Both core members of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army: Two marshal-level, one founding general, and the other died in an air crash!
129 Division is the most "fighting" division among the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army. There are many legendary generals who are good at fighting.
This photo brings together the four giants of the 129th Division: division commander Liu Bocheng, political commissar Deng Xiaoping, chief of staff Li Da and political department director Cai Shufan. This is a very luxurious leadership team, which can be seen from the later titles.
In the 1955 title award, the division commander Liu Bocheng became the marshal of the Republic and ranked fourth. This is familiar to everyone.
Why is Deng Xiaoping also a marshal? Because Deng Xiaoping was already rated as Marshal, he even ranked well, and was ranked 7th in , Chen Yi and before Luo Ronghuan. However, because he had already moved to the local area and his main energy was no longer in the army, he passed by the rank of marshal. Therefore, there is no problem in saying that he is a marshal.
The burly and majestic person next to Deng Xiaoping is Li Da, the chief of staff. He has long-term cooperation with Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, not only in the 129th Division, but later in the Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, the Central and Second Fields. He is the chief of staff, and can be said to be the iron triangle of Liu, Deng and Li. He became the founding general in 1955.
Standing on the other side of Liu Bocheng is Cai Shufan, the director of the Political Department. When he was awarded the title in 1955, he was not awarded the title because he transferred to the local area. If he was awarded the title, he would probably be a general. He served as deputy director of the Sports Committee in New China and was an assistant to He Laojun. During a visit abroad in the autumn of 1958, he was killed in the Soviet Union due to a plane crash at the age of 53.
