When it comes to the Fourth Field Army, many people will think of "Lin Luo Liu Tan", that is, the core leadership team of Siye: Commander Lin Biao, Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan, Chief of Staff Liu Yalou, and Director of the Political Department Tan Zheng.
In fact, this statement is wrong, at least inaccurate, because Liu Yalou mainly served as chief of staff during the Northeast Field Army period, and after being reorganized into the Fourth Field Army, the chief of staff was replaced by Xiao Ke, and there was nothing wrong with Liu Yalou.
Next, let's summarize the four fields and their predecessors, who has been the chief of staff.
The earliest predecessor of Shino dates back to the Northeast People's Autonomous Army in 1945.
After the end of the all-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to make all-out efforts to compete for the northeast, our party dispatched elite troops from all over the country to the northeast and formed the Northeast People's Autonomous Army with the original Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Forces, which was established on October 31, 1945.
In the Northeast People's Autonomous Army, the commander was Lin Biao, the first political commissar was Peng Zhen, the second political commissar was Luo Ronghuan, and Lü Zhengcao, Li Yunchang, Zhou Baozhong, and Xiao Jinguang served as the first, second, third, and fourth deputy commanders, respectively; in addition, Xiao Jinguang also concurrently served as the first chief of staff, Wu Xiuquan was the second chief of staff, and Chen Zhengren was the director of the political department, with a total strength of 270,000 troops.
Therefore, the chief of staff at this stage is Xiao Jinguang.
However, the Northeast People's Autonomous Army only existed for two months, and by January 4, 1946, it was renamed the Northeast Democratic United Army, and the members of the leadership team were basically unchanged, and Xiao Jinguang continued to serve as the first chief of staff.
By June 1946, the Central Military Commission had made some adjustments to the leaders of the Northeast Democratic United Army, with Lin Biao holding both the positions of commander and political commissar, with deputy commanders including Zhou Baozhong, Lü Zhengcao, and Xiao Jinguang, deputy political commissars including Peng Zhen, Luo Ronghuan, Gao Gang, and Chen Yun, and Xiao Jinguang still serving as the first chief of staff. In addition, the director of the political department at this time was replaced by Tan Zheng.
By January 1, 1948, due to changes in the war situation, the Northeast Democratic United Army was reorganized into the Northeast People's Liberation Army, including the Northeast Military Region and the Northeast Field Army, the commander and political commissar were still Lin Biao, the deputy commanders were still Lu Zhengcao, Zhou Baozhong, Xiao Jinguang, the deputy political commissars included Luo Ronghuan, Gao Gang, Chen Yun, and Li Fuchun, and the director of the political department was Still Tan Zheng, but the chief of staff was replaced by Liu Yalou.
That is to say, for more than two years from October 31, 1945 to December 31, 1947, the chief of staff was Always Xiao Jinguang concurrently served as the chief of staff, and it was not until January 1, 1948 that he was replaced by Liu Yalou.
On August 14, 1948, a separate leading organ of the Northeast Field Army was established, with Lin Biao as commander, Luo Ronghuan as political commissar, Liu Yalou as chief of staff, and Tan Zheng as director of the political department.
In 1949, with the successive victories in the three major battles of the Liaoshen Campaign, the Huaihai Campaign, and the Pingjin Campaign, the Kuomintang troops retreated one after another, and our army wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue, and the original field army number named after the region was no longer appropriate.
On March 11, 1949, the Fourth Field Army was formally established, with Lin Biao as commander, Luo Ronghuan as political commissar, Xiao Ke as chief of staff, and Tan Zheng as director of the political department.
So, where did the former chief of staff, Liu Yalou, go? Still in Shino, he was the commander of the 14th Corps and began to lead the army to fight.
In fact, Liu Yalou was not only an outstanding chief of staff, but also an excellent commander, especially in the campaign to liberate Tianjin, Liu Yalou served as the commander-in-chief, commanded 340,000 troops, and in only 29 hours, he completely annihilated 130,000 enemy defenders and won a great victory in the Tianjin Campaign!
After the Four Wild Army went south, it merged with the Central Plains Military Region and formed the Fourth Field Army and the leading organ of the Central China Military Region on May 12, 1949, with Lin Biao as the commander, Luo Ronghuan as the first political commissar, Deng Zihui as the second political commissar, Xiao Ke as the first chief of staff, Zhao Erlu as the second chief of staff, and Tan Zheng as the director of the political department.
On January 1, 1950, the Central China Military Region was renamed the Central South Military Region, and the personnel of the Fourth Field Army and the Headquarters of the Central South Military Region remained basically unchanged.
In May 1950, Xiao Ke was transferred to the Central Military Commission as the head of the Military Training Department, and Zhao Erlu was the chief of staff of the Central and Southern Military Region.
In April 1955, the Central and Southern Military Region was renamed the Guangzhou Military Region, and the troops were also under the jurisdiction of the Guangzhou Military Region, at which point, the name of the Fourth Field Army was officially revoked.
To sum up, in the history of the Fourth Field Army and its predecessors, a total of four people have served as chiefs of staff, namely Xiao Jinguang, Liu Yalou, Xiao Ke, and Zhao Erlu, one general and three generals.
Among them, Xiao Jinguang served as chief of staff for two years and two months from October 31, 1945 to December 31, 1947;
Liu Yalou served as chief of staff from January 1, 1948 to March 10, 1949, for more than one year and two months;
Shaw served as chief of staff from 11 March 1949 to May 1950, and served for more than a year and two months;
Zhao Erlu took office in May 1950, and in August 1952, he was transferred to the Second Minister of Machinery Industry, serving as chief of staff for two years and three months, the longest of the four.
(References: "Fourth Field Army", "Records of the Conquest of the Fourth Field Army", "Biography of General Liu Yalou", "Memoirs of Xiao Ke")
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.