When he was awarded the rank in 1955, there was a general who was awarded the rank of great general, and when he learned of it, he was very surprised, and he himself felt ashamed of it, but Chairman Mao approved that he had made great contributions to the Chinese revolution and should be awarded the rank of great general.
This general was General Xu Haidong, and he felt that the reason for awarding him the rank of Great General was that he was absent from the Liberation War, but Chairman Mao said that he would not only be awarded to General Xu Haidong, but also the second general.
So what great contributions did Xu Haidong make to the Chinese revolution? Today, let's review the legendary story of this great general.
Xu Haidong was born in Hubei in 1900 from a poor background. In 1925, Xu Haidong joined the revolution, joined the Communist Party of China in April of the same year, and served as the acting platoon commander of the 34th Regiment of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and participated in the Northern Expedition.
In 1927, Xu Haidong participated in the jute uprising, and in the process of creating the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District, Xu Haidong successively served as the commander of the 38th Regiment of the Red 13th Division of the Red 4th Army, the deputy commander of the Red 25th Army, and the commander of the army. During the period of struggle with the enemy, Xu Haidong's military ability was sublimated, and when fighting, Xu Haidong was brave, tenacious, bold and courageous, often able to win by surprise and win victories in battle.
In 1931, the Red Fourth Front was established, and Xu Haidong served as the commander of the 36th Regiment of the 12th Division, and the commander of the division at that time was Chen Geng.
In 1932, old Chiang mobilized heavy troops to carry out the third encirclement and suppression of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet area, when the 12th Division was ordered to accept the task of frontal blockade, while the eastern part of Xuhai blocked the enemy in the area of Dufudian, because Xu Haidong's position was the enemy's main direction of attack, which faced an enemy several times larger than themselves, and the psychological pressure on the soldiers could be imagined.
The blockade battle was about the direction of the entire campaign, for this reason division commander Chen Geng issued a death order, we must hold the position, and Xu Haidong also patted his chest to ensure that the people in the position must hold until one soldier and one pawn, at that time he led his troops to hold out for three days and nights, repelled more than twenty enemy attacks, and when the battle was carried out on the fourth day, our reinforcements suddenly killed from the rear of the enemy, and the two armies attacked, directly defeating the enemy and unable to form an army.
In this Dufudian blockade battle, our army annihilated more than 4,000 enemy troops, and Tang Enbo, then commander of the Second Division of the Nationalist Army, was directly dismissed by Lao Jiang because of his defeat in battle.
In October of the same year, because Xu Haidong's unit was tasked with covering the transfer of the main force of the Red Fourth Front, the team he led was once lost contact with the headquarters, and was surrounded and intercepted by the Kuomintang, and it was not until the end of November that it met with the main force of the Red Army.
When the Red 25Th Army was first established, there were only about 2,000 people, and later the Party Central Committee sent Cheng Zihua to the army, because Cheng Zihua was a graduate of Huangpu and was appointed by the central authorities, so Xu Haidong took the initiative to let Xian, let Cheng Zihua serve as the commander of the army, and himself as the deputy commander.
In September 1935, the Red 25th Army and the Red 26th Army and the 27th Army led by Liu Zhidan joined forces to form the Red 15th Army, with Xu Haidong as the commander of the army, Cheng Zihua as the political commissar, and Liu Zhidan as the chief of staff. At that time, the Red 15th Army fought bravely, hit hard and rushed, and was a thorn in Chiang Kai-shek's flesh and a thorn in his eye. The enemy was very much in awe of him, Chiang Kai-shek once issued a reward announcement, the reward of 250,000 silver dollars only three people, namely Zhu De, Mao Zedong, Xu Haidong, in the eyes of the Kuomintang, Xu Haidong can be juxtaposed with Zhu and Mao, which is enough to show that the enemy attaches importance to and fears Xu Haidong.
Xu Haidong led the Red 15th Army from the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region to the Northern Shaanxi Region, and was strong and strong, and once controlled most of northern Shaanxi, which was a time before the Central Red Army's Long March to northern Shaanxi.
Therefore, in October 1935, after the Red Army, that is, the Central Red Army, arrived in northern Shaanxi after the Long March, because there had been no rear combat, the troops had long been sleepy and hungry. Therefore, the later period of the troops became an urgent problem to be solved by Chairman Mao at that time, and Chairman Mao thought of the Red 15th Army of the Red Fourth Front, which came to northern Shaanxi before the Red Army. However, the Red 15th Army was the battle sequence of the Red Fourth Front, and the head of the Red Fourth Front was Zhang Guotao. Whether the Red 15th Army will listen to the orders of the Central Red Army is also bottomless in his heart, and after careful consideration, Chairman Mao decided to personally write a letter to Xu Haidong: "Hello Comrade Haidong! The Central Red Army, which has been short of clothes and food for the winter, hereby borrows from you two thousand five hundred yuan. ”
After Chairman Mao's letter, Xu Haidong was really touched and guilty in his heart, and what moved him was that Chairman Mao trusted himself so much that he first thought of himself at the most difficult time; what he felt guilty of was that he did not take into account the difficulties of the Long March of the Central Red Army and took the initiative to help the Central Red Army. Therefore, he immediately called Zha Guozhen, the director of the Logistics supply department, and asked him how much money we still had, and Zha Guozhen thought for a moment and replied: "We still have seven thousand pieces of ocean left." Xu Haidong didn't even think about it, so he said to Zha Guozhen: "Immediately take out five thousand pieces of ocean and give them to the Central Red Army." ”
Not only that, Xu Haidong also ordered that the best guns and ammunition, cold clothing, and winter grain be drawn from the regiment and sent to the Central Red Army, and the best cavalry regiment in the regiment was also handed over to the Central Red Army for unified command. Such a heart and a person is in sharp contrast to Zhang Guotao's support of the army and the self-importance of the central authorities. Chairman Mao was very touched by this incident, and even though many years had passed since then, the Chairman still remembered it and praised Xu Haidong as "the best party member" and "a man who has made great contributions to the Chinese revolution."
Xu Haidong (second from left)
In 1937, the Xi'an Incident broke out, the Kuomintang and the Communists cooperated again, the Red Army was unified and reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and was sent to the front line to resist Japan, Xu Haidong served as the brigade commander of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division, and the commander of the 115th Division was Lin Biao.
In September 1937, the Battle of Pingxingguan broke out, Xu Haidong also led his troops to participate in this battle, this great victory was the first big victory fought by the Eighth Route Army, which greatly boosted the morale of our army, and after our army withdrew, the Japanese army occupied Pingxingguan again, Xu Haidong led his troops to cut off the transportation line of the Japanese army, so that Pingxingguan was lost and recovered.
In 1938, Xu Haidong returned to Yan'an for recuperation due to illness, and a year later, his body recovered and he returned to the anti-Japanese front, but due to Xu Haidong's overwork and illness, he fell ill again, and this time, Xu Haidong never returned to the front line command post, but has been recuperating in the rear, so Xu Haidong was not only absent from the entire Liberation War, but also absent from most of the War of Resistance Against Japan. However, Chairman Mao did not forget the general in the slightest, and always told him to cultivate with peace of mind and not to ask about the front.
It was not until 1955, when Xu Haidong was awarded the title, that xu Haidong saw that his name was among the ranks of the generals, and that he was still the second general, second only to the famous Su Yu, and his heart could be described as a mixture of five tastes, and he repeatedly conferred the rank of general to the organization, or Chairman Mao personally made a decision, and Xu Haidong obeyed the organization's arrangement.
In fact, no matter from Xu Haidong's seniority or position analysis, he can fully award the rank of great general, during the Red Army period, Xu Haidong was the commander of the Red 25 Army, and also served as the commander of the Red 15 Army, the general of the same period, Zhang Yunyi was the commander of the Red 7 Army, and Su Yu was the chief of staff of the Red 10 Army. Xu Haidong's position and seniority can be said to be no less than inferior, and Wu Huanxian, the political commissar of the Red 25 Army at that time, was sacrificed, and Cheng Zihua was transferred from the army to take up a local post, so at that time, only Xu Haidong could represent the Red 25 Army, so Xu Haidong's rank of general was reasonable.
One more thing to mention here is that in 1954, Chairman Mao put forward the idea of adding the leadership of the Central Military Commission from the current situation, adding Liu Bocheng, He Long, Xu Xiangqian, and other 7 vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission. Chairman Mao also specifically mentioned Xu Haidong and suggested that Xu Haidong be added as a member of the Central Military Commission, which shows how important Xu Haidong is in Chairman Mao's mind.
Chairman Mao called him "a banner of the Chinese workers."
Deng Xiaoping also gave a high evaluation, saying that Xu Haidong "has a red heart for the party."
Jiang Zemin's inscription to Xu Haidong is "Grand Duke Selfless, Bright and Upright"
For Xu Haidong's merits, the party and the people will never forget!