When the title was conferred in 1955, many young and promising republican generals came to Zhongnanhai Huairentang, where the marshal saw a very familiar face, and the young man also saw it, and hurriedly came to salute.
* smiled and said, "You little devil has also become a lieutenant general." ”
* The little ghost in his mouth, named Liu Xiyuan, was the political commissar of the "38th Army" of the Long Live Army, and when he was awarded the title this year, he was only 38 years old and was the youngest founding lieutenant general.
21 years ago, ** had met with Liu Xiyuan, Liu Xiyuan is a native of Luling, Jiangxi, born in 1917, 13 years old, he participated in the local vanguard in Ji'an, a year later, he officially turned into the Red Army, the first time he participated in live ammunition shooting, Liu Xiyuan because of his thin body, the strong recoil of the gun, a company made him take a few steps back, fell to the ground.
In 1931, in a speech contest, the then principal of the Red Army found Liu Xiyuan, a "good seedling", and decided to train him: "I want you to be a member of the party branch and the secretary of the Youth League branch, how about it?" ”
When Liu Xiyuan heard this, he waved his hand again and again: "Chief, I'm afraid I can't do it."
** replied directly: "You little ghost is still very modest, no need to excuse yourself, it's you." Under the cultivation of ***, Liu Xiyuan served as the secretary of the Youth League branch, and during his tenure, he worked diligently and won the appreciation of ***.
In 1934, ** came to the Red Army School to select cadres, and he took a fancy to Liu Xiyuan at a glance, he said:"This little red imp can be a general in the future. ”When the title was conferred in 1955, there was an opening scene.
Subsequently, Liu Xiyuan followed ** to the Red Army and served as a youth officer of the general party branch of the direct team, and since then, Liu Xiyuan has served as a youth officer of the Political Department of the 6th Division of the Red 3rd Army Corps, and the secretary of the general party branch of the 4th division of the Red 1st Army Corps.
At the end of the Long March, the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, and Liu Xiyuan entered the second phase of the Red Army University.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party carried out the second cooperation, the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, Liu Xiyuan served as the instructor of the 3rd Battalion of the 686th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
Liu Xiyuan's unit was ordered to go to the ambush site in the rain, on September 27, after the Japanese army entered the ambush circle, an order, the whole division began to shell, Liu Xiyuan and the battalion commander Deng Keming rushed directly from the mountain to the road, and the enemy engaged in white-knuckle combat, this year, Liu Xiyuan was only 20 years old, don't look at him young, but he wielded the knife is not ambiguous at all.
The 686 regiment was ordered to capture the commanding heights of the Lao Ye Temple, the regiment commander Li Tianyou handed over the task to the 3 battalions, after the battalion commander Deng Keming was wounded, Liu Xiyuan led the troops to continuously charge the Lao Ye Temple, after a hard battle, our army finally occupied the Lao Ye Temple.
In the first battle of Pingxingguan, our army won a great victory, and Liu Xiyuan had a lot of credit in it.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Xiyuan successively served as the political commissar of the 686th Regiment, the political commissar of the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 115th Division, and the secretary of the Binbei Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, ** was ordered to lead most of the troops of the Shandong Military Region into the Northeast, Liu Xiyuan was also among them, after coming to the Northeast, he was appointed as the secretary of the Tonghua Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, the commander of the Tonghua Military Region, after that, he led his troops to participate in the Liaoshen Campaign, the Pingjin Campaign, etc., at the beginning of 1949, the Northeast Field Army was reorganized into the Fourth Field Army, Liu Xiyuan was appointed as the deputy political commissar of the 40th Army, at that time, the commander of the 40th Army was the famous Han Xianchu.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liu Xiyuan was appointed political commissar of the 38th Army.
The 38th Army is the main force of Siye, and its first commander is the invincible general Li Tianyou, after Li Tianyou went to work in Guangxi, Liang Xingchu became the second commander of the 38th Army, Liu Xiyuan, and he partnered and became a political commissar.
On June 25, 1950, when the Korean War broke out, Liu Xiyuan learned the news and learned about the progress of the Korean War through newspapers and broadcasts, and he was keenly aware that although the Korean People's Army led by Kim Il Sung was like a bamboo, the United States would never be willing to defeat and would definitely carry out a counterattack, and the flames of war would eventually burn to the northeastern border of China.
If the first decision is made to send troops to aid North Korea, then the 38th Army will definitely be the first choice of troops, the 38th Army is the main force of Siye, and is very familiar with the situation in the northeast, therefore, Liu Xiyuan will tell the army commander Liang Xingchu about this situation, and the two unanimously agreed to first carry out patriotic education in the army, enhance the awareness of the whole army to prepare for war, and be ready to fight abroad at any time.
In July, the Military Commission issued a document to organize the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 40th armies into the Northeast Frontier Army.
On September 15, the U.S. military openly participated in the Korean War, and in October, after careful consideration, it made a major decision to "resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, defend the homeland and defend the country."
The 38th Army was then reorganized into the 38th Army of the Volunteer Army, and in October 9, when a meeting of cadres above the division level of the troops entering the DPRK was held in Dandong, the 38th Army was selected as the first batch of combat troops to enter the DPRK, Liu Xiyuan saidIt is very glorious for us to be the first to enter the DPRK to participate in the war, and we must not fail to live up to the trust of the Central Military Commission, the Central Military Commission, and the people of the whole country, and we must display military and national prestige. ”
Liu Xiyuan's attitude made the heads of the Military Commission and other military commissions very pleased.
This year, Liu Xiyuan was only 33 years old, and 16 years ago, ** predicted that he would become a general in the future, which was obviously "a prophecy came true".
During the first battle, the 38th Army was ordered to attack Xichuan, in this battle, although the 38th Army annihilated more than 4,600 people, but they missed the fighter because of an intelligence "American army and a black regiment".
This battle was not fought well, at the meeting of the Volunteer Army, the commander Liang Xingchu was scolded fiercely, and Mr. Peng said: "You are the main force, but you did not insert into the designated position on time, allowing the enemy to escape, and the slow action affected the entire battle situation.
Liang Xingchu stood up and responded: "Don't scold!" ”
** is angry: "Don't scold? You Liang Xingchu didn't fight well, Lao Tzu just scolded you! If you delay the fighter, you should be killed according to the law! It's polite to scold you, I don't have any other skills, but I still have the ability to cut horses! ”
Hearing this, Liang Xingchu stopped speaking.
When he returned to the military department, he held a meeting and conveyed the content of the meeting of the Zhi Division, Liu Xiyuan, who served as the political commissar, was very guilty, and he accepted the criticism of General Peng in his chagrin, and at the same time, he convened a meeting of cadres above the whole regiment, Liu Xiyuan emphasized:"A new campaign is about to begin, in which we will have to annihilate the enemy in large numbers in order to stop the enemy's offensive and fundamentally change the situation of the war. Therefore, in this campaign, we must make the greatest efforts to overcome the shortcomings in past operations, endure and overcome all hardships and difficulties with the greatest determination, and strive for a complete victory in the campaign. ”
At the same time, Liu Xiyuan also set off an activity in the army to "create a heroic unit and win glory for the 38th Army", and the soldiers of the 38th Army gritted their teeth one by one, saying that in the next battle, they must play the prestige of the volunteer army.
In early November, the second battle began, the 38th Army was ordered to attack Tokugawa, Liang Xingchu and Liu Xiyuan made careful decisions on the deployment of the campaign before the war, at 10 o'clock in the evening of the 24th, more than 200 soldiers of the advance team of the 38th Army came to Yangliufeng at dawn, and then, they marched more than 100 miles overnight, came to Wulingli, and occupied the Wulingli road and bridge.
On the 26th, they blew up the bridge.
At the same time, the 113th Division of the 38th Army forcibly crossed the Datong River, advanced for hundreds of miles overnight, and came to the south side of Tokugawa on the morning of the 26th, cutting off the enemy's way of escape, while the 112th Division came to Unsong-ri on the west side of Tokugawa, cutting off the connection between the Tokugawa enemy and Gunsumi-ri.
The 114th Division was a frontal attack on Tokugawa, and at 11 o'clock in the morning of the 26th, they had already captured the north of Tokugawa, and immediately on the front line, after the three divisions launched an attack at the same time, they fought until 7 pm on the 26th, and the 38th Army completely annihilated the enemy in Tokugawa.
In order to expand the results of the battle, Liang Xingchu and Liu Xiyuan ordered the 112th Division, the 113th Division, and the 114th Division to attack in front of the Yuanchuan respectively, and the task of the 113th Division was to intersperse with Sansholi south of the Yuanchuan River to surround the US army, and among the tasks of the three divisions, the 113th Division had the heaviest task.
On the 27th, at the beginning of Liang Xingchu, Liu Xiyuan received the ** of the 112th Division and the 114th Division, and had rushed to the predetermined location, and the results continued, but the 113th Division had no news.
It wasn't until the early morning of the 28th that the operational staff officer got the telegram:The 113th Division marched 145 miles in 14 hours, ahead of the fully mechanized American army, and successfully penetrated into the three divisions.
The 113th Division, which created a miracle in the history of warfare, marched 145 miles in 14 hours.
At 10 o'clock in the morning of the 28th, the U.S. army launched an attack on Sansholi, and the volunteer soldiers fought back bravely, and the U.S. troops charged several times to no avail, preparing to turn around and break through from Longyuanli, and the headquarters of the 113th Division immediately sent the 337th Regiment to seize Longyuanli.
On the 29th and 30th, the U.S. troops broke through to Sansholi and Longyuanli respectively, but they were all strongly blocked by the 113th Division, and the commander of the 38th Army, Liang Xingchu, and the political commissar Liu Xiyuan, immediately ordered the 112th Division and the 114th Division to quickly move closer to the 113th Division and annihilate the American Army.
On the 30th, the 112th Division occupied Songgu Peak, and the 3rd Company of its 335th Regiment, on the unobstructed forward position, repelled the enemy's tanks and aircraft attacked several times, and in the end, only 7 people remained in the 3rd Company, and they were never able to let the enemy move forward.
After the military political department reported the heroic deeds of the 3rd company, the writer Weiwei wrote a newsletter article "Who is the cutest person".
The 114th Division rushed to Sansholi to take over the position of the 113th Division, in this battle, the 38th Army destroyed more than 7,400 enemies, captured more than 3,600 people, captured hundreds of various artillery pieces, more than 1,500 cars, 14 tanks, and a large number of ** equipment.
The second battle was victorious, and the 38th Army made great contributions, and when writing a commendation to them, two sentences were added at the end of the telegram:"Long live the Chinese People's Volunteers! Long live the 38th Army! ”
Since then, the 38th Army has become the "Long Live Army", Liang Xingchu and Liu Xiyuan shed tears of excitement when they saw the telegram.
In 1952, Liu Xiyuan returned to China and was appointed deputy director of the Youth Department of the General Political Department, after which he successively served as chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, director of the Organization Department of the General Political Department, deputy director of the General Political Department, deputy political commissar of the Lanzhou Military Region, and deputy political commissar of the Nanjing Military Region.
In 1955, Liu Xiyuan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and was awarded the Order of August 1 of the Second Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom of the Second Class, and the Order of Liberation of the First Class.
In 1983, Liu Xiyuan retired, enjoying the treatment of the military region, in 1988, he was awarded the People's Liberation Army first-class Red Star Meritorious Service Medal, in 2003, Liu Xiyuan died of illness at the age of 86.