What is a "war criminal"? As the name suggests, it is a person who has waged an unjust war, or who has committed a serious crime in war. After defeat, war criminals are tried by the victorious side and bear the guilt of waging war. During World War II, Japanese Fascist Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was a war criminal who was eventually tried and executed.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chinese has been suffering from war and chaos for decades, and the people of the people are eager for peace and do not want to fight any more wars. However, the Nationalist government headed by Chiang Kai-shek wanted to eliminate the armed forces led by the Communist Party and establish a dictatorial regime.
To this end, Chiang Kai-shek disregarded the cries of the people of the whole country for peace and launched a civil war. The PLA was forced to fight back and seek a path of happiness and democracy for the poor people of the country. After less than four years of the War of Liberation, Chiang Kai-shek's army turned from strong to weak, defeated like a mountain, and finally fled to Taiwan.
Although Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, many of the senior generals around him became prisoners of our army, and during the war of liberation for more than three years, our army captured a large number of senior generals of Chiang Kai-shek's army, and the vast majority of them should bear the guilt of the war and accept the people's reform and trial of them.
Twice as a "living martyr"
After the founding of New China, in order to facilitate the unified management of Kuomintang war criminals, a Gongdelin War Criminals Management Center was set up in Beijing. Among the war criminals of Chiang Kai-shek's army, most of the people who could be transferred to Gongdelin had relatively high official positions, such as Wang Lingji, Du Yuming, Wang Yaowu, Kang Ze, and others, who were not in a low position before they were captured.
Among the senior generals of the former Nationalist Army who entered the transformation of Gongdelin, some chose to actively cooperate, such as Du Yuming, Song Xilian, Wang Yaowu and others, who received amnesty in 1959 after 10 years of transformation in Gongdelin. Of course, there are also people who choose to resist reform and refuse to write a letter of repentance, such as Huang Wei, Wen Qiang, and Chen Shizhang, who have been imprisoned for more than two decades and received amnesty in 1975.
Compared with Huang Wei and Wen Qiang, Chen Shizhang's name is less familiar, what is his original identity? Why don't you actively reinvent gongdelin? After being released from prison, why did Chen Shizhang insist on going to Taiwan, and for what reason did he finally have to go to the United States?
Chen Shizhang graduated from the Huangpu Fifth Phase, and after graduation, he himself felt that he had not learned enough, and he successively studied in the officer training corps, higher education classes, the central training regiment, the tactical research class, and other places.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Shizhang was a colonel regimental commander who participated in the Battle of Wuhan, and together with friendly forces, he blocked the Japanese army for three days, repelled the Japanese army, and won the commendation of his superiors, which was the beginning of Chen Shizhang's development. In 1941, when the Nationalist army sabotaged the anti-Japanese united front and engaged in friction with the New Fourth Army, Chen Shizhang, then deputy commander of the 40th Division, participated in the operation.
In Sanxi Town, Chen Shizhang assisted division commander Fang Riying and blocked the breakthrough troops of the New Fourth Army, resulting in heavy losses of many New Fourth Army and many senior generals becoming prisoners. During the Anhui Incident, Chen Shizhang contributed greatly to the nationalist army, which was the main reason why he was afraid of being liquidated in Gongdelin in the future.
The 40th Division was subordinate to the 25th Army, and the 25th Army was a miscellaneous army, and the commander changed frequently, until Huang Baitao took over, and it was not stable. Although Huang Baitao came from a miscellaneous background, he had good military qualities and knew how to govern the army, winning the respect of Chen Shizhang. Huang Baitao also appreciated Chen Shizhang, and after he became the commander of the 7th Corps, he handed over his 25th Army to Chen Shizhang's command.
During the Battle of Huaihai, Huang Baitao was killed, and Chen Shizhang did not revolt because of the things he did in the Anhui Southern Incident, and he was not willing to become a prisoner of our army, so he decided to abscond in disguise. Chen Shizhang was very clever in the process of absconding, did not bring some valuable things, only a little dry food, disguised as a peasant, and successfully escaped to the Kuomintang area.
Chen Shizhang had a hard time escaping home, the relatives at home thought that they had died in battle, the spiritual hall was put out, it is said that Chen Shizhang's family read the newspaper and said that a commander of the 7th Corps named Chen Shizhang died in battle and became a martyr, and the family set up a spiritual hall for him.
Chen Shizhang became a "living martyr" and went to report to Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, most of the senior generals of the Nationalist army revolted and surrendered, and the old Jiang saw that Chen Shizhang was still very loyal, did not hold him responsible for his defeat, and continued to let him form the 25th Army and recruit troops in Fujian.
Considering the situation in which the Nationalist army was defeated, Chen Shizhang was very worried about his family and sent them to Taiwan for refuge. In the Battle of Fuzhou, the combat strength of the 25th Army that Chen Shizhang had just formed was obvious, and all the battle strength on the battlefield was diluted, and he could only abscond in disguise again, running all the way from Fujian to Xiamen.
Chen Shizhang was afraid that the Ministry of National Defense had lost Fuzhou and planned to take shelter in Xiamen first, but he did not expect that Xiamen would soon fall. This time, Chen Shizhang was not so lucky, and in an inventory operation of our army, he was finally arrested and became a prisoner of war.
Since the news of Chen Shizhang's capture did not reach Taiwan, he once again mistakenly believed that he had died in battle, and a tablet was placed at the Shrine of the Martyrs in Yuanshan, Taipei. Chen Shizhang may not have even imagined that he was on the mainland and his tablet was in Taiwan, so he was considered to be a "living martyr" twice.
Life in Gongdelin
In the Gongdelin War Criminals Management Center, the senior generals of the Nationalist Army are generally relatively high, and the rank of military commander like Chen Shizhang is not very large, so he is not conspicuous.
In Gongdelin, some basic living conditions can still be achieved, and there is also a relatively perfect medical system, and war criminals can be treated in a timely manner for illness. The regular work and rest time has allowed the bodies of many senior generals of the Nationalist army who were originally fighting in the war to be greatly restored, and there are many fewer minor problems.
In Gongdelin, Chen Shizhang did not actively perform, nor did he drag his feet, and he was very low-key in prison. Chen Shizhang, because he had committed a major crime in the Anhui Southern Incident, was worried that the new Chinese government would find him for reckoning, and he was very worried all day, afraid that he would one day be pulled out and tried and executed.
On weekdays, Chen Shizhang and other war criminals in Gong delin did not dare to get too close, preferring to go alone, which has been the case for more than twenty years and has not changed. In March 1975, with the approval of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, Chen Shizhang finally received his own amnesty and was free.
It is forbidden to enter Taiwan
After receiving amnesty, the war criminals became free people, free to come and go, and wherever they went, we were able to give corresponding help and pay for the journey.
After Chen Shizhang received an amnesty, unlike most people who remained on the mainland, he resolutely decided to go to Taiwan. The reason why Chen Shizhang chose this way is mainly because his wife and children are in Taiwan, and there is nothing strange about this choice.
Of course, after receiving Chen Shizhang's report requesting Taiwan, our side first arranged for him to go to Hong Kong and get in touch with the Taiwan side. Chen Shizhang was "loyal", and the Taiwan side did not appreciate it, when Chiang Kai-shek had just died and his son Chiang Ching-kuo took the throne, he had no interest in Chen Shizhang and refused his request to enter.
After hearing this news, Chen Shizhang was naturally very disappointed, he had been selling his life for them for decades, even in Gongdelin, he still maintained "integrity", did not expect that the Taiwan side was so unsympathetic, and was not lightly angry.
Just when Chen Shizhang did not know where he was going to spend his days, he heard the news that his son had settled in the United States and contacted him in Hong Kong. Soon, Chen Shizhangyuan's son in the United States personally went to Hong Kong to pick up his father, and soon, Mrs. Chen Shizhang also came to the United States from Taiwan, and the family of three was finally reunited again and embraced together.
Chen Shizhang in the United States lived a leisurely life, and after a long time, it was inevitable that he would be a little bored, so he decided to write a memoir and write down his experience, striving to be true and objective.
In his later years, Chen Shizhang successively wrote "The Rise and Fall of Huang Botao", "The Attack of the 40th Division of Chiang Kai-shek's Army on the New Fourth Army", "The Destruction of the Seventh Corps in the Battle of Huaihai" and other works. In 1992, Chen Shizhang died of illness in Los Angeles, usa, and lived for 90 years, which is considered to be a high lifespan.