In the War of Liberation, "Lin Luo Liu" can be called a golden combination, they have their own strengths and complement each other, so that the people's army in the northeast showed explosive growth.
The Liaoshen Campaign of 1948 was the earliest strategic decisive battle between the two parties, and after the end of the battle, the PLA surpassed the Kuomintang army for the first time in terms of the number of troops, and the situation was reversed.
To achieve such a victory, the perfect cooperation between "Lin Luo Liu" played a big role. In 1955, Lin and Luo were both marshals, but Liu was only a general, with only half a rank difference in position and two levels in military rank.
And at that time, Tan Zheng, director of the Dongye Political Department, Xiao Jinguang, commander of the First Corps, and Huang Kecheng, political commissar of the Second Corps, were all generals, higher than Liu, so many people felt that this was a bit unfair, Liu was awarded low, is this really the case?
Let's talk about the answer first, Liu Yalou deserves to be awarded the rank of general, and he basically does not meet the hard standards of a general.
In terms of contribution, Liu Yalou is indeed very big, and when he first arrived in the Northeast, the overall situation was messy. The troops drawn from various regions have been out of the customs for a short time, and they have not yet been run in.
In particular, the staff officers' ability to plan and supervise battles is weak, and the orders they convey are ambiguous and untimely, which has aroused extreme dissatisfaction among front-line commanders and fighters.
After he served as the Northeast Democratic Alliance, he began to carry out drastic reforms, and he did three very important things:
The first is to set up a map section, set up a printing house, and train cartographers. The General Staff Department must have a map, and it is impossible to fight a war just by imagination, and at that time, our army lacked talents in this area, so Liu Yalou immediately began to train them.
He built a printing factory and a surveying and mapping school in Harbin, and after cultivating the first seeds, they quickly branched out, and from then on all units had military maps, and orders and instructions were clear and accurate;
Second, it is necessary to transfer educated cadres from various units and train high-quality staff officers. He gathered these cadres together for training, and he often went to give lectures.
The "Regulations on the Operation of the Field Staff of the Red Army" and the "Regulations on the Work of the Headquarters of the Soviet Army" transmitted by the Soviet Union have been translated with additions and changes, so that the operational regulations implemented by our army are more in line with the actual situation;
The third is to convene a meeting to clarify the importance of staff work. In fact, earlier in the past, our army did not attach importance to staff officers, believing that the nature of this work was no different from that of the retinue and adjutant of the old army, so people in this position often did not work actively and had no sense of honor.
Liu Yalou has made changes in his thinking and strengthened cognitive training in the department, and has repeatedly reiterated:
"A staff officer must have the courage to take responsibility, understand when and what to do, should give advice to the chief, and be concise in language. If the chief asks you questions, it is a dereliction of duty to not understand, and it is a crime to talk nonsense.
Staff officers must be honest, meticulous, and rigorous, and never allow "probably," "probably," or "almost" in their mouths. ”
Outside the department, he repeatedly conveyed instructions to the whole army in the name of "Lin Luo Liu": Anyone who dares to despise the staff officers of the headquarters will be severely punished. The prestige of the staff officers has been enhanced, and more people are willing to come to know about the work of the staff officers, thus forming a virtuous circle.
Through what he has learned, Liu Yalou has built the headquarters into a command organization that can adapt to the operations of a modern large corps, and many of the battles that followed have gradually evolved into "General Lin makes a decision, and Liu Yalou is responsible for implementation."
Regularizing the army is the foundation laid by Liu Yalou for victory, and Liu Yalou is also very strong in terms of front-line command ability.
In the Tianjin offensive of the Pingjin Campaign, he made overall plans and completely annihilated the enemy in less than 30 hours, which made the two parties look sideways, and also prompted Fu Zuoyi's uprising.
Later, the number of the Northeast Field Army was changed to the Fourth Field Army, and Liu Yalou was transferred to the commander of the 14th Corps.
It's just that not only Mr. Lin attaches great importance to Liu Yalou, but Chairman Mao also attaches great importance to Liu Yalou, and it didn't take long for him to be transferred again and make him the commander of the PLA Air Force.
In 1955, Navy Commander Xiao Jinguang and Armored Corps Commander Xu Guangda were both generals, and it stands to reason that Liu Yalou could catch the last train, but why didn't he in the end? There are three reasons for this.
First, the award of titles should be based on various periods. Liu Yalou's Liberation War is indeed very outstanding, but the Agrarian Revolution and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression are relatively not particularly prominent.
Liu Yalou joined the party in 1929 and joined the Red Army, which was later than many generals, and lacked the experience of participating in the three major uprisings and the establishment of base areas.
Later, he served in the Central Red Army for a long time, and was the director of the Political Department of the 2nd Division of the Red 1st Army Corps during the Long March, and was promoted to the commander of the Red 2nd Division after arriving in northern Shaanxi.
Xu Guangda, who ranked last among the generals, became the commander of the division in 1931, not to mention the others.
In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Liu Yalou did not have the opportunity to gain military merits, and at first served as the director of education at Kang University, and was sent to the Soviet Union to study in 1939, and did not return to China until 1945.
The rest of the generals basically held positions at the brigade level of the Eighth Route Army and the division level of the New Fourth Army, and Liu Yalou did not meet the standards in this regard.
In terms of qualifications, it is difficult for Liu Yalou to be rated as a general. The military rank originally depends on the overall experience, and in the early stage, he has always been someone else's subordinate, and suddenly surpasses many superiors, and it is inevitable that some people will be dissatisfied.
For example, when the title of the Northwest Iron Triangle was awarded in "Bright Sword", because some people with inferior qualifications were superior to themselves, but their military ranks surpassed them or were equal, which caused a lot of emotion.
Art comes from reality, and if Liu Yalou is awarded the rank of general, some generals who are stronger than him in the early years will definitely have ideas.
Second, there were too many cadres from the Red Army among the generals. Objectively speaking, the "mountain" exists, and it is a very important hidden factor in the awarding of titles.
Let's take a look at the "hills" of the ten generals during the agrarian revolution: Su Yu was from the Red Army; Xu Haidong was from the Red 25th Army; Huang Kecheng was from the Red Army;
Although Chen Geng fought in both the Red Fourth and the Red One, he fought with the Red One on the Long March, and resolutely stood on the side of the Red One when he divided his troops in the grassland, so he was also considered to be the Red First Army;
Tan Zheng was from the Red Army; Xiao Jinguang is from the Red Army; Zhang Yunyi was from the Red Army; Luo Ruiqing was from the Red Army; Wang Shusheng was from the Red Fourth Front Army; Xu Guangda was from the Red Second Front Army.
The latter two were only at the regular corps level when they were graded in 1952, and if it weren't for taking care of the "mountain", they probably wouldn't have been able to get a general. You can take care of the "mountain", and of course, you can sacrifice for the "mountain".
There are already so many generals in the red one, and out of the consideration of unity, the central government has not promoted Liu Yalou.
Third, the rank of chief of staff is not as high as everyone thinks. Many people think that one of the reasons why Liu Yalou was awarded a low grade is that Tan Zheng, director of the Dongye Political Department, has become a general, but Liu among the "Lin Luo Liu" is only a lieutenant general.
However, in fact, the rank of chief of staff is generally lower than that of the director of the Political Department, and in terms of his appointment after the reorganization of the whole army in 1949, Yan Kui, chief of staff of Yiye, is a lieutenant general, and Gan Siqi, director of the Political Department, is a general; Li Da, chief of staff of the Second Field, is a general, and Zhang Jichun did not receive a military rank when he transferred to politics;
Zhang Zhen, chief of staff of Sanye, is a lieutenant general, and Tang Liang, director of the Political Department, is a general; Xiao Ke, chief of staff of Siye, is a general, and Tan Zheng, director of the Political Department, is a general. It is evident that the head of the Political Department is basically superior to the Chief of Staff.
So on the whole, it is normal that Liu Yalou was not awarded the general.