Reading guide:In the 1955 Grand Awards, in addition to the military ranks awarded to meritorious generals, three medals symbolizing honor were also awarded, namely the August 1 Medal, the Order of Independence and Freedom, and the Order of Liberation. Among them, the August 1st Medal is awarded to the generals who made outstanding contributions to the revolution during the Agrarian Revolutionary War.
According to the regulations, the Order of August 1 of the first class was awarded only to generals at and above the division level during the Red Army period, and only 178 people received them. For example, among the 802 major generals awarded in 1955, only 35 were awarded the Order of August 1, the first class.
In addition to the founding general, among the 178 recipients, there is also a founding colonel, he is Zhou Shiyuan.
Zhou Shiyuan, formerly known as Zhou Shiyuan, was born in 1914 in a poor peasant family in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province. Zhou Shiyuan, who had been oppressed and exploited by the landlords since childhood, was full of hatred for the feudal ruling class, and when he learned that the Red Army led by the Communist Party was a team of poor people who were the masters of their own affairs, he immediately signed up for the Red Army at the age of 15.
After joining the army, Zhou Shiyuan fought bravely on the battlefield to kill the enemy, took the initiative to ask for progress in thought, and was soon promoted to squad leader and platoon leader, and followed the large army to participate in the Huang'an, Sujiabu and other major battles, and made countless meritorious contributions, and was promoted to the commander of the second battalion of the 274th Regiment of the Red 31st Army of the Red Fourth Front Army.
In August 1934, the Red Fourth Front Army, which entered the Sichuan-Shaanxi region in the west, was frantically encircled and suppressed by the enemy. In order to break the enemy's encirclement and suppression, the front army command decided to use the enemy's slightly weak defense Qinglongguan as a breakthrough point, as long as Qinglongguan could be captured, then the Red Army would be able to break the enemy's encirclement and suppression and turn the crisis into safety.
After discussion, the superiors handed over this arduous task to the second battalion of the 274th Regiment led by Zhou Shiyuan. After receiving the order, Zhou Shiyuan personally led the death squad to use the cover of night to climb the cliff with a rope from the side of Qinglongguan, and unexpectedly captured a position in Qinglongguan, and attacked the other two battalions attacking head-on on three sides, capturing Qinglongguan in one fell swoop.
After the Qinglongguan was occupied, it broke the enemy's encirclement of more than 500 miles in one fell swoop, and the Red Fourth Front Army turned the corner from danger to safety. As the pioneer in the capture of Qinglongguan, the 2nd Battalion of the 274th Regiment was commended by the headquarters and won a pennant of the "Night Attack Winning Army", and Zhou Shiyuan was also exceptionally promoted to the commander of the 274th Regiment.
In 1934, Zhou Shiyuan, who was only 20 years old, was promoted to the commander of the Red Army, and it can be said that he had a bright future.
During the same period, many regiment commanders in the Red 31st Army became founding generals when the title was conferred in 1955. For example, Qin Jiwei, who later took over as the head of the 274th Regiment, was the founding lieutenant general;Chen Kang, commander of the 276th Regiment of the Red 31st Army, was the founding lieutenant general;Nie Fengzhi, another regiment commander of the Red 31st Army, was also a lieutenant general.
In May 1935, Zhou Shiyuan led his troops to participate in the Long March, and in June of the same year, in Maogong, Sichuan, the Red Fourth Front Army and the Red First Front Army successfully joined forces. In order to facilitate the command, the units of the two armies were reorganized at that time, and the positions of some cadres were adjusted, and Zhou Shiyuan was transferred to the Red Fourth Army as the commander of the 11th Division, and the political commissar was ***
At that time, the divisional generals of the Red Fourth Army were also the lowest rank of lieutenant general when they were awarded the title in 1955. For example, the political commissar of the 11th Division is the founding general, the commander of the 10th Division Wang Jinshan, the commander of the 12th Division Zhang Xianyue, and the political commissar Hu Qicai are all founding lieutenant generals, and even Zou Guohou, the commander of the 33rd Regiment under the 11th Division, was also awarded the rank of major general. Only the commander of the 11th Division, Zhou Shiyuan, was only awarded the rank of colonel, what is going on?
During the period of the Red Army, Zhou Shiyuan was young and promising, fought bravely, commanded excellently, and led his troops to participate in many tough battles of the Red Fourth Front Army, and his ability was fully brought into full play.
In 1936, after the three main forces of the Red Army met, in order to smash the encirclement and suppression of the reactionaries, the Battle of Mountain Castle was launched. After the battle began, Zhou Shiyuan led the 11th Division to defeat a regiment of the enemy in one fell swoop at Mengcheng and Tianshui Fort, annihilating more than 400 enemies.
Later, he led his troops to attack the mountain castle, and the enemy fought fiercely for a day and night, when the battle was the most intense, Zhou Shiyuan personally went to the front line to lead the charge, captured the mountain castle in one fell swoop, completely annihilated a brigade of the defenders, and smashed the enemy's attempt to encircle and suppress the Red Army.
However, after the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, Zhou Shiyuan entered Kang Da to study, and after graduation, he was sent to the New Fourth Army organizationally as the deputy chief of staff of the sixth detachment and the head of the third regiment. On the other hand, the old comrades-in-arms and subordinates during the Red Army period performed prominently in the Anti-Japanese War, and gradually surpassed Zhou Shiyuan in their positions.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the political commissar of the 11th Division served as the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 129th Division. Even Zou Guohou, the former commander of the 33rd Regiment, grew from the commander of the Eighth Route Army to the brigade commander of the New Fourth Army during the Anti-Japanese War.
In 1943, Zhou Shiyuan and Zou Guohou went to Yan'an to study at Kang University. After the outbreak of the Liberation War, the three returned to the battlefield again, but their positions were very different. ** Went to the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region as the commander of the 3rd Column, Zou Guohou was the commander of the 4th Division of the Hubei-Henan Military Region, only Zhou Shiyuan had the lowest position, and was sent to Qian'an County, Jilin Province as the county magistrate.
Although he was later transferred back to the army, he only held the rank of commander of the security brigade of the military division. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the commander of the Xijiang Military Division of the South China Military Region, and was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955 and was awarded the Order of August 1, the first class, and was one of the only three colonels in the founding of the country.
Closing Remarks:
After the results of the award were announced, many old comrades-in-arms and old subordinates were upset with him, believing that with his qualifications and merits during the Red Army period, he should at least be awarded the rank of major general. But Zhou Shiyuan has no complaints about this, as an old revolutionary and an old party member, he never values personal honor, as long as he can continue to serve the people, he will be satisfied.
After the ceremony, he successively served as the commander of the Fu'an Military Division of the Fujian Military Region, the deputy commander of the Fujian Provincial Military Region, and the deputy commander of the 28th Army of the People's Liberation Army, and was promoted to the rank of major general in 1964.