In September 1955, in recognition of the generals who had made important contributions to the victory of the Chinese revolution and the founding of New China, our army held the first major award in history. This title produced more than a thousand founding generals, of which Xiao Ke was awarded the rank of general. Many people think that his rank is low, why? Because Shaw's qualifications are too great. During the Red Army, he served as the commander of the Red 6th Army, and later served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Second Front, a qualification that was at least at the level of a general.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the main force of the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and Xiao Ke served as the deputy commander of the 120th Division. At that time, the six chief and deputy division commanders, when they were awarded the title in 55 years, except for Xiao Ke, the other 5 were all marshals. It is precisely because of the outstanding seniority during the Red Army period and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that many friends believe that Xiao Ke only gave general a bit of a yield. So why is this happening? I think there are two main reasons.
The first reason was that after the Red Second and Sixth Armies and the Red Fourth Front met the division, Xiao Ke listened to the bias and said something excessive. On June 2, 1936, the Red 6th Army came to the Area of Lihua Jiawa and met with the First Red Fourth Front Army that came to greet it. Many years later, when recalling this past, he wrote: "When the Sixth Army met with the troops who came from afar to greet us in Lihua Nanzhijiawa on June 2, some old comrades-in-arms said to me: Zhang Guotao has broken with the central authorities, and the responsibility lies with the central authorities. ”
"I was originally somewhat dissatisfied with the losses of the central base areas and the serious attrition and weakening of the army on the one hand during the Long March, and in addition to one-sidedly listening to the distorted facts, I confused the leadership of the Central Committee before and after the Zunyi Conference, and expressed dissatisfaction with the Central Committee in front of some comrades. But when I met Commander-in-Chief Zhu, he sincerely explained to me what happened and changed his attitude. This is one of the most profound lessons of my political life, and I will never forget it. ”
What exactly was the "dissatisfaction" that Shaw expressed at that time, he did not say it himself, and we are not easy to guess. On June 22, Mr. Zhu rushed to Yulong and had an in-depth conversation with Xiao Ke, and he changed his attitude. From June 2 to June 22, there was a full 20 days between that. Because Xiao Ke was the commander of the Red 6 Army at that time and was in a high position, his "dissatisfaction" caused a very bad impact on the troops. This also influenced his later titles to some extent.
The second reason is that there were no obvious military achievements during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. First of all, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although they were also deputy division commanders of the Eighth Route Army, Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian were both on their own, the former founding the Jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese base area, and the latter participating in the creation of the Ji'nan base area and the Shandong base area, but Xiao Ke did not have the merits of hand. In 1939, he was sent to open up the Jirecha base area and served as the commander and political commissar of the Jirecha Advancing Army. Prior to this, the Great Rebellion in Jidong had failed for various reasons, and the superiors had high hopes for Xiao Ke, hoping that he could open up a new situation in Jidong.
Xiao Ke was full of ambition for this, and when he set out from Yan'an, he wrote a poem to show his heart: "Establish an advance army and penetrate deep into the heart of the enemy." Looking at the heat, the future is immeasurable. However, not long after he arrived in Jirecha, the Japanese army captured Guangzhou, and then returned to North China to deal with the Eighth Route Army, at this time if the main force of our army continued to advance into eastern Jidong, the battle line would be stretched, and there was a risk of being broken by the enemy. To this end, the headquarters changed its plan and decided that the main force of the advance army would not be in Jidong, but mainly to consolidate Pingxi. However, Xiao Ke worked in Pingxi for several years and had no significant achievements, and was finally transferred to the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region as deputy commander.
After the outbreak of the Liberation War, Xiao Ke became the commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army, partnering luo Ruiqing. In terms of scale, the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army was much larger than the Northwest Field Army, and much stronger than the local troops led by Xu Shuai, but its combat performance was far inferior to the latter two. Soon after, Xiao Ke's post was replaced by Yang Dezhi, who fought a Battle of Qingfengdian after taking office, completely annihilating the Kuomintang 3rd Army and capturing the enemy commander Luo Lirong alive. Soon after, Xiao Ke was transferred to the North China School, and it was not until after the End of the Pingjin Campaign that he served as the chief of staff of The Four Fields and became a corps-level cadre. When the title was awarded in 1955, the chiefs of staff of the four major field armies were either lieutenant generals or admirals, and from this point of view, it was natural for Xiao Ke to be awarded the title.