The 130th Division, an ace unit born in the Northeast Battlefield! According to investigation, this contingent was formerly a main force regiment of the Eighth Route Army and the Jizhong Military Region. This unit conquered the north and south, made countless contributions, and produced countless founding heroes. Among them, the more famous ones are: Li Huamin, Xu Shaohua, Deng Dongzhe, Huang Zhongzhong, Shao Zhen, Zhou Shiyuan, Yao Guomin, Liu Daxuan... As for this article, I would like to focus on the soul of this mighty brigade - Ma Renxing!
Ma Renxing, a native of Pingxiang, Hebei, was born in 1904. His father was a teacher, with a strong and righteous personality. Under the influence of his father, Ma Renxing was diligent and studious from an early age and determined to serve the country. In 1919, with the support of his father, he resolutely threw himself into the pen. In 1926, he voluntarily defected to the Northwest Army led by Feng Yuxiang. In the same year, he graduated from a military academy in Kaifeng, Henan. Because of his bravery in battle and repeated military achievements, he was quickly promoted to the chief of staff of the division.
In 1932, his unit clashed with a county party headquarters of the National Government. Afterwards, the cavalry division was downsized to a cavalry brigade, and he was demoted to colonel. In this regard, he was extremely angry, and he became more and more disgusted with the Nationalist government and the Kuomintang army, which was rampant in corruption and fierce infighting. Subsequently, he came into contact with some of our party's ideas of national salvation and began to have some good feelings for our party and our army. Moreover, he also had some secret exchanges with the Eighth Route Army.
In October 1938, with the unremitting efforts of our party, he finally became a "special party member". He was bent on resisting Japan and saving the country, never willing to attack the Eighth Route Army, and also rescued some underground party members. So he quickly aroused the suspicion of the reactionaries. In 1940, he unfortunately revealed his true identity. In order to avoid being pursued by the Kuomintang, he led an uprising in Linxian County, Henan. According to statistics, he pulled out a total of more than 1,600 officers and men, and there are also more than 300 people.
According to the recollections of Wu Fushan (founding lieutenant general), Ma Renxing was tall and had a bold personality, and he was a typical Yan zhao hanzi. After the uprising, he led his troops to the Jin-Cha-Ji anti-Japanese base area and was reappointed as the commander of the second cavalry regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. He fought bravely and was quite resourceful, so he soon became a capable general, Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and Lü Zhengcao, commander of the Jizhong Military Region. In his memoirs, Lü Zhengcao repeatedly mentioned his name.
Wu Fushan recalled that after Ma Ren's uprising, the Kuomintang reactionaries were furious and demoralized. They first tried to bribe Ma Renxing with the high-ranking official Houlu, but after failing, they arrested all his family members. His son Ma Chengfeng was studying in Lanzhou, so he was fortunate enough to escape this fate. Escorted by our party, Ma Chengfeng also came to the Jizhong Military Region, where he served as a communications staff officer in the second cavalry regiment of his father Ma Renxing. Both father and son were very brave, and both were excellent commanders of the Eighth Route Army.
Ma Renxing once led a small army to attack the county town of Anping in Hebei Province at night, and also rescued more than a thousand migrant workers. After the war, he was highly praised by Lü Zhengcao, commander of the Jizhong Military Region. In 1942, he led the Second Cavalry Regiment to participate in the famous Anti-May Day Sweep campaign. In this battle, he led his troops through bitter battles, and finally broke through to the anti-Japanese base area of Jiluyu with some warriors. At the same time, his son Ma Chengfeng died heroically in Li County, Hebei Province.
Hearing this bad news, Ma Renxing was devastated. However, he could only hold back the tears and pretend to be calm. He continued to study combat operations, continued to rush east and west, and finally led some of his soldiers out of the heavy encirclement of the Japanese army. According to statistics, in this battle, the second cavalry regiment lost more than half of its men and horses, and even wang Nairong, the regiment's political commissar, was martyred. Eventually, the remnants of the regiment came to the Jiluyu base area and were combined with some local cavalry into a battalion.
At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lü Zhengcao led part of the main force of the Jizhong Military Region to the Jinsui Anti-Japanese Base Area. Subsequently, he was reappointed commander of the Jinsui Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. As his favorite general, Ma Renxing also came to the Jinsui Military Region and was reappointed as the commander of a main regiment. According to investigations, this unit is the 27th Regiment of the Jinsui Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, and its predecessor was the three main regiments of the Eighth Route Army and the Jizhong Military Region. Zhong Shengyi, the regimental political commissar, and Xingzhong, the deputy regimental commander, both of whom later became founding major generals.
In 1945, Ma Renxing was promoted to commander of the first sub-district of the Jinsui Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. In the same year, he led his troops to annihilate a regiment under Fu Zuoyi at Suiyuan Liangcheng. In October, he and Lü Zhengcao led a force of less than 600 men to the northeast. According to Lü Zhengcao's recollection, our army quickly formed a security brigade on the basis of this unit, which was referred to as the Baoyi Brigade for short. This unit consisted of Ma Renxing as brigade commander, Deng Dongzhe as brigade political commissar, and Li Huamin as deputy brigade commander.
In February 1946, the 1st Regiment of the Bao 1st Brigade took part in the famous Battle of Xiushui Hezi. In this battle, the first regiment was mainly responsible for reinforcements. The First Regiment and a regiment of the fraternal forces fought to the death and joined forces to crush a main regiment of the Second Division of the Central Army, thus ensuring that the large troops of our army successfully surrounded and annihilated thousands of people of the 89th Division of the Central Army. Although the scale of this battle was not large, it was the first annihilation battle carried out by the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and it dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the enemy army!
In March 1946, Ma Renxing led the 1st Regiment of the Bao 1st Brigade to participate in the Siping Liberation War. According to statistics, our army has invested a total of more than 6,000 commanders and fighters, with Zhong Wei, Ma Renxing, and Deng Zhongren as the chief and deputy commanders of the siege. Our army was full of momentum, and it took less than 11 hours to conquer Siping City. Moreover, our side also captured Liu Handong, chairman of the Kuomintang's Northern Liaoning Provincial Government. In this regard, Zhong Wei, Ma Renxing, Deng Zhongren, Yang Yichen, and other commanders and fighters have all made great contributions.
In April of the same year, Ma Renxing led his troops to participate in the Siping Defense War. In this battle, he led two regiments to fight against the New First Army and other units of tens of thousands of people for dozens of days and nights. For his outstanding performance, he was commended by the Central Military Commission and the headquarters of the Northeast Democratic United Army. At the same time, he also gained the trust and respect of Lin Zong. According to statistics, the Baoyi Brigade annihilated thousands of enemy troops in this battle. However, due to the strength of the enemy and the weakness of the enemy, he finally had no choice but to lead the rest to withdraw from Siping.
In 1947, the Bao 1st Brigade was reorganized into the Independent First Division of the West Manchuria Military Region, and the Independent 1st Division was commanded by Ma Renxing. In the same year, our army formed the Field Army (West Manchuria Column) of the West Manchuria Military Region on the basis of three independent divisions of the West Manchuria Military Region. The Western Manchurian Column, the predecessor of the 44th Army of the Fourth Field Army. This unit consisted of the famous general Deng Hua as the commander of the column, Tao Zhu as the political commissar, Wu Fushan as the deputy political commissar, Gao Tiqian as the chief of staff, and Yuan Shengping as the director of the political department.
Soon after the founding of the army, Ma Renxing led his troops to participate in the Siping Offensive. On June 11, the Western Manchurian Column, under the leadership of Deng Hua, quickly captured the airfield on the western outskirts of Siping, and also annihilated more than 600 enemy troops. Subsequently, Ma Renxing led the First Division to attack the city from the northwestern outskirts of Siping City. At first, our army was progressing smoothly, and Deng Hua, Wu Fushan, and other commanders and fighters were very happy. However, after entering the city, the First Division was quickly counterattacked by heavy enemy troops and suffered heavy losses.
One statistic shows that at the beginning of the invasion of the city, the first regiment of the First Division was repeatedly counterattacked by an enemy division. In one day, our army lost more than three hundred people. At the same time, our army also annihilated an equal number of enemy troops. Although the first division suffered heavy losses, it held the breakthrough point and ensured that the follow-up main forces continued to advance into Siping City. In this way, the Western Manchurian Column finally gained a foothold and cooperated with the brother troops to continuously advance towards the enemy's deep attacks.
In the fierce street fighting, the commander-in-chief of the enemy army, Lieutenant General Chen Mingren, used some tall buildings to form a group defense network, which created a great obstacle to the advance of our army. Every step our army takes, it has to pay an extremely painful price. However, Ma Renxing became more and more courageous, and he led the first regiment to blow up the fortress of the Great Red Chamber with thousands of pounds of explosives. In the end, our army won, annihilating thousands of enemy troops and capturing a deputy commander of the enemy's 71st Army.
By June 19, the Western Manchurian Column and fraternal forces had finally basically eliminated all the enemy forces west of Siping Province. Then, Ma Renxing led the third regiment to rush across the overpass, crossed the railway, and entered the east of Siping Road. At this moment, Chen Mingren began to panic. He sent people to pour a lot of soybeans, forming a barricade. Our army was caught off guard, and many commanders and fighters were tripped by soybeans and then fell under the guns of the enemy. Seeing this, Ma Renxing was devastated and indignant, and he killed the red eye.
He led the Third Regiment of the First Division all the way forward, and almost no one could stop him. However, just at this moment, a stray bullet suddenly hit him. In this way, he left this world forever and was reunited with his son Ma Chengfeng under the Nine Springs. Two heroes in one door, heroes in father and son, and cast the soul of the army with iron blood! After the news of his death came, Generals such as Deng Hua and Wu Fushan were particularly saddened. They all took off their hats in silence and did not say a word for a long time.
It is very regrettable that due to the heavy reinforcements of the enemy army, our army had no choice but to withdraw from the Siping battlefield. However, in 1948, our army again killed Siping. Under the command of Famous Generals Such as Li Tianyou and Deng Hua, it took our army less than ten days to successfully liberate Siping, annihilate nearly 20,000 enemy troops, and finally avenge him. Subsequently, his old unit was reorganized into the 130th Division of the 44th Army of the Fourth Field Army, which was the number one main force of the 44th Army and one of the main divisions of our army in the northeast.
On August 22, 1947, the Liaoji Provincial Party Committee posthumously recognized Ma Renxing as a "Liaoji Hero", and in the same year, our army built the "Monument to General Ma Renxing" in Baicheng. On April 19, 1948, the Northeast Administrative Committee and the Headquarters of the Northeast People's Liberation Army decided to name Siping City Sidao Street as "Renxing Street". The people of the Northeast have never forgotten this revolutionary martyr, and the Republic has never forgotten this special meritorious man! Siping famous generals, Liaoji heroes, construction of the field commemoration, supreme glory!
According to the recollections of Deng Hua, Wu Fushan, and other founding generals, before Ma Renxing's sacrifice, our army was ready to promote him to deputy commander of the Western Manchurian Column. After all, he can fight well, be wise and courageous, and be loyal to his faith and unswerving! Although he was born in the old army, he joined the party very late. However, Lin Zong and Deng Hua are very fond of talent, and there is no doubt about the use of people, and they are selected out of the box. In my personal opinion, if Ma Renxing had not died young, he could have become a founding major general.