We know that Xu Guangda was rated as a general in the 1955 military rank evaluation, and ranked tenth among the top ten generals, and he and Wang Shusheng both belonged to the regular corps-level cadres, while the other eight were members of the Military Commission.
At that time, Xu Guangda was deeply disturbed that he was selected into the ranks of generals, so he gave in many times and wrote a letter to the chairman asking for demotion, but in the end it was not approved, leaving a good story.
Judging from Xu Guangda's comprehensive conditions in all aspects, there is indeed a bit of an exceptional promotion, and in the Red Second Front Army he represents, in terms of qualifications and military merits, Xiao Ke and Wang Zhen are more qualified than him.
The reason why Xu Guangda won in the end was the "mountain" factor, which played a decisive role. Although they both belong to the Second Front Army, but to subdivide it, Xu Guangda was born in the Red Second Army Corps and is the representative of the western Hunan and Hubei base areas, and in this regard, he is more representative than Xiao and Wang as the Red Sixth Army.
Although we do not advocate talking about mountains, the representativeness of "mountains" is an important factor in the evaluation of military ranks, and it is an objective fact that cannot be ignored, especially at the level of generals, Xu Guangda and Wang Shusheng are examples.
However, there is such a general in the Red Second Army, whose early qualifications are not inferior to Xu Guangda, and he is more representative than Xu Guangda, but unfortunately he died before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and some people say that if he lives to be awarded the title, he will be awarded the rank of general.
Some people will guess Duan Dechang, but with Duan Dechang's resume, if he is alive, he will be an ironclad general, and Xu Guangda is not comparable to him. What we are going to talk about today is Lu Dongsheng, who was also a general who died prematurely.
Let's compare Lu Dongsheng with Xu Guangda to see if he can replace Xu Guangda's position as a general if he lives to the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Xu Guangda
01 Early Qualifications
Lu Dongsheng was born in 1908 in Xiangtan, Hunan, and was a fellow villager with the chairman. He worked as a miner when he was a child, and he also herded cattle for Chen Geng's family.
In 1925, Lu Dongsheng went to Tang Shengzhi's army as a soldier and participated in the Northern Expedition. At the beginning of 1927, he met Chen Geng, then the commander of the special service battalion of the 8th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, in Wuhan, and became an adjutant under him.
After the failure of the uprising, in order to take care of the injured Chen Geng, Lu Dongsheng lost contact with the troops, traveled to Shantou and Hong Kong, and went to Shanghai at the end of 1927, merged into the party, and worked in the Central Special Branch with Chen Geng.
Xu Guangda is the same age as Lu Dongsheng and is a native of Changsha County, Hunan. His family is poor, and he also worked as a cattle herder. However, he loves to read, and his private school teacher, Zou Xilu, allows him to attend classes for free.
It is worth mentioning that Zou Xilu is Xu Guangda's future father-in-law and was also the chairman's teacher.
In 1925, Xu Guangda joined the party and was admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy (Wuhan) the following year. On the eve of the Nanchang Uprising in 1927, Xu Guangda went to Zhang Fakui's unit ~ the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army as a trainee platoon commander of the artillery battalion.
After the outbreak of the Nanchang Uprising, Xu Guangda rushed to Nanchang from Jiujiang, but the rebel army had withdrawn, and finally caught up with the troops in Ningdu, Jiangxi, and successively served as the platoon commander and acting company commander of the 75th Regiment of the 25th Division of the 11th Army.
After being wounded at Sanheba, Xu Guangda lost contact with the troops.
From this, we can see that in the early days of the revolution, Lu Dongsheng and Xu Guangda had similar qualifications, both joined the army early, and both participated in the Nanchang Uprising.
Lu Dongsheng
02 The era of the Red Army
At the beginning of 1928, during the period of Shanghai Special Branch, Lu Dongsheng was arranged by the organization to escort He Long and Zhou Yiqun to western Hunan and Hubei to open up a revolutionary base area.
In March of the same year, He and Tuesday launched the Sangzhi Uprising and established a guerrilla unit, Lu Dongsheng first served as a traffic officer, and after the establishment of the Red Fourth Army, he served as the platoon commander and company commander of the pistol company of the headquarters, and then the commander of the pistol battalion.
After He Long's Red Fourth Army and Zhou Yiqun's Red Sixth Army merged into the Red Second Army, Lu Dongsheng successively served as battalion commander and regiment commander, and in 1932 he served as the division's political commissar, and in 1933 he served as the division commander until the end of the Long March.
As a division-level cadre on the way to the Long March, Lu Dongsheng gradually caught up and was at the same level as Chen Geng, who was in the First Army at this time.
Xu Guangda was wounded and separated from the troops during the southern retreat of the Nanchang uprising troops, and successively traveled to Anhui, Hunan, Hebei and other places, until 1929, when he contacted the organization, and then went to Shanghai, and was soon sent to the Honghu Soviet District to fight with Zhou Yiqun.
After the establishment of the Red Sixth Army in 1930, Xu Guangda served as the chief of staff of the Sixth Army, and after the Sixth Army merged with He Long's Fourth Army to form the Red Second Army, he served as the division commander.
In January 1932, Xu Guangda was wounded in the battle of Yingcheng and was sent to the Soviet Union for treatment.
If we look at the performance of the two in the Red Army era, their highest positions were all at the division level, and Xu Guangda's appointment was a little earlier. However, Xu Guangda left the team in 1932 and went to the Soviet Union, regrettably missing the second half of the Long March, and was generally not as conspicuous as Lu Dongsheng.
Xu Guangda
03 Anti-Japanese War period
After the start of the Anti-Japanese War, the Red Army was reorganized, and Lu Dongsheng's Red Second Front Army was reorganized into the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and he was appointed as the commander of the 358th Brigade dominated by the Red Second Army.
However, due to some unpleasantness within the 120th Division in the early days, Lu Dongsheng was involved in a storm of "warlord style", and for the sake of the overall situation, he did not go to the post of brigade commander.
Lu Dongsheng went to the Soviet Union in 1938 to recuperate, and later studied at the Frunze Military Academy. After graduation, he worked in the Teaching Brigade of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army in the Far East of the Soviet Union until 1945, when he returned to China.
Xu Guangda went to the Soviet Union in 1932 to recuperate from his wounds, and did not return to Yan'an until the end of 1937.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Xu Guangda first taught at Kang University, and then served as the chief of staff of the Central Military Commission, the commander of the Yan'an Communications, the commander of the air defense, and the commander of the garrison, and then served as the commander of the 2nd Independent Brigade of the 120th Division and the commander of the 2nd Division of the Jinsui Military Region.
From the above, we can see that although Xu Guangda did not serve on the front line of the Anti-Japanese War and was generally very dull, Lu Dongsheng was absent from the critical period of the Anti-Japanese War.
If he does not leave the team, Lu Dongsheng, as one of the first six brigade commanders of the Eighth Route Army, has such a high gold content, and he will have great achievements in the Anti-Japanese War and the later period.
Lu Dongsheng
04 During the War of Liberation
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Lu Dongsheng returned to China with Zhou Baozhong in September 1945 with the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation, and successively served as the commander of the Harbin Garrison and the commander of the Songjiang Military Region.
In December 1945, Lu Dongsheng took several guards back to Chen Yun's residence to pick up his luggage, but unfortunately encountered several Soviet soldiers blocking the road and was shot dead.
In the early days of the Liberation War, Xu Guangda first served as the commander of the Yanmen Military Region and the commander of the Jinsui Field Army Column, and then returned to the northwest to follow Peng Dehuai to serve as the commander of the 3rd Army of the Northwest Field Army and the commander of the 2nd Corps of the First Field Army, and made great achievements in the liberation of the northwest.
Let's look at the performance of the two in the Liberation War, if Lu Dongsheng had not sacrificed in the early days of the Liberation War, his first position would have been the commander of the Songjiang Military Region, which belonged to the main post of the second-level military region.
Referring to the later candidates for the commanders of the second-level military regions in various periods in Northeast China, there were Chen Guang, Xiao Hua, Deng Hua, Cheng Shicai, Nie Heting and others, and those who were awarded generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals in 1955.
According to normal development, Lu Dongsheng will next serve as the commander of the column, the deputy commander of the corps, and the highest is the commander of the corps.
However, he belonged to the Second Front Army, and it is unlikely that he will be appreciated and promoted by the leaders of the Northeast, as exemplified by Li Yunchang, Zeng Kelin, Cheng Shicai, Zhan Caifang, and others.
Xu Guangda
Finally, let's respond to the topic at the beginning of the article, that is, if Lu Dongsheng does not sacrifice, will he replace Xu Guangda's position as a general in 1955?
Judging from the performance of Xu Guangda and Lu Dongsheng in various periods, in the early days, the two were almost the same; in the Red Army era and the Anti-Japanese War stage, the two of them each had an experience of absence, which can be regarded as equal; in the period of the Liberation War, even if Lu Dongsheng did not sacrifice, his achievements would not be higher than Xu Guangda.
From this point of view, Xu Guangda is going to have the advantage.
However, as mentioned above, judging from Xu Guangda's later ability to win the competition with Xiao Ke and Wang Zhen, the representativeness of the mountain accounts for a large factor.
As far as Lu Dongsheng and Xu Guangda are compared, if they are subdivided, although both of them are from the Red Second Army, Lu Dongsheng belongs to the Red Fourth Army in the Xiangxi Base Area founded by Marshal He Long, and Xu Guangda belongs to the Red Sixth Army in the Western Hubei Base Area led by Zhou Yiqun.
Marshal He Long is the banner of the Red Second Army and the Red Second Front Army, and is the founder of the Red Fourth Army in Xiangxi.
Some people will say that we have also analyzed it earlier, if Lu Dongsheng does not sacrifice, his development in the Northeast will not be very good, and at most it will be at the deputy corps level, which is not as good as Xu Guangda's regular corps level.
However, judging from He Bingyan's situation, when he was evaluated for his title, he was only at the level of a quasi-corps, and he was the standard for lieutenant generals and major generals, and later he was also promoted to general without exception? This is because no one is more suitable than him to represent the Second Red Army Corps to receive the rank of general.
Therefore, we believe that taking into account various factors, if Lu Dongsheng lives to the founding of the People's Republic of China, it is very likely that he will replace Xu Guangda to receive the rank of general.
(ENDS)