On March 5, 1953, Stalin, who had been at the helm of Soviet politics for almost three decades, died in the comfort of his dacha. On March 9, Stalin's funeral was held in Moscow. China's premier led an 18-member delegation to pay his respects.
The atmosphere at the funeral was solemn, but the always polite *** made it clear to the Soviet Union at this time that he wanted to take a person away. Supposedly, it is not appropriate to say such things at a funeral, but *** has no choice. So, what is it that makes *** so anxious?Will the Soviet side give the green light for the return of this man again?Let's start in 1920.
In 1920, the Chinese revolution entered a new phase. ** Wait for a large number of Chinese young people to start the journey to France for work-study. And in the crowd, a young man is very eye-catching. This person's name is Tang Duo, a native of Yiyang, Hunan, who was only a teenager at the time, and was one of the youngest among the work-study workers.
Don't look at his young age, Tang Duo's experience is not simple. He attended a private school in his hometown at the age of 4, transferred to the Primary School Affiliated to Hunan Higher Normal School at the age of 12, and entered the preparatory class for studying in France soon after. He followed his classmates in the preparatory class to Beijing to participate in the "May Fourth Movement". He had a very good classmate, Ren Bishi, who was later known as one of the "Five Great Secretaries". Under the influence of these classmates, he developed a simple revolutionary feeling.
After coming to France, Tang Duo often participated in revolutionary activities with Li Weihan, ** and others. Their actions were soon discovered by the French police, and several people were soon arrested. They were repatriated after a year in detention. However, in this tempering, Tang Duo's revolutionary will was tempered, which was crucial for him to survive that dark moment in the future.
After returning to China, Tang Duo entered the Hunan Army as a soldier under the introduction of Tan Yanmin. At that time, the Hunan army was still a very powerful warlord force. It was here that Tang Duo first came into contact with airplanes and soon became interested in the Air Force. He wanted to be in the Air Force, but his education level was not enough, so he recklessly found Yang Xianyi, the director of the Aviation Bureau of the Great Marshal's Mansion, and asked him to help him. Yang Xianyi couldn't break the rules, so he arranged for him to enter the aircraft factory first, first to work as a maintenance worker, and then find an opportunity to be a pilot in the future.
However, it also happened that soon after, Sun Yat-sen established the "Military Flight School of the National Revolutionary Army" to recruit students. Tang Duo immediately signed up and successfully passed the exam and physical examination. After entering the school, Tang Duo trained hard, and soon mastered the flying skills and became a veritable pilot.
In 1925, Tang Duo was sent by the national ** to enter the Second Flight School of the Soviet Air Force to study Xi. Here, he studied harder Xi and improved his driving skills by leaps and bounds. Tang Duo can not only fly a variety of aircraft proficiently, but also ranks among the best in cultural Xi. At the same time, he became acquainted with a group of classmates from China in the Soviet Union, many of whom were members of the Communist Party. Under their influence, Don Duo joined the party organization in Moscow.
In 1927, the revolutionary situation in China changed drastically, and Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Ching-wei and others began to attack the Communists. People of insight overseas all sighed at this. Tang Duo was also indignant about this, so he decided not to return to China to serve the Kuomintang. At this time, he had already graduated, but under the arrangement of the party organization, he entered other flight academies to study Xi. This time, he not only studied Xi flying, but also studied flight engineering such as communications and mechanics. In 1932, Tang Duo completed all his Xi studies. He was received by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and, as a captain, took part in the military parade on Red Square and served as the "vanguard" of the Air Force.
However, an unwarranted disaster soon befell Tang Duo. In 1937, China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, and the Soviet Union became nervous because of it. At this time, the Soviet secret police were suspicious of all the people with the faces of the East, and Tang Duo was also under surveillance. Soon after, someone suddenly falsely accused him of being a "Japanese spy". The secret police arrested him in prison without a detailed investigation.
In 1939, Ren Bishi came to Moscow as the head of the delegation to the Comintern and heard about Tang Duo. He immediately contacted a group of comrades and wrote a joint letter to avenge his old classmate Tang Duo. Although Tang Duo was released, he was worried about continuing to live in the Soviet Union. He proposed to Ren Bi that he wanted to go to Yan'an to work. However, at that time, *** thought that in the absence of an air force and industrial base, letting Tang Duo come back could not play its due role at all. In the end, under the persuasion of Ren Bishi, Tang Duo still stayed.
Tang Duo, who walked out of the trough, gradually ushered in his highlight moment. In June 1941, Germany launched the "Barbarossa Plan" and began its invasion of the Soviet Union. Due to the lack of pre-war preparations, the lag in strategic thinking, and the death of a large number of generals due to internal struggles, the Soviet Union's combat effectiveness declined sharply, and the situation did not allow for optimism. At this time, Tang Duo stood up. He submitted an application, hoping to go to the front to fight. However, at this time, the Soviets were still a little worried about him, the face of the East, so the application was not approved for a long time. What Tang Duo can do is to keep submitting applications, hoping to experience air combat firsthand.
Tang Duo's application lasted for a total of three years. He graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, the highest school of the Soviet Air Force, and received the title of "mechanical engineer" and the rank of major, but the dream of air combat remained unrealized.
In 1944, the Soviet Union entered the stage of the first on the whole front, and the demand for pilots at the front increased significantly. It was only then that Tang Duo was given the opportunity to participate in the war. However, since he was already a major at this time, he immediately became a commander after joining the army, serving as deputy commander in the 74th Regiment of the Air Force. And Tang Duo quickly proved that he was worthy of this position.
Soon after arriving at the front line, Tang Duo led four attack planes to attack a German field airfield. When approaching the enemy, Tang Duo led the group to conduct an ultra-low-altitude flight that tested his skills extremely well, and successfully evaded the enemy's air defense post. When they suddenly appeared on the German airfield, the enemy was not prepared at all, and aircraft, ammunition and fuel were in the open. Tang Duo immediately ordered the group of planes to attack, and in an instant, several nets of fire enveloped the enemy's airfield. In the firelight, the German army suffered heavy losses, and Tang Duo also made his first contribution.
Tang Duo made many miraculous achievements on the battlefield, and was awarded a series of medals such as the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner, and the Order of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. After the surrender of Germany, he became a flight instructor in the Soviet Union. By this time, Tang Duo had been living in the Soviet Union for 20 years and had started a family in a foreign land. However, he still longed to return to China for work.
In 1946, the War of Liberation broke out. After Tang Duo heard about it, he applied to the Soviet Union for the first time to return to China. However, the Soviet side believed that he was an air force officer of the Soviet Union at the moment, and if he returned to China, he would be considered to support the Communist Party. And this was contrary to the relevant agreement they signed with Chiang Kai-shek, so Tang Duo's application was rejected. Tang Duo waited for another two years, and at the end of 1948, he met General Liu Yalou, who came to the Soviet Union on business. At this time, General Liu Yalou was preparing to form an air force, and he regarded those Chinese who had served in the Soviet Air Force as treasures. And Tang Duo not only understands flying, but also understands mechanical technology and communication, and talents like him are even more rare. As a result, General Liu Yalou told Tang Duo that he not only eagerly hoped for him to return to China, but would also arrange for him to be responsible for leading the Soviet Air Force experts who aided China. Tang Duo was excited, and his mood to return to China was even more urgent.
However, with the beginning of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Tang Duo's plan to return to China was once again disrupted. The Soviet Union was very worried that the Americans would seize the lever of their entry into the war, so they did not allow people with Soviet identity like Tang Duo to return to China. However, Tang Duo did not feel depressed at this time. He learned from the news that the air force of the Volunteer Army fought very well and opened up the "MiG corridor". Although he could not return home, he was still proud of his country's air force.
In the following years, Tang Duo continued to apply to return to China, but the Soviet Union never approved it. They told Don that he could prepare to return home, but that he would still have to continue to serve in the Soviet army until there was an official notice. Tang Duo had no choice but to write letters to China many times, hoping that *** could quickly pick him up and return to China. In 1952, when he went to the Soviet Union to participate in the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he once again expressed the hope that Tang Duo would return to China. The Soviet side said that the matter still had to go through the relevant procedures. As for when the formalities will be completed, no exact answer was given.
In fact, the reason why Tang Duo could not return to China was because Stalin had been obstructing. Tang Duo not only has rich combat experience, but is also proficient in flight, technology and machinery, and even knows how to design aircraft, covering almost all categories related to aircraft, and each discipline has reached the expert level. Stalin did not want to lose such talents, and he did not want China to have Tang Duo because of it. Let the Air Force develop rapidly, so he always cleverly set up a name to prevent Tang Duo from returning to China.
However, in March 1953, Stalin died suddenly. Since no ** person was appointed in advance, the Soviet Union fell into a chaotic period of struggle for power. The Chinese leaders saw this opportunity and stepped up the work of Tang Duo's return to China. So at Stalin's funeral, ** put forward a request for Don Duo to return to China as soon as possible. Without the greatest obstacle to Stalin, Tang Duo's return to China became unimpeded. On April 18, 1953, Tang Duo finally returned to his motherland after a 28-year absence with his wife and children.
Soon after Tang Duo returned to China, he was invited by General Chen Geng. At that time, Chen Geng was preparing to build the Harbin Military Industrial Institute and urgently needed an expert like Tang Duo. Tang Duo immediately went to work and served as the head of the Air Force Engineering Department and participated in the creation of the academy. At the Harbin Military Industrial Institute, he presided over the construction of the teaching building, founded 6 majors in engine, mechanical design, instrumentation, radio, airfield planning and architecture, and 27 teaching and research departments. As Stalin predicted, Tang Duo alone promoted the overall development of China's aviation industry.
In 1955, Tang Duo received his first military rank in New China, Major General. According to the regulations, he should not be awarded a military rank if he has not participated in the armed struggle in the country, but the fact that his superiors broke this rule shows the importance attached to him. After that, Tang Duo continued to struggle in the cause of military education and cultivated a large number of professionals for the country. In 1983, Tang Duo attended the enlarged meeting of the provincial party committee with illness, but due to excessive excitement during his speech, he induced a cerebral hemorrhage and finally died of illness in Shenyang.
General Tang Duo was one of the first generation of pilots in China, and he was also a leading figure in China's aviation industry at that time. He had a bright future in the USSR, but he was willing to give up everything for the sake of the Motherland. The achievements of the first generation of workers are inseparable from the contributions of the older generation of experts. They are the outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and the greatest help to strengthen the country. As future generations, we will always remember their exploits.