Recently, the movie "Eight Hundred" that has been popular in major cinemas across the country, I believe that many people have already seen it in the cinema, even if they have not seen it, they have heard of it. The film depicts the Battle of Songhu during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a regimental commander of the Nationalist army named Xie Jinyuan, who led four hundred of his men to guard a warehouse, known as "Eight Hundred" to the outside world, annihilated hundreds of Japanese troops, and we were very touched by the brave killing of the enemy by the anti-Japanese soldiers. This unit came from the Eighty-eighth Division of the Nationalist Army, and the story we are talking about today is related to this unit and its commander, Sun Yuanliang.
The 88th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, formerly known as the 2nd Nanjing Guard Division, was reorganized in 1936. The main weapons and equipment of the division are from Germany, and the soldiers have also received special training from experts from Germany and other countries, and are one of the three main German mechanic divisions of the national army. As the absolute ace of the Nationalist army, it mainly undertook the defense tasks of Nanjing, Shanghai and other places, and participated in the Battle of Songhu and the Defense Of Nanjing in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. However, in the Battle of Songhu, the Eighty-eighth Division, as the absolute main force division, was "taken care of" by the Japanese army, and often undertook the most ferocious combat tasks, fighting against the main armor division of the Japanese army.
Although the Battle of Songhu was said to have blocked the enemy for three months and shattered the myth that the Japanese army destroyed China in three months, the casualties paid were too shocking. In particular, the Eighty-eighth Division, after the attrition of the two battles of the Songhu Campaign and the Nanjing Defense War, although it also achieved very good results, the overall reduction of the division was very amazing, the vast majority of soldiers fell under the muzzle of the enemy's guns, the brigade and many units below only preserved the formation, and even some company commanders and platoon commanders could not be selected. After that, the Eighty-eighth Division, as the absolute ace unit, was in a slump, and the weapons and equipment personnel were not replenished in place, which greatly reduced its strength and status, especially in the Liberation War, which was repeatedly dealt a devastating blow by our army, and has long ceased to be brave.
Talking about the Eighty-eighth Division, we have to mention its commander Sun Yuanliang. Sun Yuanliang, from the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, is a veritable student brought out by Jiang School. After graduating, he was sent to the Japanese Army for further study, and after returning to China, he participated in the "128 War of Resistance" in 1932, which was widely praised by public opinion, and was promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to become the commander of the 88th Division, leading the team to participate in the Battle of Songhu and the Defense of Nanjing. From here, Sun Yuanliang is still a good general, but I have to say that Sun Yuanliang himself has many shortcomings and problems. For example, in the Battle of Songhu, he was too blind to obey the command of his superiors, lacked his own judgment, followed the steps, could not judge the hour and size up the situation, and played the best results, which also confirmed why he was defeated in the War of Liberation.
(This picture is Sun Yuanliang)
In the Huaihai Campaign of the Liberation War, Sun Yuanliang participated in the battle as a corps commander and used it as the main corps of the Nationalist army. Unexpectedly, after the Huaihai Campaign began, the battle situation became a one-sided situation, Huang Baitao and Huang Wei's corps were completely annihilated, Du Yuming's corps was also surrounded by the People's Liberation Army layer by layer, and the only one in the nationalist camp who had more combat effectiveness and could rescue Du Yuming's corps was Sun Yuanliang's corps. When Chiang Kai-shek saw that the general trend had gone, he ordered Sun Yuanliang to take Du Yuming and break through together to preserve his living forces. However, Sun Yuanliang, a man who stole and slipped, in order to save his troops, actually chose to turn off the radio, unplug and cut off the telephone line, and secretly escaped by himself. As soon as he fled, du Yuming, who was surrounded, could not be rescued, and could only be defeated in the heavy encirclement of the People's Liberation Army, and he himself was captured.
And the fate of Sun Yuanliang's corps was not good. After choosing to escape alone, although the breakthrough was successful, the army of 80,000 people was full of only 400 people in one day. According to Sun Yuanliang, who escaped, they did not contact Du Yuming's troops, and could only choose to break through without authorization, but in the early stage of the breakthrough, they were still smooth sailing, and in the later stage, due to the sudden disobedience of some internal officers and men, civil unrest occurred, and most of the soldiers were affected by this civil unrest and scattered and fled.
In the end, only he and his four hundred men broke through, and the rest of the large troops were basically captured by the PLA, and a very small number of recalcitrant elements were eliminated by the PLA. Fortunately, he also saved his life, and Chiang Kai-shek did not think much of him from the overall situation. Sun Yuanliang, as the commander of 80,000 people, ended up being so embarrassed, which is really ridiculous.