In October 1934, when the Red Army began the Long March, the Red First Army was commanded by **, and it had three divisions: the Red First Division, the Red Second Division and the Red 15th Division. However, soon after, the Red 15th Division was abolished, and only the two main divisions of the Red 1st Division and the Red 2nd Division remained. Although they were both main divisions, their later developments were very different. By 1955, the rank of the 1st Red Division was loud, but the 2nd Red Division was overshadowed, which made people feel deeply embarrassed. First of all, let's take a look at the situation of the 1st Red Division. At that time, the commander of the 1st Red Division was Li Jukui, the political commissar was Lai Chuanzhu, the chief of staff was Nie Heting, and the director of the Political Department was Tan Zheng. Tan Zheng is a general, while Li Jukui and Lai Chuanzhu are both generals, and Nie Heting is a lieutenant general, and they are all founding generals. Needless to say, Tan Zheng is the director of the Political Department of the Four Fields who will go down in history and the representative of political work among the founding generals.
Although Li Jukui is not as famous as other generals, his contribution to our army is unparalleled, and he was even awarded a lofty title - "General Saint". Li Jukui's military rank was also quite special, and when he was conferred the title in 1955, he was not awarded a military rank because he was serving as oil minister and left the army. It was not until 1958 that after Li Jukui became the political commissar of the General Logistics Department, he returned to the army and was awarded the rank of general. General Xu Liqing, who was in charge of the evaluation work, was a little embarrassed, because Li Jukui's qualifications and merits were enough to award him the rank of general, but the "top ten generals" had been determined and could not replace anyone, so Xu Liqing found Li Jukui and explained the situation. After Li Jukui learned about it, he said generously: "If it's low, it's high, just the general!"”。Nie Heting's situation was similar to that of Li Jukui, who left the army at the time of the award in 1955 and was not awarded the rank of lieutenant general until 1956.
In fact, Nie Heting served as the chief of staff of the Red Fourth Army as early as the Red Army, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also served as the deputy commander of the armored corps and the deputy commander of the engineering corps, which was enough to obtain the rank of general. The Red First Division has three regiments under its jurisdiction, and it is also full of talented people and will shine brightly. The commander of the 1st Red Regiment was Yang Dezhi, the founding general, and the commander of the 1st Battalion was Sun Jixian, the founding lieutenant general, and the famous forced crossing of the Dadu River was completed by Sun Jixian personally led 17 warriors. As for the political commissar of the Red First Regiment, named Li Lin, who later served as the acting commander and political commissar of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Independent Division, he was very capable. Unfortunately, in 1937, Li Lin unfortunately died of illness and could not wait for the day when he was awarded the military rank. However, if he survives to that day, Li Lin will also be awarded the rank of founding general. Yang Dezhi later recalled: "Every victory won by the Red First Regiment in the Long March was a condensation of Li Lin's hard work.
Liu Ruilong, the commander of the Red Second Regiment, served as the director of the Political Department of the Red 29th Army in 1933, and later assumed the post of regiment commander, which can be said to be a kind of "condescension". Liu Ruilong was mainly engaged in local work after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and served as vice minister of agriculture after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Deng Hua, the political commissar of the Second Red Regiment, was a founding general who served as the commander and political commissar of the Chinese Volunteers, the deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, and the commander of the Shenyang Military Region. Huang Yongsheng, the commander of the Red Third Regiment, was also a founding general and was once a fierce general under the command of **, but unfortunately he later went astray and never looked back. And Lin Longfa, the political commissar of the Third Red Regiment, was originally a promising young general in the Red Army, but unfortunately he died in 1936 at the age of 22. On the whole, the Red First Division has trained at least one general (Tan Zheng), five generals (Li Jukui, Lai Chuanzhu, Yang Dezhi, Deng Hua, Huang Yongsheng) and two lieutenant generals (Nie Heting, Sun Jixian).
Next, look at the Red Second Division, the division commander at that time was Chen Guang, the political commissar was Liu Yalou, the chief of staff was Li Tangcao, and the director of the political department was Fu Zhuting. Among these people, Chen Guang can be said to be the most regrettable figure, who was once regarded as the first person of the world, successively served as the acting commander of the Red First Army, the acting commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and later served as the deputy commander of the Northeast Military Region and the deputy chief of staff of the Fourth Field Army, and his strength is enough to award the rank of general. However, due to some inexplicable reasons, Chen Guang chose to commit suicide in 1954 and failed to wait for the day he was awarded his military rank. In contrast, Liu Yalou, the political commissar of the Red Second Division, developed much more smoothly, and later served as the chief of staff of the Northeast Field Army, becoming the most trusted chief of staff, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also served as the first commander of the Air Force and won the rank of general. Li Tangxu, chief of staff of the Second Red Division, was an outstanding cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy and was talented, but unfortunately died in 1935.
Fu Zhuting, director of the Political Department of the Second Red Division, was evaluated by Marshal *** as "quite outstanding in military and political affairs, and a very capable and outstanding cadre", but he died in 1943. In comparison, there are four founding generals in the division headquarters of the Red First Division, while the Red Second Division has only trained one general, and the other three have all suffered misfortunes, which is really regrettable!In addition, the 2nd Red Division also had three regiments under its command, and what about these regiments?The first is the Red Fourth Regiment, the head of the regiment is **, and the political commissar is Yang Chengwu. Although the officers and men of the Second Red Division did not have the glory of the First Red Division, they still made indelible contributions to the establishment of New China and deserve our respect. Among them, Yang Chengwu is the founding general of the People's Republic of China and served as the acting chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, and although he does not have a military rank, he has a high status in the army.
In contrast, the commanders and political commissars of the Red Fifth and Sixth Red Regiments had many misfortunes, among which Zhang Zhenshan, the head of the Red Fifth Regiment, died in 1937, and political commissar Yi Dangping lost his life in November 1934, just before the Long March began. Although Wang Chengcheng, the political commissar of the Red Sixth Regiment, served as the political commissar of the Fourth Column of the East China Field Army and the director of the Political Department of the Shandong Military Region, he was only awarded the rank of major general because he was mistakenly branded as a "big tiger" and failed to receive the recognition he deserved. Although military rank cannot represent everything, we should bear in mind the efforts made by the officers and men of the Second Red Division for the independence and freedom of New China.