In 1955, when the People's Liberation Army first implemented the military rank system, General Han Xianchu was recommended for the rank of lieutenant general because of his bravery and good fighting. However, when reviewing the list of military ranks, a special comment was given next to the name of General Han Xianchu: "Han has merit, and he is promoted to the top." ”
This showed a high opinion of General Han Xianchu, and he was eventually awarded the rank of general.
In September 1937, Han Xianchu was sent to work in the army from the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, serving as the deputy commander of the 688th Regiment of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan.
In February 1938, the 344th Brigade was assigned to the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and Han Xianchu served as the deputy brigade commander of the brigade, which was responsible for *** and ***. At the beginning of 1940, Han Xianchu led the 344th Brigade to the eastern part of Taihang Mountain and established the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Base Area.
In February 1946, Han Xianchu went to the Northeast to serve as the deputy commander of the 4th Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army. In the early days of the War of Liberation, the Kuomintang successively occupied Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, Montenegro and other places, and then captured Chaoyang, Pingquan and other places, and the situation of our army became more and more severe.
In this grim situation, the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army suddenly received a telegram from the ** and the Military Commission, instructing Harbin not to give up, and the North Manchurian troops should also quickly deploy the Songhua River; The South Manchurian troops need to concentrate their forces on the southern section of the Zhongchang Road, and take advantage of the emptiness of the enemy's South Manchurian army to select one or two large and medium-sized cities of strategic importance to start the attack, and pull the enemy troops in North Manchuria to South Manchuria. ”
In accordance with the spirit of this instruction, the higher authorities decided to appoint Zeng Kelin, commander of the Third Column, as the chief commander, and Han Xianchu, deputy commander of the Fourth Column, as the deputy commander, and they would be responsible for commanding the campaign.
Zeng Kelin and Han Xianchu originally planned to hold an operational meeting on April 4, but Han Xianchu rushed to Zeng Kelin's station immediately on the day he received the telegram, and they decided to hold a meeting in advance.
However, at this meeting, there was a fierce quarrel. This was because the third column advocated attacking the 20th Division of the Kuomintang Army, while Han Xianchu's fourth column advocated attacking the 89th Division of the Kuomintang Army.
The third column believed that the reorganized 20th Division was a Yunnan army with relatively weak combat effectiveness, and that their deployment was on the flank of the main corps, so it was easy for us to concentrate our forces to annihilate this division.
However, the Fourth Column believed that the 89th Division was Chiang Kai-shek's descendant, with strong equipment and combat effectiveness, and was very close to their friendly and neighboring units, and that if the battle could not be resolved within a day, we would be surrounded by enemy forces once reinforcements came in.
Han Xianchu's reason was that the 89th Division was not very familiar with the situation in South Manchuria, and it was the first time that they and our army had fought in Liaodong, so they were relatively inexperienced. As long as we can make good use of the enemy's weakness and adopt the policy of "luring the enemy into depth" to lure the enemy to favorable terrain for annihilation, then the possibility of annihilating the enemy army in a short period of time is very great.
Han Xianchu believed that if we could defeat the strong enemy, then the enemy's arrogance would no longer exist, and those troops with relatively weak combat effectiveness would retreat without a fight.
Zeng Kelin and Han Xianchu debated the plan, and finally decided that Han Xianchu would be under unified command.
3. The fourth column annihilated the Kuomintang 89th Division in the shortest possible time.
Zeng Kelin accepted this decision without complaint and said that he would obey Han Xianchu's command. The battle began on April 2, Han Xianchu commanded the third and fourth columns to launch an encirclement of the 89th Division, and after fierce fighting, successfully captured more than 7,500 people below the enemy's division commander, and completely annihilated the Kuomintang 89th Division and a regiment.
* Spoke highly of Han Xianchu's performance and considered him an excellent cadre. In mid-December 1946, in the face of the attack of the Kuomintang army, Xiao Jinguang presided over a military meeting, which was attended by Han Xianchu and **.
The core topic of this meeting is the next direction of action and combat strategy. At the meeting, the leadership of the military region first expressed its opinion and put forward the idea of "withdrawing from South Manchuria and transferring to East Manchuria."
After in-depth study and discussion, the meeting finally reached two main opinions: one is that South Manchuria should be evacuated and transferred to East Manchuria, so as to preserve strength; Another view is that he advocates holding on to South Manchuria and opposing retreat, and those who support this view include Han Xianchu and others.
Although they knew that Chiang Kai-shek would send heavy troops to attack South Manchuria, they still insisted on holding on to South Manchuria. Their reason was that the strategic location of South Manchuria was very important, and if they abandoned South Manchuria and retreated to the north, it would be in line with the enemy's strategic plan of "attacking from the south and defending in the north."
On the contrary, holding on to South Manchuria can not only contain the enemy, but also cooperate with the main force of North Manchuria, which is very beneficial to the Northeast war situation and future strategy. With the persistence and support of Han Xianchu and others, the meeting finally decided to adhere to the strategic thinking of "consolidating the Changbai Mountains and adhering to the three major blocks behind enemy lines".
The main forces of our army in South Manchuria were only the 3rd and 4th columns. The 3rd column has rich experience in operations, but the leadership reorganization is not long ago, and the two sides lack understanding; 4 Although the history is not long, the morale is high, and Han Xianchu has a good leadership.
All things considered, ** handed over the task of fighting deep behind enemy lines to the 4th Column led by Han Xianchu. Before leaving, ** and Xiao Jinguang found Han Xianchu and entrusted him with carte blanche to be in charge of military operations, and promised that if there were any difficulties, they would be solved in time.
Han Xianchu said that there was no problem in command, but in life, the soldiers lacked cotton clothes and it was difficult to fight in the cold winter. **Indicates that it will be resolved as soon as possible. Seeing Han Xianchu leave, he sighed: "What we need is this kind of cadre ......."”
Under the leadership of Han Xianchu, the soldiers fought more than 50 battles in the face of severe cold and fierce attacks from the enemy, uprooted more than 40 enemy strongholds, annihilated more than 6,000 enemy troops, successfully destroyed the enemy's puppet rule, and inspired the people.
In addition, the 4th Column also cooperated with the 3rd Column to successfully crush the enemy's attack, and jointly achieved a major victory in the annihilation of the enemy army at Gaoli Chengzi and Sanyuanpu. After Xiao Jinguang and ** learned of this, they immediately sent a commendation telegram to the 4th column in the name of the South Manchurian Branch.
In this battle deep behind enemy lines, Han Xianchu, as the main military commander of the 4th Column, played a very key role. Although Han Xianchu returned to China due to illness in early 1953 and dragged his disabled left arm, he still worked day and night for the construction of our army, and served as chief of staff of the Central and Southern Military Region and deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army.
In September 1955, the People's Liberation Army carried out a large-scale award, and Han Xianchu was awarded the rank of general. After the founding of New China, Han Xianchu and ** had more and more contacts, but once Han Xianchu wanted to visit **, but he resolutely refused.
So, what's going on here?
Han Xianchu expressed his desire to visit **, but Yu Deshui, the chief of the guard, refused on the grounds that the chief was nowhere to be seen. Han Xianchu insisted on going in, and finally Yu Deshui went in to report.
But ** resolutely did not see, let him go back to work hard. Han Xianchu resolutely refused to leave, insisting on seeing **, even if he didn't say a word. Yu Deshui was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to report to **.
Han Xianchu waved his hand calmly and said resolutely: "What did I tell you just now, you just said to the chief, I will bear the responsibility if something happens!" If the chief disagrees with me, I'll stay here until he agrees. ”
Yu Deshui nodded helplessly, and walked in again to report to **: "Chief, you'd better meet him, otherwise, it may affect your image." ”
Seeing that ** did not explicitly refuse, Yu Deshui immediately invited Han Xianchu in. After Han Xianchu walked in, he strode towards the **, saluted solemnly, and then turned around and left without saying a word.
This surprised Yu Deshui very much. In fact, ** is not aimed at Han Xianchu, he has his own principles. Except for the meeting at work, he will refuse other visits, and if they do meet, it will only be three minutes, and he will not agree to it for a second more.
Han Xianchu's physical condition in his later years became worse and worse, and when he was critically ill, the old chief** personally came to the hospital to visit him. When he saw ** coming, although Han Xianchu was weak, he still wanted to sit up, but in the end he failed, so he could only lie on the bed and say to **: "My body is getting worse and worse, I decided not to have surgery, I am so old and ......."”
After hearing the news, **'s emotions were very complicated, because he knew that it meant that Han Xianchu was about to leave him. His tears flowed involuntarily.
Sadly, Han Xianchu died of illness on October 3, 1986, at the age of 73.