in september 1955, in recognition of those generals who had made important contributions to the victory of the chinese revolution and the founding of new china, our army held the first major award in history. this title produced more than a thousand founding generals, of which tan youlin was awarded the rank of major general. upon learning of this result, tan youlin’s comrades-in-arms in the red second front, wang zhen, xiao ke, li da, gan siqi, he bingyan (all 55 generals), yu qiuli, wang shangrong, and yang xiushan (55 lieutenant generals), jointly wrote to the general political department, requesting that tan youlin be awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
the most important reference basis for the award of titles in that year was seniority, military merit and position. tan youlin’s seniority is very old, he joined the revolution at the age of 13, and at the age of 19 he served as the division political commissar of the 5th division of the red second army. the 5th division was the first-class main force of the red second army, and the division commander was he bingyan, the number one fierce general under general he laozong. the division commanders and political commissars of the main divisions during the red army period were basically generals when they were awarded titles in 55 years, such as xiao hua and chen xilian, and he bingyan was also a general in 55 years.
let’s talk about the achievements of the battle. during the red army period, tan youlin commanded troops to annihilate two enemy divisions and capture the enemy column commander zhang zhenhan alive in the battles of zhongbao and chestnut garden; after the outbreak of the anti-japanese war, he served as the commander of the 12th brigade of the 4th division of the new fourth army. at that time, the other two brigade commanders of the 4th division were liu zhen and teng haiqing, and liu zhen was a general when he was awarded the title in 1955, and teng haiqing was a lieutenant general. after the victory of the war of resistance against japanese aggression, tan youlin participated in the war of liberation and the war to resist us aggression and aid korea, and defeated the 1st cavalry division of the us army in one fell swoop in the battle of yunshan, and the 39th army became famous in this battle.
from the perspective of seniority and military achievements, it is more appropriate to be awarded the title of lieutenant general by tan youlin in 55 years. but why did he end up with the rank of major general? this is mainly related to his position at that time. tan youlin’s position during the red army period and the war of resistance against japanese aggression was not low, and during the red army period, he served as the political commissar of the main division and the brigade commander of the new fourth army during the war of resistance against japanese aggression. however, during the liberation war, his position did not rise much, and he served as the political commissar of the division for a long time, until april 1949, when he became the deputy commander of the 39th army.
after the outbreak of the war to resist us aggression and aid korea, tan youlin led the 39th army into the korean war and was still a deputy commander, and the commander at that time was wu xinquan. after returning from korea, tan youlin successively served as deputy commander of the public security forces of the northeast military region and commander of the public security forces of the shenyang military region. peng deqing, commander of the 27th army who participated in the war to resist us aggression and aid korea, and fu chongbi, commander of the 63rd army, were both major generals for 55 years. but if you measure seniority, military achievements and positions together, tan youlin’s rank as major general is a bit low.
after learning of the result of the award, wang zhen, xiao ke, he bingyan, and other comrades-in-arms who had fought side by side with tan youlin all thought that he had been awarded a low degree, so they jointly wrote a letter to the general political department. at that time, nie shuai, who was in charge of the military rank evaluation work, personally talked to tan youlin, and nie shuai said: “comrade youlin, your military rank has been lowered. by virtue of seniority and position, your comrades-in-arms at the same time were awarded the rank of lieutenant general. i admit to you that we were not meticulous enough in our work. tan youlin said, “what is the comparison with these comrades-in-arms?” many of my comrades-in-arms who participated in the revolution at the same time as me have long sacrificed for the revolution, and i am now full of children and children, and i am content to be a general!
SOURCE: SOHU
HOAI NAM – LINKPIZ.COM
