Remarks on training for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China
Memory of the 1984 National Day Military Parade Training
This summer seems to be particularly hot, with the sun burning like fire. According to reports, the temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius in some places.
Preparations for the grand celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China are also being carried out in an intense and orderly manner as the temperature rises.
As usual, training for the National Day military parade has also entered a fever pitch. If you can go to various military parade training grounds and see the rows, rows, roads, individual personnel, vehicle and artillery formations, the orderly, majestic, overwhelming training scenes, the scorching hot weather , did not block the training enthusiasm of the troops being reviewed at all, and you will not fail to be shocked. However, this is a scene that cannot be seen by ordinary people.
Twenty-five years ago, as a member of the National Day parade celebrating the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, I had a deep understanding of this. In November 1983, my heroic unit, the 1st Tank Division, accepted the task of participating in the parade in the capital to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the National Day.
The 35th National Day military parade is a grand military parade held when our country enters a new historical period. It is a political statement that the party leads the people to accelerate socialist modernization and make strides forward on the great journey of reform and opening up; because Due to the "Cultural Revolution" and other reasons, China has not held a National Day military parade for 24 consecutive years. It was not until 1981 that, based on the proposal of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission decided to resume military parades within the army (a grand military parade was held at the end of the "802" exercise held in North China in 1981), and in 1984 On the 35th anniversary of the National Day, the first large-scale National Day military parade was held since the military parade was resumed. This is why Comrade Deng Xiaoping presided over the work of the Military Commission, brought order to the army, and pointed out the goal of marching towards the four modernizations together with the motherland and building a modern and regularized revolutionary army with Chinese characteristics. This is the most solemn military parade in the capital since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the blink of an eye, thirty-five years have passed and endless vicissitudes of life have occurred. The motherland has entered a mature age from youth; our army, like the Communist Party of China and the country, has grown and advanced amidst twists and turns.
At that time, I served as the training section chief of the Artillery Regiment of the First Tank Division, assisting the regiment leader in organizing and directing the troops’ military parade training. On October 1st, as an ordinary soldier, I passed the Tiananmen Gate with the 37th Square and was reviewed by the Party, the motherland and the people.
Our division *** formed four review formations: two 59-II tank formations, a 122mm self-propelled howitzer formation and a 130mm self-propelled rocket launcher formation. Among the 42 review formations The sequence is organized into 32, 33, 36, and 37 square teams. Both self-propelled artillery formations are composed of our regiment, which is extremely rare among the troops undergoing the National Day parade (many troops form a regiment to form a formation, and some formations are composed of personnel selected from a division or even an army) composed). First of all, there are difficulties in guaranteeing artillery, vehicles, personnel, and equipment. In particular, it is very difficult to select excellent drivers. Secondly, it shows that at that time, our army only had a small number of self-propelled artillery in armored units. Of course, this also reflects from another aspect the military and political quality of the officers and soldiers of our regiment, which is very reliable and excellent.
After we received the mission, we began to repair and maintain vehicles and artillery, select and deploy personnel, and carry out driving training, personnel military posture training and other work. In the midwinter month, the wind was biting, and the soldiers under review stood in a military posture for six hours without moving at all. At the beginning, all personnel were required not to blink for 30 minutes (later changed to the commander not to blink during the review), and the soldiers practiced "throwing their chests out and staring" in the wind. , tears soaked everyone's clothes; I kicked off the soles of my big-toe shoes during goose-step training; vehicle training was carried out on a river beach near our unit, from bicycles to columns, to platoons, to square formations, every day of training was very intense, every day All covered in dust. In May, all four square teams in the division have been initially trained and formed.
In early June 1984, two formations of our regiment took the lead in stationing at the mechanized formation parade village - Zhangjiawan Airport in Tong County (18 foot formations were stationed at the Shahe Airport parade village that year, and the second formation was stationed at the parade village of Shahe Airport. The artillery and missile formation is stationed at the Parade Village of Nanyuan Airport) and is responsible for the demonstration work of the parade troops stationed at the training site. From individual soldiers to formations, from food, accommodation and transportation to training, cultural activities, logistics support, etc., we must create a Set of system specifications. I remember that the requirements for the military parade put forward by the Beijing Military Region at that time were: "Higher standards, stricter requirements, more detailed work, and better results." This word "more" is proposed in response to the requirements of the 802 exercise that "the standards must be high, the requirements must be strict, the work must be detailed, and the results must be good." Our regiment proposed at that time: "Nothing is trivial when entering Beijing, and all officers and soldiers of the regiment are required to strictly enforce discipline."
Tongxian Parade Village was built along the lawn on the north side of the more than 2,300-meter-long runway of Zhangjiawan Airport. Along the south side of the main road in the parade village, duty rooms, conference rooms, and reading rooms for each team were built. Further to the south, thousands of tents were built for people to live in. To the north of the main road, canteens for each team were built. , shower room, toilet; there is a vehicle and artillery field at the northwest corner of the runway; the two runways are training grounds for the troops being reviewed.
July to September is the hottest season in Beijing, and it is during this season that the training officially begins.
The forecast temperature is between 37 and 38 degrees, and the temperature on the airport's cement runway is expected to be around 45-47 degrees. All the trainees are doing queue training with the scorching sun above their heads and their feet on the ground like a furnace. The training lasts for several hours; vehicle training , the driver actually completed training tasks in tanks, armored vehicles, and self-propelled artillery vehicles with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. (As the chief of the training section, I used a thermometer to measure the temperature of each training venue. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the driver entered the vehicle gun range, and the temperature of the temporarily laid steel track reached 63 degrees; when the vehicle tarpaulin was lifted, the temperature of the vehicle was The temperature inside the car reached 52 or 53 degrees. We put on work clothes and entered the car. For more than two minutes, we felt like we were fished out of the water. At the personnel training venue, if there is a bit of wind, the temperature is 39 or 39 degrees Celsius. Around 40 degrees, the surface temperature is generally 42 or 43 degrees. Wearing Jiefang shoes will definitely make your feet unbearably hot.) It is in such a harsh environment that all our soldiers are training seriously and meticulously. The movements have been rehearsed thousands of times, and the soldiers who were reviewed were as dazzled as black iron towers. (Of course, the army also uses scientific methods when training. For example, practice more in the morning and evening when the weather is slightly cooler.) If you ask if it is hard, you will definitely say it is hard; if you ask if you are tired, you will definitely say you are tired. But no one backed down. Why? Picture what? This is the noble quality of soldiers. Soldiers strive for high honor.
The military parade is the army’s report to the motherland and the people. The National Day military parade can showcase the great achievements and new style of our military's modernization and regularization construction, demonstrate the military's strong confidence in safeguarding the security and unity of the motherland and promoting world peace and development. It is also a window to showcase China's strength and national cohesion to the world. Therefore, military parades have always been considered the best way to display national prestige and enhance military prestige. The most important function of the military parade is to test the military training level of the troops and the basic quality of the officers and soldiers. The biggest highlight of the National Day military parade is the moment when each team passes the Donghua Formation (Salute Line) in front of the Tiananmen Gate Tower: with the commander of the square team giving a loud "Look to the right--look" command, the walking team The team changed from marching in unison to marching, saluting, turning their heads, and splitting their spears. All these actions were done in one go, which was so exciting. The military parade of our army is not as exaggerated and arrogant as that of the Russian army, nor is it rigid and artificial like that of the North Korean army. Everything seems natural and cordial, and it also reveals the majesty and pride; the slogan "Serve the People" that resounds in the sky is also full of It embodies the purpose of the people's army. Military parades, formations, uniform formations and strict military disciplines are impossible to achieve without repeated training.
For this year’s National Day military parade, the Military Commission clearly requested that the People’s Army should display a good image of the people’s army as vigorous and pioneering with “first-class organizational leadership, first-class weapons and equipment, first-class training results and first-class mental outlook” . It should be said that this year's military parade has more expectations and highlights. After all, times have changed.
Dear friends, when another "National Day" comes, when the solemn national anthem is played, the five-star red flag is raised, and when the foot formations pass through Tiananmen Square in neat military posture and heroic steps , when the mechanized formations are displayed on Chang'an Street in majestic formations, when the aerial echelons streak across the sky; when people cheer and jump, do you know how many hardships and touching stories there are behind this?
Let us look forward to that solemn and sacred moment.