Speaking of the founding general Xu Shiyou, almost everyone knows that he has fought all his life, has made many meritorious achievements, and at the age of 74, he also commanded the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam. In his long and colorful military career, General Xu Shiyou has had many partners, and today we will talk about his partner Chen Haisong during the Red Army. Chen Haisong is a native of Dawu, Hubei Province, born in 1914, 9 years younger than Xu Shiyou. Chen Haisong's father was a hard-working and kind farmer who made a living by farming, and in addition to farming, he also drove boats to fish and subsidize the family, barely able to maintain the family's food and clothing.
In 1930, at the age of 16, Chen Haisong joined the Red Army and worked as a service soldier at the battalion headquarters. Seeing that his comrades-in-arms were killing the enemy on the front line, but he could only follow the battalion commander, Chen Haisong could not wait, and repeatedly asked the battalion commander to go to the front, and finally the battalion commander approved his request. Because of his bravery in battle and good use of strategy, Chen Haisong was soon promoted to instructor of the machine gun company. He was a natural political worker, very good at organization, and he could grasp the main points at a glance at a material, and he could explain it in the most attractive way, so he was very popular with the soldiers. Since then, Chen Haisong's position has been continuously improved, and he became the political commissar of the regiment at the age of 18.
At the end of 1932, the Sichuan warlord Tian Songyao mobilized nearly 60,000 troops from 38 regiments to launch a three-way siege against the Red Fourth Front. The Red Army rose up to resist and, after nearly three months of bitter fighting, finally repelled the enemy. Chen Haisong also made many achievements in this counter-siege and was appointed by his superiors as the political commissar of the Red 25th Division. Who was the commander of the Red 25th Division at this time? It was the famous warlord Xu Shiyou. After taking office, Chen Haisong demanded that political cadres at all levels in the whole division must learn to command and fight wars, saying: "Political cadres must learn to fight wars, and political cadres who cannot fight wars cannot do a good job in political work." Under the strict requirements of Chen Haisong, the Red 25th Division produced many political work cadres who could write and fight, and it was rumored for a while that it was a beautiful talk.
In October 1933, Liu Xiang led heavy troops to launch a six-way siege against the Red Fourth Front, and the Red 25th Division was ordered to hold the area around Xuanhan, Daxian and Wanyuan. During the Battle of Xuanhan, Chen Haisong had been commanding from the front, and was injured in his right leg by an enemy grenade, but he still could not hold the line of fire until the battle was won. After the Wanyuan Defense War broke out, Chen Haisong and his troops held out on Damian Mountain for a full 135 days, during which they repelled dozens of enemy attacks, tried to ensure that the position was not lost, and took the lead in counterattacking the enemy many times at critical junctures to ensure the victory of the Wanyuan Defense War.
Later, Chen Haisong and Xu Shiyou led the Red 25th Division to participate in the Battle of Huangmaoya, and together with the brother troops, they annihilated more than 14,000 people in Tian Songyao's army, making an extremely important contribution to crushing the enemy's six-way siege. In September 1934, Chen Haisong was promoted to political commissar of the Red 9 Army for his military merits, and Xu Shiyou was made deputy commander, half a rank lower than Chen Haisong. At this time, Chen Haisong was only 20 years old, and he became the youngest military commissar in the Red Army. After the three main forces of the Red Army met the division, Chen Haisong led his troops to cross the Yellow River in the west, and died heroically in the bloody battle between Liyuankou and Majiajun, at the age of 23.