Speaking of the chairman's favorite generals, Lin Biao, Xiao Hua, Chen Xilian, Chen Shiqu, and so on, are not in the minority, and they have won the trust of the chairman because of their excellent ability and unlimited loyalty to the party. One of the generals trusted by the chairman was naturally remembered, and he was Xiao Jinguang, China's first naval commander.
Those who are familiar with Xiao Jinguang's revolutionary qualifications may know that his revolutionary qualifications are very deep, comparable to that of a marshal, and he was the chairman's favorite general during the revolutionary war. In 1955, when he was awarded the title, Xiao Jinguang did not have the opportunity to marshal, not to mention, only ranked sixth among the top ten generals, ranking inferior to Huang Kecheng and Tan Zheng, political work cadres.
As the chairman's confidant, does Xiao Jinguang have the qualifications to be awarded the marshal? How senior is he? Some history military enthusiasts think that his rank as a general is a little low. Let's take a look at Xiao Jinguang's revolutionary experience.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > General Xiao Jinguang, whose seniority is not inferior to that of marshal </h1>
Xiao Jinguang was a rare intellectual general in the early days of our army, born in Changsha in January 1903, with a modest family and parents who were handicraft workers. Xiao Jinguang liked to study since he was a child, his grades were also very good, his parents were more enlightened, insisted on letting him study, and went to private school for several years.
In 1917, When Xiao Jinguang was admitted to Changjun Middle School and became acquainted with the famous Ren Bi, during his time at school, under the influence of communist ideas, he participated in anti-imperialist patriotic movements such as the "May Fourth Movement". Since 1920, Xiao Jinguang has had an "indissoluble relationship" with Russia, and he also had the privilege of meeting Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution.
That year, Xiao Jinguang joined the "Russian" Research Association and seriously studied Russian, laying a solid foundation for studying in Russia later. While learning Russian, Xiao Jinguang received a revolutionary education and joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League.
In 1921, Xiao Jinguang and Liu Shaoqi and others went to the Soviet Union to study, and the following year, Xiao Jinguang joined the Communist Party, joining the Party earlier than the Ten Marshals, and always joined the Party in the same year as Elder Zhu. During the Great Revolution, Lenin died, and Xiao Jinguang guarded his soul as the representative of the East, and he was also one of the few senior cadres of our Party who had ever seen Lenin.
During the Northern Expedition, Xiao Jinguang, under the introduction of Premier Zhou, came to the 6th Division of the 2nd Army of the National Revolutionary Army as a party representative and director of the Political Department, with the rank of lieutenant general. Among all the founding generals, Xiao Jinguang's starting point is very high, which is beyond the reach of others. After the defeat of the Revolution, Xiao Jinguang once again entered the Soviet Union to study, where he studied military and political theory and became a high-level intellectual.
During the agrarian revolution, Xiao Jinguang returned to China and held many important positions, such as the president of the Central Military and Political School, the political commissar of the Fifth Red Army, the commander and political commissar of the Red Seventh Army, and the chief of the political section of the Red Army University.
During the agrarian revolution, Xiao Jinguang's position was not low, and he still had a slight advantage over the ten generals and some marshals. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xiao Jinguang mainly protected the security of the Party Central Committee, serving as director and political commissar of the Rear Guard Office of the Eighth Route Army, and deputy commander of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Jinsui Joint Defense Army.
The superior entrusted the safety of the rear to Xiao Jinguang, indicating that he was a reliable and capable person. During the Liberation War, Xiao Jinguang mainly served as Lin Biao's assistant, with great responsibility and heavy authority, and made great contributions to the development and growth of Northeast China.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to seize the northeast, Chairman Mao appointed Lin Biao and Xiao Jinguang as commanders and deputy commanders of the Northeast Democratic United Army, respectively. Under the leadership of Lin Biao and Xiao Jinguang, the Northeast Field Army (Siye) crushed several enemy attacks and turned passive into active.
The Southern Manchurian forces commanded by Xiao Jinguang carried out the Sibao Linjiang Operation, and with the cooperation of the Northern Manchurian troops, reversed the situation on the battlefield and created favorable conditions for the subsequent counteroffensive.
At the same time, Xiao Jinguang also commanded and participated in most of the battles of the Northeast Field Army, such as attacking Changchun, using the means of "siege" to force the enemy's 100,000 troops to leave the city and surrender. During the march of Sanye south, Xiao Jinguang commanded the Zhonglu army in the Battle of Hengbao, annihilated 4 reorganized divisions of the enemy, and solved Bai Chongxi's main force.
After the south was basically liberated, the central authorities initially appointed Xiao Jinguang as the commander-in-chief of the Central and Southern Military Region, but the situation changed temporarily, and in order to meet the needs of building a navy, the chairman personally ordered the general to make Xiao Jinguang, a "dry duck," the first naval commander of New China.
In terms of battle merit, seniority, and ability, Xiao Jinguang can be comparable to marshals, surpassing many generals, especially in the early years of the revolution, the ten marshals are not as good as him. However, when he was awarded the title in 1955, Xiao Jinguang did not have the opportunity to marshal, and he only ranked sixth among the top ten generals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="49" > why Xiao Jinguang was not selected as a marshal, and the top ten generals only ranked sixth </h1>
In 1955, the conferment of titles was carried out in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Officer Service Regulations", which was generally fair, and a few had to consider "hills" or "historical issues", and the vast majority of them were evaluated according to qualifications, military merit, position and other conditions.
In the Officers' Service Regulations, the criteria for awarding a marshal are:
The first is "a senior general who has made outstanding meritorious contributions to the creation and leadership of the People's Armed Forces and the leading of the campaign corps"; the second is "the current member of the Central Military Commission"
Xiao Jinguang was satisfied with the first battle merit, but he lacked the article "creating and leading the people's armed forces", to put it bluntly, he lacked the experience of the various uprisings in the early days of the revolution, or the establishment of base areas.
The requirement of "current members of the Central Military Commission" in the second article is also inconsistent with Xiao Jinguang. As we all know, in October 1956, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China expanded, and Xiao Jinguang was appointed as a member of the Central Military Commission, and it had been more than a year since the title was awarded.
Although Xiao Jinguang's revolutionary qualifications are very old, and in some respects he is even more senior than the Ten Marshals, there is still a gap between the early construction and development of the Red Army and the Ten Marshals. It did not meet the criteria for being awarded marshal, why did Xiao Jinguang only rank sixth among the generals.
It is understandable that the ranking of the general Xiao Jinguang is behind Su Yu, after all, Su Yu has made great achievements in battle, especially during the Liberation War, as the actual military commander of Sanye, in terms of pure battle achievements, Su Yu is ahead of Xiao Jinguang.
Xu Haidong has basically faded out of the front-line troops since the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, so why can he rank second and lead Xiao Jinguang?
The main reason is that Xu Haidong is a representative of northern Shaanxi, since Liu Zidan was killed and Gao Gang committed suicide, Xu Haidong's status and prestige in the Red Army in northern Shaanxi are very high, and it is natural to choose him as a representative. In addition, Xu Haidong's contribution to the Central Red Army can be said to be very large.
After the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, Xu Haidong selflessly funded more than 5,000 oceans, which was a life-saving money for the Central Red Army at that time. Without this money, the food and clothing of the entire army would become a problem.
Huang Kecheng, who ranked third among major generals, Chen Geng, who ranked fourth, and Tan Zheng, who ranked fifth, were the representatives of various field armies. It is worth mentioning that Huang Kecheng was a master of strategy, and in the early days of the Liberation War, the strategy of seizing the northeast was proposed by him to the central government and carried out according to the instructions of the central government.
At the same time, Huang Kecheng is still a management talent, and after the liberation of Tianjin, Huang Kecheng was the first secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee, which is one of the few outstanding talents in our army to govern large cities.
Tan Zheng is a special talent, who has long held the role of director of the political department of the military; our army is an army that stresses "politics." Tan Zheng belongs to this talent, and it is reasonable that the general ranks high. From a comprehensive point of view, Xiao Jinguang's ranking of sixth in the ranking of generals is not low.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the whole army was full of talents, the ranking was very fierce, Xiao Jinguang was indeed very good, taking into account various actual conditions and regulations, conferring on him as a general was not a high award, nor was it a low award.
It is worth mentioning that there is an unverified statement: Xiao Jinguang was cultivated by the chairman, and the chairman deliberately gave him a lower rank in order to avoid suspicion. Of course, the credibility of this situation is not very high, and there is no need for the Chairman to do so.