Chapter 81 7. Inventory

The Battle of Subei lasted for 5 days from December 15th to 19th. The 69th Division of the Kuomintang Reorganization was wiped out, the 11th Division was severely damaged, and 21,000 Kuomintang troops were wiped out. Together with the Yancheng and Lianshui defensive battles, the northern Jiangsu battlefield wiped out the enemy. More than 33,000 people.The People's Liberation Army also paid the price of 2,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries. This is another great victory in the East China battlefield since the beginning of the Self-Defense War.The biggest feature of the Battle of Subei was the beginning of the entire division and brigade to annihilate Chiang Kai-shek's direct lineage units.More than 20,000 people from the reorganized 69th Division, from the commander to the fireman, were all wiped out. More than 100 cannons, more than 500 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 500,000 rounds of various guns and shells were equipped with the People's Liberation Army. Among the 18,000 prisoners, more than 4,000 immediately expressed their willingness to join the People's Army.

The victory in the Battle of Subei not only repelled the attack of the Su Xinbing Corps, but also forced other Kuomintang troops to slow down their attacks and temporarily stop their attacks, buying precious time for the PLA's next mobile operation. The main experience of the Battle of Subei in terms of campaign command is: in the case of multiple attacks by the Kuomintang army, concentrate its absolutely superior forces to fight one way; use long-distance raids to ensure the suddenness of the campaign; Taking advantage of the strengths of the participating troops, the 8th Division, which is good at fortifications, attacked the commanding heights of the battlefield - the fortified Fengshan, and the 1st Column, which was good at field battles, was used to intersperse, divide and encircle, and all achieved good results.

When reviewing the lessons learned from the Battle of Subei, the Ministry of National Defense of the Kuomintang government criticized the Xuzhou Sui Department for "spreading all forces in a fan shape in northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong, and adopting an all-out offensive. This resulted in the formation of a strategically isolated state among the various corps, and tactically presented a state of isolation." At the same time, the second-line mobile corps was not controlled (controlled) in advance, so that when the corps were besieged by bandits, they could not be remedied, resulting in heavy losses." (KMT "35th Annual Work Report of the Ministry of National Defense")

Decades later, General Su Yu talked about the Battle of Subei, evaluating it as "a turning point in the East China theater."Compared with Hua Ye's subsequent victories, this battle is not a big one. Why is it so highly rated?He believes: "This battle is the first time that the two field armies have cooperated in battle after joining forces. The leading organization and the troops it belongs to have also created mutual trust between the top and bottom. All of these are priceless. On the contrary, if we are defeated in this battle, it is easy for the top and bottom and the brother troops to blame each other, and we must It took a rather long period of time and considerable effort to make up for it. The principle of "being cautious in the first battle" is also suitable for the Battle of Subei." (Chapter 11 of "Su Yu's War Memoirs") He also pointed out: Due to the victory of this battle , Our army began to change from passive to active, which is the beginning of concentrating our forces to fight a large-scale annihilation war, which will play a key role in the future development of the war situation.