In December 1937, ** and others attended the first meeting of the heads of the Yan'an Left-behind Corps. During the meeting, ** deliberately patted a cadre on the shoulder and said:"Comrades, I rely on this guy to eat in Yan'an, and I rely on you left-behind soldiers to eat. ”
Picture丨General Xiao Jinguang.
**The person photographed was Xiao Jinguang, the commander of the Yan'an Left-behind Corps at that time, and the first commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. In those arduous and eventful years, General Xiao Jinguang made outstanding contributions to the defense of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo base area.
In a letter to ***, Xiao Jinguang once wrote this affectionately:"I worked in Yan'an for eight years under the direct leadership of the chairman, which was the most frequent and profound period of my revolutionary experience in my life. ”
In the nearly 70 years of revolution, the most trusted general Xiao has been dedicated to himself conscientiously and obscurely.
On January 4, 1903, Xiao Jinguang was born in a poor family in Zhaozhou Port, Changsha, Hunan. There is also a small story about the origin of the name of Zhaozhou Port:
In 1970, Xiao Jinguang, then commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, returned to his hometown and saw the words "Hongqi Port" written on the door signs of some villagers.
Xiao Jinguang also knew that the villagers' original intention was to express gratitude, so he proposed:"We used to call it 'Zhaozhou Port' here, if you want to change it, can you change 'Zhao' to 'Zhao', * The brilliance shines on Kyushu! ”
So at Xiao Jinguang's suggestion, the name of his hometown was changed back to "Zhaozhou Port", which not only retained the original name, but also had a new meaning.
Although Xiao Jinguang's family was not wealthy when he was young, his parents attached great importance to his education, so Xiao Jinguang studied in private schools and new-style schools, and his academic performance has always been among the best.
In 1917, 15-year-old Xiao Jinguang was successfully admitted to Changjun Middle School, and the later secretary Ren Bishi was his classmate at that time.
Picture丨Xiao Jinguang in the Yan'an period.
When Xiao Jinguang was in middle school, the international situation changed abruptly, and since the First World War, the Japanese invaders took the opportunity to increase their invasion of China. Not only that, China, as the victorious country against Germany, also had to face the fate of being invaded by Japan instead of Germany, the weak and incompetent Qing ** and the subsequent diplomatic failure at the peace conference completely inspired the resistance and fighting spirit of all the people of the Chinese nation!
In 1919, Xiao Jinguang also followed the trend and actively participated in the grand anti-imperialist and patriotic movement of "May Fourth". Under the tenacious struggle of the vast number of student groups, it directly influenced the birth and development of the Communist Party of China.
In this "May Fourth" Movement, Xiao Jinguang was shocked by the patriotic enthusiasm of his classmates, and he was deeply inspired by revolutionary ideas in his heart. At the same time, the victory of the October Socialist Revolution also began to yearn for him.
In the summer of 1920, Xiao Jinguang successfully joined the "Hunan Russian Research Association" founded by *** and others, hoping to learn advanced socialist thought. After that, Xiao Jinguang went to Shanghai to study Russian and joined the "Chinese Socialist Youth League".
In the spring of 1921, Xiao Jinguang and others went to the Soviet Union together to enter the Eastern Workers' Communist University in Moscow for further study. During his studies, Xiao Jinguang gradually became interested in the military, and then was sent to study at a military school.
Xiao Jinguang went to study at the Military Academy, but was criticized by Chen Duxiu and others, in Chen Duxiu's view, the Chinese revolution did not need armed forces. Obviously, such an idea would put the Chinese revolutionary forces under great threat.
In Xiao Jinguang's view, making China's military strength stronger is an important guarantee against foreign aggression.
At the beginning of 1922, Xiao Jinguang attended and participated in the first congress of the Communist Party and the national revolutionary group of the Far Eastern countries, and at the end of the year, he successfully transferred from the regiment to the party and became a formal member of the Communist Party of China.
Picture丨General Xiao Jinguang.
However, Xiao Jinguang, who chose to join the revolution, did not expect that he would be almost shot because of a failure.
In the autumn of 1924, Xiao Jinguang ended his study and life in the Soviet Union, set off to return to China, and was organized and arranged to lead the workers' movement in the Anyuan Coal Mine. After that, he went to Guangdong and was ordered to participate in the Northern Expedition.
In 1927, after the defeat of the Great Revolution, Xiao Jinguang went to the Soviet Union again to study military theory and political theory more systematically. In 1930, he returned to China and continued to devote himself to it"Agrarian reform".
In 1931, Xiao Jinguang was appointed as the political commissar of the Red 11th Army, the commander of the Fujian-Jiangxi Military Region, and the political commissar of the Red 7th Army Corps, and was ordered to participate in the ** Soviet District.
Fourth, the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression operation.
In September 1933, the Kuomintang troops sent a total of three divisions to attack Lichuan. At this time, Lichuan City had already become an "empty city", and a large number of troops and civilians had already withdrawn in advance, but Xiao Jinguang was still ordered to resist the enemy's three divisions with a force of more than 70 people. It was clear that defending Li Chuan would be a battle to the death.
Obviously, the difference between the enemy's and our forces is too great, and it is only a matter of time before the enemy breaks through to the city of Lichuan, and if our Red Army soldiers continue to resist, they will only fall under the enemy's merciless artillery fire in the end.
Soon, Li Chuan was broken through by the enemy, and the enemy began to encircle Li Chuan, in the face of such a situation, Xiao Jinguang had to order the Red Army soldiers to retreat, he was unwilling to risk the lives of these soldiers.
Regarding the loss of Li Chuan, many people think that the responsibility does not lie with Xiao Jinguang, and ** also admitted that Li Chuan was lost, and the responsibility was mainly due to the failure of the main attack of the Third Army. However, even so, Bogu, the temporary head of the Communist International at that time, and Li De of the Comintern, did not think so.
Fig** Outline of the Fifth Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign in the Revolutionary Base Area.
In the opinion of these people, the soldiers of the Red Army should have done it"Let not the enemy occupy an inch of land", "Victory or death". But they don't talk about mistakes in decision-making.
And the commander who ordered the Red Army soldiers to retreat at that time was Xiao Jinguang, so they decided to take Xiao Jinguang "open", and more importantly, Xiao Jinguang has a close relationship with ***.
In November of the same year, the Red Army made"Recovering Lichuan".sent Xiao Jinguang to cooperate with the Red Third Army to attack Huwan outside Lichuan City.
However, it is a pity that the Red Army did not win the battle of Huwan, and Lichuan was naturally not recovered.
At this time, "some people" have already been "angry and ruined", since they took over the command, the Red Army can be said to have hit a wall one after another on the battlefield, and for the sake of face, they decided to let Xiao Jinguang be the "scapegoat" and be responsible for this series of incidents.
In January 1934, Xiao Jinguang was escorted to the Red Army Military Court for public trial. Faced with the judge's question about why Li Chuan was lost, Xiao Jinguang was neither humble nor arrogant:"Seventy against three divisions of the enemy, how can they hold it? What's wrong with me leading the team to withdraw in time to avoid total annihilation? ”
Although there was no evidence for Xiao Jinguang's trial, Xiao Jinguang was finally sentenced to 5 years in prison and expelled from the party and the army. Not only that, some people have even repeatedly put forward the remarks of "Xiao Jinguang should be executed".
When *** heard these remarks, he angrily reprimanded:"Hitting Xiao Jinguang is hitting me, killing chickens to show monkeys! ”
Under the full protection of Wang Jiaxiang and others, Xiao Jinguang was saved from "one death", and was released after being imprisoned for more than a month, and resumed his identity in the later Zunyi Conference.
It can be said that ** is absolute trust for Xiao Jinguang, and whenever Xiao Jinguang recalls this history, he always says with emotion:"I was released and survived to this day, all thanks to ***
Picture丨Xiao Jinguang and ***
Not only that, during the Anti-Japanese War, ** also put his own safety and ***'s safety into the hands of Xiao Jinguang.
In 1937, the Japanese invaders attempted to occupy Shanghai, an important city on the southeast coast of China, and wantonly launched the "August 13 Incident". The Japanese move made the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek begin to become "scrambling".
In the end, under the ruthless artillery fire of the Japanese invaders, Shanghai fell, and the Kuomintang in Nanjing had to agree to reach an agreement with our party, reorganize the Red Army, and send it to the second theater in Yanxishan, Shanxi Province to "relieve pressure".
At the same time, in order to study the relevant matters of the Red Army and the Kuomintang army to jointly resist Japan, our party decided to convene an "Enlarged Meeting of the Politburo", and the task of holding this meeting was handed over to Xiao Jinguang.
One day in late August, ** personally found Xiao Jinguang and said to him:"** This meeting is going to Luochuan to open, you go to prepare first and find a suitable place. Don't choose Luochuan, it's not safe there. ”
After receiving the order of ***, Xiao Jinguang immediately set off, and did not dare to delay for a moment. Subsequently, in a village about a dozen miles away from Luochuan, he borrowed a private school from the villagers, so the Luochuan Conference, which was of great significance to our party, was successfully held.
From August 22nd to 25th, the Luochuan Conference was officially held, attended by 22 senior leaders of our party. At the meeting, a summary report was given on relevant military issues and the relations between the two parties.
After that, the large army of the Eighth Route Army, which had completed the reorganization, crossed the Yellow River to the east and went to the front line of the battlefield. And according to the proposal of ***, Xiao Jinguang was appointed as the director of the rear general left-behind office of the Eighth Route Army, and at the same time, he also got the consent of Chiang Kai-shek.
In this way, the safety of the rear is completely entrusted to Xiao Jinguang, which shows that for Xiao Jinguang, he unconditionally chooses to trust.
Picture丨Xiao Jinguang and ***
Before the departure of the large army, ** left Xiao Jinguang with such a sentence"Jinguang, guard the base camp of Yan'an, your burden is not light. ”
**The same is said:"Director Xiao, after we leave, the safety of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo base area will depend on you. ”
Indeed, guarding the rear of *** has become Xiao Jinguang's most important task, and the coaches' advice before leaving also made Xiao Jinguang dare not relax for a moment, he wants to complete the task assigned to him excellently!
When Xiao Jinguang returned to Yan'an, he immediately began to rectify the left-behind troops in accordance with the instructions of the "Luochuan Conference", and he will lead the left-behind troops to complete a series of glorious and arduous tasks such as "defending the border area, eliminating bandits, and defending the country."
Later, in order to strengthen the leadership and command ability of this unit, the ** Military Commission officially renamed the "General Left-behind Office" as the "Left-behind Corps", and Xiao Jinguang served as the commander.
In December, the Left-behind Corps held its first meeting of the Corps Leaders, at which the Left-behind Corps established the direction of action and formulated relevant measures.
After talking, ** walked to Xiao Jinguang's side, patted him on the shoulder and said humorously: "Comrades, I rely on this brother to eat in Yan'an, and I rely on you to stay in the corps to eat!" ”
Although the words of ** were humorous, they made every soldier who stayed behind feel encouraged and made them feel what a "big" burden they were carrying on their shoulders!
At the same time, it also made Xiao Jinguang full of emotion, even if he put forward the six-character action code of "task is more important than life", in order to call on all the soldiers of the left-behind corps to make their best efforts to defend the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area, and even be able to sacrifice their lives at critical moments!
For the six words "task is more important than life", Xiao Jinguang always takes it as his own responsibility. Since its establishment, the Left-behind Corps has successively cooperated with the Eighth Route Army in the northwest, west, and southwest of Shanxi Province to launch more than 70 attacks on the Japanese troops entrenched here, causing the Japanese army's invading forces to suffer a great blow.
Figure丨Yan'an Revolutionary Base Area.
At the time of the establishment of the left-behind corps, the public order situation in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region was rather "bad," and bandits were constantly plagued by the surrounding areas. According to rough statistics, there were about 40 bandit forces in the border area at that time for a long time.
Such an environment has posed a serious threat to the safety of both the people around them.
In the more than a year that Xiao Jinguang led the left-behind corps, he launched more than ten attacks on the local bandits, basically eliminating the bandits in the border area.
When he learned that the bandit had been eliminated, ** cast an expression of surprise and surprise:"The bandits have been basically wiped out in such a short period of time?! ”'s words are undoubtedly an affirmation of Xiao Jinguang's ability.
Xiao Jinguang was still very emotional when he recalled this incident later:"** I am busy with every day, but I am very concerned about the construction of the left-behind corps, which makes me full of strength and confidence. ”
Indeed, for the issues related to the left-behind corps, no matter how busy he is, he will find time to ask in person.
In Xiao Jinguang's view, he was able to build the left-behind corps into a unit that can complete various tasks well in a short period of time, and he has half of the credit.
One day shortly after the autumn of 1939, Xiao Jinguang received a ** from Ye Jizhuang, the former head of the General Logistics Department. Ye Jizhuang told Xiao Jinguang that Chiang Kai-shek had stopped paying. Not only that, but some supplies such as food and ammunition have all been distributed!
The sudden change caught Xiao Jinguang off guard:"What is this called a united front! Unite to fight the war! ”Although Xiao Jinguang was extremely angry at this time, how to solve the current predicament has become a difficult problem that he has to face positively.
At that time, winter was about to begin, and how to solve the food, clothing, housing and transportation of nearly 10,000 soldiers left behind in the corps? Without the support of cotton clothing, it has become a problem for soldiers to survive the winter.
Xiao Jinguang hoped to transfer supplies from the local ** for emergency response, but unfortunately, at that time, whether it was the local ** or the people, the living conditions were very difficult, and it was obviously an impractical thing to get assistance.
Figure丨Yan'an Revolutionary Base Area.
In desperation, Xiao Jinguang could only report this "emergency" to **. A few days later, Xiao Jinguang, Gao Gang, and Lin Boqu were called to his cave.
At this time, *** was eating roasted taro, and Xiao Jinguang and the three of them suddenly felt a sour:"Chairman, why don't you eat this? ”
**Humorously:"You don't have to laugh at me, look at the beards on your faces, they're almost as long as your hair. ”
After listening to the chairman's words, Xiao Jinguang and the three looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
At this time, how to solve the problem of supply in the border area, ** actually has the answer in his heart:"Don't the warriors have two hands, too? You have a gun in one hand and a hoe in the other, and we are self-sufficient! ”
**'s words made the eyes of the three people light up, that's right, if we want to fill our stomachs in the case of the blockade of the "recalcitrant army" on all sides, and have cotton clothes to survive the winter, we can only be self-sufficient.
It was also from this "crisis" that ** began to call on all border districts to "do it yourself, have enough food and clothing!" And it's been passed down to this day.
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced the "unconditional surrender", and the Chinese nation won a complete victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, but the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries were ready to move and wantonly launched a "civil war".
In October, Xiao Jinguang ended his eight-year career"Stay in Yan'an".Mission, he was ordered to go to the Northeast to serve as Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff of the Northeast People's Autonomous Army.
Xiao Jinguang did an excellent job of "staying in Yan'an" assigned to him, and whenever he recalled this experience in his later years, he was always full of emotion:"This is the most frequent and profound period of my revolutionary experience that I have been taught by the President! ”
On the battlefield of liberation, Xiao Jinguang still fulfilled his mission, not only defeated the Kuomintang army four fierce attacks in three and a half months, but also successfully liberated most of Hunan.
During those eventful years, Xiao Jinguang traveled day and night, marching rapidly all the way, and his footprints were almost all over most of China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a major decision began to be brewed - the establishment of the Military Commission and the Navy Organ!
Looking at China's long coastline, it is far from enough to rely on the East China Navy alone, and a nationwide navy must be formed as soon as possible.
So who will be sent as the first commander of the New Chinese Navy?
Picture丨 Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.
For this "difficult problem", * have you ever "racked your brains".
The Chinese People's Liberation Army has gone all the way, whether it is the War of Resistance Against Japan or the War of Liberation, our army can be described as a general, how difficult can it be to choose a naval commander?
But in his heart, he wants to choose the most suitable person who can take on this important responsibility.
One by one, the generals flashed from ***'s mind, and finally froze on Xiao Jinguang!
Xiao Jinguang was the commander of the Hunan Provincial Military Region at the time, and he had just annihilated Bai Chongxi's main force at that time, and was immersed in the joy of victory. It was at this time that Xiao Jinguang received a telegram from ***:"Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Hunan Provincial Military Region, saw that he had come to Beijing to discuss important matters. ”
After receiving the chairman's summons, Xiao Jinguang did not dare to delay for a moment and rushed to Beijing non-stop. A day later, Xiao Jinguang appeared in the living room of ***. Seeing the chairman, Xiao Jinguang was very excited and very happy:"You're coming so fast! ”
Immediately afterwards, ** told Xiao Jinguang:"I'm going to start preparing for the construction of the new China's navy now, **I want you to be the first commander, how about it? ”
On the way to Beijing, Xiao Jinguang thought of many new tasks that would be given to him, but he never expected to make him the first naval commander of New China. Xiao Jinguang said frankly to ***"Chairman, I'm a landlubber. ”
**Looking at Xiao Jinguang, who was "innocent", he shook his head:"I just take a fancy to you, a 'landlubber', and let you command, not let you go to sea every day. ”
Xiao Jinguang's appointment as the commander of the Navy is a decision that has been made a long time ago.
**Meaningful:"If there is a sea, there must be a navy, and as long as we have a strong navy, we will no longer be afraid of imperialism bullying us. Now the foundation of our navy is very poor, only the ships and equipment brought by the insurrectionary forces, and you have experience in transforming the old army, these are all favorable conditions. ”
Hearing ***'s analysis, Xiao Jinguang felt very ashamed, and understood that this was a trust in himself, and nodded vigorously.
Picture丨Xiao Jinguang inspects the navy.
On January 15, 1950, Xiao Jinguang was officially appointed commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy and concurrently served as the principal of the First Naval School.
Since then, Xiao Jinguang has begun his nearly 30-year career as a naval commander.
In March 1950, Xiao Jinguang came to Shandong for inspection, and on the ferry, the fisherman learned that the commander of the navy in front of him was the commander of the new China, which was a little incredible:"You're the commander of the navy and you're going to rent my ship? ”
The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart, I have to say that the fisherman's words at that time made Xiao Jinguang feel deeply. Whenever he recalls this incident, Xiao Jinguang will always say:This sentence stimulated me a lot, but what could I do at that time? I, the commander of the Navy, were faced empty-handed. ”
But it was the fisherman's words at the beginning that made Xiao Jinguang feel how much responsibility he had on his shoulders.
During his tenure as commander of the Navy, Xiao Jinguang formulated a series of guidelines and principles for the construction of the Navy of New China, and made every effort and painstaking efforts for the construction of the Navy of New China.
Under the leadership of Xiao Jinguang, everyone overcame a series of difficulties such as lack of talent, lack of experience, and tight funds, completed the task of creating the new Chinese Navy in a very short period of time, and initially formed a maritime defense system.
In the following decades, Xiao Jinguang always personally contributed to the naval cause of New China and spared no effort.
In the new Chinese navy from scratch, from small to large, and later developed into a naval combat force with a considerable scale, Xiao Jinguang can definitely be called an indelible merit.
In January 1980, the commander of the navy of the People's Republic of China announced his resignation, and once again successfully completed the glorious and arduous task entrusted to him.
On March 29, 1989, Xiao Jinguang died of illness in Beijing, and the last moment of his life was still the expectation, blessing and entrustment of the Chinese Navy!
Picture丨General Xiao Jinguang upstairs in Tiananmen Square.
"Hidden dragon in the field", "general demeanor".It is ***'s evaluation of Xiao Jinguang. In the nearly 70 years that General Xiao Jinguang has devoted himself to the revolution, he has gone through thousands of dangers, but he is loyal to the party and the people, indomitable, and bows to the essence!
General Xiao Jinguang's life, several times"Ordered in the face of danger"., have done a lot of groundbreaking work, and have successfully completed the task every time! He made a significant contribution to the revolutionary cause.
"Immortal".It is already the most beautiful praise to Xiao Jinguang!