He was the only "six-star general" in New China to be awarded the title twice, served two terms as director of general logistics, and was the pioneer and founder of our army's modernization logistics cause. He went through the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
However, his life was full of ups and downs, there were three ups and downs, but every time he encountered a crisis, he was able to overcome the danger. Especially on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he played almost half of the role and was praised as the "Xiao Ho" of the Korean War. What is more worth mentioning is that at the age of 74, he was still urgently transferred to the Central Military Commission by Deng Xiaoping, and he was still an old man and had ambitions in a thousand miles.
Humen has no dogs, and under his words and deeds, his children are also extraordinary achievements, the eldest son is the governor, the second son is a major general, and the daughter is the president of Beijing Hospital. So, who is he? What are the legends of his revolutionary career?
Hong Xuezhi was born on February 2, 1913, to a very poor peasant family in Xiaohekou, Huangque Village, Shuanghe Town, Jinzhai County, Anhui Province. In order to make a living, he went to the landlord's house to herd cattle at a very young age, was bullied and oppressed, and from an early age set a lofty ideal to overthrow this irrational society and let the poor people live a good life.
Hong Xuezhi's parents are very enlightened, the family can no longer open the pot, but still raise money, cut down on food and clothing, send him to finish primary school, and then send him to be an apprentice. Although Hong Xuezhi only attended primary school, he relied on self-study and had a certain level of education, which laid a good cultural foundation for his future revolutionary career.
In 1928, the flame of revolution spread to Hong Xuezhi's hometown, deeply influenced by the advanced ideas of the revolution, he immediately joined the peasant armed joint zhuang team led by the underground party, because of his outstanding performance, he was absorbed into the Communist Party of China the following year, and from then on, he began his new revolutionary journey, and joined the Chicheng guerrilla group, served as a detachment leader, led the troops to participate in the Shangnan Uprising, and then followed the Chicheng guerrilla group into the Red Fourth Army.
Because of Hong Xuezhi's bravery, courage and strategy, he made many military achievements and was soon promoted, successively serving as squad leader, platoon leader, and machine gun company commander, participating in the creation of the Eyu-Anhui revolutionary base area, and the first, second, third, and fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" battles, as well as the battles of Huang'an, Shanghuang, and Sujiafu. He fought bravely, commanded decisively, and completed combat missions well many times.
In 1932, Hong Xuezhi served as the director of the Political Department of the Red Fourth Army, accompanied the Red Fourth Front's western expedition, and participated in the battles of Zaoyang and Xinji. Later, he participated in the creation of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area and served as the director of the political department of the division.
After that, he participated in the "Three-Way Siege" and "Six-Way Siege" to crush the Sichuan warlords, and fought three battles against Yinan, Yingqu and Xuanda, as well as the battles of Kongshan Dam, SanjiangBa, WangcangBa and Wanyuan Defense, and his political work ability and military command ability were vividly displayed.
In 1935, Hong Xuezhi accompanied the Long March of the Red Fourth Front, participated in the battles of the forced crossing of the Jialing River, Tumen, Baozuo and other battles, and was responsible for the rear reception and procurement of grain and grass of the Red Fourth Front. When passing through minority areas, he actively carried out united front work, won the support of his brothers of ethnic minorities, solved the problem of grain and grass for the Red Army, expanded the influence of the Red Army in minority areas, and raised a large amount of military supplies to meet the central Red Army going north.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hong Xuezhi led his troops to the anti-Japanese front line of the Taihang Mountains, participated in the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, and smashed the large-scale sweep of the Japanese puppet army. In 1940, he led the Central China Dispatch Brigade of the General School of the Kang Da to the anti-Japanese front line in northern Jiangsu, broke through the enemy's blockade, crossed the six provinces of Jin, Hebei, Lu, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu, and arrived at the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, to participate in the anti-Japanese resistance, and served as the principal of the Fifth Branch of the Kang Da, training a large number of cadres for the New Fourth Army.
During the summer anti-sweeping battle in 1941, he was ordered to cover the safe transfer of the New Fourth Army's military organs and the Fifth Branch of the Anti-Japanese University. Later, he served as the commander of the Yanfu Military Region of the New Fourth Army, leading the Yanfu military and people to carry out anti-counterfeiting and anti-encroachment struggles and develop local armed forces in the north.
After that, he served as the chief of staff of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, participated in the command of the summer offensive operation and the anti-Kuomintang diehards in northern Jiangsu, smashed the enemy's repeated sweeps of the base areas, and annihilated a large number of Japanese troops, reversing the unfavorable situation and consolidating the anti-Japanese base areas in northern Jiangsu.
In 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the counter-offensive stage, and Hong Xuezhi participated in and commanded the battles of Funing, Cheqiao, Huaiyin, Huai'an and other battles, making great contributions to the final victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During the Liberation War, Hong Xuezhi served as the deputy commander of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, led his troops into North China, and under extremely difficult circumstances, dredged the railway from Chengde to western Liaoning, ensuring the timely transportation of a large number of cadres and troops into the northeast.
In 1946, he served as the deputy commander of the Western Liaoning Military Region, and led his troops to participate in the attack on Tongliao, the Battle of Zhongchang Road, and the Battle of Siping, which curbed the enemy's strategic offensive momentum. Later, he served as the commander of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Region, led the battle against bandits, won victory, and consolidated the base area of Northern Manchuria.
Later, he served as the commander of the Sixth Column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and led his troops to participate in the battle of Sanxia Jiangnan, besieging Chengzi Street, completely annihilating the 89th Regiment of the New First Army, and attacking the enemy who was strongly fortified by Dehui. On the northeast battlefield, for the first time, he commanded the coordinated operations of infantry, artillery, and tanks, and gained experience for our army to carry out regularized operations with the main force of the Kuomintang.
Later, he led his troops to participate in three offensive operations in the northeast summer, autumn and winter. In the summer offensive, he led the 6th Column, with the cooperation of friendly and neighboring troops, to completely annihilate the 38th Division of the New First Army of the Kuomintang, and then annihilated the enemy's provisional 21st Division. He also led his troops to participate in the Siping Offensive, fought a bloody battle with the enemy for 15 days and nights, dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang army, pulled out the enemy's outlying strongholds in Jilin, and killed the major general of the enemy's 2nd Division, creating conditions for the capture of Jilin.
Subsequently, he led his troops to participate in the winter offensive operations, won the victory in the Battle of Xinlitun, and surrounded and annihilated the New Fifth Army, an elite unit of the Kuomintang army, which greatly shocked the Kuomintang army. He cleverly and decisively commanded the troops to take a movement to annihilate the enemy, successively conquering liaoyang, Anshan, Yingkou and other important towns, and completely annihilating more than 30,000 people including the enemy's 54th Division and 24th Division.
In 1948, Hong Xuezhi led his troops to participate in the Pingjin Campaign, first cutting off the enemy's contact and blocking the escape route of the enemy in Peiping. At the same time, the main force 17th Division was dispatched to participate in the Battle of Tianjin, making outstanding contributions to the victory of the Pingjin Campaign. Later, he served as the commander of the 43rd Army, and led his troops to the south as the advance team of the Four Fields, and was appointed deputy commander of the 15th Corps of the Fourth Field Army on the way.
In 1949, he commanded the 43rd Army to launch a river crossing operation, crossing the Yangtze River from Huanggang, Huangshi, and Puchun, forcing the enemy in Wuhan to abandon the city and flee south. Later, he participated in the command of the Xianggan Campaign, the capture of Echeng, Daye, Jiujiang, Nanchang and other cities, and also participated in the command of the Guangdong Campaign and the liberation of Guangzhou.
Immediately afterward, he served as deputy commander of the 15th Corps of the Central and Southern Military Region and deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region, leading his troops to march into Guangxi, participating in and commanding the battle to cross the sea, winning the victory in the liberation of Hainan Island, directly commanding the struggle against bandits in Guangdong, and consolidating public order and social order in Guangdong. In 1950, he participated in the command of the Battle of Wanshan Islands, sank 3 enemy ships, seriously wounded the commander of the enemy fleet, and created a miracle of wooden sailing ships hitting warships and winning the victory over the inferior.
In 1950, Hong Xuezhi served as the commander of the 13th Corps of the Northeast Border Defense Army, went to the Korean battlefield, and served as the deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, responsible for the headquarters, special forces and logistics work, participated in the command of the first to fifth battles and other battles, put forward many important suggestions and strategies, and did a lot of work in ensuring the safety of the head organs of the Volunteer Army.
In 1951, he concurrently served as commander of the Logistics Command of the Volunteer Army, led the logistics commanders of the Volunteer Army in a bloody struggle, and in the dangerous situation of no air supremacy and frequent artillery attacks, established a steel transportation line that "could not be fought continuously, could not be destroyed, and could not be destroyed," smashed the "strangulation war" planned by the US military, guaranteed the supply of combat materials on the front line, played an important role in winning the victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and accumulated a series of experience in logistics support for modern wars, which has become a valuable asset in our army's logistics work.
In 1954, Hong Xuezhi served as director of the General Logistics Department and secretary of the party committee; in the face of the new situation in the modernization of logistics work, he proceeded from the reality of the state and the army, straightened out the logistics system, improved the organizational structure, and improved the standard system and adopted a series of major measures so that our army's logistics construction stepped to a new level on the road of regularization, and he was the founder and pioneer of our army's modernization logistics work.
In 1959, the upper reactionary clique in Tibet rebelled, and Hong Xuezhi went to Tibet on behalf of the Central Military Commission to participate in counterinsurgency and provide logistical support. He went deep into the forward troops and the rear military station hospital, investigated and studied, solved problems, and contributed to the victory of counterinsurgency.
After the Lushan Conference in 1959, Hong Xuezhi was implicated and forced to leave the army and go to Jilin to serve as the director of the provincial agricultural machinery department and the director of the heavy industry department. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted, imprisoned and criticized, and sent to farm labor reform. In 1972, under the personal supervision of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, he was relieved of labor reform and became the director of the Jilin Provincial Petrochemical Bureau.
In 1977, Hong Xuezhi was elected as a member of the Central Military Commission and director of the National Defense Office, put an end to the chaos, comprehensively rectified the situation, led the cadres and workers of the national defense front, restored production order, strictly grasped the supply of weapons and equipment and the development of sophisticated weapons, and made positive contributions to the modernization of the national defense industry.
In 1980, he again served as director and political commissar of the General Logistics Department, and later deputy secretary general of the Central Military Commission, striving to eliminate the "Cultural Revolution" that caused serious damage to logistics work, quickly cutting off the factions of the general logistics system, properly resolving problems left over from history, and quickly putting logistics work on the right track.
In his later years, he was also elected vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and a member of the party leading group, made friends with various democratic parties and people from all walks of life, and made important contributions to consolidating and expanding the patriotic united front in the new period and promoting the development of the CPPCC cause.
It is worth mentioning that Hong Xuezhi was awarded the rank of general twice, the first time was in 1955, when he was awarded the rank of founding general, and premier Zhou personally awarded the medal. The second time was in 1988, when he was again awarded the rank of general, and Deng Xiaoping personally awarded the medal, which is unique in the history of our army.
Under the careful guidance of his parents, The children of General Hong Xuezhi have also achieved extraordinary achievements, the eldest son has served as the governor of Jilin Province, the second son has also received the rank of major general, and the daughter is the president of the Beijing 402 Hospital.
On November 20, 2006, General Hong Xuezhi died of illness in Beijing at the age of 94. Although The old General Hong has left us, his glorious deeds will forever be recorded in the annals of history, forever remembered in our hearts, and a model for our young generation to learn forever.