In the Chinese expeditionary force on the Burmese battlefield, compared with Du Yuming, Dai Anlan, Sun Liren, etc., Liao Yaoxiang, who also made great achievements in the Indo-Burmese battlefield, is actually rarely mentioned, but this does not mean that his merits are worse than others. Similarly, his performance on the Indo-Burmese battlefield can be said to be extremely brave and commendable.
Liao Yaoxiang's background is relatively ordinary, but he is a half-farming and half-reading family in Xinshao County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, and it can be regarded as a decent family. He was born in 1906, the name Yaoxiang pinned on the grandfather and father to look at its light lintel, the name Yao Sanxiang expectations, and his table "Jianchu" is also an extension of the name, Yaoxiang must have the talent of Jianchu.
In 1925, his family paid all the money but still failed to send him to the Whampoa Military Academy, so he missed the Whampoa Phase V enrollment. he
He could only enroll nearby, but even so, he was admitted from an ordinary soldier to the cavalry section of the sixth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy in the second year.
However, the road that followed was not smooth, and although he was in the top three in the study abroad exam, he was eliminated due to his short stature and lack of appearance. However, it was gold that always shone, and later, he was qualified as a sergeant to study at the Saint Cyr Military Academy in France at public expense by the old Chiang Kai-shek.
Studying in France, his academic performance was also quite impressive, and when he graduated in 1936, his grades were the first place in the mechanized cavalry major. In the same year, he returned to China and served as the commander of the cavalry brigade of the Central Military Academy of the National Revolutionary Army and the commander of the cadet company of the non-commissioned battalion.
In 1937, after the Lugou Bridge Incident, he was appointed chief of staff of the Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Brigade and participated in the defensive battle of Nanjing. After Nanjing was captured by the enemy, he was trapped in the city, but fortunately escaped to Hankou. After that, he participated in the Battle of Guinan, and was promoted to the commander of the new 22nd Division because of his military achievements.
After that, it was time for him to shine in the War of Resistance.
In March 1942, he led the 22nd Division into Burma and joined the Allies in resisting the Japanese. However, the situation of the Halfway War was reversed, the British decided to abandon Burma, the New Fifth Army crossed the Nu River to the west, and received the withdrawal of the 200th Division from Tonggu, Liao Yaoxiang decided to take advantage of the favorable terrain in the local area, adopted the tactic of resistance one by one, ordered the troops to alternately cover, combined the blockade ambush with guerrilla tactics, and constantly attacked the Japanese army, so that the troops successfully contained the Japanese army for 12 days with minimal losses. General Du led his troops back to China, while Liao led more than 3,000 men to retreat to India. The 22nd and 38th Divisions of Sun Liren, who first arrived in India, formed the New First Army, and the 22nd Division reorganized its training in Ramga, India.
In the second battle of northern Burma, Liao led four infantry regiments to defeat the Japanese 18th Division, and the Japanese commander committed suicide, so that his fame increased greatly, and he was praised by Chiang Sr. as the "Chinese Tiger" and gave the 22nd Division a flying tiger flag in recognition.
Like Sun Liren, Liao was also awarded medals by the President of the United States and the Queen of England, and even the Allies looked up to him.
When the New Sixth Army was founded, his army became the ace of the Nationalist army, and this army was tactically clever and of excellent quality, which was unmatched by other armies in the Nationalist army. Of course, these are inseparable from Liao's shrewdness and strongness. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, his New Sixth Army, as the best representative of the Nationalist army, was airlifted to Nanjing to accept the surrender of the Japanese army and became the guard unit of the surrender ceremony. Even today it seems to be a very glorious thing.
At the beginning of the Liberation War, Liao led his army to the northeast to participate in the battle, but he did not expect that he had just arrived in the northeast and gave the Democratic Coalition Army a dismount, losing only 600 people to defeat the fourth column of the coalition army, and the fourth column lost more than 2,000 people. Then it took only one regiment at Weiyuan Fort to defeat the men and horses of a coalition army.
There was an unpredictable wind and rain, but Liao's performance in the Liaoshen Campaign was not satisfactory, probably because he was very dissatisfied with the blind fingering that Lao Jiang had always been, so after the failure of the attack on Montenegro and Dahu Mountain, he immediately withdrew and was pursued on the road, but after only one day of being pursued, he lost 100,000 elites and became a prisoner himself, which was really surprising.
He was sent to the Gongdelin prisoner-of-war camp for reform, where he performed well, did not make a fuss, only did what he had to do, and did not even have the idea of escaping without being guarded, when others asked why, he said that he should be a man of honor, it was very humiliating to be a deserter on the battlefield, and it was essentially the same humiliating to escape in a prisoner-of-war camp. So he is actually a very personable person.
On January 15, 1951, the Platon Military Academy was officially established, with Liu Shuai as its president. At the beginning of the establishment of the military academy, there was a shortage of instructors. Although a certain number of teachers were selected from the East China Military and Political University, and a certain number of intellectuals and teachers were recruited from the organs and local colleges and universities, they still could not meet the needs of teaching. Liu Shuai boldly selected some of the former Kuomintang officers who surrendered from the uprising and were liberated to serve as instructors. He once named Liao, a war criminal imprisoned in Fushun Gongdelin, to give a lecture
As a prisoner of war, he was still a defeated general under the People's Liberation Army, so many people in the army were not convinced by him as an instructor, but the amazing thing was that after he had finished a few lessons, no one disobeyed him, but many people were very puzzled, why such a capable person could lose a battle on the battlefield, and the defeat was very miserable, after that, he answered this question, he said: "The army of the national army is scattered." ”
In 1961, because of his active participation in reform, he was pardoned by the Supreme People's Court, and then released as a third batch of war criminals, and later he was appointed as a member of the Cultural and Historical Materials Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Fourth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
In 1968, he died in Beijing due to a heart attack. He has been a great warrior. It is indeed very regrettable that the mighty general has gone in this way.
Among the generals of the Nationalist army, Liao can be said to be a perfect person. Jiang Baili, the most famous military theorist in the nationalist army, commented that he was the first of the Hunan soldiers after Cai Yi, which is really not an exaggerated praise, he is a loyal martyr who repays the favor to the country and serves the country, he is kind-hearted, honest and honest, and has a gentlemanly demeanor, and as a general, he also has all the character necessary for a general.
Grandma Bingxin also commented on him this way: "General Liao is a perfect gentleman, he does not smoke, he does not drink, he does not play cards, he is not close to women, his heart is full of feelings of family and country, he puts his personal life and death aside, and takes the rise and fall of the country as his responsibility."