Biography of General Pan Zhenwu - The Martial Career of a Military Attaché in Soviet Union

Author: Shi Daixin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: General Pan Zhenwu (1908426~1988922) joined the Great Revolution in 1926 and became a soldier in the Northern Expedition. In July 1930, he joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and joined the Communist Party of China in October 1930. He participated in the first to fifth counter-offensives against the encirclement and suppression in the Central Soviet Region, the Long March, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General. In 1956, he served as the Political Commissar of the Logistics Department of the Guangzhou Military Region. General Pan Zhenwu was sent to the Soviet Union in 1959 as the Military Attache of the People's Republic of China to the Soviet Embassy. After returning to China in 1963, he held positions such as Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry of National Defense, Director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the General Staff, Deputy Political Commissar of the Wuhan Military Region, and Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. General Pan Zhenwu was a delegate to the "Seventh National Congress" of the Party. This article excerpts some of his deeds and achievements during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to entertain the readers.
Assuming Risk and Duty After Liu Yunbiao, the of the cavalry regiment of the First Red Army Corps, was transferred to the Red Army University for study, the corps leadership decided in June 1936 to transfer Pan Zhenwu to serve as the and Political Commissar of the cavalry regiment to strengthen its leadership. The united front between the Kuomintang and the CCP caused some veteran Red Army members and workers to be confused. had been our enemy, but now we were allied with him—was this not surrender to the Kuomintang? These revolutionary comrades were very sincere and enthusiastic. However, after repeated education, some still couldn’t understand, especially middle-level company and regimental cadres. They said, "The Kuomintang is our enemy. We used to seize land and distribute it to the peasants, and the five-star hats represented workers, peasants, and soldiers. Now we’re wearing hats— isn’t this surrender?" Many people in the cavalry regiment of the First Red Army Corps also held this view. After Liu Yunbiao was transferred to the Red Army University, Peng Shenghe took over as the Political Commissar and, and Li Zhongqi became the regimental chief of staff. One night, Peng Shenghe and Li Zhongqi slept in the same kang (traditional bed in northern China). Peng Shenghe said, "Old Li, we’ve been revolutionary for so long. Do you think wearing hats isn’t surrender?" Li Zhongqi repeatedly said, "To resist Japan and save the nation from crisis, our only enemy is the Japanese. They occupied our northeast and are now threatening our north. They want to all of China. We must unite to resist Japan." Peng Shenghe said, "You can’t convince me, and the higher leadership can’t either. I’m still confused. Maybe I should just go back to being a civilian." This kind of thinking spread in the regiment for nearly a month.
Around April, the First Red Army Corps demanded that the cavalry regiment report its ideological situation directly to Comrade Nie Rongzhen, the Political Commissar. Peng Shenghe went to the corps headquarters to report. He frankly said to Nie Rongzhen, "Although I’m reporting on ideological issues, I still don’t understand. We’ve fought for so long and so many people have died. Now we’re wearing hats— isn’t this surrender?" Peng Shenghe went with a staff member and a supply officer, and he also took the entire regiment’s salary, about 2,000 yuan in cash. The cavalry regiment was about 25 kilometers from the corps headquarters. Originally, Peng Shenghe planned to go in the morning and return in the evening. But by the time it got dark, he hadn’t returned. Li Zhongqi called the corps headquarters and reported to Wang Bingzhang, the of the Operations Department, saying, "Our Political Commissar Peng Shenghe went to the corps headquarters to report and also took the salary. He should have been back by 6 p.m., but he hasn’t." Wang Bingzhang immediately reported the matter to Comrade Nie Rongzhen. Nie said, "Is everything okay? Maybe something happened on the way. He’ll be back later." But by the next morning at 8 a.m., Peng Shenghe still hadn’t returned. Li Zhongqi had no choice but to go personally to Comrade Nie Rongzhen and say, "There might be a problem! We’ve sent people to look, but from midnight to 8 a.m., we found no trace along the road to the corps. Peng Shenghe said he was worried about the and had doubts. The Red Army changing hats, no confidence, and joking that he wanted to be a civilian!" At this point, Comrade Nie Rongzhen suddenly realized, "He told me the same thing! That really is a problem! You should send a platoon and quickly search in the direction of Xianyang. It’s about 40 kilometers." Li Zhongqi then led a platoon to search along the road. He asked an old farmer by the river, "Did you see three people—one riding a red horse, one riding a white horse, and one riding a flowered horse?" The farmer said, "Yes! The horses are about nine kilometers away and were thrown into a ditch." "Are there any other units there?" the farmer asked. "No other units," the farmer replied. Li Zhongqi said, "Can you take me there?" At that time, many people in northwest China knew how to ride horses, so the farmer led him there. They found all three horses but didn’t see the people. The and Political Commissar of the cavalry regiment had fled, which could affect the situation. They needed to quickly determine a replacement. Therefore, Comrade Nie Rongzhen said to Li Zhongqi, "Don’t say anything about Peng Shenghe right now, and don’t get angry. The most urgent task now is to either bring Liu Yunbiao back from the Red Army University or find someone else to take the position?" The next day, the corps sent a deputy minister to hold a cadre meeting, and Pan Zhenwu was also invited. The meeting reported how Peng Shenghe had fled, and that similar incidents had occurred in other units, which was a cause for vigilance. After the meeting, the deputy minister, representing the leadership of the corps political department, announced: "Liu Yunbiao, the, is studying at the Red Army University. He is appointed as the and Political Commissar of the cavalry regiment to take over Peng Shenghe’s position. Pan Zhenwu must report for duty immediately." This decision was approved by Comrade Nie Rongzhen. Pan Zhenwu quickly took office to strengthen the cavalry regiment’s leadership.
In June, after taking office, Pan Zhenwu first focused on ideological work and followed through thoroughly. He not only gave lectures on the big picture but also deeply engaged with the actual situation and understood the problems. He told everyone, "We’re not surrendering to. We’re fighting for the war of resistance and saving the country. Without unity, we can’t win the war! We can’t put the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Zhang Xueliang and Yang Huicheng, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Feng Yuxiang all under red hats! There must be a prerequisite!" He explained it very profoundly and carefully, and everyone was convinced. For this, Pan Zhenwu received a commendation.
On August 25, 1937, the Red Armys Fifteenth Corps and the Shannan Red Army’s 74th Division werereorganized into the Eighth Route Army’s 115th Division, with Lin Biao as the and Nie Rongzhen as the deputy. On October 22, the Central Committee of the CCP decided to restore the system of Political Commissars and the names of political departments (bureaus) in the Eighth Route Army’s corps-level units, with Nie Rongzhen as the Political Commissar of the 115th Division and Luo Ronghuan as the Political Director. At that time, the 115th Division consisted of two brigades, one independent regiment, and one cavalry, artillery, engineering, and supply camp, with a total of 15,500 soldiers. Pan Zhenwu led the Red Army cavalry regiment, which wasrenumbered as the cavalry camp of the 115th Division. Liu Yunbiao, the former of the cavalry regiment, returned after completing his studies. In August, Pan Zhenwu was transferred back to the political department of the division to serve as the Minister of Enemy Work (later the Minister of Mass Work), participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and was responsible for managing prisoners of war.
After recapturing Quyang, following the victory at Pingxingguan, to expand the gains, the higher command decided to have Pan Zhenwu lead a team to recapture the city of Quyang. Quyang County was located in Hebei Province, west of the Pinghan Railway and north of the Zhengtai Railway, about 100 miles southeast of Fuping. The northern part of the county was hilly and mountainous, with poor land. After the areas of Beijing and Tianjin fell to the Japanese invaders, the Japanese army advanced southward along the Jinpu and Pinghan railways, but their control over remote mountainous areas was not as strict as in big cities. At that time, Quyang County had already been occupied by the Japanese. After hearing the reconnaissance report from the cavalry camp, the Political Director of the division, Luo Ronghuan, ordered the cavalry camp and the training team to act. Pan Zhenwu led the campaign to recapture Quyang. Under Pan Zhenwu’s command, the cavalry camp made a night raid and, at dawn on October 18, swiftly defeated the enemy who were on patrol. They seized the enemy’s supply depots and warehouses. They completely liberated Quyang County, which was the first county the Eighth Route Army had recaptured from the Japanese and puppet forces. When the Japanese occupied Quyang, they set up a supply depot in the eastern part of the county, where they stockpiled a large amount of military supplies. After the Eighth Route Army captured Quyang, opinions differed on how to handle these war spoils. Pan Zhenwu knew that it would be very difficult to hand over these items to the border region, mainly because there was no transportation. Moving hundreds of tons of supplies by hand to Fuping, which was nearly 100 miles away from Quyang, was no easy task. However, he still agreed to hand over most of them. After reaching a consensus, the troops mobilized the local population for support, and those who participated in the transport were given one kilogram of biscuits. When the farmers heard that the Japanese supplies were being transported to the Eighth Route Army, most enthusiastically participated. Adults carried two boxes on their shoulders, while children carried one box each, forming a thousand-person transport team. In just two days, they transported all the supplies to the border government. Comrade Luo Ronghuan, the Political Director of the division, was very happy and highly praised the patriotic spirit of the farmers of Quyang County in supporting the war of resistance. He said, "With you as our backing, we won’t worry about driving out the Japanese bandits."
General Pan Zhenwu had many achievements in resisting Japan in Shandong, including establishing thefirst enemy rear democratic government of the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region in Quyang County and concurrently serving as the county magistrate of the Quyang County democratic government. As the representative of the 115th Division, he went to Lulin Town to meet Fu Zuoyi, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone of the Kuomintang. This played a positive role in later opening up the Lüshan Mountains base area and protecting the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.