The award of the title in 1955 was the first time since the founding of New China, and it was not only an affirmation of many generals who had fought bloody battles for many years since the founding of our army, but also a conspicuous sign of our army's march toward regularization.
Among the ten marshals, ten generals, fifty-seven generals, one hundred and seventy-seven lieutenant generals and thirteen hundred and sixty major generals, there was no shortage of respected elders, but more young heroes Haojie.
In that era when he did great things at a young age and became a great task at a young age, the generals at all levels of our army were even more obvious.
Lin Biao, born in 1907, became a marshal at the age of 48; Xu Guangda, born in 1908, became a major general at the age of 47; Xiao Hua (tong Xiaohua), born in 1916, became a general at the age of 39; Zhang Chiming, born in 1917, became a lieutenant general at the age of 38; Wu Zhong, born in 1921, became a major general 34, and they also became the youngest representatives of their level.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" >, 1927, the August 1st Nanchang Uprising, the starting point of the generals' lives</h1>
The August 1st Nanchang Uprising marked the establishment and beginning of our army, and for the generals, whether it was Lin Biao, who had already thrown himself into the revolution, or Wu Zhong, who was a child at that time, it was also the starting point and beginning of life.
In 1927, at the age of twenty, Lin Biao was already a probationary platoon leader of the Ye Ting Independent Regiment of the Fourth Army of the Iron Army, and this fourth student of the Whampoa Military Academy had only graduated less than a year later, and had already participated in the battles of Shangcai and Linying with the Northern Expeditionary Army.
Members
Under the direct leadership of Nie Rongzhen and Zhou Shidi, Lin Biao, a communist who had been a member of the Party at the Whampoa Military Academy for 2 years, participated in the Nanchang Uprising and soon became the commander of the 73rd Battalion and 7th Company of the 73rd Regiment, the main force of the uprising.
Xu Guangda, a nephew of Changsha in Hunan Province, has many similarities with Lin Biao, the son of Jing Chu from The Lin Family Dawan in Huanggang, Hubei Province, and was also from the Huangpu Military Academy, but one stage later than Lin Biao, and studied artillery in the fifth period.
After graduating from the military academy, he was assigned to the Fourth Army of the Iron Army and became a probationary platoon leader.
He also participated in the Nanchang Uprising, but Xu Guangda only caught up with the rebel troops in Ningdu, Jiangxi, and served as a platoon leader and acting company commander.
The division of troops at Sanheba made Lin Biao follow Zhu De and Chen Yi on one road, while Xu Guangda, who was injured in Sanheba, embarked on another road and embarked on another starting point in life.
Xu Guangda
Xiao Hua's revolutionary starting point is not low, his parents were both early Communists, and his family set up a transportation station for the underground party organization of xingguo county.
In 1927, at the age of eleven or twelve, Xiao Hua had already thrown himself into the revolution and became a backbone member of the "Youth Cadre Society", a peripheral organization of the Communist Party of China, and often sent letters and sentries to the party organization.
With such qualifications, coupled with his talent and wisdom, in 1933, the 17-year-old Xiao Hua had formed the "Young Communist International Division" and served as the political commissar of the division, becoming a member of Lin Biao's Red First Army and a well-known young hero in the Central Soviet Region.
Xiao Hua
Zhang Chiming, a native of Xinxian County, Henan Province, was a ten-year-old boy who worked hard in a private school in 1927, but a year later, this good student, who was deeply valued by his teacher, embarked on the revolutionary road.
Similar to Xiao Hua, Zhang Chiming was also born in the old revolutionary area and also from the Shao communist system, and in 1929, at the age of 12, he became the chief of the children's regiment of the Guangshan County Party Committee of the Shaogong, and in 1931, he served as a member of the children's standing committee and secretary general of the Eyuwan Central Branch of the Shaogong.
Before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, this young man, who had been the secretary of the former Red Twenty-Fifth Army, had become the chief of the operations section of the Red Fifteenth Army.
Wu Zhong, who was born in 1921 at the time of the founding of the party, was only six years old in 1927, and the doll did not join the Red Fourth Front until six years later.
At the beginning of his life, the new starting point was at the age of twelve, which was the same as Xiao Hua and Zhang Chiming, except that age made the jet lag have a different meaning.
Zhang Chiming
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" >2, 1937, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the life of the generals</h1>
In 1937, the War of Resistance broke out, the first civil revolutionary war ended, and all the generals also embarked on new combat positions and grew rapidly.
When the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, Lin Biao was changed from the commander of the Red First Army to the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the president of the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.
This well-known university at home and abroad has become the cultivation furnace of many famous generals of the Communist Party of China, and has also become a platform for the life force of many warlords.
In a sense, the Chinese Min anti-Japanese Military and Political University and its predecessor, the Chinese Anti-Japanese Red Army University, have become the "Whampoa Military Academy" of the Communist Party of China.
Many generals met here, and the trajectory of many generals' lives changed.
In 1937, Xu Guangda, who was recuperating in the Soviet Union, left the Soviet Union to return to China, and a series of appointments in Yan'an were related to this school, from the training director of the Chinese Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to the chief of education to the principal of the third branch.
Therefore, although the time was not long, in terms of nominal relations, he had become a subordinate of President Lin Biao at Kang Da, and he also became the leader of Lieutenant General Zhang Chiming and Major General Wu Zhong, a member of Kang University.
Studying at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University gave Lin Biao and others from the Red Front, Xu Guangda and others from the Red Second Front, Zhang Chiming and others from the Red Twenty-fifth Army, and Wu Zhong from the Red Fourth Front army have a certain spiritual connection and bond.
The 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army is another link that unites the generals.
When the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, when Lin Biao was the commander of the 115th Division, Xiao Hua was then the deputy director of the Division's Political Department, and soon after, he was transferred to the Political Commissar of the 343rd Brigade, which was mainly reorganized by the Red First Army, and became one of the main generals under Lin Biao's command.
Zhang Chiming became the chief of the operations section of the 344th Brigade Headquarters of the 115th Division, which was mainly reorganized from the Red 15th Army, and was soon promoted to political commissar of the 688th Regiment.
After graduating from the Kang Da, Wu Zhong was not assigned to the 129th Division of the Red Fourth Front, but was assigned to the Special Service Regiment of the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and soon after he was under the command of the 115th Division, becoming the company commander of the Jinxi Independent Detachment of the 115th Division, teaching the battalion commander of the 3rd Brigade, and slowly growing under the banner of the 115th Division.
The big stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan provided a big platform for the leaders of the Communist Party of China to display their talents, and they played on it to the fullest, and the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and the 115th Division seemed to have become a hotbed for them to take root and sprout, a gas station for them to grow and grow, and their lives have found a starting point here, and their lives have been very different since then.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" >3, 1949, the founding of New China, the starting point of the life of the generals</h1>
At the time of the founding of New China, although there were still some parts of the country that had not yet been recovered, the general situation had been determined, the Communist Party of China had established a new starting point, and many generals also stood on a new starting point in life.
The previous decades of combat life, especially the bloody battles in the War of Resistance and the War of Liberation, allowed them to find their own position.
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese Communist Party's strategy of developing to the north and defending to the south enabled Lin Biao to basically anchor the black land in the northeast and gradually became the supreme commander of the northeast strategic area during the battle.
With the end of the Liaoshen Campaign and the advance of the Northeast Field Army, Lin Biao's troops coordinated with the North China Field Army to complete the Pingjin Campaign until they crossed the Yangtze River and liberated Hainan Island.
The tactical principles of "three three systems," "one point and two sides," and "four fast and one slow" that Lin Biao summed up in the Liberation War have become the victory criteria generally followed by the generals and the Fourth Field Army.
In 1942, at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xu Guangda returned to the command of He Long, the veteran commander of the Second Front Army, and became the commander of the Independent Second Brigade of the 120th Division, and then in the Liberation War, he became the commander of the Third Army and the commander of the Second Corps of the Northwest Field Army under the direct command of Peng Dehuai.
In the days under Peng Dehuai and He Long, Xu Guangda participated in many battles to defend the Party Central Committee and the Northwest Battlefield, and vowed to defend Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee to the death, which was highly affirmed.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Guangda was also transferred to Beijing and served as the commander and political commissar of the armored corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which opened the process of modernization of our army's ironclad corps, and since then, Xu Guangda's name has been closely linked to the history and future of our army's armored troops.
Xiao Hua, on the other hand, is closely linked to the history and future of our military's political work.
After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xiao Hua's life trajectory was basically synchronized with the main force of the 115th Division.
From the political commissar of the 343rd Brigade to the director of the political department of the 115th Division, and then to the director of the Political Department of the Shandong Military Region, which was mainly established with the basic plan developed by the 115th Division, Xiao Huadu held important political work positions.
After marching into the northeast, Xiao Hua became Lin Biao's subordinate, and finally became the political commissar of the Thirteenth Corps of the Fourth Field Army.
Following the line of political work, Xiao Hua rose all the way up, from the political commissar of the company, the political commissar of the regiment, the political commissar of the brigade, and the political commissar of the corps to the political commissar of the Air Force, then to the deputy director of the General Political Department, and finally to the director of the General Political Department, a member of the Central Military Commission, and a deputy secretary general, becoming a witness, practitioner, and explorer of the continuous development of our army's political work.
Zhang Chiming's life of the War of Resistance was forked in 1942, he was transferred from the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division to the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army, became the director of the Political Department of the Military Sub-district of the New Fourth Army System, and was elected as the official representative of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
This brief separation from the 115th Division was reconnected in the northeast after the War of Resistance.
Zhang Chiming reunited with Lin Biao and Xiao Hua, the old leaders of the 115th Division, between the White Mountains and the Black Water.
He also entered the ranks of political workers from the initial combat ranks, serving as the director of the political department of the Songjiang Military Region of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and the director of the political department of the Sixth Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army, and later the political commissar of the 127th Division of the 43rd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and until 1949 became the political commissar of the 43rd Army.
What is just unexpected is that after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Zhang Chiming's life trajectory changed again, he became the logistics director of the Central and Southern Military Region, and the chief of staff and deputy director of the General Logistics Department, and his subsequent life was basically transformed into a logistics cadre.
Also constantly changing affiliations is Wu Zhong.
From the Red Fourth Front, to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, to the 115th Division, in the later stages of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wu Zhong had been transferred to the regimental commander of the Eighth Division of the Jiluyu Military Region.
At the beginning of the Liberation War, Wu Zhong fought in the 20th Brigade under Liu Deng's army, from regimental commander to brigade commander to commander of the 52nd Division of the 18th Army of the Second Field Army.
Since then, his life can be described as open and hanging.
From launching the Qamdo Campaign to force the Dalai Lama government to accept peace talks, to directing a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam and annihilating nearly 10,000 enemy troops, this legendary general experienced a wonderful life that most people can never experience.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="63" >4, 1955, our army awarded a big title, the life of the generals is brilliant</h1>
The evaluation of military rank is a major matter related to the honorary status of all soldiers.
In 1955, when the People's Liberation Army first assessed military ranks, there were many typical examples.
Comrade Xu Liqing, who was in charge of the appraisal work, took the initiative to demote himself from a general to a lieutenant general.
When Comrade Xu Guangda learned that the Central Military Commission was going to award him the rank of great general, in addition to proposing to the old chief He Long in person, he also wrote to the chairman and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission to request that he be demoted to the rank of general.
In the face of several concessions, Comrade Mao Zedong said that "Comrade Xu Guangda is a mirror, a mirror for the Communists themselves."
According to the conditions for the evaluation of military ranks, Lin Biao, who represented the Central Red Army, the Red First Army, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the Northeast Field Army, was elected Marshal of the People's Republic of China.
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Xiao Hua was rated as a general as the deputy director of the General Political Department at the time and the first vice president of the School of Political Science.
According to the basic conditions for the evaluation of the rank of general at that time: red army division level cadres, eighth route army brigade level cadres, PEOPLE's Liberation Army corps level cadres, and in 1952 assessed as the level of the main corps.
Compared with this condition, Xiao Hua fully met the rank of general, so this rank was appropriate.
Although there were four lieutenant generals born in 1917, Zhang Chiming was the last in the month and was rated in 1952 as the political commissar of the Logistics Department of the Central South Military Region, and was recognized as a first-class regular army.
This level, coupled with the regimental level during the Red Army period, the brigade level during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the military rank of the People's Liberation Army during the war period, all met the requirements, so Zhang Chiming's rank of lieutenant general was also rated without controversy and was expected by all.
When Wu Zhong was awarded the title in 1955, he had already served as the commander of the division for five years, from the commander of the 52nd Division of the 18th Army to the commander of the 31st Division of the 12th Army of the Volunteer Army, and then to the commander of the First Mechanized Division of our army.
According to the regulations on appraisal titles, cadres at the level of the main division must be awarded major generals.
As an excellent division commander of Erye, Wu Zhong was not surprised to be awarded the title of major general.
Because, in evaluating a soldier, his opponent has the most say.
The Kuomintang army evaluated the 52nd Division led by Wu Zhong as the main force of the 20th Brigade in combat effectiveness and good at offensive and defensive work.
The Battle of Qamdo of the 52nd Division opened the door to Tibet and made Wu Zhong famous in the first battle, so much so that the Central Military Commission named Wu Zhong as the commander of the first mechanized division, which was the greatest affirmation of a soldier and the undoubted recognition of his rank as major general.