Xu Guangda Xu Guangda ( ) ( November 19 , 1908 - June 3 , 1969 ) was a People ' s Liberation Army general who was conferred this rank in 1955 ( the Ten Da Jiang : Su Yu ( 粟裕 ) , Huang Kecheng ( 黄克诚 ) , Tan Zheng ( 谭政 ) , Xiao Jingguang ( 肖劲光 ) , Wang Shusheng ( 王树声 ) , Chen Geng ( 陈赓 ) , Luo Ruiqing ( 罗瑞卿 ) , Xu Guangda ( 许光达 ) , Xu Haidong ( 徐海东 ) , Zhang Yunyi ( 张云逸 ) . He was born on November 19 , 1908 in Changsha County in Hunan Province , China . His former name was Xu Dehua . Xu Guangda joined the Communist Youth League of China in 1925 . And in this year , he shifted to the Communist Party of China . At the age of 18 , Xu went to Whampoa Military Academy . After one - year study , he was appointed the platoon leader on probation in the 4th Army of National Revolutionary Army . And then he took part in the troops in Nanchang Uprising at the same year , designated as the platoon leader and the substituted company commander . During the period of Agrarian Revolutionary War , Xu had held successively the post of : Staff of the 6 Army in the Chinese Workers ' and Peasants ' Red Army , Political Commissar and Commander of the 17 Divisional Army , Regimental Commander of the 22nd Regiment of the Eighth Divisional Army of 3 Red Army , Commander of the 8 Divisional Army , Regimental Commander of the 25th Regiment of 3 Red Army . Early life . He was born on November 19 , 1908 in Changsha , Hunan Province . His former name is XuDeHua . He went to the primary school at the age of seven . In 1921 , he went to the Changsha Normal University , and actively participated in the patriotic student movement . In May 1925 he joined the Communist Youth League of China , and in September he joined the Chinese Communist Party . Army career . In October 1929 , Xu was sent by the central command to Honghu revolutionary base areas . In February 1930 , he participated in a red army of workers and peasants in China ' s sixth army . He took turns to act as the army chief , the political committee member and division commander and so on . He took part in opening up the Soviet area centered on Honghu and for many times joined the counter - campaigns against " encirclement and suppression " . In the Soviet union in 1932 , he successively attended the International Leninism College and Oriental Laborer Communist University to study . After the War of Resistance Against Japan , Xu Guangda returned to China , successively took on the minister of anti - Japan training college , the principal of the third college , engaged in military theory of Marxism , cultivated anti - Japan cadre . In January 1941 , Xu was appointed as the minister of revolutionary military commission as well as the communist party secretary general staff of the central committee , and Yan ’ an traffic commander , air defense commander , sincerely commander , later the military commander of 120 independent of the eighth route , army division brigade major and the commander of JinSui military area 2nd second , carried out guerrilla warfare civilian and military leadership in Wu Zhai , Shen Chi , partial shut area , strengthened and expanded the anti - Japan base areas . At the beginning of the communist takeover , he served as commander of the Jinsui Military Region Column 3 . In August 1947 , he led the number 3 column cross the Yellow River , changing them to belong the Northwest Field Army ( later named the First Field Army ) . He also took part in the Battle of Shajiadian , Yan and Qing . In January 1949 , he was appointed commander . July in the same year , during the Battle Humei , which was against the KMT Hu Zong , he led the troops to detour behind enemy lines , break the enemy ' s retreat , which made a great contribution to ensuring the whole victory . Then he led his army by setting off to the west , conquered the main enemy positions in Nanshan and seized the Yellow River Bridge . At last , they wiped out the whole of the enemy with the 19th corps and liberated Lanzhou . Later life . In April 1950 , Xu Guangda was appointed as the commander and political commissar of the Chinese People ' s Liberation Army armored units . He began to build the armored corps , started to investigate new domestic tanks ( Type 59 tanks and Type 62 light tanks ) . In September 1950 , Xu began to serve as president of the Chinese People ' s Liberation Army fighting vehicles school at the same time . In January 1951 , he inspected the Korean War front - line . After returning to China , he organized the tanks of Chinese People ' s Volunteers Force , which entered into combat afterwards . In 1956 , in the Chinese Communist Party of the Eighth National People ' s Congress , he was elected as a member of the CPC Central Committee . In September 1959 , he was appointed as Deputy Secretary of Defense of the People ' s Republic of China . In February 1967 , Kang Sheng , Lin Biao , and He Long were engaged in a mutiny . Xu Guangda was charged as " mutiny Chief of General Staff " . In January 16 , 1967 , the rebels searched the house of Xu Guang , and then illegally detained him . In June 1969 , Xu died at the age of 61 years through eighteen months of trial , persecution . In June 3 , 1977 , the Central Military Commission , issued on the 6th file to prove his innosence . Appraisal . The chief of the propaganda department of the Hunan provincial party committee , Lu Jian Ping expressed great respect to Xu Guangda and kind greetings to their relatives . He said , Xu Guangda was a loyal communist fighter , a great proletarian revolutionist and an outstanding strategist . He made great contributions to the founding of the People ' s Republic of China , devoting his whole life and energy to the party and the people . He contributed himself to the national independence of China and the liberation of the Chinese people . Lu Jianping also called on the people to take Xu Guangda as an example and to learn from his noble character , and promote his revolutionary spirit . Family . Xu Guangda ' s son , Xu Qinxian , also became an officer in the PLA . In 1989 he was serving as the head of the Beijing - based 38th Group Army , but was relieved from his post for refusing to use force to suppress demonstrators and enforce martial law during the Tiananmen Square Protests . He was arrested , but then released in 1990 , when he was court martialed and forced to retire from the military without a pension .