In 1986, Hong Xuezhi was invited to lead a delegation to visit the United States, and it was the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Lyons, who received them.
In the course of his visit, General Hong Xuezhi showed the US military his extraordinary speech and unique views on modern military affairs.
Seeing this, out of the superiority of the so-called "graduates of prestigious schools", Lyons immediately asked arrogantly:
"Dare to ask which military academy General Hong graduated from?"
But in fact, Hong Xuezhi was born in poverty and was forced to go out to work after finishing primary school when he was a child. It was also after the founding of New China that he had the opportunity to study at the Higher Military Academy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Lyons asked such a sharp question, in fact, to dig a hole for Hong Xuezhi, wanting to make him embarrassed in public.
Hong Xuezhi paused, and then said calmly:
"Graduated from your Air Force Academy."
When Lyons heard this, he could only smile awkwardly, and had nothing to say.
However, Hong Xuezhi has no experience of studying in the United States, so why would he say such a thing?
It all started with the war 36 years ago.
Temporarily transferred to North Korea, and it looks like it has been a success
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the United States stepped up its efforts to send troops to the Korean Peninsula, an action that had been planned for a long time.
Immediately afterward, the US Air Force went so far as to launch wanton and indiscriminate bombing of the northeastern border areas of the mainland. At the same time, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet was stationed near the Taiwan Strait.
The strategic position of the northeast region in the whole country is self-evident, and the blatant provocation by the US military is obviously an infringement of the mainland's territorial sovereignty.
In the face of the blatant provocation of the US military, the central authorities made emergency arrangements and held a mobilization meeting on 2 July, at which they gave instructions to dispatch elite troops and strong generals to the northeast to form the Northeast Frontier Army.
After careful consideration, it was finally decided that Deng Hua would replace Huang Yongsheng as the commander of the 13th Corps.
After Deng Hua received the order, he immediately went to his residence, and the purpose of his trip was only one, to dignitaries. And the person he wants is Hong Xuezhi, who is known as the "lucky general".
However, after the founding of New China, General Hong Xuezhi stayed in Guangdong to assist Ye Jianying, not to mention wearing many hats, and also shouldered important positions in the Guangzhou Military Region.
Therefore, if he goes straight to Ye Shuai to ask for someone, I am afraid that it will be inappropriate, and he may not necessarily agree, and in the end he can only "deceive and deceive" the person.
But in fact, there is a reason why Deng Hua designated Hong Xuezhi.
General Hong participated in the revolution in his early years, followed the troops to march and fight, and made many military exploits.
Especially in the course of the Long March, he served as the director of the Political Department of the Red Fourth Front Army, but he was a good hand in logistics.
In particular, when the Ninth Army was no longer responsible for the Red Fourth Army's food raising and security work, Hong Xuezhi decisively put forward the "self-sufficient" logistics strategy of the Red Fourth Front Army.
In July 1935, the troops passed through the Heishui and Luhua areas, and it was even more difficult to supply logistics.
It turned out that most of the people living in the area were ethnic minority compatriots. Because the Kuomintang mixed in the middle to "fan the flames," our army made it difficult for us to do mass work.
And the Central Red Army will soon arrive here, and if it can't raise food and grass at that time, I'm afraid it will be a big deal for our army.
After some inquiry, they learned that there were several reactionary forces rampant in the nearby cottages, and Hong Xuezhi made a decisive decision:
"Kamiyama!"
They studied the terrain in advance and attacked secretly on a dark and windy night, and the sleeping reactionaries could not withstand such a sneak attack.
By the time they reacted, they had already been captured by our troops. It was also through this that our army harvested tens of thousands of catties of grain.
After Hong Xuezhi ordered people to count this batch of grain and grass, he immediately ordered three groups of men and horses to go to meet the Central Red Army, which was able to solve the urgent need.
Afterwards, Liu Shaoqi praised:
"Political Commissar Hong, the food you sent has solved a big problem."
Hong Xuezhi waved his hand and said with a smile:
"I didn't send it, it's all the result of the joint efforts of the comrades."
On another occasion, Hong Xuezhi led his troops through Zhanhua County, Xikang Province, where ethnic minorities lived, but once again encountered the problem of a shortage of grain and grass.
Although a man of great prestige in the local area named Baton Dorjee was a patriot, he was unwilling to help our army.
After all, public opinion at that time was still in the hands of the Kuomintang, and they would be more or less influenced by gossip.
In order to win the trust of Barton Dorjee, Hong Xuezhi communicated with them many times and actively propagated the policies and ideas of the Red Army.
When Barton Dorjee wavered, he decisively offered an invitation and prepared a sumptuous banquet for the other party.
However, after the actual banquet, Barton Dorjee suspected that the Red Army would poison the wine, so he refused to put chopsticks down.
Hong Xuezhi decisively took the wine glass and drank it all, and then buckled the empty glass on the table.
Seeing this, both sides laughed heartily, and Barton Dorjee spoke:
"Political Commissar Hong, I have been observing you all these days, and I have found that our Red Army ranks indeed regard the people as friends. I blamed you for being wrong before, and if you have any needs in the future, you can just mention them. ”
Then, he raised his glass and drank it down. This time, our army's food raising work was also brilliantly accomplished.
So when Hong Xuezhi was transferred to the Korean battlefield as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, he also worked the logistics to create an indestructible steel supply line for the Volunteer Army.
Zhi general Hong Xuezhi is at the helm, and the steel transportation line is built
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in order to facilitate his command, Mr. Peng directly took the headquarters of the 13th Corps as the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, and Deng Hua, Hong Xuezhi and others served as deputy commanders.
Hong Xuezhi is known as the "railway general", which is actually a praise and affirmation of his logistics work.
In the process of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, Hong Xuezhi was directly in charge of the headquarters, special forces and logistics work.
In fact, at the beginning, Hong Xuezhi didn't want to manage logistics, but in contrast, he still preferred to gallop on the field.
But in fact, the logistics are not easy. It requires people who work finely and are good at coordination.
Mr. Peng once said bluntly to Hong Xuezhi:
"Then you command the operation, and I will command the logistics."
Hong Xuezhi took on this aspect of logistics. In fact, there is a certain reason why Mr. Peng asked Hong Xuezhi to do logistics work.
As early as the Long March, Hong Xuezhi was responsible for the rear containment and raising grain and grass of the Red Fourth Front Army, and he did it very well.
Moreover, unlike fighting at home, the Volunteers did not have the "carts" on the Huaihai battlefield, nor did they have the air superiority of the US military.
In addition, North Korea's underdeveloped railway communication lines, usually the US military blows up one point, and many lines may be blocked.
Therefore, logistics were particularly important in the Korean War.
After Hong Xuezhi took over the logistics work, he adjusted and improved the ammunition supply strategy and laid a steel transportation line that could not be destroyed or destroyed.
Relying on the superiority of the air force and long-range navy, the US military launched a "strangulation war" against the volunteers.
That is, with the coordination and cooperation of bombers and others, they will destroy the large rear lines of communication of our army, and then block, blockade, and strangle our army.
Even by the time of the fourth campaign, the number of US aircraft had increased to 1,700.
These fighters patrolled, strafed, and bombed the sky like flies, causing major obstacles to the logistics and transportation of the Chinese People's Volunteers.
In this regard, Hong Xuezhi took the initiative to set up the rear service command of the Volunteer Army, informed Premier Zhou of this idea, and then submitted it to the Military Commission.
In June 1951, under the instruction of the Central Military Commission, Hong Xuezhi concurrently served as the commander of the rear service command of the Volunteer Army, and Zhou Chunru served as the political commissar.
In the early days of the Korean War, the logistics of the Volunteer Army took the form of "follow-up support with the army".
However, it was suitable for the operations of the large corps of the Liberation War, but it was difficult to adapt to the movement warfare with the US military planes in the ice and snow.
In this regard, Hong Xuezhi created a guarantee scheme that combines regional supply and institutional supply.
The specific implementation is to divide the theater into two aspects: the rear of the campaign and the tactical rear.
The rear of the campaign is located in the area from the Yalu River to the front-line army logistics, and is responsible for the overall operational policy, wartime supply, and transportation command.
The rear of each campaign is like a supply area, and the troops in that theater are co-ordinated and supplied.
The tactical rear is located in the area of the army's logistics and forward positions, with the army as the main body of logistics and the implementation of organized supply.
This practice has greatly strengthened the overall coordination, coordination, and supply among the various theaters, reduced the previous problems of supply confusion, overlapping logistics, and unclear supply levels, and improved the mobility capability of the troops.
In the summer of 1951, a rare flood occurred in the Korean region, destroying a large number of bridges and highways along the way, seriously hindering the supply of our army.
Even the food supply of the front-line troops is already in crisis.
Hong Xuezhi seized the main nodes to carry out emergency repair work on the "triangle" railway.
The railway troops and engineering units were strictly ordered to carry out 24-hour emergency repairs in the form of day and night shifts.
It is worth mentioning that at this time, our army's air defense strength was constantly increasing, and it cooperated with the air force to coordinate operations and defeat the US army one after another.
After the railway was dredged, Hong Xuezhi also studied the "one-sided continuation method of trains" and popularized the "air defense posts" to greatly improve our army's reserve supply capacity.
Even the U.S. Air Force couldn't help but admire:
"The speed at which the Chinese army rushed to repair and fill the crater can be compared to the bombing speed of the F86 pilots."
The wise general Hong Xuezhi protected the commander and saved Mr. Peng from danger twice
In addition to making outstanding contributions to logistics work, Hong Xuezhi was also responsible for the security of the headquarters, and even saved Peng Dehuai twice.
At that time, US warplanes were rampant in the sky, and when they found a suspicious place, they would throw incendiary bombs, and the area was instantly reduced to a sea of fire.
Chairman Mao even instructed many times to pay attention to air defense and ensure the safety of President Peng.
In this regard, Hong Xuezhi decided to build an air-raid shelter about 100 meters away from the headquarters.
On this day, General Peng was studying tactics at the headquarters when he suddenly heard the sound of artillery outside, and immediately rushed out to check the situation and found that it was the sappers who were building an air-raid shelter.
"Who told you to build a cave here?"
Then, Mr. Peng angrily drove the soldiers away. After listening to the soldier's report to him, Hong Xuezhi said:
"It's okay, you can continue to do it tomorrow."
As a result, the next day, Hong Xuezhi immediately found Peng Dehuai and explained the situation to him. Peng Dehuai said with a straight face:
"You Hong Xuezhi, what are you doing?"
Hong Xuezhi Answer:
"I'm responsible for your safety, building a bomb shelter."
When Peng Dehuai heard that he was cultivating for himself, he immediately became unhappy, blurted out and walked back:
"My air defense, don't worry about it."
In desperation, Hong Xuezhi had to move out the secret weapon:
"Mr. Peng, this is an order given to me by the central government, I have to carry it out, and I can't violate discipline, right?"
As a result, one day, a US fighter plane suddenly appeared in the vicinity, and the soldiers stationed at the outpost immediately reported it after discovering it.
At that time, enemy planes had a habit of hovering where they were the day before, indicating that they might be targeted by them, and they were likely to attack this place the next day.
Hong Xuezhi grasped this point and immediately discussed with Mr. Peng to prepare to hold an "air defense seminar", but Mr. Peng refused.
There was no way, out of safety considerations, Hong Xuezhi ordered the soldiers to move Mr. Peng's tactical map to the air-raid shelter, and then he himself came forward and persuaded Peng Dehuai into the cave.
Sure enough, the enemy plane turned back the next day, and the headquarters that had been emptied was instantly turned into a sea of fire.
Afterwards, Peng Dehuai said with emotion:
"Hong Haozi, if it weren't for you, I would have died here."
Later, Hong Xuezhi ordered people to renovate the air-raid shelter and add a triangular concealment wall made of sandbags to resist the machine-gun fire of enemy planes.
once again saved Mr. Peng's life.
It can be seen that Hong Xuezhi has made remarkable achievements in logistics work.
Although at the beginning of the dynasty, he joked with Mr. Peng:
"Mr. Peng, don't let me do logistics in the future."
However, after returning to China, he was appointed head of the General Logistics Department and became a pioneer in our army's modern logistics work.
epilogue
So back to the beginning of the article, when Lyons asked about Hong Xuezhi's graduation school, General Hong could still calmly give an "answer".
"I studied at the U.S. Air Force Academy, but you didn't give me a diploma."
This answer is the result of his command of the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and it is the proof of the honor he won by withstanding the test of the revolution.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hong Xuezhi was awarded the rank of general twice and became the only "six-star general" in the history of our army.
Even later, when an old comrade-in-arms jokingly asked Hong Xuezhi:
"General Hong, what do you think about the fact that you are still a general after thirty years?"
Hong Xuezhi replied humorously:
"Do you know, thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hedong, thirty years later, Hedong, that's what you say."
-END-
[Text: Here]
[Editor|Chang Gung]