. Chen to personally take charge during the reorganization of Huaye into Sanye. After all, the prestige is there. When talking about the establishment of the army, Chen Yi requested:
"The establishment table is mainly In order to limit the number of personnel and equipment, the more abundant troops cannot exceed the number. Any column with more than 100 people must be used honestly to supplement the insufficient columns, and ambushes are not allowed. The purpose of preparing the table is to prevent the troops from being polarized between the rich and the poor. We must oppose sectionalism. and egalitarianism”.
For this reason, no one could help but listen to Mr. Chen’s words. Once the system and principles were determined, things would go much smoother. By the end of March 1949, the reorganization of the Third Field Army was basically completed, and a large-scale campaign was about to begin. Heading south to drink from the Yangtze River!
6. The military rank of the head of the Third Field Army
Since he has become the official corps commander and political commissar of the People's Liberation Army, these generals are naturally "full corps level". According to the 1955 awarding standards: "full corps level, most can be rated as upper." Will".
In theory, the eight commanders and political commissars of Sanye, who have such strong soldiers and horses, should be awarded the rank of general, but this is not the case. On the one hand, this list of corps leaders was only produced in early 1949. During the subsequent war, there were certain personnel adjustments in each corps.
For example, in the Eighth Corps, Wang Jian'an served as political commissar later in , and Tan Zhenlin, deputy political commissar of the Third Field Army, also served as political commissar; the political commissar of the Tenth Corps was later changed to Zhang Dingcheng, and so on.
Those who were finally awarded the rank of general in 1955 were: Commander of the Eighth Corps Chen Shiju, Commander of the Ninth Corps Song Shilun, Commander of the Tenth Corps Ye Fei, and Commander of the Seventh Corps Wang Jian'an was awarded the title in 1956.
Tan Qilong, political commissar of the 7th Corps, was transferred to local work and was not awarded a title; Yuan Zhongxian, political commissar of the 8th Corps, became the first batch of envoys stationed abroad and was not awarded a title; Guo Huaruo, political commissar of the 9th Corps, was awarded the rank of lieutenant general; Wei Guoqing, political commissar of the 10th Corps, was awarded the rank of general. Regarding military rank, it can be seen that the situation is still different.
