Cheng Shicai

Cheng Shicai

Cheng Shicai (1912-1990) was born in Dawu County, Hubei Province. Outstanding members of the Communist Party of China, long tested loyal communist fighters, proletarian revolutionaries, outstanding military commanders of the Chinese people's Liberation Army, and senior generals of the Chinese people's Liberation Army. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in September 1955. He was awarded the first level of 81 medal, the first level of independent freedom medal and the first level of Liberation Medal. In 1988, he was awarded the first-class Red Star Medal of merit by the Central Military Commission.

brief introduction

Cheng Shicai was born in Dawu County, Hubei Province on August 8, 1912. He joined the Red Army of workers and peasants in 1930 and the Communist Party of China in the same year

The Communist Youth League. He was transferred to the Communist Party of China in 1931. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, he successively served as political instructor of the 11th regiment company, Secretary of the Party committee of the 11th division, political commissar of the 33rd regiment, commander and political commissar of the 88th division of the 30th Red Army, deputy commander and commander of the 30th Red Army. Took part in the long march. During the Anti Japanese War, he studied in the Anti Japanese military and Political University and the Central Party school. Later, he served as chief of staff and commander of the 12th detachment of Ji re Cha, President of the branch of Anti Japanese university, and deputy director of the Fourth Department of Yan'an Central Party school. During the war of liberation, he served as deputy commander of Liaonan military region, deputy commander of Liaodong military region, commander of the third column of Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, commander of Southern Manchu military region, commander of Anton military region, commander of Liaoxi military region, etc. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, he studied in Nanjing Military Academy. Later, he served as the first deputy commander of the public security army, deputy commander of Shenyang Military Region and commander of Shenyang garrison. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955 and deputy commander of armored forces of the CMC in 1959. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress and a deputy to the seventh and Eighth National Congresses of the Communist Party of China. He was elected a member of the Central Advisory Committee at the 12th and 13th National Congresses of the Communist Party of China. He died of lung cancer in Beijing on November 15, 1990.

Revolutionary career

Cheng Shicai was born on August 8, 1912 in a poor peasant family in Dawu County, Hubei Province. When he was young, Cheng Shicai was unwilling to endure the oppression of the landlords. He hated the darkness of the society and the oppression of the class. He had a strong sense of resistance in his heart.

In 1930, the warlords such as Chiang Kai Shek, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang were too busy in the Central Plains war to take care of the Red Army. The base areas of Hubei, Henan and Anhui developed and absorbed many new revolutionary forces. It was this year that 17-year-old Cheng Shicai joined the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese workers' and peasants' Red Army.

In October 1932, after the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army jumped out of the encirclement, Chiang Kai Shek still pursued the Red Army. Wei Lihuang, commander of the 14th army, led the 10th division, 83rd division and 34th brigade to encircle the Red Army from the East, South and North, in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the Red Army to the west of Xinji and the east of the Han River. The Red Army was forced to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, which was the most fierce battle since the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army carried out its strategic transfer to the West. One day, the 11th red division was ordered to launch a counterattack against the enemy's 34th brigade. Wu Yunshan, head of the 33rd regiment, unfortunately died while launching the attack. Cheng Shicai, then Secretary of the Party committee of the 11th division and political commissar of the 33rd regiment, came forward and waved his distinctive long machete to kill the enemy. Suddenly, his morale was boosted, and the whole regiment fought bravely and successfully. Cheng Shicai, however, was seriously injured and went into a coma twice.

In the winter of 1932, the 33rd regiment of the 11th division of the Red Army, as the vanguard of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, successfully crossed the Qinling Mountains and quickly entered the Hanzhong plain under the leadership of Cheng Shicai. At the same time, the Kuomintang Shaanxi army Yang Hucheng moved eastward to Yangxian and Chenggu areas, while the central army Hu zongnan and Liu maoen moved westward to Ankang areas. The two forces formed a situation of East-West attack, trying to stop the Red Army from crossing the Han River southward. After understanding the enemy's intentions, Cheng Shicai quickly took decisive measures. On the one hand, he sent people to control the commanding heights on both sides of the road and set up a guard. On the other hand, he took the main forces of the three battalions to the Hanshui River to choose the crossing point for the follow-up troops. In December, the Hanjiang River was freezing cold and the river was wide and the water was fast. Cheng Shicai selected a section of the river and led the cadres of various battalions and companies to cross the river with horsetail. Finally, he found out the wading area. On December 11, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army crossed the Han River, turned to Zhenba and Xixiang, took the initiative, and created conditions for the establishment of the Sichuan Shaanxi base. After entering Sichuan, Cheng Shicai led the 33rd regiment to occupy Desheng mountain. On the one hand, he took a rest on the spot, actively prepared for the war, and on the other hand, he vigorously mobilized the masses to carry out the work of Party building and government building. They fought against local tyrants, divided their fields, established revolutionary organizations such as peasant associations and convoys, and soon won the support of the local people. Within a month, they established a Soviet regime and expanded more than 1000 troops.

In 1933, Chiang Kai Shek appointed Tian Songyao as the "bandit suppression supervisor" in the Sichuan Shaanxi border region, and divided his troops into three routes to carry out "three routes siege" against the Red Army. On May 17, the headquarters of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army decided to focus on attacking the 13 regiments of the enemy's left column, which were eager to advance. The 11th division of the Red Army was ordered to cut off the enemy's retreat. Cheng Shicai personally inspected the terrain at the top of Yuwan mountain and decided to open a forest passage to attack the enemy's flank. At 4:00 a.m. on May 21, the general attack began. If the soldiers of the 33rd regiment came down from the sky, the unprepared enemy troops rushed to fight and became prisoners before they were organized. In June, the red 11 division was expanded to the 30th army. Cheng Shicai became the commander and political commissar of the 88th division of the 30th army. The 33rd regiment won the honorary flag of "attack like tiger regiment". This battle also made Cheng Shicai see the advantage of night fighting, so he consciously organized the troops to carry out night fighting training, and brought out a famous "night Tiger Group" in northern Sichuan. In the winter of 1933, Cheng Shicai led the 88th division to suppress the enemy in the area of laoguanchang. He used to fight at night, making it difficult for the enemy to win even though they were strong and well equipped. In order to further improve the tactical level of night combat and give full play to the power of night combat, Cheng Shicai took part of his troops from 265 regiment to carry out strict night combat training. In later battles, the "night tiger" played a huge role many times, often making the enemy scared. Commander Yu Tianyun replaced Wang Shusheng as commander of the 31st army, and Cheng Shicai was promoted to acting commander of the 30th army, which was still acting until the period of the West Route Army.

In 1935, after the Zunyi Meeting, the Central Military Commission ordered the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army to cross the Jialing River to the West and the first front army of the Red Army to cross the river to the north. The 30th army was the main force to cross the river and made a key breakthrough near the Tazi mountain south of Cangxi. Jialing River is a big river running through the east of Sichuan Province. After Liu Xiangbu's six road siege failed, he retreated to the West Bank of the river and built strong fortifications. On the East Bank of the great river, the Red Army's technical conditions, weapons and equipment are at a disadvantage. How to win the battle of crossing the river has become a question that Cheng Shicai ponders day and night. Cheng Shicai considered that although the Red Army's technical conditions and weapons and equipment are not as good as the enemy's, the Red Army has strong morale, sufficient preparation time, convenient conditions for night operation, and especially the warm support of the local people. As long as we carefully select the place to cross the river and carefully deploy, we can win. Cheng Shicai decided to appoint the 88th division as qiangdu. The 263 regiment of the division was the leading force in the forced crossing, while the other two regiments trained and prepared for the crossing. In the choice of the place to cross the river, Cheng Shicai chose shijiaba, more than 20 miles southeast of Cangxi County. At this time, the Jialing River was wide, deep and swift, and the terrain on both sides of the river was precipitous. Choosing the right place to cross the river was the key to winning the battle. The shijiaba area chosen by Cheng Shicai was not suitable for crossing the river at first sight. The enemy on the other side had strong troops, well-equipped and had a certain combat effectiveness. The enemy is good at positional warfare, while the Red Army is good at mobile warfare. This is obviously not conducive to the Red Army's fighting across the river. However, Cheng Shicai had his own consideration. He thought that the main crossing point of the river bank protruded to our side, while the two sides protruded to the enemy. Because the river is wide and the current is relatively stable, it is also suitable for crossing the river. After weighing it over and over again, Cheng Shicai was sure of victory, and he began to devote himself to the preparatory work. The first is shipbuilding. Because of the use of the strength of the people, the shipbuilding work went smoothly, and more than 50 warships were soon destroyed. Cheng Shicai organized most of the troops to carry out intensive training in crossing the Yangtze River. At the same time, he sent reconnaissance personnel to collect a large amount of enemy intelligence, so as to know himself and his enemy well and be invincible in a hundred battles.

At midnight on March 15, 1935, the order to cross the river was issued. The soldiers crossing the river drove dozens of warships to the other side. The soldiers quickly occupied the blockhouse, annihilated the defending enemy and occupied the enemy's battalion and regiment positions. At 6 am, all the second echelons crossed the river. The feint crossing forces of the Red Army also launched an attack on the left side. Cheng Shicai ordered the two battalions to defend in place. When the enemy suffered a lot of damage and was waiting for reinforcements, they attacked in time and almost completely annihilated the enemy. When Cheng Shicai was chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy, he came to the enemy's communication station, quickly surrounded the enemy and made them all disarm. The commander in charge of the liaison station did not believe that the Red Army was standing opposite him. Yes, they have so many troops and the natural danger of Jialing River. Unless the Red Army has wings, it will not come here so soon. However, the heroic Red Army has done wonders. When he finally understood it, the dignified and fat commander of the Lushan military academy collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud. After mastering the deployment of the enemy forces, Cheng Shicai ordered some officers and soldiers of 268 regiment to quickly occupy the enemy hospital ten miles away.

The next day, Cheng Shicai led the 30th army to the direction of Jiange. In June, the first division of the 30th army, as the vanguard of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, successfully joined the first front army of the Red Army in MaoGong area. After the meeting, the morale of the Red Army was greatly boosted. In Maoergai, Cheng Shicai realized his wish for many years and met Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong shook hands with Li Xiannian, Cheng Shicai and others and asked Cheng Shicai about the situation of some troops in detail. hair

Chinese PinYin : Cheng Shi Cai