During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, one unit made great contributions and was commended by President Peng for sending a telegram, and a sentence was added to the back of the telegram: "Long live the 38th Army!" ”。 Since then, the great name of the "Long Live Army" has resounded throughout the army like thunder.
However, the first leaders of the "Banzai Army" were not Liang Xingchu and Li Tianyou, and the first leaders of this unit were Wan Yi, the beloved general of zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army. He was once recorded by Chiang Kai-shek, and made great contributions to the War of Resistance, but during the war with the Japanese, he was sentenced to death by Chiang Kai-shek. Later, he escaped and defected to the Eighth Route Army, became a member of the Eighth Route Army, and made many military achievements, and in the Liberation War, the unit he led was the "Long Live Army" that later became famous.
Become Zhang Xue's conscience confidant
Wan Yi was born in 1907 in Jinxian, Liaoning, of Manchu ethnicity, which by then had effectively become a Japanese colony. Wan Yi dropped out of elementary school after only two years of primary school and later spent several years as an apprentice. The Japanese wantonly abused him in his hometown, and he had a warm blood of anti-Japanese patriotism, so he joined Zhang Zuolin's troops.
Because he was a bit cultured and alert, he entered the Northeast Army's Lecture Hall and met Zhang Xueliang in the Lecture Hall. When he graduated, he ranked first out of more than two thousand graduates. The purpose of Zhang Zuolin's entry into the martial arts hall was also to make contact with these people who might become generals in the army in the future, and to cultivate his own forces and subordinates. Wan Yi, who won the first place, was naturally very favored by Zhang Xueliang, and when he graduated, Zhang Xueliang rewarded him with a pocket watch and a command knife. Later, the Northeast Army troops offered a reward for recruiting "standard company commanders" program, Wan Yi's article won the first place, and Zhang Xueliang rewarded him with a new-style parker pen. He was recruited into his confidants and rose through the ranks, from soldier to company commander to regimental commander in 1936.
He was recorded by Chiang Kai-shek
In 1936, he accompanied Zhang Xueliang to the northwest to encircle and suppress the Red Army, but Zhang Xueliang had no intention of civil war. During this period, Zhang Xueliang personally said to Wan Yi: "You are the youngest regimental commander in the Northeast Army, and you will jump among them in the future!" ”
Therefore, at this time, Wan Yi got to know Liu Lanbo, an underground member of the Communist Party of China who served as the secretary of the commander of the Northeast Army, and knew clearly and clearly Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "taking out the outside world before going inside," coming to the northwest to fight the Red Army, and not resisting the Japanese, which made him very hostile to Chiang Kai-shek's corrupt policy of excluding dissidents.
In 1936, in order to commemorate the national shame of "918", Wan Yi mobilized troops to resist the war. Therefore, he led the troops to march, sang the national salvation anthem, and criticized the policy of "outside must first be inside". A political trainer sent by Chiang Kai-shek to his unit quietly tore up the special poster of the Declaration of resistance against Japanese Aggression and prepared to file a complaint and ask for credit. As a result, he was found by Wan Yi and slapped. Dare to fight the political trainers, this is a big deal, and soon this matter spread to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek said to Zhang Xueliang: "You have a regimental commander who is very reactionary and fights political trainers!" Zhang Xueliang said to Chiang Kai-shek: "Chairman of the COMMITTEE, leave it to me!" ”
So Zhang Xueliang saved Wan Yi and did not deal with him. Although Wan Yi was only a small regimental commander at this time, this incident and Wan Yi's name were quietly written down by Chiang Kai-shek.
Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case (Yi)
In 1937, due to the Xi'an Incident and other reasons, Wan Yi was arrested by the mobilized forces, and he was released from prison not long after. After being released from prison, he participated in the defense of Nanjing, and the whole regiment was killed, leaving him alone. In January 1938, he was appointed as a regimental commander in the Northeast Army, and secretly joined the Communist Party of China in March of the same year. Under his influence and efforts, many middle- and lower-ranking officers of the regiment he led joined the Chinese Communist Party. His unit was highly enthusiastic about resisting Japan and had a very strong fighting capacity.
In April of the same year, in the defense of Lianyungang, Wan Yi became famous in battle, and repeatedly fought bloody battles with the Japanese army, engaged in hand-to-hand combat, etc., killing a large number of Japanese puppet troops. Even the Japanese army had to admit that "the navy suffered a lot." After this battle, Wan Yi's prestige was far and wide, and even in the Yungang area, there was a saying after the break: "Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what (Yi)".
In 1942, Wan Yi, who had a small official position, was still remembered by one person, that is, Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek always remembered that in 1936, the regimental commander who was playing political trainers in Xi'an, so when he heard again that Wan Yi was suspected of being a communist, he gave li Wenyuan, deputy superintendent of military law in the Sulu Theater, roughly meaning: Wan Yi should not be allowed to live, and should be sentenced to death. When Wan Yi was arrested, judging by the charges listed by the Kuomintang in the trial, it was impossible for him to get out of prison alive. So he later managed to escape, found the Eighth Route Army, and returned to the party organization.
The predecessor of the "Viva Army"
After Wan Yi escaped, the news was uploaded to the Shandong sub-bureau, which immediately sent someone to greet him. In December, Wan Yi was sent to the 111th Division of the Northeast Army to work, and Wan Yi was elected as the commander of the 111th Division, which was transformed into a people's army and reorganized into the Coastal Detachment of the Eighth Route Army according to the party's instructions.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, this unit requested to return to its hometown in the northeast, and this unit crossed the sea into the northeast, and later merged with two divisions of the brother troops to form the first column of the Northeast Field Army, the main force of which was the 5th Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which Peng Dehuai created when he launched the Pingjiang Uprising, and Wan Yi served as the commander of the column.
This unit later fought four battles and four peaces, three times to Jiangnan, three battles in western Liaoning, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Korea, and was known as the "Long Live Army" for its achievements.
Wan Yi is also another trump card, the first commander of the 42nd Army, who first entered the Korean War.
In 1955, Wan Yi was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.