Today, we are talking for you about the ranks of cadres during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Zhao Gang in "Bright Sword" is a student of Yenching University, participated in the 129 Movement, and later entered the fourth phase of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University for training, and then served as the political commissar of Li Yunlong's main regiment in 1938. Zhao Gang was a revolutionary cadre who joined the party during his college years, and after undergoing military and political studies at the Kang Da, he was of excellent quality, and he was a full-fledged cadre of the main regiment as soon as he shot.
So, does such a character exist in reality? We may wish to take a few examples of Hebei generals to make an analysis.
Some sources believe that Zhao Gang's character prototype is Li Zhen, a founding major general from Gaocheng, Hebei. There is not much information about Li Zhen's war years, he was a graduate of Tsinghua University before the War of Resistance, and at the end of 1936 he entered Yan Xishan's Taiyuan Folk Training Corps in the Shanxi League, and in 1937, Li Zhen was already an instructor of the Pingding Teaching Fifth Regiment. According to this, many netizens believe that at this time, he is already a cadre of the regiment.
However, Li Zhen's resume is not as "legendary" as Zhao Gang, who served as an instructor of the Pingding Teaching Fifth Regiment after he came out of the Taiyuan Civil Training Regiment, but such a regiment should be mainly based on rotational training officers, not a combat unit of a regular combat regiment with complete personnel.
Major General Li Zhen
This teaching regiment was one of the eight teaching regiments established by Yan Xishan in April 1937 on the basis of the original National Militia Military Training Regiments in Qixian and Taigu, mainly training grass-roots military cadres and recruiting students from all over Shanxi Province.
The regimental and battalion-level cadres of these regiments were all nominated by Du Chunyi, a fellow of Yan Xishan, and finally decided by "Yan Laoxi," and Yan Xishan, who liked to use "his own people," had absolutely no reason to appoint a cadre sent by the Communist Party, let alone a college student with no experience in military operations.
Yenching University Old Shadow
Moreover, we pay attention to the wording, Li Zhen is the instructor. Born in 1915 and having served as deputy secretary general of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government after the founding of New China, Guo Wanfu also served in the Teaching Fifth Regiment, and the old man clearly pointed out in his later reminiscence article "The Years of the National Normal School in Shanxi", which clearly pointed out that he had been an instructor of the Tenth Company of the Second General Brigade of the First Column who taught the Fifth Regiment to die.
It can be seen from this that Li Zhen was only a cadre with a joint post at that time, not a cadre with a full regiment as people think. Li Zhen served as the political commissar of the main regiment much later than everyone thought.
Yan Xishan
In July 1938, Li Zhen was transferred to the Mountainous Region of Jixi and held the post of director of the Political Office of the Second Brigade of the Jixi Guerrilla Brigade. So, how many people are there in this second brigade?
According to the data, the main leader of the Western Hebei region at that time was Yang Xiufeng, and the Western Hebei Guerrilla Brigade was formed in early 1937 with 9 brigades counting more than 700 people. By 1938, after a series of battles and the establishment of anti-Japanese democratic regimes in Xingtai, Zanhuang, Neiqiu, Lincheng and other counties, the brigade had grown to more than 2,000 people, of which more than 300 young students were absorbed.
Yang Xiufeng
Li Zhen was only the director of the political office of one of the brigades, and this brigade was only a quasi-battalion-level armed unit according to common sense, and at this time he was the deputy of the battalion-level armed forces, and did not have the "divine speed" of Zhao Gang's "rapid" as Zhao Gang in "Bright Sword" who graduated from the university and served as the main post of the main regiment.
It was not until June 1940 that Li Zhen, who had been in the army for three years, served as the political commissar of the 32nd Regiment of the newly organized 11th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The brigade commander was the later founding lieutenant general Qin Jiwei.
Lieutenant General Qin Jiwei
The newly organized 11th Brigade was reorganized from the western Hebei guerrilla brigade and the 2nd regiment of the Jinji-Hebei Yubian guerrilla column, and had a structure of two regiments. According to the armed establishment at that time, the brigades of the three regiments belonged to the A brigade, and the two regiments belonged to the B brigade, but the number of this brigade was only more than 2600 people, according to the regulations of the troops at that time, it was not a type A brigade, then Li Zhen's regiment was naturally not a regiment, and he was not a cadre of the main regiment at this time.
It was not until January 1943, when Li Zhen was transferred to the political commissar of the 13th Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, when he became the political commissar of the main regiment, and at this time it had been five and a half years since he joined the revolution.
Zhang Nai will be less general
However, during the Liberation War, Li Zhen was promoted quickly, he was already the deputy political commissar of the 12th Army at the Battle of Huaihai in 1949, he was already the deputy director of the political department of the Third Corps in 1954, and in 1955 he was awarded the rank of major general according to his rank.
There are two more typical examples than Li Zhen, one is Chai Shulin, a native of Zhangbei, Hebei, and the other is Zhang Naigen, a native of Pingquan, Hebei.
Chai Shulin was one of the organizers of the 129 Movement, and also graduated from the fourth phase of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University (and Zhao Gang' same period), and at the beginning of his graduation, he was awarded the position of battalion political instructor of the 20th Regiment, but Chai Shulin was engaged in local administrative work for a long time, and it was not until after the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression that he became the chief of staff and deputy commander of the military sub-district.
Major General Chai Shulin
Zhang Nai was a graduate of Yenching University, and it was not until the liberation war that he served as the political commissar of the second and third regiments of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's Teaching Brigade, and became a cadre of the regiment, at this time more than eight years had passed since he joined the revolution.
People like Li Zhen, who joined the revolution in 1937 and served as the political commissar of the main regiment for more than five years, were rare in the ranks at that time.
Therefore, according to comprehensive analysis, even revolutionary cadres with university education backgrounds, after being edified and trained by the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, rushed to the combat troops, and at most they were battalion (deputy battalion) cadres, and the promotion speed in the later period would not be too fast, and it was even rarer to get the rank of major general in 1955. Therefore, a character like Zhao Gang is difficult to exist in reality.
The reason was very simple: the environment of struggle at that time was extremely complicated; the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi and Hebei needed to deal with relations with the Kuomintang, local bandits, militia groups, and the Japanese puppet army in all aspects; as the political commissar of a main regiment, in addition to dealing with political propaganda and ideological work, it also had to undertake the tasks of local united front, propaganda, and commanding troops to fight wars.
The political commissar of the main regiment in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression must be an old Red Army cadre with revolutionary experience, who has experienced great storms, and who is infinitely loyal to the revolutionary cause. At this time, to consider whether a cadre can serve as the political commissar of the main regiment, in addition to his academic qualifications and qualifications, he must also look at his moral character and the time to participate in the revolution sooner or later.
A college graduate or graduate, the level of education is high enough, but a white-faced student after the anti-university training to go to the main regiment is probably too early, which is also impossible in reality.
Nie Rongzhen
In contrast, the Eighth Route Army's arrangements for regimental posts and even brigade cadres appear to be eclectic. At that time, for the needs of the united front, Nie Rongzhen even appointed a former Kuomintang company commander as a cadre of the Eighth Route Army. At that time, many regimental or deputy regimental cadres were leaders of the local armed forces in North China. Among the cadres at the brigade level were wei daguang and Gao Shiyi, who were not from the Red Army.
In those years, the old Red Army adopted the form of division of labor as political commissar and deputy brigade commander, specifically focusing on military operations and political propaganda.