粟裕
On the other hand, many Communists also supported Su Yu for his decision to disengage the Nationalists and withdraw because although the consequences of giving up the region was severe, the Communist peasant infantry force at the time simply was no match for the elite mechanized Nationalist forces attacking them and certainly did not have any capacity to annihilate their Nationalist adversary either. If the region was to be held at all cost, the Communists might well have been completely annihilated. In fact, after the battle, the Nationalists were so confident that they no longer encrypted their messages in their radio communications so that their every move was known by their Communist enemy, yet the Communists chose to avoid direct confrontation with the Nationalists despite this advantage, because they were well aware that they were not strong enough at the time. To defend the city to the death just because the region was the heart and capital of the Communist base would be disastrous for the Communists. As the unexpected political fallout, this became an excuse to struggle and criticize Su Yu decades later during the Cultural Revolution what he had done in this battle.