One day, the commander of the 5th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army's Left Guard Corps was criticized, and the regimental commander felt that the criticism had been passed, and proposed to withdraw from the Eighth Route Army and go home. His request was approved by his superiors, and it was not until 1 year after the victory of the War of Resistance, at the invitation of the old chief, that the regimental commander came out to work again, and was awarded the rank of major general nine years later.
The leader of the 5th Garrison Regiment is named Bai Zhiwen, born in Yi County, Hebei Province, and is a Manchu. His ancestors served as officials in the Qing Dynasty, and later the Republic of China replaced the Qing Dynasty, and the Bai family fell in the middle of the road. In order to survive, Bai Zhiwen abandoned his pen and chose to join the Northwest Army as a soldier. At the age of 26, Bai Zhiwen was influenced by revolutionary ideas and officially joined the revolution.
During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Bai Zhiwen mainly worked in the Red 3Rd Army and participated in the 25,000-mile Long March. During the Long March, he was brave and good at fighting, and was valued by the head of the regiment and promoted to the commander of the Red Army Division. In 1937, the Japanese army created the "July 7 Incident", and the all-out War of Resistance broke out.
Three divisions of the Eighth Route Army rushed to the battlefield behind enemy lines and attacked the Japanese puppet army through guerrilla tactics, thus pouring out the arrogance of the Japanese Kou. In order to defend the holy land of the Yan'an Revolution and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the Eighth Route Army Left Behind Corps was established, with Xiao Jinguang as its commander. The Eighth Route Army's left-behind corps had a total of 8 garrison regiments, which were responsible for defending the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and defending the Yellow River defense line from Fugu to Yichuan.
Bai Zhiwen was deeply trusted by his superiors and served as the commander of the 5th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army's Left Guard Corps, fighting side by side with the political commissar Li Chiran. In addition to the task of suppressing bandits, the 5th Garrison Regiment was to defend the Yellow River defense line from Qingjian and Yanchuan to the extension of the line, and to prevent the Japanese army from crossing the river and advancing westward. During the 5 years that Bai Zhiwen and Li Chiran were paired, the two comrades-in-arms established a deep revolutionary friendship, supported each other, and helped each other.
Under the leadership of two famous generals, the 5th Garrison Regiment repeatedly defeated the invading enemy and defended the Yellow River defense line in the border area, making great contributions. Later, Li Chiran was ordered to recruit soldiers behind enemy lines and left the 5th Garrison Regiment for more than 1 year. One day, because of some problems, the 5th Garrison Regiment was criticized by its superiors.
Commander Xiao Jinguang heard the news and took the initiative to assume leadership responsibilities, and his superiors ordered Bai Zhiwen to review these issues. After Bai Zhiwen heard the order from his superiors, he felt that the criticism was excessive and refused to make a review. To this end, Bai Zhiwen took the initiative to propose to his superiors that he wanted to leave the Eighth Route Army and go home.
Seeing such a response, the superior had to approve Bai Zhiwen's request and let him leave the team and go home. Although Bai Zhiwen left the Eighth Route Army, he did not leave the border area and continued to live in Yan'an as an ordinary person. Bai Zhiwen's old chief personally came to him and persuaded him bitterly to admit his mistake to the organization so that he could return to the army.
Bai Zhiwen supported himself, and in the face of the persuasion of the old chief, he still expressed that he was unwilling to come out to work. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Chiang tore up the peace agreement and brazenly launched a civil war, and the people were again poisoned by evil wars. In order to resist the unjust civil war launched by Chiang Kai-shek, our army rose up to fight back and dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang reactionaries.
In 1946, the old chief came back again and persuaded Bai Zhiwen to work for the cause of liberation. Bai Zhiwen followed the chief's advice, chose to return to the army, and served as the deputy commander of the 3rd Military Subdistrict of the Jijin Military Region, fighting on the liberation front line in North China. After the founding of New China, Bai Zhiwen served as the commander of the Shimen Military Subdistrict and the deputy commander of the Hebei Military Region, and other important positions, guarding one side and benefiting the people on the other side.
In 1955, Bai Zhiwen was awarded the rank of major general for the first time in our army, and was awarded the Order of August 1 of the First Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the Second Class, and the Liberation Medal of the First Class. In 1962, due to the recurrence of war wounds, Bai Zhiwen left early. Although General Bai Zhiwen has left for retirement, he is still concerned about major state affairs, and he often goes deep into the grassroots to inspect the work.
After his retirement, he wrote a large number of precious materials and emotionally recalled the years of revolutionary conquest. In the 1980s, the hundred warriors were appointed to the rank of deputy corps and continued to contribute to the country. In April 1986, Bai Zhiwen died in Baoding at the age of 83.