In 1902, Huang Yonghuai was born in a poor peasant family in Longtai Township, Anyue County, Sichuan Province, in order to get ahead and change his fate. He has been studying hard, tirelessly, and his academic performance is very good.
In the autumn of 1926, with the financial support of a wealthy local family and his cousin Huang Jue, he was successfully admitted to the fifth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. Two years later, in the summer, he graduated from the military academy with the first place, and was then assigned to the Nanjing Sun Yat-Sen Guard Regiment as a probationary platoon leader. For recent graduates, this arrangement was definitely the best way out at the time. It can be seen that he was indeed a very outstanding graduate at that time.
In 1929, his Guard Regiment was expanded into the First Guard Brigade, and he was promoted to company commander. In 1930, the Central Plains War broke out, and he followed the First Brigade to Henan to participate in the war. After the war, the 1st Brigade was transferred back to Nanjing and expanded into the 2nd Guard Division. The Second Division was well equipped, its weapons were lethal, and its soldiers were well trained, making it a very effective unit. In December 1931, the 2nd Division was reorganized into the 88th Division, and he continued to serve as a company commander.
In 1932, when the Songhu War of Resistance broke out, he participated in the battle with the 88th Division, and in the battle to defend the Zhabei front, he led his troops to bravely fight the enemy and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. He picked 3 Japanese in a row with a bayonet in the battle, winning high praise from the entire regiment. In 1933, he was promoted to battalion commander of a battalion under the division for his military exploits. The following year, he was promoted to deputy of the 524th Regiment.
On August 13, 1937, the Battle of Songhu began, the Japanese invaded Shanghai on a large scale, and the 88th Division took the lead in a deadly struggle with the Japanese invaders. He still led his soldiers to hold Zhabei and dealt a severe blow to the japanese who landed.
The fighting lasted three months, and the more than 800,000 defenders were unable to withstand the attack of more than 300,000 Japanese and could not retreat. Most of the eighty-eighth division retreated with the main force, but some remained to defend Zhabei. Sun Yuanliang, commander of the 88th Division, initially hoped that Huang Yonghuai would lead his troops to stay, but on the eve of informing him, Huang Yonghuai was hit by a bullet in the corner of his left eye, seriously injured, and rushed to the hospital for rescue.
Because he was seriously wounded, the division commander had to let Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan complete the task and lead Huang's men to hold Zhabei. After receiving the order, he immediately led his troops into the Sihang warehouse and held out until the end. It is precisely because of his perseverance. He eventually became a well-known national hero, but few people know that Huang Yonghuai was also a hero.
In 1942, the Zhoukou Guard Regiment was expanded into the newly formed 29th Division, and due to the urgent need for command talents, Huang Yonghuai was transferred to Zhoukou and served as the deputy commander of the new 29th Division.
At the beginning of 1944, the Japanese army mobilized 148,000 elite and occupying forces in North China to launch the Battle of Yuxianggui. The Japanese army moved from north to south, taking the lead in reaching Henan and launching the first phase of the Battle of Yuxianggui. Within a week, they occupied 9 counties in Henan, and the Japanese quickly attacked the strategically important city of Xuchang in Henan Province.
At that time, in order to defend the strategic position of Xuchang, the Operations Department planned to defend Xuchang with the strength of 2 divisions, and then deploy seven divisions on the periphery to contain the Japanese. However, when the order was passed to Tang Enbo, the deputy commander-in-chief of the theater, in order to preserve his strength, he only sent the newly formed 29th Division to defend Xuchang.
This division has just been established, and in the battle last month, one of the regiments has already suffered heavy losses, only the remaining 2 regiments still have combat effectiveness, and the division of more than 3,000 people wants to fight against an integrated division of the Japanese Kou, which is undoubtedly an egg hitting a stone. Even so, we still had to face the enemy and defend the city.
In April 1944, the main force of the Japanese 37th Division surrounded Xuchang. At dawn on 30 April, the Japanese began their offensive. The 29th Division engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, and the battle for the defense of Xuchang was officially launched. Despite the small numbers of the 29th Division, all of them were hot-blooded warriors, and every step the Japanese took forward would pay huge casualties.
In the fierce battle, Huang Yonghuai's division commander commanded the battle at the front line. Japanese bombers and artillery bombarded them day and night, and the city of Xuchang became dilapidated, and then 12 Japanese planes, dozens of tanks and dozens of artillery bombarded the South Gate.
In the evening, Japanese tanks drove into the city through a blown gap. The officers and men of the 29th Division engaged in a deadly battle with japanese soldiers and rifles. Many of the soldiers, armed with explosives, rushed to the Japanese tanks and perished along with the Japanese tanks. Huang Yonghuai's nephew was also in the fight.
Huang Zhengdao led his company to run towards the gap in the city wall, they held the gap for 2 hours, the enemy army was defeated several times, and the entire company was finally killed under the concentrated bombardment of the Japanese Kou, and the whole army was destroyed. Throughout the day of desperate fighting, the 29th Division successfully resisted the Japanese who were four times more powerful than itself. However, since there were no external reinforcements and no internal forces to defend, the division commander could only let everyone break through.
During the breakout, deputy division commander Huang Yonghuai broke through to the outside of the city with the surviving soldiers, and when they broke through outside, they were suddenly ambushed by the third company of the Kwantung Army, and they fought a fierce battle with the Japanese, and the regimental commanders of the 2 regiments were killed one after another.
In the early morning of May 1, when Deputy Commander Huang led the breakthrough troops to Xiaowangzhuang, they were suddenly bombarded by Japanese mortar shells. The Japanese bombed the place where the breakout troops were hiding, and many soldiers died heroically. At this moment, a mortar shell landed not far from Deputy Commander Huang. Although he quickly dodged, he was stunned and fainted. Subsequently, he was captured by the Japanese.
The Japanese tied him up with a rope and escorted him to Yuzhuang. He woke up from the bumpy ox cart, and when he reached his destination, he found the Japanese killing prisoners of war, and he was furious when he saw this. Taking advantage of the gap between the Japanese army to untie the rope, he immediately grabbed the Japanese bayonet and solved the Japanese at once.
Before they could react, he used his bayonet to solve another Japanese. Another Niko rushed up, and he reacted quickly, firing a shot through the neck of Niko, and the bullet passed through niko's neck, solving another one. It only took a minute, the Japanese were stunned to see the situation, they reacted, they took the machine gun and fired at him fiercely, Huang Yonghuai, who was shot more than a dozen times, fell down, heroically sacrificed, at the age of 42.
He was the most iron-blooded division commander, and although his deeds were rarely known to the world, his heroic and fearless spirit was worth learning from all of us, and this tenacious spirit of not bowing to the evil forces has always been our example.