In September 1955, our army awarded a number of generals with the rank of ten marshals, ten generals and 55 generals. Many of those who were awarded the rank of general were former Kuomintang rebels. However, everyone was surprised to find that among these people, former Kuomintang heavyweights such as Fu Zuoyi and Cheng Qian did not receive titles, while Chen Mingren, a former subordinate of Cheng Qian, became a general.
In fact, this is because Fu Zuoyi and Cheng Qian's "status is special", and the number of titles is very limited. Therefore, it was decided that for the time being, no titles would be awarded to those who served in local offices and those who were not in the military.
1. Fu Zuo's righteous battle exploits were outstanding
Fu Zuoyi was a good combatant among the Generals of the Kuomintang Army, who participated in the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 and became famous in 1927 for the Battle of Zhuozhou, which was recorded in military history as an example of modern urban offensive and defensive warfare. When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in the 1930s, Fu Zuoyi served as the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army, leading his soldiers to defend the territorial integrity of the country. At the mobilization meeting of officers, patriotic soldiers were called upon to have the responsibility of defending the territory. He once said, "Yue Wumu is 38 years old and heroic, I am over 38 years old, I died for the anti-Japanese resistance, no complaints and no regrets."
During the Great Wall War of Resistance, Fu Zuoyi led his army out of Shanhaiguan and defended the city in a bloody battle, killing a total of 246 Japanese troops. In April 1935, because of his meritorious service against the Japanese army, the Kuomintang commended him and promoted him to the second rank of general of the army, and was awarded the Kuomintang Baoding Medal. For the next five years, Fu Zuoyi and his subordinates continued to fight tenaciously with the determination to die. In 1937, in order to preserve his strength, Yan Xishan secretly transferred the main force to Linfen. Fu Zuoyi resolutely shouldered the heavy responsibility of defense, and took two brigades of men and horses to garrison the isolated city. Subsequently, the Japanese army covered with dozens of aircraft and hundreds of cannons to frantically attack the city, and Taiyuan was in danger.
Seeing that there was a possibility of martyrdom at any time, Fu Zuoyi wrote a letter to his hometown in Ronghe, saying: "As long as there is still a breath, I will vow to fight the Japanese and Kou to the end, and sacrifice my life for the country. And inspire himself with the name of Mencius, "sacrifice yourself for righteousness", and comfort your relatives. Subsequently, Fu Zuoyi successfully broke through from Taiyuan and covered the safe evacuation of Wei Lihuang and Sun Lianzhong's troops, making great achievements. In December 1937, Fu Zuoyi was promoted to general of the Kuomintang Army for his merits, and commander-in-chief of the North Road Army in the 2nd Theater of Operations.
At the end of 1939, when the Japanese army invaded Changsha, Fu Zuoyi made a long-distance attack on Baotou, annihilating two enemy regiments and 300 reinforcements in half a month, and blowing up more than 60 tanks and cars. In the spring of the following year, the Japanese army clamored for revenge on Fu Zuoyi, gathered more than 30,000 people, horses, cars and thousands of vehicles, and occupied Wuyuan. Fu Zuoyi led his troops to raid Wuyuan, fought a bloody battle for two days and nights, killed 300 Japanese troops such as Japanese Lieutenant General Kazuo Mizukawa and Shosa Ohashi, and uprooted the Kuwahara secret service and annihilated two puppet army divisions at the same time.
Successive victories in successive battles have caused a sensation throughout the country, and newspapers and periodicals of various parties have issued articles of commendation. Fu Zuoyi was therefore awarded the "Order of the National Glory" by the Kuomintang, and this level of "medal" was previously awarded only by Chiang Kai-shek. Later, in the War of Liberation, Fu Zuoyi took the initiative to abandon the city and surrender, protecting the ancient capital of Beijing from the damage of the war.
Due to the nature of the award in 1955, the original generals were all promoted to a higher level to be awarded. Fu Zuoyi was originally a general, and if he was promoted to marshal, he would make the quota of the ten marshals tight. In addition, at that time, he took the initiative to ask to be the minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, which was no longer a military position, so he was not awarded a title.
Second, Cheng Qian's "generation score" is high
Cheng Qian was one of the elders of the League, born in 1882, at the age of 16, he joined the League at the age of 22. On revolutionary qualifications, he is even older than Chiang Kai-shek. In the early 1920s, Cheng Qian and Chiang Kai-shek were both close associates of Sun Yat-sen, equivalent to the status of right and left arm. Only later, Chiang Kai-shek took the "lady route", seized military power, and gained the upper hand of Cheng Qian.
During the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek went down into the wilderness and frantically created massacres. Cheng Qian, as commander of the Sixth Army, received a secret order from the Wuhan government to arrest Chiang Kai-shek. Cheng Qian, not believing that Chiang Kai-shek would split the National Revolutionary Army, refused to carry out his arrest plan on the grounds that "the stakes are high", and tried to persuade the Wuhan government to reconcile with Chiang Kai-shek.
At that time, Cheng Qian only ordered his men to defend Nanjing, but he did not expect that his subordinates He Yaozu and Yang Jiejun had already defected to Chiang Kai-shek, resulting in the loss of Nanjing. After Cheng Qian found out, he wanted to transfer the 19th Division to Wuhan, but was almost eliminated by Chiang Kai-shek. Since then, the two have formed a vendetta. After Chiang Kai-shek's reinstatement, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, and others all welcomed him, but Cheng Qian, alone, resolutely opposed it, and said: "Opposing Chiang Kai-shek is my consistent stand and will not change because of my personal relationships and personal interests."
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling were married, and their subordinates wanted to send gifts and congratulations. Cheng Qian publicly wrote in the instructions: Jiang Song is shameless in marriage, and it is also shameless for others to give gifts, and it is even more shameless for us to give gifts. Annoyed, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to suppress Cheng Qian, so he promoted Li Zongren to balance him, causing greater dissatisfaction. Subsequently, Li Zongren detained Cheng Qian for some reason, and Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed and took the opportunity to arrange for his men to break up Cheng Qian's Sixth Army. After Cheng Qian was released from surveillance, he returned home to become a "YuGong". It was not until after the "918 Incident" that Chiang Kai-shek electrified him for the second time that he made a comeback.
At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Cheng Qian served as the chief of staff of the Kuomintang Military Commission, and after the anti-Japanese War broke out in full swing, Cheng Qian adopted an attitude of supporting our party. Chiang Kai-shek has been looking for opportunities to move Cheng Qian, but because his qualifications are too old, Chiang Has not been able to find a suitable excuse, only frequently transferred him to a fictitious position. In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil war, resulting in heavy losses to the Kuomintang troops, and announced his resignation for the third time. At this time, the Kuomintang was running for "acting president", and Cheng Qian was also among the candidates. His position in the Kuomintang military and political circles can be seen from this.
However, Cheng Qian himself has always been very clear in his heart that he cannot become the "acting president", and he does not want to be the "acting president". So he voted for Li Zongren, a Gui clan who had been squeezing him out. However, in August 1949, together with his subordinate Chen Mingren, he surrendered in the Changsha uprising. Before Cheng Qian surrendered, he was already a general at the level of the Kuomintang. Because he was the elder who followed Sun Yat-sen all the way, everyone at the bottom called him "Song Gong". At this time, it is obviously inappropriate to grant him the rank of "general".
epilogue
The purpose of the 1955 award was to be commended, so a rank was given to all those who were awarded the title. Fu Zuoyi and Cheng Qian had a special status, they were already generals before liberation, and it was impossible to award the rank of general again, which would make them and their former subordinates become the same level, which was equivalent to a disguised demotion. If they are given the rank of marshal, it will make the existing number of marshals tight and inappropriate. In addition, after liberation, fu zuoyi and Cheng Qian were no longer in military positions, so they were not awarded military ranks.