On August 22, 1937, under the circumstances of Chiang Kai-shek's suppression and the tense situation in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Red Army, which cooperated with the Kuomintang to resist Japan, was officially organized as the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and three days later it had a specific organization, the original Red Front Army was reorganized into the 115th Division, the division commander was Lin Biao, the deputy division commander was Nie Rongzhen; the original Red Second Front Army was reorganized into the 120th Division, the division commander was He Long, the deputy division commander was Xiao Ke; the Red Fourth Front Army was reorganized into the 129th Division, and the division commander was Liu Bocheng. The deputy division commander was the original commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian.
Many people have some doubts about the position that Xu Xiangqian held after the reorganization, why was the original commander-in-chief demoted to deputy division commander after the reorganization?
Proceeding from the actual situation of the Red Fourth Front
During the Red Army period, the commander-in-chief of the Red Army was Peng Dehuai, and later because he went to the General Headquarters as deputy commander-in-chief, when the Red Front was reorganized, Lin Biao would serve as the division commander, and before the red Second Front was reorganized, He Long was the commander-in-chief, so after the reorganization, it was completely reasonable for him to continue to serve as the commander of the division.
As far as the situation of the Red Fourth Front was concerned, before the reorganization, it was mainly divided into two components, of which Xu Xiangqian was the commander-in-chief and also took the Western Route Army to Ningxia, and the other part of the Red Fourth Front's troops, under the leadership of Zhang Guotao and Liu Bocheng, waited for orders to support the Western Route Army.
However, because of some of Zhang Guotao's wrong routes at that time, there were some problems in the Red Fourth Front, so among the remaining troops, Liu Bocheng not only endured the pressure of all sides and fought against Zhang Guotao, but also constantly tried to prepare and wait for support for the Western Route Army, but unfortunately did not wait for the order, and the fate of the Western Route Army was more bumpy.
The Western Route Army led by Xu Xiangqian was forced to stop attacking Ningxia because the Soviet side did not have timely support materials, and just as they were wandering in the Hexi Corridor, they encountered the army of the reactionary warlord Ma Bufang, who launched an attack on the isolated Western Route Army, resulting in the Western Route Army, after four months of lonely fighting, and finally running out of ammunition and food, and almost completely annihilated.
After the defeat of the Western Route Army, Xu Qianqian accommodated the opinion of Chen Changhao, political commissar of the Red Fourth Front, left the army and returned to northern Shaanxi, he dressed up in various disguises along the way, experienced countless dangers and hardships, and finally returned to northern Shaanxi to find a large army, which became one of the biggest regrets in Xu Qianqian's life, and he has always been grumpy about him.
After the defeat of the Western Route Army and was captured, Liu Bocheng's remaining Red Fourth Front Army did not give up the rescue plan for the soldiers of the Western Route Army, and made various road signs on the mountains around the main force, hoping that those soldiers who escaped from the west road army could find a large army, in addition, when he heard that the soldiers of the Western Route Army were captured by the enemy and wanted to be taken to Xi'an, Liu Bocheng also led the soldiers of the Red Fourth Front army to rescue them, and he sent scouts to disguise themselves on the road from Pingliang Airfield to Forty Mile Shop to wait for the rescue of the soldiers of the Western Route Army. Eventually, when the captured soldiers of the Western Route Army passed through the forty-mile shop, these scouts successfully helped them escape to Zhenyuan, allowing them to return to the arms of the Red Fourth Front.
After Liu Bocheng did this, a total of more than 2,000 soldiers of the Western Route Army returned to the embrace of the Red Fourth Front, and it can be said that these soldiers who successfully returned could be said to be grateful to Liu Bocheng, which laid the foundation for Liu Bocheng to become the commander of the 129th Division.
Combined with what happened in this special period, it is actually easy to conclude that one of the main reasons for Xu Xiangqian's demotion to deputy division commander is that Xu Xiangqian led the Western Route Army to fight this time, suffered defeats, and suffered heavy losses, so that most of the soldiers of the Red Fourth Front Army he originally led were killed on the battlefield or captured by the enemy.
On the other hand, even those soldiers who escaped from the battlefield were able to return under the persistence and efforts of Liu Bocheng and others, and these soldiers were grateful to Liu Bocheng, and under such a general environment, letting Liu Bo assume the position of commander of the 129th Division was undoubtedly the most realistic and convincing personnel arrangement.
Consider xu xiangqian's own situation
Of course, after the Red Fourth Front was reorganized into the 129th Division, Xu Xiangqian was demoted to deputy division commander, in addition to the reasons considered in light of the actual situation of the Red Fourth Front, there were also some factors of Xu Xiangqian himself. After the defeat of the Western Route Army, it was undoubtedly a huge blow to Xu Xiangqian, even if Xu Xiangqian returned to the large army after various setbacks, he was still full of guilt, he thought that if he did not leave at that time, if he stayed and led everyone to leave together, he would definitely be able to take some fighters.
This sense of guilt forced Xu Xiangqian at that time to be incompetent for the position of commander of the 129th Division, and the organization needed to give him a chance to let him cultivate obscurity and regain his strength, so appointing him as deputy division commander was the best choice made by the organization after combining Xu Xiangqian's own situation analysis.
Not only that, after the Western Route Army suffered setbacks and Xu Xiangqian returned from suffering, his body became weaker and sicker, Xu Xiangqian, who was originally not in good health, is now in a more unoptimistic physical condition, and in the case of a fierce war with the Japanese army, it is undoubtedly inappropriate to let a person who is not in good health serve as the commander of the division under pressure, so it is more appropriate to let Liu Bo assume the role of division commander, from the actual situation, it is more appropriate.
For example, at the beginning of the founding of New China, Xu Xiangqian was appointed chief of the general staff, but because his physical condition was not optimistic and he could not handle specific affairs, in the initial stage, Nie Rongzhen always replaced him as the chief of the general staff, until 1954, the Central Military Commission officially appointed Su Yu as the chief of the general staff.
It is also enough to see that Xu Xiangqian's physical condition is indeed not good, fortunately, in the era of peace, even if Xu Xiangqian, the chief of the general staff, cannot handle specific affairs because of his poor health, he can also let Nie Rongzhen handle it in his place, if in the most intense stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937, once Xu Xiangqian became the commander of the 129th Division, in the process of commanding the campaign, because of his physical condition, the impact on a war was immeasurable, and this loss was naturally considered by the central authorities at that time, combined with these actual conditions After comprehensively analyzing the pros and cons, the central authorities naturally would not let Xu Xiangqian serve as the commander of the 129th Division.
epilogue
Judging from the actual situation later, letting Liu Bo assume the position of commander of the 129th Division is undoubtedly the most appropriate choice, he is not only better in health than Xu Xiangqian, but also Liu Bocheng is also an elder figure in our army, with deep seniority, and has already played an important role in the army during the Nanchang Uprising, and later also went to the Frunze Military Academy for further study, with systematic military theory, in many key battles, Liu Bocheng has played a vital role, it is under the leadership of Liu Bocheng that the 129th Division has grown more vigorously. Made a great contribution to the War of Resistance Against Japan!
Remarks: The picture comes from the Internet, infringement must be deleted, welcome to comment to leave interesting ideas.