In the previous article, the author chatted with you about a series of stories about famous generals, such as General Hong Xuezhi, General Xie Fang and so on. Today, we talk about General Liu Zhidan. In 1936, in the process of leading the Red Army's crusade, General Liu Zhidan, who was only 33 years old, died heroically. Let's make a hypothesis, if General Liu Zhidan was alive when the military rank was introduced in 1955, what rank would he be awarded? The author believes that it is most likely the rank of general.
First, let's talk about General Liu Zhidan. Liu Zhidan was born in 1903 in Bao'an County, Shaanxi Province. Unlike the self-taught generals, Liu Zhidan was a standard intellectual. In 1922, at the age of 19, Liu Zhidan was admitted to the Yulin Middle School in Northern Shaanxi Union County and served as the president of the student union. In 1925, he entered the Whampoa Military Academy and belonged to the standard class. In 1926, after the Northern Expedition began, Liu Zhidan served as the political director of the Fourth Route Army.
After 1927, Chiang Kai-shek began a frenzied search for progressives and party members everywhere. Under such circumstances, Liu Zhidan returned to northern Shaanxi. Guerrilla groups were gradually established, and Liu Zhidan successively served as deputy commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief. Eventually, the northern Shaanxi base area was established. Later, after the red 26th army merged with the red 25th army, the red 15th army was formed, and Liu Zhidan served as deputy commander and chief of staff.
That is to say, Liu Zhidan is one of the main responsible persons of the northern Shaanxi base area and one of the 36 military experts of the People's Liberation Army. After Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou led the main force of the Red Army to northern Shaanxi, Liu Zhidan successively served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Route Army and the commander of the Red 28th Army. In April 1936, in the process of commanding the Red Army troops in the Eastern Expedition, Liu Zhidan, who was only 33 years old, died heroically.
After the sacrifice of General Liu Zhidan, Chairman Mao was very sorry and inscribed a special inscription for him: "Leader of the masses, national hero." Premier Zhou wrote an inscription for him: "Five thousand years up and down, there are thousands of heroes; the hero of the people is Liu Zhidan." It can be seen from this that General Liu Zhidan's military achievements are outstanding, and the sacrifice of General Liu Zhidan is a huge loss.
In 1955, with the basic end of the war, our country entered the stage of post-war reconstruction and economic development. At the same time, the PLA troops began to regularize construction. Let's make a hypothesis, if General Liu Zhidan had not sacrificed, what rank would have been awarded in 1955? Because General Liu Zhidan died in 1936 and did not participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, there was great uncertainty. Because during the period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, the troops of the Eighth Route Army developed rapidly.
General Liu Zhidan rushed to the front line to command the battle, or stayed in the rear to work, the situation may be completely different. Let's look at the rating of marshals and generals, and first look at the 10 marshals. The ten marshals of 1955 were basically the main founders of the red army units in the Red Army era, the founders and principal responsible persons of the main base areas, the leaders of our main anti-Japanese armed forces during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the principal responsible persons of the highest level and the major field armies during the War of Liberation.
In other words, the 10 generals were basically the responsible persons of various departments of the army during the Red Army period, the responsible persons of various divisions and major base areas during the Eighth Route Army period, the responsible persons of various field armies during the Liberation War, and so on. From this point of view, General Liu Zhidan's qualifications are still a little far from the rank of marshal.
Next, let's look at the rating of the rank of major general, in 1955, the rank of major general was basically awarded to the head of the base area in the Red Army era, the general at the regimental level, some deputy division level and deputy chief of the general staff in the Eighth Route Army era, and so on, and the various deputy field army generals during the Liberation War. For example, General Xu Haidong, an old friend of General Liu Zhidan, successively served as the commander of the Red 25th Army, the commander of the Red 15th Army, the brigade commander of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the deputy commander-in-chief of the Jiangbei Headquarters of the New Fourth Army and the commander of the Fourth Detachment.
In 1955, he was awarded the rank of Grand General. Let's take a look at the list of 10 generals, namely: General Su Yu, General Xu Haidong, General Huang Kecheng, General Chen Geng, General Tan Zheng, General Xiao Jinguang, General Zhang Yunyi, General Luo Ruiqing, General Wang Shusheng, and General Xu Guangda. Judging from the resume of General Liu Zhidan, the qualifications of several major generals are very close and similar.
If from this point of view, General Liu Zhidan is very likely to be awarded the rank of great general, this possibility is very high. However, due to the fact that he did not participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, there were great variables during the period. If General Liu Zhidan stayed in the rear to work, he would certainly be affected. If so, it may be the rank of general, it may be the head of the general. Because among the 57 founding generals, the top few generals are very similar to the situation of General Liu Zhidan.
In short, judging from the seniority of General Liu Zhidan, the author believes that if he was still alive in 1955, it is very likely that he would be awarded the rank of major general, which is very likely. Because General Liu Zhidan died in 1936, it left too many regrets. In fact, similar to the situation of General Liu Zhidan, there are several more. For example, General Ye Ting, General Huang Gongluo, and so on, if they were alive in 1955, they all had the opportunity to become generals, or even marshals.
There are many more stories about the famous generals, and the author will talk to you slowly in future articles.