In late April 1951, the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was coming to an end, and Hong Xuezhi, who was inspecting the transportation of materials in the rear warehouse, suddenly received a *** and asked him to go back to the Volunteer Army Headquarters immediately.
At that time, in order to guard against the bombing of US planes, Mr. Peng generally set up his headquarters in the gold mines in northern North Korea, and when Hong Xuezhi hurriedly walked into Mr. Peng's headquarters, he was always anxious and said to him loudly: "Lao Hong, you will return to China immediately!"”
It turned out that ** was to let Hong Xuezhi return to China and report to *** the actual situation of front-line logistics supplies. The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has been fought for more than half a year, and the Volunteers have not yet set up a formal logistics headquarters, and this problem, which has been ignored by everyone, has almost become a "cover door" for the Volunteers.
When the Volunteers first entered the DPRK, their strength was only more than 200,000 troops, and they were fighting under the condition that they were backed by the rear of the Northeast, so the logistical supply was not very difficult.
At that time, the logistics of the Volunteer Army was mainly managed by the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region, and it only took more than half a month to make the decision to enter the DPRK, so it was necessary to raise food and grass for the 300,000 troops, not to mention the "Logistics Headquarters of the Volunteer Army" that did not exist at all, even the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region was reluctant to make it difficult.
In addition, the logistics department of the Northeast Military Region was also a newly established "grass platform team" at that time, and it was originally planned that there would be 3,000 cadres at all levels under the logistics department of the Northeast Military Region, but in fact only more than 1,500 were allocated, and half of the posts were temporary or no one was in charge at all.
In the rear, make fried noodles for the Volunteer Army.
However, it is such a logistics department with not very sound functions, and it can be regarded as a miracle that it has taken on the heavy task of fighting hundreds of thousands of troops at the beginning of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
At present, the front of the Volunteer Army has been pushed south by more than 230 kilometers, extending all the way to the vicinity of the "38th parallel," and the number of combat units has also soared to 16 armies, 48 divisions, and special forces units, with a total number of nearly one million.
This request immediately woke up Hong Xuezhi, and Mr. Peng said: "Lao Hong, after you return to China, you must report our idea of determining to establish a logistics command of the Volunteer Army." ”
In this way, Hong Xuezhi set off to return to Beijing overnight, and met the Japanese leader on the same day, and he asked with concern: "Comrade Hong Xuezhi, how is the combat situation on your front line?"”
In the face of ***'s kind care, Hong Xuezhi couldn't hold back anymore and vomited a lot of bitter water. In the past six months, Hong Xuezhi has personally seen that due to the lack of air supremacy of our army, the logistics work has suffered a great loss.
At this time, the US Far East Air Force had reached an unscrupulous level of sabotage of the supply lines of the volunteers, and various tricks and tricks were constantly reinvented: napalm bombs were quite ordinary, as well as chemical mines with poison, time bombs, triangular nails that specialized in destroying car tires, sub-bombs, butterfly bombs, ......
Fetal Breaking Artifact "Triangular Nail."
At night, US bombers will also be dispatched, because it is difficult to distinguish targets in the night, but the US troops know that the volunteers often use night assault transport, so they directly stare at the location of the communication line on the map and throw a bunch of napalm, and the fire lights the mountains are red.
The way to deal with the US Air Force is to strengthen its air defense forces, and the other is to send the Volunteer Air Force to fight in the DPRK as soon as possible, but the most fundamental thing is to set up a modern logistics command.
After fighting in Korea for so long, ** and other senior leaders of the Volunteer Army have gradually realized the role of logistics in modern warfare.
Modern warfare has gone far beyond the scope of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and even the War of Liberation, at that time, large forces were fighting on the ground, although the enemy had an air force, but it was not at all large, and the intensity of its bombing was far less than that of the US army.
Moreover, the U.S. military also has the most powerful naval force in the world, and the air attack capabilities of its aircraft carriers and the terrifying firepower of its battleship forces are unprecedented in us.
Therefore, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the first three-dimensional war experienced by our army, which was fought simultaneously or intersectably in the air, on the ground, at sea, and in the front and rear.
The U.S. ** team anchored off the coast of North Korea.
In order to meet the needs of modern warfare, the Western capitalist countries, led by the United States, have realized the importance of large-scale logistics, and have not only strengthened the building of their own logistical capabilities, but also placed great emphasis on destroying the opponent's logistical capabilities.
In the US military's operational thinking, within 50 kilometers of the front is the business of the front command, and if it goes beyond 50 kilometers, it is the business of the logistics command, and the US military's devastating bombing of our rear is actually fighting with us in the front and rear at the same time.
The so-called logistics command is by no means under the jurisdiction of ordinary vehicles and warehouses, but must be in charge of many special arms of the armed forces, such as air defense units, communications units, railway units, and engineer units, and undertake the task of commanding the joint operations of all arms in a unified manner.
Under the care of the People's Liberation Army, the Military Commission soon held a special meeting on the logistics support of the Volunteer Army, and Yang Li, director of the General Logistics Department.
3. Air Force Commander Liu Yalou and Artillery Commander *** led a team to the DPRK to study the work of strengthening the logistics of the Chinese People's Volunteers.
After Yang Lisan and others learned about the actual situation at the front, they made a detailed report to the then chief of the General Staff and the acting chief of the General Staff.
** The Military Commission immediately decided to instruct the Volunteer Army to organize the Volunteer Army Logistics Command between Anton and the Volunteer Army station.
Volunteer fighters fought tenaciously in difficult conditions.
At about 8 o'clock in the evening of May 14, General Peng convened a meeting of comrades of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Volunteer Army in a wooden room under the hillside of the Volunteer Army Headquarters to study the organizational setup and cadre allocation of the Volunteer Army Logistics Command.
At the beginning of the meeting, ** threw out a question that made people dare not ask: Now** has sent us a telegram again, demanding that the logistics commander of the Volunteer Army should be concurrently served by the deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, and now we will decide who will be the logistics commander.
The responsibility of the logistics commander is too great!If it is not done well, it will be a problem that the whole army will have no food, no clothing, and no bullets to fight, so everyone will not dare to speak rashly.
At that time, there were five deputy commanders of the Volunteer Army, the first was Deng Hua, who was also the deputy political commissar, the second was Chen Geng, who was also the commander of the Third Corps, the third was Song Shilun, who was also the commander of the Ninth Corps, the fourth was Hong Xuezhi, and the fifth was Han Xianchu, who was also the commander of the 19th Corps.
To put it bluntly, everyone wants to fight on the front line and make meritorious contributions, and no one wants to be a logistics commander with this big responsibility and unflattering.
Hong Xuezhi is a smart person, as soon as he heard *** say this, he had a hunch that he had to take care of this logistics commander, because he has always been in charge of logistics since the Volunteer Army entered the DPRK, but emotionally speaking, he is 10,000 unwilling to be a logistics commander.
Hong Xuezhi during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.
In 1942, he served as chief of staff of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army and assisted division commander Huang Kecheng in building an anti-Japanese base in northern Jiangsu.
From a "professional" point of view, it is obvious that Hong Xuezhi is more familiar with military work, and he, like others, is worried that the logistics work of the volunteer army is too difficult to handle, and there is no way to explain to Mr. Peng and ** if he messes up.
Of course, it's not good to recommend others, because isn't that pushing others into the pit?It was under the influence of these factors that Hong Xuezhi listened to the discussion of others very enthusiastically, but sat there quietly and silently.
Of course, Hong Xuezhi doesn't speak doesn't mean that others don't speak, Deng Hua is the deputy political commissar and deputy commander, and he will be counted under President Peng, so Deng Hua first said: "I think it's better for Lao Hong to take the post of logistics commander." ”
As soon as he said this, Han Xianchu, Chief of Staff Xie Fang, and Director of the Political Department Du Ping spoke one after another, saying that Lao Hong was indeed the best logistics commander.
What they said was also true, because looking at so many people, there is indeed no more suitable logistics than Hong Xuezhi, not that Hong Xuezhi is "professional", but that others are too unprofessional at all.
Hong Hak-chi in North Korea.
Recalling the first few battles in the first few battles, there were several times when the logistics could not keep up, and the pressure up and down was great, at this time Hong Xuezhi finally couldn't help but say: "I can't be the logistics commander at the same time." ”
Ask: "Why?".”
Hong Xuezhi replied: "You asked me to take care of it in the previous paragraph, but I didn't manage it well, and now let me be the logistics commander again, it's not bad!."I can do anything else, but I can't do this thing, so I'd better let someone else do it!”
Hearing this, Mr. Peng's face suddenly pulled down: "If you don't do it, who will do it?"”
Hong Xuezhi said: "I don't do it, Comrade Deng Hua can do both, his level is higher than mine!."”
After being denied by Deng Hua, he said: "Then let Comrade Han Xianchu concurrent!."Either let someone come from behind!”
Mr. Peng said, "Come later?"Who will you send later?”
Hong Xuezhi also said: "Comrade Li Jukui is the political commissar of the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region, and Comrade Zhou Chunquan is the logistics director of the Military Region”
Unexpectedly, this appointment has achieved a generation of legends.
Mr. Peng shook his head and said: "No, no, the task behind is also very heavy, it would be good if they could manage the northeast." ”
Hong Xuezhi said again: "Then you can also let Yang Lisan send someone here, I can be my deputy." ”
Seeing that Hong Xuezhi didn't eat hard and soft, he could only generalize his army: "You don't do it?."Okay, I'll do it, you go and command the troops!”
Hong Xuezhi saw that he couldn't push off this matter, so he had to soften his attitude and said: "Okay, I can do this logistics commander at the same time, but there must be a condition, and I will do it if I agree to this condition." ”
**When I heard that there was a play in Hong Xuezhi's words, I hurriedly said: "What conditions?."”
Hong Xuezhi said: "The conditions are very simple: First, if I don't do a good job, I will be removed from my post and replaced with a comrade who is more capable than me as soon as possibleSecond, I am a military cadre and am willing to do military work, and after the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is over, don't let me do logistics anymore, and let me do military work. ”
Hong Xuezhi (middle) and the main leaders of the Logistics Command of the Volunteer Army.
In this way, on May 19, the ** Military Commission issued an order announcing the formal establishment of the Volunteer Army Logistics Command, with Hong Xuezhi as the commander and Zhou Chunquan as the political commissar.
At that time, no one expected that this appointment would actually achieve a miracle in the history of world warfare and start a legend that is difficult to replicate.
Under the leadership of Hong Xuezhi, a logistical war no less fierce than the frontal battlefield to resist US aggression and aid Korea was vigorously unfolded.