In 1955, in order to regularize the construction, our army held a ceremony to award titles and medals, especially the requirements of the August 1st Medal of the first class are very high, and it is possible to obtain them only if they have been cadres at the first level of the Red Army division. Of course, this is not absolute, there are also special cases, such as today we introduced one, never been a grassroots Red Army, but as soon as he joined the Red Army, he was appointed deputy division commander. He was Zhang Huimin, who had served as the deputy commander of the 41st Division of the 14th Army of the Fifth Red Army.
Zhang Huimin was in December 1931, following Zhao Bosheng and Dong Zhentang led 17,000 people to participate in the Ningdu Uprising, transferred the muzzle of the gun to join the Red Army collectively, and later this unit was reorganized and trained militarily, known as the Red Fifth Army, which was a strong combat effectiveness of the year, this team participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" operation after the uprising, very heroic, especially in the ganzhou defeat and the Zhangzhou Campaign, which was unanimously praised by the senior leaders of the Red Army. Especially in the Long March of the Red Army a few years later, the Red Fifth Army was revered by the leaders as the "Iron Stream Defender", they were brave and good at fighting, so that the enemy was frightened, after the founding of the Country, this team emerged a large number of founding generals and leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels.
Of course, Zhang Huimin, who was appointed deputy division commander as soon as he joined the Red Army, left the Red Army for various reasons shortly after he joined the Red Army, did not want to be the deputy division commander, and decided to return to his hometown to farm for a living. In the days when he farmed at home, his neighbors called him honest and clear-cut, approachable, very sympathetic to poor families, and even those who had festivals with their families before did not remember old grievances and generously helped.
Although Zhang Huimin did not want the Red Army to return to his hometown, he wanted to live a peaceful life, after all, he was famous, at that time, some Kuomintang officers in his hometown in the white area still came to the door, and he could not help himself to join the army again, this time participating in the Yang Hucheng Department of the Nationalist Army, and serving as a regimental attached post, during this period, he was bitterly worried, very regret that he should not have left the Red Army, and hereby wrote a poem:
Regretting the past, the tears have fallen when the heart is not sour. In this life, all the merits are mistaken, and the heroes are urged by the years.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Huimin followed the troops to the front line of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and participated in the very famous "Battle of Taierzhuang". Because of his merits on the battlefield, he was promoted to regimental commander and then colonel deputy brigade commander.
In November 1943, the Japanese army gathered about 100,000 people from 7 divisions and regiments to attack Changde, and Zhang Huimin led his troops and brother troops to rely on the position to stubbornly block the enemy step by step, delaying the Japanese attack and giving the enemy a major attrition. At that time, Zhang Huimin was serving as the deputy brigade commander of the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division, and because major general Lai Chuanxiang was ill, he often left the unit for medical treatment, and in fact he had full authority to command this unit to participate in the battle, for which he was commended by his superiors.
At that time, the Japanese army of 60,000 people attacked Changde in three ways, this important town in western Hunan was a distribution center for local goods, and at that time, the fortified Changde troops knew that they could not stop it, and Changde was in danger, and Zhang Huimin and other units of the Tenth Army stationed in the area of Hengshan were ordered to rush to reinforcements.
After seven days of long marching, Zhang Huimin finally reached the hills and jungles 70 miles south of Deshan Mountain, that is, to fight with the Japanese army, one for the left wing, zhang Huimin and one for the frontal attack, after a hard fight, first defeated the enemy at Zhao JiaQiao in Changde, forcing the Japanese army to lead the Ninth Regiment as the front guard of the Third Division. The Japanese Third Division and the 13th Division retreated more than 30 miles with nearly 10,000 men. The next day, the retreating Japanese army hoped for reinforcements, and immediately began to pounce, and suddenly the troops on all fronts began a fierce battle.
Zhang Huimin was tasked with counter-attacking the Japanese occupation of Deshan, which was located 10 miles southeast of Changde, the only commanding height on the south bank of the Yuan River, an important barrier in Changde, and the Japanese army had firmly controlled this mountain, at that time, Zhang Huimin's troops came to Lujiaoping and Yanjiachong to the front line, planned to attack Deshan, and after more than a dozen bloody battles between the two sides, finally recaptured Deshan. To this end, the commander of the theater also hereby presented a commendation telegram: "Celebrating the Detailed Division's Bloody Battle of Kede Mountain, Loyalty and Courage to Watch Heaven and Earth, Special Award of 100,000 Yuan."
However, the Japanese army that lost this strategic important area was not willing to accept its own defeat, and soon after, the Japanese army under the cover of aircraft and artillery made a fierce attack on the Deshan position, and also indulged poison to help the battle, and the superior ordered Zhang Huimin's troops to defend Deshan, and he and the soldiers calmly fought, and the enemy could not attack repeatedly.
However, the japanese army, which was bound to gain, increased its strength, and with the support of aircraft, indiscriminately bombarded the positions south of Deshan, and at the same time, it attacked fiercely with machine guns and mortars, and then attacked with poison, and for a while Zhang Huimin's troops fell into a situation of being isolated and helpless and running out of ammunition and food. In the evening of the battle, Zhang Huimin's various positions were destroyed, and the entire battalion and battalion were all killed, and in the face of this situation, Zhang Huimin shouted: "This is exactly when we take revenge on snow and hatred, and if we don't succeed, we will become a ren!" "The sound has not yet been exhausted, he was shot several times, heroic martyrdom, at the age of 38. In the place of his sacrifice, there are still stone monuments.
Zhang Huimin martyr, formerly known as Zhang Zhirun, a native of Zhangjiawan, Chonghe Township, Pingli County, Shaanxi Province, was admitted to the First Senior Primary School in Pingli County as a teenager. He was sincere and simple, loved history lessons, especially loved to listen to the stories of national heroes, and hated the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, the loss of power and humiliation of the country. As soon as the school graduated, he joined the military camp, and from then on began his career as a platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander and other positions, after the Central Plains War, the unit was reorganized into the Twenty-sixth Route Army, and was ordered to enter Jiangxi Ningdu to encircle and suppress the Red Army, and his position was attached to the major regiment. When the Twenty-sixth Route Army revolted in Ningdu, Zhang Huimin expressed his resolute support for abandoning the dark and surrendering to the Ming, and because of his ideological progress, he was appointed deputy division commander of the Red Army after the success of the uprising, but unfortunately he took a wrong step and left the Red Army.
After Zhang Huimin's death, his body was buried in Yuelu Mountain, Changsha, and the Nationalist government posthumously awarded him the title of major general of the army. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was approved as a revolutionary martyr by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China because of his meritorious deeds in resisting foreign invaders.