In 1955, in order to commend comrades who had made great contributions in the revolution, our army held a grand ceremony for conferring titles. Many generals received corresponding ranks for their indelible contributions to the revolution. The highest rank is of course the Ten Marshals, the second rank is the Great General, and then the General, Lieutenant General, and Major General. There is also a ranking order among the generals, the first place is the well-known Republic god of war Su Yu, but the second place is somewhat incomprehensible, as if his ranking is somewhat high.
Although the general was also a comrade with deep qualifications, he had been ill for fourteen years during the war because of a serious illness, and from this point of view, it seemed that he was not suitable for such a high rank ranking. Even he himself, after learning of this ranking, was very surprised, and once resigned to Premier Zhou, saying that his military rank was too high, and he had not made a contribution to his illness for so many years.
So who is this person? He was General Xu Haidong, who was known as "Xu Tiger" during the Red Army and had a firm red heart for the revolution.
First, the tiger of the Red Army, galloping on the battlefield
June 1900 was the day when China was bullied and humiliated by the great powers, and blood and shame stained the land of China. That year, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing, Cixi fled with the Guangxu Emperor, and the lives of the Chinese people deteriorated. Similarly, perhaps heaven intends to revive China, and in this year many of China's pillars were born, who will carry the banner of revolution in the future and save the Chinese people from fire and water. Xu Haidong is one of these historical stars.
Huangpi, Hubei is a famous general county, where Xu Haidong was born. He was born very poor, his family was an honest peasant, he had no savings in his life, and he was the object of exploitation by the landlords. Xu Haidong grew old as a teenager, the complicated world made him understand things early, his disposition was tempered, iron-blooded, firm, and tenacious, he grew up in his hometown, saw the hardships of the people in his hometown, saw the ugly face of the exploiters, and saw the reactionaries' reckless lives. Although he was young, although he had no culture, his disposition made him set an ambition from an early age, he wanted to change all this, he wanted to lead the people of his hometown and even the people of the whole Chinese to live a good life.
He went to work as a kiln worker when he was a little older, and eleven years of kiln work tempered him and allowed him to determine his direction. He also remembered that he was burning the kiln well, when suddenly, there were several earth-shattering gunshots outside, and several explosions, which frightened him into thinking that the stove had exploded, and hurried to the side of the furnace to check the situation. But the villagers were different from him, and the sound of these gunshots did not frighten them, on the contrary, the faces of the villagers appeared with smiles that they had never seen in ordinary days. Everyone knows that it was the Red Army that came to fight the local tycoons. The Red Army is the savior of the toiling masses, and their guns are not weapons of murder, but shields to protect the interests of the people. After experiencing such things many times, Xu Haidong understood that the Red Army is the people's own army, and he also developed a yearning for the Red Army.
Heaven paid off, and he later joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army as he wished, becoming a glorious Soldier of the Red Army. He participated in the jute riots in his hometown of Huangpi and repeatedly helped organize resistance to the encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang reactionaries. His faith was firm, relying on his own red heart, he experienced a lot of hardships, from an ordinary soldier to the commander of the 25th Army of the Red Fourth Front.
The ferocity of the enemy was as usual, Xu Haidong's family was slaughtered many times by the reactionary forces, and nearly a hundred people were slaughtered, and the entire Xu family was almost nothing left. However, Xu Haidong turned grief and indignation into strength, transforming this bloody sea of deep hatred into a driving force for annihilating the enemy and beating the enemy to death. The enemy made bold remarks and arrogantly declared that they would thoroughly encircle and suppress the Eyu-Anhui region within three months and clean up all the "communist bandits" in one fell swoop; this time, the enemy gathered hundreds of thousands of troops and pounced on the base area like a wolf, and Xu Haidong's 25th Army, like an iron army, smashed the enemy's attacks many times, and in the enemy's territory it was like entering its own territory, galloping across the borders, fighting many victorious battles, thus earning the nickname "Xu Tiger."
With less than three thousand men, he repeatedly planted the Kuomintang army, broke through several times, and was at ease, and also established a solid base area including dozens of counties. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek personally sent a telegram reprimanding him, saying that Xu Haidong was a major problem for the future of the Nationalist army. The 25th Army traveled to many places, and finally arrived at the base area in northern Shaanxi and became the first army to complete the Long March. Later, Xu Haidong formed the 15th Army, which made the Kuomintang army even more difficult to resist, and completely annihilated an integrated division of the enemy army in the Battle of Laoshan, opening the way for the Central Red Army to reach northern Shaanxi.
It can be seen that Xu Haidong was a full-fledged fierce general on the battlefield, and the honor of being named by Chiang Kai-shek and "praised" was not much among the Red Army generals, but Xu Haidong, a general born as a kiln worker, was one of them, and he was also the vanguard of the long march to remove obstacles and laid the foundation for the northern Shaanxi base area, and such a meritorious achievement is also extremely important.
Second, generously contribute to support the central authorities
By the end of the Long March, the red army units that had arrived in northern Shaanxi were already very tired and short of food and clothing, including the Central Red Army. Chairman Mao was very distressed because the Central Red Army could no longer open the cauldron. At this time, Xu Haidong's Twenty-fifth Army was near them, the situation was still good, and it was reasonable to say that it was possible to take over the Central Red Army, but at that time, it was precisely when Zhang Guotao was engaged in separatism and established another Central Committee, and Xu Haidong's 25th Army was a member of the Red Fourth Front, and there would be some estrangement from the Central Red Army. Chairman Mao thought left and right, there was no other way to subsidize military supplies, so he sent someone to find Xu Haidong and personally wrote an IOU borrowing 2,500 yuan, hoping that Xu Haidong would receive the Central Red Army.
That period was indeed the most unsustainable time for the Central Committee, and later when Snow interviewed Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao said that this was the "darkest time" in the revolutionary career, a period in which the future was uncertain and the future was uncertain. Chairman Mao originally thought that Xu Haidong would not support the Central Committee, but he did not expect that after Xu Haidong received Chairman Mao's note, he allocated five-sevenths of his troop savings to the Central Red Army, with five thousand yuan, and asked each company to send one of the best machine guns. Chairman Mao later praised him, saying that he had done a great favor to the revolution at that time, and as Si said, without his five thousand yuan at that time, the situation of the Central Committee would have been sad. Moreover, Xu Haidong still used most of his troops' savings to aid the central authorities, and made a decision contrary to the intentions of his superiors at that time, and it can be said that he was loyal to the party.
During the Period of the Red Army, Xu Haidong laid the base area in northern Shaanxi and relieved the Central Red Army, which indeed made great contributions to the revolution. Such merits are great feats forged at a critical juncture in the common tribulations, and it can be said that there are life-and-death merits to the Chinese revolution, and correspondingly, Xu Haidong has also won many medals, and these honors are indeed matched with him.
Third, the conquest of the north and south, accidentally fell ill
In 1937, the Japanese launched the Lugou Bridge Incident, and a full-scale civil war broke out. Upholding the national spirit and integrity, the CPC Central Committee resolutely decided to release the former suspicions with the Kuomintang and unite as the Chinese army. As the main force of the Red Army, Xu Laohu's troops naturally had to go to the front to fight the Japanese. He led his troops to participate in the Battle of Pingxingguan and won a great victory, and then moved to the north of the Yangtze River, mainly presiding over guerrilla warfare and fighting many victorious battles.
Unfortunately, the hero is always jealous. After all, General Xu Haidong was born as a kiln worker, and the harsh working environment in the earthen kiln would make him suffer from occupational diseases, and there might be some problems with his lungs. Previously, because I was still young, the workload was still bearable, so there was no problem. But then, with the passage of time and the increase in workload, General Xu Haidong's lungs finally could not bear it, and he was seriously ill and needed to rest. But as a general, how could he give up the life of a soldier?
He tried his best to carry the illness, but in the end he was physically weak. He expressed his apologies to Chairman Mao, saying that he would return to his post and continue his work as soon as he could work. However, Chairman Mao sent a telegram saying: "Rest assured that the disease will be recovered, and the sky will not fall." These few words made Xu Haidong very moved, and he understood that this was the chairman's weight and love for himself. Even though he was recuperating from illness, he still did not forget to care about the development of the war situation ahead and was still ready to fight for the rest of his life for the cause of the people's liberation. Unfortunately, man is not as good as heaven, and his illness is indeed very serious, and there is no way to continue the revolutionary cause. Until the end of the Liberation War, he was still recuperating.
Fourth, after a lifetime of fighting horses, he will eventually become a general
At the ceremony of conferring the title in 1955, Xu Haidong was awarded the rank of Great General. He resigned to Premier Zhou in this regard, saying that he had been ill for more than ten years and was not qualified to have such an honor. After Premier Zhou relayed it to the Central Committee, Chairman Mao believed that he had made great contributions to the revolution and was fully worthy of this rank. Chairman Mao's consideration was as follows:
- Xu Haidong has sufficient qualifications. Judging from Xu Haidong's resume, he was a general who grew up with the growth of the People's Liberation Army, and he joined the Red Army from the beginning of the Jute Uprising, making many meritorious contributions to the liberation cause war. Although he later had more than ten years of recuperation experience, his qualifications ran through the history of the People's Liberation Army. Such qualifications are naturally worthy of such a position.
- Xu Haidong "made great contributions to the revolution." Xu Haidong was the first to complete the Long March, made great contributions to the establishment of the base area in northern Shaanxi by the central authorities, laid the foundation, and cleared away obstacles; generously donated money to help the Central Red Army when the Central Red Army was in distress, and also as a general of the Red Fourth Front Army and helped the Central Red Army during the special period of Zhang Guotao's split.
Although Xu Haidong has been ill for many years, his merits cannot be erased. Like many revolutionaries of that era, they gathered together because of their ambition to save the country and the people, and no matter how big or small their exploits, they are worth remembering. This is the best of the world, as you wish!