Some of our founding generals lived to a long time, and their longevity not only left a profound impact on our military career. For example, General Lu Zhengcao was 106 years old, General Chen Ruiting was 105 years old, General Tong Lusheng was 103 years old, General Xiao Ke was 102 years old, and General Sun Yi lived a life of 100 years. However, also during the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were some generals who died young in their fifties, including General Chen Geng. Despite his short life, as an outstanding military general, he left an indelible mark on the history of our country. In addition, there are also founding general He Bingyan and founding general Liu Yalou, especially General Liu Yalou, who died at the age of 55. Despite his short life, he held three key positions in his short 36-year revolutionary career.
General Liu Yalou's military career began at the age of 19 with revolutionary participation, and he became a famous general in the Red Army during the agrarian reform period, serving as a pioneer with division commander Chen Guang in Ruijin, Jiangxi, with remarkable achievements. However, he was absent during the eight-year war of resistance because he was sent to study in the Soviet Union and received a degree at the Frunze Military Academy. His early death made him miss the difficult anti-Japanese years in our country. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, General Liu Yalou returned to China and was appointed chief of staff of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army. This organization later evolved into the Northeast Field Army, and Liu Yalou became one of the best partners during the Liberation War. He participated in many important battles in the Northeast Battlefield, such as the Battle of Sanxia Jiangnan, the Battle of Sibao Linjiang, and the Northeast 1947 Summer, Autumn and Winter Offensive Operations. Under the command of **, Liu Yalou's military talent was highly praised.
Subsequently, he served as the chief of staff of the Northeast Field Army, assisted in the command of the Liaoshen Campaign, and became one of the commander's most effective assistants. General Liu Yalou was a military leader who demonstrated excellent command skills in actual combat, especially in the famous Battle of Tianjin. It took him only 29 hours to liberate Tianjin, defeat Fu Zuoyi, and show his decisive and heroic side on the battlefield. After the victory of the Liberation War, the Northeast Field Army was reorganized into the Fourth Field Army, and General Liu Yalou was promoted to commander of the 14th Corps. However, his commanding career did not end there, and he was subsequently appointed the first commander of our Air Force. Under his leadership, China's air force started from scratch, not only quickly building up a strong force, but also gaining the strength to conduct air battles with the US air force at that time in a short period of time. General Liu Yalou made great contributions to the initial stage of China's air force career.
Regrettably, however, General Liu Yalou died of illness in 1965, ending his brilliant and short life. His death is undoubtedly a great loss to the cause of our Air Force. Although his life was relatively short, in my history, his life was full of brilliance.