In August 1955, when the new Chinese government's military rank assessment was entering the final stage, Luo Ronghuan was in charge of the work and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In the past wars, many generals of our army have made outstanding achievements. It is indeed a very tricky problem to accurately match the merits of each general with the rank.
Fortunately, the list of military rank evaluation has been basically finalized, and Luo Ronghuan can finally unload the heavy burden on his shoulders.
At this moment, Peng Dehuai, who had just returned triumphantly from the Korean battlefield, and served as Minister of Defense and Vice Chairman of the National Defense Committee, suddenly found him.
"Rong Huan, I heard that the list of military ranks has come out, you can show me."
For this request, Luo Ronghuan felt a little puzzled.
Could it be that Mr. Peng is worried that his military rank assessment is not high enough?
As soon as this thought came to mind, Luo Ronghuan shook his head firmly.
After all, Peng Lao was always one of the founders of our army and enjoyed high prestige in the army. Everyone knows that it is a sure thing for Mr. Peng to confer the rank of marshal.
So, Luo Ronghuan jokingly said: "Mr. Peng, are you still worried that your military rank is not high enough?" ”
Hearing this, Peng Dehuai seemed a little excited, he sighed and said, "I don't have anything to worry about, I can give me any rank." ”
Then, he changed his words: "I heard that Xie Fang was not awarded a military rank, so I came here to ask." ”
Hearing the news, Luo Ronghuan hesitated.
Although Xie Fang served as the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, his name did not appear in the list of military ranks.
Hearing this result, Peng Dehuai looked a little angry. In the controversy of his insistence on his position, Luo Ronghuan had no choice but to ask the central government for instructions, and finally decided to confer the rank of major general on Xie Fang.
However, Peng Dehuai was still a little dissatisfied with this, and said with some whint: "If the solution is awarded a major general, then I will also award myself a lieutenant general, at most a general." ”
As the "No. 3 person" of the Volunteer Army, second only to the commander and political commissar, why did Xie Fang not consider awarding him a military rank at the beginning of the military rank assessment?
In 1908, Xiaosiping Town, Dongfeng County, Jilin Province ushered in the birth of the solution.
As a teenager, Xie Fang was offered a place in Fengtian No. 3 High School that his family had secured for him.
Xie Fang's biggest dream as a teenager was to study medicine, become an accomplished doctor, and return to his hometown to help those in need.
In order to achieve this ideal, he used his spare time to frequent the school library and concentrate on studying medicine-related books.
However, in 1927, the trajectory of his life suddenly changed.
At that time, the entire three eastern provinces were under the control of the Feng warlord Zhang Zuolin, and Zhang Xueliang, as Zhang Zuolin's successor, urgently needed to recruit talents.
Zhang Xueliang planned to send his younger brother Zhang Xueming to Japan to study military affairs, and looked for a student with excellent character and learning as a companion. I heard that Fengtian No. 3 Middle School had excellent results and was keen on medicine, which aroused Zhang Xueliang's interest.
After Zhang Xueliang found the solution, he quickly expressed his wishes, and quoted the story of Ban Gu's pen from Rong to persuade the solution to study medicine can only save a limited number of people, and studying military affairs can save more countries from danger.
Deeply moved by this persuasion, Xie Fang had the idea of studying military affairs.
Soon after, under Zhang Xueliang's arrangement, Xie Fang and Zhang Xueming went to the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School.
After enrollment, Xie Fang was assigned to the 6th Wing of the 3rd Division.
After a year of hard study, he transformed from a student with poor grades to an excellent student with comprehensive results in the whole grade. After the results were announced, he received a saber from Emperor Hirohito himself.
In the summer of 1930, Xie Fang successfully graduated. Because of his outstanding talent, the Japanese side lobbied vigorously to hope that he would be able to stay in the Japanese army.
However, for the solution side, deep down in his heart he was full of hatred for the Japanese, so he decisively rejected the invitation of the Japanese side.
After returning to the motherland, Xie Fang was sent to the Tianjin Police Station to assist Zhang Xueming, the new mayor of Tianjin and chief of police, in handling various affairs.
During this period, the Japanese Kwantung Army launched the "918" incident. As the commander of the Northeast Frontier Army, Zhang Xueliang pursued a "non-resistance policy" and easily ceded the Northeast region to the Japanese.
Faced with the occupation of his hometown by Japan, the solution was eager to save the situation and repeatedly asked Zhang Xueliang to lead the Northeast Army to recover the lost territory. However, his letter requests were ignored, much to the disappointment of the Solution.
For Chiang Kai-shek's indifference in Nanjing, not only did not resist the invasion of foreign enemies, but constantly transferred the Northeast Army in the hands of Zhang Xueliang to confront the Red Army.
In April 1936, Xie Fang officially joined the Communist Party. Under his unremitting persuasion, Zhang Xueliang finally decided to cooperate with the Red Army to launch the Xi'an Incident and impose military advice on Chiang Kai-shek.
However, due to the large number of Kuomintang Central Army stationed in Lanzhou, in order to prevent unnecessary conflicts, the solution took the initiative to ask for help and went to Lanzhou alone.
On December 12, 1936, in the name of condolences to the soldiers, the solution party set up a banquet in his apartment, and in the process of entertaining the generals of the Central Army, he ordered the soldiers who were ambushed outside the door to raid and successfully controlled everyone present.
Therefore, after the Xi'an Incident, because the central army in Lanzhou City failed to get the order of the superior commander and did not go out of the city to support, it finally led to the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
The actions of the solution were highly praised by Chairman Mao.
At the beginning of 1941, Xie Fang broke away from the Northeast Army and came to Yan'an, where he was personally received by Chairman Mao and appointed chief of staff of the 358th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
Although he has no experience in commanding battles on his own, he is quick witty and always able to make practical suggestions at critical moments. Therefore, from the very beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, he was placed in the post of chief of staff, providing military strategy to the chief of the army.
During the War of Liberation, Xie Fang successively served as deputy chief of staff of the Northeast People's Autonomous Army, chief of staff of the 12th Corps of Siye, and deputy commander of the 40th Army. He went through the Liaoshen Campaign, the Pingjin Campaign, and the Guangxi Campaign, and finally stood on Hainan Island against the Kuomintang's forces.
At that time, the Kuomintang 4th Army, 32nd Army, 62nd Army, 63rd Army, and 64th Army were stationed on Hainan Island, with a total of about 100,000 people. Our army's 40th Army, 43rd Army and Qiongya Column also have nearly 100,000 troops. With equal forces on both sides, reducing our casualties will increase your chances of victory.
Before the war, the solution took great pains to gather intelligence. He bought a large number of books about the customs of Hainan and read them carefully to understand the living habits of the locals. In addition, he arranges for people to obtain local tide tables to determine the best time to land on the island.
At 19 o'clock in the evening of March 5, 1950, the solution commanded the strength of a reinforced battalion of the 352nd Regiment of the 118th Division of the 40th Army, taking 13 boats, and quietly sailed to Hainan Island under the cover of night.
At about 2 p.m. the next day, the first troops arrived at the landing point as planned. The solution issued an order through a communication machine at the command post: "Start landing on the island!" ”
Braving enemy fire, more than 800 warriors rushed to the enemy positions on the shore, successfully routed the defenders of two companies, and successfully joined up with the supporting Qiongya column.
After the first batch of troops successfully landed on the island, on the evening of March 26, 1950, the Xie side again commanded 2,900 people of a reinforced regiment of the 118th Division, successfully repelled 10 battalions of the Kuomintang, and achieved another successful landing on the island.
After landing on the island, these two groups of vanguard troops quickly hid in the deep mountains and circled with the enemy in all directions, attracting the enemy's attention.
With their concerted efforts, on April 16, the main forces of the 40th Army and the 43rd Army launched an offensive and successfully annihilated more than 30,000 Kuomintang troops.
This victory made Xie Fang famous in the army, and Chairman Mao praised him even more after seeing the good news from the front: "This person is really Zhuge Liang in our army." ”
After liberating Hainan Island, Xie Fang and many other generals thought that there would be no large-scale battles in the next ten years.
However, they did not expect the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. Faced with the strong strength of the United States in sending troops to North Korea, Chairman Mao decisively decided to reorganize the Northeast Frontier Army into the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to defend the country and resist the United States' assistance to North Korea.
After the establishment of the Volunteer Army, Peng Dehuai served as the commander and political commissar, Deng Hua served as the deputy commander and deputy political commissar, and Xie Fang served as the chief of staff.
Although Han Xianchu and Hong Xuezhi were also appointed deputy commanders of the Volunteer Army, because they were in charge of the positions of commander of the 19th Corps and deputy commander of the 13th Corps of the Volunteer Army, they basically did not work in the headquarters of the Volunteer Army due to the needs of operational command. Therefore, in fact, the solution is the "number three" of the Volunteer Army.
On the evening of October 19, 1950, Peng Dehuai led the first batch of volunteers into the Korean battlefield.
At the operational meeting that had just entered North Korea, Peng Dehuai could not wait to ask the party to express his views.
"Could you please tell us about the battle plan that you have formulated?"
In response to Mr. Peng's roll call, Xie Fang stood up without hesitation and walked straight to the strategic map.
Pointing to the map, Xie Fang said calmly: "At present, the enemy is taking a tentative attack, and we should retreat while fighting, so as to create the illusion that our army's combat effectiveness is weakening. ”
"In the process of retreating, some weapons and equipment can be moderately discarded, creating the illusion of a rout. Wait for the enemy to enter the encirclement, and annihilate them in one fell swoop. ”
Xie Fang put forward a detailed plan, and Peng Dehuai and the others listened attentively, until he returned to his seat, and all the first-class generals of the Volunteer Army applauded.
At that time, the commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces, MacArthur, issued a strong message: "End the fighting before Christmas and let the soldiers go home for the holidays." ”
The solution was keenly aware of MacArthur's self-confidence and his eagerness to win the battle. Based on this psychology towards the enemy, the solution formulated a combat plan of "luring the enemy deep and breaking through each one."
In the second battle, the Volunteers annihilated 36,000 enemies and helped Korea recapture Pyongyang, Wonsan and other large areas of lost territory.
In the following series of battles, Xie Fang, with his calm and calm character, assisted Peng Dehuai in formulating strategic plans many times, and finally defeated the arrogance of the US army.
In June 1951, the US Government made diplomatic contact with the mainland and expressed its willingness to hold peace talks. The solution side attended the negotiations in its capacity as a representative of the Volunteer Army.
However, at the very beginning, the representative of the US military put forward impudent conditions: "Despite the stalemate in the war, our air force and navy have absolute superiority, and the precondition for the armistice is that the DPRK must cede land as compensation." ”
In the face of the other party's arrogant attitude, Xie Fang angrily reprimanded: "The army alone has forced your navy, land and air forces back to the '38th parallel', and if we used the navy and air force, you would have been driven into the sea long ago." ”
Eventually, the negotiations failed due to the inability to compromise. However, with its unyielding spirit, the solution has earned the dignity of the country in diplomatic arenas.
In the second phase of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the PLA commanded the Chinese People's Volunteers to launch a series of campaigns, including the "Summer and Autumn Defensive Campaign," the "Spring and Summer Consolidation Operations," the "Autumn Tactical Counterattack Operations," and the "Spring Anti-Landing Operations," which completely suppressed the arrogant US troops.
On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was finally signed, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which lasted nearly three years, officially ended.
After returning to China, Xie Fang won the praise of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou for his outstanding performance.
After Zhou Enlai learned of his steadfastness in the negotiations, he praised: "Xie Fang is an excellent diplomat, both military and diplomatic, and such a bloody soldier is not inferior in diplomacy." ”
However, despite its outstanding performance in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it was almost forgotten in the 1955 military rank evaluation. The reason for this is that at the beginning of the assessment, some comrades believed that the solution had served in the warlord army and had a complicated status, so the rank should not be awarded.
This view is undeniable. As a young man, Xie served in the Northeast Army, which was a warlord.
After learning this statement, Peng Dehuai was furious and slapped the table: "I am also an old soldier, if this is the case, what rank will I evaluate?" ”
Seeing this, Luo Ronghuan avoided the embarrassment of the two leaders, and after the central government's instructions, he decided to award Xie Fang the rank of major general.
Although Xie Fang only received the rank of major general, which seemed a little unfair compared with other leaders of the Volunteer Army, Peng Dehuai was still a little dissatisfied in his heart.
Hong Xuezhi was awarded the rank of general, Han Xianchu was also a general, and Xie Fang, as the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, only received the rank of major general, which is indeed incomprehensible.
Despite the complaints in his heart, Peng Dehuai finally chose to compromise, just complaining: "Since Xie Fang is a major general, then I will also be awarded a lieutenant general, at most a general." ”