When the Chinese People's Liberation Army conferred the rank in 1955, there was a general who was awarded a rank that surprised many people, and this general was Zeng Kelin, the first person to leave the customs after the War of Resistance.
Zeng Kelin was the first person to lead the formed Eighth Route Army into the northeast after Japan's surrender, he took 4,000 people out of the customs, and in his heyday his command expanded to 80,000 (60,000) people, and the total number of the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army from Guannei at that time was only 100,000, there is no doubt that Zeng Kelin laid a strong foundation for the rapid development of the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army in the northeast.
But Zeng Kelin, who had built such a feat, the commander of Higashino's early main column, was only a major general when he was awarded the title in 1955.
If there is no special reason, the column commanders of Higashino should all be ranked lieutenant generals or above, and looking at the 12 column commanders from Higashino later, there are 5 admirals, 4 lieutenant generals, and 3 major generals when they are awarded titles.
The reason why the 3 major generals are major generals has to say the following:
Duan Suquan, commander of the 8th Column, had been out of the army for 3 years during the Red Army period; He Jinnian, commander of the 11th Column, was born in the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and was implicated by the secretary of the Northeast Bureau at that time; zhong Wei, the commander of the 12th Column, had always been disobedient, and because of his disobedience, his 146th Division was ambushed by Bai Chongxi at Qingshuping.
Only Zeng Kelin, when the war for the northeast was in full swing, was precisely the time to employ people, but he left the field force from the position of commander of the 3rd Column and was only a major general when he was awarded the title in 55.
There's also a comparison.
Zeng Kelin's 3 columns, the former commander Cheng Shicai is a lieutenant general, and the deputy commander Zeng Guohua is also a lieutenant general. The 4th Column, which fought side by side with the 3rd Column in Southern Manchuria, the two commanders Wu Kehua and Hu Qicai were both lieutenant generals, and the deputy commander of the 4th Column, Han Xianchu, was more fierce, first replacing Zeng Kelin as the commander of the 3rd Column, and then becoming a general.
Around 2004, the relevant departments made a special film "Zeng Kelin Out" to reflect and commemorate General Zeng Kelin, who made outstanding contributions to the occupation of northeast China. Combing through it carefully, in addition to the marshals and generals, even the admirals who have appeared in the film and television under my real name rarely have such honors, while Zeng Kelin is only a major general, so it is more rare and more confusing:
What makes Zeng klin, who has such an honor, only a major general?
First, among the many generals of the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army, why did Zeng Kelin become the first person to get out of the customs?
Zeng Kelin has many famous heads,"
The first person to get out of the customs", "the first person to advance into the northeast", "to seize the northeast pioneer official", "to seize the northeast pioneer"
And so on, these names directly illustrate the important merits made by Zeng Kelin in that year.
For friends who are completely unaware of the situation, they may think that the first to go somewhere is not worthy of pride. During the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army opened up countless new base areas behind enemy lines, and many generals and commanders had the experience of entering the "first" behind enemy lines.
However, the northeast is different from all the base areas opened up during the eight-year War of Resistance.
After 14 years of Japanese operation, the three tohoku provinces (except Rehe) after the Japanese surrender have become strategic locations that cannot be matched in Kannai.
Compared with the poor Kannai region, Tohoku is a modern industrial zone with developed industry and convenient transportation, and the output of coal, electricity, iron, steel, cement, and grain accounts for 70%-90% of the country, of which power generation accounts for 80% of the country, and steel production accounts for 93% of the country's total output. Through the output of electricity and steel, it is clear that the huge gap between the interior and the northeast can be clearly seen, because electricity and steel are important symbols of industrialization.
The ports, rivers and railways in the northeast are more developed, and the developed transportation and ports also mark the development of commerce and cities, which has the largest in Asia at that time, more modern than Tokyo, Changchun, whose infrastructure construction and urban planning in the Japanese and pseudo-japanese periods are still in play until now; Liaoning's medium-sized city of Anshan, with its advanced municipal construction, rail transit, power supply and water supply, and orderly planning of buildings, also amazed the Nanjing people from the large city of Jiangnan in the 1960s.
The geography of the Soviet Union, Outer Mongolia and North Korea also strengthened the strategic position of the northeast. The CCP needs the northeast because it is convenient to get the support of the Soviet Union and the DPRK at any time, and the KUOMINTANG needs the northeast because it can cut off the connection between the CCP and the Soviet Union and the DPRK.
In such a strategic position, the northeast will inevitably become the focus of contention between the Kuomintang and the Communists, but the Kuomintang has American planes, ships, and cars to help transport the army, and the Communist Party does not have these advanced equipment. In one word, fast.
On August 9, 1945, 1.5 million Soviet troops launched a full-scale offensive against the Japanese Kwantung Army in the northeast, and on the 11th, Commander-in-Chief Zhu issued the second order, one of which was:
Li Yunchang's troops, who are now stationed on the borders of Hebei, Rehe, and Liaoning, marched to Liaoning and Jilin on the same day.
At this time, although Japan had not yet surrendered, the recovery of the three northeastern provinces was already just around the corner, so Commander-in-Chief Zhu ordered the Eighth Route Army close to the three eastern provinces to immediately drive to the northeast. At this time, the closest Eighth Route Army to the three northeastern provinces was Li Yunchangbu, commander of the Jireliao Military Region.
Li Yunchang received the order and immediately organized the operations of the Third Route Army, in which the 14th Division entered Rehe from the West Road, the 15th Division entered Rehe from the Middle Road, and the 16th Division and the Second Echelon of the Military Region entered Liaoning and Jilin from the East Road.
The commander of the 16th Division was Zeng Kelin.
Zeng Kelin was born in the Red Army, was a company instructor of the Red 3rd Army, participated in one to five anti-"encirclement and suppression", and then participated in the Long March. On the second day of arriving at Wuqi Town, Zeng Kelin led three companies to defeat more than 1,000 Majia army cavalry and annihilated 300 enemy troops. In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1938, Zeng Kelin led more than 200 people of the Eighth Route Army to participate in the Jidong Uprising and established the 12th Regiment of the Jidong Military Sub-district. After that, Zeng Kelin led this regiment to open up the Luandong base area in eastern Jidong.
In January 1945, with the expansion of the base area, the Jireliao Military Region established the 16th Sub-district of the Jireliao Military Region on the basis of the 12th Regiment in the Luandong area, with two regiments of the 12th Regiment and the 18th Regiment under its jurisdiction, plus the detachments of Lufuchang and Linfuchang Counties, with Zeng Kelin as the commander.
After receiving orders from Li Yunchang, commander of the Military Region, to the northeast, Zeng Kelin and deputy political commissar Tang Kai led the 12th Regiment, the 18th Regiment, the Korean Volunteer Army Detachment, and the Linfuchang Detachment, a total of more than 4,000 people, to form the Eighth Route Army to advance into the northeast advance column, and on August 16, it officially marched to Jinzhou and Shenyang.
However, Li Yunchang and Zeng Kelin, and even the CPC Central Committee, did not know that just 2 days ago, the Soviet Union and the Nationalist Government signed the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance," stipulating that the rights and interests of the northeast belonged to the Kuomintang and negating the CCP's right to accept the northeast.
This means that the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army will not be smooth sailing in the northeast.
Zeng Kelin's army advanced to the northeast and had to pass through Shanhaiguan, but there were more than 1,600 Japanese puppet troops stationed at Shanhaiguan, and once a fight broke out, there were 100,000 Japanese puppet troops who could support them at any time. Zeng Kelin's troops were carrying light weapons, and they would suffer heavy losses when they attacked Shanhaiguan, and they would also delay the time to enter the northeast. In order to advance to the northeast as soon as possible, Zeng Kelin led his army around Shanhaiguan and marched from the Ninth Gate in the east to the outside of the pass.
After bypassing Shanhaiguan, Zengklin encountered a 70-man Soviet reconnaissance detachment with 3 guns in 5 cars. When Zeng Kelin saw the Arrival of the Soviet Army, he started the idea of Shanhaiguan again, after all, Shanhaiguan was a strategic place, and if shanhaiguan was not taken, it would be easy to make his own advance team a lone army, and he persuaded the Soviet army to return to the division with him to attack Shanhaiguan.
Therefore, at 5 p.m. on August 30, the Battle of Shanhaiguan, with two regiments of Zeng Kelin as the main offensive force and the Soviet reconnaissance detachment cooperating, was launched, and finally The Zeng Kelin Department sacrificed dozens of soldiers and the Soviet army sacrificed 2 soldiers to take Shanhaiguan.
After resting for 3 days at Shanhaiguan, Zeng Kelin's department began to advance by train to Shenyang, leaving 1 company of troops and several local cadres in the important towns of Suizhong and Xingcheng to receive them, and then the main force entered Jinzhou, established the Jinzhou Garrison Headquarters, and after resting in Jinzhou for 2 days, officially marched to Shenyang on September 5.
That's when the problem arises.
Second, the way Zeng Kelin entered the northeast was inconsistent with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee
After passing through Jinzhou, because the radio power carried by Zeng Kelin was very small, he lost contact with his superiors.
Zeng Kelin, who had lost contact with his superiors, did not know that the Party Central Committee had sent a telegram to the whole army on August 29, demanding that the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units entering the northeast should only enter the northeast in an informal way in the name of local armies and volunteers, and that the armies should not take trains into the big cities, but take small roads, first control the vast countryside and the small and medium-sized cities where the Soviet Red Army could not be stationed
"Don't be silent", "Don't take the train into the big city".
However, Zengklin had already approached the Soviet army, not only contact, but also a battle together. With regard to Suizhong, Xingcheng, Huludao, Goubangzi, Xinmin, Jinxi, and Jinzhou, Zeng Kelin's department not only did not quietly enter the city, but instead made a big show of it, planted red flags, posted slogans, and beat gongs and drums into the city, with a very loud momentum, and then marched into Shenyang in the name of the Eighth Route Army.
The Soviets entered Shenyang on August 21, and the Soviets who entered Shenyang did not receive a follow-up note from Chinese troops entering Shenyang. Zeng Kelin suddenly arrived at Shenyang South Railway Station by train on the morning of September 5.
The Soviet army surrounded the train with live ammunition and did not allow Zeng Kelin's department to get off the train, so Zeng Kelin took 5 local cadres, as well as several staff officers and guards, to the Soviet army's Shenyang city defense headquarters to negotiate. Unbeknownst to Zeng Kelin, there was another telegram from the CENTRAL Committee of the Communist Party of China to the Liberated Areas:
Do not force formal contacts and contacts with the Red Army, nor ask the Red Army for our help. If the Red Army resolutely opposes something, we must take care of it and not embarrass the Red Army on the outer engagement lines.
At this time, Zeng Kelin went to the Soviet City Defense Headquarters and had violated this instruction of the CPC Central Committee.
As a result, under the three representations of Zeng Kelin, Major General Kaftong, commander of the Soviet Shenyang City Defense, agreed to get off the bus of Zeng Kelin's department, but required Zeng Kelin's department to be stationed in Sujiatun 30 miles outside Shenyang.
After Getting off the bus, Zeng Kelin's department crossed Shenyang City to Sujiatun with great fanfare, only to be warmly welcomed by hundreds of thousands of citizens shouting slogans along the way, and tens of thousands of citizens blocked in front of the troops, preventing the troops from going outside the city and demanding that the troops stop in the downtown area of Shenyang.
Major General Kafton was so moved by the actions of the citizens of Shenyang that he changed his decision to allow Zeng Kelin's ministry to stop along the small river of the Forbidden City in Shenyang.
The next day, General Kravchenko, the supreme military commander of the Soviet Army in Shenyang and commander of the Sixth Army of the Guards Army, met with Zeng Kelin and told Zeng Kelin that according to the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, only the Kuomintang army could take over the northeast, but since the Eighth Route Army troops of the fraternal party had arrived, he thought of a workaround and suggested that Zeng Kelin rename his unit the "Northeast People's Autonomous Army" and maintain law and order in the name of the local troops, so that the Soviet army would not be too embarrassed in front of the Kuomintang government.
Zeng Kelin agreed with the Soviet army, and he appointed himself commander of the Shenyang Garrison Command of the Northeast People's Autonomous Army and took over the defense of Shenyang City in an all-round way. After that, Zeng Kelin, with Shenyang as the center, sent troops to expand all over Liaoning and Jilin, and vigorously expanded the army along the way, and a month later, by early October, Zeng Kelin had 9 brigades and 7 independent regiments, a total of 80,000 (60,000 people).
While expanding to various places, Zeng Kelin also obtained from the Soviet Army the largest arsenal of the Kwantung Army, the Shenyang Arsenal, and the largest warehouse, the Sujiatun Warehouse, as well as the arsenals in Fushun, Liaoyang, Benxi, and other places, as well as the military supplies and service warehouses.
The situation seemed to be very good, and trouble soon followed.
In late September, the Soviets, who had been very cooperative, suddenly changed their attitude, demanding not only that Zeng Kelin's troops leave Shenyang immediately, but also that Zeng Kelin's troops withdraw from all the cities, because they wanted to hand over all these cities to the Kuomintang government.
The root cause of the sudden change in the attitude of the Soviet army was that the reception of the Zengklin Ministry with great fanfare was widely reported by European and American news agencies and Kuomintang newspapers and radios, which led international and domestic public opinion to accuse the Soviet government of violating the "Potsdam Proclamation" and the "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship" and violating the agreement that only the Kuomintang army could take over the northeast.
The reason why the Soviet government was able to reach an agreement with the Kuomintang government that the Kuomintang army took over the northeast was that the Kuomintang government exchanged recognition of the Soviet Union's rights and interests in outer Mongolia, and if the Soviet Union violated this agreement, the Kuomintang government would also deny the Soviet Union's rights and interests in outer Mongolia. Coupled with the diplomatic pressure exerted by the United States and Britain, the Soviet government weighed it up and had to demand that The Zenklin Ministry withdraw all the occupied cities and hand them over to the Nationalist government.
The sudden change in the Soviet army was due to political reasons, as a military general Zeng Clinton did not know how to deal with it, he decided to personally go to Yan'an to report to the Party Central Committee, just at this time the Soviet army was also eager to contact the Cpc Central Committee, Marshal Malinovsky of the Soviet Army sent two representatives and Zeng Kelin to Yan'an on a Soviet plane.
Zeng Kelin's visit to Yan'an attracted the great attention of the CPC Central Committee. In the face of the national situation after Japan's surrender, what strategy should be adopted to win the victory of the national revolution? At this time, the CPC Central Committee hesitated and hovered between two strategies: one was "defending to the north and developing to the south," that is, focusing on the south; the other was "developing to the north and defending to the south," that is, focusing on the north, which in fact focused on the northeast.
Which strategy to choose depends on the attitude of the Soviet Union.
Because of its ignorance of the situation in the northeast, especially its true attitude toward the Soviet army, the CPC Central Committee was unable to make an accurate judgment on the strategy of "developing to the north and defending to the south," and it was impossible to make an accurate choice between the two strategies of "defending to the north and developing to the south" and "developing to the north and defending to the south."
Zeng Kelin's arrival provided the CPC Central Committee with first-hand information on the attitude of the northeast, especially the Soviet army, and every word he said would affect the decision-making of the central authorities.
To this end, Liu Shaoqi specially held a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee for Zeng Kelin in Yangjialing, and the participants were Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying, Peng Zhen, Chen Yun, Zhang Wentian, Ren Bishi, Li Fuchun, and other central leaders.
Zeng Kelin was very optimistic about the situation in the northeast, reporting:
After our army arrived in the northeast, the masses joined the army one after another to participate in the war, and it was easy to expand the army,......, and we have taken over many important factories and warehouses, which contain a large number of guns, ammunition, military supplies, and grain. ...... The Soviet army is only stationed in large cities and major transportation routes, and the small and medium-sized cities and villages are unmanaged and chaotic, so our army should cooperate with the Soviet army to eliminate the enemy and puppet forces and take over the northeast.
From Zeng Kelin's report, the central leaders heard that the situation was very good, that it was easy to expand the army, and that there were also ready-made arms and materials, and everyone was extremely excited. In the evening, the head of the Central Committee and Zeng Kelin had dinner together, and during the meal, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai specifically said to Zeng Kelin:
I hope you will get more weapons and cannons in the future. In the past, when our troops did not have artillery during the war, the enemy bullied us; in the future, when we have artillery, our strength will be greater, and the enemy's fortifications will not be able to hold.
From Peng Dehuai's words, it was very obvious that he felt his optimism about engaging in weapons in the northeast.
Because of Zeng Kelin's report, the CPC Central Committee decided to set up a provisional Northeast Bureau with Peng Zhen as secretary, and asked Zeng Kelin to accompany Peng Zhen, Chen Yun, and others to fly back to Shenyang, and at the same time draw 100,000 troops and 20,000 cadres from various liberated areas to march into the northeast.
However, the troops and cadres who were optimistic about entering the northeast did not expect that they would suddenly fall into a difficult situation.
Third, the discrepancy between the report and the actual situation has caused the main force to suffer from the dilemma
Zeng Kelin's report was written into the Central Committee's "Circular on the Current Situation in Northeast China" on September 16:
There are many kinds of light and heavy weapons and materials piled up in Shenyang and various places, and no one can see that Zeng Kelin has guarded important factories and warehouses in Shenyang Valley, and it is said that there are hundreds of thousands of guns, cannons, thousands of guns, thousands of ammunition, cloth, and countless grains. There are many people who have lost their weapons to the civilian population.
Based on this understanding, most of the 100,000 troops who entered the northeast were empty-handed, and they left their weapons to the local troops, ready to go out to receive new Japanese equipment, and even did not bring winter clothes, thinking of going to the northeast to wear warm Japanese winter coats.
However, Peng Zhen, the secretary of the provisional Northeast Bureau who arrived in Shenyang earlier, found that the Soviet army was very unfriendly, and it was not as easy to obtain guns and ammunition as reported by Zeng Kelin, and most of the Japanese army equipment had been transported to the Soviet Union by the Soviet army.
At present, the more reliable armory under my guard only has 11 Qiwushan guns, 70 mortars, and 5 million rounds of 65 bullets. The Suizhong aircraft have been removed by the Soviet army, and there are indeed 27 twin-engine Japanese rotten aircraft at Shenyang South Airport, and more than ten large parts depots, but repair is impossible. Shenyang West Airport has 70 single-engine complete fighters, but there is no bit of gasoline, which is currently useless to me. Whether a large number of weapons will be acquired in the future is still a mystery.
Peng Zhen made it clear that Zeng Kelin's report in Yan'an was inaccurate. But all this can not be blamed on Zeng Kelin.
Before Zeng Kelin left Shenyang for Yan'an, the attitude of the Soviet army changed, but it did not take back the arsenal and military warehouse. After Zeng Kelin left, the Soviets began to take back the factories and military warehouses guarded by the Eighth Route Army, but in fact these arsenals and warehouses were only kept in the hands of the Eighth Route Army for 3 days.
Zeng Kelin did not understand what happened after he left. However, regardless of the process, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, which followed out of the customs, faced a dilemma in fact.
At the end of 1945, the main forces of the 100,000 Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army successively drove to the northeast, facing a situation without weapons and winter clothes, while at this time, the Kuomintang army with all-American equipment continued to enter Qinhuangdao by sea and rushed to Jinzhou, Shenyang and other places.
The situation was urgent, and all the main forces pinned their hopes on Li Yunchang and Zeng Kelin, who took the lead in getting out of the customs.
Among all the military regions of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, Li Yunchang's Jireliao Military Region was the first to leave the customs, with three military sub-districts of 14, 15, and 16 under its command, and the 16th division of zeng kelin was the first unit of Li Yunchang's army to go out of the customs. Zeng Kelin's 16th division was expanded from more than 4,000 people to more than 80,000 people, plus the expansion of the 14th and 15th divisions, Li Yunchang's department expanded a total of more than 100,000 people.
The Provisional Northeast Bureau ordered Li Yunchang's troops to transport all the weapons and equipment they had received from Shenyang to Jinzhou to replenish the main force arriving in Guannei.
Li Yunchang and Zeng Kelin actively transported the weapons and materials from the Shenyang Arsenal and the military warehouse to Jinzhou, but unexpectedly, as soon as the new troops they expanded after leaving the customs and heard of the arrival of the Kuomintang army, there was immediately a large number of defections and escapes, resulting in a large loss of weapons, equipment and materials.
According to the "Military Data of the Three-Year Liberation War in Northeast China":
From the end of December 1945 to the beginning of January 1946, in only 10 days or so,......, Li Yunchang's troops defected a lot, and there were about 40,000 defectors.
As a result, Peng Zhen had records of weapons, equipment and materials leaving Shenyang, but the troops did not receive records of these weapons, equipment and materials.
Li Yunchang admitted that the weapons and materials were either lost, robbed, or stolen during the transportation process.
As a result, a strange phenomenon appeared: the newly formed non-main forces outside the Guanxi were new guns and new equipment, while the main forces of the old Eighth Road and the old New Fourth Army who came out of the Guanxi Pass were poorly equipped or even unequipped. Therefore, the old troops who did not know the truth thought that Li Yunchang intended to issue the gun to the new unit instead of the old unit, and complained bitterly
"Veterans old guns, new recruits new guns."
The arrival of troops was unable to obtain equipment, which put Li Yunchang and Zeng Kelin under great pressure. Because Li Yunchang was a leader, he took the primary responsibility and was crowned with a "localist" hat on his head, and was not rehabilitated until 1979.
Zeng Kelin was less affected, except for defectors and fugitives, the remaining men and horses under his command were incorporated into the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th columns of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and he himself served as the deputy commander of the Liaodong Military Region of the Northeast Democratic United Army, temporarily leaving the post of military commander.
It was not until October 1946 that Zengklin was reinstated as military commander as commander of the 3rd Column.
However, the good times did not last long, and in the fourth key battle to defend Linjiang, Zeng Kelin, as the commander of the 3rd Column, encountered problems again.
Fourth, the dispute with Han Xianchu led to a turning point in his career
On the evening of April 1, 1947, at the headquarters of the 3rd Column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, the commander of the 3rd Column, Zeng Kelin, and the reinforced deputy commander of the 4th Column, Han Xianchu, had a disagreement.
At this time, for the Southern Manchuria base area where the 3rd and 4th columns were located, it was an important period of life and death.
After the Siping Defense War, with the withdrawal of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army from Siping, the offensive of the Kuomintang army in the northeast entered a climax, and the area of the liberated area was greatly reduced. Except for the two bases of Northern Manchuria and Southern Manchuria, most of the area was occupied by the Kuomintang army, so most of the main force of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army entered Northern Manchuria for recuperation, and the main force in Southern Manchuria was 3 or 4 columns plus 2 independent divisions, with a total of less than 50,000.
Since May 1946, in terms of tactics for dealing with the North Manchuria base area and the South Manchuria base area, Du Yuming, commander of the Kuomintang Northeast Security Army, has adopted the strategy of "first south and then north", that is, to first eliminate the main force of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army in South Manchuria and then go all out to deal with North Manchuria, so That South Manchuria has become the main battlefield for the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army and the Kuomintang Army.
Since the Kuomintang army attacking Southern Manchuria was a strong elite force with the New 1st Army, the New 6th Army, the 52nd Army, the 60th Army, and the 71st Army as the main forces, the leaders of the South Manchuria Military Region (which had now been changed to the Liaodong Military Region) decided that they could not persist in Southern Manchuria and planned to abandon the Southern Manchuria base area.
Upon learning of the situation, the Northeast Bureau sent Xiao Jinguang and Chen Yun from Northern Manchuria to bypass Korea into Southern Manchuria to take charge of the overall situation, and the two stabilized the morale and morale of the army, and soon annihilated the 25th Division of the Kuomintang Army's 52nd Army in Xinkailing, capturing nearly 6,000 enemy division commanders and deputy division commanders and below, and fighting a big victory.
The South Manchurian Military Region won the battle in the Xinkailing Campaign at the cost of abandoning the towns; therefore, after the Xinkailing Campaign, the Southern Manchuria base area was further compressed, leaving only four small counties of Linjiang, Changbai, Fusong, and Mengjiang, and Linjiang County, where the South Manchurian Military Region, sub-bureaus, and organs were located, and it became the key target of the Kuomintang army's attack.
In order to ensure that the base area of Southern Manchuria is not lost, Linjiang has become a place that the South Manchuria Military Region must defend. To this end, from December 1946 to February 1947, the Liaodong Military Region, with the cooperation of the main force of Northern Manchuria "Three Lower Jiangnan", fought three battles to defend Linjiang, annihilating a total of 22,000 enemy troops.
In late March 1947, the Kuomintang army, under the command of Du Yuming, launched a fourth offensive against Linjiang, which was a more sinister attack than any of the previous three, mainly in three points:
1. Compared with the previous three times, the Kuomintang army in the fourth offensive was the largest, with 100,000 elites in 7 divisions, especially the New 6th Army, one of the five main forces;
2. The first three attacks were continuous without rest, and before the fourth attack, the Kuomintang army had rested for more than 1 month, and its combat effectiveness had been significantly improved;
3. The third point is the most important point, because the thawing of the rivers makes it impossible for the North Manchurian Democratic Coalition Army north of the Songhua River to cross the river south to contain it, so that the Kuomintang army can concentrate on dealing with the Democratic Coalition Army in Southern Manchuria.
Since the main force of the 4th Column of The Southern Manchuria had switched to the rear of the enemy in the first three battles to defend Linjiang, and had not yet returned at this time, the troops that could be used to defend Linjiang in Southern Manchuria were less than 20,000 men in the 3rd Column and the 10th Division of the 4th Column. In order to concentrate the troops, the Liaodong Military Region decided to form a temporary command headquarters composed of Zeng Kelin, commander of the 3rd Column, and Han Xianchu, deputy commander of the 4th Column, to unify the operations of the 3rd Column and the 10th Division of the 4th Column.
After receiving the order, Han Xianchu took the chief of the operations section and the staff to the headquarters of the 3rd Column of Zeng Kelin.
When Zeng Kelin saw Han Xianchu's arrival, he first introduced the current situation of the enemy army: the 7 divisions of the Kuomintang army came in three ways, of which the left road was the 60th Army and the provisional 21st Division; the middle road was the 89th Division of the 13th Army, the provisional 20th Division, and the new 22nd Division; and the right road was the 14th And 25th Division.
In accordance with the tradition of fighting the weak enemy first, which was repeatedly tried and tested in the Red Army era, Zeng Kelin's opinion was to strike the provisional 20th Division on the flank of the middle road first, because this division was a Yunnan unit, with poor equipment and relatively weak combat effectiveness.
However, Han Xianchu, who was the reinforcement of the 3rd Column, had different opinions, and he believed that it was necessary to first attack Chiang Kai-shek's 89th Division, the all-American armament division, because this division was the main force, and once this division was eliminated, it could crush the all-out offensive of the Kuomintang army, and this division had just been transferred from the Rehe area, and was not familiar with the terrain of Southern Manchuria, nor had experience in fighting with the Southern Manchurian troops, and was arrogant and arrogant, and it was conducive to the enemy's adventurism, which was conducive to gathering and annihilating.
Zeng Kelin saw that Han Xianchu was opposed, and explained that because the provisional 20th Division was not strong, it was more certain to annihilate the enemy, and after quickly annihilating the enemy, it could avoid being attacked by other enemy troops, and if the 89th Division was attacked first, it might not be able to attack for a long time, and it would be easy to be caught by enemy troops on the left and right, resulting in passivity in the overall situation.
Han Xianchu said that although the 89th Division is a national weapon and has strong firepower, as long as our army concentrates all the strength of 3 divisions in the 3 columns and 1 division in the 4 columns, plus 3 artillery regiments, it will achieve an absolute superiority in strength and firepower, and it can quickly annihilate the enemy.
Zeng, Han and Han have their own reasons, who to listen to?
In terms of rank, Zeng Kelin is the commander, Han Xianchu is the deputy commander, and at this time it is in Zeng Kelin's own headquarters, Han Xianchu is the guest who has strengthened to cooperate, plus the main force of this operation is Zeng Kelin's 3 columns, and the main responsibility is Zeng Kelin, so logically speaking, Zeng Kelin has the final decision.
Han Xianchu also understood such a situation, and he took a stance just after arriving at the 3rd Column Headquarters:
"I'm here to be commander's assistant."
However, at this time, Han Xianchu forgot his own statement and did not budge at all, plus everyone was a soldier, so the words that came and went collapsed out of Mars, at this time, Xiao Jianfei, the chief of the operations section brought by Han Xianchu, interjected:
Don't argue, whether to report both plans to the Liaodong Military Region, and ask the head of the military region to decide.
Zeng Kelin, who possessed the advantages of the time and place, could completely deny Xiao Jianfei's opinion without saying a word, and Qian Gang arbitrarily exercised his command of the battlefield; even if Han Xianchu had different opinions, he could only retain them as a subordinate, but Zeng Kelin agreed to xiao Jianfei's suggestion, the head of the small section.
Two telegrams were sent through the transmitters of the 3 columns, one in the name of Zeng Kelin and one in the name of Han Xianchu, and were placed on the tables of Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Liaodong Military Region, and Chen Yun, political commissar.
Both Chen and Xiao felt strange at first, because according to the convention, Han Xianchu's telegram would not appear, and Han Xianchu must have insisted very strongly on his own opinion. Chen Yun and Xiao Jinguang also became cautious.
Xiao Jinguang was one of the few in the Communist army, and it could even be said that he was the only general with modern military education, who did not attend the Chinese military academy, but was a percentage of Soviet military cadets, and let him take charge of the military in southern Manchuria also because of his outstanding military talent.
In the end, Chen Yun and Xiao Jinguang decided to agree with Han Xianchu's playing style. In the reply telegrams of Chen and Xiao, there is also the words "Han Xianchu unified command of the third and fourth columns", which is equivalent to handing over the command of Zeng Kelin to Han Xianchu.
As a result, the battle commanded by Han Xianchu was a great victory, ending the battle in only 10 hours, capturing more than 7,500 people below the acting division commander, while the 3rd Column and 4th Column 10th Division suffered only 320 casualties.
The collapse of the 89th Division caused other Nationalist troops to retreat one after another, and the Fourth Defense of Linjiang won a brilliant victory.
In May 1947, after the battle, Zeng Kelin was transferred from the position of commander of the 3rd Column to the commander of the Liaonan Military Region, and the vacated position of commander of the 3rd Column was held by Han Xianchu, deputy commander of the 4th Column. After that, Han Xianchu took the 3rd Column with him, and became the first commander of the 40th Army reorganized from the 3rd Column, and led the 40th Army to Hainan Island.
Zeng Kelin did not stay for a year as commander of the Liaoning Military Region, and was transferred to the 7th Column of which Deng Hua was the commander as deputy commander, and later became the deputy commander of the 44th Army, which was reorganized from the 7th Column.
From the commander of the 3rd Column to the deputy commander of the 7th Column, the deputy commander, Zeng Kelin's career trajectory took a turn, but it was not over.
5. What was your experience after leaving 3 Columns?
In October 1949, Zeng Kelin left the 44th Army to serve as a military representative at the newly formed Air Brigade in Nanjing.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Zeng Kelin went to study at the newly established First Aviation School of the Air Force, where there were more than 400 cadets and only more than 20 cadres at and above the division and regimental level, of whom only Zeng Kelin and Duan Suquan were military cadres.
After graduation, Zeng Kelin did not return to the Air Force, but was transferred to the Navy as Deputy Commander of naval aviation and commander of the First Aviation Division.
In 1955, Zeng kling, who was deputy commander of naval aviation, was awarded the rank of rear admiral.
To Zenklin's superior, commander of the Naval Aviation Corps, was awarded the rank of lieutenant general
The general's experience is a reference to the dramatic changes in General Zeng Kelin's military career.
1. October 1945, Dun Nebula
He is the deputy commander of the division, and Zeng Kelin is the commander of the division and becomes the first person to get out of the customs;
2. August 1948, Dun Nebula
He was the brigade commander of the Independent Brigade, while Zeng Kelin served as the deputy commander of the column after serving as the commander of the column and the commander of the military district, and although his position was declining, he was still a few levels higher than the Dun Nebula;
3. October 1949, Dun Nebula
The deputy commander of the 2nd Army, Zeng Kelin served as the military representative of the Air Force brigade from the deputy commander of the 44th Army, and the trajectories of the two crossed over this period of time, and then continued to develop according to the trend of the two.
4. Dun Nebula
The deputy commander served as the political commissar of the 5th Army, and later as the commander of the naval aviation, and Zeng Kelin became the deputy commander of the naval aviation.
6. Comments on events
Zeng Kelin was the first person to leave the customs from the scenery, once commanded 80,000 people, and finally only won the rank of major general, mainly for two reasons:
1. The report back to Yan'an was too optimistic, giving the senior leaders the impression that the northeast had all kinds of guns and artillery materials, and as a result, the customs troops could not be replenished, causing chaos to the main forces in the northeast, and once caused quite passive;
2. As a commander, you cannot be arbitrary and responsible in front of the deputy commander, and in the end, the deputy commander has stolen the limelight and opportunity.
If the reason for the first point is that there are many objective factors, including poor information and unclear situation, the second point has to make the leader question the ability.
As the saying goes, there will be no orders from foreign kings, and as a front-line commander, you do not dare to make a decision on a specific combat plan, but you must stay away from the leaders of the front line to make a decision, which is very taboo as a military commander.
In fact, Zeng Kelin's plan to fight the weak enemy first was not necessarily inferior to Han Xianchu's plan to fight the strong enemy first, but he wanted the rear to lead the decision-making, which gave Chen Yun and Xiao Jinguang a very bad impression in terms of confidence and sense of responsibility. After this incident, Zeng Kelin continued to serve as a deputy, until nearly 30 years later, until the mid-to-late 1970s, when he became the commander of the naval aviation corps.
Although there are two unsatisfactory points, judging by their contributions to the Chinese revolution, it is not an exaggeration for Zeng Kelin to be awarded the title of general.
Because of Zeng Kelin's report, the CPC Central Committee finally determined the strategy of "developing to the north and defending to the south", and sent 100,000 elite troops to seize the northeast at the first time, winning the initiative in the national strategy. Just imagine, if It were not for Zeng Kelin's preemptive entry into the northeast, but the Kuomintang army seized the opportunity, the Soviet army would have handed over all the northeast to the Kuomintang army, and when the Kuomintang army occupied the important places in the northeast, it is difficult to imagine what kind of direction the Chinese revolution would take.
Looking at the momentum of destruction and decay formed by the Kuomintang army on the battlefield across the country after the Fourth Field Army entered the pass, it has already proved Zeng Kelin's historical merits.
Perhaps for this reason, later generations made the film "Zeng Kling Out" named after Zeng Klin, as a tribute to General Zen Kling.