Author: Old Streets and Alleys
In the decades-long career of founding lieutenant general Zhou Xihan, three characteristics are the most prominent:
First, although he was injured, he did not leave a scar.
Second, there are not many friends, but they are the "hardcore brothers" of Chen Geng, Chen Kang, Xu Shiyou, Li Chengfang and others. Everyone knew that "Xu Monk" was very bullish in fighting, but he only respected Zhou Xihan very much.
The third is his wit and purity. In the eyes of some old comrades-in-arms and old superiors who have worked with Zhou Xihan, his high level is more like a kind of "pride and complacency". In this regard, General Du Yide also made a special comment, holding that commanders who can command and have extraordinary performance in our army have more or less the weakness of pride and complacency, and the fierce general Zhou Xihan is no exception. Later, when the battle was fought better and better, and the merit was greater, the more obvious his characteristics became.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Geng, the commander of the 386th Brigade, talked to Zhou Xihan and said that if he were not proud and complacent, he would be able to become a brigade commander after fighting a few more battles, and when the time came, Chen Geng would make him chief of staff. Zhou Xihan smiled and said, "Brigadier General, how dare I make you my chief of staff?" The weakness of my 'pride' cannot be changed. ”
General Zhou Xihan
After the victory at the Battle of Yushe in 1940, the commander of the 386th Brigade, Chen Geng (left), and Zhou Xihan (right) took photos on the battlefield
In October 1945, after graduating from the military academy, Zhou Xihan went to the 4th Column 10 brigade as a brigade commander. On the way back to Taiyue, he rendezvoused with his troops and then led his warriors to the Battle of Tongpu and attacked Zhao Cheng.
The predecessor of the 10th Brigade was his old unit, the 386th Brigade. However, Zhou Xihan had been out of the army for more than a year, and it was reasonable to say that he should first understand the situation of the troops before making arrangements, but the situation at that time did not allow it. On the way to ZhaoCheng, Zhou Xihan listened to the reports of political commissar Liu Zhong, deputy brigade commander Chu Daming, and others, and then, despite his fatigue, read the instructions and action plans of his superiors on this operation while marching. Turning it over, he had a doubt: the plan looked very thorough, but it did not carry out the chairman's request, that is, to quickly cut off the Tongpu line and block the enemy's northward movement with all his might. Others didn't see it, but he had his own opinion. With the overall situation at stake, he put aside the clichés that might be called "sharp" and "proud" and applied to his superiors to revise the plan.
He summoned Political Commissar Liu and Deputy Commander Chu and expressed his views: This plan to capture Zhao Cheng will not be difficult to implement. However, the purpose of the Chairman's launch of the Tongpu Campaign was to prevent Hu Zongnan from continuing to transfer troops to the north, so that Liu and Deng's army could successfully launch the Handan Campaign. For now, we must think holistically. If the 10th Brigade's movements were detected by the enemy and Hu Zongnan was allowed to deploy troops in advance, it would take only two days to reach Linfen; while the Yan army used the railway line to go south from Taiyuan and arrive in half a day. The development of the war situation in this direction is obviously extremely unfavorable to our army.
Chu Daming asked Zhou Xihan to see what he had. Zhou Xihan pointed out that the troops can make a fuss about "concealment." The troops canceled all rest plans, set out from the early morning, before the ordinary people got up, crossed the more populated area into Huoshan; after entering Huoshan, they took advantage of the mountainous terrain and concealment to increase the speed of the march, and strived to reach the Shuitou Village at the mountain pass before dusk, and then hide and wait. As for Zhou Xihan, he himself will lead the three regimental commanders of the 10th Brigade and the brigade headquarters to take the lead in greeting the advance reconnaissance personnel at Shuitou Village and listening to the report, and then arrange the combat tasks in person. In addition, giving full play to the hongzhao guerrilla brigade's familiarity with the terrain, it bypassed the village at dusk, led each detachment directly to the enemy's peripheral stronghold, and took advantage of the enemy's meal to suddenly launch an attack, catching the enemy by surprise, and striving to clear the periphery before midnight on August 17, and after breaking through the city pass, it turned into siege warfare.
According to Zhou Xihan's deployment, on the night of the 16th, the various units of the 10th Brigade, which had entered the position in advance, suddenly launched a fierce attack on Zhao Cheng. Half a day's effort was made to end the peripheral battle and turn to the siege. The three roads of the east, south and north attacked continuously, and after 5 hours, they finally completely annihilated the defenders of Zhao Cheng. The more than 300 remnants of the soldiers who fled west were also captured by the 20 regiments.
In this battle, the 10th Brigade successfully killed more than 200 enemy people and captured more than 1,700 people under the enemy's "supervision commander" Zhang Rongfan. In the first battle, a great victory was fought with the Pu Line, and the whole brigade was full of joy.
In the Battle of Tongpu, officers and men of our army attacked along the railway line
Zhou Xihan (a telescope holder) who personally commanded the battle on the front line
After the war, when Zhou Xihan reported to Chen Geng, he bluntly said that he "when he first began to change the battle plan, he had no confidence. Chen Geng told him, "What is there to be afraid of?" After reading a book for a year, will you command a war? Zhou Xihan said: "This is not true, but I am afraid that some comrades will say that I am 'proud and complacent'." Chen Geng also smiled: "I can have such a proud personality, but I am not tripped by pride, and I am quite capable!" ”
However, because of the saying of "pride and complacency", Zhou Xihan's promotion was affected to a certain extent. It was not until the end of the Battle of Huaihai that he was changed from brigade commander to commander of the 10th Army. To this end, Commissar Deng of Erye also talked to him specifically. As soon as we met, Commissar Deng asked, "In the past 10 years, we have deliberately suppressed your promotion. You could have become a military commander a long time ago, do you know why you were only promoted now? ”
Zhou Xihan is also quite self-aware, believing that his "pride and complacency" emotions have the greatest impact. Deng Gong told him that the reason why he was not promoted was to stop his pride. For a commander, being too complacent is likely to put the entire force in danger.
As a senior commander and fighter, Zhou Xihan could not be unclear. But in the face of the old chief's reminder, he still didn't care: "Of course I know this, but it's hard to change it." Deng Gong listened very seriously, and actually slapped the table and demanded that he must change it, otherwise how could he look like a senior commander?
Zhou Xihan in his later years (middle)
Compared with other founding generals, Zhou Xihan in his later years neither wrote memoirs nor rarely helped others review them. Once, his secretary encouraged him to write a memoir, saying, "We can't learn 101 (Note: Lin Biao's code name during the war years)." In the past, 101 always acted as if the whole country was beaten by him. Now I say that our two wild credits are great, and tomorrow others say that their credit is great, what is the point of this? Writing memoirs is a good thing, but it is not a good thing to write too much, to write excessively, and even to elevate yourself by writing memoirs. How can a living person who claims to be a hero be worthy of those who have sacrificed? Are such war histories, military histories, and memoirs useful? History is not written. ”
The secretary believes that only through his hands can the truest history be left to future generations. But Zhou Xihan's pride and high temper came up, and he still refused to join in this hilarity.
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