The conferment of the title of Republic in 1955 has allowed many generals with outstanding military achievements to be recognized by history. However, judging who bestows what title is a very difficult task. Almost every general has a lamentable history behind it, and who is rated low makes people feel unfair. However, not everyone can be a marshal general. Luo Ronghuan, the political commissar of the Fourth Field Army, once faced such difficulties; there is indeed such a person in the four fields who is particularly difficult to evaluate, and his historical merits are indeed very great, but his current position is really a bit low, and it belongs to the real high or low. This person is Zeng Kelin, who was the first to make achievements in the northeast land.
Zeng Kelin is a native of Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. He joined the Red Army in 1929, joined the Party in 1931, and served as a political commissar in several units of the Red Army. From the first anti-encirclement and suppression to the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression, he did not fall behind once, all of them participated, and participated in the twenty-five thousand mile long march. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zeng Kelin made many military achievements and his status soared, and he once served as the commander of the 16th Military Sub-district of the Jireliao Military Region.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Zeng Kelin once made an analysis of the war situation in the whole country, which allowed the Party Central Committee to establish the strategic decision of "developing to the north and defending to the south.". Soon after, Zeng Kelin led two regiments of troops to the northeast, taking over the cities of Suizhong, Xingcheng, Jinxi, and Jinzhou along the way, and entering Shenyang in September 1945. Along the way, Zeng Kelin's characteristics of being good at uniting the people and friendly forces and having a good view of the overall situation were brought into full play. By recruiting puppet armies and absorbing local young adults, he rapidly expanded his troops, and soon reached 100,000 people. This history was later made into a movie that was unforgettable.
After Shenyang was replenished, if we only look at the number of troops, Zeng Kelin's rank was equivalent to that of the commander of the corps. However, since then, some of Zeng Kelin's shortcomings have also been exposed, allowing him to gradually fade out of the front-line troops.
The first is that Zengklin was too optimistic about the Soviet friendly forces at that time, and made a series of wrong decisions accordingly.
When Zeng Kelin first arrived in Shenyang, he established good relations with the local Soviet occupation forces. The arms left behind by the Japanese army under their supervision were simply taken by Zeng Kelin. According to statistics, at this time, Zeng Kelin's troops obtained 120,000 rifles, 3,500 machine guns, and 400 guns of various types from the Japanese arsenal. Therefore, Zeng Kelin wrote to Yan'an, saying: There are many weapons and materials in Shenyang and other places, and the custody is relatively loose, and our army can take them at will.
After the Party Central Committee saw Zeng Kelin's letter, it was very happy, so it let the troops who followed out of the customs be lightly armed and obedient, and left their weapons in the old area. But who knows, with the development of the world situation, the Soviets suddenly changed their faces and refused to hand over the arms left by the Japanese army to our army. Later, after negotiations, some weapons were handed over through business, but the total amount was much worse than Zeng Kelin's earlier estimate. As a result, some troops who have left the customs clearance have fallen into the situation of lack of guns and ammunition. Later, in order to ease the tension of equipment, Lin Biao once seconded Zeng Kelin, but was unexpectedly rejected. Since then, Zeng Kelin's image in the northeast has plummeted.
The second is that Zeng klin's troops performed badly on the battlefield!
Zeng Kelin is a political worker cadre, and the development of the army is his best play. This allowed him to have more than 100,000 troops soon after he left the customs, and the equipment was also very sophisticated. From the data alone, the strength of his troops is the strongest in the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army. The Party Central Committee also placed high hopes on Zeng Kelin. However, with the arrival of the Kuomintang general Du Yuming, the color of Zeng Kelin's department was immediately revealed. In the face of enemy attacks, Zeng Kelin repeatedly lost and retreated, and soon lost Jinzhou. In addition, there were also a large number of deserters and surrenders, and many people immediately surrendered to Du Yuming when they saw that the war situation was unfavorable. If it were not for Lin Biao's later military and political efforts to turn the tide, the situation in the northeast would not be optimistic.
In fact, judging from the composition of Zengklin's troops, this situation is also very normal. Because the troops expanded too quickly and the composition was too mixed, most of them were puppet troops and young people who had never touched a gun, and it was naturally difficult to guarantee combat effectiveness. Coupled with the hasty time for formation, the lack of time for rectification and training, and the lack of a unified fighting ideology, it is naturally difficult to form combat effectiveness.
The third is Zeng Kelin's own command ability is average!
Zeng Kelin is not the type of war that does not kill, and seeking stability is often his first choice. This was an absolute contrast to his deputy at the time, Han Xianchu, who was later known as "Han Bold". In the Battle of Xinkailing in October 1946, Zeng Kelin led the 3rd Column and the 4th Column led by Hu Qicai to jointly fight, encircling the enemy's 25th Division at Laoye Ridge. However, the stubbornness of the enemy was unexpected, their firepower was fierce, and they had the advantage of land to rely on, making it difficult for our army to eat them. Later, when intelligence came, all kinds of reinforcements from the enemy were coming, and our army could fall into a counter-encirclement at any time!
At this time, Zeng Kelin's stable personality came out again, and he began to advocate retreating first, and then looking for opportunities to destroy the enemy later. At this time, Han Xianchu was the first to stand up against Zeng Kelin, believing that at this time the enemy was already at the end of the crossbow, and as long as our army persisted a little longer, victory was still possible! In the end, the field army command supported Han Xianchu's opinion, and indeed achieved a great victory, and the enemy 25th Division was annihilated.
This kind of thing did not happen once in the northeast battlefield. Zeng Kelin's command ability was also questioned. So soon after, Zeng Kelin was transferred to the 7th Column and became Deng Hua's deputy. The 3 columns were officially handed over to Han Xianchu and became a main force with outstanding military achievements.
Since then, Zeng Kelin has not been able to prove himself on the battlefield and has been serving as a deputy in the 7th column.
It can be seen from Zeng Kelin's military career that he is more suitable for political work and more suitable for building troops, and battlefield command is indeed not his strength. Therefore, soon after, the Party Central Committee carried out the use of Zeng Kelin for "dimensional reduction" and began to let him play his own strengths in the emerging military branches.
After the end of the Pingjin Campaign, the Northeast Field Army formed the first tank (tank) division in the history of our army. Although our army has long had tank units, the scale structure has always been small. At this time, it is of great significance to be able to form a tank division. After careful consideration, Zenklin was appointed commander of the Tank Division. Although the position is equivalent to a demotion, zeng kelin can also find room to play to become the first leader of this new army.
Then after only 8 months in the tank division, Zengklin was once again "demoted". In October 1949, the new Chinese Air Force was established, and there was an urgent need for a person with outstanding ability in army building to serve as a leader. Therefore, Commander-in-Chief Zhu personally talked to Zeng Kelin and hoped that he could work in the Air Force, and Zeng Kelin gladly agreed. So in 1950, the Air Force formed its first unit: the Fourth Mixed Brigade of the Air Force, with Zeng Kelin as the brigade commander. In order to better adapt to the work of the Air Force, Zeng Kelin also went to aviation to learn to fly, and had the ability to fly the aircraft alone, becoming a real "flying general". This was unique among the senior generals of the People's Liberation Army at that time.
In 1952, Zeng Kelin was again transferred to work. At that time, Xiao Jinguang, the commander of the Navy, asked the central government to apply for the establishment of a naval aviation, and was quickly approved. Zeng Klin, who already had air force experience, became the deputy commander of the Naval Aviation Corps (the main commander was Admiral Dun Nebula), and also served as the commander of the First Division. With its efforts, the naval aviation quickly formed combat effectiveness, and made great contributions in the battles of liberating Yijiangshan Island, the coastal operation in Zhejiang and Fujian, the blockade of Kinmen, the defense of Hainan Island, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Vietnam.
Throughout his life, Zeng Kelin served in the army, air force, and navy, which was also unique among the founding generals. Zeng Kelin proved with practical actions that although he was not a fierce general on the battlefield, he could also build merit for the country in his own way. Eventually, Zengklin was awarded the rank of major general in 1955.