General Zeng Sheng
Hello everyone, I'm Lantai.
Today, Lantai would like to introduce to you the legendary life of General Zeng Sheng, who was awarded the rank of major general in 1955.
Why do you want to introduce the deeds of General Zeng?
This is because General Zeng was the only "Australian returnee" among the founding generals, he studied at the famous Fort Street Middle School in Sydney, Australia, and the first prime minister of Australia was still his senior; he was also a top student of the School of Literature of Sun Yat-sen University, and he was also the founder and commander of the famous Dongjiang Column during the Anti-Japanese War.
Isn't it legendary?
Next, Lantai will give you a brief introduction to General Zeng Sheng.
A statue of Zeng Sheng and his wife in Zhongshan Park in Nanshan District, Shenzhen
01、
On December 19, 1910, Zeng Sheng was born in Pingshan Street, Longgang District, Shenzhen, today;
Zeng Sheng's parents were Hakka, Zeng Sheng's father worked in Australia in his early years, and only returned to his hometown to marry Zeng Sheng's mother in his 30s; after Zeng Sheng was born, Zeng Sheng's father returned to Australia to work; the Chinese at that time were so hard-working.
However, it is also because of Zeng's father's part-time job in Australia, and the Zeng family is still wealthy in the local area, so he also entered Hong Kong Transcendental School.
However, this school in Hong Kong still retains a large number of the style of the former Qing private school, which makes the lively and stubborn Xiao Zengsheng very uncomfortable, and finally he dropped out of this school and returned to his hometown Pingshan to finish primary school.
In 1923, 13-year-old Zeng Sheng went to Sydney, Australia alone with his fellow villagers to reunite with his father, and under his father's arrangement, he entered Sydney's famous middle school - Fort Street Middle School.
Fort Street Middle School's main building today, Wilkins House.
By the way, we would like to introduce you to Fort Street Secondary School in Sydney, also known as Fort Street Secondary School, which is the oldest public secondary school in Australia and the first non-religious secondary school in Australia, founded in 1849.
To this day, Fort Street High School is still one of the best public secondary schools in Sydney, and the school has produced many famous people, such as Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Patton, and two Australian Prime Ministers, including two Australian Prime Ministers, are graduates of this school.
According to local media reports in Sydney in 2010, Fort Street graduates were ranked fourth among all secondary schools in Australia.
However, because Australia was still implementing the racial discrimination policy of General Zeng Sheng's senior and Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Patton, it was difficult for non-whites, especially Chinese, to study in Australia at university, so in 1928, Zeng Sheng left Australia with his father and returned to his hometown in Shenzhen.
In 1929, 19-year-old Zeng Sheng came to Guangzhou alone to study in high school affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University; because the landlord of Zeng Sheng's house was also a revolutionary, Zeng Sheng was implicated and mistakenly arrested by the military police and put in prison.
After being released from prison, Zeng Sheng began to deliberately look for Marxist books, and he began to change from an ordinary youth to a revolutionary youth.
In July 1933, Zeng Sheng successfully entered the School of Literature of Sun Yat-sen University, where he actively participated in various revolutionary movements, and soon became one of the school's student revolutionary leaders.
In 1936, Zeng Sheng, a junior in college, was publicly wanted by the embarrassed and angry Chen Jitang for organizing his classmates to protest against the corrupt governance of the Guangdong warlord Chen Jitang.
In order to escape the persecution of Chen Jitang, Zeng Sheng came to Hong Kong to work, first teaching at a school for seamen's children, and a month later he chose to work as a seaman in a steamship company, and changed his name from Zeng Zhensheng to Zeng Sheng.
Zeng Sheng, who graduated from university in 1937
Zeng Sheng worked as a seafarer for half a year because Chen Jitang stepped down and his wanted warrant was revoked, so he chose to return to Sun Yat-sen University to continue his studies.
After returning to school, Zeng Sheng joined the Chinese Communist Party at school.
After that, Zeng Sheng took time to return to Hong Kong to engage in revolutionary work while studying.
In December 1936, Zeng Sheng and three others established the Hong Kong Seamen's Working Committee, and Zeng Sheng served as the head of the organization.
By the end of 1938, when Zeng Sheng left Hong Kong and returned to work in Guangdong, the Hong Kong Seamen's Working Committee had developed more than 300 revolutionaries in Hong Kong.
The Dongjiang Column during the Anti-Japanese War
02、
In 1937, after graduating from university, Zeng Sheng sold his family's two acres of land and used the money to set up a Haihua School in Hong Kong that specifically recruited the children of seafarers", and used the school as the contact point of the Hong Kong Seamen's Committee.
After the outbreak of the "77 Incident", the Hong Kong Seamen's Committee also established a seamen's union in Hong Kong, and immediately launched an anti-Japanese strike action in Hong Kong, which caused all the Chinese seafarers of the Japanese steamship company to leave their jobs, and the Chinese seafarers on ships of other countries also refused to ship goods to Japan.
It can be said that the Hong Kong Seamen's Committee dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese aggressors in Hong Kong.
At the end of 1938, the invading Japanese army landed in Daya Bay, Guangdong, because most of the garrisons in Guangdong at this time went to the front line in Wuhan to fight the Japanese army, and Guangdong lacked troops, so soon the invading Japanese army occupied a large area in the lower reaches of the Dongjiang River in Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta.
It was under these circumstances that, in accordance with the instructions of his superiors, Zeng Sheng led dozens of comrades from the seamen's union back to his hometown to form the first anti-Japanese guerrilla force behind enemy lines in Guangdong, which was also the predecessor of the Dongjiang Column in the future.
During the entire Anti-Japanese War, the most brilliant action of the Dongjiang Column was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong.
In the past six months, the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas rescued a total of more than 800 well-known figures from all walks of life, such as He Xiangning, Liu Yazi, Mao Dun, Zou Taofen, Hu Xian, Ge Baoquan, Liao Mosha, Zhang Youyu, Qian Jiaju, Yu Ling, and Ding Cong, in addition to Shangguan Xiande, wife of Yu Hanmou, commander of the Seventh Theater, Chen Rutang, and more than 10 Kuomintang officials and dependents, a large number of international friends, and more than 2,000 Hong Kong youths who responded to requests to go to Chinese mainland to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
In 1944, in Pingshan, Shenzhen, Zeng Sheng (second from left) took a group photo with the rescued American pilot Kerr
Later, the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas also rescued many British officers in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong Superintendent Thomson.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zeng Sheng led the Dongjiang Column to Yantai, Shandong Province at the request of his superiors.
After arriving in Shandong, the Dongjiang Column participated in a number of battles in Huaye.
For example, in 1947, the Lunan Campaign and the Laiwu Campaign, and at this time, Zeng Sheng, who was the commander of the Dongjiang Column, was also appointed deputy commander of the Bohai Naval Region.
In March 1947, the Dongjiang Column was reorganized into the Liangguang Column of the People's Liberation Army, and Zeng Sheng served as the commander of the column.
After the establishment of the Liangguang Column, it participated in many battles in Huaye.
In the operation to block the enemy's Qiu Qingquan Corps, the Liangguang Column was responsible for guarding the county seat of Qixian County, and under the fierce attack of the Kuomintang army's superior forces and firepower on three sides, it fought bravely and held on for two days, and completed the blocking task with other columns, ensuring the encirclement of the main force of Huaye against the Ou Shounian Corps.
Oil painting of the Battle of Jinan
In the Battle of Jinan, the Liangguang Column undertook the task of uprooting Changqing County, a strong stronghold on the outskirts of Jinan, and conquered the city in only 90 minutes, annihilating 2,000 defenders, completing the task three and a half days ahead of schedule, and ensuring the smooth operation of the siege group.
In the second phase of the Huaihai Campaign, the Xunan Resistance Battle, with the strength of three regiments, the Liangguang Column assumed the task of holding the 11-kilometer frontal and 10-kilometer vertical and horizontal areas south of Xuzhou, fought bloodily for four days and nights, withstood the onslaught of Sun Yuanliang's corps under the cover of aircraft and artillery, and firmly held the positions of Lucunzhai and Dafangshan, one of the main passages for the enemy's southward escape, and played an important role in smashing the enemy's attempt to flee southward in Xuzhou.
Zeng Sheng, deputy commander of the South China Sea Fleet
03、
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zeng Sheng first served as the first deputy chief of staff of the South China Military Region, and in 1952, under Ye Jianying's arrangement, Zeng Sheng left the South China Military Region to work in the navy.
He first entered the naval department of Nanjing Military Academy under the arrangement of naval commander Xiao Jinguang, and during this period, Zeng Sheng was awarded the rank Xi of rear admiral in 1955.
became the only Australian returnee to receive the rank of major general of the People's Liberation Army.
After four years of Xi study, in the summer of 1956, Zeng Sheng was appointed first deputy commander of the Navy's South China Sea Fleet.
In 1960, Zeng Sheng left the navy to work in the local area, and he was appointed vice governor of Guangdong Province and mayor of Guangzhou.
In 1993, Zeng Sheng returned to his hometown to visit relatives
In addition, Zeng Sheng also held many positions in the Guangdong Provincial and Guangzhou Municipal Governments, including the Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Guangdong Province, the Director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Committee, the President of the Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education, the Political Commissar of the Guangzhou Military Sub-district, and the Vice Chairman of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This period is considered by Zeng Sheng himself to be the busiest period of his life.
In 1974, Zeng Sheng was appointed Minister of Communications.
On November 20, 1995, Zeng Sheng died in Guangzhou at the age of 85.
To tell the truth, with Zeng's academic qualifications (undergraduate) and qualifications, the award of major general in 1955 was indeed a little lower, and General Zeng was fully qualified to be awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
I don't know what everyone thinks, welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
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