The Lanzhou Military Region is one of the seven major military regions of our army, which was reorganized from the Northwest Military Region in May 1955, and the organs of the military region are in Lanzhou, which are mainly responsible for the military defense of Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang, and mainly have the 21st Army, the 47th Army and the troops of the Xinjiang Military Region under its jurisdiction.
Successive chiefs of the Lanzhou Military Region were famous generals, such as Han Xianchu, Du Yide, Pi Dingjun, Zheng Weishan, and so on. In November 1992, Qian Shugen, commander of the 21st Army, was appointed chief of staff of the Lanzhou Military Region. In the same month, his immediate boss was also replaced, by Liu Jingsong, who was the commander of the 64th Army, what are their legendary experiences?
Qian Shugen: The fierce general who fought in the battle of the two mountains
Qian Shugen was born in March 1939 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. In August 1954, after graduating from Wuxi Shitangwan Middle School at the age of 15, he was admitted to high school with excellent results, but it coincided with the enrollment of military schools. The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea signed an armistice in 1953, and the story of the volunteer army defending the country has always inspired their generation of middle school students at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Qian Shugen voluntarily gave up going to high school, applied for the Chongqing Artillery School, and became a cadet of the military academy. During his time at the school, Qian Shugen mainly studied the Type 54 122 mm howitzer, which was an imitation of the Soviet Type 38 122 mm howitzer, which was the main combat equipment of the artillery regiment of the infantry division at that time. In addition, the operation of the 76 mm cannon and the 120 mm mortar was learned.
Although he had only been in military school for two years, Qian Shugen studied seriously and was able to endure hardships, not only joining the Communist Youth League, but also becoming a reserve party member. In 1956, at the age of 17, Qian Shugen was assigned to the Infantry Division Artillery Regiment of the 47th Army of the Guangzhou Military Region as a platoon leader.
The predecessor of the 47th Army was a unit of the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and was reorganized into the 10th Column of the Northeast Field Army during the Liberation War. In 1948, the 47th Army was launched, and in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it severely damaged the US Ace Cavalry First Division. After returning from Korea in 1954, he was stationed on the Leizhou Peninsula and was subordinate to the Guangzhou Military Region. After that, it went through many relocations, and in 1970 it was transferred from Hengyang, Hunan to Shaanxi.
Qian Shugen grew up in this heroic unit, successively serving as the chief of the artillery section, the regimental commander, the division commander, and the deputy commander. In March 1985, before the Million Dollar Disarmament, he was promoted to commander of the 47th Army at the age of 46.
At the end of April 1984, according to the orders of the Central Military Commission, the 14th Army and the 11th Army of the Kunming Military Region recovered Laoshan and Zheyin Mountains in Yunnan Province respectively, and then started the "Two Mountains Round Battle". At the end of 1985, Qian Shugen led the 139th Division, the 141st Division, the 61st Division of the 21st Army and some troops of the 47th Army to the Chengdu Theater. After five months of preparation for war, on April 20, 1986, it officially took over the defense of the rotational combat unit of the Jinan Military Region.
Qian Shugen gave full play to the advantages of his artillery professional background, formulated the tactic of "using artillery with precision and skillful use of artillery," and reduced the daily consumption of more than 120 tons of shells to 20 tons, which not only reduced the pressure of ammunition support, but also inflicted great damage on the Vietnamese army, and was commended by the Central Military Commission. In a year of rotational warfare, the 47th Army killed and wounded 6591 Vietnamese troops, only 149 of themselves were killed, and 892 were wounded, which greatly shocked the Vietnamese army.
After returning from the round of fighting, Qian Shugen was transferred to the 21st Army as a commander, and in November 1992, he was promoted to chief of staff of the Lanzhou Military Region. In the same month, Liu Jingsongping was transferred to the Lanzhou Military Region as commander.
Liu Jingsong: Promoted from military commander to commander of the military region
In 1985, 11 major military regions were merged into 7, and the commanders of 3 armies were promoted to commander of the military regions, one of which was Liu Jingsong, who was only 52 years old at the time, and was one of the youngest military regions in the army since the 1980s.
In July 1933, Liu Jingsong was born in Shishou, Hubei Province, 6 years older than Qian Shugen. In 1951, Liu Jingsong, who graduated from high school, went north to join the army and enlisted in Dandong on the border between China and North Korea. Due to his high education level and solid and meticulous work, he was selected to study at the Seventh Infantry School in Qiqihar. After graduation, he was assigned to the Infantry Division as the commander of the anti-aircraft artillery company.
In 1965, at the request of Vietnam, China sent some anti-aircraft artillery units to North Vietnam to take up air defense combat tasks, and Liu Jingsong led the anti-aircraft artillery units to participate, and successively shot down and damaged 12 US aircraft, making great contributions. After returning from Vietnam, Liu Jingsong took one step at a time, almost every position that a military commander should take.
After the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, although our army won victories, it exposed the serious problem of aging senior commanders, and it was urgent to promote a number of young leading cadres who understood command and had high military attainments. In May 1983, at the age of 50, Liu Jingsong was promoted from the commander of the 190th Division to the commander of the 64th Army.
In June 1985, at the age of 52, Liu Jingsong was promoted from the commander of the 64th Army to the commander of the Shenyang Military Region. It is worth mentioning that on May 6, 1987, a huge fire broke out in Daxing'anling, and Liu Jingsong commanded about 34,000 officers and men of the Shenyang Military Region, and after 28 days and nights of fighting, made important contributions to extinguishing the fire, and was commended by the Central Military Commission.
Both were promoted to general
In November 1992, after serving in the Shenyang Military Region for seven years, Liu Jingsong was transferred to lanzhou military region as commander, and Qian Shugen was appointed chief of staff of lanzhou military region. In December 1994, Qian Shugen was transferred to the General Staff as an assistant to the Chief of Staff. In July 1995, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
After liu jingsong served as the commander of the Lanzhou Military Region for five years, he became the president of the Academy of Military Sciences in 1997. If you add 7 years in the Shenyang Military Region, he has served as the commander of the Great Military Region for 12 years.
In June 1994, Liu Jingsong was promoted to the rank of general. In June 2000, Qian Shugen was also promoted to the rank of general. Today, General Liu Jingsong is 88 years old and General Qian Shugen is 82 years old, and the two veteran generals are very tough and still concerned about the modernization of our army. Hats off to the two Admirals!