The Fourth Field Army, which had four corps in total on the battlefield of liberation, was first established in November 1948 as the 12th Corps and the 13th Corps. Due to the busy battle to liberate Tianjin, the remaining main forces have not yet formed a corps formation. Also after the Battle of Pingjin, the 39th Army, the 41st Army, and the 42nd Army formed the Fourteenth Corps, and the commander was Liu Yalou, the former chief of staff of the Northeast Field Army. The 43rd Army, the 44th Army, and the 48th Army formed the 15th Corps, and the commander of the corps was General Deng Hua, the former commander of the 44th Army, and the political commissar was General Lai Chuanzhu, the first political commissar of the 43rd Army.
Presumably, friends who know history know that General Deng Hua, commander of the 15th Corps, is a very good military commander. In the later stages of the Liberation War, he led the 15th Corps to conquer the Leizhou Peninsula from the Pingjin area in the stage of strategic pursuit from the southward pursuit.
15 Corps
In the process, the 15th Corps liberated a large number of counties and annihilated a large number of enemy troops. Subsequently, Lin Zong of the Fourth Field Army entrusted the heavy task of liberating Hainan Island to General Deng Hua, commander of the 15th Corps. The 40th Army of the 12th Corps was also transferred to the 15th Corps under the command of General Deng Hua to jointly liberate Hainan Island. You must know that the Battle of Hainan Island was the first naval battle of the Fourth Field Army since its establishment. Probably at that time, the Shiye Army was the strongest unit in the country's land war, and naval warfare had never been experienced.
It can be seen that the liberation of Hainan Island is of great significance, and at the same time, the responsibility is also great. Because no one had participated in the command of naval battles, it was the first time that the big girl had been on the flower palanquin. More importantly, at that time, there was a serious shortage of combat equipment at sea, there was no large means of cross-sea combat, and even wooden sailing ships were destroyed by the reactionaries before that. In this way, it will increase the difficulty of liberating Hainan Island. Fortunately, Hainan Island had a Qiongya column as an internal response, and under the consultation of Ye Shuai, Deng Hua, Han Xianchu, Hong Xuezhi, Lai Chuanzhu, and several other famous generals, it was decided to take the form of smuggling to transport soldiers to Hainan Island, and then cooperate with the outside world to liberate this island.
It was in this way that the 40th Army and the 43rd Army, led by Famous Generals Han Xianchu and Li Zuopeng, launched a campaign to liberate Hainan Island. After a life-and-death struggle, the 40th Army and the 43rd Army successfully liberated Hainan Island. It successfully completed the first naval battle in the history of our army's war, played some exemplary roles in the later liberation of various islands along the southeast coast, and also accumulated certain experience in naval warfare operations.
General Deng Hua not only made outstanding military achievements during the Liberation War, but also in the later Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was also one of the first generals to enter the Korean War, serving as deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, becoming The right-hand man of General Peng, participating in and commanding five battles, and later serving as the acting commander of the Volunteer Army, commanding the famous Shangganling Campaign and the Jincheng Counterattack, which drew a perfect end to the end of the Campaign to Aid Korea. So in 1955, General Deng Hua was awarded the rank of general, and at the same time, his partner, General Lai Chuanzhu, political commissar of the 15th Corps, was also awarded the rank of general.
Lai Chuanzhu, General Zhang Yunyi
The commander and political commissar of the 15th Corps, after the founding of the people's republic, were all ranked generals. At the same time, the commanders and commissars of the three corps under the corps were all lieutenant generals. Hong Xuezhi, the first commander of the 43rd Army, was a general after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The second commander was Li Zuopeng, who led the 43rd Army to liberate Hainan Island, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was awarded the title of vice admiral and devoted himself to the cause of naval construction, possibly because Li Zuopeng performed well in the campaign to liberate Hainan Island, so after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was made deputy commander of the navy and awarded the rank of vice admiral.
The first political commissar of the 43rd Army was Lai Chuanzhu, and after the establishment of the 15th Corps, he was transferred to the 15th Corps as political commissar. In this way, the political commissar of the 43rd Army was taken over by General Zhang Chiming. He was a young and promising general who joined the revolution at the age of ten, became one of the main generals of the Fourth Field Army at the age of 31, and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general at the age of 38, becoming the youngest founding lieutenant general.
The first commander of the 44th Army was Deng Hua, and the second commander was Fang Qiang, who also devoted himself to naval construction after the founding of New China, and served as the commander of the South China Sea Fleet, and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955. The political commissar of the 44th Army was Wu Fushan, who was also an excellent political worker who made a certain contribution to the victory of the revolution, so he was also awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
According to the current view, General Deng Hua's 15th Corps is under the jurisdiction of the 43rd Army, and the commander and political commissar of the 44th Army are all with the rank of lieutenant general. So what are the ranks of commander and political commissar of the 48th Army? The commissar of the army was Chen Renqi, who was also awarded the rank of lieutenant general after the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, as commander of the 48th Army, General He Jinnian, he was awarded the rank of major general in 1955. Became the only commander of the 15 corps, three commanders, and three political commissars to be awarded the rank of major general.