An important reason why the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been able to grow and grow out of adversity, defeat various warlords, defeat the Japanese, and defeat the "United Nations Army" headed by the United States is that it attaches great importance to the army's political and ideological work. Therefore, a large number of generals who are known for their political work have emerged, such as Luo Shuai among the ten marshals and Tan Zheng among the ten generals.
Among the founding generals, there are also many who are famous for their proficiency in political work, the most typical of which are Gan Siqi, Xiao Hua, Li Zhimin, Tang Liang, Song Renqian, Wang Ping, Zhong Qiguang, and so on, because most of their revolutionary careers have served as political commissars or directors of political departments at all levels of troops to various headquarters.
Among them, xiao Hua, the most famous, was the youngest founding general, who was only 39 years old when he was awarded the title. How powerful is Xiao Hua? Look at the age at which he served in various periods: at the age of 13, he became the secretary of the Xingguo County Party Committee of the Communist Youth League, at the age of 16 he was the political commissar of the League, and at the age of 17 he was the political commissar of the International Division of the Young Communist Party (later the Red 15th Division); at the end of 1941, Xiao Hua was the director of the Political Department of the 115th Division and the director of the Political Department of the Shandong Military Region, when he was only 25 years old; in April 1949, Xiao Hua was the political commissar of the 13th Corps of The Four Wilds, at the age of 33.
After liberation, Xiao Hua's appointment was mainly based on political work: political commissar of the Air Force, deputy director and director of the General Political Department, political commissar of the Lanzhou Military Region, and so on.
But Xiao Hua was actually a military and political general, and he had served as commander four times. What does a commander do? Competent military!
Commander of the "Doll" of the Eastward Column
In August 1938, the Central Military Commission and the headquarters of the 18th Group Army ordered Xiao Hua to lead a group of cadres to Jilubian, organize an eastward column, and create an anti-Japanese base area in Jilubian, with the 22-year-old Xiao Hua serving as the commander and political commissar of the column. At the end of September, the eastward column entered the county seat of Leling County in the center of Jilu border, and Xiao Hua was also the secretary of the military and political committee of the Jilu Border Region. Mou Yizhi, the governor of Leling County of the Kuomintang, saw that Xiao Hua was so young and said that he was still a "doll", and from then on, Xiao Hua had a big name of "doll commander".
In just a few months, by the end of 1938, the eastward column had opened up the situation in the border area, and the armed forces in the border area had expanded to more than 20,000 people, and the base area had expanded to 15 counties centered on Ningjin and Leling. Xiao Hua smashed the Kuomintang shandong provincial chairman Shen Honglie and Hebei provincial chairman Lu Zhonglin's plan to carry out the "Jilu joint defense" in a vain attempt to drive the Eighth Route Army out of Jilubian, and eliminated the reactionary militia group of Sun Zhongwen, whom Lu Zhonglin had bribed. Later, Xiao Hua fought to unite the Kuomintang Wu Huawen and Gao Shuxun (the two rebelled in the Liberation War) and other units to cooperate in resisting the Japanese. The Jilubian Anti-Japanese Base Area and the Advancing Column were consolidated and developed in the course of the struggle.
In January 1939, the Japanese army dispatched more than 20,000 troops to attack the Jilubian base area. Xiao Hua avoided the enemy's front, dispersed the enemy's troops, and broke through each one. In February, Xiao Hua led the column headquarters and a battalion of 5 detachments, braving heavy rain, to attack the Japanese puppet army that went to the repair site of Dengming Temple three times, annihilating hundreds of enemy troops. The Eighth Route Army hit the Dengming Temple three times, and the news of the great defeat of the Japanese army did not go away, and the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the border area rejoiced and cheered.
Commander of the Rusi Military District
In March 1940, according to the instructions of the 115th Division, the original Independent Brigade in Luxi and the Anti-Japanese Advancing Column in the East were merged to restore the number of the 343rd Brigade, with Xiao Hua as the political commissar of the 343rd Brigade, and Xiao Hua concurrently served as the commander and political commissar of the Luxi Military Region.
In April, the Luxi Administrative Office was established in Dongping County, and Xiao Hua was the director of the administrative office. As a result of unifying the leadership of the troops and political power of the Luxi Eighth Route Army, it played an important role in consolidating and developing the Luxi base area.
He opened up the struggle in southern Manchuria and served as the commander and political commissar of the Liaodong Military Region
At the beginning of June 1946, the Northeast Bureau of the Communist Party of China decided to establish the Liaodong Military Region on the basis of the Eastern Manchurian People's Self-Defense Army, with Xiao Hua as commander and political commissar, and at the same time established the Liaodong Provincial Committee of the COMMUNIST Party of China, with jurisdiction over the Liaoning and Andong subcommittees, and Xiao Hua as the secretary of the provincial party committee. The Liaodong Military Region has jurisdiction over 3 military regions, 2 columns, 9 brigades, 3 artillery regiments, and directly subordinate units, totaling more than 66,000 people, and has prepared favorable conditions for the upcoming War of Liberation in Northeast China.
In the struggle to open up southern Manchuria, Xiao Hua was both an outstanding leader in political work and an excellent military commander, commanding the 1946 liaodong military region's campaigns to defend Benxi, Anhai, and Xinkailing. In smashing the enemy's second attack on Benxi, Xiao Hua commanded the 3rd column and the 4th column, fought fiercely for 4 days and nights, annihilated more than 4,000 enemy personnel, shocked the Kuomintang generals in the northeast, and dampened the morale of the enemy. In the Battle of Xinkailing, more than 8,000 people of the enemy's 25th Division were annihilated, setting a precedent for the Democratic Coalition Army to annihilate an entire division of the enemy for the first time.
Created a new class and served as the first Commander of special forces in Shino
In November 1948, Xiao Hua was transferred to the northeast field army as the commander of special forces, and shouldered the arduous task of creating new branches of the army.
At that time, the special forces column was mainly artillery in Dongye, and at the same time, tank troops, engineers and other units were also included in the command, as well as tank divisions, anti-aircraft artillery and railway transport units. In the battle of Dongye Pass, especially in the Battle of Pingjin, the special forces column commanded by Xiao Hua played a huge role, and in the Tianjin Campaign, the main attack troops captured Tianjin in only 29 hours under the cover of special forces artillery fire and tanks.
Xiao Hua's military and political talents have been affirmed by great men. At the end of March 1949, when the central leaders received and feasted on cadres at and above the fourth field army division in Beiping Xiangshan, the chairman smiled and said to Xiao Hua: "You are a commander for a while, a political commissar for a while, a time for Shandong, a time for a northeast, and a good job!" ”