Between 1955 and 1965, a total of 1,360 people in New China were awarded the rank of major general. Generally speaking, if the military ranks are similar, the qualifications, positions, etc. will be relatively close. But there was a major general who was very strange. In the early days of the Liberation War, he commanded an army of more than 80,000 people in the Northeast. This was a particularly powerful thing at that time.
The first generals of our party to enter the Northeast rarely had 80,000 under their command, so his starting point was very high and even attracted the attention of the central government. However, in the following years, he was demoted one after another, so that he gradually left the core position. Why is this?
This major general with a rather tortuous experience is Zeng Kelin. He was an old revolutionary who joined the Red Army in 1929. He participated in the first to fifth counter-campaigns of the Central Soviet Area and went through the arduous Long March. , the revolutionary will is very firm. In the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the commander of the 16th Army Division of the Hebei Reliao Military Region.
After the Japanese surrendered, both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party set their sights on the Northeast. This was the industrial center of China at that time. Whoever gets the Northeast will have more vitality, so both sides race against time to dispatch troops to the Northeast.
Under the instructions of the central government, the main force of the Shandong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army; the main force of the Shandong Military Region; the main forces of Luzhong, Binhai, Jiaodong; and the Bohai Navy Division; the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army and other units successively entered the Northeast. The first to enter the Northeast as an official was Zeng Kelin. The 16th Jireliao Army Division led by him has more than 2,000 people.
After Zeng Kelin arrived in the Northeast, he found that the situation in the Northeast was very suitable for the development of our army. The Soviet Red Army that came to attack the Japanese invaders only occupied a few large and medium-sized cities, and the vast number of small cities, towns, and rural areas were in a vacuum. So while gathering the forces that could be united, he reported the situation to the central government.
On September 15, 1945, Zeng Kelin arrived in Yan'an on a special plane belonging to the Soviet commander in Changchun, Marshal Malinovsky, and made the following report: 1. Our army has expanded rapidly after entering the Northeast, and there are still a large number of Puppet armies and organizations are waiting to be adapted;
2. At present, important warehouses and factories in Shenyang have been taken over, and many guns and cannons have been obtained; 3. There are a lot of light and heavy weapons and materials accumulated in Shenyang and major cities in the Northeast, and they are unattended. You can get it at will. I hope the central government can dispatch cadres to work in the Northeast as soon as possible.
The information he gave was simply "There are many people, food, and guns in the Northeast. If we don't act quickly, it will be too late!" This first-hand intelligence was very important. After learning about it, the central government immediately decided to increase the number of troops sent to the Northeast. speed and intensity. From a strategic perspective, Zeng Kelin's contribution is quite significant.
When Zeng Kelin entered the Northeast, the main force of the national army had not yet been mobilized, which made his development particularly smooth. A large number of weapons and equipment left by the Japanese invaders were confiscated by Zeng Kelin, and the number of troops quickly expanded from a few thousand to more than 80,000, becoming a powerful armed force in the Northeast.
's situation is much better than that of the brother troops who came out later, and the central government also favors him.
But in just a few years, Zeng Kelin's position has been demoted again and again. He has successively served as deputy commander of the military region, column commander, deputy column commander, tank division division commander, and air force mixed brigade commander. Looking at such a series of positions, it seems that they have been demoted five times in a row, which is rare in the entire army.
Of course, all of this happened for a reason, but it was not suppressed. Let’s analyze it step by step.
First of all, although Zeng Kelin was already the commander of the military division at the end of the Anti-Japanese War, at that time, the commanders were not many and had different levels. Zeng Kelin, the commander of the military division , was very important regardless of the location of his base, the strength of his troops, or the speed of development. It belongs to the lower rank among commanders, and is actually equivalent to the position of division commander.
From the perspective of command level and combat experience, Zeng Kelin has never actually commanded tens of thousands of troops. He was able to quickly develop more than 80,000 troops, and more importantly, because of his good fortune.
His location is the closest to the Northeast, and when he entered the Northeast, it was during a period of chaos. The troops he recruited were more likely because they were panicked and wanted to find a big tree where they could enjoy the shade, or they were blindly following Zeng Kelin after seeing others vote for him. Following the vote, a large number of people do not have that high identification with our party.
These are hardly a reflection of Zeng Kelin's abilities. Later on the battlefield, Zeng Kelin served as the commander of the third column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, but he did not have any particularly outstanding achievements during this period. Instead, he once became the foil for Han Xianchu.
When the Fourth Guard was near the river, the national army mobilized a large number of troops to attack our base area. The Liaodong Branch immediately asked the three and four columns to jointly fight against the enemy. "Zeng Han organized the forward temporary command headquarters" . Zeng was Zeng Kelin, and Han That is Han Xianchu.
Zeng Kelin was the commander of the third column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army at the time, and Han Xianchu was the deputy commander of the fourth column. Regardless of the order of names in the superior orders or the positions at the time, Zeng Kelin should have been in charge, but when the war was about to start, they switched positions. .
Because in the planning stage of the war, Zeng Kelin wanted to pick the "soft persimmon" first and attack the temporary 20th Division. This was the safest way. However, Han Xianchu believed that attacking a temporary 20th Division would be useless. The enemy's large forces would still attack and could only be destroyed. Only when the 89th Division of the Central Army is equipped with beautiful weapons will the other troops retreat in fear.
Neither side could convince anyone, and in the end they had no choice but to report the dispute to the military region. After analysis, the commander of the military region, Xiao Jinguang, responded with a telegram: agreed with Han Xianchu's combat policy, and Han Xianchu was given unified command of columns 3 and 4. Use all your strength to annihilate the enemy's 89th Division.
Although he was replaced before the battle, Zeng Kelin was very open-minded. He fully cooperated with Han Xianchu to achieve a great victory in Hongshi Town, annihilating more than 8,500 people in the 89th Division of the National Army. However, from a military perspective, Zeng Kelin was weaker than Han Xianchu.
The people's army in the Northeast actually places great emphasis on personal abilities. If you think about it carefully, you will know that to grow from 100,000 to one million people, it will definitely require a group of very outstanding backbones. If there is not enough record to support it, it will be difficult to achieve great development no matter how old the qualifications are.
As long as the performance is amazing, it is not difficult to be promoted beyond the level. For example, the famous Major General Zhong Wei was directly promoted from division commander to column commander (equivalent to army commander). Everything is easy to say if the battle is fought well.
Moreover, Zeng Kelin’s more than 80,000 people are special . He brought only a few thousand of his old subordinates to the Northeast. The others were newly recruited or newly recruited soldiers. These people were not so firm in their thinking and often deserted or defected. When circumstances arise, these people often take away their weapons and equipment when they run away.
This made the main force of the Eighth Route Army that entered the Northeast a little dissatisfied. Previously, the Northeast was full of everything and easy to develop. As a result, now it can’t even stand people in sight and can’t bring out weapons to help the follow-up troops. This makes it difficult for other troops to open up the situation. A little bit difficult.
In fact, not only Zeng Kelin, several generals from Jireliao to Northeast China did not develop very well . The only corps commander who did not participate in the award, Cheng Zihua, was also from Jireliao.
Due to various reasons, Zeng Kelin’s subsequent positions became lower and lower. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, some old friends joked with him about this and asked him if he had any thoughts. Zeng Kelin answered seriously: I come from a very low background, and I am very satisfied to have such a life. I can go wherever the party asks me to do, and do whatever the party asks me to do! shows that his measurement is still very large.
Having said that, does the reduction of position mean distrust? That's not necessarily the case. Zeng Kelin serves as commander of the tank division and commander of the air force mixed brigade. These are new arms established after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is not a great importance to allow him to be responsible for the construction of new arms.
Later, Zeng Kelin also served in the Navy. He served in many branches of arms, so he was also called the "Almighty General". This is also a great thing for our army!
