This issue of Shiyuan History will focus on the rating of the founding generals. Among the 57 founding generals, the first place was General Xiao Ke, who was known as the "General Xiao Ke Town", which shows that his military merits and contributions were very outstanding. However,
It seems a little puzzling that some friends who love history are dissatisfied with General Xiao Ke's military rank, because as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army and the deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, he was only awarded the rank of general, not marshal or general, which seems a little puzzling. However,
If we carefully understand the five basic conditions for assessing the rank of general in 1955, we will find that Xiao Ke's award to the rank of general is not excessive, and it can even be said to be very appropriate. General Xiao Ke and Mr. He had conflicts in their military and political careers, and there were also misunderstandings during the Red Army
Moreover, at some critical moments, Xiao Ke's support or opposition to the leader limited the development of his later military and political career. However, such comments are relatively superficial, and while these factors may have some influence, they are not decisive.
There are five main criteria for judging whether a senior general has attained the rank of general in 1955. Of these five basic conditions, the first criterion required that during the agrarian revolution the rank of Red Army cadre above the rank of division commander was required, and Xiao Ke clearly met this criterion. He served as the commander of the Red Sixth Army
Later, he cooperated with Mr. He and served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Second Front Army, which far exceeded the requirements of the Red Army's divisional cadres, so this standard was not a problem. The second requirement is to serve as a senior cadre at the brigade commander level or above of the Eighth Route Army during the all-out war of resistance, and Xiao Ke obviously meets this requirement
Because he served as the deputy commander of the 129th Division, his status was higher than that of the brigade commander. It can be said that if the general is evaluated by these two criteria, Xiao Ke fully meets the requirements. Next, let's take a look at the third criterion.
The main reason why Xiao Ke was not rated as a general was that he failed to meet the criteria set in 1955 for the selection of generals. According to the fourth criterion, at that time, candidates were required to hold important positions such as ministers of the eight major departments of the headquarters, ministers of defense, and commanders of services or arms, but Xiao Ke was only a deputy at that time
Served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army. Although some people claim that Xiao Ke was the head of the training directorate, the reality is what happened later, and the head of the training director department at that time was Liu Shuai, not General Xiao Ke. Therefore, the fourth criterion has not been met. Even if it is only a non-compliance with this article,
It was still possible for Shaw to attain the rank of general, but Article 5 was not met either, as a person with the rank of general was required to hold at least one of the positions of a member of the National Defense Commission, which he was not elected to until 1959. As a result, he failed to meet the two criteria for the selection of generals. To sum up, although Xiao Ke was not rated as a general, this is not without reason.