1965, a ward in a hospital in Shanghai. In front of General Liu Yalou's bed, medical staff were anxiously carrying out another round of rescue.
After the doctor's unremitting efforts, General Liu finally slowly opened his eyes.
Looking at the medical staff coming and going in front of you, Liu Yalou knew that he had defeated the god of death again. But at the same time, he also knew very well that he would not be far from that day.
He called the doctor who had just finished the examination for him and made three requests to him with repeated instructions.
Listening to General Liu's repeated words, the medical staff present were deeply moved and couldn't help but shed tears.
So what exactly did Liu Yalou, who was terminally ill, put forward? Why did the medical staff present cry when they heard this?
Two-time relationship
Liu Yalou was originally named Liu Zhendong and was born in a poor peasant family in Wuping County, Fujian Province. Because his mother died prematurely and his biological father had no ability to raise him, he adopted him to his good friend Liu Dexiang.
Fortunately, although his adoptive father was not rich, he loved him very much. He not only regarded him as his biological child, but also spared no effort to support his study and study skills.
Liu Yalou was in the period of rapid development of China's revolutionary cause. With the ambition to save the country, he quickly joined the revolution and participated in the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army .
After joining the army, Liu Yalou made rapid progress as one of the few "scholars" in the army who knows and writes a certain amount of knowledge. In a few years, he went from squad leader and platoon leader to political commissar of the regiment and political commissar of the division.
Later, due to his outstanding performance, Liu Yalou was appointed by the Party Central Committee to study at the Soviet Union's Fulong Cheese Military Academy.
In the ninth year of the Soviet Union, Liu Yalou not only successfully completed his studies, but also participated in the Soviet Union's Red Army and directly participated in the Soviet Union's Patriotic War , becoming a major officer in the Soviet army. After returning to my country, Liu Yalou also made great achievements in the battle to liberate the Northeast and Tianjin .
However, just as Liu Yalou was about to go to the new battlefield, an "accident" changed his life trajectory.
1949, Liu Yalou was ordered to be transferred to the commander of the 14th Corps of the People's Liberation Army. Since it was necessary to hand over the work at the former Field Army Command, Liu Yalou did not go south with the troops as soon as possible.
html In mid-May, when Liu Yalou was handed over and about to leave, he suddenly received an order and Chairman Mao wanted to talk to him.
hurried to Chairman Mao’s residence. The Chairman’s straightforward words made Liu Yalou stunned.
" Liu Yalou, the war was good, and he had eaten foreign bread in the Soviet Union for several years. Do you want to go to heaven to see, how about you being responsible for forming the Air Force? "
to build the Air Force? How can someone who can't even take a plane to get there?
" Chairman, I studied in the Soviet Union for several years and was also the Army. I am afraid the Air Force will not be able to do it. " Liu Yalou quickly refused.
" OK, I just want you, a person who thinks you can't do it. "
Seeing that the chairman seemed to have made up his mind, Liu Yalou could only agree with the slightest.
But in fact, Chairman Mao personally ordered Liu Yalou to be responsible for the construction of the new Chinese Air Force , which was not a whim. But a long time ago, Liu Yalou had already formed an indissoluble bond with the "aircraft".
1 In April 1932, the Red Army had just captured Zhangzhou and confiscated an aircraft that was injured in the battle.
At that time, the "plane" was a very rare object among the vast majority of the poor Red Army.
After hearing the news, many senior commanders and soldiers came over, wanting to see what magical thing this is, which naturally also includes Liu Yalou!
At that time, Liu Yalou was already the political commissar of the 11th Division, but he did not look like a cadre at all. He drilled the plane up and down, and looked like he had to understand even if he wanted to remove the iron lump .
After seeing this, Chairman Mao said half-jokingly: "We have the conditions in the future, and the Air Force must do it."
But the Red Army at that time was poor and was surrounded and suppressed by the Kuomintang army all day long. It was not realistic to build the Air Force! Until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Committee of our Party established the first aviation school in Northeast China in March 1946.
At that time, due to lack of experience and no technology, the development of aviation schools was very slow. So in the spring of the following year, Liu Yalou, who was then the chief of staff of th Field, served as the principal of the aviation school under the will of Chairman Mao and others.
In the extreme lack of navigation equipment, Liu Yalou called on everyone to run the school with a thrifty spirit of "getting chicken bones".
. Under the leadership of Liu Yalou, Northeast Aviation School developed well, which trained the first batch of pilots and technical backbones for our party, and laid the foundation for the subsequent air force construction.
It is precisely because of this experience that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou both thought of Liu Yalou when they decided to choose the Air Force Division.
Vomit the heart to cast the "Great Wall"
Liu Yalou As a soldier, "obeying orders is the first duty." So since Chairman Mao ordered him to build the Air Force, he should overcome all fear of difficulties and build the Air Force in a solid manner!
So before the appointment letter was released, Liu Yalou had already been working. But it is not just the word "difficulty" to build a "Great Wall in the Sky" from the ruins of the old society in a short period of time.
It was early summer of the year. The Communist Party of China, which "entered Beijing to take the exam", had not yet begun the exam, but it was in serious danger in Beijing, the capital city that was about to become the heart of the regime.
A group of American-made bombers flew from Taiwan, 30 bombs dropped bombs at low altitudes in Beijing's territory with an extremely unrestrained attitude.
The threat from the air once again pressed a heavy rock in the hearts of Chairman Mao and the newly appointed Air Force Commander Liu Yalou.
htmlOn July 2, Liu Shaoqi, who led a delegation to visit the Soviet Union, received instructions from the Party Central Committee to inform the Soviet authorities of our country's idea of building an air force and requested assistance to the Soviet Union.
After receiving the Soviet side's reply that "can be discussed in detail", Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and others immediately notified Liu Yalou and asked him to go to the Soviet Union immediately to replace Liu Shaoqi in charge of negotiations with the Soviet Union.
On the eve of the Soviet Union, Liu Yalou, who could not fall asleep for a long time, was both excited and nervous. He knew clearly that the result of his career would largely determine the efficiency of China's air force construction in the future.
Fortunately, the negotiations lived up to the hard work. The Soviet Union finally promised to help China establish the first six aviation schools and a repair shop, and sent more than 800 experts to China for support.
After returning to China, Liu Yalou, who had just experienced a long-distance "travel", did not care about his physical fatigue and immediately devoted himself to the location selection and preparation work of the aviation school.
On October 24, Soviet experts arrived in China. The next day, Liu Yalou officially received the appointment of the Air Force Commander.
days later, Liu Yalou presided over the establishment of relevant aviation schools in the newly established Aviation Army Conference Room and issued an order to each department:
"Schools must all start on December 1!"
According to the normal school running speed, it will take at least four or five months for a school to be established. Six schools are being built at the same time, and only one month has passed, so the difficulty can be imagined.
But Liu Yalou and the participants knew that the construction of the Chinese Air Force was imminent and could not be delayed in one day!
" starts school according to time, is a hero; delays the start of school, is a bear, see the final record on December 1! "
In order to boost morale and to motivate everyone, Liu Yalou put a tight spell on the working group at the end of the meeting.
After preparation day and night, the total number of six aviation schools with more than 1,000 people all started school smoothly on December 1 as scheduled.
And from that day on, People's Air Force is also destined to become the "hero" of the people, just like Liu Yalou's words.
When the aviation school students were in full swing, Liu Yalou, who was the helmsman, had already devoted himself to the construction of various logistics work such as airport construction, aviation engineering construction, combat service support, and air construction logistics support at a time of time.
In order to build the "Air Force Great Wall", Liu Yalou worked hard and forgot to eat and sleep in the past year. Finally, in June of the following year, the first air force of the People's Liberation Army, the 4th Mixed Brigade of the Air Force, was officially established.
This means that the Chinese Air Force has achieved a "zero breakthrough"! But such achievements are far from satisfying Liu Yalou. He knew that the best troops were tempered by war, and the Chinese Air Force also needed such an opportunity!
Iron Wings destroy the strong enemy
However, soon, the opportunity comes! In June 1950, the Korean War broke out, and then the war spread rapidly and soon burned to the Yalu River on the Sino-North Korea border!
In order to ensure national security, Chairman Mao and other central leaders made the strategic decision to " Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea " after careful consideration. However, there were differences in the central government's opinions on whether combat troops should include the Air Force.
But a few days later, according to the instructions of the Central Military Commission, decided: Air Force will participate in the war!
Just like that, the Air Force, which has just been born less than 5 months ago, is about to go to the battlefield. And they are facing the US Air Force, which has been in military force for many years and has strong combat power!
Not only are they well equipped and have a large number of fighter jets, but most of the pilots participating in the battle have been baptized by World War II and have very sufficient combat experience.
. The Chinese Air Force not only has poor equipment quality, but also has no experience in participating in the war. Even due to restrictions on conditions, most fighter pilots have only a few dozen hours of air flight training time.
But the eagle must spread its wings. Liu Yalou also knows that only after experiencing the baptism of war can our new People's Air Force truly grow into an air combat force that can be trusted by the Party and the people.
But directly letting the air force go to the battlefield is undoubtedly a waste of sacrifice. After continuous thinking and tactical discussion, Liu Yalou reported to the Party Central Committee that our army's fighter can participate in air combat exercises in batches under the leadership of friendly Soviet troops, starting from small battles and gradually expanding the scale of the battle.
1 On January 21, 2019, our air combat troops finally ushered in the first frontal combat.
At noon that day, the US military dispatched a batch of F-84 fighter jets to sabotage and bomb the railway line from North Korea to Xin'an. Under the order of the division commander Fang Ziyi, our 28th Brigade dispatched 8 battles to face the enemy.
26-year-old captain Li Han and his comrades went around the enemy's rear with roundabout tactics, aimed and decisively fired the cannon, injuring the enemy's fighter plane in one fell swoop, winning the first air battle victory.
A week later, Li Han led his team to fight again, and shot down and injured one enemy plane again, while our army had no casualties, achieving a huge victory.
Two air battles won, completely shattering the myth of the invincible US Air Force.
Later, in order to further summarize the experience and make better strategic arrangements, Liu Yalou personally went deep into the pilot, summarized the theory of experience improvement, and further proposed the air combat tactic of "one domain, multi-layer, four and four systems".
Under this tactical guidance, our army crushed the "stranger battle" between the US military dispatched more than 100 aircraft to fight our side and friendly forces in September 1951. At the same time, in February 1952, 46 American aircraft were shot down and 6 were injured with 1:3 casualties.
In the battle, the brave and fearless pilots not only killed the enemy's "Ace" pilot Davis, but also shot down and captured his "Double Ace" pilot Feishel .
During the entire two and a half years of battle, our army won a huge victory of shooting down 330 enemy planes and injuring 95 planes, which made the arrogant Americans exclaim: China has become a strong air force overnight!
Danxin Shows the Year of the Year
After the end of the Korean War, based on the summary of war experience, Liu Yalou focused on the pilot's flight training and improving the combat capabilities of the troops.
However, since 1957, the Chiang Kai-shek army in Taiwan has relied on the support of the United States and used advanced electronic reconnaissance aircraft, unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, etc. to fly to important military sites of our army several times.
Fighters at airports along my country took off several flights to intercept, but due to insufficient ceiling and inability to locate and attack the enemy planes, the enemy planes retreated calmly. The failure of
air security angered Chairman Mao, and Liu Yalou, the commander who directly assumed the heavy responsibility of air defense , felt much pressure.
In order to "fundamentally reverse the passive situation of air defense operations", Liu Yalou ordered the organization of safari squadrons from several brigades to guard the airport where enemy planes often appear.
At the same time, he accelerated his movements and quickly formed the first surface-to-air missile force of the People's Liberation Army to join air defense operations.
1962, Liu Yalou personally took the command of the ground guidance battalion and shot down the invading U-2 reconnaissance aircraft for the first time. On October 7, the Second Earth Guide Battalion shot down the invading enemy RB-57D reconnaissance aircraft for the first time. It has created a record of shooting down enemy aircraft with surface-to-air missiles in the world's air defense history.
But due to the hard work day and night, Liu Yalou's body was also rapidly losing under the tempering of time!
964, Liu Yalou followed Comrade Li Xiannian, then Vice Premier, to Romania for a visit.
During the visit, Liu Yalou often suffered from diarrhea and abdominal distension. But even so, he is still paying attention to military work at all times when he is abroad.
After returning to China, Liu Yalou's condition not only did not relieve it, but became more serious. But Liu Yalou insisted that he had little physical problems. For the sake of work, he endured the torture of illness again and again!
On July 23, Chairman Mao met with Liu Yalou and all commanders of the Second Surface and Air Missile Battalion at the People's Congress Party.
Looking at the Air Force soldiers who had already achieved obvious results, Chairman Mao also joked with Liu Yalou and asked him: "Make a plan. The U-2 aircraft of Chiang Kai-shek are not enough for us to fight."
But just half a month later, Liu Yalou fell completely ill.
On September 21, 2018, Liu Yalou finally went to Union Hospital for examination under the constant persuasion of his wife. Diagnosed with severe liver cancer .
News came, and Chairman Mao immediately sent a letter to Liu Yalou, who was hospitalized.
"I am very worried about you when I hear you are sick. You must recuperate carefully and listen to the doctor's words. Don't neglect it."
Many Liu Yalou's comrades and colleagues also rushed to the hospital to visit.
Seeing that his colleagues often went to the hospital to visit him again and again because of his condition recurrence, Liu Yalou felt deeply guilty.
So after being pulled back from the gate of hell by the doctor again, he pulled the doctor and medical staff and told him three words.
- He asked the doctor to tell the comrades who came to visit that he had suffered from hepatitis, so his liver was damaged.
- It was just because of his fatigue in work in recent years that his liver was affected a little.
- His situation has improved so everyone should not worry about it.
In addition, he was worried that the medical staff would not convey it clearly and could not unify the caliber, so he insisted that everyone repeat it in front of him before he could stop.
On July 7, 1965, 55-year-old Liu Yalou died of illness. And in the last few days of his life, he kept talking about the preparation of the Air Force Regulations and instructed everyone: After the regulations are completed, remember to send a copy to his tomb.
"A hero has never died since ancient times, so he can keep his loyalty in the past," General Liu Yalou's loyalty has inspired generations of air force soldiers to move forward bravely.
Conclusion
On the white paper, outline the air force blueprint; the eagle strikes the sky without fear of difficulties and dangers. "Becoming an army in one year and becoming famous in three years", what an amazing achievement, but behind this it has not only experienced many difficulties and dangers.
When fighting, you will lead by yourself; for the army, you will also use up your efforts. The general’s merits and virtues are worth remembering forever!
In General Liu Yalou, we can truly feel the true meaning of the 8 words "devote your best and die until you die".
Recalling the difficult journey the People's Air Force has taken along the way, looking up at the Great Steel Wall above our heads. The general is above, I hope that the prosperous times of this day will live up to your wishes.
References:
[1] Ye Jiefu. First Air Force Commander Liu Yalou [J]. Party History and Wenyuan, 2006(11): 34-38.
[2] Zhang Tongping, Yang Wanchun. Two passions and talented people - Remembering the first Air Force Commander of our army, General Liu Yalou [J]. Leadership Science, 2002(02): 5 0-51.
[3]Liu Bingfeng, Zheng Hema. Mao Zedong and the first Air Force Commander Liu Yalou (Part 1)[J]. Party History Bo Cai, 2000(11):4-7.
[4] Chen Haoliang. From a famous general to the Air Force Commander--Liu Yalou, commander of the 14th Corps [J]. Military History, 1997(04):42-45.
