In September 1955, at the first ceremony of our army's rank, more than a thousand senior cadres were awarded the ranks from major general to marshal, but compared to them, many former battlefield heroes failed to catch up with this grand ceremony.

Introduction

In September 1955, at the first ceremony of our army's rank, more than a thousand senior cadres were awarded the rank from major general to marshal, but compared with them, there are still many former battlefield heroes who failed to catch up with this grand ceremony.

We are familiar with Dong Zhentang, Zuo Quan, Peng Xuefeng and Ye Ting are all well-deserved heroes, but unfortunately, they left too early.

Among them, there is such a general, which is an eternal regret in his comrades-in-arms' hearts. He should have been commended at the ceremony of the grand rank, but just one year ago, he left with heartache, grievance and unwillingness.

Picture | Chen Guang, a famous general of the generation, was a hero who had been obscured for half a century and a well-deserved hero in revolutionary history. The famous wars such as flying to Luding Bridge , Pingxingguan Victory , and the Guangyang Battle were all his masterpieces.

A military genius who has made great achievements in his past was not inferior to other founding generals. He should not be forgotten...

1. The pioneer on the Long March route - the marching and rushing to seize Luding Bridge

21-year-old Chen Guang, who joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 221, was a rampant born in a rampant and had no special background. However, he formed the Yizhang Peasant Red Guard with 12 rifles, cooperated with Red Army to launch the Hunan riot, and then walked to Jinggangshan.

His life seemed to be born for the battlefield. The more he was in times of crisis, the more he could burst out with unimaginable courage and potential. On the Long March, he was almost like a guardian god in the entire army.

pic|Bloody battle in Xiangjiang

Back then, Chen Guang, as the commander of the 2nd Division of the Red 1st Army, was also the vanguard of the Long March troops. He broke through the three lines of defense of the Kuomintang. Just after Chiang Kai-shek finally understood the movements of the Red Army, Chen Guang led the 2nd Division to fight desperately with the fourth line of defense composed of 400,000 heavy troops of the Kuomintang, and successfully covered the subsequent large troops across the Xiangjiang River.

In late May, 1935, just after the Central Red Army of cleverly crossed the Jinsha River, Chen Guang led the 2nd Red Division to Anshunchang Ferry on the south bank of the Dadu River. Speaking of this place, there is still a sad history, that is, the place where Shi Dakai was captured that year.

Facing the hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang pursuers who were fiercely attacked, the only tool for crossing the river was the only 4 small boats. In the critical moment, the leaders set their sights on the Luding Bridge hundreds of miles upstream. If they could use this bridge to cross the river, the entire Red Army would be expected to turn danger into safety, and this important task once again fell on Chen Guang's shoulders.

Just like that, Chen Guang resolutely led the 4th Regiment of the Red 2nd Division to embark on the muddy sheep path in the rain, and rushed into Luding Bridge at a forced marching speed of 240 miles a day and night.

On May 29, when Chen Guang led his troops to the west bank of Luding Bridge, he began to attack the defenders in the west of the bridge after a little rest. With the support of powerful firepower, 22 commandos crawled forward in the fierce artillery fire of the enemy on the other side. The

assault team was paving wooden boards while launching fierce attacks, and the enemy troops on the east coast were afraid.

In the end, the enemy army that had lost the courage to face the Red Army could only flee in panic after setting off a fire, and Luding Bridge was successfully occupied by our army.

At this point, the road to the north of the Red Army's Long March was further opened. However, for the Kuomintang army, the capture of the Luding Bridge was just an appetizer prepared by Chen Guang for them, and the thrilling contest was still behind.

In August of the same year, the Red Army that walked out of the grassland faced the test of Lazikou from Sichuan to Gansu again. The turbulent Lazi River is more than 30 meters wide, with cliffs on both sides. There is only one wooden bridge on the river, and both sides are guarded by the Kuomintang army. After repeated reconnaissance of the terrain, our army leaders realized that taking down Lazikou was the only channel to Gansu in the north. This time, Chen Guang was ordered again in danger.

pic |Flying to capture Luding Bridge

After careful reconnaissance, Chen Guang formulated a meticulous offensive tactic, from a team that circled the cliff on the left side of Lazikou to the enemy behind, and cooperated with the main force on the front attack, so that our army's chances of victory would greatly increase.

In this way, a group of Red Army soldiers who were good at climbing formed a interlaced team and launched an attack at the same time as the front troops. The Kuomintang army was quickly annihilated under the attack on both sides, and our army was able to move north smoothly.

Regarding this battle, our party once mentioned in his historical summary of Chen Guang: "In the Long March, Chen Guang made great contributions to the Central Red Army heading north and crossing the dangerous situation."

In December 1936, Chen Guang was appointed as the acting commander of the Red 1st Legion. At that time, he became the leader of our army when he was only 31 years old. What made Chen Guang shine on the battlefield was also the wonderful performance of his troops and the Japanese invaders in many battles.

2. "Devil's Journey" nemesis - Pingxingguan Battle of the First Battle

In September 1937, the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and Chen Guang was appointed as the brigade commander of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division. At this time, the War of Resistance Against Japan had just begun.

At that time, the Japanese army, which was known for its modernization of equipment, seemed arrogant, but when our army fought with it for the first time, Chen Guang caused the Japanese army to suffer a great loss. This was the famous Pingxingguan Battle.

On the afternoon of September 24, Chen Guang, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen went to check the terrain together. At that time, they had never fought with the Japanese army, so they naturally did not dare to take this strange enemy lightly. Only by working hard on known terrain, personnel, etc. can they improve their chances of victory.

Because Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen had checked the terrain once, they carefully considered it and decided that the 343rd Brigade led by Chen Guang should be the main force of this battle. Therefore, they led Chen Guang to inspect the terrain again only to make strategic arrangements in advance.

After coming to Qiaogou, Chen Guang saw the terrain and said excitedly: "Ambushes the Japanese army here is equivalent to preparing a big coffin for them!"

Photo | Chen Guang (second from right) and Lin Biao took a photo

Lin Biao added when he saw Chen Guang excitedly: "From here to Donghenan Town, Lingqiu County in front, there is basically such a terrain. Such a large coffin must be more than enough to install the Banhuan Division!"

The task that Chen Guang led the 343rd Brigade this time was to "kill the snake head", which was also the key to the entire battle.

html In the early morning of the 225th, in the heavy rain, Chen Guang led two main regiments of the 343rd Brigade to Qiaogou. Among them, the 685th regiment was ambushed in Baiyatai, and the 686th regiment was ambushed in Laoye Temple to Caijiayu area.

At 8 a.m., the 21st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army rushed in. They were the Japanese troops known as the "Devil's Journey", with a total of more than 4,000 people. In the eyes of our soldiers, this team is really "fat and oily", with all weapons and arms.

When the 685th Regiment fired the first shot in the battle, the Japanese army suddenly panicked and felt a little at a loss for a moment. After more than ten minutes, the Japanese army, who had recovered, began to counterattack based on cars and terrain. At around

9, Chen Guang received the latest instructions, asking the 686th Division to grab the commanding heights.

After receiving the order, he first went to the 685th Regiment to arrange a battalion of troops to seal Qiaogou, pressed the enemy tightly to prevent it from slipping away, and then the two battalions left the position and inserted them straight down to restrain them. After

, he rushed to the position of Laoyemiao Mountain where the 686th Regiment was located. Seeing that a group of Japanese troops were moving towards the mountain, he immediately sent a battalion of troops to compete with the Japanese army for the commanding heights. With heavy casualties, our army won the victory in the battle for the commanding heights. After the battle after

, our army successfully seized the initiative. The 685th Regiment held the exit tightly on one side. The Laoyemiao Mountain and the northern highlands behind were all occupied by the 686th Regiment, forming a cross-border attack with the troops on the other side of the highway.

The Japanese army's "Devil's Journey" suffered an unprecedented blow. In the long valley of Qiaogou, they left more than 1,200 corpses, more than 100 cars and more than 200 mule carts. After breaking through in a panic, our army seized more than 1,000 rifles, more than 420 machine guns, more than 41 artillery, and a large number of military supplies.

Picture | Pingxingguan Victory

Although our army also suffered more than a thousand casualties in this battle, most of them were backbone of the Long March, the results achieved were of great strategic significance.

Pingxingguan victory was the first major victory of the Chinese army after the start of the full anti-Japanese war. It broke the "invincible myth" that the Japanese army claimed to be, and the prestige of the Communist Party of China and the Eighth Route Army was also unprecedentedly enhanced.

What Chen Guang completed back then was the most critical and difficult part of the Pingxingguan battle. Since then, his reputation has become well known in our army.

However, this natural military strategist was not proud of it. Not long after, he once again gave the Japanese army a devastating blow.

3. Military genius - a slight tangent Guangyang Victory

If there were countless military geniuses in our army camp back then, Chen Guang should be called a military genius. He had a keener viewing ability and courage that ordinary military officials did not have, which is also the key to his success. On the fifth day after the Pingxingguan victory, Lin Biao led the 115th Division to Wutai Mountain via Yunwuling and Jinshanpu. The main task was to rush to assist the Kuomintang army that was defeated from the front battlefield in front.

At the same time, a Japanese army was advancing south from the direction of Fanzhi . The 20th Japanese division, who wanted to attack Taiyuan, advanced directly into Guangyang because of its rush to compete for success.

When Chen Guang received the latest information from the Japanese army, he had a wonderful idea in his mind. It turned out that when he led his team to pass by Guangyang, the rugged cliff terrain that looked like Pingxingguan was also like a "big coffin".

Just like that, Chen Guang, who came to the division headquarters, reported his opinion to Lin Biao. After hearing this, Lin Biao suddenly felt spirited: "This is another living coffin that sets a natural ambush!"

photo|Photo by Chen Guang (the first on the left in the back row)

However, at this time, the 115th Division's troops were not as sufficient as before the Pingxingguan victory. The troops were still in a state of marching at that time, and the 344th Brigade was still a hundred miles away. The 343rd Brigade Independent Regiment had to rush to Guangyang in the afternoon of the next day. In this way, only two regiments under Chen Guang could be put into battle immediately.

In fact, Lin Biao still recognized Chen Guang's combat command ability, but at this time, his biggest hesitation was the uncertainty about the situation.

Once the war falls into a stalemate, the 685th Regiment and the 686th Regiment led by Chen Guang are the most precious forces of our army. The two regiments that have just experienced the Pingxingguan Victory, as the fire seed left by the Long March, more than a thousand people were killed or injured. This time, no unnecessary losses can be caused.

Seeing that Lin Biao was hesitant, Chen Guang volunteered: "Teacher, we will definitely fight well in this battle, and we will never let the Japanese bite!"

After that, Chen Guang brought the Chief of Staff and two regiment commanders to Dachuan, Guangyang for on-site investigation. When he returned to the division headquarters, he reported to Lin Biao with confidence: "Dachuan will become the second cemetery of the Japanese army!"

Seeing such a determined subordinate, Lin Biao had less concerns, and then ordered Chen Guang to command the battle, and sent the 687th Regiment of the 344th Brigade to advance 60 miles to Songta that night to cut off the Japanese reinforcements.

In the early morning of October 3, 1937, Chen Guang led the entire army of the 343rd Brigade to Dachuanli. He ordered the 685th Regiment to enter Langgou and chain the hills on both sides. The 686th Regiment occupied the highland north of Xiaozhai Village, and the rest of the troops served as the main force of the attack.

At 3 pm, the 24th Division of the Japanese Army began to enter the ambush circle in a mighty manner. After letting go of two Japanese regiments, Chen Guang ordered the entire army to focus on the enemy's baggage troops.

In a mountain valley that lasts more than ten miles in Dachuan, the road has become bumpy due to disrepair. Such road conditions are a great disaster for the baggage troops, and in Chen Guang's eyes, it is a god-given opportunity.

Picture | Chen Guang commanded the battle

At 9 am the next morning, more than 2,000 Japanese baggage troops and more than 700 mules and horses entered the ambush circle carefully prepared for them by the 343rd Brigade. Just after Chen Guang's order, our soldiers launched a fierce attack.

The Japanese baggage troops in the valley were beaten upside down, and the howlings of wolves in the haunted house came. After a brief fierce battle, most of the besieged Japanese troops were annihilated.

This time, Chen Guang won a huge victory with the unique terrain of Guangyang.

In the Guangyang victory, the 343rd Brigade wiped out more than 1,000 enemies, seized more than 200 mules and horses and a large number of military supplies. It is gratifying that compared with the more than 1,000 casualties of our army in the Pingxingguan victory, our army suffered less than 300 casualties, and no one of the cadres above the battalion was killed or injured.

If Chen Guang was the nemesis of the Japanese army back then, this evaluation is not an exaggeration. In another battle afterwards, a Japanese royal elite became his defeated general, and once became a shame that the Japanese army would not want to be publicly unwilling to be.

4. "Textbook for Anti-Japanese War" - Liangshan's killing of royal elites

In June 1939, the 32nd Division of the Japanese army stationed in Jinpu Road wanted to launch a major sweep of the Eighth Route Army. At the end of July, the Japanese army dispatched a field infantry brigade, especially strengthening the cavalry and artillery, forming a mixed brigade of infantry, artillery and cavalry.

Interestingly, the commander of this team was named Toshie Nagata. He was the nephew of the Japanese Emperor at that time, and was also a veritable royal elite. During this Japanese army storm, he volunteered to lead the team to demonstrate the might of the Japanese royal family.

Changtian Minjiang did not have any outstanding achievements back then. He simply defeated the defense of a Kuomintang division, and commanded the troops to occupy several county towns.

On August 1, Chen Guang, who was then the acting commander of our army's 115th Division, was holding a "August 1" military-civilian party at the garrison. Our army's scout reported the important movements of the Japanese army to him.

Picture | Nagata Toshie

It turned out that the 600-man team led by Nagata Toshie was marching towards the Liangshan base where Chen Guang was located, but this Japanese army marched independently, with no support troops at all, and no other troops supporting nearby. The scouts also found that there were no signs of additional troops at other enemy garrisons.

: Seeing the Japanese army coming to the door, although the 115th Division had only 4 companies of troops at this time, the hidden terrain in the mountains was the best cover barrier. Moreover, the independent regiment led by Yang Yong was 30 miles south of Liangshan.

At this time, Chen Guang planned to swallow the Japanese army, and his decision was also supported by political commissar Luo Ronghuan. The two of them immediately came to the front slope of Liangshan to investigate the terrain. Chen Guang made strategic arrangements after

. He ordered the Third Battalion of the First Regiment of the Independent Brigade to rush to the highlands south of Dushan Villa, and strive to wipe out the Japanese army or part of it here. The remaining troops strengthened their vigilance against the Wen Shang direction. In addition, Chen Guang also designated the ambush location of his four companies directly under him.

At noon on August 2, the Japanese army began to attack. Nagata Toshijiang ordered the puppet army to take the lead. The Japanese army followed closely behind and did not advance according to Chen Guang's expected route. The two companies ambushed near Dushan Villa took the lead in firing, and the puppet army was shot and more than 30 people were killed.

Nagata Minjiang was not in a mess at this time. After ordering to fire at Liangshan for half an hour, he did not hear any movement from our army. He mistakenly thought that the guerrillas just encountered, and ordered the entire army to continue advancing towards Liangshan.

When the Japanese army arrived at the southwest corner of Liangshan, the 3rd Battalion of our Independent Brigade launched an attack. Nagata Toshijiang became furious at this time. He quickly commanded the artillery to launch artillery bombardment around Liangshan, and ordered other troops to attack the Luanshigang inside and outside the village.

This time Chen Guang and the Japanese army were playing psychological tactics. Nagata Toshike encountered the pursuit of our special agent battalion and cavalry without understanding the terrain of Liangshan area and the deployment of our army's troops. He mistakenly thought he had encountered heavy troops, but in fact, our army surrounded the Japanese army at that time had only 300 troops.

Picture | Liangshan Dushan Battle

On the evening of that day, the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Independent Brigade arrived. Chen Guang began to organize a counterattack and directly attacked the Japanese army retreating to Dushan Villa. The defeated enemy troops retreated step by step. Chen Guang then organized our army's firepower group, operation group, and blasting group to cooperate in combat, and soon defeated the enemy positions one by one. After
clearing away the remaining enemies, the only remaining Japanese forces could no longer launch an effective counterattack and fled in a nearby bean ground. After our army arrived, all the enemy troops were wiped out.

After this battle, more than 300 Japanese and puppet troops were annihilated, Nagata Toshie committed suicide by seizing his stomach, 13 Japanese soldiers were captured, and our army also seized 2 field artillery pieces, 1992 infantry artillery pieces, 43 grenade launchers, 12 light and heavy machine guns, and 200 rifles.

The demise of the Nagata brigade was undoubtedly a very shameful blow to the Japanese army. Although the Japanese army did not disclose his identity to the outside world, there were many internal combat review meetings.

This time Chen Guang once again created a miracle, and wiped out a well-established Japanese army's integrated mixed reinforcement brigade under the huge gap in strength of our enemy. At that time, the battle was also praised by the Eighth Route Army Headquarters and the National Government of as a "model annihilation war."

For Chen Guang, his ability to create miracles on the battlefield many times is not due to luck, but rather to make precise combat deployments again and again, and to be smart and courageous on the battlefield, he can exchange the smallest casualties for the greatest victory.

But unfortunately, it is such an invincible general who slowly approaches the trough of life in the War of Liberation.

5. The tragedy in the War of Liberation begins with

The reason why Chen Guang reached a regrettable trough starts with his grievances and entanglements with Lin Biao.

1930 During the first anti-encirclement and suppression of in the Central Soviet Area, Chen Guang rescued Lin Biao who was surrounded by many people. This kindness was remembered by Lin Biao, and it was extremely rare to ask for me for Chen Guang. Logically speaking, Chen Guang should have become Lin Biao's most trusted and favorite subordinate in the future, but this is not the case.

The two always cooperated tacitly during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and there was never a grudge. However, with the arrival of the War of Liberation, due to a radio station, the relationship between the two was completely frozen.

Picture | Chen Guang

In August 1945, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the dominance of the Northeast became the focus of open and secret struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Originally, Chen Guang was going to return to Shandong to work at this time, but he also came to the Northeast due to changes in the situation and was still a subordinate of Lin Biao.

11 After a group of old troops gathered, Chen Guang was ordered to command the defense lines in Heishan and Beizhen. For strategic considerations, Luo Ronghuan equipped Chen Guang with a radio station and confidential personnel brought by Shandong.

About two months later, Lin Biao led the command post to Fuxin . At this time, the Kuomintang army had already captured Jinzhou and Gou Bangzi area, and the situation became very critical.

After learning that Chen Guang had a high-power radio station, Lin Biao hurriedly asked him to assign confidential personnel to bring the radio station to Fuxin, but Chen Guang had different opinions on this.

In his opinion, Lin Biao already has two high-power radio stations to use. If he doesn't have a radio station, he will be inconvenient. He immediately applied to Lin Biao to keep the radio station with him.

But Lin Biao urged and even asked Chen Guang to seize the radio station for no reason, which hindered his normal combat command. Seeing this, Chen Guang immediately dispatched personnel to escort the radio station and confidential personnel, but his troops happened to be attacked by the Kuomintang army. In desperation, he could only leave the radio station with him first.

Because of this incident, Lin Biao, who was indiscriminate, began to publicly scold Chen Guang many times, claiming that he "unreasonably occupied the radio station and disobeyed his orders" . What is even more chilling is that Lin Biao began to target Chen Guang everywhere since then. During the reorganization process after

, Chen Guang was transferred to the commander of the Sixth Column. During a combat plan discussion, Lin Biao, knowing that Chen Guang did not agree with the combat suggestions, directly ordered Chen Guang's division headquarters to evacuate, and completely emptied Chen Guang, who was still reconnaissing the terrain on the south bank of Songhua River, . For this matter, Chen Guang fell seriously ill and then went to Harbin to recuperate.

At this time, the conflict between the two people was becoming more and more prominent. However, Chen Guang, who had always been upright, never thought of fighting back against Lin Biao, but he did not expect that his concessions were not exchanged for forgiveness.

Picture | Lin Biao

In January 1949, after the liberation of Peking, Chairman Mao personally appointed Chen Guang as the deputy chief of staff of the Fourth Field Army. However, at the subsequent Fourth Field senior cadres meeting, Lin Biao actually criticized Chen Guang in public for "preventing self-pride" and other issues, and the conflict between the two was completely intensified.

is so terrifying that Chen Guang is ugly, and Lin Biao's farce is far from over here.

6. Going south to Guangzhou, the honest leader passed away with hatred

In January 1950, Chen Guang was transferred to Guangdong Military Region to lead the work. After taking office, he quickly managed the military region in an orderly manner, but due to insufficient political literacy, he became biased in handling some major issues.

Because of his stubborn and honest personality, Chen Guang once refused to admit his mistakes and was also emotionally over-the-top when talking to his superiors. But after all, these are all internal management issues of our party. Lin Biao seized Chen Guang's mistakes and used his position to directly expel him from the party.

On July 23, 1950, cadres of the Military Region Security Department announced in person that Chen Guang's position would be removed from his position and placed him under house arrest.

The days of being detained lasted for 4 years. Chen Guang lived anger and depression. He could not figure it out. He was devoted to serving the country but became a prisoner after the founding of the country.

In the early morning of June 7, 1954, a small building where Chen Guang was located caught fire, and he died as a result. He was only 48 years old. So far, there is no clear conclusion on the cause of the fire. At that time, it was more than a year since the promotion of the title in 1955, but Chen Guang could never see it again.

Conclusion

In many years after Chen Guang's death, his name was rarely mentioned publicly, but his former old comrades never forgot him.

In 1985, Marshal Luo Ronghuan and his wife Lin Yueqin joined forces with more than a dozen old comrades to find Chen Yun and requested the Chen Guang case to be retried.

pic | Chen Guang and his wife

In 1987, the joint investigation team finally concluded that Chen Guang’s mistakes back then were just conflicts among the people, and the dismissal and expelled from the party were extremely wrong, and they were all the result of Lin Biao’s false accusations and crackdowns.

In 1988, all the charges of "anti-party" on Chen Guang's head were withdrawn, and all the credit and reputation returned at this time. However, the hero has gone away. I hope that he can smile with a smile on his face.

Commander Chen, go all the way...