Zuo Quan’s details

"The famous general died for his country, and he is willing to defend our country with all his blood. The majesty of Taihang has been passed down through the ages, and the blood-vomiting flowers are left in Qingzhang." This was written by Commander-in-Chief Zhu De to commemorate the heroic sacrifice of Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army. of a poem.

Zuo Quan is a senior commander of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the Eighth Route Army and a famous military strategist. Born in 1905 in Liling County, Hunan Province. In 1924, he entered the first batch of Huangpu Military Academy to study. Joined the Communist Party of China in February 1925. In December of the same year, he went to the Soviet Union and studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow and Frunze Military Academy. After returning to China in 1930, he worked in the Central Soviet Area and served successively as the director of education of the 1st branch of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army School, commander of the New 12th Army, commander and political commissar of the 15th Army of the 5th Army, director of the First Bureau of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and the 1st Red Army Corps. He held positions such as chief of staff and participated in all anti-"encirclement and suppression" operations and the Long March in the Central Soviet Area. In May 1936, he was appointed acting commander of the 1st Red Army Corps.

After the outbreak of the National Anti-Japanese War, he served as deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army's forward headquarters, and later commander of the Second Column of the Eighth Route Army. He assisted Zhu De and Peng Dehuai in commanding the Eighth Route Army to the North China Anti-Japanese Front to launch guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and crush the The Japanese army repeatedly carried out brutal "mopping up" operations and shocked the enemy's rear. His superb command art, rigorous and meticulous staff work, and solid work style were highly praised by Zhu and Peng. In the autumn of 1940, he assisted Peng Dehuai in commanding the famous Hundred Regiments Campaign. In November 1941, he commanded the Special Agent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters to conduct the Huangyadong Defense Battle. After eight days and nights of fierce fighting, he annihilated more than a thousand enemies at a relatively low cost. He was hailed by the Central Military Commission as "a model battle of 'anti-mopping up'". He was also "a military strategist with both theoretical training and practical experience." From 1939 to 1941, he wrote "On Persistence in the War of Resistance in North China", "Ambush Tactics", "Assault Tactics", "Tactical Issues" and "On the Development of Military Thought" Principles" and more than 40 articles. Zuo Quan made immortal contributions to the establishment and consolidation of the North China Anti-Japanese Base Area, the development and expansion of the People's Anti-Japanese Armed Forces, and the comprehensive construction of the Eighth Route Army. In May 1942, the Japanese army carried out an "iron wall encirclement" and "mopping up" campaign against the Taihang Anti-Japanese Base Area. On the 25th, when he was commanding troops to cover the breakout and transfer of the Central Northern Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters near Matian, Liao County, Shanxi Province, he died heroically in the battle of Cross Ridge. He was only 37 years old.

Zuo Quan was the top commander of the Eighth Route Army who died on the anti-Japanese battlefield. The famous general died in battle, the Taihang Mountains mourned him, and the whole party mourned him. Zhou Enlai called him "enough to be a model for the party", and Zhu De praised him as "a rare talent in China's military circles." In memory of Zuo Quan, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region Government decided to rename Liao County Zuoquan County.