Chen Geng and Lin Biao did not have much intersection. The most dense and in-depth one was the series of battles in the liberation of South China in the second half of 1949. At that time, Chen Geng led the Fourth Corps of the Second Field Army and temporarily transferred to , Fourth Field Army , under the command of Lin Biao. The cooperation between these two military experts has happened, and the most talked about is the five disputes between Chen Geng and Lin Biao.
It is said that after a million troops crossed the river, the Kuomintang army in the vast areas of the south was like grasshoppers after autumn, and could not jump for a few days. With the million troops of the Fourth Field Army and Chen Geng's powerful Fourth Corps heading south, it should be easy to fight. What else can Lin and Chen fight? Is it because Chen Geng is in the first phase of Huangpu and Lin Biao is in the fourth phase of Huangpu. His junior brother commands his senior brother. Is Chen Lin a little embarrassed? It's really not.
The fact is not as simple as the public imagines. Let’s look at the five disputes between Lin and Chen one by one.
The first time, is it to fight Hunan or Guangdong?
Chen Geng's Fourth Corps was originally a second field force. On May 25, 1949, the Central Military Commission ordered Chen Geng to lead three armies of the Fourth Corps to be commanded by the Fourth Corps. In order to strengthen the troops, the Second Field must also strengthen the 18th Army of the Fifth Corps to Chen Geng's Fourth Corps.
Chen Geng's corps was used as a strategic unit as early as the beginning of the War of Liberation. When Liu and Deng advanced to Dabie Mountains in 1947, Chen Geng's corps took on the task of entering western Henan to support Liu and Deng. At that time, Liu and Deng, Chen Xie and Chen Su's army all said that the other two routes were at the front level, and only Chen Geng was at the corps level. There is no other reason, but Chen Geng is able to fight and has a high strategic vision.
This time, he went from second to fourth again. Chen Geng thought it was common and there was no discomfort. It was all for the overall situation. It was the same wherever he fought and who was commanded by him.
Who knew that as soon as Chen Geng transferred, he had a little unhappiness. The Fourth Field Army sent people to Jiangxi to meet Chen Geng and conveyed the instructions of the leader of the Fourth Field Army. Chen Geng expressed his determination to firmly obey the orders of the leader of the Party Committee of the Fourth Field Army on the spot. Then, the liaison officer of the Fourth Field Army said that the telegram codebook should be sent to each division, saying that this is the command habit of the Fourth Field Army. Once something happens, be sure to ensure that the Noble Department can communicate directly to the division headquarters.
Chen Geng showed displeasure. He had long heard that Lin Biao's command style was relatively delicate, and he admired the command art of this junior brother who came from behind, but admiration did not mean that he agreed with it. As for the matter of commanding over the level, Chen Geng disagreed. He basically would not command the division-level troops at the level. He often told people that if the commander of the corps directly hits the division or even the regiment, it would be disrespectful to the commander and would not help the commander exert his subjective initiative.
Chen Geng was determined to refuse such an order. After all, the transfer is only temporary. The Fourth Field and the Second Field have their own command and management styles. As long as there are no obstacles in command, there is no need to do everything according to the Fourth Field. But Chen Geng did not directly retaliate, and had to respect the orders of the Fourth Field Army. Chen Geng made a makeover and ordered: the password of the Fourth Field Army Noji could be sent to the division level, but only the division-level troops that perform special tasks would be commanded by the Oji and the Corps.
Chen Geng's flexibility not only took care of Lin Biao's face, but also maintained the original command habits of the Fourth Corps. It was just right, and Lin Biao was very satisfied when he found out. Later in the battle, Lin Biao really did not command the command of the fourth corps, so he gave all the orders to Chen Geng, instead of commanding his army or division at the higher level. The little episode of
seems to be a sign, and Chen Lin’s cooperation has not been smooth.
soon came the first disagreement and controversy.
At that time, there were about three parts of the Kuomintang army in South China: all the Guangxi clans, Chiang Kai-shek clans, Song Xilian's Corps, and Guangdong's Yu Hanmou led some of the Kuomintang's defeated soldiers and horses, totaling about one million people.
Lin Biao focused on attacking Song Xilian in Hubei, and Bai Chongxi wait and see the success or failure in Hunan. Lin Biao ordered Chen Geng's army to quickly leave Jiangxi and enter Hunan, and intercept Bai Chongxi.
Chen Geng believes that this order is unreasonable. The reason is that Bai Chongxi is cunning and has only more than 300,000 troops left in his hands, so he will not fight our army too early. His foundation is in Guangxi. At present, he will definitely retreat into the base camp step by step and fight against our army based on the southwest mountainous area.
Chen Geng suggested not to enter Hunan, but to go directly to Guangdong, conduct a large-scale and long-distance detour, and to protect all the three teams of Bai Songyu.
denies the opinions of superiors, which is not only bad in terms of face, but also involves adjustments to major operations of the troops, which is very good.
Chen Geng did not bring the Fourth Corps Party Committee to the collective thunder, but instead put forward opinions directly to the Central Military Commission in his personal name, and reported to Lin Biao and Liu Deng at the same time.
Soon, the Central Military Commission feedbacked its opinions, saying that Bai Chongxi had little capital and would not fight too early, and it seemed more appropriate to follow Chen Geng's style of play.
Lin Biao happily accepted the opinions of the Central Committee and Chen Geng and agreed to Chen Geng's corps quickly and violently intersperse into Guangdong. Lin Biao still understood the situation of the battle. Bai Chongxi dared to advance and retreat in a big defeat and launched a counterattack against the People's Liberation Army. He was elusive and changed in a state of change. More than 700,000 main forces in the fourth field entered Hubei, but he did not catch Bai Chongxi's main force, which shows that he was not a mediocre person. Chen Geng’s suggestions are still very reasonable.
The second time, no troops were sent for the summer, and Lin Biao followed Chen Geng's opinion and ordered the Fourth Corps to set off and head south immediately.
Chen Geng has another objection.
It was July 17th, and it was the hot summer season in the south and the weather was extremely hot. Most of the soldiers of the Fourth Corps are northerners and are not used to the southern climate. Since crossing the river, more than 7,000 people have had heat stroke or other fever , and there are too many non-combat reductions. Even horses can't stand the fever of hundreds of horses.
Due to continuous advancement and marching in the mountains, many troops could not encounter villages and slept in the wild in the rain and uninhibited. Many soldiers were sick and unable to move forward. The incidence rate of the company was generally above 25%. Qin Jiwei, who was rushing to the forefront, led the 15th Army, and the incidence rate of some companies was as high as 70%.
Commander Liu Deng of the Second Field Army heard that the Fourth Corps was in a difficult situation and urgently allocated some materials to Jiangxi.
Chen Geng strongly advises not to walk in the dog days of summer, as the cost is too high and the consumption is too high. It is recommended to wait for the supplies sent from the rear of the Second Field Army in Jiangxi, while allowing the soldiers to rest and escape the heat, and then march south after the dog days of summer.
This telegram is no longer signed by Chen Geng alone, and the signature is jointly signed by Commander Chen Geng, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Guo Tianmin, and Deputy Political Commissar and Director of the Political Department Liu Zhijian.
After Lin Biao received the power, he ordered someone to verify the situation, whether it was as Chen Geng said that there was such a big loss of non-combat troops. When asked, this is true, not only is Chen Geng's corps like this, but the 15th Corps of the Fourth Field Army, which cooperated with the Fourth Corps to fight, also complained. The Fourth Field Army is dominated by Shandong and Northeastern people. Never have you ever seen such hot and humid weather in South China? There was a unit who was greedy for coolness and stationed near the mouth of Poyang Lake. He did not station in the highlands according to Chen Geng's order, but camped in dense jungles at the foot of the mountain.
Chen Geng ordered them to move immediately, otherwise they would be washed away by the mountain torrent. They didn't believe it at first, so there would be such a sudden mountain torrent. Unexpectedly, it suddenly rained heavily at night, causing a rush to the campsite.
After Lin Biao learned about it, he realized that the weather and geography of South China were very different from that of Northeast China, so he agreed to Chen Geng's request and ordered him to send troops after the three periods. Chen Geng's Fourth Corps rested until early September before heading south.
The third time, why didn’t Lin Biao let him fight Guangzhou?
The army headed south, the main force of the Fourth Field Army marched southwest, and Chen Geng's Fourth Corps entered Guangdong and arrived in Guangzhou.
At this time, the Kuomintang army in Guangzhou was shocked overnight and had no ambition to stick to it.
Chen Geng was determined to quickly take down Guangzhou City. Just as he was about to advance, Lin Biao suddenly called: Stop attacking Guangzhou. Chen Geng didn't understand very much. What is the reason for
?
It turned out that Lin Biao captured the main force of the Guangxi regime in Baoqing, Hengyang (now , Shaoyang, Hunan) and crippled the Seventh Army of the Ace Steel Army, which was founded by Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi. The remaining main forces were also at the junction of Hunan and Guangxi, and were preparing to retreat to Guangxi.
Lin Biao considered that if Chen Geng forced Guangzhou too quickly, Yu Han had the possibility of more than 100,000 people going westward into Guangxi. The main force in the fourth field is fighting with the Guangxi clan. Suddenly joining this large group of enemies will inevitably increase the difficulty of annihilation of the Guangxi clan.
So Lin Biao ordered Chen Geng to lead three armies of the Fourth Corps to take North Guangdong , directly enter Guangxi, and take Guilin directly, and use one move to remove the firewood from the cauldron and completely cut off the Guizhou clan's retreat.
As for Guangzhou, of course, the victory he won cannot be given up. Lin Biao ordered Deng Hua's 15th Corps to stay in place to monitor the enemy in Guangzhou. The strategic vision of
is also quite broad. Chen Geng admitted that it has some rationality, but this was not the optimal solution at that time. The troops were very dissatisfied. Chen Geng commanded the four armies of the Second Field Army, one of which had been drawn from Chen Geng and transferred to the 12th Corps of the Fourth Field Army. At this time, the Fourth Corps had to give up the Guangzhou City that was about to be obtained, and instead asked the 15th Corps of the Fourth Field Army to stay in Guangdong. What does it mean! Can the comrades in the Four Field Army get all the credit?
Chen Geng promptly stopped this irresponsible complaints, and asked Ye Jianying, then secretary of the Central South Bureau, to work with Deng Hua, commander of the 15th Corps, and study the combat situation of Guangdong and Guangxi .
Chen Geng raised objections to Lin Biao's order. If Guangzhou is given up on fighting Guilin, the mountains are high and the road is long, and the troops are moving forward at such a long distance, it is impossible to guarantee whether they can kill the generals before Bai Chongxi flees back to Guilin. This is one of them. Second, according to the intelligence analysis of various parties, Yu Hanmou has no plans to go west to Guangzhou because Guangdong and Guangxi were not harmonious in history. At most, he fought in Guangzhou for a while, then fled to Leizhou Peninsula , and then fled to Hainan Island .
Isn’t it wise to abandon Guangzhou and run to Guilin at this time?
Ye Jianying, Deng Hua and others felt it was reasonable, so they jointly sent a report to the Central Military Commission and Lin Biao at the same time, requesting that they talk about it after the fight in Guangzhou.
Mao Zedong supported Chen Geng's opinion after receiving the report, but out of respect for the front-line generals, he did not completely reject Lin Biao's proposal and asked them to discuss it again.
After receiving the report, Lin Biao also felt that Chen Geng was right, so he issued a new order: Chen and Deng's second corps continued to maintain an offensive against Guangzhou, but did not completely give up the intention of advancing westward. There was something in
html episode 0. Lin Biao agreed to Chen Geng’s request, but was refuted. After all, he was still a little unhappy and still got the overall combat principle according to his plan.This laid the root of the last two disputes.
For the fourth time, he gave up pursuing the remnants of Guangdong
As expected, the liberation of Guangzhou City was quite smooth. Yu Hanmou was unintentional and fought, so he quickly withdrew, fled southwest, and headed straight for the Leizhou Peninsula.
Chen Geng led his army to pursue quickly. At this moment, he received an order from Lin Biao: He asked the Chen Bing Regiment to temporarily stop pursuing, quickly turn his troops westward, and work with the main forces of the Fourth Field Army to wipe out the remnants of Bai Chongxi in Guangxi.
Chen Geng understood Lin Biao's painstaking efforts. Bai Chongxi's troops were the top priority. The two armies worked together to annihilate Bai's troops was the main task of liberating Southern China, and attacking Yu Hanmou's remnants was a secondary task. Lin Biao's order was not wrong.
But looking at the moment, if Yu Hanmou is allowed to escape into Hainan Island, it will inevitably increase the difficulty of liberating Hainan Island in the future. At present, the remnants of the Guangdong Army are already in a state of half a hundred miles. If you try harder, you can wipe out all the troops. It would be a pity if you can use them.
Chen Geng learned his intelligence this time and no longer sent a telegram to ask Lin Biao to change it, but detained the orders and asked the troops to continue to pursue Yu Hanmou according to the previous orders.
only does not say it!
After Lin Biao learned of the situation on the front line, he generated another power and said: If you have caught up with the enemy, you can continue to fight. If you have not caught up, please turn your troops west immediately.
Chen Geng laughed happily. At that time, the army had already tightly grasped the remnants of Yu Hanmou and ate all the more than 40,000 people who escaped from Guangzhou in the famous Two Yang Annihilation Battle.
The war to liberate Guangdong came to a successful end.
For the fifth time, the 15th Army stopped pursuing and left regrets
After liberating Guangdong, Chen Geng immediately turned his troops westward according to Lin Biao's instructions, rushed into Guangxi and joined forces with the Fourth Field Army to attack Bai Chongxi's remnants.
The Fourth Corps is responsible for the task of attacking the Guangxi clan on the southernmost side, preventing the remnants of the Guangxi clan from crossing the river to Hainan from the Beibu Gulf , or fleeing from the Sino-Vietnam border to Vietnam.
On November 30, 1949, Chen Geng commanded the 15th Army to capture Luchuan County, Guangxi. The Huang Jie Corps of the Kuomintang Army accelerated to flee south, showing signs of fleeing to Vietnam.
Chen Geng urgently ordered Qin Jiwei to seize Shangsi County in front of Huang Jie, so as to protect the enemy from fleeing the border.
Qin Jiwei was about to attack, and Lin Biao suddenly sent a telegram asking the 15th Army to stay in the local area to eliminate bandits and no longer go south.
Chen Geng was stunned after receiving the order. He originally wanted to take action first and report, catch Huang Jie and then suppress the bandits, but he thought that since he returned to the Fourth Field Army, there have been four big and small disputes. If he disobeys the order, it will be difficult for President Lin to meet in the future.
Chen Geng laughed and said to Guo Tianmin that this time he had to listen to Mr. Lin and do what he said, so that Qin Jiwei would not chase after him.
The 15th Army stopped on the spot, and Huang Jie fled abroad, which was a small regret for the Liberation of Guangxi.
The reason why Lin Biao and Chen Geng repeatedly had disagreements was not due to the fact that there was no dispute over intention or opinion, but it was entirely considered by the actual situation of the war. Bai Chongxi is one of the most commanding generals of the Kuomintang army with the highest level and the most strategic.
He commanded the remnants of the Guangxi clique and the Kuomintang, and within the vast scope of Guangdong and Guangxi, Hunan, advancing and retreating, fighting and stopping. Those who are good at using troops such as Lin Biao and Chen Geng will not be able to see the real situation on the battlefield clearly. The two made different judgments based on the actual situation of the battlefield, which led to a dispute. But these disputes did not affect the cooperation between the two major field troops, and the result was good after all.
