During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a number of senior generals with outstanding military talents emerged in our army. In the Eighth Route Army, there was a division whose troops were particularly capable of fighting and made important contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. At the conferment ceremony held in 1955, the division produced two founding marshals, two founding generals, and eight founding generals.
So, which unit is this? Who were these founding generals?
This was the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the First, Second, and Fourth Fronts of the Red Army and the Red Army in the northwest were reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which had three main divisions, and the 129th Division was one of the main forces of the Eighth Route Army, which was reorganized from the Red Fourth Front. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, this unit participated in thousands of battles of all sizes, and the famous night attack on Yangmingbao, the Shentouling ambush and the Battle of the Hundred Regiments were all masterpieces of this unit. It not only inspired the determination of the Chinese people to resist the war to the end, but also smashed the Japanese aggressors' vain plan to annex China, and made an extremely important contribution to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
At the 1955 ceremony, the unit also featured two marshals, two generals and eight generals. The two marshals were Marshal Liu Bocheng and Marshal Xu Qianqian. In addition to their outstanding contributions in the War of Resistance Against Japan, they also made great contributions during the War of Liberation. Marshal Liu Bocheng led the Central Plains Field Army to liberate juye, Dingtao and other cities, and also led his troops to leap thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains, and commanded the Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Crossing the River. Marshal Xu Xiangqian also led his troops to participate in the Battle of Jinzhong and successfully liberated Shanxi. Both marshals made important contributions to the victory in the War of Liberation.
The two generals were General Chen Geng and General Wang Shusheng. General Chen Geng commanded countless battles in his lifetime, left behind many masterpieces in military history, and played a very important role in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. General Wang Shusheng was the beloved general of Marshal Liu Bocheng, who made outstanding achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and during the Liberation War, he followed Liu Deng's army into the Central Plains, smashed the Kuomintang's "key clearance and suppression," and made great contributions to the victory of the War of Liberation.
In addition to the two founding marshals and the two founding generals, the 129th Division also produced eight founding generals, including Song Renqian, Li Da, Chen Xilian, Wang Hongkun, Chen Zaidao, Wang Xinting, Li Jukui, and Xie Fuzhi.