Introduction
Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army were two well-known troops on the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War. Wherever there were Japanese devils, they were there. But they were also two armies that fought against the war. Why was the Eighth Route Army able to select 9 marshals after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the New Fourth Army had only , Chen Yi and 4, one marshal?
1. Numbers of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army
Picture | Eighth Route Army
Before the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the army led by the Communist Party of China was called Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army . After the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident, the Communist Party of China representative Zhou Enlai negotiated with the Kuomintang authorities and decided to temporarily give up the civil war and unanimously resist Japan.
Just when the two parties had conflicts in negotiations due to armed issues, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and Japanese imperialism invaded China in an all-round way.
Faced with such a severe situation, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began to accelerate negotiations, and finally adapted the main force of the Communist Party's Red Army in the northwest region into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
On August 22, 1937, the Eighth Route Army reorganized by the Red Army was officially incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army sequence, with three divisions and one rear-residing office. On the surface, it was subject to the command of the National Government and the food and pay and armed forces provided by the National Government.
After the founding of the Eighth Route Army, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai were appointed as commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army. After delivering their inauguration speeches, they quickly went to the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War and achieved the first great victory in the history of the Communist Party's anti-Japanese war - Pingxingguan Victory.
In fact, before the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the number of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army originally belonged to the troops of Guangdong warlord Li Jishen. However, during the warlord struggle, Li Jishen was defeated, and the numbers of his old troops were preserved. The numbers of the three divisions under the Eighth Route Army were the 5th Division, the 120th Division and the 129th Division. The numbers of these three divisions originally belonged to Northeast Army . However, after the Xi'an Incident, in order to weaken the strength of the Northeast Army, Chiang Kai-shek laid off the Northeast Army. Therefore, after the Red Army changed into the Eighth Route Army, the numbers of these three divisions were turned and ordered to use them.
pic|New Fourth Army training
Less than a month after the Eighth Route Army obtained the number, the National Government unified the sequence of the national navy, army and air forces, striving to make the army structure clear and stable. Therefore, the number of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army was cancelled and changed to The 18th Army of the 18th Army. Its organizational structure is the same as that of the "Eighth Route Army", but the title of the chief commander-in-chief was changed to the chief commander-in-chief. However, compared with this name, the "Eighth Route Army" is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, the "Eighth Route Army" has always been used within the Communist Party, and the "Eighteenth Army" was only used in routine documents with the Kuomintang.
Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to do this for the reorganization of the Red Army, but under pressure from home and abroad, he had to do so. However, although he agreed to adapt the main force of the Red Army, the Communist Party still had many guerrillas in the eight provinces of , and for these guerrillas, Zhou Enlai once proposed in the negotiations between the two parties: "We can now adapt the guerrillas into an army, which is of moderate scale."
facing Zhou Enlai's proposal, The National Government ignored it at all. They wanted to take this force for themselves. Therefore, when Zhou Enlai raised this matter again, Chiang Kai-shek said: " can give this army number, but the candidate for the army commander should be the Kuomintang general."
In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's suggestion, Zhou Enlai and other representatives unanimously refused. For this reason, the reorganization of guerrillas in the eight southern provinces continued like this. However, with the emergence of a person, the stalemate scene was resolved, and this person was Ye Ting.
Ye Ting is a famous general of the Northern Expedition. In Northern Expedition, Ye Ting led the Independent Regiment to fight alone, with outstanding military achievements, and won the title of "Iron Army" for Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
Ye Ting joined the Kuomintang in his early years. Later, during the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Ye Ting joined the Communist Party of China in Moscow . After the failure of the revolution, Ye Ting led the Nanchang Uprising with Zhu De. After the failure of the uprising, Ye Ting left the mainland to settle in Macau. During the six years in Macau, Ye Ting stayed away from politics and the struggle between the two parties.
After the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Ye Ting came to Shanghai under the arrangement of the party organization to respond to the Shanghai underground party, but unexpectedly met Zhou Enlai on the way.
pic | Su Yu
After seeing Ye Ting, Zhou Enlai immediately found the candidate to lead the guerrillas in the eight southern provinces. After all, Ye Ting has joined the two parties and has made significant contributions to the country. Therefore, Zhou Enlai also explained to Ye Ting his idea of asking him to be the commander of the Red Army guerrillas.
In response to Zhou Enlai's suggestion, Ye Ting immediately agreed.
Then, Ye Ting found Chen Cheng, who was commanding the anti-Japanese war in Shanghai, and recommended himself to serve as the commander of the army. At the same time, he designated the guerrillas as the "Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army", continuing the will of the "Iron Army". So Chen Cheng immediately reported the relevant information, and after obtaining Chiang Kai-shek's approval, Ye Ting took office as the commander of the New Fourth Army.
With the help of deputy commander Xiang Ying, Ye Ting reorganized the Red Army guerrillas into three detachments, 10 regiments, and a special agent battalion after half a year.
After the army was reorganized, Ye Ting quickly led the army to join the Anti-Japanese War.
2. The difference between the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army
Although the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army are both anti-Japanese teams under the leadership of the Communist Party, there are still huge differences between the two armies.
first, the military establishment level is different.
Although the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army are both armies, the levels between armies are different.
The Eighth Route Army is called the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. After the unified reform, it became the 18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and the number of the New Fourth Army is the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
In the Kuomintang’s military setting, the army group is between the theater and the army, with 2-3 armies under its jurisdiction, while the Eighth Route Army has 3 divisions under its jurisdiction, which is a special case. The New Fourth Army itself is a "army", which is equivalent to the "division" in the Eighth Route Army.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army was established as "Army-Team-Brig-Regiment", while the New Fourth Army was "Army-Detachment-Regiment". The complete asymmetry between the two sides led to inconsistent positions in the army.
Since the Eighth Route Army was adapted from the main force of the Red Army, under the influence of organization, many senior generals in the Red Army will be demoted and used. There is no such problem in the New Fourth Army. After all, the New Fourth Army was adapted from guerrillas, and only Chen Yi can be regarded as a coach in the detachment. Other cadres at all levels can do political work, but they are almost intrigued when talking about command.
Therefore, the status of the two teams itself is unequal.
Figure | Su Yu
Second, the scale is different.
When the Eighth Route Army was established, all the main forces of the Red Army were unified, so the number was large, about 45,000. Moreover, during the war, the Eighth Route Army firmly linked it with the people and actively developed new forces. By the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the total force of the Eighth Route Army had reached 1.02 million.
The New Fourth Army mainly incorporates guerrillas from the eight southern provinces. Although there are many provinces, the guerrillas are generally small in scale. After Ye Ting completed the guerrilla reorganization, the entire New Fourth Army had only about 10,000 people, which was less than one-quarter of the Eighth Route Army.
Ye Ting is the commander of the New Fourth Army. He has served in both parties. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to win over Ye Ting and wanted to completely pull the New Fourth Army into the Kuomintang camp. When he saw that he was unable to control Ye Ting, Chiang Kai-shek began to suppress the New Fourth Army.
By the end of 1940, the New Fourth Army had grown to nearly 90,000 people. In order to consume the vitality of the New Fourth Army, the Kuomintang government severely defeated the New Fourth Army during the Southern Anhui Incident. Until the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the number of New Fourth Army was only 270,000, which was a huge difference from the scale of the Eighth Route Army.
, the title is different.
When both armies belong to the sequence of the National Government military, in a clear manner, both armies should be under the jurisdiction of the National Government. Therefore, the generals in the two armies should also accept the title of Chiang Kai-shek like other national government military forces.
In the Eighth Route Army, Zhu De, as the commander-in-chief, was awarded the rank of general, and 7 were awarded the rank of lieutenant general and 19 major generals.
At the same time, in the New Fourth Army, only the commander Ye Ting was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, the deputy commander Xiang Ying was awarded the rank of major general, and the other generals did not have the rank of military. By comparison, we can see that the Eighth Route Army is far superior to the New Fourth Army in terms of scale or other aspects.
3. Marshal in the New Fourth Army
Picture | Marshal Chen Yi
Although there is a big gap between the two armies, in the rank awarding ceremony after the founding of the People's Republic of China, nine of the ten rank winners of the rank of marshals came from the Eighth Route Army, and only Marshal Chen Yi came from the New Fourth Army. What's going on?
In 1955, after the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea ended, the central government decided to commend the meritorious personnel. After fully considering the "mountainism", the names of the top ten marshals were announced.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, although the strength gap between the two armies was large, to be fair, the generals in the New Fourth Army had to occupy at least two to three seats in the top ten marshals, but this was not the case.
Originally, the Eighth Route Army was higher than that of the New Fourth Army, and many generals in the Eighth Route Army were demoted and used. Therefore, the number of core leaders was three to four times more than the New Fourth Army (the number of troops was also three to four times more). According to normal organization, the army-level cadres of the New Fourth Army were equivalent to the division-level cadres of the Eighth Route Army. Therefore, if we compare the division-level cadres between the two armies, it would be better if the New Fourth Army had only one marshal.
At that time, the Eighth Route Army had three divisions under its jurisdiction, and there were at least four division-level cadres in each division. Therefore, about 12 people could participate in the selection of marshals in the Eighth Route Army and 4 people in the New Fourth Army. In addition, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was equivalent to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Therefore, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and Ye Jianying, who were commanding the battle in Military Commission, were already a fixed candidate for the marshal. After deducting the quota of these three, there were seven people on the list of marshals. In this way, it seems reasonable that only Chen Yi was selected in the New Fourth Army.
In fact, in addition to Chen Yi, there are two other people who can be selected for the rank of marshal, namely Ye Ting and Liu Shaoqi.
When Ye Ting led the New Fourth Army to eliminate the Japanese army's sweep again and again, he did not expect that Chiang Kai-shek of the National Government actually fabricated the Southern Anhui Incident and detained Ye Ting. Most of the main force of the New Fourth Army was eliminated in the rise of resistance.
Picture | Chen Yi
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, during the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Communist Party demanded the release of General Ye Ting. In order for the peace talks to go smoothly and to avoid criticism from the international community, the Kuomintang authorities immediately released General Ye Ting, but General Ye Ting unfortunately died in the air crash in 1946, so he passed by the title after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
After the southern Anhui Incident, Chen Yi and Liu Shaoqi took on heavy burdens and served as commanders and political commissars of the New Fourth Army respectively. Under the leadership of the two of them, the New Fourth Army grew stronger again.
Therefore, according to the original standards, Liu Shaoqi could also be rated as marshal. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao proposed that " should not be rated for military ranks" . Therefore, at that time, a large number of people who had served in the army, including Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, etc. who had served in the army did not participate in the evaluation.
However, Chen Yi was the Vice Premier of the State Council at the time, and he should not be evaluated for military rank according to Chairman Mao's instructions. Why did he become one of the top ten marshals?
. There are three main reasons why Chen Yi was able to evaluate military ranks. First, although Chen Yi served in the State Council, he was still a member of the Central Military Commission. Therefore, in name, Chen Yi fully met the standards; second, Chen Yi is the New Fourth Army system. If the New Fourth Army cannot select a marshal, then the army will be unbalanced. What's more, Chen Yi is still the commander of the Third Field Army . If he does not participate, there will be no marshal in the Third Field Army system; third, Chen Yi performed very well in both the Revolutionary period and the War of Resistance Against Japan. If he made contributions and did not reward him, it would violate the party's thoughts.
So, since Chen Yi can be rated as marshal, why can't Su Yu ?
4. The head of the general
pic | Chen Yi (first right) and Peng Xuefeng
In the early days of the Liberation War, due to the large gap in strength between the Kuomintang army and the People's Liberation Army, the People's Liberation Army was always suppressed and beaten in the battle. Therefore, under such circumstances, the People's Liberation Army repeatedly failed in the Central Plains War Zone, and the troops led by Chen Yi in Shandong were also successively In the defeat, even the Northeast Field Army led by Lin Biao failed repeatedly. With the defeat of the People's Liberation Army, Su Yu actually achieved the seven battles and seven victory in . Originally, Su Yu was able to be the commander of Central China Military Region with his military merits. Under his humility, he gave up the position of commander to the old leader Zhang Dingcheng, and he was willing to be the deputy commander.
Su Yu's humility has been more than once. When he was appointed as the commander of Central China Field Army for his military merits, he still wanted to give up his position. This time, the Central Military Commission did not agree and directly issued a military order to appoint him as commander.
Under the unity of power, Su Yu began to show his amazing combat talent. He turned defeat into victory several times on the battlefield, and his dazzling achievements were praised by the Central Military Commission.
Menglianggu Battle , Su Yu's army took dangerous moves, and wiped out Zhang Lingfu's 4 units at the lowest cost, severely destroying the morale of the Kuomintang army; Su Yu also appeared in Huaihai Battle and Crossing the River Battle , and almost any battles commanded by Su Yu would win a great victory, and Su Yu also became the general of Chairman Mao's "good at large-scale combat" .
After liberating Jinan in , he had already thought about how to carry out the Huaihai Campaign and how to use it to annihilate the Kuomintang corps. When he handed over the combat plan to the Central Military Commission, Chairman Mao was amazed by this plan. Therefore, when the field armies jointly carried out the Huaihai Campaign, Su Yu ranked among the five members of the Front Committee, but Chairman Mao personally named him to command the battle.
If we talk about military merits, Su Yu's military merits are even far more than a few of the top ten marshals, but why can't he become a marshal?
Although Su Yu is one of the few famous generals in the party, his qualifications are indeed insufficient.
Su Yu was born in 1907. He did not attend military academy like other generals. All Su Yu's combat knowledge was figured out by himself.
pic | Su Yu
When the Nanchang Uprising broke out, Su Yu was one of the squad leaders. He was not on the same level as Zhu De and He Long at that time. In addition, he was not lucky during the Red Army and was injured six times, all of which were seriously injured, so he spent most of his time recuperating in the rear.
In addition, Su Yu's position was transferred very frequently, and he was often transferred to other positions as soon as he made a little achievement. Of course, this was not unrelated to Su Yu's character. Su Yu was usually taciturn and not good at socializing. Although he had shown amazing talent during the revolutionary period, he was not as good as Lin Biao's rise rate in the same year. Therefore, Su Yu's highest position during the Red Army was only the chief of staff of the Legion. During the Long March
, the organization ordered Su Yu to stay in the southern region of and organize guerrillas to carry out secret struggles. Therefore, Su Yu actively developed guerrilla causes in the south. As the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party gradually began, guerrillas in the south were also included in the organization of the New Fourth Army. Because Su Yu had a high position in the guerrillas, he was appointed as the deputy commander of the Second Detachment in the New Fourth Army.
However, at this time, Su Yu's level was slightly lower than that of the Eighth Route Army. When he was the commander of the Central China Field Army, he annihilated more than 20,000 puppet troops, completely connecting Central China and Shandong Liberated Area.
Although Su Yu made great contributions, what really made him show his light was the War of Liberation. However, in the War of Liberation, his position was always a deputy, not because he was not outstanding enough, but because he was always humble.
Before the three major battles of began, Chairman Mao met Su Yu in Xibaipo . At that time, the Chairman wanted to appoint Su Yu as commander of East China Field Army . However, he refused and therefore became the acting commander. However, although he was the acting commander, Chairman Mao understood Su Yu's military talent, so he specially issued such an order to Su Yu to the East China Field Army. "All military commands are mainly Su Yu." is like this. Although Su Yu is a deputy, he has always acted on behalf of the main position.
Picture | Su Yu
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Korean War broke out. Chairman Mao originally wanted to invite Su Yu to fight in North Korea, but Su Yu needed to go to the Soviet Union for treatment due to physical reasons, so he missed the opportunity to fight abroad. However, after his health improved slightly, Su Yu immediately asked to go to the Korean battlefield. At that time, General Peng had completed his mission and returned to China. The combat policy on the Korean front was formed under the command of Su Yu. In order to ensure the victory of the soldiers' battle in North Korea, Su Yu proposed " tunnel battle " after several days of observation and analysis. It was Su Yu's proposal that reduced the casualties of soldiers on the Korean battlefield.
Although Su Yu performed outstandingly after the Anti-Japanese War, he was unknown during the Red Army and could not meet the basic requirements for the selection of marshals. Therefore, he was not qualified to be rated as a general with his military achievements. Therefore, he was also recognized as the "head of the general", and the matter of "making the general" was just groundless.
Conclusion
Although the difference between the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army is too great, both armies are for the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and for the construction of a peaceful and stable country. The contributions of the two armies to the New China are equivalent.
As the representative of the New Fourth Army, the Third Field Army and even the guerrillas in southern provinces, Chen Yi deserves to be the marshal. However, in the later period, there were rumors that "Chen Yi did not work in the war". Although Chen Yi was the commander of the East China Field Army and Su Yu was the acting commander, it was precisely because Chen Yi was selfless and helped Su Yu stabilize the rear that Su Yu won consecutive victories. The many battles commanded by Chen Yi during the War of Resistance Against Japan were enough to shatter the rumors.
