introduction
General Chen Xilian is an excellent commander of China's army. After the founding of New China, he successively served as an artillery commander. He was also awarded the rank of general in 1955. It can be said that General Chen Xilian is an extremely important general in the history of our army.
But it was such a general who was "frightened" by the enemy's artillery when he first went to the battlefield. Later, General Chen Xilian became the commander in charge of artillery. What kind of military career did General Chen Xilian have? Today I will talk to you about General Chen Xilian.
Cowherd babies first went to war
When General Chen Xilian was a teenager, he was a cattle herder and herded cattle for landlords in his hometown in Hubei Province. Life is not bad, and every day I can get a few or two meters from the landlord's house and by herding cattle. However, as Chen Xilian grew up, the landlord wanted to find a child to replace Chen Xilian to herd cattle, so he began to make things difficult for Chen Xilian.
Chen Xilian, who was oppressed by the landlord, had no choice but to leave the landlord's house. When I returned to my home, I happened to encounter the Red Army preaching that "the poor are in charge." So he wanted to join the Red Army, but at that time, Chen Xilian was not old enough, and the Red Army did not want him.
Chen Xilian, who failed to join the army, spent all day at home thinking about joining the Red Army and doing the revolution with the Red Army. Within 2 months, near Chen Xilian's hometown, another Red Army team came, and this time Chen Xilian took advantage of his family's lack of attention to run to the Red Army barracks and asked to join the Red Army.
Chen Xilian, who successfully became the Red Army, soon had the opportunity to go to the battlefield. In 1930, the Central Plains War broke out. The First Division of the First Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, commanded by Xu Qianqian, took advantage of the warlords' melee to take advantage of the warlords' melee and took the initiative to attack the area around the Pinghan Railway and launched the Battle of Yangpingkou.
Chen Xilian, who went to the battlefield for the first time, was blown up by the cannons of the Kuomintang defenders and did not dare to go out of the trenches. Chen Xilian's squad leader said to him, "Don't be afraid, the cat is rushing after me." Chen Xilian, who had returned to his senses, picked up a large knife and followed the squad leader all the way to the front of the enemy army. After killing several enemies, the Red Army seized the Kuomintang positions.
After this battle was fought, the new recruit Chen Xilian actually killed 3 enemies, and the battalion commander praised Chen Xilian and said, "You little comrade, when you start a battle, you are like a cannonball, and if you rush straight to the enemy's eyes, you will be killed." Because Chen Xilian was a little short and fat at that time, the soldiers gave Chen Xilian a nickname of "Small Steel Cannon".
Take down the Japanese airfield
The title of "small steel cannon" is not casual, and General Chen Xilian's military career seems to always be dealing with bombs. In 1937, the Eighth Route Army entered the Shanxi region, in order to block the enemy reinforcements and support friendly forces to create enemy base areas in Shanxi, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army decided to send the 769th Regiment of the 129th Division to sneak into the Japanese airfield in Yangmingbao.
Chen Xilian led the 769th Regiment to the vicinity of the Tuotuo River. In order to find out the enemy's situation, Chen Xilian led people to reconnoiter the enemy's movements near Yangmingbao on the bank of the Tuotuo River. After reconnaissance, they found that enemy aircraft would concentrate in the southeast corner of the airfield at night, waiting for maintenance. So Chen Xilian decided to take advantage of the night to sneak into Yangmingbao Airport.
On the night of October 19, the soldiers of the 769th Regiment lurked in the darkness of the enemy airfield, and the soldiers marched toward the enemy aircraft in groups of 10 carrying bundles of grenades. With the sound of an explosion, the battle began. The commander of the Chen Xilian Regiment took the lead and took a bundle of grenades and stuffed them into the enemy's plane, and the plane suddenly exploded, and the planes parked together had a chain reaction, and they all caught fire and exploded.
The battle lasted about an hour, and the soldiers of the 769th Regiment blew up 24 enemy aircraft and killed more than 120 enemy troops in this hour. After the attack on Yangmingbao Airport, the Japanese army temporarily lost its air force, and the Eighth Route Army effectively supported the Battle of Xinkou, and Chen Xilian became famous in North China after this battle.
Commander of the artillery of the New China
When New China was founded, the modernization of the armed forces was put on the agenda, and the most important step for the armed forces to enter modernization was to first establish its own artillery. As for the selection of the commander of the artillery, after fierce discussions in the army, it was finally agreed to elect Chen Xilian as the commander of the artillery. In 1950, the chairman personally appointed Chen Xilian as the commander of the artillery of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. ”
At that time, Chen Xilian was busy restoring local production and life. Chen Xilian and several comrades who received the appointment said, "I, Chen Xilian, have to deal with artillery again." Soon Chen Xilian went to Beijing to take up his post.
Chen Xilian once recalled: "In the past few years of actual combat, our army has not suffered less from artillery, and now that it has a strong industrial base, the task of building artillery can no longer be delayed!" ”
During Chen Xi's tenure as artillery commander, he set up an artillery academy, developed new artillery, and formed a research group to study the structure of imported artillery. When China was researching missiles, Chen Xilian led professionals through desert areas several times to find the most suitable place for the missile research and development base.
After several years of development, the ARTILLERY OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY has developed from four divisions in the founding period to an independent service, and has successively completed the research and development and test firing of various missiles in New China.
General Chen Xilian's "feelings" for the cannon are also reflected in the general's memoirs in his later years. General Chen Xilian recalled: "In the first battle, we were shocked by the Cannons of the Kuomintang, and at that time we only had rifles and grenades, which were not worth mentioning in front of the cannons, and we could only defeat them by rushing to the feet of the artillerymen with our lives. If one day we can have our own artillery, then no one will dare to bully us anymore. ”
General Chen Xilian's contribution to New China should be remembered forever.