The Red 30th Army was a famous unit of our army during the agrarian revolution. This team originated in Dabie Mountain, was born and flourished in Daba Mountain, and eventually fell in the Hexi Corridor. However, this unit had many commanders and fighters, and they were not discouraged by this, but persisted in the struggle until the founding of New China. In the end, this group produced many founding heroes, such as: Li Xiannian, Wang Jian'an, Chen Xilian, Cheng Shicai, Li Tianhuan, Zheng Weishan, Rao Zijian...
Cheng Shicai
As for this article, I would like to introduce the last commander of the Red 30 Army. He was Cheng Shicai, a veteran of the Red Army in Hubei Province, a founding lieutenant general, the former first deputy commander of the Public Security Army, the deputy commander of the Shenyang Military Region, the commander of the Shenyang Garrison District, and the deputy commander of the armored corps of the Central Military Commission. Puzzlingly, some of his old subordinates were awarded the rank of general or lieutenant general. But why was he only awarded the rank of lieutenant general as a major commander of the Red Army?
Cheng Shicai, a native of Dawu, Hubei, was born in 1912. In addition to him, the county also produced dozens of other founding generals, among which the more famous ones are: Xu Haidong, Zhou Zhijian, Nie Fengzhi, Liu Huaqing, Deng Shaodong, Han Dongshan, Ye Jianmin, Zhao Wenjin... In addition, the martyr Chen Haisong, who once served as the political commissar of the Red 9 Army, was also a fellow villager and comrade-in-arms of Cheng Shicai. According to the investigation, Cheng Shicai's former residence is located in Cheng Jiawa, Xinghua Village, Present-day Xuanwu Xuanhuadian Town, Hubei Province.
Because he was born poor, Cheng Shicai has always lived a poor and destitute life. In 1927, Xu Qixuan, Liao Rongkun and others led the troops to participate in the famous jute riot. The spark of stars, burning fiercely, soon spread to the entire Eyu Border Region. In this context, Cheng Shicai resolutely joined the Red Army in 1930. This year, he was only 18 years old. In 1931, he joined the Party with honor. Because of his bravery, he was soon promoted to a company instructor in the 11th Division of the Red Fourth Front.
In the same year, he met Li Xiannian. Li Xiannian is a native of Huang'an, Hubei Province, and he is a county party secretary of our party in eastern Hubei. In October, Li Xiannian led more than 300 people to join the Red Army. Immediately, he was appointed political commissar of the 33rd Regiment of the Red 11th Division. Since then, the two have become the closest comrades-in-arms. In the fierce war, they all fought bravely and were loyal to the party, so they were all promoted quickly. In 1933, Li Xiannian had been promoted to political commissar of the Red 30 Army, and Cheng Shicai was promoted to political commissar of the Red 90 Division.
After being promoted to the position of political commissar of the division, Cheng Shicai led his troops to participate in the famous three major battles of Sichuan Yi (Long) South (Department), Ying (Shan) Canal (County), and Xuan (Han) Da (County). In these three major battles, the Red Fourth Front army annihilated nearly 20,000 enemy troops, and also captured tens of thousands of long and short guns and a large number of military supplies. The 90th Division of the Red 30th Army, commanded by Cheng Shicai, fought in Cangxi, attacked Qu County, detoured Yingshan, and killed Xuanhan and Daxian, annihilating thousands of enemy troops with fierce offensives.
In October 1933, Cheng Shicai led his troops to participate in the famous anti-"Six-Way Siege" campaign in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Region. In this battle, he and Li Xiannian commanded the vanguard of the Red 30th Army to quickly penetrate the Yellow Cat Pass in Cangxi, Sichuan. This unit fought to the death, desperately blocking the enemy troops of more than a dozen regiments. Then, he led his troops to unite the brotherly forces, and after a day and a night of fierce fighting, he annihilated more than 10,000 enemy troops. It was a battle, and his contribution was indispensable, and his name shook the entire Sichuan region.
Shawke
In 1935, Cheng Shicai led his troops to participate in the famous Sichuan-Shaanxi Red Army Long March. At this time, he had been promoted to acting commander of the Red 30 Army because of his outstanding military achievements. During the Long March, the Central Red Army and the Sichuan-Shaanxi Red Army met on the western Sichuan Plateau. He then led his troops to participate in the famous Battle of Baoza. In this battle, the Red 30Th Army, as the core main force, once again performed prominently. According to statistics, our army annihilated nearly 5,000 enemy troops in this battle, and also captured the enemy division commander Wu Chengren.
In October 1936, the Red Fourth Front and the Red Front met again. In the same year, the Red 30th Army was incorporated into the famous Western Route Army and was ordered to cross the Yellow River in the west. Unfortunately, more than 20,000 people in the Western Route Army were besieged and chased by several times the enemy's heavy troops. Although this unit had many bright spots and annihilated tens of thousands of enemy troops, it was eventually defeated by the Majia Army in Qinghai in the Hexi Corridor. Although Cheng Shicai fought desperately to kill the enemy, he was unable to return to heaven, and he eventually led the remnants to Xinjiang.
Li Xiannian
According to statistics, less than 450 commanders and fighters broke through into Xinjiang. Under the intervention of our party, they stayed in Xinjiang to study military affairs. Soon, Cheng Shicai left Xinjiang and then came to Yan'an. He successively entered the Kang Da and the Central Party School, and finally returned to the battlefield after many reviews. In 1939, our army established the Eighth Route Army Jireliao Advancing Army to unify the anti-Japanese armed struggle in the pingxi, northern, and eastern Hebei regions, and Cheng Shicai became the chief of staff of this unit.
There were nearly 10,000 people in this unit, with Xiao Ke as commander and Cheng Shicai as chief of staff. However, Xiao Ke did not particularly trust Cheng Shicai. The Marching Army set up a military and political committee, whose members were Xiao Ke, Ma Huizhi, Deng Hua, Wu Jinnan, and Song Shilun, but Chief of Staff Cheng Shicai was not included in the list. Although he is brave and good at war, he has always lacked the opportunity to stand alone. Later, Xu Decao took his place, and he changed to a detachment commander in the lower part of the advancing army.
The Western Route Army in film and television
In March 1940, the Japanese puppet army gathered nearly 10,000 people to focus on sweeping the Pingxi base area. At this time, Xiao Ke temporarily left the advancing army. Cheng Shicai was ordered to lead three regiments to fight fiercely for 14 consecutive days, successively engaged in more than 30 large and small battles, annihilated more than 1,000 enemy people, and finally completely smashed the Japanese puppet army's sweep plan. Unfortunately, he was not taken seriously by Xiao Ke at the headquarters of the Advancing Army, and after he was sent to the front line, due to some objective factors, he still failed to show his strengths.
In 1942, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army abolished the establishment of the Advancing Army. Subsequently, Cheng Shicai returned to Yan'an to study. After the end of the War of Resistance, he came to work in the northeast region. In the northeast, he served as the commander of the South Manchuria Military Region and also served as the commander of the 3rd Column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army. According to investigations, he once commanded 110,000 commanders and fighters. At that time, there were fewer than 280,000 commanders and fighters in the entire northeast. It can be seen that his status is very high and he is particularly valued.
Eighth route army
However, he was accustomed to guerrilla warfare, and his thinking was still stuck in the guerrilla era, and he did not adapt to the new characteristics and new requirements of large corps combat. As a result, he did not perform well in southern Manchuria for a time. Soon after, he became the commander of the Andong Military District. The South Manchuria Military Region (Liaodong Military Region) is a second-level military region, equivalent to a corps. The Anton Military District is only a third-level military district, equivalent to a column. Therefore, his position and status have greatly declined, not the level of the Internet.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he came to Nanjing Military Academy to study. Our army has set up a public security force, with Luo Ruiqing as commander and political commissar, who was personally circled by the chairman and changed to deputy commander of the public security force, and actually presided over the daily work of the ministry of public security. In 1952, our army carried out cadre grading, and he was designated as a deputy corps-level cadre. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. At the same time, he was awarded the Order of August 1st Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the First Class, and the Liberation Medal of the First Class.
Group photo of principal cadres of the South Manchuria Military Region
He was a military-level cadre during the Red Army, a brigade-level cadre during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a corps-level cadre during the War of Liberation, and later demoted to a military-level cadre. Realistically speaking, the rank of lieutenant general is very much in line with his seniority, prestige, and military achievements... In fact, he could have become a general, and even qualified to fight for the rank of general. However, he was not valued by Xiao Ke during the War of Resistance, and he performed poorly in the northeast, so it affected his progress.
After the award, he successively served as deputy commander of the Shenyang Military Region, commander of the Shenyang Garrison District, and deputy commander of the armored corps of the Central Military Commission. In 1988, he was awarded the Medal of Merit of the Red Star, First Class. In addition, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a deputy to the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a member of the Central Advisory Committee... He died in Beijing in 1990 at the age of 78. Before his death, he wrote "Beacon Age" and "Journey of Ten Thousand Miles", which is worth reading.