Su Yu

Chinese Communist revolutionary forces (before 1949) Maoism 1907–1984 ○ Natural causes

De facto commander of the East China Field Army who planned the Huaihai campaign; PLA chief of the General Staff

Born to a Dong family in Huitong, Hunan, he joined the Communist Party in 1927 and the Fourth Red Army at Jinggangshan in 1928. He fought with the New Fourth Army against Japan, and in the civil war, as deputy commander and chief operational planner of the East China Field Army under Chen Yi, he led the “seven victories in seven battles” of central Jiangsu in 1946, the Menglianggu campaign of 1947, the battle of Jinan and the Huaihai campaign of 1948, and the Yangtze crossing and Shanghai campaign of 1949; the Huaihai campaign began from his proposal. After 1949 he was PLA chief of the General Staff from 1954 to 1958, received the rank of general in 1955 and worked at the Academy of Military Science. He died in 1984.