In the revolutionary years, there was a lot of war, and on the battlefield filled with gun smoke, bullets flying everywhere were always reaping the lives of soldiers. No revolutionary soldier has been spared, and after decades of fighting without being injured in the slightest, he is quite fortunate to be able to witness the founding heroes of new China than the heroic ancestors who fell on the revolutionary road.
However, what is even more rare is that some of the brothers who joined the Red Army together not only had the honor of ushering in the arrival of a new era, but also grew up step by step in their decades of combat career, becoming senior generals of the People's Liberation Army, and in 1955, the two brothers participated in the award ceremony together and became the founding generals of the people' republic.
Among the founding generals, the most famous and accomplished brothers are Wang Shusheng and Wang Hongkun, and the two brothers are one of the major generals and the other is a general. The other pairs of brothers, with the exception of Major General Xie Liang and Lieutenant General Xie Youfa, were all founding major generals. Only one person needs to be particularly mentioned, his seniority and status in the army are very high, he was a military commander in the Red Army, he was already a deputy commander of the corps on the eve of the founding of the Country, but for some reason he finally awarded only major general like his younger brother He Jixiang, and this founding hero was He Jinnian.
He was Xie Zichang's fellow countryman
Unlike most founding generals from the southern provinces, He Jinnian's hometown is located in Anding County, Shaanxi, in the northwest, which is also known as the cradle of the Red Revolution in the northwest. The reason why this border county town has such a lofty status is because a revolutionary celebrity has emerged, and this person is Xie Zichang.
As a pioneer of Shaanxi's revolutionary cause, Xie Zichang contributed the most precious time of his 38 years of life to this, and also influenced and guided groups of patriotic young people in Shaanxi to embark on the revolutionary road, of course, He Jinnian was one of them, and later in order to commemorate this revolutionary pioneer, Anding County was renamed Zichang County.
In 1927, He Jinnian was admitted to suide Fourth Normal School, when after Xie Zichang's efforts for two years, the revolutionary situation in Shaanxi flourished, in this revolutionary atmosphere, He Jinnian had planted the seeds of revolution in his heart and secretly joined the revolutionary organization, and a year later, his efforts and loyalty passed the test of the party organization and officially joined our party.
As the best among the patriotic young students, He Jinnian was indeed very capable, and after graduating from the Fourth Division, he began to work in the military movement. When the time was ripe, he, Cui Yangting, and Hao Xinya launched the famous Lanzhou Shuibeimen Military Riot, although there was only one platoon of officers and soldiers participating in the uprising, but it caused a great shock in the local area, and soon these people followed He Jinnian to join the Northwest Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army.
A brave and warlike Red Army general
After several years of revolutionary experience and a cruel environment of struggle, He Jinnian had transformed from a slightly naïve young student into an experienced Red Army general, and when the Northern Shaanxi Red Army Guerrilla Corps was established in 1934, the chief of staff of the headquarters was He Jinnian, and the commander-in-chief was naturally Xie Zichang. Unfortunately, a year later, Xie Zichang was injured and died, and the Red Army in northern Shaanxi created glory again under the leadership of Liu Zhidan.
At that time, the two base areas of Shaanxi-Gansu-Gansu and northern Shaanxi, which had opened windows in the northwest region, were very close to each other, and there was only one Ansai County in the middle, but to capture this Ansai County, it was necessary to take the military stronghold of Li Jia collapse, and this task was handed over to He Jinnian, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 84th Division of the Red 27th Army.
Although He Jinnian was mentally prepared, after four days of fighting, he still did not succeed. Finally, after carefully observing the terrain around Li Jia collapsed, he had a plan. A group of climbing experts were selected from the regiment to form a commando team, and that night they climbed over the cliff south of Li Jia collapse in the night, and the enemy did not expect that the Red Army would rush from the rear, and as soon as the gunshots of the commando team rang out, the enemy immediately panicked, and the night was too dark to see the situation clearly, and it was quickly attacked by the red regiment.
As soon as the Li family collapsed, the county seat of Ansai was no problem, and the two base areas were connected. Because of this battle achievement, after the establishment of the Red Fifteenth Army, He Jinnian was promoted to the commander of the Red 81st Division, and the political commissar of the division was zhang Dazhi mentioned earlier.
In September 1935, in order to counter the enemy's "advance and suppression", the Red Fifteenth Army launched the Battles of Laoshan and Yulin Bridge. Although the equipment of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi is incomparable with that of the enemy, the soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and commanders and fighters at all levels are also experienced in hundreds of battles and flexibly move various guerrilla tactics.
The invading enemy army was either exhausted and suffered heavy losses, or did not enter the Red Army ambush circle and suffered heavy losses, and in less than two months, the 67th Army that invaded the Soviet zone lost nearly four regiments of troops, and even one division was destroyed. The More the Red Army fought, the more courageous it became, the more the enemy fought, the more afraid it became, and in the end it could only retreat with the whole army.
The Red 81st Division, under the leadership of He Jinnian, annihilated more than a thousand people in the northeast corner at the Battle of Ganquan. After the end of the campaign, the Shaanxi-Gansu region was expanded and consolidated, and favorable conditions were created by the arrival of the Central Red Army in northern Shaanxi to end the Long March.
Participate in the Crusades
In February 1936, the Red 81st Division was ordered to withdraw from Gangquan and launched the Eastern Crusade campaign after assembling at Ganguyi. Although the journey was in danger, it was generally smooth. At the end of April, the Red First Army held a meeting of cadres at and above the division level in Xiangning County.
At the meeting, the chairman announced that the crusade was coming to an end, and also made a brief summary of the battle, and finally announced to everyone a sad news that Comrade Liu Zhidan had died in the battle of Sanjiao Town ten days ago.
When He Jinnian, who joined the army, heard the news, his heart felt like he had been hit hard, and he was so uncomfortable that he did not listen to what the chairman said later. In the following days, He Jinnian kept recalling these years and Liu Zhidan's bits and pieces, and in this painful memory, He Jinnian led the 81st Division back to Yanchuan, and the Eastern Crusade was over.
Back in Yan'an, He Jinnian entered the Red Army University for further study. After graduation, he received a message that the Red 81st Division had restored the red 27th Army. At that time, the chairman also called him to give him a command:
"Comrade Jinnian, you are a native of northern Shaanxi, and this 81st Division is also a Red Army contingent formed by the people of northern Shaanxi. Although everyone comes from different places, they are all their own comrades, and you should not divide each other, after all, it is better to have more people to do the revolution."
Soon on the basis of the 81st Division, several units, including the Guanzhong Independent Regiment and the First Independent Regiment of Northern Shaanxi, were added to form the Red 27th Army. He Jinnian served as military commander, Wang Ping was the military political commissar, chief of staff Li Shouxuan, and director of the political department Li Zhimin. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, only He Jinnian was a major general, and the other three were either generals or lieutenant generals.
Although He Jinnian's military rank was inferior to that of the three of them, his position and military achievements were very prominent.
Commander of the Bandits
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, He Jinnian came to the northeast to serve as the commander of the Hejiang Military Region, and the name of his political commissar was Zhang Pingzhi, which was very unfamiliar to everyone, but when it came to another name, everyone was familiar with it. Zhang Wentian, yes, is Zhang Wentian, who replaced Bogu as the general manager after the Zunyi meeting. Being able to partner with such a big person shows how powerful He Jinnian is.
At that time, there was a serious problem of bandits in the Hejiang area, and after He Jinnian took office, he launched a war to suppress bandits; in less than six months, several major bandit leaders Xie Wendong, Li Huatang, Zhang Yuchun, and Sun Rongjiu were all arrested, and the other small and medium-sized bandit nests were either wiped out or voluntarily surrendered, and the bandit plague that had plagued the local area for decades was eradicated.
By 1949, He Jinnian was already the deputy commander of the Fifteenth Corps, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was also rated as a deputy corps. However, due to the involvement of Gao, when evaluating military ranks in 1955, He Jinnian was only rated as a colonel. After everyone heard the news, not only others, but also the marshal had three people to fight for him, at that time, Boss He and President Peng asked President Zhu to report this matter to the chairman, and the chairman also thought it was too low, saying that at least he would also award the major general.
General He Jinnian read well when he was young, and later fought well in battles, and also painted well in his later years. It turned out that after leaving retirement, the old general who had passed the seventy years of age liked painting and specially worshiped Zhang Lichen as a teacher. The old general worked hard, and after more than a year, his painting skills increased greatly, especially his painting bamboo, revealing the momentum of standing tall in the sky and the strength of not bending, just like the general himself.
On May 11, 2003, the old general died of illness at the age of 93.
epilogue
Once he was an energetic young student, his future could have enjoyed a stable and comfortable working life. But the bloody Fang Gang insisted on his faith and threw himself into the war-torn revolutionary cause without hesitation. In more than ten years of combat career, he became a founding general with great merit, although the evaluation of his merits was somewhat unfair, but the general did not have the slightest dissatisfaction, and for decades, he devoted the rest of his life to the construction of the new time, and contributed his life to the prosperity of his motherland and the rejuvenation of the nation. He was an honorable ancestor, and his historical exploits will always be remembered by the people.