General Xu Xin's qualifications were not very high, lacking the qualifications of the entire Red Army period, but his progress was very rapid, and he was later awarded the rank of general, which can be called a legend in the army.
Xu Xin, a native of Lingshou, Hebei, was born in 1921, which is a very late birth time among the founding generals. This year the Communist Party of China was founded.
Because of his late birth, Xu Xin joined the revolution late, and he did not join the Eighth Route Army until September 1937, two months after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
When he joined the Eighth Route Army, Xu Xin was only 16 years old, but he fought bravely, had a flexible brain, made many military achievements, and soon became a company commander.
After becoming the commander of the Eighth Route Army, Xu Xin was even more unstoppable and commanded a series of beautiful victories.
In February 1938, the Japanese puppet army in Dingxian County went out of the city to "clear and suppress", and Xu Xin (second from the left in the picture below) led a company to ambush at Qiumen, taking the lead and inflicting heavy damage on the enemy. In April, he led a company to attack the Dingxian Railway Station at night, annihilating all the defenders.
In October 1944, the Japanese puppet army stationed in Gaocheng rushed to Mazhuang, and Xu Xin, who was the district captain at the time, calculated and led the district team to set up an ambush on the spot, killing the Japanese puppet wing leader and more than 100 Japanese puppet troops.
Because of his outstanding performance, in 1945, Xu Xin was promoted to the commander of the 32nd Regiment of the Central Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.
In this year, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region launched a summer offensive, Xu Xin led the 32nd Regiment to dig tunnels, buried more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives under the enemy's artillery towers, carried out blasting, and destroyed the enemy's 4 artillery towers in Duliu Town in one fell swoop, annihilated an enemy battalion, captured more than 120 enemy people, and captured a large number of weapons and ammunition.
Yang Chengwu, commander of the Jizhong Military Region, was overjoyed to hear the good news, and praised the 32nd Regiment: "Well fought! The prestige of the Eighth Route Army was played. You are brave regiments, glorious regiments, very combative regiments! ”
The eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression enabled Xu Xin to accumulate rich combat experience, which made his performance during the Liberation War even more outstanding.
During the Liberation War, Xu Xin repeatedly captured and killed senior enemy commanders.
In 1946, in the battle to conquer Dingxing, Xu Xin led his troops to completely annihilate more than 1,500 enemy defenders and captured Kang Mufei, the deputy commander of the major general of the enemy's 94 army, alive.
In June 1947, in the battle to attack Gucheng, Xu Xin led his troops to fight fiercely for two days and nights, completely annihilating the enemy's main force 362 regiment and capturing the enemy major general Zhang Jianqiu alive.
In 1948, Xu Xin (second from the left in the back row) set a new record for a brigade in Jin-Cha-Ji to annihilate an enemy and a US mechanic equipment division.
The Hutou Division is a U.S. Machinery Equipment Division, known as Fu Zuoyi's ace unit, and its combat effectiveness is naturally relatively strong. However, after the battle, xu xin defeated one after another, and more than 7,000 people were annihilated, and even the division commander Li Mingding was killed.
Lu Yinglin, commander of the enemy's 35th Army, saw his ace troops and was killed by a brigade of the People's Liberation Army and fell like a mountain, knowing that he had no face to see Fu Zuoyi, and even committed suicide.
Xu Xin's position became higher and higher due to his repeated achievements, and by the end of the Liberation War, he had served as deputy division commander and chief of staff.
After the founding of New China, Xu Xin led the 187th Division of the Volunteer Army to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. On the Korean battlefield, Xu Xin's performance was also quite outstanding, so he was praised by Mr. Peng.
In the fifth campaign, Xu Xin led his troops to break through the Linjin River, bravely interspersed, captured The Shermari, seized the Cyan Yue Mountain, collapsed the enemy's defense line of more than ten kilometers, severely damaged the British 29th Brigade, completely annihilated the Gloucester battalion, an artillery team, and a tank company.
After the war, Peng Dehuai's general secretary issued a general order commending the 187th Division: "This spirit of brave interspersed division is worthy of study by all departments, and it is specially commended by the general order." ”
What is more worth mentioning is that although Xu Xin has only one division, he has twice created a brilliant record of annihilating thousands of enemies.
The first time: In the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, Xu Xin led his troops to fight heroically, containing the enemy who was several times better equipped than himself, holding the position for 13 days and nights, annihilating more than 4,000 enemy troops, and shooting down 10 enemy aircraft.
The second time: In the defense of Kaesong, Xu Xin personally came to the front, commanded the troops to adopt the tactics of "squeezing the position" and "hammering nails", took the initiative to attack, annihilated more than 3,000 enemy troops, and injured and shot down 50 enemy planes, and destroyed 42 enemy tanks.
With outstanding military achievements, Xu Xin was awarded the rank of colonel when he was awarded the rank in 55 years.
Xu Xin only joined the revolution during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and without the qualifications of the Red Army period, it was already very remarkable that he could be awarded the title of colonel.
However, the colonel was far from the peak of Xu Xin's military career. In his lifetime, Xu Xin participated in the awarding of titles three times.
The second time was in 1964, when Xu Xin was awarded the rank of major general, making him one of the founding generals.
The third time was in 1988, when China restored the rank system and Xu Xin was awarded the rank of general.
In the 1970s, Xu Xin served as chief of staff of the Beijing Military Region, joined the General Staff Department of the People's Liberation Army in 1980, served as the chief of the general staff, and was promoted to deputy chief of the general staff in 1982, serving for 10 years, making important contributions to the modernization and regularization of our army.