Author: Mo Guyan
As early as February 1951, the headquarters clearly instructed the general headquarters to measure the current position and determine the level according to the standard of "morality, talent, and qualifications." A year later, the cadre rating system was introduced, and the military cadres had 21 levels. Among them, the cadres of the corps are divided into three levels: the main corps, the deputy corps, and the quasi-corps.
When the ranks were officially assessed in 1955, they were based primarily on the ranks assessed in 1952. As far as cadres at the corps level are concerned, in principle, the rank of general is evaluated, the majority of lieutenant generals and a small number of generals are evaluated at the deputy corps level, and the lieutenant generals are evaluated at the rank of quasi-corps.
1955 Conferment Ceremony
The final result of the award of titles was that of the 36 cadres at the rank of corps, 33 were awarded generals, only Xu Guangda and Wang Shusheng entered the ranks of generals as representatives of the Second and Fourth Fronts, and Xu Liqing applied for demotion to the rank of lieutenant general because he presided over the conferment of titles (deputy director of the General Political Department).
Wang Shusheng took a group photo with his family
In general, the selection conditions for generals are relatively clear and there is little controversy, but the deputy corps level can be rated as both general and lieutenant general, so there are many controversies. There were 42 deputy corps-level cadres in the whole army, and in the end 19 were awarded generals, and they were either outstanding in battle, such as Han Xianchu and Li Tianyou; or very old, such as Zhang Aiping and Wang Ping; or representative of a certain historical period, such as Liu Zhen and Lü Zhengcao. However, Wang Bicheng, Zhang Renchu and other famous generals were limited by their low historical positions, lack of seniority, and lack of the representativeness of a certain "mountain", so they could only be subordinated to lieutenant generals.
Liu Zhen and Zhan Caifang took a group photo. Liu Zhen was able to evaluate the general, and coming from the Red 25 Army was an important reason
The biggest controversy came from He Jinnian. As the deputy commander of the Northeast Military Region, he was rated as a deputy corps commander and, in principle, at least a lieutenant general. Moreover, as a representative of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, he was obviously more representative than Yan Hongyan, who had already transferred to local work, and should be given the title of general.
Who knew that life was fickle and fate was unpredictable, and just a year before the title was awarded, a special event occurred, and no matter whether it was people who were closely related to "Gao" or "Rao", they were invariably implicated. He Jinnian and Gao fought together in the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and worked together for a long time in the northeast, and naturally they were pulled together, and the second half of their lives were greatly affected by this. It is precisely because of this that He Jinnian, who was supposed to be awarded the title of general, was almost awarded the title of colonel, but it was the chairman who spoke before he evaluated the major general.
Major General He Jinnian
In the early 1980s, when order returned to normal, He Jinnian asked the relevant authorities to give an explanation, but the results of the investigation were surprising - there was not a word in the archives that recorded this matter! In other words, those "sins" of that year were not officially recorded.
There were 57 cadres at the rank of quasi-corps, and a general, He Bingyan, was specially approved as a representative of the Red Second Front, which was a special case. 53 people were awarded the rank of lieutenant general according to the regulations, all of which were deserved, but in the end, three people were awarded the rank of major general, which caused a lot of controversy, they were: Xie Fang, Duan Suquan, and Chen Yi.
Let's start with Chen Yi. His original name was She Liping, pseudonym Chen Yi, once known as "Little Chen Yi", and later changed his name to Chen Yi in order to avoid renaming him. He was a standard cultural man, joined the Writers' Union in the early 1930s, and was the leader of the Peking student movement. Since joining the Eighth Route Army in November 1937, Chen Yi has devoted most of his time to propaganda and cultural work, serving as minister of culture of the Democratic Coalition Army during the Northeast Liberation War, and later transferred to the political commissar of the Logistics Department, where he worked with two heavyweights, Zhou Chunquan and Li Jukui.
Chen Yi and his children
After liberation, Chen Yi served as the minister of culture of the General Political Department for a long time, and he single-handedly created the Cultural and Labor Troupe, the Bayi Film Studio, the Bayi Engineering Corps and other units. During this period, the culture and sports of the troops flourished, and a large number of talents emerged.
However, after all, Chen Yi joined the revolution late, and during the war years, he also lacked the merit of leading troops in battle, so he was awarded the title of major general, which was not a big controversy.
Let's talk about Duan Suquan. The reason why he was awarded major general was directly related to the cadre review at the end of 1953. When the Red 6th Army marched to Guizhou, it left hundreds of people to establish the Qiandong Independent Division to contain the pursuing troops and establish a base area. After the defeat of the struggle, Duan Suquan, the political commissar of the division, begged all the way back to his hometown, and did not return to the organization until after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the gap during the three-year period of leaving the army became the focus of the examination. As a result, when the title was awarded in 1955, the examination had not yet yielded results, and Duan Suquan offended people because he adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts during the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, so he was affected by "problems left over from history" and finally "temporarily awarded major general".
Duan Suquan (third from the left) returned to Guizhou in his later years to investigate the situation of the Qiandong Independent Division
Since it is a "temporary major general", it means that once the results of the examination are clear, it is necessary to adjust the rank. However, until the abolition of the rank system in 1965, cadres above the rank of major general were not re-transferred. This is very inconsistent with a division-level cadre during the Red Army period and a column commander during the Liberation War.
Duan Suquan's position at the time of the award was that of the commander of the North Air Force, while the commanders of the air force of several military regions at the same time, such as Nie Fengzhi, were all lieutenant generals, while Duan Suquan was a major general, so almost everyone thought that this was wrong.
Xie Fang's experience is more special, he graduated from the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School, came from the Northeast Army, secretly joined the organization in 1936, and arrived in Yan'an in 1940, so the history of the agrarian revolution period is a blank for him, which is the fundamental reason why he was finally awarded major general.
However, as a military talent from the class, Xie Fang has always been highly valued, serving as the chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army Brigade during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the chief of staff of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army during the Liberation War, deputy commander, and chief of staff of the corps. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, as chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, he played an important role in both operational command and negotiation and was General Peng's right-hand man.
Major General Xie Fang
Cadres of our army who were born in the Northeast Army are also a group that cannot be ignored, and the representative of the generals among them is Lu Zhengcao, and the representative of the lieutenant generals will choose one among Wan Yi and the party. Wan Yi joined the organization a year later than xiefang, but he engaged in military movement work during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, pulled out a division from the Northeast Army, formed the Coastal Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, and served as commander and political commissar in several columns of the Northeast Field Army during the Liberation War, and his position was higher than that of Xie Fang, so Wan Yi was finally ranked as a lieutenant general as a representative of the Northeast Army.
The solution party negotiated at Panmunjom
As chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, xie fang's award of major general seems to be low, but the generals of our army are full of talent, and judging from their comprehensive seniority and military achievements, there are actually many major generals who are no less than Xie Fang.
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