The Red Third Army in the base area of western Hunan and Hubei was an extremely key Red Army force under the leadership of the first marshal, and it was also the cradle of many outstanding generals, including Wang Shangrong, whom we will introduce today. Wang Shangrong's experience of joining the revolution began with a poor peasant family. Born in Shishou, Hubei Province in 1915, he studied at a private school, but had to drop out because of his family's poverty. In order to make a living, he worked as an apprentice, but in those days, farmers were often exploited, and Wang Shangrong also suffered from it, so he began to participate in local agricultural activities, and eventually joined the Youth League.
At the age of 16, Wang Shangrong joined the Red Army and became a soldier of the Red Army in western Hunan. Under the leadership of **, he participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle in the base area of western Hunan and Hubei, and then participated in the Long March, and finally arrived in northern Shaanxi. In July 1936, the Red Second Front Army was formally established, and Wang Shangrong also joined and served as the commander of the 96th Division of the 32nd Army. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, his unit was reorganized into the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and Wang Shangrong served as the commander of the 715th Regiment of the 358th Brigade.
In 1939, Wang Shangrong went to the Jizhong Base Area and served as the deputy brigade commander of the 1st Independent Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. During this time, he became acquainted with his wife. At that time, many aspiring young people went to Yan'an, devoted themselves to the anti-Japanese salvation movement, and entered the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to study. In 1939, Su Zhenhua, then the captain of the first brigade of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, led a large group of students to the northwest base area of Shanxi Province and came to Wang Shangrong's station. Among them, a woman named Huang Ke served as the platoon leader of the women's team.
Su Zhenhua and others intended to introduce Huang Ke to Wang Shangrong, so they often mentioned her in front of Wang Shangrong. Although Wang Shangrong had already participated in the revolution and was brave and good at fighting, he had no experience in emotional matters, and it was not until others inspired him that he began to pay attention to Huang Ke. Su Zhenhua arranged for Wang Shangrong to "review" Huang Ke's unit so that he could observe Huang Ke up close. On that day, Wang Shangrong put on his own seized "semi-new clothes" and conducted a "review" of a large group of soldiers. However, despite the two "reviews", Wang Shangrong still could not see Huang Ke's face clearly.
After that, Su Zhenhua found Huang Ke and actively matched her relationship with Wang Shangrong. However, Huang Ke believed that he had come to resist Japan and save the country, and his personal feelings should be put on the back burner, so he refused to associate with Wang Shangrong. It was not until the education director of Kang University was enthusiastic about matching and assigned Huang Ke to work in the 120th Division that Wang Shangrong and Huang Ke gradually cultivated a relationship, and finally officially married at the end of 1939. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wang Shangrong participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In 1954, he was appointed head of the Operations Department of the General Staff, and in 1955 he was promoted to lieutenant general, becoming the founding lieutenant general. Subsequently, Wang Shangrong served as head of the operations department of the General Staff until 1966, when he was imprisoned for being wrongly criticized. During his eight-year imprisonment, he was tortured until his release in 1974. After his release, Wang Shangrong was appointed deputy chief of the general staff and head of the Operations Department, and served as a member of the Central Military Commission, making important contributions to the modernization and regularization of the PLA.
In 2000, Wang Shangrong died of illness at the age of 85. It is worth mentioning that Wang Shangrong's son, Wang Yungang, was born in 1942, studied in the Kazakh military industry, and later served as the head of the Naval Equipment Department, and was promoted to rear admiral in 1998. Both father and son are generals and have become good stories in the army.