After the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance, the frontal battlefield was generally in a state of gradual defeat and retreat due to various factors, but many excellent ace troops still emerged. Among them, the New Sixth Army and the New First Army have been active in the Burmese battlefield for a long time, while the 74th Army has been fighting in the Chinese battlefield.
The 74th Army was a down-to-earth heroic unit on the anti-Japanese battlefield, with the name of the Tiger Ben Army, and after the victory of the War of Resistance, it was reorganized into the reorganized 74th Division, and later completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army at Menglianggu.
Since the establishment of the 74th Army, the successive commanders have been Yu Jishi, Wang Yaowu, Shi Zhongcheng, Zhang Lingfu, Qiu Weida, and Lao Guanying, of which the second commander, Wang Yaowu, is not only the elder of the 74th Army, but also the soul of the 74th Army.
And all this is inseparable from one of Wang Yaowu's own merits, that is, he can be a man and can meet the source left and right in the Kuomintang army with many factions.
If you are familiar with the history of the 74th Army, you must know that the 74th Army is actually a miscellaneous card in the Kuomintang Central Army, the reason is that the predecessor of the 74th Army was a unit without a number, that is, a supplementary brigade reorganized from three supplementary regiments of the Baoding Training Department in the winter of 1933.
Wang Yaowu was the first brigade commander of the Supplementary First Brigade.
If Wang Yaowu looks at it from the appearance, he is a typical Shandong Hanzi, but although he looks rough, his mind is thinner than anyone else, and he is very shrewd in his handling of the world. Like most of the officers of the Supplementary First Brigade, he was from Whampoa, but this origin did not bring any substantial help to his unit, which had no title.
The first thing he did after he became a brigade commander was to make good friends.
He knew very well that if he wanted his troops to be convenient everywhere, he must have a sufficiently wide network of contacts, so after he became the brigade commander, he began to send telegrams to all those who could connect with him, and the tone was extremely respectful, and anyone who was higher than his position or education would call the other party a commander or a teacher.
But just saying that he doesn't practice is ultimately a fake style, Wang Yaowu doesn't care about what he says is beautiful, and things are even more beautiful. Every New Year's Festival, as long as it is the command organs at all levels above him, whether it is a large or small official, it is indispensable to receive gifts from him, not only that, he also properly handles all affairs. Over time, as long as it is Wang Yaowu who does things, everyone can give convenience as much as possible.
However, after all, the Supplementary First Brigade is still a unit without a number, and such a unit will inevitably face one thing, that is, it will be annexed by other central military leaders, and the one who is most keen to do this is the representative of the Huangpu civil engineering general, Chen Cheng.
Therefore, Wang Yaowu had been trying to avoid his troops being assigned to Chen Cheng's command sequence.
But Wang Yaowu was only a small brigade commander after all, and he couldn't hide for a while, he had to find a thigh that was thick enough to protect himself and his team, so he found Gu Zhutong.
However, it was not an easy task to rely on Gu Zhutong, but Wang Yaowu found a breakthrough in his subordinate Li Tianxia.
Li Tianxia had a relative named Qian Dajun, and the relationship between Qian Dajun and Gu Zhutong was extraordinary, so Wang Yaowu promoted Li Tianxia, and Gu Zhutong naturally could not ignore his friend's relatives, so Wang Yaowu took Gu Zhutong's line, which also avoided the risk of being annexed by Chen Cheng.
At this time, Wang Yaowu also wanted to earn some military merits and give his troops a good future, just in time for Yu Ji," that is, the first commander of the later 74Th Army, "encircled and suppressed" the Red Army unfavorably, with heavy casualties, Wang Yaowu saw this opportunity, and did everything possible to ask Gu Zhutong to let himself participate in the "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army, so Wang Yaowu temporarily called Yu Jishi's subordinate.
Although the temporary superior-subordinate relationship between Wang Yaowu and Yu Jishi did not last long, Wang Yaowu's meticulous care for Yu Jishi still left a deep impression on Yu Jishi, and Wang Yaowu did not forget the old superior after leaving Yu Jishi's command, and the two have maintained a very good relationship.
In this way, with the care of Yu Jishi and Gu Zhutong, Wang Yaowu's troops not only did not have the danger of being annexed, but also developed smoothly, and soon after they were expanded into a new 11th division, then reorganized into the Provisional 51st Division, and later became the 51st Division, and before the Battle of Songhu, it was already a B division with three regiments under its jurisdiction.
After the outbreak of the Battle of Songhu, Wang Yaowu led the extremely effective 51st Division back to the battlefield, and soon formed the 74th Army with the 58th Division and the Independent 34th Brigade, with Yu Ji as the commander at the time, and Wang Yaowu's 51st Division as the absolute main force of the 74th Army.