In 1973, after the enlarged meeting of the Air Force, Chairman Mao called Li Desheng, director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army.
At that time, the position of Air Force Commander was vacant, and the leadership team of the Air Force was urgently needed to be formed. Chairman Mao thought about it and thought that Li Desheng could be appointed as the Air Force Commander.
However, after Li Desheng heard this, he shook his head and refused.
Li Desheng
Because Li Desheng has not been in charge of air force affairs, and Li Desheng believes that there are specialties in the art industry. Since you want to choose an air force commander, you must choose someone who can go to heaven.
Chairman Mao listened to Li Desheng's words and was convinced. He said to Li Desheng: "The commander of the Air Force must be able to go to heaven, and the commander of the Navy must be able to go to sea. Do you have a suitable candidate?"
In fact, Li Desheng had already thought of a person in his mind. When he introduced this person to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao was very satisfied, so he asked Li Desheng to summon this person to Beijing immediately.
The person recommended by Li Desheng was Ma Ning, deputy commander of the Air Force who served in the Lanzhou Military Region at that time.
Ma Ning
a fierce warrior on the battlefield
After the central government made the decision, it immediately sent a plane to Lanzhou to pick up Ma Ning and come to Beijing to take office.
This news was notified by the then Commander-in-Chief of Lanzhou Pi Dingjun himself.
However, Pi Dingjun didn't know what happened, which made Ma Ning feel a little scared. At that time, some of his colleagues knew that he was going to Beijing, and they joked with him, maybe he was going to take the lead?
Hearing these words, Ma Ning only thought it was a joke. He felt that his qualifications were still relatively low. You know, there are still three levels between the deputy commander of a military region and the commander-in-chief of the Air Force. How could he take on such a heavy burden all at once?
Even Ma Ning mistakenly thought that because he did not do a good job, the central government wanted to criticize him, so he quickly sorted out his work materials over the years and prepared to make a review.
But after arriving in Beijing, Ma Ning realized that he had gone astray.
A week later, the central government officially announced that Ma Ning would serve as the new Air Force Commander.
Ma Ning is also the first Air Force commander who can actually fly a plane into the sky.
Ma Ning himself recalled that when he heard the news, his brain felt like it was exploding because he was completely unprepared.
But facts have proven that Chairman Mao and Li Desheng were right. In this position, Ma Ning did a good job.
So, how did Ma Ning, who seemed to be relatively junior, fall under Li Desheng's eye?
Ma Ning was born in Henan in 1922. His family had some land and his family background was moderate, so Ma Ning also studied for several years.
However, in troubled times, it is still difficult for a child from an ordinary family to find a way out. Ma Ning has witnessed the devastated situation of the country since he was a child, and he is very worried about the future of the country and its people.
Therefore, at the age of 16, Ma Ning resolutely participated in the revolution.
The first battle Ma Ning participated in was the famous Hundred Regiments Battle . In this battle, Ma Ning's unit was assigned a task, which was to blow up the Japanese railway transportation lines.
At that time, the Eighth Route Army had no good solution. They used very dangerous earthen artillery shells. Although such artillery shells were effective, they could easily cause injuries to their own people.
However, Ma Ning did not consider his own safety at that time. He felt that as long as he could defeat the Japanese army, it would be worth risking his life.
This task is not easy, because the Japanese army is very aware of the importance of the railway transportation line to itself, so it sends a lot of troops to guard along the line. Guards are set up on the train 24 hours a day. As soon as the Eighth Route Army approaches, it will be counterattacked by the Japanese army.
Therefore, the Eighth Route Army could only continuously strengthen its concealment, use terrain and time as cover, and risk approaching again and again.
was injured multiple times
When he went to blow up the Japanese railway, time was running out. As soon as the bomb was planted, the Japanese guard group came over to kill him.
Because the mission had not been completed, Ma Ning did not retreat, but continued to plant bombs along the line. At the same time, he had to allocate his energy to fight the Japanese army.
In the midst of the fierce battle, the bomb exploded, and a piece of iron sheet flew close to Ma Ning's head, cutting off a piece of flesh.
Blood suddenly dyed half of Ma Ning's face red, but as a soldier, he could not leave the line of fire for minor injuries. Ma Ning waited until the fierce battle was over before returning to the field hospital to treat the wound.
After the doctors saw it, they all said that he survived the catastrophe. Although he was not seriously injured this time, if the iron sheet flew a little off, it might have hurt his vitals.
This was also the first time in Ma Ning's memory that he was injured on the battlefield. Of course, this was not the last time. There were no weapons or weapons on the battlefield. Be prepared to sacrifice at any time and at any time.
In 1945, the Shangdang War broke out.
This battle was beyond the expectations of many people in China, because at that time Chiang Kai-shek had already sent three telegrams to Chongqing in the hope that Chairman Mao could come to Chongqing for peace negotiations.
Many democrats feel that the third cooperation between the two parties can be realized soon, and everyone can usher in real peace.
But in fact, every Communist Party member knows very well that Chiang Kai-shek will never let peace come so easily.
The outbreak of the Shangdang Campaign proved this point. When Chairman Mao planned to leave for Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek had already mobilized troops to go to Shangdang. His purpose was to seize several counties where our army was stationed.
Chiang Kai-shek was exchanging cups with Chairman Mao in Chongqing and talking about pacifism, while at the same time he was facing off against our army in Shangdang. It was really a great irony.
At that time, it was Ma Ning who was stationed at Shangdang. Facing the menacing enemy, Ma Ning did not worry about himself, but was worried about Chairman Mao's safety.
Chiang Kai-shek is so insidious, what should he do if he attacks Chairman Mao in Chongqing?
For this reason, Ma Ning told his superiors more than once about his concerns, but in the end, Chairman Mao gave Ma Ning reassurance. Chairman Mao said: "The better you fight, the safer I will be."
With Chairman Mao's words, Ma Ning became more courageous as he fought. The strength of our army deployed in Shangdang at that time was actually seriously insufficient, so Ma Ning could only use its strength on the blade.
With excellent strategies and tactics, Ma Ning achieved the encirclement of the enemy. However, the enemy had sufficient strength. After realizing that they were surrounded, they immediately launched a charge against our army, hoping to break through the encirclement.
In this case, Ma Ning accurately judged that if the enemy wanted to escape, the only route was through the ravine to the west.
Therefore, he quickly ordered the soldiers to block the ravine and catch turtles in a jar.
In this battle, Ma Ning led his troops to capture more than 2,000 enemies and made a great contribution to the victory of the Shangdang Battle.
In 1947, Ma Ning was transferred to the front line again to participate in the Battle of Jinxiang Yutai.
In order to ensure the victory of the large army, Ma Ning personally went to the front line to direct the soldiers to charge regardless of the danger.
Unexpectedly, just when Ma Ning was concentrating on giving the order, the enemy suddenly fired a burst of fire. Ma Ning was shot in the abdomen and was seriously injured. He directly entered the shock state. After
was sent to the field hospital, Ma Ning's condition left the doctors at a loss because after the bullet hit the abdominal cavity, it caused a serious infection in the abdominal cavity, which was difficult to completely cure with the medical methods at the time.
The doctor could only give Ma Ning a try. Unexpectedly, after being comatose in the hospital for several days, Ma Ning miraculously woke up.
Everyone lamented that he had gone away behind closed doors. After waking up, Ma Ningti's first request was that he should return to the front line to command.
Everyone advised him to rest for a while, but Ma Ning couldn't wait for a moment. He knew well the importance of seizing the opportunity on the battlefield, so he would rather lie on a stretcher and command the battle to completion.
Just like that, Ma Ning returned to the battlefield. Perhaps it was his firm willpower that played a role. He still survived this serious injury without any danger.
But soon, the crisis came again!
joined the Air Force
At the end of 1947, during another confrontation with the enemy, Ma Ning's left leg was penetrated by a bullet and fractured on the spot.
What’s worse is that the main force was in urgent need of transfer at that time and there was no time to treat Ma Ning.
Ma Ning gave the order to the soldiers at that time to let the large troops leave first, while he stayed at the home of his fellow villagers to recuperate.
did this so as not to drag everyone down. Although everyone was worried, because Ma Ning insisted, everyone could only keep him.
Ma Ning's injury was very serious, and there was ulceration around the wound, which could be life-threatening at any time.
Shortly after the large troops withdrew, the enemy pursued them and began to search everywhere in the village.
Ma Ning believed that if he continued to stay, he might implicate his fellow villagers, so he and several similarly injured comrades decided to transfer again.
Ma Ning dragged his injured leg and walked on the mountain road in heavy rain. This transfer caused him serious sequelae. From then on, he always walked with a limp, but Ma Ning always laughed off this sad experience.
However, before the founding of the People's Republic of China, no one thought that one day Ma Ning would become the commander of the Air Force, because Ma Ning had always fought in the army. Even when new China established , our country did not have an air force.
However, in 1949, after attending a meeting, Ma Ning suddenly came up with the idea that he should learn to fly a plane.
Because the theme of the meeting that Ma Ning attended was the construction of the People's Navy and Air Force of the New China.
At that time, our country could be said to be poor in these two arms, with neither equipment nor talents.
However, as a large country with a vast area and a large population, if it cannot even have the three armed forces of the sea, land and air force, it will end up with everyone being a slave and others being a fish.
Therefore, Ma Ning initially wanted to learn to fly a plane, and the purpose was very simple, that is, he hoped to make more contributions to the motherland. However, Ma Ning was a person with a leg disability, how could he learn to fly a plane?
Initially, when Ma Ning signed up, his comrades in the Air Force disagreed. With the technical conditions at the time, it was even more difficult for an able-bodied person to learn to fly an airplane, let alone a disabled person?
However, Ma Ning made a promise to the leaders of the Air Force, saying that not only could he learn to fly a plane, but he would also fly better and faster than anyone else.
Ma Ning's determination finally moved his superiors. Thinking of Ma Ning's various performances on the battlefield in the past, this great soldier always knew that there were tigers in the mountains and preferred to go to the mountains with tigers. Maybe this time, he can still create a miracle.
In the end, his superiors gave Ma Ning the green light to follow other comrades to the Air Force for training.
The Soviet instructor disliked this student at first, thinking that he was just trying to make ends meet. But after only two months, the Soviet instructor changed his mind.
Because Ma Ning worked ten times harder than others in order to catch up with the progress, he soon became the best student in the training class. Moreover, he also proved his ability in actual combat.
In 1954, the People's Liberation Army decided to send troops to liberate Jiangshan Island.
The geographical location of Jiangshan Island is very sensitive. At that time, Jiangshan Island was still occupied by the Kuomintang troops and served as a barrier to Taiwan.
If Jiangshan Island cannot be liberated, then it will be even more impossible to liberate Taiwan.
However, the enemy has set up heavy troops on Jiangshan Island. The enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. If a large force of our army approaches rashly, there will definitely be heavy casualties.
Under this situation, Ma Ning came up with an idea. He would personally fly a plane to conduct reconnaissance over Jiangshan Island.
However, if he is discovered by the enemy, his trip will never come back.
Therefore, the superiors were very hesitant and dared not issue orders. Ma Ning was a very good general. If he died for reconnaissance, it would be a result that no one wanted to see.
has made great achievements
However, time waits for no one, and our army's air force technology is not yet mature. Now, there are only a few people in the entire army who can carry out this dangerous mission. Therefore, even if it is dangerous, Ma Ning is determined to shoulder this burden.
In the end, at Ma Ning's strong request, the superiors agreed.
In this way, Ma Ning risked his life and flew the plane over Jiangshan Island.
Afterwards, he descended slowly, intently observing the enemy's defense situation on Jiangshan Island.
The enemy soon discovered Ma Ning's movements and began to bombard him with anti-aircraft guns .
Ma Ning remained calm in the face of danger. He did not turn around and leave. Instead, he continued to conduct reconnaissance while avoiding enemy shells.
When Ma Ning returned to our army, a burst of cheers broke out on the ground. Ma Ning's successful reconnaissance brought a complete defense map to our army.
Later, his superiors once again transferred him to the front line to command the air force. With the efforts of Ma Ning and many generals, our army successfully liberated Jiangshan Island.
Ma Ning
This success convinced his superiors of Ma Ning's ability. From then on, he has remained in the Air Force to serve.
From the army to the air force, the change of identity did not change Ma Ning's deep respect for the status of a soldier, and he always performed his tasks conscientiously.
His outstanding performance was quickly noticed by Li Desheng.
Li Desheng believes that Ma Ning not only has practical experience and mature technology, but also has a good strategic vision. If he is only a deputy commander, his talents will be buried.
At this time, an opportunity came.
In 1970, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou mentioned that the construction of the Air Force still requires talents, so we need a better Air Force Commander.
This person must not only be able to command thousands of troops, but at the same time, he should have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the technologies required by the Air Force. Only such generals can bring out a truly mature air force.
Moreover, this person must be completely loyal to the country and the people.
In the 1970s, Chairman Mao often felt that his body was not as good as before, so he was worried that something would go wrong in the army after he left. Therefore, the character of the commander must be excellent.
As one of the three major branches of the military, the Air Force is so important that a single move can affect the whole body.
Therefore, when he heard the name Ma Ning, Chairman Mao believed that making Ma Ning the commander of the Air Force was the best decision at the moment.
Ma Ning felt frightened by the fact that he suddenly became the commander of the Air Force.
However, the Air Force from top to bottom, including the central and local organizations, had no objection to this decision.
People are convinced of Ma Ning, the air force commander. Because everyone can see every contribution he has made in the past. A truly capable person, no matter how high he sits, everyone will recognize him.
Ma Ning's appointment has greatly improved the technical capabilities and combat capabilities of the Air Force. Until now, the Air Force of New China still owes its thanks to the old commander for its construction in all aspects.
Reference:
Jincheng Party History Network "Anecdotes of the Founding General - "Lame General" Ma Ning"
Xu Bingjun "The First General Who Can Fly an Aircraft in New China"
Sun Guo "Interview with the Legendary Air Force Commander Ma Ning"
