Liu Zhong

Liu Zhong

Liu Zhong (1906-2002), formerly known as Liu Yongcan. He is from Shanghang County, Fujian Province. Excellent members of the Communist Party of China, long tested loyal communist fighters, proletarian revolutionaries, excellent military commanders and political leaders of the Chinese people's Liberation Army, and senior generals of the Chinese people's Liberation Army. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and was awarded the first level of 81 medal, the first level of independent freedom medal and the first level of Liberation Medal. In July 1988, he was awarded the first-class Red Star Medal of merit by the Central Military Commission. He died in Beijing on August 7, 2002.

Character experience

He joined the Red Army of workers and peasants in 1929 and the Communist Party of China in the same year. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, he successively served as Quartermaster of the red guards in Shanghang County, platoon leader of the Red Army school, political commissar of the 19th brigade of the third column of the Fourth Red Army, political commissar of the 36th regiment of the 12th division, political commissar of the 33rd regiment of the 11th Division, political commissar of the 5th regiment of the 2nd division, chief of the organization section of the Political Department of the 1st Red Army, and chief of the reconnaissance section of the command department of the 1st Red Army. He participated in all the anti encirclement and suppression operations in the Central Soviet Area and the 25000 Li Long March. During the Anti Japanese War, he successively served as the leader of the third brigade of the Chinese people's Anti Japanese military and Political University, the president of the sixth branch, the commander of the Shanxi Henan united defense army and the deputy political commissar of the 386 brigade of the 129th division of the Eighth Route Army, the divisional commander of the second army of the Taiyue military region, and the commander of the 386 brigade of the Shanxi Hebei Shandong Henan military region. During the war of liberation, he successively served as the commander of the 10th brigade of the fourth column of the Shanxi Hebei Shandong Henan military region, the chief of staff of the fourth column, the commander of the Taiyue military region, the commander of the 15th column of the North China military region, and the commander of the 62nd army of the 18th Corps. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, he served as commander of the Xikang military region, commander of the Western Sichuan military region, director of the academic affairs department, director of the material support department, deputy director of education, and vice president of the military and Political University of the people's Liberation Army. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955. In 1988, he was awarded the first-class Red Star Medal of merit and honor of the Chinese people's Liberation Army. He died of illness in Beijing on August 7, 2002 at the age of 98. His works include "from West Fujian to West Beijing" and "college work memories".

Character story

Bloody battle on Xiangjiang River

If we say that the survivors of the first mock exam in Western Fujian, Liu Yalou, the political commissar of the two division of the Red Army and the political commissar of the four division of the red two division, have left behind a brilliant page in the Army history as a whole forward of the whole army. Then, history will not forget the Liu Zhong from Shanghang, the "first model area of the Central Soviet Area", Shanghang's Changting. Liu Zhongyuan was the political commissar of the fifth regiment of the second division of the Red Army. On the eve of the Long March, he was appointed to be the chief of the reconnaissance section of the first Red Army Corps. He led the army all the time and was the "eye of a thousand miles" and "ear of the wind" of the Red Army. In the middle of November 1934, after breaking through the enemy's third line of defense, the second red division rushed to Daoxian county with a 100 kilometer rapid march. The red flag soon floated to the head of Daoxian county. Immediately, the head of the regiment ordered Li Tangcai, chief of staff of the second red division, to lead the fifth regiment to advance to Xiangjiang River and occupy all the ferries at the head of the boundary. Naturally, Liu Zhong is duty bound to lead the reconnaissance troops in front of the fifth regiment to investigate the enemy situation in Quanzhou and Guilin.

The situation is extremely critical. Whether the Red Army can break through the Xiangjiang River, break through the enemy's encirclement and survive depends on this battle! Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen gave a death order to the second red division: to break through the Xiangjiang River at all costs and open a channel for the troops to March.

On the 27th, led by Chen Guang and Liu Yalou, the second division of the Red Army unexpectedly broke through the enemy's blockade line, crossed the Xiangjiang River without any difficulty, and controlled the crossing point between Jieshou and Jueshan. Under the way of the second division of the Red Army, the elite troops of the first and third regiments also crossed the Xiangjiang River with little casualties. At this time, Bai Chongxi, the GUI faction of the Kuomintang, moved his troops southward from Xing'an, pretending to defend Guilin. In fact, in order to preserve his strength and avoid fighting with the Red Army, he opened the corridor to allow the Red Army to go from Xing'an to Quanzhou. At this time, the vanguard of the Red Army was 100 kilometers away from the front and back of the central column. Bai Chongxi's timely withdrawal provided the Red Army with the conditions to wade across the river, and the Xiangjiang ferry was once open to the Red Army. According to principle, the central column can cross the river in two days, and it may not have much loss. But this good opportunity was missed by Li De, a foreign consultant. The heavy, inappropriate and redundant logistics also changed the favorable situation. On the 28th, under the strict order of Chiang Kai Shek, He Jian sent four divisions to attack the northern wing of the Red Army. The most surprising thing was that Bai Chongxi was involved in the fight again. They wanted to take back the crossing point, cut off the Red Army, hit the Red Army in the middle of the crossing and annihilate it on both sides of the Xiangjiang River.

The first Red Army Corps was ordered to defend the ferry, block the Kuomintang troops, and cover the central column, the CMC column, and all the Red Army troops crossing the river. The second division of the Red Army started a battle of resistance in Jueshan, near Quanzhou. As a result, an unprecedented fierce battle in the history of China started on both sides of eastern Hunan!

By the dawn of the next day, that is, the early morning of the 30th, the first division of the Red Army crossed the Xiangjiang River. An hour later, both divisions of the first Red Army entered the position. Nie Rongzhen, political commissar of the first Red Army Corps, left the command post of the corps and, together with Liu Yalou, political commissar of the second Red Army division, directed the battle on the Huangdiling position. November 30 and December 1 were considered by Nie Rongzhen to be the most dangerous time on the long march. The enemy's repeated bombing and heavy bombs made the Red Army's ears and nose bleed. Under the commander's supervision, the enemy rushed like a mad tide. For the survival of the Red Army and the smooth crossing of the Xiangjiang River by the central column, from the head of the regiment to every soldier, they all devoted themselves to the most urgent and intense preparations for the battle.

At first, the enemy stormed the position of the third regiment of the first division of the Red Army. Seeing no gain, they turned to attack the joint of the first division and the second division of the Red Army, and finally broke into the four or five mile area. Two battalions of the third regiment of the first division of the Red Army were surrounded by the enemy, and the second division of the Red Army was also in danger of being surrounded by the enemy. Liu Yalou and his division commander Chen Guang ordered the officers and men of the second division to hold the position against the enemy even when using bayonets. At about noon, the central column finally crossed the Xiangjiang River and crossed the Guihuang highway. After receiving the report, the second red division and the first red division took turns to cover and withdraw while fighting. The battle of the Xiangjiang River was the most fierce and the biggest loss for the red army when it left the central base. The Red Army has reduced its strength from more than 86000 at the time of departure to less than 40000. In addition to the above-mentioned gap in the battle of the Xiangjiang River, which will enable the Red Army to avoid heavy losses, there is another opportunity. General Liu Zhong said: "after our second red division captured Daoxian County, Hunan Province, Li Tangyu, chief of staff of the second division, was ordered to lead the fifth regiment to move forward to Xiangjiang River immediately. Liu Zhong led the plainclothes team of the regiment to stay ahead of the fifth regiment to find out the enemy situation in Quanzhou and Guilin. On November 20, we arrived at Jieshou village by the Xiangjiang River, crossed the Xiangjiang River and went to the vicinity of Quanzhou for reconnaissance. On the morning of the 21st, Liu Zhongpai's staff went to Quanzhou in disguise to find out that there were only civilian regiments in the city, and the regular Kuomintang troops had not yet arrived. At this time, chief of staff Li led the fifth regiment to stop at Jieshou village, but did not cross the Xiangjiang River. Liu Zhong told him to cross the Xiangjiang River quickly and occupy the whole Prefecture. He hesitated, saying that he had to telegraph the corps headquarters and wait for the order. Liu Zhong once again suggested that it was not too late for the leader of the telegraph corps to enter Quanzhou City. However, he insisted on his own opinion and telegraphed the Corps first. At the critical moment, the head of the regiment should also passively listen to the orders of Red Army headquarters, that is, Li De. The next day, when the order of "crossing the Xiangjiang River and occupying the whole Prefecture" was issued, the good opportunity was lost. The vanguard of the central army of the Kuomintang had entered Quanzhou City, occupied the position outside the city and set up a guard. The red fifth regiment had to seize jiaoshanpu. Afterwards, Liu Zhong told political commissar Liu Yalou about the incident. He also felt that he had missed the good opportunity. He said that if he occupied Quanzhou City, it might be easier to pass the enemy blockade line, and the Red Army would certainly not shed so much blood and die so many people on the banks of the Xiangjiang River! "

After receiving the army's order to "cross the Xiangjiang River and occupy the whole Prefecture", Liu Zhong temporarily put down his "resentment" and led his troops to take a detour from the outskirts of Quanzhou to caiwan, Miaotou and Ziyuan to the west of Quanzhou, so as to control the favorable terrain, clamp down the enemy and cover the whole army's crossing the river. In the resources, Liu Zhong's small army was surrounded by the enemy for a day. He was calm in command, sent a disguised plainclothes to seize the Wutong pass, and rushed westward through the pass through the night, getting rid of the enemy's containment and catching up with the guard troops.

General Liu Zhong once said that in the battle of the Xiangjiang River, the children's soldiers of Western Fujian died bravely. The red 34 division, which was the rear of the palace, was almost completely destroyed in this battle, and the blood stained the surging Xiangjiang River. The division was mainly composed of children soldiers from West Fujian. He said with emotion: "if there were no Xiangjiang war, we would have more generals in Fujian after liberation." After the death of Han Wei, one of the commanders of the 34th division in that year, he specially ordered that the ashes should be transported to minxi'an for burial, so as to accompany the Western Fujian subordinates who had long been buried underground.

During the Long March, Liu Zhong led the reconnaissance troops to go deep into the enemy occupied areas. In such famous battles as breaking through the enemy's four blockades, crossing the Xiangjiang River and Wujiang River, conquering Zunyi City, crossing the Chishui River, passing through the Yi People's District, seizing shaijingguan, crossing the Dadu River, crossing Jiajin mountain, passing through the big grassland, and breaking through Lazikou, Liu Zhong successfully completed the reconnaissance task and was well received Liu Bocheng praised the chief of the Central Committee for his "indispensable contribution".

Long march "reconnaissance pioneer"

Set up a reconnaissance section

In the first ten days of June 1934, Liu Zhong received an order from the head of the first corps and was transferred to the post of chief of the reconnaissance section of the first corps headquarters of the first front army of the Chinese workers' and peasants' Red Army. Reconnaissance is a highly technical work in combat and is the eye and ear of the commander. The commander's correct judgment comes from accurate reconnaissance. Liu Zhongjie

Chinese PinYin : Liu Zhong