Chen Yi's Extraordinary Path (The Extraordinary Path of the Marshal Series)

Author: Luo Yingcai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Chen Yi (1901–1972) was a proletarian revolutionary, military strategist, and statesman, one of the founders and leaders of the People's Liberation Army of China, and a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. His courtesy name was Zhonghong. He was from Lezhi, Sichuan. In 1919, he went to France for study and work. In 1921, he was detained and returned to China for participating in the patriotic movement of Chinese students abroad. In 1922, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League. In 1923, he studied at the Sino-French University in Beijing and joined the Communist Party of China. In early 1926, after graduating, he was sent to Wanzhou, Sichuan, to promote the response of the Sichuan army to the Northern Expedition. In spring 1927, he served as the secretary of the CCP Committee of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School. After the Wuhan National Government openly opposed the CCP in July 1927, he moved to Jiangxi. In early August, he caught up with the Nanchang Uprising forces in Fuzhou and served as the political instructor of the 73rd Regiment of the 25th Division of the 11th Army. After the southward advance of the uprising forces failed, he worked with Zhu De and others to reorganize the remaining forces and fought in the border areas of Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Hunan. In January 1928, he participated in leading the Xiangnan Uprising, establishing a Soviet government, and forming the First Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, serving as the party representative of the division. In April of the same year, he led his troops to the Jinggang Mountains area with Zhu De and joined the autumn uprising forces led by Mao Zedong, forming the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (initially called the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army). He successively served as commander of the army, secretary of the military commission, political director, and secretary of the front committee, participating in the leadership of the struggle to establish and defend the Jinggang Mountains revolutionary base. After 1930, he successively served as the political commissar of the newly established Sixth Army, the secretary of the Jiangxi-South Special Zone Committee of the CCP, the commander of the 22nd Army, the commander of the Jiangxi Military Region and political commissar, and the commander of the Western Army, actively developing people's armed forces and participating in the leadership of the anti-"encirclement and suppression" struggles. He was elected as a central executive committee member of the Chinese Soviet Republic twice and received the Star Red Medal twice. In October 1934, when the Central Committee of the CCP led the main force of the First Front Army on the Long March, he remained behind to serve as a committee member of the Central Committee of the Jiangxi Soviet and the director of the office of the Central People's Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic. Later, he fought in the Jiangxi-Guangdong border area, relying on the people and insisted on a three-year guerrilla war under extremely harsh conditions. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he went to the guerrilla areas of Hunan-Jiangxi, Anhui-Zhejiang-Jiangxi, and others to convey instructions from the Central Committee of the CCP, reorganizing the Red Army guerrilla units into the New Fourth Army, serving as the deputy secretary of the New Fourth Army branch of the Central Military Commission of the CCP, the commander of the First Brigade of the New Fourth Army, the commander of the Jiangnan Command, and the commander of the Subei Command. In November 1940, the Central Huazhong Command was established, and he served as its acting commander. After the Anhui South Incident in January 1941, the headquarters of the New Fourth Army was rebuilt, and he served as the acting commander of the New Fourth Army, continuing to lead the people of Central China in anti-"scorching" and anti-"cleansing" struggles. After the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the commander of the New Fourth Army and the commander of the Shandong Military Region. In January 1947, he served as the commander of the East China Military Region and the commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army. Together with Vice Commanders Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin, he creatively implemented the strategy of concentrating superior forces to eliminate enemies one by one, leading the troops to achieve major victories in battles such as Sibei, Lunan, and Laiwu ining the Nationalist Party's full-scale offensive. When Jiang Jieshi concentrated his main forces to launch a major offensive against Shandong, he commanded the Mengliangguan Campaign, reversing the usual tactic of first attacking weaker enemies and then stronger ones, and unexpectedly annihilated the entire US-equipped Nationalist Party's 74th Division. In autumn 1947, in accordance with the strategic deployment of the Central Committee of the CCP, he led a part of the main force of the East China Field Army with Su Yu to launch an offensive from the outside, advanced into Yuzhou-Anhui-Su, and closely coordinated with Liu (Bocheng) and Deng (Xiaoping) Field Army and the Chen (Geng) and Xie (Fuzhi) Group to eliminate a large number of enemies in the Central Plains, placing the Nationalist Party in a passive position and playing a decisive role in turning the tide of the national battle. In May 1948, in addition to continuing to hold military and political positions in East China, he was sent to the Central Plains to serve as the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Central Plains Bureau, the first deputy commander of the Central Plains Military Region and the Central Plains Field Army. Starting from November of the same year, as one of the standing committee members of the General Front Committee, he participated in the organization and command of the Huaihai Campaign and the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, liberating cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, as well as a vast area in the southeast. From May 1949, he also served as the mayor of Shanghai. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he continued to serve as the commander of the East China Military Region and the Third Field Army. In 1954, he served as vice premier of the State Council, and also as the vice chairman of the Central People's Revolutionary Military Commission and the Central Military Commission. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of Marshal of the People's Republic of China and the first-class August 1st Medal, the first-class Independent Freedom Medal, and the first-class Liberation Medal. From February 1958, he also served as minister of foreign affairs. In January 1966, he served as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CCP. During the Cultural Revolution, he resolutely fought against the counter-revolutionary group led by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing and suffered severe persecution. He was a member of the Central Political Committee of the CCP at the 8th Congress, and a member of the Central Committee at the 7th and 9th Congresses. From 1959, he served as vice chairman of the 3rd and 4th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He passed away in Beijing on January 6, 1972. Chen Yi was equally skilled in both literary and martial arts, knowledgeable and versatile. During his lifetime, he published various military and political treatises and poems, and in 1977, the "Selected Works of Chen Yi's Poems and Prose" was published.