Author: Mo Guyan
In the summer of 1946, the Northeast Democratic United Army was reorganized, and the 1st and 2nd Divisions from Shandong were merged into the 1st Column, with Wan Yi as commander and Liang Xingchu as deputy commander.
The 1st column is a backbone unit with the blood of the Red Army and the main force in the main force of our army in the northeast, and the selection of its commander should be said to be both brave and good at fighting, and to "root the red seedlings." In this way, Liang Xingchu should be the commander, so why was it Wan Yi who was finally appointed?
Wan Yi, a native of the Northeast, joined the Feng Army at the age of 18 and was deeply appreciated by Zhang Xueliang for his shrewdness and ability, and was once his personal aide-de-camp. During the "9.18" incident, wan Yi was greatly stimulated by the scene of the Northeast Army fleeing without a fight, and asked himself, "As a soldier who cannot defend his hometown, what is the significance of being a soldier?" After the Xi'an Incident, Wan Yi was imprisoned for secretly joining the "Anti-Japanese Comrades Association", until after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he took the initiative to ask for help, and was able to get out of his cell and return to the army, participating in two bloody battles in Songhu and Nanjing, and finally made him realize that "this set of old Chiang Kai-shek is really not possible" and began to seek a bright path.
Wan Yi during the Northeast Army
At the beginning of 1943, Wan Yi led a division of the Northeast Army to join the Eighth Route Army, and the number was shandong military region coastal detachment, and Wan Yi served as deputy commander and detachment leader of the military region. He led his troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese puppet army many times, dealing heavy blows to the enemy army, so much so that a famous saying was circulated in the Japanese and puppet occupation areas: "If you are not afraid of ten thousand, you are afraid of ten thousand yi." ”
After Japan's surrender, whoever can take the lead in occupying the northeast will occupy the great initiative in the overall strategy. To this end, the Yan'an side decided to form a northeast advancing column with the coastal detachment as the main one, and take the lead in marching into the northeast. In this team, there was also Xie Fang, who later served as the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army, who was also an authentic Northeasterner from the Northeast Army.
Coastal Detachment of the Eighth Route Army
When they first invaded the Kanto Region, the vast majority of the people in our army had never been to the northeast, and it was really not easy to take root in a place where they were not familiar with life, so the headquarters hoped that as many northeasterners as possible should be arranged among the troops going to the northeast, and as officers and men of the northeast army, it was their day and night to think about going back to their hometown. In this context, with Wan Yi as the commander of the 1st Column, the favorable factors are obviously more.
Under the command of Wan Yi, the 1st Column brilliantly completed the combat tasks of three times under the Jiangnan and the four Bao Linjiang, severely damaged the rival New 1st Army, annihilated the 88th Division of the 71st Army and the 89th Division of the 13th Army, and annihilated more than 40,000 enemies, showing the true colors of the main big brother.
Our troops are in training
In the summer of 1947, when the offensive was about to start, just when Wan Yi was preparing to make a big deal, Lin Zong, the chief of Northeast No. 101, talked to Wan Yi, the main meaning of which was to let him and Li Tianyou, commander of the Songjiang Military Region, change positions, let Li Tianyou be the commander of the 1st Column, and Wan Yi go to the Songjiang Military Region.
Wan Yi was completely unprepared for this. As a general who led troops on the front line, he certainly did not want to go to the rear. Although the military region also has to undertake the heavy responsibility of training troops and transporting soldiers, the burden is not light at all, but after all, it is better to show the style of professional soldiers than to fight on the battlefield. He later recalled that going to the rear was stable in life, but "emotionally unacceptable."
Wan Yi was not angry, and asked Lin Zong why he wanted to change him. Lin Zong, who has always spared words like gold, did not explain much, but coldly said a sentence "needless to say". The two broke up unhappily.
Mr. Lin is meticulous and meticulous, not only a genius in combat command, but also has his own unique features in managing and employing people. He observed Wan Yi from the side for two days and talked to him again. He is very clear that if the ideological problems of cadres are not solved, it will not be conducive to future work.
As before, Lin Zong didn't have half a word of gossip, and it was a sentence: "Some people say that you complain after you go back?" Wan Yi was inexplicable and solved.
Mr. Lin listed two performances of Wan Yi's emotional mood, one was singing an excerpt from the Peking Opera "Farewell to the Overlord" alone, which was more negative in thought; the other was to participate in a meeting, after which everyone went to take pictures and he did not go, which seemed very unsociable.
Unexpectedly, Wan Yi was amused by Lin Zong's sensitive mind. He does like Peking Opera, but he just can't sing "Farewell to the Overlord", besides, how many of the lyrics in the old opera are not negative? As for the meeting, there was no photo, it was because there was no such item in the agenda of the meeting, which belonged to whether to go or not to go, and it was not only Wan Yi who did not go.
Mr. Lin gave another choice - if you don't go to the Songjiang Military Region, you can also go to the infantry school as the principal. Wan Yi was even more reluctant, and the two broke up again.
Howitzer of our army in the northeast
Afterwards, Wan Yi felt that his attitude in front of Lin Zong was too blunt, and it was not good to get into a stalemate with his superiors. So he entrusted Liang Biye, deputy political commissar of the 1st Column, to explain to Lin Zong, saying that he obeyed the organizational arrangements, but still hoped to stay on the front line to lead the troops to fight, even if they were demoted.
A few days later, Lin Zong talked to Wan Yi again and made it clear that he did not have to go to the Songjiang Military Region or the infantry school, but stayed in the 1st column to serve as a political commissar for Li Tianyou. Lin Zong even said that as a political commissar, you can ignore other jobs, and the main task is to follow Li Tianyou to learn to fight.
Wan Yi understood that the reason why Lin Zong wanted to transfer himself away was that he still felt that his ability to command and fight was lacking, at least inferior to Li Tianyou. On this point, Wan Yi recalled many years later that he was obedient, after all, he was born in the old army, did not go to a regular military school, did not fight many battles in the past, and really lacked combat experience. Li Tianyou was a famous general as early as the Red Army period, and later stayed in the Soviet Union for 7 years, graduated from the Frunze Military Academy, and was one of the few military talents in our army who had both theory and experience.
Such a personnel arrangement, Wan Yi is satisfied. He and Li Tianyou teamed up, the two worked well together, jointly commanded four battles and four draws, and he also learned a lot from Li Tianyou. Until the establishment of the 5th Column of the Northeast Field Army, Wan Yi was transferred to the commander of the 5th Column.
The "Fifth Column", which was once a spy code name that blended into the enemy during the Spanish Civil War, had a bad reputation and was tabooed, so the field armies did not use this name, nor did Higashino initially. However, Lin Zong didn't pay much attention to these things, and Wan Yi didn't care, so Dongye had a unique 5 columns.
In his later years, Wan Yi
In hindsight, Wan Yi was the most suitable candidate to serve as the commander of the column when our army first entered the northeast, and under the unified command of Lin Zong, the performance of the 1 column was also very eye-catching, and Wan Yi was indispensable. The reason why Wan Yi was replaced before the summer offensive of 1947 was because the shape of the war had changed. With the surge in the number of troops, our army has begun to transform from mobile warfare to position warfare, and large corps operations will become the norm, which is more demanding for military commanders. And such outstanding generals as Li Tianyou, Han Xianchu, and Deng Hua must also stand in the forefront of the war, which is also a typical example of Lin Zong's sober employment.
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