Born on June 17, 1900 in Xincheng Town, Dawu County, Hubei Province, General Xu Haidong, known as "Xu Laohu", was awarded the title of General in 1955, the most bitter, the most injured, and the most serious of the ten founding generals, and the only general who did not participate in the Liberation War.
Xu Haidong was born into a family of potters in Hubei. The potters of the old society, like the poor peasants who farmed the land, struggled on the line of life and death, so Xu Haidong lived in hunger and cold from an early age.
Xu Haidong has 14 brothers and sisters, and he is the old man. Due to the large age difference with his eldest brother, Xu Haidong was born when his eldest brother's child was also born. This was a very disgraceful thing at that time, his father wanted to secretly drown him, and his mother begged bitterly to save Xu Haidong's life.
Xu Haidong loved to fight and hug from an early age, and once stood out for his classmates in a private school and beat up the son of the landlord's family. The landlord was so angry that he would not allow Mr. Private school to take him again, so he did. Xu Haidong only attended school for three years before he began his career as a kiln worker with his father.
The ancestors of the Xu family all made a living by making pottery, and Xu Haidong's generation was already the seventh generation.
Pottery making and porcelain are not the same, making porcelain is fine work, pottery is to make water tanks, crock pots and other rough work, the most needed is strength, but also to be able to withstand loneliness. Xu Haidong has been doing water tanks for 11 years, and when he is tired and stuffy, he drinks to relieve fatigue and relieve boredom, so Xu Haidong's alcohol is very large.
Xu Haidong's nickname "Xu Tiger" was only called later when he was in the Red Fourth Army, and before he became a soldier, he also had an interesting nickname - stinky tofu.
At that time, Xu Haidong's hometown had a folk song:
"Huang'an has a Zhao Ciwu, Macheng has a Qiu Jiangpu, and Huangpi has a stinky tofu."
Stinky tofu is General Xu Haidong. The nickname came from his sister-in-law, and Chiang Kai-shek later called him that.
The Xu family is very poor, Xu Haidong did not have decent clothes to wear until he was more than 10 years old, and went to the kiln factory to work bare-chested all day, and the sisters-in-law saw that he was tanned and covered in mud, and laughed at him like a piece of stinky tofu, so the name was gradually called.
After Xu Haidong joined the revolution, he showed extraordinary military command skills, fought wits and courage with the Kuomintang troops, and won major victories such as the Battle of Zhiluo Town and the Battle of Mountain Castle. The Kuomintang army fought against Xu Haidong, basically fighting one battle and losing another, and could not be destroyed or shaken off.
When Chiang Kai-shek mentioned him, he was angry, saying that this Xu Haidong was like his name "stinky tofu", and he couldn't shake it off when he stuck it. Later, in retaliation for Xu Haidong, he repeatedly sent troops to sweep up his hometown in Hubei Province, killing as many as 66 of Xu Haidong's distant and close relatives.
In April 1925, Xu Haidong secretly joined the Communist Party of China, and the following year participated in the Northern Expedition, serving as an acting platoon leader in the Fourth Army, known as the "Iron Army". Later, he joined the Red Guards and served in battalions, regiments, divisions and other military positions.
In March 1931, Xu Haidong was appointed as the commander of the 38th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Red Fourth Army, and led his troops to fight in a roundabout way in the border area and the White Zone, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Xu Haidong fought bravely and commanded well, and the enemy was as afraid as a tiger, so he was called "Xu Tiger".
Being able to be called a "tiger" shows that Xu Haidong has superior courage, which can be glimpsed from several battle examples.
Although Xu Haidong served as a squad leader and platoon leader in a regular army such as the Fourth Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army, after all, he lacked experience in leading large troops, and his experience was really exchanged for blood.
Xu Haidong started from captain to become a military commander, fighting in the forefront, personally leading the soldiers to charge the front.
During a battle at Yujiahe, Xu Haidong was hit by a stray bullet, which shot in his left eye and out of the back of his neck, and the blood flowed like blood.
Xu Haidongqiang did not say a word. The guard, thinking he didn't know, said to him with concern, "Commander, you are wounded!" ”
Hearing this, Xu Haidong turned his face and said fiercely, "Who said I was injured?" The guard felt very aggrieved and did not dare to speak again. The reason why Xu Haidong roared at him was because he was afraid that his injuries would affect the hearts of the army.
After a while, Xu Haidong fainted on the battlefield and woke up on the fifth day after being carried off the position. Unexpectedly, the first words he said when he woke up were: "What time is it?" It's time for the troops to leave, right? ”
Nurse Zhou Dongping saw Xu Haidong wake up, "Wow" a loud cry: "You are unconscious for four days and four nights, really anxious to die!" ”
Xu Haidong grinned and said weakly, "I should only have a good night's sleep." ”
It turned out that after Xu Haidong fainted on the battlefield, Zhou Dongping and the comrades of the ambulance team rushed to the battlefield for treatment. At this time, Xu Haidong had no breath out, and there was still phlegm in his throat, and he was about to die of exhaustion.
Zhou Dongping saw the situation, and without thinking, he leaned down and helped Xu Haidong suck out phlegm and foreign bodies mouth-to-mouth. After that, Xu Haidong was carried down to the first aid, and Zhou Dongping was undressed and guarded Xu Haidong's side for four days and four nights until he woke up.
This injury made Xu Haidong blessed by misfortune and had a long-term relationship with Zhou Dongping, a 17-year-old nurse. In September 1935, the two were happily married. Later, Xu Haidong was ill and bedridden for more than 30 years, and Zhou Dongping, like the war years, always guarded Xu Haidong and never abandoned.
In his lifetime, Xu Haidong suffered a total of 9 injuries, including 8 gunshot wounds, 1 of which was stabbed in the buttocks by the red gun.
Xu Haidong's long-term tense and arduous combat life made Xu Haidong sick, and he fell ill in august 1938 in the North China Battlefield. Chen Yi, commander of the New Fourth Army, heard the news and came to visit him.
Xu Haidong took his hand and sighed, "Commander Chen, people call me Xu Laohu, you see I have become a sick cat!" ”
Chen Yi laughed loudly and said with relief: "The tiger is old and majestic, and with you lying here, the enemy is also frightened when he hears it." ”
In 1939, the environment facing the CCP was becoming increasingly difficult, and the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army had to fight not only against the Japanese and The Kosovars, but also against the Kuomintang reactionaries, and there was a great shortage of military cadres in the front.
Xu Haidong was originally recuperating in Yan'an, but after hearing the news, he could not sit still and repeatedly requested to go to the front line.
After a meeting in August, he came to Chairman Mao's office again and said straight to the point: "Chairman, let me go to the front." ”
The Chairman asked with concern, "What is your body?" ”
"Much better, I have the spirit to hear the war, and if I charge again, my illness will be all right!" Xu Haidong said with a smile.
"Oh? Fighting a war can also cure diseases, this is your Invention of Xu Tiger, right? The chairman was happy, "Well, it seems that I have to let the tiger go back to the mountain!" You go back to make preparations, and the Central Committee has decided to let you go to central China with Comrade Shaoqi. ”
Xu Haidong listened, excitedly stepped forward and tightly held the chairman's hand. Then he quickly returned to his residence and told his wife Zhou Dongping the news.
Zhou Dongping asked worriedly, "You are not good at Lisuo, can your body bear it?" ”
"Don't worry." Xu Haidong said softly to his wife, "You know me, as soon as I leave the battlefield and the soldiers, I will think of getting sick, and when I go to the battlefield, there will be nothing to do." ”
On January 28, 1940, Xu Haidong was giving lessons to students at a party school, when he suddenly felt dizzy, did not hold back for a while, a mouthful of blood spewed out, and then spat out blood in a big mouth and fainted on the ground.
The doctor's diagnosis found that Xu Haidong's lung disease recurred due to overwork, and the disease was fierce and very dangerous.
This time, not only the doctor was worried, but the guards were worried, and even Xu Haidong himself started a drum in his heart: "Can't you pass the pass this time, do you really want to see Marx?" ”
His wife, Zhou Dongping, cried behind his back many times, but in front of Xu Haidong, she pretended to be okay to comfort him, and at the same time quietly prepared for Xu Haidong's aftermath.
But Xu Haidong did not lose his morale, endured the pain in the hospital bed, faced the people around him with an optimistic attitude and a smiling face with dimples, and encouraged everyone to be strong. He said to the medical staff around him: "I have a big life, Yan Wangye does not want me, you don't always revolve around me, the soldiers in front of you need you even more." ”
At that time, the conditions were difficult, and every time the New Fourth Army sent meat, eggs, milk and other nutritional products, Xu Haidong was very uneasy and refused to accept them.
With the growing strength of the New Fourth Army, the good news from the front kept coming, and every time good news came, Xu Haidong was so happy that he danced on the hospital bed, happier than he was to win the battle himself.
Time passed day by day, the former mighty "tiger" Xu Haidong, finally with tenacious will, let the disease retreat little by little, although he has not been able to leave the hospital bed and stretcher, but the condition has not worsened, Xu Haidong has always been able to maintain a sober mind and agile thinking, can insist on commanding the march on the stretcher to fight.
On August 15, 1945, Japan was defeated and surrendered, at this time, Xu Haidong had been lying for five spring and autumn seasons. When people told him the news of the victory of the War of Resistance, he shouted excitedly: "I, the old sick number, have finally survived little Japan!" It seems that I can survive until the victory of the revolution! ”
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war, and Xu Haidong was unable to move with the army to various places, so he had to recuperate in the rear. Until the victory of the Liberation War, Xu Haidong was unable to go to the battlefield again, which became a regret in Xu Haidong's life.
In 1955, at the suggestion of Chairman Mao, Xu Haidong was awarded the rank of General of the Great General, ranking second among the top ten generals, which made Xu Haidong, who was recuperating from illness, very uneasy.
Xu Haidong believes that when he fell ill, he had just become the commander of the fourth detachment of the New Fourth Army, and since 1940, he had hardly left a stretcher or a hospital bed, and although he had commanded some battles lying down, he had not been able to make more contributions to the party and the country, so how could he accept such a high rank?
"The rank of grand general is well deserved!" Xu Haidong said this to the people around him.
In October 1955, Premier Zhou visited Xu Haidong at his home in Dalian, and Xu Haidong said: "Premier, I have been recuperating for a long time, I have done too little work for the party, and the rank of general is too high, I am ashamed of it!" ”
The prime minister has always admired this poor tiger general, loved his military talent, and preferred his open-mindedness and broad-mindedness.
The premier shook Xu Haidong's hand and said: "Comrade Haidong, don't let you go, the award of you the rank of great general is based on your contribution to the revolution, in my opinion, not high, not low, appropriate!" ”
The premier's words made Xu Haidong feel like a spring breeze and was moved beyond words.