In February 1949, in order to unify the establishment of the whole army and the number of the troops, according to the order of the ** Military Commission, the 12th Column of the East China Field Army was officially reorganized into the 30th Army of the People's Liberation Army.
Xie Zhenhua served as army commander, Li Ganhui served as political commissar, and Liu Zhonghua was appointed director of the political department. Here, it is necessary to point out that although the first director of the Political Department of the 30th Army is recorded as Liu Zhonghua in many historical sources, in fact, this expression is not rigorous.
Liu Zhonghua was the director of the Political Department of the 30th Army, but because he changed his name to Liu Zhonghua when he was conferred the title in 1955, it was easy to confuse it with another revolutionary named Liu Zhonghua. So, what are the stories worth telling?
Liu Zhonghua was born in 1917 in Wendeng, Shandong. In his early years, he spent his early years studying mainly in his hometown. During this period, his teacher, Jiang Xianzheng, was a party member who often preached Marxism-Leninism and other progressive ideas to his students.
These ideas had a profound impact on Liu Zhonghua and made him deeply interested in Marxism-Leninism. In 1932, under the introduction of his teacher, Liu Zhonghua officially joined our party.
After joining the party, Liu Zhonghua was ordered to be active in his hometown, actively propagate the revolutionary ideas of our party, and strive to recruit party members in order to strengthen the revolutionary force.
In 1935, Liu Zhonghua was imprisoned by the Kuomintang reactionaries in revolutionary propaganda. Until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, the organization successfully rescued him.
After being released from prison, Liu Zhonghua immediately threw himself into the War of Resistance Against Japan, participated in the guerrillas in Shandong, and accepted the reorganization of the Eighth Route Army. Under the leadership of Xu Shiyou and others, he repeatedly fought with the enemy in Shandong for dominance in the guerrilla areas, and finally won the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During the War of Liberation, the unit in which Liu Zhonghua served was renamed the Ninth Column of the East China Field Army, and he himself was appointed political commissar of the 27th Division. During this period, Liu Zhonghua participated in large-scale battles such as Laiwu, Weixian and Jinan with his troops, and successfully defeated the military power of the Kuomintang.
In 1949, after the Huaihai Campaign, our army carried out a large-scale reorganization of the troops, and the 12th Column of the East China Field Army was reorganized into the 30th Army.
After the victory of the Liberation War, Liu Zhonghua followed his troops to participate in the Battle of Crossing the River and the liberation of Shanghai. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Navy and held several positions in the naval system, including Deputy Political Commissar, Political Commissar and Commander of the 6th Fleet of the Navy of the East China Military Region.
During the critical period when New China had just been founded and naval construction had begun to take shape, Liu Zhonghua was sent to the Voroshilov Naval Academy of the Soviet Union for further study to learn from foreign naval construction experience.
During his study in the Soviet Union, Liu Zhonghua made the most of his time every day as if he had spent two days, and actively asked the teacher for advice on the questions he did not understand until he completely figured it out.
This indomitable spirit allowed him to achieve excellent results in his studies and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Soviet Union for his outstanding performance. In 1955, Liu Zhonghua was awarded the rank of major general for his outstanding performance, and during this award, he changed his name to Liu Zhonghua.
In 1957, Liu Zhonghua returned from his studies in the Soviet Union and was appointed as the first president of the Naval Academy. Under his leadership, the Naval Senior College has successively set up a department of captain ships, a department of politics of ships, and a department of captain of missile boats, which has trained a large number of outstanding commanders for the navy and greatly promoted the building of the navy of China.
During his work in the Navy, Liu Zhonghua and Li Zuopeng had an intersection. In 1971, due to the impact of the 913 incident, Li Zuopeng was isolated and censored, and Liu Zhonghua was also implicated and removed from his post.
After being dismissed, Liu Zhonghua gradually faded out of people's sight, and in his later years, he mainly lived in the Zhenjiang Road Naval Cadre Rest House in Qingdao. In 2018, Liu Zhonghua died of illness at the age of 101.