General Chen Shiju is from Hubei. He was born in 1909. His father was an early member of the Tongmenghui . He once served as the engineering camp in Hubei New Army and participated in Wuchang Uprising. Yuan Shikai After he was in power, Chen Shiju's father was excluded. In anger, he left the military camp and returned to his hometown. Due to his poor family, Chen Shiju was forced to drop out of school after only studying in a private school for a few years. In order to make a living, his father sent him to an apprentice in a grocery store in the town. He got up early and worked late every day, but he ate leftovers.
18 years old, Chen Shiju joined the revolutionary team. After that, he participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising and followed Chairman Mao to Jinggangshan . During the period of the Red Army, Chen Shiju participated in the previous anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggles in the Central Soviet Area, and served as the Chief of Staff of the Red 30th Army. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Shiju joined the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and served as the Chief of Staff of the 343rd Brigade. Afterwards, he followed the troops to participate in the Pingxingguan Battle and Guangyang Ambush . Although the Pingxingguan Battle broke the myth of the invincible Japanese army, the troops did not capture a single Japanese prisoner, and Chen Shiju was very unwilling to accept it.
During the Guangyang ambush, he and brigade commander Chen Guang commanded the troops to set up a meticulous ambush and wiped out more than 1,000 Japanese invaders in one fell swoop. At the last moment of the battle, a Japanese military officer hid in a private house and resisted stubbornly. Seeing this, the soldiers were about to pitch grenades inside, but were stopped by Chen Shiju. He was determined to capture the Japanese invader alive. Under the cover and shooting of the soldiers, Chen Shiju kicked open the door, first snatched the rifle from the Japanese invaders' hands, then seized his sword, and finally captured the Japanese invaders alive. After interrogation, it was learned that the Japanese invader was named Kagakyu, who was a sergeant in the 79th Regiment of the 20th Division of the Japanese Army. This was the first Japanese prisoner captured by the Eighth Route Army on the battlefield. It caused a great sensation at that time. Lin Biao specially praised Chen Shiju for this. In 1940, Chen Shiju led his troops to Shandong, first serving as the chief of staff of 115 Division, and soon became the commander of Binhai Military Region. During his tenure, he created another very classic battle example. During the Ganyu Battle, he carefully arranged and cleverly commanded, and eliminated more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet troops, with only dozens of casualties.
can achieve such impressive results when its weapons and equipment are inferior to those of the opponent, which shows how high Chen Shiju's military talent is. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Shiju participated in the Liberation War and participated in many important battles and battles under the command of Chen Yi and Su Yu. At the last moment of the Chenguanzhuang Battle, Su Yu, the acting commander of Huaye, fell ill due to overwork. Chen Shiju, who was the chief of staff of Huaye at the time, was in charge of the command, and wiped out more than 250,000 people from Du Yuming's group, bringing a perfect end to the victory of Huaihai Battle. After the founding of New China, Chen Shiju became the commander of the People's Liberation Army's Engineer Corps and was awarded the rank of general in 1955.
Chen Shiju had two marriages in his life. His first wife was named Fan Shuqin, from Rizhao, Shandong. She participated in the revolution at the age of 11 and became a female cadre in the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army at the age of 17. In 1940, Chen Shiju followed Luo Ronghuan to open a base in Shandong. He met and fell in love with Fan Shuqin due to work. He got married a year later. After marriage, the couple had a good relationship and had a total of 6 children. The eldest son is Chen Hua, and he was born in 1943. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to PLA Military Academy .
Due to his father's relationship, Chen Hua had come into contact with some Soviet experts, and later fell in love with Soviet songs and was very interested in the Soviet Fulongzhi Military Academy . Later, he took the opportunity of school holiday and arrived in Manzhouli by train alone and asked people how to get to the Soviet Union. At that time, Sino-Soviet relations had deteriorated, and Chen Hua was wearing military uniform again. His behavior aroused people's suspicion and reported it to the local public security organs. Chen Hua was soon detained. After learning that he was General Chen Shiju's son, the public security personnel sent him back to Beijing.
This incident caused great trouble to Chen Shiju. He was questioned greatly in the army and was constantly criticized. Some people even thought that he was asking his son to stand in front of the fight and prepare for his escape.Chen Shiju felt it was very unfair and explained it many times but he just couldn't pass it. Later, the matter came to Lin Biao, who presided over the work of the Military Commission, and Chen Shiju was both under Lin Biao during the Red Army and the War of Resistance Against Japan. Lin Biao knew him very well and believed that the so-called escape was purely false. Soon he gave an instruction: "We must criticize, trust and use Chen Shiju hard." Those who questioned Chen Shiju then closed their mouths.
Main reference materials of this article: Chen Renkang "Lin Biao in the eyes of a founding general"
