In the crucible of the revolution, countless heroic and fearless troops were born, among which we are familiar with the three main forces of the Red Army: the Red First Army, the Red Second Front Army, and the Red Fourth Front Army.
The Red Fourth Front Army was founded with the Red Fourth Army in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base areas as the main force. And you know what? The predecessor of the Red Fourth Army was the Red First Army and the Red 15th Army in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Base Area.
This means that in the process of creating the Red Fourth Front, the Red First Army played a crucial role. In 1930, the Red First Army was officially established. Its predecessor was the 31st Division of the Red 11th Army, which was integrated into the Jute Uprising.
A year later, the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Divisions merged to form the 1st Red Army. Xu Jishen, this name may not be unfamiliar to you, he is the first commander of the Red First Army.
Next, let's walk into Xu Jishen's story and explore his life trajectory and ending.
Xu Jishen, a farmer in Lu'an City, Anhui Province, was born in 1901 in an ordinary peasant family. He is gifted and intelligent, studied in his hometown since he was a child, and has achieved outstanding results, and is known as a local talent.
In 1919, he took an active part in the famous May Fourth Movement, and then became influenced by Marxist-Leninist ideas and joined the Socialist Youth League.
In 1924, Xu Jishen emerged in the first phase of study at the Whampoa Military Academy. At that time, it was in the first period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the Whampoa Military Academy advocated liberalism, and Xu Jishen chose to join the Communist Party of China and become its official member.
From then on, his revolutionary career began. After completing his studies at the Whampoa Military Academy, Xu Jishen participated in the Northern Expedition and became an outstanding military commander with his heroic combat performance and outstanding military command ability.
However, after the defeat of the Great Revolution, Xu Jishen was not discouraged by this, but began to go underground to engage in secret work, and continued to fight for the cause of the Chinese revolution. In 1930, he was sent to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District and served as a member of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Special Committee.
Subsequently, the Red First Army was formally established, and Xu Jishen served as the commander of the Red First Army by virtue of his outstanding talent and firm belief. Under his leadership, the First Army of the Red Army grew stronger in the struggle and made significant contributions to the cause of the Chinese revolution.
Xu Jishen, an outstanding graduate of the first phase of Whampoa, received formal military training. After he took over as commander of the Red First Army, he led the troops to grow rapidly. In the first anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet region, he used flexible and witty tactics to lure the enemy into the depths and successfully annihilated more than 3,000 Kuomintang troops.
After the merger of the Red First Army and the Red 15th Army, Xu Jishen served as the commander of the Red 11th Division of the Red Fourth Army, and later served as the commander of the Red 12th Division.
In 1931, Zhang Guotao was sent to work in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District, and he proposed a plan to leave the Soviet area and go south to the Sichuan-Shaanxi area. However, Xu Jishen was firmly opposed to this proposal, believing that Zhang Guotao's plan was a mistake of military adventurism and insisted on staying in the Soviet area.
Due to disagreement, Zhang Guotao became dissatisfied with Xu Jishen.
In November 1931, a classmate of the first phase of Huangpu used his identity as a spy to forge a letter that separated Xu Jishen and Zhang Guotao, in an attempt to undermine the internal unity of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region.
When the letter was delivered to the Soviet district, Zhang Guotao attached great importance to it and used it as evidence of Xu Jishen's liaison with the Kuomintang, which led to Xu Jishen's wrongful arrest and murder at the age of 30.
This tragedy reminds us to be vigilant against internal contradictions and to guard against being divided by the enemy.
The truth of Xu Jishen's case was not revealed until the second cooperation between the two parties during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Leng Xin, a Kuomintang general, once said to General **: "We used a little trick in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and you killed Xu Jishen, but we didn't believe it at that time."
From this, it can be known that Xu Jishen was killed because of the enemy's counter-plot. In 1945, Xu Jishen's grievances were cleared and all his reputation was restored.