preface
In 1955, Xu Haidong was awarded the rank of general; looking back on his life, it can be said that he has made great achievements in battle. In the era of war and chaos, he unfortunately suffered from a serious lung disease, but he still dragged his sick body to the front line of the battle, and even the doctors were amazed by him...
Xu Haidong led the sick soldiers to break through with resourcefulness
On December 18, 1939, the investigators brought the situation: the Japanese puppet army stationed in the front line of Nanjing, Mingguang, and Bengbu, a total of more than 2,000 people, planned to sweep the New Fourth Army. Xu Haidong, as usual, personally led a troop to set off. All along, the enemy was bent on fighting a decisive battle with the New Fourth Army, but he did not expect that the New Fourth Army had already set a trap. The battle began on the 21st, and within 24 hours, after two fierce battles, a battalion of the Japanese puppet army was destroyed.
In this battle, the New Fourth Army suffered only 11 casualties, but killed, wounded, and captured more than 160 enemy soldiers, not only captured a Japanese detachment leader alive, but also killed a human commander named Mao Gaoshi on the spot. For the first time in central China, the enemy was thwarted in such a way, and when they saw that the momentum was not good, they hurriedly turned around and fled.
And how could Xu Haidong's troops let go of such a good opportunity? Under the brave pursuit of the New Fourth Army, it recaptured Zhoujiagang, Fuxingji and other places on the same day, crushing the enemy's first sweep to eastern Anhui.
However, due to excessive tension and fatigue, Xu Haidong's body was really unable to support it, and under the diagnosis of the doctor, it was found that it was a recurrence of lung disease, this time it was very serious, coughing up blood, but he relied on his tenacious perseverance and led the soldiers to persist in work with a fighting posture.
On January 28 of the following year, a battle summary meeting was held, and on the first night, Xu Haidong dragged his sick body and did not sleep all night, he did not use a pen, did not use paper, and relied on his own memory to print the outline of the speech at the meeting in his mind.
On this day, when the guard delivered breakfast, he had no appetite at all, watched the meal and drank a few mouthfuls of porridge before putting down the dishes, the guard looked at this scene, stood next to it and whispered: "Chief, are you sick again?" ”
Xu Haidong also knew that he was sick, but he still believed that he could still hold on, so he said to the guards: "Don't be fooled, where so many diseases come from, go, it will start." With that, he sorted out his clothes and walked toward the venue.
The venue was set up in a university classroom, Xu Haidong stepped up to the podium, in his usual loud voice to tell the experience of this battle, lessons learned, the more his voice spoke louder and louder, and the more excited he talked, he felt that something was pouring out of his stomach, but he tried to suppress it, and when he still said in a loud voice: "This is only the first battle, we want to continue to fight..." When suddenly a mouthful of blood poured out of his mouth, and he also fainted next to the table.
These days, his condition deteriorated severely, often coughing up blood, and then sleeping for many days in a row, and his lungs had a very serious problem, and lung disease, which at that time was almost terminal, has been following the troops on stretchers ever since.
In the days of following the action of the troops, Xu Haidong lay on a stretcher to command, he coughed up blood every day, but there was no drug treatment, heard that Chen pickle water can stop bleeding, let people find something to drink, the result did not work, and finally heard that brine can stop bleeding, he let people find something to use, the result is still ineffective, so the general who was dismissed is tenaciously supported under such bad conditions.
One night, the scouts brought information: the enemy was rushing in two ways in an attempt to pinch the New Fourth Army, which made the doctors and guards feel very nervous. They hurriedly packed up their things and prepared to transfer, Xu Haidong looked at the surrounding scene, some awareness, so he called the investigators and guards over, he listened to the situation, while looking at the map, and then pointed to the map with his hand and said: "From here to the west, and insert it obliquely on this mountain beam!" ”
The scout who heard this was very dazed, thinking that the commander did not hear the situation clearly, and said busily: "That side is the direction where the enemy's strength is strongest!" ”
"I know what you mean," Xu Haidong said, "to know the direction of the enemy's strongest troops, it is often that they do not pay attention to the direction of the movement of the small troops, and here it happens to be surrounded by mountains on both sides, and our small team is completely sure to drill into the mountains." ”
The company commander of the guard said, "What if the enemy finds out?" ”
Xu Haidong asked rhetorically, "Why do you only want to be just in case, but not ten thousand?" A big mountain is a big army of ten thousand people for us. ”
In the darkness of the night, Xu Haidong sat on a stretcher, commanded a small team of a company, and quietly entered a large mountain from the gap between the enemy's two roads. This "mountain king" who was good at guerrilla warfare jumped around in the deep mountains in the encirclement of dozens of enemy troops, which made the scheming Japanese puppet army helpless, they only knew that Xu Haidong was in the mountain forest, but they did not know where he was.
"Rest assured, the sky is falling"
Under the leadership of Xu Haidong, a company of troops successfully escaped from the "tiger's mouth". After the spring of 1940, the main force of the four detachments implemented the policy of eastward development, turning to the east of Jinpu Road. Xu Haidong had only a company of less than 100 men beside him, and he could not get out of bed and lay on a stretcher every day, which, in terms of his personality, was tantamount to imprisoning a fierce horse in a cage that did not see the light of day, and he was often angry and crackled on the stretcher.
One day in January 1941, an organ cadre came to Xu Haidong's stretcher and accidentally revealed the news of the "Anhui South Incident" that the central authorities strictly ordered not to tell Xu Haidong.
As a result, Xu Haidong's condition became more and more serious, and the Central Plains Bureau hurriedly reported Xu Haidong's situation to the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao. In May 1941, the Party Central Committee sent a telegram drafted by Chairman Mao himself from Yan'an, with a total of more than 200 words, most of which were words of comfort, and the last eight words of the telegram were: "Rest assured of illness, the sky will fall!" ”
After reading this telegram, Xu Haidong shed tears, and he wrote the last eight words of the telegram on the month card and placed it on the pillow on the stretcher, hoping that he could recover his health as soon as possible and work for the party.
Xu Haidong, an important leader of the CPC, has reached Dalian, and his intentions are unknown
Due to the harsh environment behind enemy lines and poor medical conditions, his condition was mixed and bad, and when he was good, he could only get up and sit for a while and read the documents, but he still could not walk on the ground. For the last five years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he spent the last five years on stretchers.
In August 1947, the central government sent a telegram to Xu Haidong asking him to leave Shandong for recuperation in the northeast, and in early September, he accompanied him to the northeast to transfer rear personnel, secretly entered Dalian, and placed him at No. 75 Wenhua Street, where the Soviet Red Army and the Dalian Municipal Party Committee stationed in Dalian were very concerned about Xu Haidong.
But on the third day after he arrived in Dalian, the US radio station reported: "Xu Haidong, an important leader of the Cpc, has reached Dalian, and his intentions are unknown."
After this news was known to Xu Haidong, he cried and laughed, slapped his thigh, and sighed and said, "Oh, what other attempts do I have for this old sick number?" My intention is very clear, that is, I want to cure the disease quickly, go to the front line at an early date, and overthrow Chiang Kai-shek! ”
How badly has Xu Haidong's condition deteriorated? After he arrived in Dalian, after a detailed examination by a pulmonary specialist in the United States and a Soviet military doctor, he said that most of his lung function was no longer functioning. The doctors heard that he was on the front line, relying only on some Chinese herbs, actually maintaining his life, and commanding his troops to fight, thinking that this was a great miracle.
The soviet red army colonel medic said: "His vitality is too tenacious, I don't understand why this is!" Xu Haidong always despised the disease as he did on the battlefield, and he believed that he did not die after being wounded 9 times, and the disease would not deprive him of time to continue working for the revolution.
He was always concerned about the situation of the battlefields in various places, and when he saw in the newspapers where the battles had been won, he happily talked and laughed, and when he heard which battle was not well fought, he did not speak for most of the day, how he hoped that he could go back to the battlefield, but his condition was always good and bad, even if his condition was stable, he could only get up for two or three hours. He was critically ill once, and only after many rescues was he released from danger.
In 1955, the People's Liberation Army implemented the rank system, Xu Haidong was named a general, for this reason, he was very uneasy in his heart, just at this time Zhou Enlai came to Dalian, went to No. 75 Wenhua Street to see him, he saw Zhou Enlai and said: "Premier, I am now lying in bed for many years, working for the party, paying too little, but now I want to award me the rank of great general, I really deserve it!" ”
And Zhou Enlai was very fond of this general who came from a kiln worker, not only for his military talent, but also for his bold loyalty, and when he saw Xu Haidong say this, he tightly held Xu Haidong's hand and said: "Comrade Haidong, grant you the rank of great general, not high or low, just right!" ”