In 1965, Chief of General Staff Luo Ruiqing left his job, and Ye Jianying suggested that Yang Chengwu be appointed Chief of General Staff. Mr. Lin said: It is better to serve as acting president first and wait for a while before talking about it.
Regarding this position, he said sincerely: I am not qualified enough for the job. It is best for Ye Shuai to take on the job concurrently.
Speaking of Yang Chengwu, he is a general who is accustomed to fighting. He has been engaged in political work for a long time and has also held military leadership positions. He is a rare "military and political excellence".
Since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he has been working in North China. He has fought under the leadership of Mr. Nie for a long time and served as the commander of the Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army and the commander of the First Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. During the War of Liberation, he served as the commander of the Jizhong Column, the column commander, the second political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, and the commander of the 3rd Corps of the North China Military Region.
After the founding of New China, he served as the chief of staff of the North China Military Region. In 1955, he served as deputy commander-in-chief, commander of the Beijing Military Region, and commander of the Air Defense Force.
Many people don’t know how high the status of the Air Defense Force was back then.
The predecessor of the Air Defense Force was the Air Defense Force. After it was changed to the Air Defense Force in 1955, it was called the five major services together with the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Security Army.
In 1957, with the reform of the army, the Air Defense Force was withdrawn and merged with the Air Force. Yang Chengwu no longer held a concurrent position in the Air Force. In 1958, after Yang Yong returned to China with the Chinese Volunteer Army, he succeeded him as commander of Beijing. Thereafter, he became the full-time chief of staff, assisting Chiefs Huang Kecheng and Luo Ruiqing in their work.
After Luo Ruiqing left his post in 1965, Yang Chengwu, who knew the work of the General Staff best, was undoubtedly a suitable candidate. He could get into work immediately after taking office. Why is it not the chief, but the acting chief? Perhaps it is because the previous chiefs, Su Yu, Huang Kecheng, and Luo Ruiqing, all have senior general qualifications. Although Yang Chengwu was very capable, there were many people with more seniority than him, and this aspect was also taken into consideration when he was appointed acting chief executive.
Yang Chengwu is in charge of the general staff work. He hopes to promote the Minister of Operations Wang Shangrong to deputy chief.
Wang Shangrong was a general of the Red Second Front. In 1952, when Zhang Zhen served as the Chief of Operations of the General Staff, Liu Bocheng proposed that Wang Shangrong be appointed as the Deputy Minister of Operations. In 1954, after Zhang Zhen went to study at the Nanjing Military Academy, Wang Shangrong served as Acting Minister and Minister, and he was very capable in delivering orders in the Operations Department.
He hopes that Wang Shangrong will be appointed as deputy director, which will help him carry out comprehensive work. Liu Shaoqi agreed in principle with his suggestion and would issue the order later. This order was waited until 1975 before Wang Shangrong was officially appointed. Too many things happened in the intervening 10 years.
