In 1987, You Taizhong, commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, was 69 years old and was about to reach the maximum length of service in the post of the Grand Military Region.
Deng Xiaoping personally pointed out Zhang Wannian because he was the most capable of fighting among his fellow generals. As early as 1979, after the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, Zhang Wannian, the commander of the 127th Division at the time, attracted the attention of Deng Xiaoping, then chief of the general staff. After reading his operational research article "Killing Chickens with Ox knives and Talking About the Problem of Concentrating Forces to Fight the War of Annihilation," Deng Xiaoping greatly appreciated the tactics of concentrating on the use of troops and super-commonly used troops.
01, You Taizhong's command style has 4 iconic actions, and his memory is super strong
You Taizhong was born on December 13, 1918, to a poor peasant family in Yougang Village, Gaomo Township, Guangshan County, Henan Province. In August 1932, he served as a soldier in the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, 29th Regiment, 10th Division of the Red Fourth Front. During the Red Army period, he successively served as a company commander, a political instructor and a youth officer of the Political Department of the 93rd Division, and also trained at the Political University of the Red Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, You Taizhong had been fighting with Liu Deng's army, successively serving as the instructor of the 12th Company of the 772nd Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, the commander of the 8th Company of the 2nd Battalion, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, and the commander of the 17th Regiment. He successively participated in the Qiquan Village, Changshengkou, Shentouling, Xiangtangpu Ambush Battle, Hundred Regiments Battle, and Qingfu Campaign.
During the 8-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, his subordinates summed up You Taizhong's command style as four iconic actions: if he pinched his forehead with three fingers, it meant that he was planning, and no one dared to disturb him at this time; if he raised his hand to press the brim of his hat, it meant that the battle determination had been decided and no one could change; if he took off his hat, it meant that he must command at the front, and no one dared to dissuade him; if he touched his cheek with three fingers, it meant that the victory of the battle had been decided and that he was ready to celebrate.
During the Liberation War, You Taizhong successively served as deputy brigade commander of the 6th Column and 17th Brigade, deputy brigade commander of the 16th Brigade, brigade commander of the 16th Brigade, and commander of the 34th Division of the 12th Army of the 3rd Corps of the Erye 3rd Corps.
In addition to being brave and fierce in fighting, You Taizhong also has the advantage of having a super memory. When he was on combat assignments, others wrote them down on paper, he never took notes, they all took notes in his head.
After returning to the troops, he pointed to the map to convey that the departure time, the place of passage, what river systems, and when to arrive at a certain place were not bad at all. Many times, he conveyed the battle orders to the troops, and the combat orders of the superiors arrived, and there was no mistake after comparing them.
Someone asked him for the secret, and he said: This is all forced by no culture. People use notes, I take notes with my heart. Fighting a war is a death sentence, and we must not be sloppy.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, You Taizhong commanded the 34th Division to participate in the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Jincheng Defense Operation, and the Tactical Counterattack Operation in the Autumn of 1952, and successfully completed the combat tasks entrusted by his superiors.
In 1952, You Taizhong returned to China to study. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of founding major general, and thereafter he served as deputy commander of the 12th Army, deputy commander of the 27th Army, commander of the Beijing Military Region, commander of the Inner Mongolia Front Command Post of the Beijing Military Region, and commander of the Chengdu Military Region.
On October 22, 1982, You Taizhong was transferred to the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region. On November 21, 1987, he stepped down as commander. The following year, on August 15, he was transferred to the second secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Military Commission. In September 1988, he was awarded the rank of general. In April 1990, he stepped down from his leadership position. On July 24, 1998, he died in Guangzhou at the age of 80 due to ineffective medical treatment.
02, Zhang Wannian joined the Eighth Route Army at the age of 16, and the American general saw him and said that he could catch you
Zhang Wannian was born on August 1, 1928, to a poor peasant family in Huang County, Shandong Province. In 1944, at the age of 16, he joined the Eighth Route Army and was a general from The Four Fields.
Zhang Wannian participated in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, from Shandong to the northeast, and from the northeast to Guangxi and Guangdong, the first time he participated in the battle was to fight with the white blade of the Japanese army, once launched a counter-charge against a platoon of the Kuomintang, led more than 20 people to capture a security regiment of 1500 people, fought bloody for 6 days and nights in the "Tashan Blockade Battle" of the Liaoshen Campaign, and won the title of "Combat Hero".
In 1968, Zhang Wannian, then deputy director of the Operations Department of the Guangzhou Military Region, suddenly disappeared for a year. At that time, China was "aiding Vietnam to resist the United States", and he was sent by the Central Military Commission to Vietnam to learn the experience of the War to Resist the United States.
He participated in the Battle of Xishan and the Battle of Donghe as an advisor, not only understanding the operational characteristics of the US army, but also inspecting and studying the vietnamese army's campaign tactics of using mountain jungles and tropical rainforests to attack the US army, as well as field survival and logistical support methods. This provided a good reference for him to command his troops to participate in the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
What Zhang Wannian did not know was that when he participated in the Battle of Xishan in Vietnam, he impressed an American soldier. In 1998, when Zhang Wannian visited the United States to visit the US Army Base at Fort Benning, the commander of the army, General Shaley, hugged him as soon as they met him and said excitedly: I can catch you today.
It turned out that in 1968, when Zhang Wannian was inspecting the Battle of Xishan, Shali was a scout who was fighting in the Route 9 area not far from Zhang Wannian.
In June 1968, Zhang Wannian was transferred to the commander of the 127th Division. The 127th Division is a famous "Iron Army Division" of the People's Liberation Army, formerly known as the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, which participated in the Nanchang Uprising and the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and successively walked out of 5 marshals and 7 generals, and more than 330 generals have worked and fought in the division.
03, the Vietnamese shouted "crush 127, capture Zhang Wannian alive", almost won by Vietnamese agents
In early 1979, Zhang Wannian led the 127th Division with the 43rd Army to the Guangxi front to participate in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam. Zhang Wannian had been in the battlefield for a long time, but the soldiers of the 127th Division had never experienced the smoke of gunfire, and before the war, the 127th Division was stripped of a large number of backbones and replenished with 3,000 new soldiers.
However, Zhang Wannian would lead the troops, and he trained the 127th Division into a "iron" like a unit in more than a month, and fought four consecutive battles in the Areas of Dom ma and Lu Binh on the outskirts of the Vietnamese military town of Lang Son, and won four battles and four victories.
In the first battle, on the evening of February 16, 1927, the 127th Division entered Vietnam in batches from Aidian, 92 kilometers from Friendship Pass. At 6:40 a.m. on the 17th, the fire of 7 artillery battalions was concentrated to blow up the Vietnamese positions into a sea of fire. After 40 minutes, Zhang Wannian ordered all the troops to launch a general attack, which took less than a day to capture Zhima, open the passage to luping on the afternoon of the 18th, and approach luping on the 26th.
The second battle, from 27 February to 2 March, captured Luping. On the 28th, Zhang Wannian entered Luping City, and the streets were plastered with slogans that read, "Crush 127, capture Zhang Wannian alive." Subsequently, the 127th Division cut off Route 4 and blocked the enemy's 338th Division's western reinforcements.
In the third battle, from March 3 to 6, the Qiqiao River was forcibly crossed, the Mimai Mountain was captured, and the friendly troops attacked Langshan in coordination with the friendly forces. In the early morning of March 4, by the Banks of the Qi Pian River, several Vietnamese agents touched Zhang Wannian's command post car and punched 16 bullet holes, killing the interpreter. At that time, Zhang Wannian was thinking about combat by the river and survived.
As soon as he returned to the command post, he received a call from Chu Chuanyu, commander of the 43rd Army, asking twice whether you were Zhang Wannian or not. Zhang Wannian was inexplicably asked, it turned out that the Vietnamese army had just broadcast, the 127th Division command vehicle had been destroyed, and Zhang Wannian had been captured alive.
In the fourth battle, from March 6 to 10, Lu Binh was withdrawn, and the hui carbine was killed consecutively, crushing the Vietnamese counterattack three times.
On 11 March, the 127th Division withdrew to The Country. During the 22-day battle, the 127th Division killed 2,125 vietnamese prisoners, reduced the number of combat personnel by more than 1,000, and none of them were captured. In May, the north was returned to construction.
In November 1987, Zhang Wannian was personally appointed commander of the Guangzhou Military Region by Deng Xiaoping, because he could fight and lead troops. He was promoted to the rank of general in June 1993.
At 17:00 on January 14, 2015, General Zhang Wannian died in Beijing at the age of 87 due to ineffective medical treatment.
A generation of gods of war came to an end.