In November 1927, Liu Bocheng came to the Soviet Union from Shanghai as assigned by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. This photo shows Liu Bocheng taking a group photo with Soviet youths. The person wearing glasses in the front row is Liu Bocheng. But Fan Xiaojing looked carefully many times and still couldn't determine which one was Liu Bocheng. As for other photos of Liu Bocheng while he was studying abroad, it is difficult to find them now.

Director's Notes

Why was the story of Liu Bocheng's study abroad in Soviet Union abridged and omitted? He left behind 3.9 million words of military writings and 1.9 million words of translation works in his lifetime. He was the first to translate "Mongrel Brigade" into "Mixed Brigade" and "Chimpanzee War" into "guerrilla warfare"...

I knew a lot of Liu Bocheng’s stories before, from books, movies, and from my dad, who was once a member of Liu Bocheng’s team. But this time the task assigned to me by the station was a section of the TV documentary series "A Hundred Years of Studying Abroad" about studying in the Soviet Union. Although Liu Bocheng, one of the protagonists of the program, has many stories, when it comes to studying abroad, the memories and records are only scratches and cannot be summarized. .

I believe that studying in the Soviet Union was an experience that changed Liu Bocheng’s life. There must be a story and it must be exciting. So I decided to look for it.

After going round and round, we found two most suitable storytellers: Song Ke and Liu Meng. Song Ke was recommended by the National Defense University. Before his retirement, he was the director of a research laboratory at the school and a senior expert on Liu Bocheng. Liu Meng is the fifth of Liu Bocheng's six children, nicknamed Amen, and participated in the compilation of "The Biography of Liu Bocheng" . Director Song said that Liu Shuai was rigorous and calm; Amon said that his father was affectionate and light-hearted. Interesting contrasts and complementarities create an unheard-of Liu Bocheng, a "returnee from overseas" more than 70 years ago.

From Liu Bocheng to "Afanasiev"

Liu Bocheng left Shanghai on a Soviet ship to Vladivostok and then to Moscow. On the ship, he was told that his Russian name was "Afanasiyev". At that time, Chinese students studying in the Soviet Union all had Russian names. Even though Liu Bocheng was a famous general, he fought in wars and studied abroad. It was pitiful that he didn't understand a word of Russian. He secretly murmured his new name - Afanasiev...

When he reported into school, Liu Bocheng was still reciting "Afanasiyev" silently in his mind, but suddenly he found that everyone around him looked at him and burst into laughter - it turned out that "Afanasiyev" had been mentioned above. Yes, he didn't hear it. Amon laughed heartily when he teased his father.

Liu Bocheng was one of the first batch of military cadres from the Communist Party of China to go to the Soviet Union to study military theory. He was warmly welcomed by all the teachers and students of the Soviet Advanced Infantry School. On the evening of the day of admission, in the brightly lit auditorium, the school's political commissar gave a welcome speech, saying that Liu Bocheng was a famous general in China and the chief of general staff of the Nanchang Uprising. It is the glory of our school that he came to study in our school.

"Afanasiyev" gave a speech on behalf of the Chinese students, but he spoke in Chinese with a thick Sichuan accent.

As the saying goes, "People over thirty do not learn skills." Liu Bocheng, 35, is the oldest among his classmates. The 33-letter Russian language was a high hurdle in front of him.

At that time, in the autumn of 1927, the comrades in Afanasyev's country, the team that had just been named the "Red Army", were wearing straw sandals, wearing rags, and holding shuttlecocks. In Jinggangshan, he fought a bloody battle with an enemy army several times his own. "Afanasiyev" is eating milk bread and sitting peacefully in the Moscow school. Why? The Soviet Union's advanced military theory was coveted by the nascent Communist Party army. If he cannot pass the language barrier, "Afanasiyev" himself will accomplish nothing and will be unworthy of his mission.

In order to learn Russian, Liu Bocheng tried his best. He writes words on his left hand every day and recites them when walking and going to the toilet. He often stays up until 3 a.m. in the morning.

In order not to disturb the rest of others, Liu Bocheng put a blanket over his head after going to bed and lit a lamp in the "small tent" to study. A classmate got up to go to the toilet and walked past the "tent". He pressed Liu Bocheng's head and said it was time to go to bed.

The vibrato "P" in Russian is difficult to pronounce, and Chinese students jokingly call it "Dulu". Liu Bocheng hit this "dulu" tongue just because he didn't obey his orders. So he got up half an hour earlier than others every day and went to the playground to "purr" loudly. On a freezing winter morning in Moscow, Liu Bocheng just typed out "Dulu".

At that time, the Soviet economy was still very difficult, and food was rationed. Liu Bocheng enjoyed general-level treatment, and he had the idea of ??getting a military officer's certificate.

Liu Bocheng found a handyman in the school and said, you can use my military ID to buy things, but you have to teach me spoken English for an hour every day.

About half a year later, Liu Bocheng’s language ability surprised the teacher: I don’t believe you can learn like this in half a year. Have you got a Russian wife?

Liu Bocheng was naturally overjoyed. He wrote to friends in China: "He regards grammar as a string of money, and new words as copper coins, and he accumulates them day and night; he regards difficulties as an enemy formation, and he panics. After capturing it day and night, I was able to read Russian books within a few months."

From "Mongrel Brigade" to "Mixed Brigade"

Liu Bocheng passed the language barrier. Opened the door to the Russian military academic treasure house.

Liu Bocheng was born in Zhoudu Village, Kaixian County, Sichuan, which is a closed mountainous area. He has read Chinese classics since he was a child, and during the war he studied China's Sun Tzu, Zhuge Liang, and Sima Ranju (a famous military theorist in the late Spring and Autumn Period, whose theories were compiled into "Sima Fa").

From "looking at China" to "looking at the world", Liu Bocheng completed this transition while studying abroad. More than a year later, he transferred to Frunze Military Academy, the highest military academy in the Soviet Union. While in Moscow, Liu Bocheng visited libraries and museums, read the history of world wars and biographies of military strategists from various countries, and studied Napoleon (France), Moltke (Prussia), Ludendorff (Germany), and Suvorov (Russia). ...

Liu Bocheng especially admired the strategic thinking and commanding art of the famous Russian general Kutuzov. Coincidentally, Kutuzov, like Liu Bocheng, also lost his right eye in the early war. In 1812, Napoleon, who made the whole of Europe tremble, personally led an army of 600,000 to invade Russia. At that time, the Russian army only had 300,000 soldiers, which was only half of the French army.

Kutuzov was ordered to deal with Napoleon in danger. Kutuzov's motto was not to capture the castle, but to preserve vitality, constantly wear down the enemy, and finally concentrate his forces to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop. In the end, only more than 20,000 of Napoleon's 690,000 troops returned to France.

Kutuzov won the war, saved Russia, and changed the destiny of France and even Europe. This example of the weak defeating the strong had a great impact on Liu Bocheng.

I asked Director Song which of Liu Bocheng’s military treatises mentioned Kutuzov, whom he respected so much, so that I could confirm it on the show. Director Song shook his head. Yes, the Chinese and Soviet parties have had long-term grievances and grievances, and the debates within the Chinese Communist Party have been ups and downs. In such a political climate, who can not have scruples? After entering the peaceful era, the first among the ten marshals to be shot was Liu Bocheng, a "military major" who drank foreign ink in the Soviet Union. He was labeled as dogmatist. Why was the story of Liu Bocheng’s study abroad in the Soviet Union abridged and omitted? When people think about it today, in addition to understanding, they also sigh.

In 1930, Liu Bocheng returned to China: he introduced the formalized staff system into the Red Army by referring to the system of the Soviet army;

He studied the advanced ideas of foreign strategists and Integrated into the art of war command;

He drew on the experience of the Soviet military academy and founded the earliest military academy after 1949...

In his decades of revolutionary career, Liu Bocheng stayed Published 3.9 million words of military writings and 1.9 million words of translations. In the war-torn years, Liu Bocheng, who was a ruthless soldier and lost his right eye, wrote so much that it is incredible.

When he translated Soviet military works, he first thoroughly understood the original text, and then rewrote it according to Chinese reading habits. For the first time, I learned that many military terms were coined by Liu Bocheng:

For example, "mixed brigade", Director Song said, when the troops began to be combined, a brigade included infantry, cavalry and artillery. Some people used foreign words to describe Literally translated as "Mongrel Brigade", Liu Bocheng translated it as "Mixed Brigade";

Like "guerrilla warfare", this word is said to come from Spanish. Foreigners call guerrilla warfare "chimpanzee warfare" because in When fighting in the jungle, the fighting style is like a chimpanzee, focusing on quick and sudden attacks. It was Liu Bocheng who translated "chimpanzee warfare" as "guerrilla warfare". There are also "commander", "cook" and so on.

Tears of "Er Ye" Veterans

After interviewing Song Ke and Liu Meng, the story of Liu Bocheng's study abroad was revealed; but I was still unwilling because Liu Bocheng's wife Wang Ronghua He is still alive, but the children of the Liu family refused to allow me to interview them. The reason was that the old man was in poor health. I think it was an excuse not to want to see reporters.

When I first met Liu Meng, I respectfully called him "Liu Attaché" (Foreign Attaché) and then said that my dad was also from the "Second Field Army" (Second Field Army). Really? Liu Meng laughed. His eyes widened.

As my father entered his old age, he began to talk about the past wars over and over again, and I always listened to them. But now. Son, my mind was rapidly replaying the old man's daily chatter.

I asked Military Attaché Liu, who had studied the history of the "Second Wilderness" war, to pull out stories such as the Advance into the Central Plains, Southwest Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, and Luyu, etc. topic, so the interview had this result: Liu Meng said kindly, just call me "Amon"

Looking at the heat, I tried: No matter whether my father is a marshal or a veteran, we all. She is a descendant of "Er Ye". How regretful I am that I can't see the wife of the old leader of "Er Ye"! Amon said sincerely, "It really doesn't work", so I had to give up.

After that, I went to Beijing several times for "A Hundred Years of Studying Abroad". Every time, I remembered to call Amon to talk about the progress of the program and the elderly at home... "Er Ye" was still the subject of the call. I mentioned the Ru River to Amon. From fighting the Japanese in 1937 to the liberation of Guangzhou in 1949, my father was considered a tough guy, but he couldn't mention the Ru River. At that time, Liu and Deng's troops marched to the Dabie Mountains to force the crossing. When entering the Ruhe River, hundreds of thousands of national troops blocked the front and pursued them, and seven enemy planes bombed them indiscriminately.

PLA commanders and fighters without any air defense capabilities fell in rows, and the Ru River became a river of blood; Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping commanded thousands of troops, among which my father was included...

Finally, Amon said on the phone, come home.

Potato-roasted beef, Liu's home cooking

Our film crew walked into the Liu family courtyard, and saw old man Wang Ronghua who was really not feeling well. I called out softly. "Mother Wang" couldn't help but hugged her and gave her a bouquet of flowers and my father's greetings. There are trees full of fiery red pomegranates in the courtyard, and we have a new harvest.

The life of the Liu family also has a Russian color, which started with Liu Bocheng.

The Liu family has been eating a home-cooked dish called "Boxi" for decades. Only when the children grew up did they realize that "Posey" was actually the beef and potatoes that Russians ate every day and that people ridiculed Khrushchev. The wife and children all learned the true story of Liu Bocheng and could cook "Bosi" so well that even Russian friends who had tasted it praised it.

Liu Bocheng’s simple office still remains the same. A large dark-colored radio was old and exquisite. It was a trophy from the Huaihai Battle. Liu Bocheng kept it and used it to listen to Russian broadcasts. In a short corridor outside the office, Mr. Wang Ronghua and Amon told us that the graduate of the Frunze Military Academy who learned to "drum" in the morning in Moscow still maintains the habit of reading Russian early in the morning. Every morning at around 6 o'clock in the morning, the children listened to the blaring Russian in the corridor, got up, and went to school until Liu Bocheng became completely blind...

On behalf of the Liu family, Liu Meng left a message in the "Century of Study Abroad" signature book: "Liu Shuai's military thought belongs to China and the world."

I breathed a long sigh of relief and ended my search. "A Hundred Years of Studying Abroad" tells the unknown story of the well-known Liu Bocheng, a man in that magnificent but somewhat obscured era. "Liu Shuai's military thoughts belong to China and the world."

< p>With a long sigh of relief, I ended my search. "A Hundred Years of Study Abroad" tells the unknown story of the well-known Liu Bocheng, a story of a "returnee from overseas" in that magnificent but somewhat dusty era.