General Chen Guang was born in Yizhang, Hunan Province in 1907, and as a native of Hunan, he inherited two characteristics of Hunanese: the ability to fight and a strong temper.
Chen Guang participated in the peasant uprising in southern Hunan in 28 years and went to Jinggangshan, and served as the commander of the Red Army division in the ** Soviet area and the 25,000-mile Long March.
After arriving in northern Shaanxi, Chen Guang served as the commander of the 4th Red Division. After the Xi'an Incident, he succeeded the commander of the Red First Army, who had been transferred to the president of the Red Army University, and served as the commander of the ** Army. After the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, he served as the commander of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division, the deputy commander of the 115th Division, and the commander of the ** Division. After that, he entered Shandong, went to the Northeast, and followed Siye all the way to Guangdong.
In the rain of bullets, he was honorably wounded 10 times, and has always been known for charging into battle and fighting bravely. He has been through a hundred battles and has made many achievements.
In 1944, when Chen Guang was studying at the Yan'an ** Party School, he fully affirmed his past history organizationally:
"Comrade Chen Guang has become one of the few military talents in our party since he was born as a peasant and has led guerrilla warfare, and we can also see that he has always been loyal, humbly studying for the party's class cause, and maintaining contact with the masses. In commanding operations, he was resourceful and brave, and created many famous combat examples. ”Being able to fight is one thing, and being tempered is also one thing, which may be two sides of the same coin.
According to the "Memoirs of Zhang Zhen", in February 1936, the Red 4th Division was ordered to participate in the Eastern Crusade, during which there were serious differences between the division commander Chen Guang and political commissar Peng Xuefeng over the question of whether the troops should fight Hongdong. Chen Guang thinks he can fight, Peng Xuefeng thinks he can't.
In the end, the ladders of the troops were all erected, Chen Guang was about to give the order to attack the city, and Peng Xuefeng blew the military horn to stop the attack behind. Chen Guang said angrily: "Let's go, go back to sleep!" ”
After returning to northern Shaanxi, the 4th Division rested in the extended area, and at every meeting, Chen Guang and Peng Xuefeng argued endlessly, making it difficult for Zhang Zhen, the leader of the party group, to deal with it, so he had to find Shu Tong, director of the Political Department, to persuade him.
Later, when the Red Army University was established, Chen Guang and Peng Xuefeng both went to study at the Red University, and the dispute between the two came to an end.
It is also recorded that after Chen Guanghe led the 115th Division into Shandong, he quarreled with Zhu Rui, the leader of the Shandong Military Region, several times, and it was only after the work of *** that it was calmed down.
Also, after Lufang broke through, some soldiers and cadres of the 115th Division complained, and Chen Guang also lost his temper ......
In 1945, Chen Guang participated in the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China as the deputy head of the Shandong delegation and a member of the Qualification Committee of the Delegates. At that time, ** members and ** alternate members were elected, and Chen Guang was also on the list of recommended alternate members.
However, at the time of the official election, Chen Guang's name was removed. At that time, he stressed on many occasions that the Seventh National Congress should be turned into a "truly united congress and a victorious congress," and he hoped that the Red First Army, especially the cadres from the First Red Army, would not occupy too many seats in this election, so that more seats would be reserved for cadres from other base areas.
Chen Guang didn't understand ***'s good intentions at that time, he complained a little and put forward some different opinions, so he personally wrote to him and explained it.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Guang went to work in the Northeast with Gao Gang, ** and others, and during the Northeast, Chen Guang had a "radio incident" with the head of Siye.
In December 1946, Chen Guang, then the commander of the 6th Column, was ordered to lead his troops to assemble in the north of the Songhua River, and then he took several staff officers of the 6th Column to the Songhua River to check the freezing situation of the river, so as to deploy the southward battle plan in the near future.
After Chen Guang made preparations, the headquarters sent a telegram saying that in order to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of our southward movement to attack Harbin, the task of the 6th Column was changed to withdraw to its original defensive area and not to participate in the southward operation.
Chen Guangzi naturally hoped to lead his troops to the front line to fight, and he called back to ask for instructions in the hope of attacking according to the original plan. The head of the headquarters was very dissatisfied with the telegram, and without giving Chen Guang any explanation, he directly sent a telegram to the divisions of the 6th Column, asking them to withdraw and "do not wait for the order of the column."
As a result, the three divisions of the 6th Column were quickly withdrawn, leaving Chen Guang, the commander of the column, on the bank of the Songhua River. After the troops withdrew, Chen Guang received a notice from the column headquarters, and he was the last to know about it.
Of course, it cannot be said that this incident was entirely Chen Guang's fault, but after receiving the order from the headquarters to withdraw Harbin to assist in the defense, he still asked to go south to fight, which also shows that he is not very handy in handling the relationship between his superiors and subordinates.
In March 49, Siye held a meeting of cadres above the division level in Beiping, at which the head of Siye talked about the issue of "preventing arrogance in meritorious service", and named Chen Guang's name in public, and Chen Guang left the scene angrily after hearing it.
In January 1950, Chen Guang was appointed deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region and commander of the Guangzhou Garrison District. However, in the new situation, Chen Guang accidentally made another mistake.
Guangdong is located on the southeast coast and is bordered by Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and the situation is complicated and involves many people, and the organization clearly stipulates that intelligence work in this regard must be cautious and cautious, and procedures and discipline must be strictly observed.
However, Chen Guang, who was eager to make meritorious contributions, gathered some relatives, friends, and fellow villagers who had come to take refuge in him, set up a training class, sent them to Hainan to do the work of instigating rebellion, and also sent some people to Hong Kong for activities.
The most important thing in intelligence work is meticulousness and prudence, because often one negligence may cause irreversible negative impacts. At that time, Marshal *** was the first secretary of the South China Branch and the commander of the Guangdong Military Region, and he had rich experience and profound experience in this regard.
After learning of Chen Guang's misconduct, ** personally found him to talk, hoping that he could adjust and correct it in time, but as a result, Chen Guang's stubborn personality caused the conversation between the two to break up unhappily, and even slapped each other's tables.
Chen Guang's behavior attracted the attention of the organization, and soon after, the Guangzhou Military Region organized a life meeting to criticize and help Chen Guang, but Chen Guang still found it difficult to accept.
In order to strictly enforce discipline, in July 1950, the Discipline Inspection Commission of the South China Branch decided to give Chen Guang after consulting the Central Commission for Discipline InspectionRemoval from officesanctions.
When Comrade *** announced this punishment to Chen Guang, Chen Guang was very dissatisfied, which caused the meeting to be unable to proceed for a while, and finally *** couldn't help but get angry and said:"I order you to stop for 5 minutes and listen to me! ”
According to Chen Guang's son, Mr. Chen Yaodong, at that time, considering Chen Guang's past achievements, he did not want to remove him from his post, and this punishment was actually "to scare and scare him, and let his father reply to his handling opinions within 10 days." ”
As a result, Chen Guang once again had a strong temper and completely stiffened the matter, so Chen Guang's final ending was actually a "historical misunderstanding".
Later, Chen Guang's ashes were buried at the foot of Phoenix Mountain in Lufang Village, Shandong Province, where he once fought, and where Chen Guang's wife, Shi Ruichu, died in 1994.
For Chen Guang, we may be able to borrow **'s evaluation of Xu Shiyou, he is "a special person with a special character, special experience, and special contributions." ”
No one can be perfect, and we, as descendants, should not give too much harsh criticism to General Chen Guang's shortcomings in character, after all, he is a soldier who came from the flames of war, and he is also a general with outstanding military achievements.