The grand award of the title in 1955 was a grand event in the history of our army, and it is still exciting to talk about it today.
The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, and after 28 years of bloody struggle, it finally won the victory of the revolution and saved hundreds of millions of people.
In the rain of bullets and bullets over the past 20 years, many fierce generals who can fight well have emerged in our army.
The award of the title in 1955 was the affirmation and praise of the party and the state for those bloody revolutionaries.
As a soldier, the rank is a very important symbol, which represents the achievements and honors of each soldier, so when the title was awarded in 1955, many interesting things happened.
At that time, there were three situations among the generals: first, they gladly accepted the ranks assessed by the organization; second, they felt that the ranks that the organization had rated themselves were high, so they requested a demotion; third, they thought that their ranks were low and should be higher, so they opened their mouths to seek higher ranks from the party organization.
Today, we want to talk about these three interesting things: Lin Biao came out for Liu Yalou, Xu Shiyou touched the nail, and the most lonely "Chinese Barton"
Lin Biao took the lead for Liu Yalou
Lin Biao is one of the best military generals in our army, in the early years, Lin Biao embarked on the revolutionary road under the influence of his cousin Lin Yuning and Lin Yunan, and in 1925, he was admitted to the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy.
After graduating from the military academy, Lin Biao went to Ye Ting's unit as a probationary company commander and began his military career.
In 1927, Lin Biao participated in the Nanchang Uprising, and subsequently, he followed Zhu De and Chen Yi to fight guerrilla warfare on the Xianggan border, and after the Xiangnan Uprising in 1928, Lin Biao came to Jinggangshan as a battalion commander.
In the early days of Jinggangshan, many outstanding talents emerged in the ranks of the Red Army, such as Wu Zhonghao, Zeng Shi'e, Wang Erzhuo and others.
At that time, the four giants of the Red Fourth Army were Zhu De, Chairman Mao, Chen Yi, and Wang Erzhuo, and at the same time, Wang Erzhuo also served as the commander of the 28th Regiment of the Red Fourth Army.
The 28th Regiment, the remaining troops of the Nanchang Uprising, at this time, Lin Biao served as the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 28th Regiment.
Lin Biao's later rise was inseparable from Wang Erzhuo's sacrifice.
In July 1928, due to the wrong judgment of the enemy's strength, the Red Fourth Army was attacked by a strong enemy in Shonan, suffered heavy losses, and had to return to Jinggangshan, which is known as the "August Defeat".
However, on the way back to Jinggangshan, an accident occurred.
Yuan Chongquan, then the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Regiment, fled with two companies and prepared to defect, but when Wang Erzhuo learned of this, he immediately decided to pursue him alone, so he did not want to see the Red Army fight the Red Army.
Who knew that this Yuan Chongquan was mad, and just when Wang Erzhuo caught up with them and just said a few words, he was killed by him.
With the sound of gunfire, Wang Erzhu fell to the ground and died on the spot.
Wang Erzhuo
After Wang Erzhuo's death, Zhu De concurrently served as the leader of the 28th Regiment, until the end of the year, Lin Biao succeeded Zhu De as the regimental commander.
Since then, Lin Biao has become one of the brave and good warriors of Jinggangshan.
In 1930, Lin Biao served as the commander of the Red Fourth Army at the age of 23, which showed his superb military command ability, after which Lin Biao successively served as the commander of the Red First Army, the principal of the Kang Da, and the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
During the Long March, Lin Biao led the Red First Army as the vanguard force, and successively participated in and commanded the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, the capture of Luding Bridge, the forced crossing of the Wujiang River, and the forced crossing of the Dadu River, and made outstanding contributions.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lin Biao commanded the Battle of Pingxingguan, which annihilated thousands of enemy soldiers in one battle.
Although from the perspective of the situation at that time, the annihilation of thousands of Japanese troops was not a big battle, but from a strategic point of view, the victory of the Battle of Pingxingguan broke the myth of "the Japanese army is invincible", so Lin Biao also became a famous anti-Japanese general.
During the Liberation War, Lin Biao came to the northeast and became the military leader of the northeast, and after three years of development, the northeast troops led by him developed from 100,000 to more than 1 million, more than 10 times.
Although all this cannot be regarded as Lin Biao's credit, it is certain that Lin Biao is definitely the one with the greatest credit.
It was precisely because of Lin Biao's great merit that when he was awarded the rank later, he was rated as a marshal, ranking third, second only to Zhu De and Peng Dehuai.
For this ranking, Lin Biao is still relatively convinced.
However, Lin Biao was a little uncomfortable with Liu Yalou being rated as a general.
Liu Yalou has always been the most effective cadre under Lin Biao, and since the red army period, Liu Yalou has served as the political commissar of the main regiment of the Red Army and the political commissar of the division.
For Liu Yalou, Lin Biao was very appreciative, and later he went to "Hongda" to become the principal, and he also asked Liu Yalou to come to "Hongda" and serve as the director of the training department.
Later, under the recommendation of Lin Biao, Liu Yalou became the education chief of "Kang Da", and Liu Yalou was able to achieve such achievements, first, by relying on his own efforts and ability, and second, lin Biao's love.
During the Liberation War, the most amazing thing is that in other field armies across the country, it is generally the abbreviation of two people's names, such as Erye "Liu Deng" and Sanye "Chen Su", but in Siye, it is "Lin Luo Liu"
This Liu is Liu Yalou.
From this point of view, Lin Biao's love for Liu Yalou can be seen, but it is not only this.
Once, Ye Qun didn't know what he had done wrong, he was chased by Lin Biao with a whip, and the people in the compound only looked at it and didn't dare to take care of it, and later Liu Yalou came and took the whip from Lin Biao's hand.
Lin Biao saw that it was Liu Yalou, and did not say much, so he had to stop, which shows that the relationship between Lin Biao and Liu Yalou is very close.
In 1955, when he was awarded the title, Liu Yalou was named a general, and when he himself learned about it, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart, compared to the naval commander Xiao Jinguang, the commander of the armored corps Xu Guangda and others, they were all commanders of the same class, why were these two generals, and he was a general?
Lin Biao also felt that Liu Yalou's title was low, so he took the initiative to take the lead for Liu Yalou.
Lin Biao wrote a letter to Chairman Mao, the general content of the letter is to hope that Chairman Mao will give more consideration to the candidates for Jinggangshan, and everyone with a clear eye knows that this is Lin Biao fighting for the rank of general for Liu Yalou.
But in the end, it was a void.
Liu Yalou was eventually rated as a general.
For this, there is a very important reason, Liu Yalou went to the Soviet Union in 1938 to study for further study, and did not return to China until 1945, that is, Liu Yalou lacked this resume of eight years of domestic anti-japanese war.
In 1955, in addition to military merit, position, etc., seniority is also very important.
Liu Yalou was awarded the title of general because he did not participate in the eight-year War of Resistance in China.
Lin Biao did not get any results for Liu Yalou, and Liu Yalou also wanted to understand that it was indeed his own reason.
After that, Liu Yalou worked diligently and put all his energy on the cause of the new China's air force, and with his efforts, The Chinese air force made great strides of progress.
In 1965, Liu Yalou became ill from overwork and unfortunately died.
After his death, there was a great deal of coverage in the national media, almost all of the newspapers were first-page, and at the memorial service, almost all the central leaders in Beijing, except Chairman Mao, attended the memorial service.
In terms of propaganda intensity and specifications, Liu Yalou's funeral treatment far exceeded the requirements for his rank as general.
So that to this day, many people say that Liu Yalou is a general's military merit, the rank of general, and the treatment of a marshal.
Xu Shiyou touched the nail
Xu Shiyou is one of the most outstanding and well-known generals in our army.
In the early years, Xu Shiyou worked as a miscellaneous worker at the Shaolin Temple, later learned martial arts, returned home after completing his studies, and in 1927, under the threat of the White Terror, Xu Shiyou firmly joined the Communist Party of China and participated in the "Jute Uprising"
During the agrarian revolution, Xu Shiyou served as the captain of the death squad many times, and because of his bravery, he made great contributions to the revolution, and then he successively served as a company commander, division commander, and army commander of the Red Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xu Shiyou continued his efforts, first as Chen Geng's deputy, and later to the Jiaodong area of Shandong To create a base area and organize anti-Japanese resistance.
In those years in Jiaodong, Chairman Mao was very concerned about Xu Shiyou, and Xu Shiyou managed Jiaodong very well, and Chairman Mao praised Xu Shiyou: "He is a general who is a soldier and a general, and he has played the red half of the sky in Jiaodong, which is remarkable, remarkable!" ”
Being able to receive such a high evaluation from Chairman Mao shows the strength of Xu Shiyou's own ability.
During the Liberation War, the most dazzling time of Xu Shiyou's military career was during his command of the Battle of Jinan.
Jinan was a large city carefully run by the Kuomintang, with more than 104,000 troops, each with advanced weapons and superior equipment, but despite this, they could not resist the pace of the People's Liberation Army.
After the liberation of Jinan, Chen Yi wrote a poem to Give to Xu Shiyou: Lunan Victory Drum, Xu is a hero as fierce as a tiger. Today, the westward march was fought in Jiaoji, and Quancheng captured Wang Yaowu alive.
Chairman Mao also spoke highly of this battle.
In 1952, when Chairman Mao inspected Shandong and came to Jinan to visit, he said to Xu Shiyou, who was accompanying him: "The Battle of Jinan was fought so quickly and thoroughly that only two people in the world could not have imagined, one was Mao Zedong himself and the other was Chiang Kai-shek. ”
When Xu Shiyou was awarded the title in 1955, Xu Shiyou was scheduled to be awarded the rank of general, and Xu Shiyou was a little dissatisfied with this, believing that he should become a general no matter what.
To this end, Xu Shiyou found Zhou Enlai, who was then the premier of the State Council.
Zhou Enlai learned of Xu Shiyou's intentions and slowly spoke: "Su Yu is also a great general." ”
After all, during the entire period of the Liberation War, Su Yu was his superior, and even Su Yu was a general, how could he be in front of Su Yu?
However, Xu Shiyou was not dead-hearted, he said that since he could not be the head of the general, it was also okay to be the tail of the general.
Zhou Enlai shook his head again: "Xiao Ke is also a general." ”
Hearing this, Xu Shiyou immediately shut up, he knew that he had hit the nail, because whether it was seniority or other aspects, Xiao Ke was not weaker than him, and even much stronger than him.
It was also Zhou Enlai who pointed out the names of Su Yu and Xiao Ke, and Xu Shiyou understood, and he no longer demanded the rank of great general, but An Ansheng became one of the 57 founding generals of New China.
The loneliest "Chinese Barton"
In 1975, the General Staff put the American movie "General Patton" inside, the protagonist of the play is rude, likes to disobey, but has no regrets, he is an excellent general, but even so, some old generals still do not think so after watching it.
They skimmed their lips and muttered, "What's so strange about this, there are also such a number one person in our army." ”
Known as the "Chinese Barton", it is Zhong Wei.
Military biographical literature, even if only ten generals from the fourth field army with military generals were drawn to write biographical literature, I am afraid that Zhong Wei's name is indispensable.
However, when he was awarded the rank in 1955, Zhong Wei was only awarded the rank of major general, which made Zhong Wei feel very angry, because among his comrades-in-arms, most of them were lieutenant generals, so why should he be given only a major general?
Zhong Wei even said harsh words, saying that he wanted to hang the epaulettes on the dog's tail.
When Chairman Mao later heard about this, he opened his mouth lightly: "The boy has tears and does not flick, but he has not yet reached the time of conferring titles." ”
In 1930, at the age of 19, Zhong Wei joined the Red Army, and during the agrarian revolution, he held the highest position of director of the political department of the division, and during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhong Wei served as the commander of the Eighth Route Army and the brigade commander of the New Fourth Army.
During the Liberation War, Zhong Wei's highest position was commander of the column and commander of the 49th Army.
In the northeast, due to Lin Biao's love, Zhong Wei also created a history, and was the only person who was directly promoted from division commander to column commander.
When zhong wei was awarded the rank of major general in 1955, there were two main reasons for this, first, Zhong Wei's seniority was not very old, and second, Zhong Wei could not fight a defeat with greater impact.
As we all know, when Zhong Wei fought against the enemy in the northeast, he could be said to have won many battles and victories, but when the Siye troops came south to Hunan, Zhong Wei lost the battle, that is, the "Battle of Qingshuping."
In July 1949, the Kuomintang general Chen Mingren declared an uprising, but his soldiers were reluctant and mutinied.
Bai Chongxi, a General of the Gui clan of the Kuomintang, seized the opportunity to pry Chen Mingren's "corner" and began to continue to commit wrongdoing, and Chen Mingren had no choice but to ask Siye for help.
Lin Biao immediately sent the 49th Army to arrest the rebels.
At this time, what many people did not expect was that Bai Chongxi not only did not hurry to escape, but instead ambushed him in Qingshuping.
When the 49th Army received that Lin Biao was not allowed to advance blindly, the 146th Division had already entered the enemy's ambush circle.
After this battle, the 146th Division lost more than 1300 people, as the commander of Zhong Wei, naturally guilty, in 1955 Zhong Wei was awarded the rank of major general, perhaps also has a lot to do with this reason.
No matter what the rank, we actually only need to understand one thing, that is, they have made great contributions to the revolution, and only this one thing, they have enough reasons to be worthy of our admiration and love.