Lieutenant General Qin Jian: the first commander of the Huaihai Naval Region

Qin Jian is from the Zhuang ethnic group. His original name is Qin Xiuhua. Born in April 1911 in Banpo Township, Donglan County, Guangxi Province (now Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region). Joined the Communist Party of China in 1931. During the National Anti-Japanese War, he successively served as the commander of the fifth regiment of the second detachment of the fourth column and fifth column of the Eighth Route Army, the commander of the twenty-third regiment of the eighth brigade of the third division of the New Fourth Army, the commander of the Huaihai Navy District, the tenth brigade of the third division of the New Fourth Army and the deputy brigade of the Huaihai Navy District. Commander and deputy commander, deputy commander of the Huaihai Navy Division of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, commander and political commissar of the independent brigade of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army. During the War of Liberation, he served as commander of the Sixth (Huaihai) Military Division of the Central China Military Region and commander of the Huaihai Independent Brigade, deputy commander of the 12th Column of the East China Field Army, chief of staff of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, and chief of staff of the Ninth Corps of the Third Field Army. In 1955, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Won the first-class August 1st Medal, the second-class Independent Medal of Freedom and the first-class Liberation Medal. Died in Beijing on July 15, 1959. During the National War of Resistance and Liberation, General Qin Jian led his troops to fight and live in Suqian for a long time. Establishment of the Huaihai Navy District In September and October of 1940, Qin Jian, commander of the fifth regiment of the second detachment of the fifth column of the Eighth Route Army, led his troops to Yanfu District. After the Wannan Incident in January of the following year, the fifth regiment of the second detachment was reorganized into the twenty-third regiment of the eighth brigade of the third division of the New Fourth Army, with Qin Jian still serving as the regiment commander. In March, Qin Jian received a new appointment and went to Huaihai District to form the Huaihai Navy District with Jin Ming, Zhang Kexin and others. From then on, he began his long-term fighting life in Suqian. After arriving in Huaihai District, with no foundation, Qin Jian was busy and made intensive preparations, so that the Huaihai Naval District was officially established in Zhangwei, Shuyang County that month, with Qin Jian as commander, Huaihai District Party Committee Secretary Jin Ming and political commissar of the military region, and Zhang Kexin as Chief of Staff, Gao Nongfu serves as director of the Political Department. During the subsequent national war of resistance and liberation, Qin Jian's duties were adjusted repeatedly, but he spent most of his time fighting and living in Suqian. After the establishment of the Huaihai Navy Region, Qin Jian immediately set out to establish the military region headquarters, political department, supply department, and health ministry. He also established hospitals, bullet factories, repair shops, and security forces directly under the military region. The troops were reorganized and trained. At this time, the main local force in Huaihai District was the Huaihe Brigade, and there were also some small-scale anti-Japanese local armed forces in other counties. With the support of the local party organization, Qin Jian carefully reorganized the armed forces of the Huaihe Brigade and counties, focusing on learning and training, especially training of grassroots cadres, so that the armed forces of the entire region were gradually strengthened. In September of the same year, the 10th Brigade of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army was reorganized into the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division and transferred west from Jinpu Road to the Huaihai area. The military headquarters of the New Fourth Army decided to appoint Liu Zhen, commander of the 10th Brigade, as commander of the Huaihai Navy Region as well as the Huaihai Navy Region, and Qin Jian as deputy commander of the 10th Brigade and deputy commander of the military region. Qin Jian assisted the brigade commander Liu Zhen in implementing the localization of the main force, and the troops were organized into each county brigade by battalion and company. The 10th Brigade also dispatched more than 400 cadres to local armed forces, and some went directly to the basic militia cadres of districts and townships. Not long after, the Huaihe Brigade, Shuhe Brigade, Binhai Brigade, Yihe Brigade, Lianshui Guerrilla Brigade, as well as county corps, independent regiment and other local troops under the direct command of the military region were organized. The armed strength of Huaihai District was greatly enhanced. In November 1942, the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division and the Huaihai Navy District was changed to the Huaihai Navy Division. Liu Zhen, the brigade commander, was also the commander of the military division, and Qin Jian was appointed as the deputy commander of the Huaihai Navy Division. In the middle of this month, the Japanese and puppet troops dispatched more than 8,000 troops, divided into eight groups, from Huaiyin, Lianshui, Xin'an and other places to carry out a "big sweep" in Huaihai District in an attempt to destroy the local and military leadership agencies in Huaihai District. Qin Jian Actively assisting Brigadier Liu Zhen and Political Commissar Jin Ming, he calmly commanded the agencies, troops and militia to block the enemy's attack, flexibly avoided the enemy's attack, organized more than 3,000 agencies and troops, broke out of the enemy's encirclement, and preserved Japan's effective strength. The puppet troops still refused to give up after the joint attack on the party, government and military agencies in Huaihai District, and they divided their forces to conduct a rigorous search in the central area where the military division troops were active. Qin Jian commanded the troops and militia to use the favorable terrain to launch guerrilla warfare against the enemy. They ambush and attack the enemy, hit them when they are right, and then move away after a hit. At the same time, they concentrate their firepower and destroy some of the enemy's strongholds. They also mobilize the militia to lead the masses to carry out highway raids. More than 20,000 people are scattered on various road sections to attack the enemy. The newly built roads were dug up and blown up, making it difficult for the mechanized Japanese troops to move. After a week of tenacious fighting, the Huaihai Navy Division was finally turned from passive to active. In December, the Japanese and puppet troops were forced to withdraw to the Huaihai District. In the struggle situation where the Japanese and puppet troops were divided into several large areas, the 10th Brigade and the Huaihai Navy Division troops were reorganized into 4 detachments. At the same time, the Huaihai District was divided into 4 divisions. Qin Jian was also the commander of the third detachment of the Huaihai Navy Division, *** Zhang Weiren, secretary of the Third Center County Party Committee and political commissar of the third detachment, led the 7th, 8th, and 9th regiments under his jurisdiction to conduct activities in the Tong (Yang) Su (Qian) (Dong) Hai area. In the spring of 1943, the superiors considered leaving the Tong Suhai area. The Huaihai Naval Division was far away and command and communication was inconvenient, so it was decided to establish the Tongsu Naval Division. Tan Jian went there and served as the commander, and Zhang Weiren also served as the political commissar of the Tongsu Naval Division. A training base was set up in Hetou, and a group of backbones and organic companies were selected from each regiment to conduct basic training first, and then the training results were tested through competition. These backbones and companies played a "seed" role in promoting the entire Tongsuhai. The divisional training played a positive role. In the summer of 1943, the Japanese army set up many strongholds around Tongyang City in an attempt to blockade the Tongsuhai Anti-Japanese Base Area.

Qin Jianqin led his troops to attack Sangxu, Wanpi and other strongholds and attack them. At that time, due to the poor equipment of the troops, it was difficult to capture the high-wall stronghold built by the Japanese and puppet troops. It was July and August and the weather was quite hot. Someone in the army came up with a way to set up a "dead dog formation" to force the enemy to withdraw from the stronghold. The anti-Japanese Communist Party mobilized the masses to beat the dogs and send them to the army. After beating them, they placed them around the walls of the enemy's stronghold. Otherwise, they would smell bad in two days. The enemy was in the stronghold and did not dare to sleep at night for fear of a night attack by the guerrillas. During the day, they smelled the smell of dead dogs and could not eat. In February 1945, the enemies in Huaihai were forced to evacuate. The military division troops captured the Yewei stronghold. Deputy Commander Qin Jian also commanded the third detachment to conquer Zhoumiao and other strongholds in the north of Tongyang City, kicking off a local counterattack. In early April, Qin Jian was ordered to form an independent brigade of the New Fourth Army's Third Division. , to carry out the task of supporting the Wanjiang Anti-Japanese Base Area. In March 1941, the Huaihai Naval Region was established in Zhangwei, Shuyang. Qin Jian, commander of the Huaihai Naval Region (right), took a photo with Jin Ming, secretary of the Huaihai District Party Committee and political commissar of the Huaihai Naval Region, to persist in the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in Northern Jiangsu. Later, the Independent Brigade went to Northeast China with the main force of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army. Because he was familiar with the local situation, Qin Jian was ordered to stay and serve as the commander of the Huaihai Navy Division (Central China Sixth Division). At this time, the troops in the Huaihai District were basically engaged in a major counterattack. Although the independent regiments and county brigades organized by the county were large in number, they were poorly equipped, lacked training, and had weak combat effectiveness. Qin Jian concentrated on forming troops and gathered the county brigades and independent regiments from each county into three groups. Regular regiment. At the end of 1945, according to instructions from superiors, the Huaihai Navy Division established a new independent brigade, with Qin Jian serving as the brigade commander and Xie Zhenhua, the political commissar of the military division, serving as the brigade political commissar. It played an important role in attacking and consolidating the Huaihai Liberated Area. In late June 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war. Under the leadership of Qin Jian, the Huaihai Navy Division and the Independent Brigade retreated to the Shandong Liberated Area in order to cover the main force of the Central China Field Army. He was ordered to return to the enemy's rear in northern Jiangsu to persist in the struggle. With the assistance of local armed forces and the support of the people, the Independence Brigade gradually destroyed the enemy strongholds in the Huaihai area and cut off the rear transportation of the northward advancing Japanese army. The transportation line effectively cooperated with the combat operations of the main field army in the Shandong battlefield. In order to more effectively combat the offensive of the Japanese army and defend the Northern Jiangsu Liberated Area, the East China Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the East China Military Region decided to separate Yanfu and Huaihai. The military divisions were merged to form the Northern Jiangsu Military Region. Qin Jian served as deputy commander of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, commander of the Huaihai Navy Division, and commander of the Huaihai Independent Brigade. Qin Jian commanded the Huaihai Independent Brigade to persist in the struggle in the Northern Jiangsu region and deploy two regiments on the eastern front. In preparation for the enemy invading from the direction of Lianyungang, he placed a regiment in Xin'an Town on the western front as a mobile force and at the same time responsible for guarding the enemy invading from the direction of Xuzhou. He sometimes traveled from the east to the west, traveling back and forth in order to constantly understand. In mid-December, the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Field Army launched the Subei Campaign. After accepting the combat mission personally assigned by Commander Su Yu, Qin Jian led his troops to deploy along the line from Huaiyin to Shuyang. , using mobile defense tactics to block the enemy's attack, ensuring the realization of the strategic policy of "frontal blocking, flanking attack" in the Subei Campaign. At the end of January 1947, the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Field Army merged to form the East China Field Army. The troops of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region were organized into the 12th Column, and the Huaihai Navy Division Independent Brigade was reorganized into the 12th Column and the 35th Brigade. Tan Jian and San Yuqing were appointed as Deputy Commander of the Twelfth Column. In February, the *** Army concentrated the strength of 7 brigades, focusing on the Huaihai District, and continuously carried out ""clearance" and "mopping up". Qin Jian commanded the troops to counterattack, and even defeated the strongholds such as Donggou, Chengji, and Daxingji. More than 2,000 enemies were wiped out. In April and May, the main force of the 12th Column repelled two large-scale "clearance campaigns" by the Japanese Army, and captured strongholds such as Huji, Qianji, and Xuliu, and connected Yanfu and Huaihai. The connection between the two districts stabilized the situation in northern Jiangsu. In August, the Central Military Commission ordered the establishment of a temporary headquarters behind enemy lines in Central China. Qin Jian was appointed as the second deputy commander, and commander Guan Wenwei, political commissar Chen Pixian and others led troops in Huaihai and Yanfu. In early March 1948, Wei Guoqing led the second column of the East China Field Army southward from the Shandong Yuelonghai Railway, and formed the Northern Jiangsu Corps based on the original temporary headquarters behind enemy lines in Central China. On March 16, the Northern Jiangsu Corps launched the Yilin Campaign. Qin Jian was ordered to lead the 35th Brigade, the Special Agent Regiment and the troops of various military divisions to build fortifications 10 kilometers southwest of Yilin to block enemy reinforcements in Yilin City. Under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the enemy's reinforcements moved towards No. 1. The 35th Brigade's positions were bombarded indiscriminately in an attempt to break through the blocking line. Qin Jian was fearless in the face of danger and commanded calmly. He risked his life to go to the forward positions to understand the situation. Under his command, the troops repelled multiple enemy attacks and pushed away enemy reinforcements. Blocked outside Yilin City, the victory of the Yilin Campaign was ensured. In June, Qin Jian was promoted to chief of staff of the Northern Jiangsu Corps. He actively assisted the Corps Commander Wei Guoqing and political commissar Chen Pixian in making decisions, and commanded the Northern Jiangsu Corps to fight on the battlefield in Central China. In February 1949, Qin Jian was appointed chief of staff of the Ninth Corps of the Third Field Army. Together with Commander Song Shilun and Political Commissar Guo Huaruo, he organized the troops of the Corps to prepare for the cross-river battle before leaving the northern Jiangsu region where he had lived and fought for many years.

(Editor by Zhao Lianjun) Editor-in-chief Wang Shanshan Wang Chengli