As we all know, the work of awarding titles in the founding of New China was only carried out in 1955, when more than a thousand generals were comprehensively assessed, and there were countless officers at the school level, but there were a number of old Red Army soldiers, if they were to follow the criteria for awarding titles, it would be difficult for them to award titles.
When Chairman Mao learned of this situation, he specially criticized that "the Red Army does not go to school", that is to say, the old Red Army is at least a major, which is enough to give them a guaranteed and decent life.
This person is Zhou Shiyuan, he is a native of Jinzhai, Anhui, in 1929, 15-year-old Zhou Shiyuan joined the Red Army, successively served as a squad leader, platoon leader and pistol company commander and other positions, he was able to be the regimental commander at that time was based on his own real knife and real gun, was promoted after the war.
In October 1933, Zhou Shiyuan's Four Fronts Army entered the Sichuan-Shaanxi Border Region, Zhou Shiyuan was then the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 274th Regiment of the Red 31st Army, and in July 1934, the Four Fronts Army was besieged by the enemy's "Six Roads", and when organizing the counteroffensive, Xu Xiangqian personally went to the 274th Regiment to give instructions.
Xu Xiangqian encouraged the 274th Regiment to take Qinglongguan, led by Zhou Shiyuan, then battalion commander, to carry out a surprise attack, and in the middle of the night Zhou Shiyuan led the team to the Wengbai Temple west of Qinglongguan, and then Zhou Shiyuan personally led a platoon of fighters to use the ropes to climb to the top of the mountain, unexpectedly destroying a company of the enemy.
Then the rest of the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion rushed up, and then with the cooperation of the other two battalions of the 274th Regiment, the peak of Qinglongguan Mountain was occupied by our army, breaking the enemy's defense line from west to east for 500 miles in one fell swoop, and the victory of the Battle of Qinglongguan played an important role in crushing the enemy's "six-way siege".
After the war, Zhou Shiyuan was promoted to the commander of the 274th Regiment, and after becoming the regimental commander, Zhou Shiyuan made many meritorious contributions, and it is worth saying that after the First Army and the Fourth Front Army met, Zhou Shiyuan also sent a captured mule to Zhu Laozong, which brought convenience to Zhu Laozong's action.
In 1936, Zhou Shiyuan was appointed commander of the 11th Division of the Red Fourth Army, the political commissar of the 11th Division at that time was Chen Xilian, and after becoming the commander of the division, Zhou Shiyuan made many meritorious contributions, especially in the Battle of Shan castle, which annihilated thousands of enemies, and in 1937, Zhou Shiyuan entered the Yan'an Anti-Japanese University to study.
It is reasonable to say that after entering the Kang Da to study, it is necessary to be promoted, but when the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, Zhou Shiyuan did not enter the Eighth Route Army, but was transferred to the deputy chief of staff of the guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army, and Zhou Shiyuan has been serving in the New Fourth Army ever since.
Zhou Shiyuan served as a regimental commander in the New Fourth Army, and was transferred to Yan'an Anti-Japanese University in 1942 to study, due to the lack of decent military achievements, Zhou Shiyuan's rank during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression did not increase, and at the beginning of the victory of the War of Resistance, Zhou Shiyuan was transferred to the northeast and served as the county magistrate of Qian'an County in Jilin Province.
In July 1946, Zhou Shiyuan was appointed commander of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Security Brigade of the Liaoxi Military Region, which shows that at the beginning of the Liberation War, Zhou Shiyuan was only a regimental commander, and later he participated in the campaign against Jinzhou and later the Battle of Pingjin.
It was not until after the liberation of the whole country that Zhou Shiyuan became the commander and deputy secretary of the Xijiang Military Subdistrict of the South China Military Region, commanding the suppression of bandits in the local area, and those generals who had been at the same level as Zhou Shiyuan during the Red Army period had already become the commanders of the corps.
In 1955, when the title was awarded, according to seniority, rank and military merit, Luo Ronghuan, who was responsible for the evaluation of the title, after consideration, decided that it was appropriate to award zhou Shiyuan the title of colonel, and at the same time Zhou Shiyuan was awarded the Order of August 1 of the first class, the order of independence and freedom of the second class and the liberation medal of the third degree.
Judging from the declining rank of the medal, Zhou Shiyuan has been in decline since the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and if he could enter the Eighth Route Army when the Red Army was reorganized, it might be different, but history has no if, fortunately, when he was awarded the title in 1964, Zhou Shiyuan was awarded the rank of major general.