The Kuomintang ace army "Eighteenth Army" successively served as a commander
The Eighteenth Army was the ace army of the Kuomintang, which became famous during the warlord melee, gained strength in the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, made a lot of contributions in the Japanese and Japanese wars, and finally was destroyed in the Battle of Huaihai. Today, let's talk about the successive commanders of the Eighteenth Army.
First term: Chen Cheng
Chen Cheng was the first commander of the Eighteenth Army. In 1922, Chen Cheng went to Guangdong with Deng Yanda to participate in the revolution, and in 1926, Guangdong was sent to the Northern Expedition, where he served as a regimental commander under the commander of the 21st Division, and Zhou Zhirou was the chief of staff of the regiment. In 1927, the Kuomintang split, the July 15 Incident in Wuhan occurred, and Deng Yanda went abroad. Serious also resigned, and before leaving, Baoju Chen Cheng was promoted to division commander. After he became the commander of the division, the troops were stationed along the Shanghai-Nanjing railway line, and soon encountered the battles of Zhenjiang and Longtan (the troops who crossed the river to counterattack Nanjing). Because of his stomach disease, he took a sedan to the front line to supervise the battle, and later someone reported the incident to He Yingqin and was dismissed from the post of division commander.
In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek was reinstated, and because Chen Cheng was a young officer from Zhejiang, he was selected as the commander of the guards of the Nanjing General Headquarters. In 1930, Yan and Feng lost the Central Plains War against Chiang Kai-shek. Chen Cheng, because of his meritorious service against Ji Hongchang's army, was promoted to commander of the Eighteenth Army and stationed in Wuhan. In the spring of 1934, Chen Cheng resigned as a military commander and was succeeded by Luo Zhuoying.
Second term: Luo Zhuoying
Luo Zhuoying, born on March 19, 1896, is a native of Tai Po, Guangdong. In 1937, in the Battle of Songhu, he participated in the defense of Baoshan, Luodian and Liuhe. In September 1938, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Wuhan garrison, strengthening the management of all aspects in order to defend Wuhan. In September 1939, he commanded the 19th Army to participate in the First Battle of Changsha. In February 1940, he was promoted to deputy commander of the Ninth Theater of Operations, and still commander-in-chief of the Nineteenth Army. In 1941, he participated in the Battle of Shanggao and won a brilliant victory with inferior victory. In April 1942, he was appointed commander of the First Route of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to aid Burma. He died in Taipei on November 6, 1961.
Third term: Huang Wei
Born on February 28, 1904, he was born in Guixi, Jiangxi. In 1937, he was ordered to go to Germany for further study, but was recalled to China in advance due to the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In late September 1937, he took over the post of commander of the 67th Division of the Eighteenth Army and led his troops to participate in the Songhu War of Resistance. In 1938, he was promoted to commander of the Eighteenth Army and participated in the Battle of Wuhan. In 1940, he was transferred to the commander of the Fifty-fourth Army, and from Guangxi to Guangnan, Funing and other Yunnan-Vietnamese borders to resist the Japanese invasion. He died in Beijing on March 20, 1989.
The fourth Peng Shan
In January 1939, an order was issued on the adjustment of the troop establishment structure, and two months later, Huang Wei, commander of the 18th Army, was transferred to the director of the 6th Branch of the Central Military Academy. The military commander was succeeded by Peng Shan. However, at this time, Peng Shan was still guarding his father's filial piety in his hometown in Hubei Province, and after another 2 months, that is, in May 1939, he returned to the army and officially became the commander of the 18th Army.
On the battlefield of Songhu, in the defensive operations on the front line of Baoshan, Luodian, and Liuhe, in the face of the onslaught of the three Japanese divisions, Luodian lost three times, and the 11th Division repeatedly fought with the enemy, suffering heavy losses; at the crucial moment, division commander Peng Shan, despite the persuasion of deputy division commander Fang Tian and chief of staff Mei Chunhua, took off his army coat, pinned two guns around his waist, held up a German-made machine gun in his hand, personally went into battle, led the death squad to bravely charge and kill, and recaptured the position twice.
After repeated battles with the Japanese, this elite unit was almost crippled. At night, taking advantage of the inability of enemy planes to move in the dark of night, Wang Yaowu led the 51st Division to Touch Luodian and quietly replaced the remnants of the 11th Division, which was no longer formed. When the battle on the front line of Luodian became more and more intense, the 11th Division, under the leadership of Peng Shan, once again entered the battlefield of Songhu and continued to fight with the Japanese and Kou, killing countless enemies and establishing great feats. He retired from the army in 1959 and moved to the United States. On February 14, 2000, Peng Shan died of illness in Taipei, China.
Fifth term: Fang Tian
In December 1940, after Peng Shan left the post of military commander, his successor was Fang Tian. Fang Tian, name Rengao, nicknamed Tianyi, Tianyi, born in 1902, Ganxian County, Jiangxi Province, studied at Ganzhou Provincial No. 4 Middle School in his early years, and was later admitted to the 2nd phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. After graduation, he joined the National Revolutionary Army and successively served as a platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, and regiment commander.
According to tradition, the candidates for the commander were all appointed as the commanders of the 11th Division, and Fang Tian, who was then the commander of the 185th Division of the 94th Army, only served as the deputy commander of the 11th Division. Therefore, after Fang Tian became the commander of the 18th Army, many people inside were not convinced by him, resulting in many of his orders not being carried out.
Commander Fang Tian, who made meritorious contributions to the Battle of Western Hubei, was promoted to a higher rank and transferred to the 20th Group Army of the Western Yunnan Expeditionary Force as deputy commander-in-chief and commander of the 54th Army, and was replaced by Luo Guangwen, deputy commander of the 18th Army, who was also awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun in this battle. To this end, Luo Guangwen became the 6th commander of the 18th Army. As soon as Luo Guangwen was promoted to military commander, his position as deputy commander made Hu Lian an achievement.
Sixth term: Luo Guangwen
Luo Guangwen, a native of Zhongxian County, Chongqing, served as the sixth commander of the 18th Army of the Nationalist Army, and was the only general in the civil engineering department of the State Government Chen Cheng's concubine who served as the only general in this position to actively revolt. Luo Guangwen was a classmate of the Huangpu IV with Hu Lian in his early years, and later studied in Japan, graduating from the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in 1930. After returning to China, he served as an instructor at the Central Army Officer School, in 1935 he was appointed commander of the 98th Division of the Nationalist Army, promoted to chief of staff in 1937, and then successively served as the commander of the reorganized 18th Division, the commander of the 18th Army, and the commander of the 87th Army.
In December 1949, he led an uprising in Sichuan to join the ranks of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and in 1954 he was appointed as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and in 1955 he was appointed director of the Forestry Department of Shandong Province. He died of illness in 1956 at the age of 51.
Seventh term: Hu Lian
After the Battle of Changde, the Eighteenth Army followed the previous practice and made a series of adjustments to the personnel and organization of the Eighteenth Army. Hu Lian took over as commander of the 18th Army and became the 7th commander of the army. Thus, it entered the era of Hu Lian. Hu Lian's bloodiness, boldness, and military strategy will inject new vitality into this unit and make it a great achievement in the future Battle of Xuefeng Mountain.
Source: "The Eighteenth Army's War of Resistance