We all know that participating in Red Army requires a certain age, otherwise you cannot join. But looking at the information, we found that Wu Zhong was less than 13 years old and joined the Red Army at the age of 12. So how did he do it?
Let's return time to Qing Dynasty .
1735, in order to develop Sichuan, which was sparsely populated after the peasant uprising in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and to calm the riots in various places, the Qing government took measures to force violent population migration. Guangdong, Hunan and other places with dense populations have forced immigration to Sichuan.
Wu Zhong's ancestors were part of the immigrants, immigrating from Jiangxi to settle down in Xiaolongshan, Sichuan, and passed down from generation to generation. He passed down to Wu Wenxun's generation and became a respected teacher nearby, and his family background was pretty good. He raised three sons with his wife, and named his three sons with the meaning of "jasper jewelry", hoping that the Wu family would prosper.
However, things didn't go as expected. Wu Wenxun died of illness just 7 months after his third son was born. After his death, his family relied on Wu’s mother and grandfather to support him. Fortunately, Wu Wenxun taught hard all his life, and his family still left some savings. In addition, the family business left by his ancestors, the family's life is pretty good. Adhering to the idea of inheriting the father's business, the third son Wu Zhong was sent to a private school at the age of 7.
One day in 1930, a bandit suddenly rushed into the Wu family and snatched all the gold, silver and jewelry and valuable things from the house. Soon, the nearby warlords brought a platoon of soldiers to surround the Wu family's courtyard without restraint. They insisted that the Wu family colluded with the bandits and hid the bandits, and paid 1,000 yuan in a specified period of time.
This false crime can be seen by others. But the Wu family had no power and power. In order to save the whole family's life, they could only sell the family's land and move them from place to place, so they raised enough money and handed it over to the warlords. After these two incidents, the Wu family became penniless and their lives became more and more difficult.
This huge change made Wu Zhong understand the darkness of the world, become jealous of evil, brave and stubborn.
just at this moment, he heard a news: a team wearing a red star hat, specializing in beating the second and warlords, and also sharing land for the poor and allowing the poor to have enough food - the Red Army is here.
Wu Zhong has loved to listen to his grandfather’s stories of heroes and heroes who are heroes and righteous, and likes to stand up for justice. Therefore, he had the idea of abandoning his pen and joining the Red Army. So he looked forward to the stars and the moon, and he looked forward to the arrival of the Red Army every day.
In the spring of 1933, the Red Army finally arrived and was promoting revolutionary principles to people in his hometown and recruiting new recruits. As soon as Wu Zhong got the news, he didn't have time to eat, so he hurried to Mumen Town to sign up for the Red Army. Because my second brother met the age of the requirements, he was quickly admitted.
But when it was Wu Zhong's turn, because he was less than 13 years old and was not tall, he was stopped by the Red Army soldiers in charge of registration. No matter what Wu Zhong said, he disagreed. First, the Red Army also had age restrictions and he could not violate the regulations. Second, Wu Zhong is less than 13 years old, so he is likely to die when he goes to the battlefield at such a young age. He couldn't bear it!
But this is too cruel for Wu Zhong. He was looking forward to joining the Red Army every day. He finally had an opportunity but couldn't join. How could he accept it?
In a hurry, Wu Zhong couldn't help crying loudly, crying to the Red Army cadres about the disaster at home, and then cried, "When I was at home, I practice martial arts every day, just to join the Red Army to fight against bandits and warlords. Now I ran out of my home to join you, how could you not accept it?" As he said that, he started crying again.
cries alarmed all the Red Army soldiers. After listening to his story, everyone had tears in their eyes and persuaded any cadre to accept Wu Zhong. Finally, under the persuasion of everyone, the Red Army cadres agreed to accept Wu Zhong. In this way, Wu Zhong became a younger recruit.
in distress three times
He had just joined the army and was on the siege of the Red Fourth Front Army . At that time, in order to temporarily avoid the enemy's frontier, the Red Fourth Front Army retreated to the Kongshanba area on the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and had nowhere to avoid it.According to the situation, Commander-in-Chief Xu Xiangqian decided to launch a counterattack against Kongshanba, and use some of his troops to face the enemy head-on, and then concentrate the main force to counterattack the Sichuan Army in Kongshanba area, completely crushing the enemy's siege plan.
pic | Xu Xiangqian
The 33rd Regiment where Wu Zhong is located is the main attack regiment responsible for the counterattack of Kongshanba. Xu Xiangqian personally ordered the 33rd Regiment to cross the deep mountains and forests, hide and penetrate the flanks of the enemy's front, and launch an attack unexpectedly. The regiment commander received the order, first ordering two battalions to open a road for the troops in the dense forest within 12 hours.
Wu Zhong is one of them. He followed the troops forcibly marched more than 10 kilometers into the dense forest and opened up roads with various tools. After working hard all morning, the soldiers only ate some dry food at noon and had to chop the thorns hard, so they were tired. The young Wu Zhong was so hungry that his eyes were dizzy and he couldn't even lift his arms.
Just at this moment, a burst of lightning and thunder broke out, causing heavy rain to explode, causing mountain torrents and mud to flow across the river. Suddenly, the soles of his feet slipped, and Wu Zhong fell to the ground and rolled down the hill along the mudslide. Everyone was shocked because it was night at that time, and they couldn't see the road clearly and could not tell the direction clearly. They had no idea where he was left and could not rescue him.
What's more, the task is urgent, so they are not allowed to stop and save people, so they can only bear the pain and continue cutting down trees. But Wu Zhong’s life should not be defeated. When he rolled down the hillside, he was lucky to be blocked by a big tree. But he fell into a coma in a fierce collision with the big tree. When he woke up, he immediately crawled towards the place where there was a gun.
and others crawled into the team. He was covered in mud and covered in scars. When the soldiers saw Wu Zhong coming back, they were very excited, but when they saw him covered in scars, they were filled with bitterness, and they couldn't help but be moved by his strong spirit. At 4 a.m., the counterattack against Kongshanba started, and Wu Zhong bravely moved forward and seized a brand new rifle.
Soon after, in view of Wu Zhong's bravery in fighting, he actively participated in military training and performed well, and was promoted to platoon leader. At this moment, he changed his name to Wu Zhong (formerly known as Wu Guangzhu ), indicating that he was always loyal to the party and the people. Shortly after the name change of
, Wu Zhong experienced the second danger again and was almost shot. What's going on?
In March 1934, Wu Zhong's troops were transferred to the ,000-yuan area to participate in the key battle in the anti-six-route siege - the Wanyuan Defense Battle. In this battle, the Red Fourth Front Army concentrated all its main forces and launched an attack on the Sichuan warlord group. Both sides sent elite troops to compete for morale and spirit, fierce and cruel.
once charged, Wu Zhong's battalion commander was unfortunately shot and fell to the ground. It happened that Wu Zhong was right next to him and stopped to check the injury for the battalion commander and bandage the battalion commander. At this time, the battalion commander took out his pistol and pressed against Wu Zhong's head: "Get out of here and go forward!" It was difficult to disobey the military order, so Wu Zhong rushed forward.
Only afterwards did Wu Zhong realize that the Fourth Red Army had an iron rule that after the troops launched a charge, the commandos were not allowed to stop to treat the wounded, otherwise they would be shot as a matter of escape at the last battle, and anyone must implement it. After learning about this, Wu Zhong was shocked and sweated.
pic | Shortly after the war of defense of Wuzhong
million sources ended, Wuzhong encountered the third danger and almost died.
It was a battle in Huangmaoya. A division of the Red Army blocked the crazy attack of more than 17,000 well-equipped Sichuan Army, and the battle was extremely fierce. With the absolute advantage of weapons and numbers, the enemy rushed to our position after several attacks, and Wu Zhong's position was also broken through by the enemy.
Facing the influx of enemy troops, Wu Zhong shouted, picked up his hot machine gun and smashed it at the enemy. The other soldiers also jumped up and rushed towards the enemy, killing them into a group. Wu Zhong was even more red in his eyes, shirtless, like a crazy lion, chasing the enemy and biting him.
was just enough to kill, but suddenly his left leg weakened and he staggered. He touched his thigh with his left hand and found that he was injured in his left leg. Wu Zhong had a clever idea and rolled on the spot, rolled into the bushes, briefly bandaged the wound, and took out two grenades, from his waist, preparing to die with the enemy at any time.
After a while, several enemy troops walked to the bushes and saw Wu Zhong covered in blood. They thought it was a corpse and kicked him aside. In order not to expose himself, Wu Zhong endured the pain and remained motionless. At this time, the Red Army's counterattack began, and the soldiers rushed up with big swords. Wu Zhong quickly threw the grenade in his hand towards the enemy who had just set up the machine gun and blew them into the sky.
Then Wu Zhong used all his strength to roll to the next to the machine gun, turned the gun, and shot the enemy fiercely. The enemy was caught off guard and fell a lot of things in an instant, and the remaining enemies were in chaos. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Red Army regained its position and pushed the enemy back to the valley. Wu Zhong smiled with relief when he saw the Red Army return to the position and closed his eyes.
The commander of the regiment hurried forward, hugged Wu Zhong, and said with tears in his eyes: "Wu Zhong, my little Wu Zhong, you can't die!" The commander shook for a long time, but had no reaction, so he had to wipe away his tears and instruct someone to bury Wu Zhong. But just as he was burying Wu Zhong's body, he suddenly came back to life. It turned out that he was just in a coma after losing too much blood.
Just like that, Xiao Wuzhong saved his life again. Unfortunately, his second brother unfortunately died in this battle. Wu Zhong reluctantly buried his second brother's body and devoted all his energy to the revolutionary cause.
His diligence and excellence have been recognized by the Party and the people. Shortly after the Battle of Southern Shaanxi ended, he was transferred to the position of secretary of the Communist Youth League and became a battalion cadre. He was under 15 years old at that time, and he was awesome in his youth.
Jingyanggang has made his mark and became famous in the battle of Zhangcunji. In 1942, the battle of Jingyanggang commanded by Wu Zhong made him famous and entered the ranks of outstanding commanders of our army.
That was in August. In order to launch an autumn offensive against the Japanese army, under the unified deployment of Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region , Wu Zhong's troops received the task of removing Xulou stronghold and restoring and expanding the base. At that time, Wu Zhong was the position of combat staff and needed to formulate a preliminary combat plan for the commander.
Wu Zhong carefully analyzed the information and fell into deep thought. At that time, there were more than 500 puppet troops at the Xulou stronghold, which were well-equipped and tightly guarded. There was also a highway leading to the county town of Yanggu, which could receive reinforcements from the Japanese army in Yanggu. If a tough battle is fought, the Eighth Route Army, which is in a weak position in equipment and troop strength, will obviously not have an advantage. Not only will it not be able to complete the task, it may also suffer serious losses.
So how can we skillfully eliminate the enemy?
Suddenly, he set his sights on the only way to the Xulou leading to Yanggu County - Jingyanggang.
Jingyanggang is located not far west of , Zhangqiu Town. It is said that it is the place where Wu Song fights tigers. There are green on the hills, pine and cypress, and thorns under the hills are dense millet fields. Due to the abundant rainfall this year, the millet grows particularly well, and the plants are dense, so it can be said that it is not airtight.
Wu Zhong looked at these millets and a bold idea suddenly appeared. He planned to surround the Xulou stronghold with the main force of the Eighth Regiment, but he was not in a hurry to attack. At the same time, other soldiers of the Eighth Regiment were allowed to use the dense millet land in Jingyanggang to stop and eliminate the reinforced Japanese troops.
He analyzed that Jingyanggang is a must-pass place to reinforce the Japanese army, and the terrain there is suitable for the Eighth Route Army to fight guerrillas, and the dense millet is also conducive to the Eighth Route Army to flexibly eliminate the Japanese army. Once the reinforcements of the Japanese army are eliminated, the morale of Xulou's defenders will inevitably collapse. At that time, it will be easier to attack Xulou. The commander of
adopted Wu Zhong's plan and made corresponding combat arrangements, asking Wu Zhong to lead the third and fifth companies to set up an ambush in Jingyanggang and eliminate the reinforcements of Japanese troops. On August 5, the battle in Xulou began. The defenders of Yanggu County received a request for help and sent a small team of Japanese troops and two companies of puppet troops out in full swing and came to Xulou.
Wu Zhong received the information and immediately decided that the fifth company would be responsible for dealing with the two companies of puppet troops, and he led the third company to deal with the Japanese squad. By noon, the enemy appeared, and the soldiers of the Fifth Company and the Third Company launched an attack on the enemy as planned. After a while of fighting, Wu Zhong pretended to flee to the millet.
When the Japanese commander saw these Eighth Route Army, he did not flee to the land of sorghum , but ran to the land of corn. He thought they were panicking when they were escaping, so he wanted to take the opportunity to eliminate the Eighth Route Army.So, the Japanese commander waved his hand and rushed towards the Guzidi, chasing Wu Zhong and others relentlessly, and launched a pursuit battle.
was running, and suddenly the Japanese soldiers running in front fell to the ground one after another. It turned out that they were wearing cowhoe leather shoes, with a large opening in the middle, which was breathable and moisture-proof when walking, but it was difficult to walk in the millet. The ears of grain could easily get stuck in the opening of the shoes, driving the grain pole to walk together. The faster they ran, the tighter the millet became, and they quickly fell down a large area.
Some of the fallen Japanese soldiers used knives to cut grains, while some were looking for entangled leather shoes everywhere, and they didn't care about chasing them at all. Even the commander was no exception, screaming in a hurry. At this time, Wu Zhong decisively ordered the troops to attack, surrounded the Japanese army in the cornfield, launched hand-to-hand combat , and quickly defeated them all in one place.
Just like that, a war of annihilation of millet land ended in just 18 minutes, and it also achieved impressive results. The attack on the Xulou stronghold was soon smooth, and our army won a great victory.
From then on, Wu Zhong was praised as a living Wu Song, and his combat deeds spread throughout the base areas. He became famous for his original millet tactics and stood out among many commanders.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Wu Zhong was transferred to the position of commander of the Jin, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Field Army, and participated in the battles of Luzhuang, Zhangcunji, and made many military achievements. Especially in the Zhangcunji battle, Wu Zhong was commended by Chief Liu Deng and became a famous heroic regiment commander of the entire army.
Zhanghuoji is a market town located south of Juye . It has a regiment headquarters of the Kuomintang. The Seventh Column where Wu Zhong is located is responsible for annihilation of Zhanghuoji and defending the enemy. This task is not simple.
At that time, this Kuomintang regiment headquarters belonged to the reorganized 11th Division, which was later the 18th Army of the Kuomintang. This army was born in August 1930. The army was equipped with a full set of American equipment and was trained by American consultants. It is the earliest established army, the longest military history and the strongest strength among the five ace armies of the Kuomintang army.
The division commander of the army is even more Hu Lian , claiming to be an undefeated general, and is one of the most beloved generals of Chiang Kai-shek . Mao Zedong once commented on him as cunning as a fox and as fierce as a tiger. Although there was only one regiment stationed in Zhangcunji at that time, the troops were as high as 3,200 and the firepower configuration was strong. And under Hu Lian's instructions, many firepower points were built near Zhangcunji, and the firepower was strong.
Because our army lacks heavy weapon , it cannot be defeated for a long time and cannot break through. In order to attack Xiazangji as soon as possible, the headquarters adjusted its combat deployment and handed over the offensive tasks to the 7th Column where Wu Zhong was located. The Seventh Column received the mission and launched several charges, but still failed to break through. The battle lasted until the night before the commando broke a hole.
But after Hu Lian learned the news, he immediately ordered an interception, blocking all breakthroughs and cutting off contacts inside and outside the village. Under such circumstances, the commandos that broke into the village were trapped in the enemy's counter-encirclement, and the situation was critical. The enemy discovered that there were not many commandos in the village and their firepower was weak, so they immediately launched a fierce attack on the commandos in the village.
After several battles, the commando not only suffered heavy casualties, but also lost contact with the front-line command post, and the situation was extremely critical. After several more battles, Wu Zhong was hit on the neck by a bullet and blood was flowing. Seeing the enemy getting closer, the soldiers cried and prepared to sacrifice and sacrifice themselves for their country.
Another round of attack began. At the critical moment, the main force outside our village began to attack. After a fierce battle, the Zhangcunji battle won and the Kuomintang defenders suffered heavy losses.
During the entire Zhangcunji battle, Wu Zhong and other soldiers fought alone for 13 hours in the state of facing enemies, creating a shocking record, causing a sensation in the entire army and having a huge impact. He became famous in one battle and became the famous hero commander of the entire army.
In May 1955, under the appointment of the Central Committee, Wu Zhong served as the first mechanization division commander. The First Mechanized Division is the first mechanized unit in the history of our army, equipped with howitzer regiment, tank regiment, independent battalion of special forces, communication aircraft, armored troops, etc. It is a completely modernized unit that is responsible for the exploration of the construction of the mechanized unit of New China.
. Many soldiers in the army have low cultural level and have never seen these new equipment, let alone use them skillfully. It is a difficult problem to make the soldiers proficient in using equipment and forming combat effectiveness.
Wu Zhong felt the heavy burden on his shoulders and the huge pressure. In order to make this army form combat effectiveness as soon as possible and live up to the expectations of the party, he made up his mind: "No matter what, we must conquer the cultural barrier, I will take the lead."
He formulated learning plans for all soldiers, improved the technical capabilities of soldiers, and let the soldiers get used to new equipment as soon as possible, and skillfully use new equipment to form a complete training system. With his leading and hard study, the mechanized troops gradually made progress.
In the same year, he was awarded the rank of major general and became the youngest general in the history of our army.
The last battle to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens
In September 1977, Wu Zhong was appointed as the deputy commander of Guangzhou Military Region . Soon, the situation on the Sino-Vietnam border became increasingly tense. A few months later, Xu Shiyou returned to Guangzhou and presided over a combat meeting. As the deputy commander, Wu Zhong volunteered to go to the front line to command the battle and was approved.
After research and decision, the Military Commission appointed Wu Zhong to Longzhou, Guangxi to command the troops of the South Group of the Guangzhou Military Region to undertake the battle assault mission. After receiving the task, Wu Zhong decided to put the main assault direction in the layout and form a powerful armored assault group after repeated thinking and research.
first achieves a breakthrough at the layout close, then tear open the breakthrough in Dongxi, and finally head north along Highway 4, pointing directly to Gaoping . This plan was approved. However, at this moment, Wu Zhong encountered unprecedented confusion and faced the most difficult choice in his life.
In January 1979, 20 people were ordered to remove Wu Zhong from his post. At that time, the South Group's self-defense counterattack against Vietnam was about to enter the final stage. Changing generals at the time of war was a taboo in military strategists, and Wu Zhong was indeed a wise and brave general, so Xu Shiyou decided to keep him in charge of the battle. The news of
came out, and Wu Zhong instantly became an embarrassing character, facing two choices. First, leave the front line battlefield, return to Guangzhou, and make plans. The second is to continue to stay on the front line to command the battle and then discuss these issues after the war is over. But he will face a lot of pressure to do so, which is not right.
That year, although he was 58 years old, he still went to the army to check combat readiness every day and presided over the study of combat plans. When it was late at night, he smoked one by one and thought hard. In the end, he chose to stay on the front line and continued to command the battle with the automatic rifle .
In the early morning of February 17, the rumbling sound of cannons broke the silence, and the flames broke through the dawn sky, opening the curtain of self-defense counterattack . The battle began, and the first and second echelons successively entered the battle. Wu Zhong ordered the command post to advance towards Dongxi. The soldiers on the side of
consider Wu Zhong's safety and want to transfer an armored vehicle and two tanks to defend his safety. Wu Zhong frowned: "You have been a war, why are you confused now? Why do you do those things that are not useful?"
He asked the guard to bring an automatic rifle, put on an helmet, , and said: "We just go in like this, fight when we encounter enemies, and leave without enemies." In this way, Wu Zhong, who is over 60 years old, walked the rugged mountain road in the mountains of northern Vietnam with a rifle, commanded his troops to defend the integrity of our country's territory, and won the victory of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.
In 1988, Wu Zhong was awarded the first-class Red Star Merit Honorary Tie. Two months later, considering Wu Zhong's physical condition, the central government agreed to his resignation and recuperation. After retiring, Wu Zhong actively collected information and planned to write about the war and the story about Marshal Liu Bocheng. When writing his memoirs, he did not forget to give advice on military construction and contribute to the construction of the New China.
On February 26, 1990, Wu Zhong died in a car accident in Hainan. His life, from joining the Red Army at the age of 12 to becoming famous at the age of 25, became the first mechanized division commander of our army at the age of 33, became the youngest general in the history of our army at the age of 34, and crossing the tropical jungle with a rifle at the age of 58, his life was full of legend.
