Among the founding generals, there has never been a shortage of people with arrogant personalities, and it is precisely because of "pride" that they can be invincible on the battlefield and play a soaring spirit. Among them, the most arrogant is Zhou Xihan.
It is such a fierce general with great achievements in battle, but the image is very different from what is imagined. Zhou Xihan is too thin, thin as if weak and can't help the wind, he is also known as "the world's thin", many people see his first glance, they subconsciously feel that he and the identity of the fierce general do not match.
On August 27, 1913, Zhou Xihan was born in Zhoujia'ao Village, Shunhe Town, Macheng City, Hubei Province. As a child of a poor family, Zhou Xihan began to grope in society when he was a few years old. In the years of wandering in society, Zhou Xihan also fell into the vice of smoking. It is said that Zhou Xihan was only seven or eight years old when he smoked, but the smoke accompanied Zhou Xihan throughout his life.
Zhou Xihan was like joining the Red Army when he was 13 years old, but where his father was willing, the Zhou family was such an incense, but Zhou Qiyao understood his son's character, and no one could stop him. Within a few days, Zhou Qiyao had a plan and wanted to tie his son's heart with marriage.
On this day, the house was covered with red lanterns, happy words were posted everywhere, firecrackers were sounded, and relatives and neighbors came to eat. At night, the bride waited for the groom in the room, but Zhou Xihan took advantage of the reason of sending the guests and ran out with a cigarette.
The matter of newlyweds fleeing is actually not unusual among the founding generals, such as General Chen Geng who did this.
On November 13, 1927, more than 30,000 peasant self-defense troops and volunteer soldiers in Huang'an and Macheng, Hubei Province, attacked the county seat of Huang'an County, firing the first shot of armed resistance against the Kuomintang rightists in the Eyu-Anhui region! The 14-year-old Zhou Xihan was very brave, and he was deeply inspired to participate in the uprising resolutely. He joined the Red Army in 1928 with outstanding ability.
According to relevant records, during the agrarian revolutionary war, Zhou Xihan served as the commander of the communications squad of the Independent Battalion in Macheng County, the platoon leader and company political instructor of the Independent Regiment, the secretary of the Communist Youth League Committee of the Thirty-eighth Regiment of the Red Thirteenth Division, the staff officer of the headquarters of the Red Fourth Front, the chief of the Operations Section and the leader of the teaching team of the Red Ninth Army, and the chief of the Operations Section and the commander of the Teaching Battalion of the Thirty-first Army.
In June 1933, Zhou Xihan was appointed chief of the operations section of the Red 9th Army. In 1934, Zhou Xihan, then the section chief of the Red 9th Army, led more than 500 people directly under the army to intersperse the Middle red 25th Division and the 27th Division, and together with the troops, they pursued and annihilated the enemy. Despite the long-term actual combat training, Zhou Xihan's figure is still very thin, and he looks very fragile at first glance. But when he went into battle to kill the enemy, Zhou Xihan completely changed into a person. He looked thin, but his aura was very powerful. Under his leadership, his army was like a tiger. After that, he followed the Long March of the Red Fourth Front.
In the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhou Xihan led his troops to sabotage the Japanese army's sweep many times, at that time, as long as the people saw Zhou Xihan, it meant that they were safe, and seeing Zhou Xihan meant that the Japanese who had a good life around them were all beaten away, and there was such a song: "Little Japan, you can hear clearly, there is Chen Geng on Mount Taiyue." Little Japan, don't mess around, let you touch Last Week's Hihan! ”
In February 1939, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army ambushed Xiangchenggu, known as the "First Battle of the Plains Annihilation of the Enemy". So far, it is recorded in historical materials that it was commanded by brigade commander Chen Geng and deputy brigade commander Xu Shiyou.
Not really.
Decades later, when awarding the title, Xu Shiyou saw Chen Geng and joked: "During the War of Resistance, the Japanese army always said that Brigadier Chen never lost the battle. In my opinion, most of the battles were commanded by Zhou Xihan. ”
Chen Geng laughed loudly: "Old Xu, XiangchengGu Battle, Zhou Xihan's first independent command, you, a general, Wei Jie, a lieutenant general, and Han Dongshan, a major general, together obey his orders, the battle is so good, old Jiang Du sent a telegram to commend, you say, I command him what else can not let go?" I'm not so conservative! ”
The Eighth Route Army was ready to launch the "Hundred Regiments War" that would later become famous for thousands of years. During the strategic discussions, the plan was that the first stage of the "Hundred Regiments War" would require the capture of the Zhengtai Railway. After a careful examination, the Eighth Route Army was ready to divide into three forces for an attack —left wing, right wing, and center. At that time, General Zhou Xihan was appointed commander of the left commando.
In the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, the Japanese army dispatched 7 infantry brigades, a total of more than 6,000 people, to form 3 detachments, and the soldiers were divided into multiple roads to attack the area around Mafang and Zhanshang. The Japanese offensive was fierce, the Eighth Route Army fought fiercely with the Japanese army at Yangerling for half an hour, the main position was lost, Liu, Deng, Yang (Shang Kun), Luo (Ruiqing), Lu (Ding) and other leaders were here. Liu Bocheng had no troops to adjust, and at the critical moment, Zhou Xihan led a large army to arrive and solve the dilemma. Since then, everyone in the military has called Zhou Xihan "Zhao Zilong in the army".
On August 15, 1945, the War of Resistance was finally victorious, but not long after, dark clouds began to cover the sky over the base. Hu Zongnan, Yan Xishan, and others regarded the strategically important Taiyue district as a piece of fat.
In October 1945, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army was developed into the 10th Brigade of the 4th Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army, and Zhou Xihan served as the commander of the 10th Brigade. At this time, the commander of the fourth column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army was None other than Zhou Xihan's old leader, Chen Geng .
When it was still the 386th Brigade, the 386th Brigade also had a "three sons" title.
At that time, Chen Geng was called a cripple because of his bad legs and feet, the political commissar Wang Xinting was called blind because of his myopia, Zhou Xihan was called a thin man because of his lean stature, and the 386th Brigade was also called the "Three Sons" Brigade, which showed that Zhou Xihan was a concubine who followed Chen Geng from the 386 Brigade.
When faced with the sharp front of Hu Zongnan's so-called "first brigade under the heavens", Zhou Xihan was not afraid, but instead smashed this ace unit that made the Nationalist army proud.
In September 1947, Liu Deng's army approached Dabie Mountain, and Chen Xie's army approached Funiu Mountain.
Advancing into western Henan, Zhou Xihan, commander of the 10th Brigade, smuggled himself across the Yellow River with the 29th Regiment and ordered wu Xiaomin, the commander of the 29th Regiment, to enter Shishan Mountain. Wu Xiaomin raised the submachine gun to charge first, and the brigade commander Zhou Xihan also picked up the submachine gun and followed behind. Conquer Stone Mountain in less than 3 hours.
In the winter of that year, Zhou Xihan led the 10th Brigade to attack Yuxian Alone, and 1 brigade overtook 2 divisions of the enemy army, capturing Wu Tinglin, commander of the enemy's 15th Division, and Li Tiejun, the commander of the 3rd Division.
The lieutenant general was still unconvinced when he was taken prisoner, and said to Zhou Xihan and Chen Geng: "If you set up a position according to the exercise code, where are you an opponent?" "
It's so dull that it's hard to be undefeated.
In the Liberation War, the arrogance of Zhou Xihan completely disappeared, and he truly grew into a famous general with both wisdom and courage. He led his troops from the high slopes of the loess to the tropical rainforest, killing 64 officers above major general of the Nationalist Army, including 7 lieutenant generals and 57 major generals.
In February 1949, Zhou Xihan was promoted to commander of the 13th Army of Erye. On the day of his promotion, Deng Xiaoping, the political commissar of Erye, summoned him and said, "Zhou Xihan, in the past ten years, we have deliberately suppressed you in your use. You should have been a military commander long ago. I don't know why I haven't mentioned you until now? ”
Zhou Xihan asked indifferently, "Is it because I am too proud?" ”
Deng Xiaoping said: "It turns out that you are still a little self-aware, yes, that is, to kill your pride!" ”
Zhou Xihan smiled: "Jiangshan is easy to change, and its nature is difficult to move." I know that this shortcoming of mine is that I can't change it. ”
Deng Xiaoping slapped the table and said, "If you can change it, you have to change it, if you can't change it, you have to change it, you must change it!" ”
Zhou Xihan did not speak again. But as soon as he went out, he smiled at the guards and said, "It's been decades, how to change it?" ”
Regarding his "pride", Zhou Xihan explained it like this: "My brain shell is two circles smaller than others, and if I don't love to think, I can't compare with others." After pondering for a long time, there will be few words, and people will say that I am proud, and there is really no way! ”
Zhou Xihan said, "My brain shell is two circles smaller than others", which is indeed the case. Anyone who has seen General Zhou will be deeply impressed by his "thinness", and he himself is quite self-satisfied, claiming to be "the thinnest in the world". Until his old age, he proudly said: "I have fought for so many years, why don't I have a scar on my body?" It's because I'm thin, the target is small, and the bullet can't hit. ”
After the founding of New China, he successively served as the commander of the Thirteenth Army of the Fourth Corps of the People's Liberation Army, the deputy commander of the Navy and the chief of staff of the Navy, participated in the leadership and organization of construction, and devoted all his efforts to building a strong force.
He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955 after Zhou Xihan was promoted to lieutenant general.
As a high-ranking general, in Zhou Xihan's later years, he was approached by many publishing houses, hoping that he could write an autobiography for publication, but he refused. In this regard, Zhou Xihan warned his children: "Fighting a war is not a matter of one person, a soldier is a soldier, he will be a general, a marshal is a marshal, one is indispensable, and the credit is never his own." ”
Later, he said to his family: "If a battle is written into an autobiography and memoir, if the commander, the deputy commander, and the political commissar are all written in autobiographies and memoirs, it will become three versions, three battles. History is not written like this! ”
In 1988, Zhou Xihan was admitted to the hospital for a fracture, but no one could have imagined that just because of the fracture, he died suddenly at 2 o'clock in the night at the age of 75.