Picture 丨 Xiao Jinguang old photo
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="81" > preface</h1>
"Xiao Jinguang is an old comrade, he is here, the commander of the navy is not easy!" In 1973, Chairman Mao solemnly stressed to those around him.
After the end of the Battle of Hengbao in 1949, Chairman Mao urgently ordered Xiao Jinguang to enter Beijing and appointed him as the commander of the navy, responsible for the preparation of the navy. At that time, some people did not want Xiao Jinguang to become the commander of the Navy, and Xiao Jinguang himself was not very willing, but Chairman Mao chose him:
"Xiao Jinguang, you do things, I am still assured, you can form."
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="161" > "I'm still at ease with your work."</h1>
"We will not only have a strong army, but also a strong air force and a strong navy!" At the first plenary session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949, Chairman Mao solemnly declared that New China would establish a people's navy, and since then, on many occasions, Chairman Mao has repeatedly reiterated his determination to build a people's navy.
Chairman Mao attended the first session of the CppcC National Committee
In October 1949, Xiao Jinguang led his troops to annihilate Bai Chongxi's four main divisions in one fell swoop, ending the Battle of Hengbao. Just as he was relaxing a little, the secretary sent an urgent telegram from the Central Military Commission:
Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Hunan Military Region, saw that he had come to Beijing as soon as possible to discuss important matters.
Mao Zedong
October 14, 1949
Xiao Jinguang really couldn't think of what Chairman Mao was looking for in himself, so he hurriedly explained his work to Xiao Hua and took his secretary to Beijing by train. As soon as they left the station, the special car that came to greet them was already waiting at the door, and soon Xiao Jinguang came to Zhongnanhai. Chairman Mao was already waiting at the door:
"Is it the light that is coming?"
Chairman Mao and Xiao Jinguang shook hands cordially
Xiao Jinguang hurriedly went forward to shake hands with Chairman Mao and say hello, and Chairman Mao shook Xiao Jinguang's hand with a smile, carefully examined it, and said: "It is still the same as before, and it has not changed." Then Chairman Mao dragged Xiao Jinguang to the living room to sit down, and after the two of them laughed for a while, Chairman Mao solemnly asked Xiao Jinguang:
"Do you know what you're calling for this time?"
"I don't know." Xiao Jinguang answered honestly.
Chairman Mao told Xiao Jinguang that at present, the task of forming an air force and a navy in our country has been put on the agenda, and the preparatory work for the establishment of the air force is almost complete, and the central authorities are ready to appoint Liu Yalou as commander of the air force:
"Now we're going to start building the Navy, and we want you to be the commander, so I'll say hello to you today and hear your opinion."
Picture 丨 Xiao Jinguang and Chen Yun took a group photo
Xiao Jinguang never expected that he would be appointed commander of the Navy, and he was mentally unprepared. Seeing chairman Mao looking at him kindly and asking for his own opinions with his eyes, Xiao Jinguang frankly said to Chairman Mao:
"I'm a dry duck, I don't know anything about navy, and I'm so seasick that I can't even sit on a sea vessel."
"I just looked up to you, a dry duck, to let you command, not to let you go to sea all day." Chairman Mao heard Xiao Jinguang's answer and smiled.
Seeing that Xiao Jinguang was there bowing his head and not speaking, Chairman Mao beckoned him to talk about this matter first, and first had lunch together: "When I was in Yan'an, I relied on you Xiao Jinguang to eat, and today I invited you back to dinner, and I did not come and go rudely." The lunch prepared by Chairman Mao was relatively simple, and he also made an exception to accompany Xiao Jinguang to drink three glasses of wine during the banquet.
Picture 丨Xiao Jinguang during the Yan'an period (right)
At the time of dinner, Chairman Mao instructed Xiao Jinguang to continue to do a good job in the work of the military region after he returned home, and the matter of the commander of the navy was waiting for the central authorities to decide. While eating, Xiao Jinguang reported to Chairman Mao on the situation on the front line, and Chairman Mao was fascinated by what he heard, and forgot to eat the dish in his mouth.
"Chairman, this is your favorite Hunan-style bacon."
Chairman Mao suddenly returned to his senses, looked at the bacon in front of him, and couldn't help but laugh: "The old problem has been committed again." ”
Chairman Mao learned that the situation on the front line was still not optimistic, and after the meal, he gave an explanation to Xiao Jinguang, and Xiao Jinguang proposed to go back, and Chairman Mao instructed:
"If you go back, go back, this time I will not leave you, when the situation is better, there is time to go to Beijing, we will have a good chat."
In the afternoon of the same day, Xiao Jinguang returned to Changsha by train, and at that time some people in the central government did not want Xiao Jinguang to become the commander of the navy, and Xiao Jinguang himself was not very willing to be transferred to the navy, but Chairman Mao favored him. Before leaving for the Soviet Union, Chairman Mao once again summoned Xiao Jinguang:
"I think you will be the commander of the navy, you now think about the plan to build a navy, we have no experience, feel the stones to cross the river."
Picture 丨 Xiao Jinguang military uniform photo
Chairman Mao personally ordered Xiao Jinguang's general, and Xiao Jinguang was not good enough to continue to resign, so he told Chairman Mao that he was afraid that the construction would not be good and disappoint the chairman. Chairman Mao smiled and said:
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="162" > "the power is up to you."</h1>
During his visit to the Soviet Union, Chairman Mao made some contacts and understanding of the Soviet military circles, and further strengthened his determination to appoint Xiao Jinguang as commander of the Navy. At that time, Chairman Mao was still in the Soviet Union, so he telegraphed Liu Shaoqi, who was presiding over the work in Beijing:
"Xiao Jinguang can be appointed as the commander of the Navy."
Pictured: Xiao Jinguang was with the pilot in the naval aviation unit
On January 15, 1950, the Central Military Commission officially issued an order appointing Xiao Jinguang as the commander of the Navy, unified management of the existing navies and ships, and responsible for all affairs of the Naval School. Holding the order issued by the Central Military Commission, Xiao Jinguang realized that there were many difficulties in front of him, and after handing over the work in Hunan, he immediately went to Beijing to take up his post.
At that time, our country's navy could be said to be poor and white, and when Xiao Jinguang went to Weihai in March of the same year to inspect the naval forces on Liugong Island, he could not find a ship that could be moved to cross the sea, and finally had to take the fishermen's boat to the island. At that time, the fisherman asked Xiao Jinguang doubtfully:
"Are you really a naval commander?" How can you borrow my fisherman's boat? ”
This sentence greatly touched Xiao Jinguang, and afterwards he asked his entourage to write down: On March 17, 1950, the commander of the navy, Yuan Xiao Jinguang, inspected Liugong Island by fishing boat. After investigating and studying the existing navy, Xiao Jinguang reported to Chairman Mao several times on his ideas and progress on the navy, and Chairman Mao did not expect that Xiao Jinguang would find out so many situations so quickly and form such a clear line of thought for work, and said to Xiao Jinguang happily:
"What kind of navy to build, I have no bottom in my heart now, the power is handed over to you, you have the initiative and the right to suggest."
Pictured: Xiao Jinguang (first from the left) inspects jiangnan shipyard
With Chairman Mao's consent, it was determined that the Navy was a strategic decision-making body and that the leading organ should be located in Beijing. After intense preparations, the Navy's leading plane was established in April of the same year, and Xiao Jinguang pointed out at the inaugural meeting of the organ that in order to build a navy, it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of material conditions and lay a good ideological foundation. After a period of preparation, Xiao Jinguang organized and convened the first party committee meeting of the Navy to discuss and formulate the Navy's construction policy and specific plan.
At that time, our country's naval forces were basically formed by various military regions, and the leading organs were established relatively late, and they were far away from the naval forces, and the leadership relationship was not clear for a time. After Xiao Jinguang studied this issue, he asked the Central Military Commission to make a decision. Subsequently, the Central Military Commission issued a decision on the leading organs of the Navy, clarifying the relationship between the various navies and the leaders, and the centralized leadership of the Navy was strengthened.
Even when the conditions were not yet ripe in all aspects, the people's navy led by Xiao Jinguang joined the battle. On May 25, the battle to liberate the Wanshan Islands began, and the People's Navy used 16 ships of various types against more than 30 Kuomintang ships with a displacement of thousands of tons. After the battle began, the only 28-ton gunboat of our army, the "Liberation," rushed into the enemy position on its own, caught the Kuomintang fleet by surprise, and in the panic, there was a situation of collision and shooting at each other.
Figure丨 Liberation Army before the liberation of the Wanshan Islands before the mobilization of the People's Liberation Army
The "Liberation" seized the opportunity to directly attack the Kuomintang flagship "Taihe" and fought until a distance of more than 100 meters, and due to the malfunction in the fierce battle, Lin Wenhu, deputy captain of the gunboat team, unfortunately died while troubleshooting the fault. A gunboat attacking a fleet is unique in the history of world naval warfare.
At that time, many naval soldiers were transferred from the Army, still using the Army's style of play, many fighters threw grenades on the enemy's deck, and then took the opportunity to approach the enemy ship and jump up to catch prisoners. Relying on this "reckless" style of play, the navy sank six Kuomintang warships, annihilated more than 700 enemy troops, and declared the victory and liberation of the Wanshan Islands. After the battle, the warriors joked:
"Foreign countries have Marines, we are Marines."
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="163" > "I'm going to come to your house for a meal."</h1>
In August 1957, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the army and show the achievements of the people's navy in the past 10 years, the people's navy decided to hold a large naval parade in Jiaozhou Bay, and Chairman Mao was very concerned about this and rushed to Qingdao a month in advance. Xiao Jinguang was worried that Chairman Mao would not adapt to the local climate, and as soon as Chairman Mao arrived at the hotel, Xiao Jinguang immediately went to visit:
"Chairman, Qingdao is so hot, are you still used to it?"
Xiao Jinguang accompanied Chairman Mao in receiving Navy deputies
"Qingdao is much cooler than Beijing, how is the situation with the Navy?" Chairman Mao saw Xiao Jinguang coming and replied with a smile.
When Xiao Jinguang saw that Chairman Mao could adapt to the local climate, he put his mind at ease and reported that the navy was almost ready, and that he was waiting for Chairman Mao to review it, and Chairman Mao humorously praised him:
"You dry duck is doing a good job!" I'm going to see the Navy. ”
When Xiao Jinguang conveyed the news that Chairman Mao was going to inspect the navy, officers and men at all levels were very happy, and under the specific guidance of the chief, everyone repeatedly practiced more intensively and made final preparations for the parade. In order to enable Chairman Mao and the leaders of the Central Committee to see the various types of ships of the People's Navy, Tao Yong specially rushed from Shanghai to Qingdao with the "Kunming" frigate that China himself had modified and built to attend the parade.
Xiao Jinguang (front middle) accompanied Zhu De on an inspection of the naval unit
Just when the preparations for the military parade were basically ready, the parade headquarters suddenly received a notice that Chairman Mao would not come to review the parade, but would instead let Premier Zhou review it. It turned out that Chairman Mao had a cold after arriving in Qingdao and could not blow the wind on the sea, but Chairman Mao still put forward a "request" for Xiao Jinguang:
"Xiao Jinguang, now that I'm coming to Qingdao, you're not exhausting the friendship of the landlord?" I'm going to come to your house for a meal. ”
Xiao Jinguang laughed when he heard this, he was originally worried that Chairman Mao was too busy to bother, and since the chairman had brought it up, he might as well go to his home for a light meal. Hearing that Chairman Mao was going to come to the door, the staff of Xiao Jinguang's family immediately got busy, and the chef Master Han moved a lot of things to the most advanced hotel in Qingdao at that time, and wanted to get some mountain treasures and seafood to Chairman Mao, but Xiao Jinguang ordered that he would eat home-cooked food, and Master Han had to return all the mountain treasures and seafood he had gotten from the hotel.
When Chairman Mao came to Xiao Jinguang's house, Xiao Jinguang specially called the children to see the chairman, and Chairman Mao sat in Xiao Jinguang's bedroom and saw the children come in, and Chairman Mao got up to greet them and asked them what their names were, where they went to school, and how they were doing. After a brief introduction, Xiao Jinguang "bombed" the children out, and Chairman Mao said to Xiao Jinguang:
"You children, be polite!"
Photo: Premier Zhou inspects naval forces
At that time, Master Han made six home-cooked dishes, Chairman Mao brought two more when he came, eight dishes and one soup everyone was very happy to eat, except for Chairman Mao's favorite braised meat and fish, the others were vegetarian dishes. Chairman Mao was very happy after eating braised pork, and repeatedly learned from Master Han how this meat was made.
On August 4, Premier Zhou, accompanied by Xiao Jinguang, went to the docks and accepted the report of the commander-in-chief of the parade, Premier Zhou first inspected the official military formations on the docks, and then boarded the parade boats.
After inspecting the ships on the surface of the sea, Premier Zhou boarded the flagship to review the neatly arranged officers and men on the deck and shook hands with the central leaders on the deck and the commanders of various military regions. After Xiao Jinguang delivered his welcome speech, Premier Zhou delivered a speech to all the officers and men, which was constantly interrupted by enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Premier Zhou waved to the officers and men of the Navy
Just after Premier Zhou's speech, two seaplanes sped by at low altitude, swinging their wings to salute Premier Zhou, followed by a column-type performance by each formation, and the naval parade lasted for more than two hours. After the end of the military parade at sea, Premier Zhou agreed to the request of the officers and men on parade, gave a speech for the navy, and took a group photo with the officers and men.
After the military parade, Chairman Mao was very happy to hear the report, and the next afternoon he received officers above the rank of captain of the Navy garrison in Qingdao at the stadium and took a group photo with everyone. At that time, although Premier Zhou was busy returning to Beijing, because the road to the airport was cut off by the river, he could not make the trip, so he had to postpone the date of return to Beijing, and also participated in the reception and group photo with Chairman Mao.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="164" > "He is in, the commander of the navy is not easy"</h1>
After inspecting the naval forces, Chairman Mao personally led a delegation to Moscow to participate in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union, and Xiao Jinguang was one of the members of the military delegation. After attending the military parade in Moscow, Chairman Mao asked Xiao Jinguang:
"How do you feel about this ceremony?"
Xiao Jinguang replied that it can be seen that the soviet union has developed at an astonishing speed in recent years, and although we have made great achievements, there is still a big gap. Chairman Mao held out the little thumb of his right hand and said:
"It's good to see the gap, our Air Force and Navy are now as big as this."
Chairman Mao then instructed Xiao Jinguang to seize this opportunity and have a good talk with the Soviet Navy about the new naval technology. After the celebration, Xiao Jinguang visited many Soviet departments related to the Navy and talked with the leaders of the Soviet Navy about new weapons.
After returning to Beijing, Xiao Jinguang reported on what he had learned during his visit to the Soviet Union and conveyed Chairman Mao's instructions. After serious discussions by the Naval Standing Committee, Xiao Jinguang and three others wrote a report to Peng Dehuai as deputies, hoping to discard the old naval equipment materials, proposing to make demands on the Soviet Government in the name of the Chinese Government and establishing a ship research institute.
Picture Shu Xiao Jinguang visited the naval soldiers
Chairman Mao attached great importance to Xiao Jinguang's report and quickly approved it, and the Ship Research Institute was established under the care of Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou and began to carry out imitation improvement and research and development work. Once Premier Zhou suddenly called Xiao Jinguang and said that Chairman Mao wanted to hear about the development of naval weapons. Xiao Jinguang quickly arrived in Zhongnanhai, and Chairman Mao said to him:
"The prime minister said that you have done some projects, and today is fine, please come here to listen to it."
Chairman Mao said that he had read Nie Rongzhen's report on the development of missile nuclear submarines and had agreed:
"Nuclear submarines are very foreign to us, can the Soviet Union give us some assistance on this issue?"
Picture 丨 Xiao Jinguang took a group photo with his family
Xiao Jinguang replied that the soviet union's certainty of whether it could help was not very large, and they would try their best to fight for it. After that, Xiao Jinguang's idea could not be realized, and Chairman Mao instructed Xiao Jinguang: "Nuclear submarines must also be built in ten thousand years!" Xiao Jinguang understood Chairman Mao's determination, resolutely took up the heavy burden of developing nuclear submarines, and after a year of hard work, without relying on Soviet experts, he finally built a long-wave platform with complex technology.
"Khrushchev should be given a large medal weighing one ton!"
On August 18, 1966, in order to protect Xiao Jinguang, Chairman Mao specially called Xiao Jinguang and others to his side on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square and took a group photo with them, and then stressed with others many times:
"Xiao Jinguang is an old comrade, a lifelong commander of the navy, and he is in the navy commander."
At that time, although Xiao Jinguang was in a difficult situation, he still insisted on his post and led the preparation of the third five-year plan for naval equipment research. After the construction of the first nuclear submarine began, due to the complicated social situation at that time, Xiao Jinguang did work in many ways to coordinate the relationship between all aspects under the condition that all aspects were interfered with.
Picture 丨 China's first nuclear submarine
In July 1970, the first onshore simulated power reactor of the nuclear submarine was completed as scheduled, and before the start of the operation test, Xiao Jinguang presided over the group meeting, checked all the preparations, and the operation test was a success. At the end of the same year, the first nuclear submarine was successfully launched, realizing Chairman Mao's wish that year.
Subsequently, with the approval of the central authorities, Xiao Jinguang, who was 70 years old, served as the first secretary of the Navy's party committee and resumed presiding over the work of the Navy. In September 1976, Chairman Mao died of illness, and when bidding farewell to Chairman Mao's body, Xiao Jinguang lost his voice and cried bitterly:
"I grew up with the help of Chairman Mao's education, and without Chairman Mao, I wouldn't have everything."