The award of the rank of May Fifth Is a major event in the history of the people's army; he promoted the process of army modernization and implemented the rank system for the first time, which can be said to be in line with the world's advanced countries. Among the generals who were first awarded the title, many of the generals followed the chairman in the revolution since the Autumn Harvest Uprising, such as Zhang Zongxun, Luo Ronghuan, Song Renqian, Tan Zheng, Long Kaifu, Chen Shiyu, Lai Yi and others. So who was the one who followed Chairman Mao the longest among the founding generals?
Zhang Zongxun was originally a company-level cadre of the guard regiment, and during the autumn harvest uprising, Lu Deming, the leader of the guard regiment, led the guard regiment to participate in the uprising and became the main force of the autumn harvest uprising. In a series of events, such as the reorganization of Sanwan and the transfer to Jinggangshan, Zhang Zongxun, Together with Song Renqian, Tan Xilin, Wan Xixian, Zhang Ziqing, Wu Zhonghao, and others, resolutely supported the correct propositions of Committee member Mao, fought against the erroneous line of Su Xianjun and Yu Shandu, and made outstanding contributions to the smooth transfer of the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops to Jinggangshan.
After joining the revolution, Zhang Zongxun made steady progress in the revolutionary ranks, serving as chief of staff of the Fourth Red Army, brigade commander of the Eighth Route Army, commander of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Jinsui Joint Defense Army, and deputy commander of the First Field Army.
Luo Ronghuan, Song Renqian, and Tan Zheng all participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising as intellectuals, and at that time, Song Renqian and Tan Zheng were all clerks in the rebel army, and Luo Ronghuan was a company instructor. After participating in the uprising, with their unswerving perseverance, they followed Commissar Mao in creating the revolutionary base areas of Jinggangshan and southern Fujian, and became one of the founders of the people's army.
Luo Ronghuan, who developed the Shandong base area during the revolutionary years, worked closely with Lin Shuai in the northeast, and commanded the liberation war in the northeast, with outstanding merits. When he was awarded the title, Luo Ronghuan was awarded the rank of marshal for his meritorious service in the annals of history, Tan Zheng, as a model of political work in the people's army, was awarded the rank of great general, and Song Renqian was also awarded the rank of general for his outstanding merits.
During the great revolution, Lai Yi was a platoon-level cadre of the guard regiment and also a revolutionary backbone that focused on the development of the guard regiment organizationally. During the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Lai Yi followed Lu Deming and Yu Shandu to participate in the uprising, grew into an outstanding general in the revolutionary ranks, and made immortal contributions to the victory of the new democratic revolution, and in 1955, Lai Yi was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
Chen Shiyu was just an ordinary soldier at the time of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, but he had a strong party spirit and high military talent, and he progressed faster than Lai Yi in the revolutionary ranks. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Shiyu served as the chief of staff of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and personally captured Japanese prisoners during the Guangyang Ambush, which was the first prisoner of war captured by the people's army in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During the Liberation War, Chen Shiyu was not only able to fulfill his duties in the post of chief of staff of Huaye, but also achieved extremely outstanding results when he commanded Chen Tang's corps alone; in the Battle of Huaihai, when Zhongye encountered the stubborn resistance of the Nationalist army in Shuangduiji, it was Chen Shiyu who led his troops to aid Shuangduiji, completely annihilated the Huang Wei Corps, and made a miraculous achievement. In 1955, Chen Shiyu was awarded the rank of general.
Long Kaifu, originally an illiterate teenager, faced with the oppression of the landlord, he rose up in anger, killed the landlord, and joined the Red Army under the introduction of the party representative Wan Xixian when the autumn harvest rebel troops attacked the county town of Chaling. After following Wanxi to Jinggangshan first, Long Kaifu became the chairman's guard, responsible for keeping books for the chairman. Although his physical condition was not good enough to go to the front line to make meritorious achievements, Long Kaifu was conscientious in his logistics post, and his contribution to the victory of the revolution could not be ignored, and in 1955, Long Kaifu was awarded the rank of major general.
During the Autumn Harvest Uprising, those who followed the Chairman to participate in the revolution were naturally the revolutionary fathers who followed the Chairman for a long time. But among the founding generals, the one who followed the chairman the most was not these famous people, but someone else, who was the founding lieutenant general Tan Xilin.
Tan Xilin, a native of Changsha County, Hunan Province, graduated from the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, joined the revolution in 1925 and joined the Party in 1926. During the Period of the Great Revolution, Committee Member Mao opened a peasant movement training center in Guangzhou and trained a large number of revolutionary backbones, including Wan Xixian, Zhang Ziqing, Wu Zhonghao, and others, who were the backbone of the Chairman's command of the Autumn Harvest Uprising.
After graduating from the Whampoa Military Academy, Tan Xilin also went to the Agricultural Lecture Institute run by the chairman to study, and from this time on, Tan Xilin became a student of the chairman. During the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Tan Xilin served as a platoon leader in the Independent Regiment and participated in the uprising with the chairman; in the Sanwan reorganization, he resolutely supported the correct propositions of Member Mao, fought against the erroneous line of Su Xianjun and Yu Shandu, and made great contributions to the transfer of the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops into Jinggangshan.
During the revolutionary years, Tan Xilin successively served as the commander of the Red 34th Division, the commander of the Anhui River Military Region, the acting commander of the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army, the commander of the Seventh Division of the Shandong Field Army, the acting commander of the Jiaodong Military Region, the commander of the 32nd Army, and the commander of the Qingdao Garrison Headquarters.
As an old revolutionary who joined the party during the period of the Great Revolution and followed the chairman during the period of the Peasants' Research Institute, Tan Xilin's revolutionary qualifications were among the best in the whole army, and his rank in the early period was also very high, and he achieved the level of a full division during the period of the agrarian revolutionaries, and during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was the acting commander of the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army.
However, Tan Xilin was not of high rank during the Liberation War, and was a division-level cadre for a long time, until 1949, when he became a military commander, and his rank was far from that of the period of the Agrarian Revolutionary War and the War of Resistance Against Japan, and he was finally only awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
To sum up, founding lieutenant general Tan Xilin was the founding general who followed Mao for the longest time, and as early as 1925, he studied at the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Seminar opened by the chairman and was a student of the chairman. In the Peasant Lecture Institute, a large number of outstanding figures such as Jiang Xianyun, Zhang Ziqing, and Wan Xixian emerged, all of whom were the revolutionary backbones of our party in the early days.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xianyun died in the Northern Expedition War, and Zhang Ziqing and Wan Xixian died during the agrarian revolutionary war, and neither of them survived to the time of the May Fifth Award, and with their seniority and ability, if they could survive to the May Fifth Rank, it was likely that they would be above the rank of Founding General. Tan Xilin, on the other hand, eventually relied on his outstanding merits in the revolutionary years to become a founding lieutenant general and a representative of the chairman students in the May Fifth Five-Year Award.