After the Xi'an Incident, the tone of the second KMT-CCP cooperation was set. In 1937, the Red Army was officially reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army, of which the Red Army was reorganized into the 115th Division. The 115th Division has 2 brigades. Among them, the 343 Brigade was reorganized on the basis of the 2nd and 4th Divisions of the 1st Red Army, while the 344 Brigade was reorganized from the famous 15th Red Army Corps, with the 687th Regiment and the 688th Regiment under its jurisdiction, which came from the original Red 25th Army.
In December 1937, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army decided to expand the troops and let the 344 Brigade expand into a regiment. After receiving the order, the brigade commander Xu Haidong believed that the original Red 26th Army was a Red Army unit in northern Shaanxi, and there should be troops to continue their mantle, so he decided to draw two battalions as the backbone and supplement some troops to form a new regiment.
According to the number awarded by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, this former Red 26th Army unit became the 689th Regiment of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
After the 344th Brigade was formed, Division Commander Lin and Deputy Division Commander Nie Rongzhen called Yan'an, hoping to "replace a brigade commander to replace Comrade Xu Haidong." Although the reason for the telegram is not distributed, its implicit meaning is profound.
1. The highly decorated 25th Army and the special 344th Brigade
As the predecessor of the 344 Brigade. The Red 15th Army has a large background, and it is a combination of the Red 25th Army and the Red Army of Northern Shaanxi. Its most combat-effective part is dominated by the Red 25th Army. The Red Army had three major hills - the Red First Army, the Red Second Front Army, and the Red Fourth Front Army. Compared with the three major front armies, the Red 25th Army is a relatively small mountain, but its position is extremely important.
As mentioned above, the 115th Division is based on the Red First Army, but the Red 25th Army does not belong to the Central Red Army sequence, but is subordinate to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region of the Fourth Front Army. After the Long March of the Red Fourth Front Army in 1932, Xu Haidong, Wu Huanxian, and Shen Zemin led the Red 25th Army and the Red 28th Army to continue to fight in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region.
Since the elite and strong people in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region have all gone on the Long March, those who remained in the 25th and 28th armies were a group of orphans and martyrs who suffered a lot and were very young, with an average age of only 16 years old.
Due to the critical situation of the enemy, the Red 25th Army and the 28th Army were combined into the Red 25th Army and launched the Long March. The Red 25th Army set out with less than 3,000 people, and the soldiers were also young, and they were nicknamed the Boy Scouts by the Kuomintang army opposite. But this group of baby soldiers, under the command of Xu Haidong, has become a tiger army that devours wolves. The Red 25th Army "avoided the false and became real" all the way, winning successive battles, fighting from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region to northern Shaanxi, and the Northeast Army, the Shaanxi Army, the Central Army, and the Ningma Army were all defeated in front of the Red 25th Army.
On September 15, 1934, the Red 25th Army entered the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi and joined forces with Liu Zhidan's Northern Shaanxi Red Army. The Red 25th Army was the latest to the Long March, but it was the first Red Army to reach northern Shaanxi, and their Long March is also known as the "Little Long March".
Xu Haidong counted the men and horses and found that the Red 25th Army had increased instead of decreasing, and there were more than 100 people, and the equipment was also changed with shotguns. The 3,000-strong force actually had more than 100 machine guns, and the firepower was even more fierce than that of the Central Army. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, the Red 25th Army defeated Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng many times, and abused the Shaanxi Army and the Northeast Army to death. Without the existence of Xu Haidong, the Red Army of Northern Shaanxi alone would not have been able to stand in northern Shaanxi. At that time, the foothold and starting point of the Chinese revolution will no longer exist, and the history of the Chinese revolution will certainly be rewritten.
Led by Xu Haidong, the Red 25th Army emerged with talents that were not commensurate with the size of this unit. After the founding of New China, 97 founding generals emerged, including 1 general, 2 generals, 6 lieutenant generals, and 88 major generals. Among them are the well-known Admiral Han Xianchu and Admiral Liu Zhen.
Soon after, the 7,000-strong Shaanxi-Gansu detachment led by Mao Zedong arrived in northern Shaanxi, and Xu Haidong supported 5,000 oceans in time and resolutely obeyed Mao Zedong's leadership.
You must know that at that time, Mao Zedong and other leaders had just experienced the "grassland shocking change", and now they meet local leaders with such a strong party spirit and no self-centeredness and mountain-topping, how can they not be moved. Although 5,000 oceans is small, it is very large, and this kind of touching is touching.
Because the historical situation of the 344th Brigade and Xu Haidong is so special, even if they are as strong as Division Commander Lin and Deputy Division Commander Nie Rongzhen, they will beat drums in their hearts.
From the perspective of rank, Division Commander Lin was the commander of the Red First Legion, and Xu Haidong was the commander of the Red Fifteenth Legion, and the two were of the same level. Let Xu Haidong be a brigade commander is really condescending. It was only because Chiang Kai-shek was stingy that he gave the Red Army only three divisions to the establishment. If there is even a fourth division, I am afraid that Xu Haidong is a strong contender for the position of deputy division commander.
It can be seen from this that Division Commander Lin and Deputy Division Commander Nie are not crowding out Xu Haidong, but it is really inconvenient to command, and Xu Haidong deserves a better position.
But in the end, Mao Zedong did not agree to Lin and Nie's request, and Xu Haidong continued to serve as the commander of the 344 Brigade, why is this?
2. The Chairman is of great use to the 344th Brigade
First of all, as mentioned above, although the 344th Brigade comes from a small hill, this hill is too special. The Red 25th Army had strong combat effectiveness and cohesion, but it was also somewhat xenophobic.
When the Red 25th Army decided on the Long March, the Central Soviet Region sent Cheng Zihua as a special commissioner to convey the instructions of the Central Committee. In order to show his obedience to the central government, Xu Haidong took the initiative to make Cheng Zihua the commander, and he himself was reappointed as the deputy commander, and Wu Huanxian was the political commissar.
But during the Long March of the Red 25th Army, Cheng Zihua's sense of existence was far less high than that of Xu Haidong. From the perspective of military ability, Cheng Zihua is not inferior to Xu Haidong. However, the officers and soldiers of the Red 25th Army admired Xu Haidong and political commissar Wu Huanxian more.
It can be seen from this that the Red 25th Army is a group that is difficult to enter, and the difficulty of its leadership can be seen. Later, Huang Kecheng, who was formerly the political commissar of the 344 Brigade, was the political commissar of the 344 Brigade, but he didn't buy it at the beginning.
Since Xu Haidong's prestige in the 344 Brigade is too high, and the other banner, Wu Huanxian, political commissar, has already died, who can I replace? Who is more suitable than Xu Haidong to command the 344 Brigade?
Second, Mao Zedong and Xu Haidong were heart-to-heart, and he knew Comrade Xu Haidong very well. Xu Haidong didn't like to be an official all his life, but he loved to fight.
Xu Haidong once said to himself: "I am addicted to war, walking, and drinking, but I just don't have an official addiction." "Xu Haidong was happy when he heard about the war, but if he didn't fight, he would be sick. The general once said, "Fighting is my good healer." ”
Judging from Xu Haidong's merits, being a brigade commander is indeed useless. But as far as Xu Haidong himself is concerned, he doesn't care. As long as he can fight the Japanese devils, it doesn't matter what division commander or brigade commander he is. Therefore, Xu Haidong will never have any situation where he cannot be in command. In the great victory of Pingxingguan, Xu Haidong was absolutely obedient to Lin and Nie's command and perfectly executed.
In the end, the central government actually has a great use for the 344 brigade.
This is because the 344 Brigade is not just a brigade, every soldier in it is actually a seed. After going through the Long March, they were all elite soldiers with strong party spirit, well-trained, and brave and good at fighting. As long as the conditions are right, one person can develop 100 recruits or even thousands of recruits.
Therefore, although the 344th Brigade is ostensibly subordinate to the 115th Division, when the time comes, it will definitely separate from the main force and go to other areas to spread out and establish a base area. At that time, Xu Haidong, who has the ability to take charge of himself, will have room to play. In other words, Xu Haidong is not used to be a subordinate of Lin and Nie, but exists as a "prince".
To this end, the central government also specially equipped Xu Haidong with an excellent deputy - Huang Kecheng.
Huang Kecheng was a representative of the Third Army of the Red Army, known for his courage to tell the truth and to give direct advice, and he was a brilliant man with both tactical and strategic vision and a combination of military and political talents. Obviously, this is what is being prepared for the future of the 344 Brigade.
Huang Kecheng has a strong party spirit and is known for his love for soldiers, and the reason why the chairman sent him to the 344th Brigade was obviously to correct the brigade's position-oriented tendency.
Therefore, when the 344 Brigade will inevitably become an independent army, Lin and Nie are worried that they will "not be able to suppress" Xu Haidong, so they are completely worried. Sure enough, in 1938, the headquarters of the 18th Group Army placed the 344th Brigade under the direct jurisdiction of the military headquarters and was sent to the southeast of Shanxi Province to cooperate with the 129th Division to open up a base area.
However, during the Long March, Xu Haidong encountered many bloody battles and was wounded many times. By the time of the Anti-Japanese War, the former "Xu Laohu" had run out of oil and had suffered from extremely serious lung disease. By 1938, Xu Haidong vomited blood many times in a row and could only work on a stretcher.
Coincidentally, Commander Lin was also seriously injured in an accident. If Xu Haidong is not sick, the 115th Division will definitely be represented by him, and it will not be replaced by Chen Guanglai. After Xu Haidong fell ill, the 344th Brigade suffered repeated defeats. Moreover, on the way south, Zhang Shaodong, the head of the 687th Regiment, and Lan Guoqing, the chief of staff, colluded and rebelled, resulting in a serious "Zhang Lan incident".
After this incident, Zhu De rushed to the 344 Brigade to rectify it. Zhu De found that Xu Haidong was seriously ill and was completely incompetent for the command position. So he ordered him to go to Yan'an immediately to recuperate. After Xu Haidong left, the position of brigade commander became vacant.
At the beginning, the 344th Brigade believed that Tian Shouyao, the veteran of the Red 25th Army and the deputy commander of the 687th Regiment, should replace Xu Haidong's position, and Zhu De also agreed. However, Mao Zedong took into account the problem of standardism in the 344 Brigade, so he ordered Yang Dezhi to be the acting commander of the 344 Brigade.
3. The 344th Brigade actually developed 4 columns
With the joint efforts of Yang Dezhi and Huang Kecheng, the 344 Brigade has survived the painful period of sick leave of the "old army commander" and gradually got on the right track. Huang Kecheng, who is upright and has outstanding ability, has gradually been unanimously recognized by the 344 Brigade.
In February 1940, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army established the second column, with Zuo Quan as the commander, Huang Kecheng as the political commissar, and Yang Dezhi as the deputy commander. The 344th Brigade entered the second column, with Han Xianchu as the acting brigade commander and Kang Zhiqiang as the political commissar. In April, Liu Zhen took over as the commander of the 344 Brigade.
In May, according to Liu Shaoqi's suggestion, the Central Military Commission ordered Huang Kecheng to lead the 344th Brigade of the 2nd Column and the newly formed 2nd Brigade, a total of five regiments, 12,000 people, and more than 500 people from the training battalion, to go south from Hebei, Shandong, and Henan to Central China in two echelons. In June, he arrived at the Henan-Anhui Soviet Border Area to meet with Chen Yi and Su Yubu, and began to prepare for the construction of an anti-Japanese base in northern Jiangsu.
On the way south, the three regiments of the 344th Brigade carried out an extremely complicated division and merger.
First in July, Huang Kecheng's second column joined up with Peng Xuefeng's 6th Detachment (owed to the 4th Corps) of the New Fourth Army and was combined into the 4th Column of the Eighth Route Army, the 344th Brigade was renamed the 4th Brigade, and the 3 regiments under its jurisdiction were renamed the 7th, 8th, and 9th Regiments.
In late July, the 4th Brigade (344 regiments and 689 regiments of the 689th Brigade) was retained in the 4th Column and placed under the command of Peng Xuefeng. Huang Kecheng led the new 2nd Brigade (5th Regiment, 6th Regiment) and 9th Regiment to the northeastern Anhui region, and was ordered to unify and reorganize with the Sulu-Henan Detachment, the Longhai Nanjin Detachment, and the 4th Corps of the 6th Detachment of the New Fourth Army into the 5th Column of the Eighth Route Army. Huang Kecheng served as commander and political commissar. Adhere to the northeast of Anhui with one section, and advance into northern Jiangsu with the main force.
After the Southern Anhui Incident, Huang Kecheng's Fifth Column was reorganized into the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, with three brigades under its jurisdiction, of which the 8th Brigade was developed from the original 344th Brigade.
At the same time, Peng Xuefeng's fourth column was reorganized into the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army, the fourth brigade was renumbered the 10th Brigade, and the original 344 Brigade troops were the 28th Regiment (688th Regiment) and the 29th Regiment (689th Regiment).
In September 1941, the higher authorities decided to assemble the units with the foundation of the Red Army, and the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division was transferred to the 10th Brigade of the 4th Division. At this point, the main force of the original 344 Brigade was regrouped in the Third Division of the New Fourth Army as the Eighth Brigade and the Tenth Brigade, and the configuration of the original Red 15th Army was restored.
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the Third Division of the New Fourth Army had 37,000 horses, under the jurisdiction of the 7th, 8th, 10th Brigade and the Independent Brigade four main brigades, three independent regiments.
After Zhu De and Liu Shaoqi issued the order to march into the northeast, the third division was ordered to leave the customs and enter the northeast. In the northeast, the 7th Brigade and the Shandong 7th Division formed the Dongye Sixth Column, and the 8th Brigade and the 10th Brigade, that is, the original 344th Brigade, were reorganized into the Dongye 2nd Column. The Dongye 2nd Column is the famous super trump card - the 39th Army, and the Dongye 6th Column is not weak, it is one of the six tigers in the Dongye, and later developed into the 43rd Army, which is the heroic unit that liberated Hainan Island. The Huaye 11th Column and the Huaye 12th Column also have deep roots with the Third Division of the New Fourth Army.
If the 344th Brigade takes Xu Haidong as its banner and soul, then it is probably Huang Kecheng who will completely carry forward the brigade. After Xu Haidong took a sick leave, Huang Kecheng not only filled his vacancy perfectly, but also expanded the foundation of the 344 Brigade and developed 4 columns. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army did not have any unit as majestic as the 344 Brigade.
In 1955, Xu Haidong and Huang Kecheng were both awarded the rank of general, ranking second and third respectively. To this day, the blood of the Red 25th Army, the 344th Brigade and the 39th Army still flows in the people's army.