After the Southern Anhui Incident in 1941, our party did not give in and still rebuilt the New Fourth Army.
In addition, the current reconstruction has changed the guerrilla formations of "detachments" and "brigades" to the use of regular army formations such as "divisions" and "brigades." This is a demonstration of our party's determination from the other side.
In the following years, the New Fourth Army successively had seven divisions, and most of these units were classified into the Sanye system in the War of Liberation, with only the Third Division and the Fifth Division in different field armies.
The Third Division is good to say, its predecessor was the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army of the Central Committee, and it has always been relatively independent. After Japan surrendered, it received an order to go out of the customs to support the operation, which can be regarded as returning to the central lineage sequence.
So, why did the Fifth Division go to Erye?
This problem is related to the context and environment of the Fifth Division.
The commander of the Fifth Division was Li Xiannian, and as a cadre who came out of the Red Fourth Front Army, he had a natural affinity with Erye, who developed from the Red Fourth Front Army.
In 1939, Li Xiannian followed Chairman Mao's instructions and returned to the Dabie Mountain area with a team of more than 100 people.
After a period of arduous struggle, he developed the Henan-Hubei Independent Guerrilla Detachment of the New Fourth Army, which numbered more than 9,000 people.
As the number of troops continued to increase, the independent guerrilla detachment was also expanded into an advance column, and at this time Li Xiannian's command could be described as a strong army, with 15,000 armed men and 100,000 militiamen.
Being able to create a strong base in the Central Plains, which is facing the dual threat of Japanese invaders and the national army, makes the central government very happy.
After the Southern Anhui Incident, the Central Committee rebuilt the New Fourth Army, and the advance column became the Fifth Division, with Li Xiannian as the division commander and political commissar.
However, there is a big difference between the Fifth Division and the other divisions of the New Fourth Army; from a geographical point of view, the other units of the New Fourth Army are basically in the Jiangnan area, while the Fifth Division is alone in the Central Plains, and it is impossible for each other to form a unified command and to coordinate operations.
The most typical example is that during the Southern Anhui Incident, Li Xiannian's troops could only watch and be anxious, and there was no way to rush over to support and respond. It's the same in the future, the two sides are too far apart to be counted on.
If it had not been for the original negotiation agreement between the two parties on the reorganization of the communist forces in the north and south, the Fifth Division would not have necessarily been under the sequence of the New Fourth Army. Therefore, in the end, it is not surprising that the Fifth Division did not enter the Sanye system.
In addition, Li Xiannian was not very familiar with the main cadres of Sanye, he was in the Red Fourth Front Army during the Agrarian Revolution, and Chen Yi, Su Yu and others, the leaders of Sanye, were in the Red First Army.
During the Long March, Li Xiannian met many cadres of this front army, but he didn't see Chen and Su, and there was no way, both of them stayed in the south to fight guerrillas.
Even contact is rare, how can it be possible to cooperate tacitly?
On the other hand, the Fifth Division later joined the Second Field, Li Xiannian was very familiar with several leaders, as early as after the Maogong Division, Liu Bocheng was incorporated into the Left Route Army dominated by the Red Fourth Front Army, at this time Li Xiannian had a lot of contacts with him, and he had to get along more harmoniously.
It is a pity to say that at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Central Committee formed the Central Plains Military Region with the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army, the troops of the Henan Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, and the southward detachment of the Eighth Route Army (the main force of the 359th Brigade), with Li Xiannian as the commander.
At this time, the Central Plains Military Region had a number of columns under its jurisdiction, and it was one of our party's main strategic areas, and if it developed well, Li Xiannian would not have to follow the second or third field, and he would be able to form a field army.
However, the living environment of the Central Plains Military Region was too poor, there were enemies on all sides, and it was close to the core ruling area of the Kuomintang, so in the end, the National Army chose the Central Plains Military Region as a breakthrough, and then there was a breakthrough in the Central Plains.
The Central Plains Military Region suffered heavy casualties in this strategic transfer, and a large number of personnel were scattered in the Dabie Mountain area. Li Xiannian broke through and arrived in Yan'an, when the Fifth Division of the original New Fourth Army had no formation as a whole.
In June 1947, Liu Deng's army was ordered by the central government to leap thousands of miles into the Dabie Mountains, and their goal was to establish a solid base in the Dabie Mountains area and ignite the flames of war to the national control area.
And Li Xiannian had developed independently in the Dabie Mountain area before and was very familiar with the local situation, so he was transferred to Liu Deng's army to go south together, gathering the old troops all the way and putting forward reasonable opinions.
Later, most of Li Xiannian's old troops were incorporated into the 12th column of the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan Field Army, and became a main force in Liu Deng's army.
In May 1948, the Military Commission decided to rebuild the Central Plains Military Region, with Liu Shuai as the commander, Deng Gong as the political commissar, and Li Xiannian as the deputy commander.
Li stayed in the Erye system, and the communication with the old subordinates of the Fifth Division and the old comrades-in-arms of the Red Fourth Front Army was much smoother.
He assisted Liu Deng in commanding a large army and developing base areas, and later continued to make contributions, and was praised by Chairman Mao as "a general who does not dismount".
Originally, according to Li Xiannian's qualifications as political commissar of the main force of the Red Army, a division-level cadre of the New Fourth Army, and a deputy of the PLA Field Army, it was not difficult to be awarded the rank of general in 1955.
It's just that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a shortage of people in all aspects, so Li Xiannian transferred to the administrative system and left the army. Back then, Chairman Mao set an example, and those who were not in the army would not participate in the award, so Li Xiannian regretted missing it.
However, Li Xiannian has made great achievements in other fields, he has served as vice premier of the State Council, minister of finance, president of the state and other positions, and is a national leader.
Even among the marshals, only Mr. Zhu, Mr. Lin, and Ye Shuai have achieved this achievement, and the others, even the famous Mr. Peng, are only at the vice-national level at the highest level, which is not as good as Li Xiannian in this regard, and he can be regarded as a lost harvest.