After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began to cooperate in the war against Japan. Because old Chiang Kai-shek gave too few trumpets, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army had many "special" formations in addition to the regular planning department, such as independent regiments, teaching regiments, and teaching brigades, and later there was also a detachment.
For example, the Qin Lai detachment belonging to the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was named after Qin Jiwei, the commander of the detachment, and Lai Jifa, the political commissar of the detachment. There are also orders in the active area, such as the Jinxiao detachment of the New Fourth Army that this article will talk about.
The Jinxiao Detachment was established in December 1943 and is known as the Jinxiao Detachment because its main activities are in Jinhua and Xiaoshan. At the beginning of the establishment of the Jinxiao detachment, the total strength of the troops was more than 800 people, with Cai Qunfan as the detachment leader, Yang Si as the political commissar, and Peng Lin as the chief of staff.
After the establishment of the Jinxiao detachment, it repeatedly fought with the local Japanese puppet army, because the strength and weapons and equipment were inferior to the opponents, so the fighting method was mainly guerrilla warfare and ambush warfare. According to incomplete statistics, in the more than one year from the beginning of its establishment to the victory of the War of Resistance, the Jinxiao detachment fought more than a hundred large and small battles with the enemy, accumulating more than 2,000 enemy casualties.
During this period, Cai Qunfan's position was higher than Peng Lin's, and as a military commander, his military achievements were also greater than Peng Lin's. From this point of view, when the grand title was awarded in 1955, Cai Qunfan's military rank should be higher than Peng Lin's, at least at the same level. But the result was that Peng Lin became the founding lieutenant general, and Cai Qunfan was only awarded the rank of colonel.
The first reason is that Cai Qunfan's qualifications are not as good as Peng Lin's. Cai Qunfan, a native of Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province, was born in 1915, and because his family was still well off, he received a relatively good education. While studying in Shanghai, he began to accept progressive ideas and participated in some anti-Japanese salvation movements.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in full swing, Cai Qunfan joined our party, first forming and developing an anti-Japanese armed force in the Songhu area, and later being ordered to come to the eastern part of Zhejiang to open up an anti-Japanese base area in eastern Zhejiang. With his efforts, the army grew from more than 130 people at the beginning to more than 500 people, and gained a foothold in Huijishan, eventually developing into the Jinxiao detachment.
Colonel Cai Qunfan
Although Peng Lin was one year older than Cai Qunfan, he joined the revolution very early, joined the Red Army at the age of 16, successively served in the Red 6 Army and the Red Second Front, served as the political commissar of the Model Division of the 6th Army of the Red Second Front, and participated in the Long March with the troops. Through comparison, it is not difficult to find that in terms of qualifications, Cai Qunfan is inferior to Peng Lin.
The second reason is that Cai Qunfan lacks stamina and does not progress as fast as Peng Lin. During the Liberation War, although both of them served in Huaye, Cai Qunfan did not progress as fast as Peng Lin. Cai Qunfan's highest position was chief of staff of Huaye's first column, and Peng Lin's highest position was political commissar of the 32nd Army.
Lieutenant General Penglin
After the founding of New China, Cai Qunfan successively served as chief of staff of the 60th Division of the 20th Army and director of the Operations Division of the Headquarters of the Eastern Military Region; Peng Lin served as the political commissar of the Railway Public Security Force and the political commissar of the Lushun Base of the Navy. In 1955, when the title was awarded, Peng Lin was eventually awarded the rank of lieutenant general because he had served as the political commissar of the division during the Red Army period; Cai Qunfan was finally awarded the rank of colonel because he did not have the experience of the Red Army period and the position during the Liberation War.