Xu was appointed Deputy Director of the School Affairs Office of Yan 'an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. With Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, he started his career in Taihang Mountain and devoted himself to the anti-Japanese struggle.
1938 10 used to be the deputy brigade commander of the 38 6 brigade of the Eighth Route Army 129 Division, and participated in the establishment of the anti-Japanese base area in southern Hebei. At the end of the same year, under the command of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, he marched into southern Hebei.
1in early February, 939, he and Chen Geng, the brigade commander, lured the enemy to annihilate a reinforced Japanese infantry squadron in Xiangchenggu area south of Wei County, killing more than 200 people below the enemy battalion chief and taking 8 prisoners alive, which dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. In history, it was called the battle of Xiangcheng solid.
1September, 940, transferred to the brigade commander of the third brigade of Shandong column. On the same day, there was a fierce battle on both sides of the Bohai Sea and Qinghe River. 194 1 spring, he commanded the Eighth Route Army and local armed forces in Jiaodong to wipe out the enemy and puppet troops.
1February, 942, served as chief of staff of Shandong column. 10 Since June, he has been the commander of Jiaodong Military Region, leading the soldiers and civilians in Jiaodong to carry out arduous guerrilla warfare, developing and strengthening the people's armed forces, crushing the frequent "mopping-up" and occupation by Japanese puppet troops and defeating the enemy's terrorist attacks.
/kloc-in the spring of 0/945, he led a crusade against the Kuomintang capitulators Zhao Baoyuan, Kewandi and Zhanzuo villages, sweeping across the banks of the Wulong River, clearing the way for the anti-Japanese war in Jiaodong.
During the war of liberation
Xu served as commander of the ninth column of the East China Field Army, commander of the Eastern Corps (later called Shandong Corps), deputy commander and commander of the Shandong Military Region, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and member of the Central Shandong Branch.
1947 In the first half of the year, under the leadership of Chen Yi and Su Yu, he participated in the major battles such as Laiwu Campaign, Menglianggu Campaign and Jiaodong Defence Campaign. In the Battle of Meng Lianggu, the seventy-fourth division of the Kuomintang reactionary "five main forces" was annihilated.
1948 September, together with Tan Zhenlin and Wang Jianan, according to the deployment of the Central Military Commission and the East China Field Army Command, he commanded troops to conquer Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. After eight days of fierce fighting, he annihilated the Kuomintang army 10, and basically liberated Shandong Province, completely connecting the two liberated areas of East China and North China.
1949 after the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), he served as commander of the Shandong military region. 1February 1954 served as the second deputy commander of the East China Military Region, 10/October served as the deputy chief of staff of the General Staff of the China People's Liberation Army.
1March, 955, served as commander of Nanjing Military Region. 1September, 1959, Xu served as Deputy Minister of National Defense, Commander of Nanjing Military Region and Second Secretary of Party Committee.