When the May 5th Army was conferred with titles, which generals of the former Red Fourth Front Army had lower military ranks?

As we all know, in 1955, our army awarded titles to all military cadres with military positions for the first time, which was historically known as the "Five-Five Rankings". Among them, this time, more than 600,000 cadres in the army have obtained the rank of warrant officer or above. Among them: 10 marshals; 10 generals; 57 generals (including those awarded in 1956 and 1958); 177 lieutenant generals (including those awarded in 1956 and 1958); 806 major generals (including those in 1956 and 1958). supplementary award).

Among them, the majority were generals from the Red Army. For example, the First Red Army had three divisions before the Long March. The division commanders and political commissars had six chief officers, and all of them except Chen Guang received the rank of general.

Comparatively speaking, the ranks of generals from the Red Fourth Front Army are generally not particularly high. Only 8 of the 57 generals were from the original Red Fourth Front Army (excluding the 25th Red Army).

So, which generals from the Red Fourth Front Army have lower ranks?

First, let’s talk about Cheng Shicai, the former commander of the 30th Red Army and the first deputy commander of the Public Security Army.

Cheng Shicai is from Dawu County, Hubei Province. He joined the Red Army at the age of 18. Due to his bravery in combat, he became the political commissar of the 33rd Regiment of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army two years later. After the Fourth Red Army entered Sichuan, Tian Songyao, the warlord of northern Sichuan, dispatched large forces to encircle and suppress the Red Army. Cheng Shicai led the 33rd Red Regiment to open a forest passage and annihilated three Sichuan Army regiments in one fell swoop in the early morning. The Red 33rd Regiment won the title of "attacking like a tiger regiment". "The flag of honor. During the Long March, he was appointed acting commander of the 30th Red Army.

At the end of October 1936, the Red 5th, Red 9th, and Red 30th armies that crossed the Yellow River to the west were ordered to form the West Route Army. Due to various reasons, the West Route Army suffered heavy losses. Cheng Shicai led the left detachment to fight in the Qilian Mountains for 43 days and successfully reached Xingxingxia.

In May 1938, Cheng Shicai was appointed chief of staff of the Hebei Recha Ting Marching Army. During Xiao Ke's absence, he presided over military affairs and smashed a large-scale raid by 10,000 Japanese troops on the Pingxi base area. Later, he personally led the backbone of the old Red Army to sneak into the Zhangjiakou area and established the Pingbei base area, becoming an important force in the resistance war inside and outside the Great Wall. After the advance army was abolished, he was transferred to the post of Military Minister of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. During the War of Liberation, he was transferred to the Northeast. After the fall of Siping, at a meeting to discuss whether to adhere to Southern Manchuria, Cheng Shicai firmly supported the correct proposition of Political Commissar Chen, and then commanded the Sibao Linjiang battle. Later he served as commander of the Andong Military Region and commander of the Liaoxi Military Region.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Cheng Shicai served as the first deputy commander of the Public Security Army and presided over the actual work of the Public Security Army. In 1952, it was designated as the deputy corps level. Cheng Shicai served as the commander of the local military region for a long time during the War of Liberation, but his military exploits were somewhat inferior. Therefore, although his qualifications and historical qualifications met the conditions of general, he was still awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Let’s talk about Ni Zhiliang, the former Chief of Staff of the Fourth Red Army, who has a greater background.

Ni Zhiliang, a fourth-year graduate from Huangpu, is the only Beijinger among the founding lieutenant generals. Participated in the Guangzhou Uprising. Later he went to work in the northeastern Hubei base area. He successively served as captain of the guerrillas, commander of the third regiment of the First Division of the First Red Army, commander of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army, and commander of the Fourth Army. After the Fourth Red Front Army arrived in Sichuan and Shaanxi, he served as the Chief of Staff of the Front Army and became one of the leaders of the Fourth Red Front Army. During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as chief of staff of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region, commander of the guerrilla column in the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Border Region, and deputy director of the Fourth Bureau of the Military Commission. During the War of Liberation, he was transferred to the Northeast and served as commander of the Liaobei Military Region, Nenjiang Military Region, and Nennan Military Region, and deputy commander of the Western Manchuria Military Region. He left the local military region on the eve of the Liaoshen Campaign and was ordered to found Northeast Military and Political University and served as the executive vice president in charge of daily work.

After Si Ye entered the customs, Ni Zhiliang went south with the army and served as vice president of Central South Military and Political University and deputy commander of Wuhan Security. Not long after, superiors selected candidates for ambassadors to various countries from corps-level cadres. Ni Zhiliang was the only military cadre among the first batch of generals and ambassadors. He was sent to North Korea, shrouded in war, as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

During this period, Ni Zhiliang was most famous for predicting that the U.S. military would land in Incheon when reporting the progress of the war to his superiors. At this time, there were still almost two months before the Incheon landing.

After the Volunteer Army entered the DPRK, Ni Zhiliang took on military liaison work and was awarded the first-class National Flag Medal. In February 1952, he was transferred back to China and appointed as the deputy director of education of the Logistics College. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Although Ni Zhiliang had a higher status in the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army, he rarely directly commanded operations after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. In 1940, he was transferred back to Yan'an from the front line of the Anti-Japanese War to take charge of the Military Commission and military education. During the War of Liberation, he went to Northeast China and served as commander of the local military region and vice president of the Military and Political University. The main reason was that Ni Zhiliang suffered from severe emphysema. During the Anti-Japanese War, most of the troops fought guerrillas in mountainous areas, and Ni Zhiliang was not suitable. After being transferred to the Northeast, due to the cold weather, his illness often broke out and he was unable to command the army. Therefore, his military exploits were somewhat inferior, and he was only awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955.

The third one is about Zhan Caifang.

Zhan Caifang, a native of Huang'an, Hubei Province, performed very prominently during the Jute Uprising. He personally led a death squad of more than 30 people to conquer the south gate of Huang'an, and was the first to break into the Huang'an County Government Office and capture the county magistrate alive. From November to December 1931, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army launched four Huang'an battles. Zhan Caifang led the 30th Regiment of the 10th Red Division to annihilate nearly 2,000 enemies, and the results were the best among the entire army. In 1932, Zhan Caifang was responsible for besieging the remnants of the enemy in the Battle of Sujiabu. He commanded a regiment to besiege the Sujiabu defenders for 43 days, creating conditions for large forces to send reinforcements. After the Fourth Red Army arrived in Sichuan and Shaanxi, it greatly expanded its army. Zhan Caifang was promoted to the political commissar of the 12th Division of the Fourth Red Army and the political commissar of the Ninth Red Army. Together with Commander He Wei and Deputy Commander Xu Shiyou, *** participated in the Battle of Yinan, the Battle of Yingqu, and the Battle of Xuanda. , annihilated 20,000 enemies.

After the Fourth Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, Zhan Caifang entered the Red Army University to study. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Province to establish the second branch of Anti-Japanese University. Later he served as deputy commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Third Division. In 1944, he was appointed deputy commander of the Hebei Reliao Military Region. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, almost all the troops of the Jidong Military Region went to the Northeast. Zhan Caifang stayed in the Jidong base area and served as the commander of the Jidong Military Region. He actively organized local armed forces, expanded the troops, persisted in the struggle, and carried out raids along the Jincheng Railway, which effectively delayed the seizure of the Northeast. of the Kuomintang army.

In 1947, Zhan Caifang led his troops to Rehe. The troops were reorganized into the Nine Columns on Winter Nights. In the autumn offensive, he and Commander Huang of the Eighth Columns fought the famous Battle of Yangjiazhangzi. A column upgraded from local armed forces annihilated the 49th National Army, and Army Commander Wang Tiehan escaped alone.

During the Liaoshen Campaign, the headquarters originally asked the Eighth Column to take on the task of attacking the airport. As a result, the Eighth Column failed to complete the task within the specified time. Dongye then asked the Ninth Column, which had just completed the Suizhong and Xingcheng battles, to take on the task. Zhan Caifang He commanded the Nine Columns to decisively attack when the enemy planes landed, destroying nine reinforcement transport planes and completely destroying Jinxi Airport. Afterwards, the Dongye army attacked the city, and the Nine Columns were the first to break into the Jinzhou General Headquarters, capturing Fan Hanjie and Lu Junquan, and annihilating more than 20,000 Kuomintang troops. Regardless of fatigue, they marched for 11 days and arrived at Yingkou before the 52nd Army had finished withdrawing. They annihilated more than 18,000 people of the Kuomintang's 52nd Army.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy commander of the Hunan Military Region and commander of the Public Security Force of the Central and South Military Region. In 1952, he was designated as a quasi-corps level and awarded the rank of lieutenant general in 1955. As for his two guards during his time in the 30th Red Regiment - Chen Xilian and Wang Jinshan, one was a general and the other was a lieutenant general. Why?

The reason lies in two points. One is that during the Anti-Japanese War, Zhan Caifang served as the deputy commander of the second branch of the Anti-Japanese University and the military division for most of the period, and lacked the experience of being on his own. The second is that although he performed well during the Liberation War, he was not particularly outstanding in the field of fierce generals, and he failed to serve as a corps-level cadre in 1949. If Zhan Caifang could stay in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei during the War of Liberation, he would probably have become the commander or political commissar of the 19th or 20th Corps in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area where military cadres were relatively lacking. This would have given him the opportunity to obtain the rank of general.