In 1955, New China held the first large-scale award ceremony of the People's Liberation Army since the founding of the People's Republic of China, which was a moment of glory for the founding generals and commanders, and also a moment of concern for the whole army of the People's Liberation Army and the people of the whole country.
At this ceremony, Tan Youlin, an important general of the People's Liberation Army, was awarded the rank of major general. However, what people did not expect was that because of the issue of his rank pacification, it later caused a big storm.
Who is Tan Youlin, why was he awarded the rank of major general, what is the relationship between this storm and the award, and how was the storm quelled in the end?
First, Tan Youlin, the founding major general with outstanding military achievements
Born in 1916 in Jiangling, Hubei Province, Tan Youlin, as a child who grew up in the war, had the idea of devoting himself to the revolution for a long time, and after leaving school in 1930, he joined the Red Army and joined the Communist Party in 1934.
After joining the Red Army, after four years of further study and study, Tan Youlin mastered a lot of military knowledge, cultivated military command ability, and completed a lot of political work with his outstanding ability, so President He Long was very optimistic about him.
In 1935, the Battle of Ta wo began, Tan Youlin led the troops to the forefront, although the battle was victorious, but he was seriously wounded. On the way to the Long March, thanks to the help of Mr. He, he survived.
After arriving in Yan'an, he was arranged to study at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and because of his past deeds, he was praised by Premier Zhou.
After the Outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, under the deployment and arrangement of Tan Youlin, he led the soldiers to kill the traitor Zhang Zhenfu in one fell swoop, annihilating all the enemy and capturing many important weapons.
During the Liberation War, Tan Youlin served as the deputy commander of the 39th Army, the main force of the Northeast Siye, and had the title of The Famous General of the Four Wilds. At that time, he was not only a good fighter, but also did not have any ambiguity in political work, and he could be called a comprehensive talent.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he led the 39th Army into the Korean War. Just arrived in the Korean battlefield, he fought a beautiful Battle of Unsan, because of his excellent performance, he was also appreciated by Mr. Peng. Later, the 39th Army, which became more and more courageous, participated in many large-scale battles and achieved great results.
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Tan Youlin was awarded the rank of major general and became the founding major general.
Second, because of the low number of people who are awarded titles, they are uneven
As soon as this news came out, many generals in the army were surprised, Tan Youlin had already become the political commissar of the division during the Red Army period, he was the deputy commander of the ace army in the Liberation War, and he was very brave in the korean war.
In his military career, Tan Youlin almost never lost a battle. At that time, most of the outstanding generals of the Red Army in the same period as Tan Youlin were awarded the rank of lieutenant general or above.
In addition, in addition to Tan Youlin's seniority and high military achievements, there is also a special honor, that is, he has won five first-class medals, which is very rare among the founding generals.
In comparison with several aspects, Tan Youlin's rank as major general seems to be somewhat inappropriate. For this reason, not long after the award ceremony, Tan Youlin's old comrades-in-arms felt that they should fight for him again.
Soon after, Wang Zhen, Xiao Ke, Li Da, and 8 other important generals jointly wrote a letter to the General Political Department, hoping that the organization could re-evaluate the issue of Tan Youlin's rank, and if possible, it was best to award him the rank of lieutenant general.
Although there were other people who had reacted to similar issues about the award of titles at that time, there had not yet been a situation in which so many important generals were upset with one person, and this matter attracted the attention of Luo Shuai as soon as it came out.
Luo Shuai, who was also the director of the General Political Department and also in charge of the evaluation of military ranks, immediately ordered his men to investigate after receiving a joint letter from 8 generals
Third, Luo Shuai personally apologized when he learned of the situation
After re-examining Tan Youlin's information, everyone found that the honor on Tan Youlin's resume was far more than a major general rank, and after research and discussion, it was decided to re-award Tan Youlin and give him the treatment of the rank of lieutenant general.
Luo Shuai believed that the evaluation of the rank of Major General Tan Youlin was a mistake in their work, and personally apologized for this, and showed that he was negligent in his work.
Although there were 8 generals who reacted jointly at that time, Tan Youlin himself did not show dissatisfaction. Therefore, in the face of Luo Shuai's apology, Tan Youlin smiled frankly, he felt that he was now reunited with his family, and he was still a general, and he was very satisfied.
Tan Youlin believes that compared with those comrades who lost their lives in the war, his rank of major general is not low. In the end, he declined to give him the rank of lieutenant general to be reassigned.
Although this conferment of titles caused a lot of turmoil, it allowed us to see the high-spirited qualities of the older generation of revolutionaries, and this matter later became a beautiful talk in the military.
epilogue
After the award of the title, Tan Youlin quickly went to the new battlefield, as the commander of the special engineering unit, not only participated in the construction of the "two bombs and one satellite" base project, but also paid countless painstaking efforts for the construction of the first subway in Beijing and the Tianshan Highway, and devoted himself to the construction of the motherland project.
In 1992, at the personal behest of Kim Il Sung, Tan Youlin was awarded the First Class Medal and held a grand ceremony of awarding, for which he also became a veritable "five-star major general".
In 2006, the 91-year-old Tan Youlin died of illness, his life's achievements are outstanding, bright and honest, frank, in the face of honor can still maintain a modest and cautious attitude, worthy of the founding father of new China.