The Thirty-ninth Army was an ace army with the same name as the Thirty-eighth Army of the Banzai Army. Who brought this army out? Is a group of heroes. Basically, there are three generals. The first was The Military Commander, General Liu Zhen, the second was Lieutenant General Wu Xinquan, the military political commissar, and the third was Lieutenant General Li Xuesan, director of the Political Department.
It is a surprising coincidence in history that these three generals, who were not born in the same year, died in the same year, as if agreed. As soon as they left, they were left with a huge regret.
Let's talk about the first one to die, Lieutenant General Wu Xinquan, military political commissar, and a native of Pingjiang, Hunan. Wu Xinquan was a native of Pingjiang, Hunan Province, an old subordinate of Boss Peng, who participated in the Pingjiang Uprising. In later revolutionary history, Wu Xinquan served as Liu Zhen's subordinate for a long time.
(Wu Xinquan and Liu Zhen)
Starting from the 344th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, to the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, to the Second Column of the Northeast Field Army, and finally to the Thirty-ninth Army, Wu Xinquan always fought side by side with Liu Zhen, and when Liu Zhen was the commander of the Thirty-ninth Army, Wu Xinquan was the political commissar, Liu Zhen was reappointed to the post of Air Force, and Wu Xinquan took over as commander and led the Thirty-ninth Army into the Korean War.
In the Korean battlefield, the Thirty-ninth Army fought very well, in a sense, even surpassed the Thirty-eighth Army, the thirty-ninth army that first liberated the Korean capital Pyongyang, and the thirty-ninth army that first entered Seoul, the capital of South Korea. With these two merits, Wu Xinquan was enough to shock the Korean Peninsula.
In 1955, Wu Xinquan was awarded the title of founding lieutenant general, and in April 1992, Wu Xinquan died in Beijing at the age of 81. Four months after Wu Xinquan's death, his old chief and old comrade-in-arms Liu Zhen also died in Beijing at the age of 78.
(The far right of the front row is Liu Zhen)
Liu Zhen was a native of Xiaochang, Hubei Province, and he was the soul of the Thirty-ninth Army. This fierce general who came out of the Red Twenty-fifth Army led the Thirty-ninth Army from the northeast, without stopping, and fought all the way to Nanguan, Guangxi, and traveled through most of China, making great contributions to the founding of New China.
In 1955, when the title was awarded, Liu Zhen, who was only 40 years old, was one of the youngest founding generals, he was smart and studious, brought out the ace army, changed his career to the air force after the founding of the people's republic, became one of the best air force generals, served as deputy commander of the air force, commander of the volunteer air force.
In December 1992, four months after Liu Zhen's death, founding Lieutenant General Li Xuesan died in Beijing. Who is Li Xuesan? Relatively speaking, he did not have the fame of Liu Zhen and Wu Xinquan, and he did political work for a long time. The Second Column of the Northeast Field Army was established, and Li Xuesan was still a divisional political commissar, and by the time the Thirty-ninth Army was established, Li Xuesan was promoted to director of the army's political department and became Liu Zhen and Wu Xinquan's right-hand man.
(Lieutenant General Li Xuesan)
As the head of the Thirty-ninth Army, Li Xuesan, together with Liu Zhen and Wu Xinquan, took the lead in organizing the compilation of the glorious military history of the Thirty-ninth Army. However, with the successive deaths of Wu Xinquan and Liu Zhen, this military history still has not come out.
In July 1992, Li Xuesan was admitted to the hospital in a coma, and the first thing he did when he woke up was to ask, when will the military history symposium be held? At the last moment of his life, Li Xuesan wrote his last words with a pen:
The military history of the Thirty-ninth Army has not been carried out, and it has always been a major event in the hearts of our three old comrades, and now that Wu and Liu have gone first, I ask you to compile this military history well. Unfortunately, Li Xuesan also died soon after, and he did not see the history of the Thirty-ninth Army, which is a huge regret.