1947年5月，國共內戰中的山東戰場孟良崮戰役，國軍精銳部隊整編第七十四師被人數佔優勢的共軍圍攻，全軍覆沒。此役中擁有指揮權的陸軍總司令顧祝同（1893-1987）誤判軍情，又忽略前線部隊準確的情報，錯失救援時機，是國軍慘敗的重要因素。相對於此，蔣中正（1887-1975）越級指揮與最高統帥部是否洩露情報，並非關鍵。國軍前線部隊執行作戰計畫的軍事行動之初，共軍已從戰場情勢中確認整編第七十四師的行動，祕密集結主力，伺機而動，在該師冒進、脫離與友軍互援後，切斷雙方聯繫。該師遭遇共軍強烈抵抗，撤至不利防守的孟良崮，又因顧祝同救援遲緩與友軍可能敷衍救援，導致該師被圍殲。 在5月12-16日數日戰役期間，前線指揮官顧祝同比蔣中正更快獲得情報，也擁有下令部隊迅速馳援的指揮權，此是蔣顧二人的共識。該師撤至孟良崮的關鍵時刻，蔣中正仍樂觀以為此攻勢作戰可以殲滅共軍。然而，顧祝同的判斷錯誤，救援行動延遲一天，致使該師全軍覆沒。蔣雖在5月16日直接下達救援命令給各兵團與整編師，為時已晚。

Professor Xu Guoqi is the author of a trilogy of international history books of modern China. Now he has published a new book titled Chinese and Americans: A Shared History. This new book goes beyond the earlier international / transnational history by introducing a new perspective through which to study history of Sino-American relations, namely the "shared history" approach. Xu's groundbreaking approach provides a fresh understanding of the shared history between the Chinese and Americans as well as the other historical fields. The study of history of Sino-American relations has been lacking a major breakthrough in approaches for a quite long time. John King Fairbank's landmark book The United States and China (1948) and Warren Cohen's long-standing America's Responses to China (1971) both focused on the United States either from the perspective of China's responses to the U.S. in Fairbank's case or America's responses to China in Cohen's case. To correct the shortcomings of the "responses" approach, Paul Cohen suggested in the 1980s that we study China from a China-centered approach, William Kirby in the 1990s proposed a perspective of internationalizing China. However, these approaches all had shortcomings of their own. Xu Guoqi's new approach, however, seems to be more ambitious than the others and might represents a major breakthrough. This paper examines the possible contribution and significance of Xu's new book and his new approach of the "shared history" perspective.

國共內戰，國軍，蔣中正，顧祝同，山東戰場，孟良崮戰役

civil war, Nationalist Army, Chiang Kai-shek, Gu Zhutong, Menglianggu battle, Shandong Battlefield