Among the column commanders of the Northeast Field Army, there was a column commander who was unlucky, others were promoted all the way, but he was demoted all the way, who was he?
This man was Major General Zeng Kelin.
Zeng Kelin was not too famous in the Red Army and during the War of Resistance, and at the end of the War of Resistance, he was only the commander of the thirteenth sub-district of the Jichareliao Military Region, equivalent to a brigade commander. His popularity increased when he was ordered by Li Yunchang, commander of the military region, to enter the northeast. As a result, he became the first commander of the Eighth Route Army to enter the northeast.
His smooth journey to the northeast was also due to his cooperation with the Soviet Red Army. At that time, Shanhaiguan was still stationed with Japanese troops, and if Zeng Kelin's troops alone annihilated this force, it would cause a lot of losses, but with the support of the Artillery fire of the Soviet Red Army, Shanhaiguan was successfully taken and all the way to Shenyang by car.
After Zeng Kelin arrived in Shenyang, he was not recognized by the Soviet Red Army, and even did not allow him to enter the city for a while. Later, it was his commissar who revealed the scythe and axe party emblem on his arm, and Zeng Kelin was assigned to an area and given him an arsenal left by the Japanese army.
Zeng Kelin is not polite, in just one month, he will make the troops from 4,000 to 60,000, although the composition of personnel is more complicated, but Zeng Kelin for a while felt that the situation in the northeast is very good. Later, he clashed with the Soviet side over the command and transfer, and the Soviet army sent people and Zeng Kelin to Yan'an to report on the current situation in the northeast.
Yan'an heard Zeng Kelin say that weapons were everywhere in the northeast, and the team was also very well developed, and finally made a decision to send various large armies to advance into the northeast. In this way, 100,000 Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and 20,000 cadres went to the northeast by land and sea.
After arriving in the northeast, the distribution situation changed somewhat, because Chiang Kai-shek signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Soviet Union, and weapons were no longer everywhere, and the mass base was not as good as imagined. Many people who once defected to the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, because they were the first troops to arrive in the northeast, surrendered first, and the nationalist army came and rebelled.
After Zeng Kelin returned to the northeast from Yan'an, he served as a division plus a brigade of the Shandong Eighth Route Army and two brigades under his command, which were combined into the three columns of the Northeast Democratic United Army, with Cheng Shicai as commander and he as deputy commander. Cheng Shicai was transferred away after half a year, and he took over as the commander of the column.
In the more than a year that Zeng Kelin led the 3rd Column, there were not many outstanding achievements, although he fought a battle, the Battle of Xiangsibao Linjiang, but the real commander of the Fourth Column was Han Xianchu, the deputy commander of the Fourth Column.
In 1948, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army was changed to the Northeast Field Army, and Zeng Kelin's position was replaced by Han Xianchu, who would be the deputy commander of the 7th Column; in 1949, the Northeast Field Army was changed to the Fourth Field Army, and he was transferred from the deputy commander to the commander of the Tank Division.
From the deputy military rank to the division level cadre, some people say that he made many mistakes in the northeast operation and was demoted, but what affected his position was his ability to fight. In the end, Zeng klin was awarded the title of Major General. Those who had once been equal to him were lieutenant generals or admirals.