During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Nationalist army also had some generals who actively resisted Japan, such as Wei Lihuang, Li Zongren, Du Yuming, and Hu Lian; when the nation survived, they did not insult the identity of a general, and they achieved the responsibility of defending the country and resisting foreign enemies.
By the time of the Liberation War, most of the many senior generals of the former Nationalist Army had performed poorly in the face of our army, and Xue Yue, Hu Zongnan, and Hu Lian were all defeated by our army on the battlefield and had no choice but to flee to Taiwan. In Taiwan, Hu Lian, who fought with our army many times, wrote some memoirs, but he never mentioned his old rival Su Yu.
Hu Lian
According to Hu Zhiguang, Hu Lian's son, Hu Zhiguang recalled: My father wrote a book in Taiwan and said that there are many historical materials that have survived, and during this period, he did not dare to mention Su Yu. Why is that? What kind of contest is there between Hu Lian and Su Yu, which can make Hu Lian so jealous of Su Yu that he doesn't even dare to mention his name?
Hu Lian's glory - the Battle of Shipai Fortress
Hu Lian graduated from Huangpu Phase IV, is a classmate of Zhang Lingfu, and the personal relationship between the two is not bad. After graduating from the military academy, Hu Lian participated in the Northern Expedition, and later served in Chen Cheng's Eighteenth Army, and because of his bravery in battle, he won Chen Cheng's trust, and successively served as battalion commander and regiment commander.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hu Lian participated in the Battle of Songhu and was then the 66th Regiment of the 11th Division of the 18th Army. During the Battle of Luodian, Hu Lian organized death squads, repelled several Attacks of the Japanese Army, and stubbornly held the position. After the war, Hu Lian was promoted to brigade commander of the 119th Brigade, and then marched into the southern Jiangsu battlefield with a large army, launched guerrilla warfare, and cooperated with Qiu Xingxiang and others to harass the communication lines of the Japanese Kou.
What made Hu Lian famous in The Battle of Shipai Fortress took place in 1943, when the Japanese army had occupied Yuyang Pass, a key pass on the Xiang'e border, directly approaching Shipai Fortress. If the stone tablets were lost, the Japanese could directly peek into Sichuan, and the southwest would also be in danger.
At that time, the old lair of the Nationalist government was in Chongqing, and Chiang Kai-shek knew the importance of the stone tablets, so he urgently ordered Chen Cheng to stick to the stone tablets. After Receiving the order, Chen Cheng naturally did not dare to slacken off, and handed over the burden of guarding the stone tablets to Hu Lian, conveying Lao Jiang's orders.
The boy should be wrapped in a corpse, and after receiving the order, Hu Lian took up this burden, and he led the whole division to worship heaven and earth, announcing that he would coexist and die with the Stone Tablet Fortress. The Japanese army was also determined to win the Stone Tablet Fortress, and the main force of the Thirty-ninth Division, under the leadership of Takagi Yoshihito, attacked the Stone Tablet in a mighty way.
Hu Lian analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and ourselves, and held that the Japanese army was well armed, had aircraft artillery, and was not easy to fight hard in name only, and should be outwitted. To this end, based on the complex terrain of The Shipai Ring Mountain, Hu Lian planned to launch a mountain battle with the Japanese Kou to weaken the superiority of the Japanese army in terms of weapons.
In order to take the initiative in the battlefield, Hu Lian decided to attack with defense, ambushing the main force in the area of Douchong to the east of the fortress, leaving a small number of troops to defend the front of the fortress, and after the deployment was completed, only waiting for the enemy to attack. On May 27, 1943, two Japanese and Kou divisions launched a fierce attack on the Shipai Fortress, and the troops of the Eleventh Division, which were ambushed in Douchong, came out from all directions, and the Japanese army was in chaos, with heavy casualties, and failed to break through the fortress.
The first day of the attack was frustrated, and the Japanese army was not willing to lose, and chose to continue the attack the next day. Hu Lian personally commanded the troops, and when the enemy approached, the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat and bayonet fighting. When the Japanese army rested and supplied, Hu Lian organized a reserve force to counterattack and recaptured the position one after another.
For three consecutive days, the Eleventh Division led by Hu Lian fought fiercely with the Japanese army, Chen Cheng was worried about whether Hu Lian would be able to hold the stone plate, and personally called the front line to inquire, Hu Lian firmly replied, "Although success is uncertain, Cheng Ren is indeed determined." Under the hard resistance of the Eleventh Division, the Japanese army failed to conquer the Stone Pai Fortress, which severely damaged the invading Japanese army and ensured the victory of the Battle of Western Hubei.
Temporary
The Shipai Fortress was known as "China's Stalingrad" at the time, and Hu Lian could hold it, and his influence was naturally extraordinary. After the war, Hu Lian was appreciated by Chen Cheng and Chiang Kai-shek, and became the commander of the Eighteenth Army, awarded the rank of major general, and accepted the surrender of the Japanese army in Changsha and Hengyang in 1945.
Cunning as a fox, fierce as a tiger Hu Lian
As everyone knows, Chiang Kai-shek's army factions are numerous, among which the "civil engineering system" forces are the most powerful, and the representative figure is Chen Cheng. Chen Cheng started with the 18th Army, and at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Hu Lian was able to serve as the commander of the army, and naturally gained Chen Cheng's sufficient trust and became his concubine.
During the Liberation War, most of the senior generals of the "civil engineering department" headed by Chen Cheng in the Nationalist army had dismal records, losing more and winning less. It is worth mentioning that Hu Lian was an outstanding member of the "civil engineering department" generals, and he was able to escape death after several encounters with the East China Field Army on the battlefield.
The chairman commented that Hu Lian was "cunning as a fox and as fierce as a tiger," and he was indeed a person who could fight. Interestingly, during the Liberation War, the East China Field Army actually commanded the battle by Su Yu, not commander Chen Yi, which neither Hu Lian nor the "big men" of the Nationalist Army knew.
Hu Lian was able to escape from the encirclement of our army many times, indicating that he had a certain grasp of the battlefield situation and some luck. For example, in the battles of Nanma and Linqu commanded by Su Yu, Hu Lian escaped from death, and the weather factor was on the one hand, but there was also the reason why he resisted with all his strength, so that our army could not quickly eliminate it.
During the Battle of Huaihai, Hu Lian's 11th Division was surrounded by our army in Shuangduiji, and in Nanjing, he decided to airdrop the battlefield to cheer up the soldiers. Even so, Hu Lian and his 11th Division were also difficult to save, this time, he and Huang Wei alone broke through in a tank, Huang Wei was captured, he broke through the siege, I have to say that luck is indeed very good.
Huang Wei
Looking at the entire liberation war, Hu Lian was deeply encircled by our army many times, and he was always able to stand out through various means, but he still had a little ability. According to his own words, the secret to being able to escape death many times is "alertness and calmness".
Hu Lian, who became sober in his later years
As mentioned earlier, the bigwigs of the Nationalist army during the Liberation War did not know that the actual military commander of the East China Field Army was Su Yu, and this was based on evidence. After the Battle of Nanma and Linqu, Hu Lian said:
"The commanders of the communist army, Such as Su Yu, Chen Shiyu, Xu Shiyou, Yang Yong, Chen Xilian, Chen Zaidao, Wang Bicheng, and Ye Fei, have fought against me many times over the years, and according to the understanding, they are not outstanding talents."
Su Yu
Until the defeat of the Nationalist army on the frontal battlefield, Hu Lian was still hesitant and full of ambition, believing that "if Liu Bocheng and Chen Yi could not personally come to the battle front, they would undoubtedly be defeated." In fact, Hu Lian has been fighting for so many years, and his opponents have not figured it out, which is really outrageous.
Just as the so-called know thyself and know each other, a hundred battles will not be lost, this sentence has been circulated for more than two thousand years, Hu Lian did not know the other, naturally it is difficult to win. In fact, this is not all a problem of Hu Lian alone; whether it is the big men of the Ministry of National Defense or the Intelligence Agency of the Military Command, they judge the people of our military headquarters only through the signature of some public telegrams.
Hu Lian signed through the East China Field Army telegram that Su Yu was like those corps-level generals in Huaye, and the result was that the battle was very confused, and he did not know how he lost. Fleeing to Taiwan, Hu Lian commanded the Battle of Kinmen, gained the trust of the elder Chiang, and in his later years stayed away from the military circles to take pleasure in writing history and literature.
Hu Lian liked to study modern history, and after some research, he suddenly realized that the commander of the East China Communist Army who had fought with him many times was Su Yu, which was a conclusion he had come up from studying many materials. Since then, Hu Lian has left a lot of historical materials when he wrote books, but he never dared to mention Su Yu. Before Hu Lian died, he sighed a long time, "The earth is less than a drop", it seems that he is still grumpy about the events of that year and has not put it down.
epilogue
From the perspective of a purely military man, Hu Lian was qualified, had the dream of joining the army and serving the country, struck a blow against the Japanese in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and made certain contributions to the great cause of the War of Resistance Against Japan. During the Liberation War, Hu Lian had several fierce battles with the East China Field Army, and the two sides won and lost each other, and he was able to escape from the encirclement of our army many times, which proved that he had a certain ability.
Su Yu, the actual commander of the Huaye Field Army, was undoubtedly a hurdle that Hu Lian could not cross in his lifetime, and like those senior generals of the civil engineering department, he despised this excellent senior military commander of our army. "The earth is less than a drop" is not an exaggerated statement, no matter who Chen Cheng sends, which one is not defeated in front of Su Yu.