On the eve of the National Day in 1970, the founding general Li Tianyou completed his glorious life in Beijing.
The general in the picture is dressed in a military uniform and wears a military hat on his head, showing the glory and responsibility of his life. Several children guarded their father's side, with tears in their eyes, revealing inseparable grief, the old man next to him was the general's father-in-law and mother-in-law, and at this time, Du Qiyuan, the wife who was staring at her husband, even if she was wearing glasses, she could see the sadness in her eyes, no one thought that the general, who had only 56 years of life, would leave his relatives who loved him like this.
In 1914, Li Tianyou was born in a poor peasant family in Lingui County, Guangxi, the miserable family situation in his childhood made him suffer a lot, at the age of 14, Li Tianyou, who had no sustainable life, held the simple idea of being a soldier to eat food, participated in the army of Li Mingrui of the Gui Department, a year later because of his excellent performance and sent to the Nanning Teaching Corps for further study, there were many members of our party who participated in the training, under their influence, Li Tianyou had a revolutionary awakening, and soon followed Zhang Yunyi to participate in the Baise Uprising and started his revolutionary career.
During the Red Army, Li Tianyou fought bravely and made many achievements, but he was also wounded many times, especially in the Battle of Ganzhou in 1932, when Li Tianyou led the team to climb the city wall of Ganzhou, he was shot in many places, but fortunately he was rescued by the military doctor to save a life.
On the eve of the Long March, Li Tianyou became the commander of the Red Fifth Division, and when the main force crossed the Xiang River, he led his troops to block the enemy troops in Guanyang, and fought fiercely with the enemy troops of more than two divisions for three days and nights, ensuring that the main force had all crossed the river before withdrawing from the position.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Tianyou served as the head of the 686 Regiment, he first participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and then in the Guangyang ambush, annihilated more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers.
Unexpectedly, the general left the battlefield for physical reasons, and then went to the Soviet Union to recuperate, and did not return to Yan'an until 1944. By 1948, Li Tianyou was already the commander of the first column in Dongye, and in the Siping Campaign, he and political commissar Wan Yi led three columns of troops to annihilate nearly 20,000 enemy troops, and a few months later led the army to participate in the Liaoshen Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign.
In particular, when liberating Tianjin, he led his troops to annihilate more than 100,000 enemy defenders, and even Chen Changjie, commander of the Tianjin garrison, became his prisoner; after the founding of New China, this founding meritorious service was awarded the rank of general, and later successively served as commander of the Guangzhou Military Region and deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army.
As early as the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was hospitalized for acute nephritis, and after returning to work, he worked day and night all year round, which had a great impact on his health, and on September 27, 1970, General Li Tianyou left us forever at the age of 56.