In the autumn of 1945, the northeast region was covered with war clouds, and war was on the verge of breaking out.
At that time, our army dispatched a number of troops and cadres from various liberated areas in Guannei, totaling more than 120,000 people, to advance into the northeast. Years later, this force gradually evolved into a 1 million army of the Northeast Field Army.
In the army advancing into the northeast, Zeng Kelin can be called the "first man".
Zeng Kelin is a native of Xingguo County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, born in 1913. He joined the Red Army at the age of 16 and participated in the first to fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" wars and the Long March. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was sent to the anti-Japanese front in North China, where he successively served as chief of the operations section of the Pingxi Headquarters, chief of staff of the Jidong Military Subdistrict, and commander of the 16th Military Subdistrict of the Jireliao Military Region.
On August 30, 1945, he led about 4,000 people from two regiments of the 16th Military Region of the Jireliao Military Region, with the help of a reconnaissance unit of the Soviet Red Army, to conquer Shanhaiguan, which was garrisoned by the Japanese puppet army, and won the first victory of our army's advance into the northeast region, and recovered Shanhaiguan, which had been occupied by the Japanese puppet army for 12 years (from 1933 to 1945).
Subsequently, Zeng Kelin led his troops to take a mixed military vehicle composed of 40 carriages of passengers, goods, and convertibles at the Shanhaiguan Railway Station, and quickly marched in the direction of Jinzhou and Shenyang, and launched an operation to recover the northeast region. Soon, Zeng Kelin took over Jinzhou and moved into Shenyang, the largest heavy industrial city in northeast China at the time. Wherever Zeng Kelin went, he was warmly welcomed by all walks of life in Shenyang.
When Zeng Kelin first entered Shenyang, he only brought 4 companies of troops. But in less than 10 days, the force quickly expanded to more than 10,000 people. Zeng Kelin naturally became the commander of the Shenyang Garrison Command, and at most there were 9 brigades and 7 independent regiments under his command, totaling more than 80,000 people.
Zeng Kelin took the lead in advancing into the northeast region, opened up the situation, gained a firm foothold, occupied a large area of base area, and made great contributions. Not only that, Zeng Kelin also took a Soviet military plane to Yan'an to report on the situation in the northeast region, prompting the Yan'an side to strengthen its determination to march into the northeast region and make a major strategic plan of "developing to the north and defending to the south."
In 2004, directed by An Lan and starring Lian Yiming, Liu Changchun, Liu Xu and others, a war movie "Zeng Kelin Out of the Customs" showed Zeng Kelin's glorious experience.
Since then, however, Zeng kling's position has continued to decline.
In January 1946, the Northeast People's Autonomous Army was renamed the Northeast Democratic United Army. The Northeast Democratic United Army administered several military sub-districts, and Zeng Kelin served as the deputy commander of the Liaodong Military Region. The commander of the Shenyang Garrison Headquarters, which commanded more than 80,000 troops, was changed to deputy commander of the Liaodong Military Region, which was the first time that Zeng Kelin was demoted.
Soon, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army merged the 16th Military Subdistrict of the Jireliao Military Region, the 3rd Division of the Shandong Military Region, and the 3rd Garrison Brigade to form the 3rd Column, which was subordinate to the Liaodong Military Region. This was one of the first two columns established by the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army (the other was the 4th Column), and the first commander was Cheng Shicai. In October 1946, Cheng Shicai was transferred to the commander of the South Manchuria Military Region, and Zeng Kelin succeeded him as the commander of the 3rd Column.
From deputy commander of the Liaodong Military Region to commander of the 3rd Column, it was Zeng Kelin's second demotion.
In March 1948, Zeng Kelin was ordered to be transferred to the commander of the Liaonan Military Region. The Liaonan Military Region is subordinate to the Southern Manchuria Military Region. After the former commander of the 3rd Column, Cheng Shicai, was transferred out, he served as the commander of the South Manchuria Military Region; after the later commander of the 3rd Column, Zeng Kelin, was transferred, he served as the commander of the subordinate military regions of the South Manchuria Military Region, which was obviously a demotion.
Just 5 months later, Zeng Kelin faced another job change. At that time, the Northeast Field Army planned to form the 7th Column and the 9th Column into a corps, with Deng Hua, the former commander of the 7th Column, as the new commander of the corps, so it was necessary to have another person succeed to the commander of the 7th Column. The Northeast Field Army planned to be succeeded by Zeng Kelin as the commander of the 7th Column, but since the new corps had not yet been established, It temporarily made Zeng Kelin the deputy commander of the 7th Column.
However, after Zeng Kelin served as the deputy commander of the 7th Column, due to various reasons, the new corps was not established, and Zeng Kelin has always been his deputy commander of the 7th Column.
In this way, in more than a year, Zeng Kelin was inexplicably demoted from the commander of the 3rd Column to the deputy commander of the 7th Column.
And that's not all. In February 1949, after the Battle of Pingjin, the Northeast Field Army expanded the tank regiment into the 1st Tank Division, the first tank division in the history of our army. Zeng Kling was ordered to be the commander of the 1st Tank Division. The deputy commander of the 7th Column (deputy commander of the 44th Army) became the commander of the division, which should be considered a demotion, right?
In the winter of 1949, the first mixed aviation brigade of New China was established, with 3 flying regiments under its jurisdiction, and the brigade headquarters was located in Nanjing. Zeng klin served as the military representative of the Air Force (in one term, brigade commander). Whether it was a military representative or a brigade commander, for Zeng Kelin, it was another demotion.
As he became a smaller official over a long period of time, Zeng Kelin was only awarded the rank of major general in 1955. The generals of the same rank who marched with him into the northeast region and fought side by side were either generals or generals, and the worst was also a lieutenant general.