Everyone knows tank soldiers, airborne soldiers... But have you ever heard of the Railroad Soldiers? In 1982, Deng Xiaoping resolutely laid off the railway troops. Although many commanders, political commissars and related workers of the Ministry of Railways at that time objected to the retention of this service, the history of the railway soldiers ended in 1982 and was classified as the Ministry of Railways.
In the face of dissent, Deng Xiaoping calmed everyone's dissatisfaction with only one sentence.
One: The history of the railroad soldiers is also very brilliant.
First of all, we need to briefly understand, what kind of troops are the railway soldiers? In the course of combat, this branch of the armed forces was responsible for the repair and laying of railways in the theater. Their presence ensures the mobility of troops, as well as the transfer of combat materiel and personnel.
For some areas, they can also advance the enemy, in addition to strengthening the laying of railways, the presence of railway troops can also improve the efficiency of national defense engineering, construction and improve combat capabilities.
So what is the situation with the formation of the railway troops? In each country, different military formations are different. Most of the railroads would be organized as railway divisions or railway brigades, with specialized units and detachments below.
It is generally divided into tunnels, bridges, lines and transportation management. It is equipped with anti-aircraft firearms, infantry weapons, as well as construction machinery and professional equipment. They can independently complete the support tasks of tunnel line laying, bridge construction, construction engineering and other aspects.
So, what is the history of the development of the railway soldiers? As early as the second half of the 19th century, countries around the world found that people were becoming more and more dependent on rail transportation. With the increase in the role of railway transportation on various battlefields, this branch of the army slowly developed.
The first countries to build railroad forces were not China, but the United States and Germany, followed by Russia and France. After 1861, the United States had a Civil War, in which the railroads in the United States were destroyed, and their transport forces were inefficient, and motor vehicles could not be transferred.
The construction unit allocated 700 men for the laying of battlefield lines and the construction of bridges. Eventually, the small force became more and more specialized, and was led by railroad engineers assigned by the Central Committee of the United States. Before 1865, the construction team of more than 700 people formed in the American Civil War had laid more than 1,000 kilometers of railways.
This construction team is the predecessor of the international railway troops. After 1866, the Germans saw the reuse of construction teams in the American Civil War, and they also began to reflect on the problem of their own army establishment, and finally decided to create a special engineering corps to form a railway.
Before October 1871, the Germans formally established the Railway Engineer Battalion, but their formation was only a battalion, directly responsible to the General Staff, under the command of the Army General Command. After 1876, Germany established the Railway Engineer Corps and then the Railway Engineer Brigade, which was directly responsible for the Inspectorate of Transportation Forces.
In World War 1 and World War 2, the German Railway Engineer Corps was expanded into one regiment and three brigades. In the history of China's railway troops, the earliest can be traced back to the Northern Expedition, that is, after 1924.
Local Chinese warlords and the Nationalist government began to realize the importance of the railway team, and finally because of the laying of the Pinghan Railway, China officially established the railway team in 1926. But at that time, the functional attributes of this unit were relatively simple, just to destroy the railway behind the enemy army.
Two years later, the Kuomintang army formally established the Communication Corps, which was directly responsible for the General Corps. Later, it was changed to the Railway Brigade, which belonged to the traffic paving area. It was not until 1936 that the Railway Brigade was reorganized into a regiment, and ten years later the Railway Brigade was replenished and finally upgraded to three regiments.
In the later reform of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the railway soldiers also developed slowly. Our army established the first armed railway unit in the northeast in August 1945, when the railway unit had 7 regiments and was approved by the Central Military Commission, their functional attributes became the Northeast Escort Road Army, and later joined the second-line troops and railway workers.
The Railway Column of the Northeast Field Army that people see on television is the predecessor of the railway soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Chinese railway soldiers participated in the Liberation War, supported the Liaoshen Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign, successively created a good atmosphere of the times for marching into Jiangnan and liberating the northwest, and successfully laid 1629 kilometers and repaired 15 railway trunk lines.
In 1950, the number of railroad soldiers expanded from 17,000 to nearly 100,000. In order to prevent the phenomenon of decay and laziness within the railway troops, the central government reduced the number of railway troops in July, and finally became three divisions and two regiments.
Their functional attributes became the repair of railways and the laying of new railways, and the subsequent work of the railroad soldiers was to contribute to the national economy. The time came to the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and in the first month after the war sounded the horn, the railway soldiers and horses rushed to the Korean Peninsula to repair and restore 923 kilometers of railways.
On the 1,500-kilometer railway line in northern North Korea, they fought repeatedly against the United Nations army, led by the United States. But the equipment of the Un army at that time was too advanced, and the Us military was always able to fly planes to bomb the railway spurs on the ground.
Therefore, even if the railway troops just laid the railway branches at that time, the American artillery shells always had a way to blow up these branches. The tenacious will of the railroad soldiers played a role at this time, and they were able to carry out the bombing and repair, carry out the strangulation battle to break the enemy blockade, and ensure the railway transportation of our army and friendly troops.
At the beginning of 1953, they repaired more than 129 kilometers of railways, including mountain and water transportation, creating the strongest transportation line for the Chinese and North Korean armies in terms of air force, anti-aircraft artillery units and logistics units.
After the end of the Korean War, the railroad soldiers returned home smoothly. Successive reforms have increased the original size and establishment of the railway force to a lot, such as the establishment of a new headquarters, the political department, the engineering department and the logistics department. A total of 10 divisions were expanded, and in 1955 they added an independent regiment.
Perhaps because of the increase in ability, their responsibilities will also increase. After October 1964, the functional attributes of china's railway corps were expanded a lot, such as the excavation of protective tunnels in forest areas, the expansion of mechanical battalions, the support of engineering communications, and the maintenance of water conservancy facilities.
Two: the merger of the railroad soldiers and the railway soldiers.
However, due to many reasons, the fate of the railroad soldiers after the end of the war became a thorny issue. In 1979, for example, the Railroads had no way to obtain military supplies directly from the State Finance Bureau, and they were classified as requiring independent accounting in the industry of streamlining troops.
But at this time, the work of the railway soldiers increased unabated, and they participated in 52 large-scale national construction projects, and by 1980, the total length of bridges had been extended by more than 455 kilometers, and the length of new railways had exceeded 12,593 kilometers.
In addition, national defense projects and people's livelihood construction, as well as infrastructure tasks, flood prevention and rescue, and response to natural disasters have become their basic tasks. However, in December 1982, the railway soldiers were eventually transferred to the ministry of railways at the behest of Deng Xiaoping.
Although many commanders and important cadres at that time raised objections, hoping that the central government could retain the railway troops, not let all the personnel be transferred, and it was a big deal to keep some people and then lay off most of the railway troops, even if this did not matter, but in the end this proposal was still not retained.
What's going on here? In 1975, Deng Xiaoping began to rectify the Chinese People's Liberation Army army, and He Zhengwen, who was then deputy chief of staff, made his views clear during a meeting with Deng Xiaoping that the railway soldiers should be laid off.
Although this proposal was put forward at an important meeting for the first time, Deng Xiaoping had already put it in his heart at that time. After other enlarged meetings, the retention of the railroad soldiers became a more serious problem.
In 1976, the central government decided to lay off the number of railway troops, and the maximum number of personnel should be maintained at 140,000, and the policy of enjoying the quota of the army would not be delayed. However, as soon as this first plan was announced, many railway veterans began to oppose it. They believe that the railroad soldiers have put too much effort into the construction of the country before and should not get such an ending.
So at that time, such a situation occurred in the railway troops, the soldiers ran to the company commander, the brigade commander ran to the commander of the railway troops, and they all broke the threshold of the offices at all levels, hoping that the superior leaders could work hard at the central government to keep the railway troops.
In 1980, Deng Xiaoping once again raised the issue of layoffs of railway troops, but at that time, Deng Xiaoping did not directly say that all the layoffs would be made, but that all the expenses required by the railway soldiers would be calculated separately and completely separated from the normal other troops.
This change has also made more people suspect that the railroad soldiers really can't be retained. In the second half of 1980, the railroad corps was reduced to 170,000, and the relevant institutions and staff were also reduced.
In 1981, Deng Xiaoping became chairman of the Central Military Commission. After many important meetings, he issued the latest order, saying that the Ministry of Railways and the Railway Corps should be merged. This news had already been made up at the time, and when it was reached by the Railroad Command, there was no need to continue the discussion.
When one thinks of layoffs and mergers, one can think of the history of the development of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. As early as the period of World War II, the great man Chairman Mao put forward the idea of streamlining the army and simplifying the administration. In order not to add unnecessary burdens to the country, it is normal for some troops to be laid off.
In 1958 Chinese the total number of NGSAR was no more than 2.4 million, but due to various reasons in the later period, the number of personnel in the Chinese NPLA soared by 6.4 million before 1970, which is actually a bad trend.
The first bad thing is that the expansion of personnel has increased military spending. At that time, the country had not yet fully implemented reform and opening up, and was in a state of economic underdevelopment. The second disadvantage is that the increase in personnel will make the troops prone to loose and lazy situations, which is not conducive to the development of the national army.
So streamlining is imperative, and after 1980 China has experienced the Korean War and the Vietnam War. There are already some capabilities that can make the motherland tend to a stable state in the international situation, and accelerating the downsizing of the troops within a reasonable range is an option for stabilizing the country's comprehensive national strength. This is a consideration of the overall situation, but unfortunately it still does not fully convince all the railroad soldiers.
In order to give an explanation to more railway soldiers, Deng Xiaoping also issued a public statement for the first time, and he only used one sentence to calm the dissatisfaction of all the railway soldiers. It turned out that Deng Xiaoping once said:
If there is a real war, everyone in the Ministry of Railways will be a railroad soldier. So from this explanation, we can know that merger is not the same as complete extinction, and their contribution still exists.