Whether during the Liberation War or now, it is basically impossible to directly promote from division commander to military commander, and division commanders must first be promoted to deputy commander or chief of staff before they can be gradually promoted to the position of military commander, otherwise it is difficult to convince the people and it is difficult to control the troops well. However, during the Liberation War, the Fourth Field Army had a strong general, who was directly promoted from division commander to column commander (equivalent to army), and this person was the founding major general Zhong Wei.
Zhong Wei was born in 1915 in Pingjiang, Hunan Province, and he was very senior in the military, but his personality was also very distinct, and he was a legendary general. Zhong Wei joined the Red Army in 1930 and successively served as a company instructor and regimental political commissar in Peng Dehuai's Red Third Army and Xu Haidong's Red Fifteenth Army. After the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, Zhong Wei served as the director of the political department of the 78th Division of the Red Fifteenth Army and the director of the political department of the 73rd Division.
Zhong Wei was quite talented in the military field, and when he commanded the battle, he was often arranged at the forefront of the command post, and the troops he commanded were brave like tigers, astute as deer, but cunning like an old fox. Every time there is a combat meeting, Zhong Wei will grab the most difficult battle, and if he can't grab it, he will complain, the battle on his side is over, others are still gnawing hard bones, Zhong Wei will make a small report in the headquarters, saying: "Look, I will say that they are not OK, now it is always our turn." ”
Zhong Wei was a general with a very personality, untamed, in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhong Wei served as the political commissar of the second regiment of the Eyu Independent Guerrilla Detachment, often disagreeing with the leaders of the detachment, and finally Zhong Wei ran to northern Jiangsu with his wife, children, and the guard squad to defect to his old superior, Huang Kecheng. Huang Kecheng, commander and political commissar of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, was very familiar with the military talents of these old subordinates, and first appointed him as the commander of the detachment, then promoted him to the position of regimental commander, deputy brigade commander, and brigade commander of the tenth brigade of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, all 35,000 officers and men of Huang Kecheng's Third Division marched to the northeast, and Zhong Wei made great achievements in the northeast battlefield. After the Third Division of the New Fourth Army reached the northeast, the troops were reorganized into the Northeast Democratic United Army, with Zhong Wei serving as the commander of the Fifth Division of the Second Column of the Northeast Field Army, and the commander of the column being Liu Zhen (founding general), deputy commander of the Third Division of the Former New Fourth Army.
In the winter of 1946, the Kuomintang army launched an attack on the base area of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army in southern Manchuria with the superior strength of four armies, in order to crush the enemy's attack and reduce the pressure on the South Manchurian troops, Lin Biao commanded the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army to launch three battles to cross the Songhua River in the south, known in history as the "Battle of the Three Lower Jiangnan". At the beginning of the Battle of Sanxia Jiangnan, the 2nd Column and 5th Division led by Zhong Wei did not fight any major battles, but only destroyed the railway in the rear of the enemy, or cooperated with the brother troops to contain the enemy.
In March 1947, Lin Biao commanded the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army to go down to Jiangnan three times, preparing to encircle and annihilate a regiment of the New First Army of the Kuomintang. On March 8, Lin Biao issued a combat order to the 5th Division, this time Zhong Wei was again a hand for others, the 2nd Column and 5th Division advanced to the Middle And Long Road, and with the 1st Column, the 6th Column, the two main columns surrounded and annihilated the enemy.
On March 9, Zhong Wei commanded his troops to reach the southwest of Paoshantun and suddenly heard The chaos of Jiangjiatun and Wang Kuidian in the southwest of Paoshantun and after reconnaissance, it was found that a regiment of the enemy army happened to pass by here. Zhong Weitian's fearless momentum immediately came up and decided to annihilate this group of enemy troops. However, the political commissar disagreed, believing that the orders of the superiors were iron discipline and absolutely could not affect the overall situation for the sake of coveting immediate interests.
The two sides argued, but in the end Zhong Wei still made up his mind and said that he had made a mistake and took responsibility for himself. As a result, under Zhong Wei's order, the Fifth Division quickly surrounded the 1337 officers and men of the 264th Regiment of the 88th Division of the 71st Army of the Kuomintang Army in Tunzi. After one of the enemy regiments was surrounded, the 87th Division quickly came to reinforcements, and Zhong Wei immediately sent a report to Lin Biao, explaining his situation, and particularly emphasizing that the enemy who surrounded the mountain tun had achieved the purpose of mobilizing the enemy.
This move of Zhong Wei mobilized Lin Biao, and Lin Biao also understood Zhong Wei's purpose, and immediately transferred the first column, and the main force of the second column came to cooperate with him, and finally the second column and the fifth division became the main attacking force, and the other units all came to cooperate with him. In the end, Zhong Wei quickly and neatly annihilated a whole regiment of the enemy's 88th Division, and in turn dragged the enemy's 87th Division to reinforcements.
Lin Biao immediately commanded the first column, the sixth column, and the second column and two other divisions to encircle the enemy's 87th Division, and finally the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army's Northern Manchurian forces achieved a brilliant victory of annihilating 15,000 enemy troops, and also captured a large number of American weapons and equipment, far better than the previously expected results. After the war, Lin Biao not only did not punish Zhong Wei, but instead praised the Fifth Division, and also said to everyone: "We must dare to fight a victorious battle that disobeys orders, just like Zhong Wei did in Shantun and disobey orders three times." ”
In December 1947, Lin Biao commanded the Northeast Field Army to launch a winter offensive, encircling Zhangwu, Faku, Xinlitun and other places. On December 17, 1947, the 2nd Column and 5th Division led by Zhong Wei surrounded the 22nd Division of the New Sixth Army of the Kuomintang Army, commanded and ordered the troops to quickly occupy Sanjiatunzi, and the 15th Regiment of the 5th Division fought bravely and tenaciously, holding its position under the enemy's attempt to take the road and flee, and when the enemy collapsed, it attacked bravely. Unfortunately, this time, the friendly and neighboring troops did not cooperate with the 2nd Column and 5th Division, resulting in a rout of the battle. The Fifth Division then annihilated the New Fifth Army along with other columns.
After the annihilation of the New Fifth Army, Zhong Wei's Fifth Division captured a large number of Kuomintang soldiers, but after interrogation, it was found that there were few senior cadres of the Kuomintang Army, all of whom were grass-roots officers. Zhong Wei ordered the prisoners of war to be gathered to run, and all of them were arrested for interrogation, and as a result, many high-ranking officials were arrested, including Chen Linda, the commander of the New Fifth Army, who was the most senior.
Zhong Wei can fight, but Zhong Wei can also break through disasters, and the Second Column and Fifth Division he led is a typical "two-headed and sharp" unit in Dongye, the combat effectiveness of this unit is very strong, and it is known for being good at fighting big battles, hard battles, and vicious battles. The Fifth Division was called by Chief Higashino as the most energetic division in the Northeast Army, with the strongest assault power, rapid progress, and rich combat experience. Attacking and defending at the same time, it can hit hard, rush hard, and chase fiercely, and is known for its three fierceness. Good at sports field combat, the attack is also very tenacious. It is said that Lin Biao, who rarely praised his subordinates, said in a loud voice while watching the battle at Mao'er Mountain: "The good style of the Fifth Division's troops."
But the officers and men of this unit are very similar to Zhong Wei's personality, that is, they are untamed. During the Liberation War, Zhong Wei led the Second Column and The Fifth Division to personally write a seal and order the troops to send them to the soldiers every time they conquered a place, but when other units came, they found that there were stickers everywhere: "The Second Column and the Fifth Division have been captured." The friendly neighbor troops were not convinced, and directly sued the Higashino Headquarters, but Zhong Wei was full of words and said to them: "There is a seal as proof!" "So the soldiers like to follow the division commander, because they know that following the division commander will not suffer losses."
In January 1948, Lin Biao wanted to promote Zhong Wei to deputy commander of the column, but Zhong Wei refused, and came a sentence: "I would rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail." After considering it for a few days, Lin Biao still appointed him as the commander of the twelfth column of the Northeast Field Army, which was the only commander of the Northeast Field Army who was directly promoted from division commander to column commander.
Although General Zhong Wei had an unruly personality, he was just and righteous, and his sons and grandsons all wanted to use him to work in Beijing, and they were not only reprimanded by Zhong Wei, but also arranged by Zhong Wei to go to the countryside to farm. Zhong Wei's favorite granddaughter Shui Xia also wanted to find her grandfather to arrange a job for her in Beijing after graduating from middle school, but she was also severely criticized by Zhong Wei, and when Zhong Wei learned that her granddaughter was admitted to the normal school in pingjiang, her hometown, Zhong Wei was also very happy and personally went to celebrate for her.