In 1979, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam broke out. Although our army won the battle, the battle also exposed many problems. For example, after the troops were temporarily dispersed, it was impossible to quickly determine who the commander was. The main reason why this problem occurs is that there is no military rank.
As we all know, our army held its first ranking ceremony in 1955. The military rank awarded this time was also called "55 military rank ". The "Type 55 military rank" existed for a total of ten years, from 1955 to 1965. After 1965, the "Type 55 military rank" was cancelled. However, after the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, senior officials began to consider restoring military ranks, which resulted in the new military ranks in 1988. When he was awarded the title in 1988, there were a total of 17 generals, one of whom served as the commander of the Second Artillery. In 1955, he was also awarded the rank of major general. His name was Xiang Shouzhi. So, what’s the story about Xiang Shouzhi?
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Xiang Shouzhi was awarded the rank of major general and became the founding major general of the country. At that time, Xiang Shouzhi was only 38 years old. He was relatively young among all the founding generals. He was in the prime of life and had excellent past records. Therefore, the organization intended to train Xiang Shouzhi. In 1957, Xiang Shouzhi was Sent to study in the basic department of the Higher Military Academy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
In school, Xiang Shouzhi studied for a total of three years. In 1960, after graduation, he was appointed as the principal of Xi'an Artillery School. It is worth mentioning that this appointment was personally signed by Premier Zhou. Premier Zhou also had his own intention, which was to hope that Xiang Shouzhi could lead our army's artillery force to a higher level.
After that, Xiang Shouzhi insisted on running a school with characteristics and trained a large number of artillery talents for our army. In 1963, the school was changed to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Xi'an Artillery Technical College, and Xiang Shouzhi continued to serve as the dean. Xiang Shouzhi was very effective in the construction and training of artillery, and Premier Zhou also paid special attention to him. In 1965, after discussion between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, Xiang Shouzhi was transferred to the Artillery Headquarters and served as the deputy commander of the artillery.
Premier Zhou's appointment of Xiang Shouzhi as deputy commander of the artillery also has a profound intention, that is, he hopes that Xiang Shouzhi will lead the construction of our army's missile force. However, immediately afterwards, the Central Military Commission decided to establish the Second Artillery Force, and Xiang Shouzhi and Li Tianhuan were responsible for the preparations for this force. In 1967, Chairman Mao personally signed a letter of appointment, appointing Xiang Shouzhi as the commander of the Second Artillery Corps (also known as the "Second Artillery Force"). At the same time, Xiang Shouzhi was also the first commander of the Second Artillery Corps.
However, that period happened to be the ten-year special period. Xiang Shouzhi offended Mr. Lin. Only 43 days after Chairman Mao signed the appointment letter, Mr. Lin personally ordered the revocation of Xiang Shouzhi's appointment. After that, Xiang Shouzhi was shocked and suffered great physical and mental torture. During that period, he was imprisoned and criticized for more than six years, and he was also expelled from the party. Not only was he physically and mentally persecuted, but he was also mentally tortured. In addition, under Mr. Lin's "No. 1 Order", Xiang Shouzhi worked in many places. He fed pigs, planted vegetables, and did almost all the dirty work.
Xiang Shouzhi's fate changed after the September 13th Incident. In the early morning of September 13, 1971, Mr. Lin's special plane No. 256 crashed near Wendurhan, Mongolia. All the crew members were killed. This It was the September 13th Incident in history. After the September 13th incident, many cases involving Mr. Lin were re-examined, including Xiang Shouzhi's case.
After a period of investigation, in early 1972, the relevant departments restored Xiang Shouzhi’s party membership and gave him a supplementary salary, and Xiang Shouzhi also returned to Beijing. Shortly after returning to Beijing, Xiang Shouzhi resumed his position as the commander of the Second Artillery. After that, he served as deputy commander of the Nanjing Military Region and commander of the Nanjing Military Region, and was awarded the title of Senior when the new military ranks were implemented in 1988. General rank. In 1990, Xiang Shouzhi retired. In his later years, he mainly lived in Nanjing. He died of illness in 2017 at the age of 100.
