From a cook-in-law to a senior general, as far as I know, there is only one person in the two armies of the Kuomintang and the Communists.
He was Zhang De'an, the commander of the Red Army Division.
It is not known where this Zhang De'an division commander is from. How he went from being a brother-in-law to a division commander is not recorded in historical records. For this legendary figure, there are only a few fragments of narration in the biography of General Hu Qicai, including a sentence: "Zhang De'an, the former commander of the 35 regiment, was born as a brother-in-law, and he is recognized as a good hand at grain." ”
Hu Qi was the Red Fourth Front, and this Zhang De'an was naturally also the Red Fourth Front. He and Hu Qicai were military and political partners in the 35th Regiment of the Red 4th Army, Zhang De'an was the regimental commander, and Hu Qicai was the political commissar. Later, Zhang De'an was transferred to the independent division commander of the Red 4th Army.
The division commander who came from this brother-in-law was naturally fought at the first level, and there was definitely nothing to say in fighting. According to Hu Qicai's account, he would engage in grain and was a rare "double general". Unexpectedly, during the Long March, this Zhang De'an division commander fought a defeat in his best grain.
In July 1936, the Red Fourth Front went north again, crossing the meadow for the second time. The Red 4th Army continued to serve as a rearguard, while the Independent Division was in turn the rearguard of the Red 4th Army. The biggest problem encountered by the officers and men of the whole division is the shortage of food.
Because the weeds were all eaten by the troops in front, the Red 4 soldiers were hungry and hungry, and the people were thin and thin. Wang Jian'an, the military political commissar, had no choice but to find Zhang De'an and say, "Zhang De'an, you are a well-known master of grain, and I will give you a task to get some grain within seven days!" ”
Zhang De'an set off with a company.
On the seventh day, he returned, but he was dejected. He led his troops to run in the vast grassland for seven days and six nights, but he was stunned that he had not found a single grain of grain. Why? Vast grassland, almost no one.
Born as a brother-in-law, recognized as a master of grain, Zhang De'an planted it for the first time. Wang Jian'an, the military political commissar, was also a tiger general, and when he saw that Zhang De'an had not obtained a single grain of grain, he was angry on the spot, and he reprimanded Zhang De'an fiercely, regardless of whether it was three or seven or twenty-one. In Hu Qicai's later words: "[Commissar Wang] sprayed spit for half a day, until the spit was almost dry, and then led the team to continue to advance." ”
People are iron rice and steel, officers and soldiers have no food to eat, many people fell on the road, and they have not stood up since. Zhang De'an walked at the end and died unbearably. Due to the shortage of grain, there were more than a dozen incidents of food quarrels in one day in the whole division.
Zhang De'an's face darkened, he couldn't sit still, and ordered: "All assemble!" ”
When the troops gathered, Zhang De'an said with red eyes: "I have been looking for grain for seven days and have run for hundreds of miles, and I am very ashamed!" I didn't see a single family, I didn't see a goat, I didn't get food, I'm sorry for everyone! Today is the time! He then ordered the guards to bring their own warhorses over, "Snap! "The gun fell from his hand and he shot the horse. Finally, he choked up and said, "There's no way, you have to save people first!" ”
Later, the commissar also shot his own war horse.
Relying on the two horses of the division commander and the political commissar, the whole division managed to get out of the meadow.
They were also the last Red Army division to come out of the meadows.
This is the only historical record of Commander Zhang De'an. What happened to the future of This brother-in-law's Division Commander Zhang De'an? It is reasonable to think that a Red Army division commander should at least have records in the history of the Party and the military, but unfortunately, the author has searched for a lot of information, but has not found any other records about Zhang De'an.
Where did this Zhang De'an division commander go? There is no record of history, and it has become a mystery.