At 5 p.m. on September 27, 1955, Zhongnanhai gathered among the heroes, and the ceremony of awarding the title of the first general in New China was grandly held.
**As a representative of **People**, he awarded the rank of Marshal of the People's Republic of China to ** and other ten comrades, and subsequently, **Premier *** awarded the rank of general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to Su Yu and other ten comrades.
In addition to these 20 outstanding generals, other generals, including most of the generals, lieutenant generals and major generals, attended the ceremony.
Party and state leaders came to the scene to witness this historic moment.
For military fans, a question that bothers them is: why was Su Yu, who made great achievements in the Liberation War, not awarded the rank of marshal? This problem even troubled the then ** Politburo leadership for some time.
So, what is the answer to this question?
In the early days of the founding of New China, he called on the whole army to learn from the Soviet Union, hoping to change the backward status quo of our army and make our army a modern revolutionary army like the Soviet Union.
As a result, at the end of 1950, the Military Commission proposed that the preparation of military ranks be the main task for the next year, but under the influence of the Korean War, this work was not substantively implemented.
Until 1952, ** returned to China for medical treatment due to physical reasons, but *** let him stay in China to preside over the work of the **Military Commission. During this period, a series of decisions on the reform of the army were conveyed at the meeting of the Military Commission, including the system of military ranks, which was planned to be introduced in 1954.
This is the reason why Su Yu was not awarded the rank of marshal.
At the beginning of 1953, the Military Commission began to prepare for the military rank system, which was responsible for its implementation. Since the Korean War had not yet ended, preparations for the rank system were progressing slowly.
After the armistice of the Korean War on July 27, ** devoted more energy to the preparation of the military rank system. After several meetings of discussions, clear goals were set for the implementation of the rank system.
In September, ** submitted a report to ***, emphasizing that military rank is the highest honor for military personnel and can motivate them to pursue progress. Subsequently, at a meeting of cadres of the whole affairs system, the Military Commission made it clear that the military rank system would be implemented in the whole army in 1954.
Under the leadership of the Military Commission, the specialized personnel conducted extensive research and finally determined the military rank system of 4 classes and 14 grades. In January 1955, the Military Commission issued a directive on the assessment of military ranks, and the National People's Congress subsequently passed the Regulations on the Service of Officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, stipulating that the People's Liberation Army began to formally implement the military rank system on October 1, 1955.
This rule also sets a deadline for the assessment of military ranks, which must be completed before the National Day.
At the beginning of January 1955, the Military Commission submitted the primary list of marshals and generals to the primary list, ** as the generalissimo, ** and ** and ** 14 as marshals, **Su Yu, ** and other 12 as generals.
**to** the leader said, we should not copy the Soviet set, we must have our own characteristics. I do not accept the title of generalissimo, because I am from the people, and I will also go to the people in the future, and it is inconvenient to communicate with the people in the generalissimo uniform.
At the same time, I suggest that local comrades should not participate in the evaluation of the titles. The leaders expressed their opposition to the proposal of ***, believing that *** is the leader of the Chinese people and the army, who has made great contributions to the defeat of the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek and the establishment of New China, and should be awarded the rank of generalissimo, which is also the wish of the whole party and the people of the whole country.
In mid-January 1955, he presided over a meeting of the Military Commission to study the relevant work of the marshal's evaluation. At the meeting, it was determined that the criteria for awarding marshals were "the current chairman of the ** Military Commission and members of the Military Commission".
Subsequently, the Military Commission submitted the specific list and the opinions of the meeting to *** and agreed, thanked everyone for their hard work, and emphasized the importance of the evaluation work.
He instructed *** to submit the opinions and the list to the Politburo *** for discussion, and everyone basically agreed, and the marshal evaluation work was carried out smoothly.
In 1955, the Politburo approved the list of 11 marshals proposed by the Military Commission for pre-conferral titles, and they were senior leaders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Among them, ** is the chairman of the Central Military Commission, and 11 are members of the Military Commission. Although some people think that the two comrades, *** and **, did not hold specific positions in the army and should be regarded as working in the locality, the chairman still recommended Su Yu as marshal because of his great military achievements.
At the same time, he insisted on recommending him as a marshal, because he was also a member of the Military Commission and had a great responsibility for the construction of the army. After intense discussions, the list of the top ten marshals was finally determined, including comrades such as *** and Su Yu.
Su Yu led the East China Field Army in the War of Liberation and won many victories, enhancing the combat effectiveness of the whole army. He played a key role in the Huaihai Campaign, laying the foundation for the liberation of all of China.
In addition, he demonstrated outstanding military command skills in the Huangqiao Campaign, the Subei Campaign, the Lunan Campaign, the Laiwu Campaign, the Taimeng Campaign, the Menglianggu Campaign, the Eastern Henan Campaign, the Jinan Campaign, the River Crossing Campaign, and the Shanghai Campaign.
He participated in the Nanchang Uprising and the Southern Hunan Uprising, and made important contributions to the creation and leadership of the revolutionary armed forces. As a result of these outstanding achievements, ** supported the award of the rank of marshal to him.
Later, everyone gradually reached a consensus that the top ten marshals should include nine members of the ** Military Commission and Su Yu, chief of the General Staff. However, at the Politburo meeting on the evening of September 11, the prime minister was unable to attend because he was out of office.
After the meeting, the Prime Minister expressed his disagreement and conveyed his views to the Chairman and other comrades through Yang Shangkun. The prime minister's main point was that the previously set standard for marshal was a member of the ** Military Commission, so it was not appropriate to make Su Yu a marshal.
At the same time, the other nine marshals represent their respective ranks, and the East China Field Army lacks marshal representatives, so the representatives of East China should be **.
It is wisely suggested that the award of the rank of marshal is not only not problematic, but rather helps to balance the work and accept feelings. Yang Shangkun quickly conveyed this opinion to the leaders of the Politburo, and everyone agreed that the prime minister was very thoughtful, and it was more appropriate to confer the title of ** marshal.
After all, ** has always been the representative of East China, and although Su Yu is very good at commanding and fighting wars, in the entire East China army, everyone recognizes the leadership of **. Eventually, ** personally explained the decision to ***.
** once said: "* Reward, on talent, on seniority, on morality, Su Yu can get the rank of marshal, who in the army does not know East China Su Yu?" * nodded in agreement, believing that Su Yu was indeed qualified to serve as a marshal.
However, Su Yu wrote a letter asking for his resignation as a marshal, making it clear that he would not accept the rank of marshal. He himself said that it was enough to award him the rank of general, and he was not too low, but only too high.
**After pondering for a moment, he said: "It's rare Su Yu, it's strong Su Yu, and he resigned three times!" * continued: "Su Yu gave way twice, once to be handsome, talent is rare, and the general still has to be a general." ”
** added: "And Su Yu must be the first general, we will decide first, and then we will engage in ten generals and ten marshals." In this way, the candidates for marshal in the first evaluation of the title of new China were basically determined, and the ten major generals were discussed in the following days.
In order to make up enough 10 generals, the Military Commission transferred Wang Shusheng and Xu Guangda, who were originally scheduled to be awarded generals, to generals, and finally determined them after being approved by the Politburo.