General Wei Lihuang, a famous anti-Japanese general, was full of enthusiasm and boldness and loyalty. After the founding of New China, he resolutely returned to the mainland from Hong Kong and threw himself into the embrace of the motherland, once serving as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and other vice-state-level positions! In 1960, General Wei Lihuang died of diabetes in Beijing. His children are now on the mainland and are doing very well. The eldest son, Wei Daoran, works as a senior engineer at BAIC. The youngest son, Wei Zhi, is engaged in the financial industry and is often responsible for organizing commemorative activities related to the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression on the Internet.
General Wei Lihuang was born in 1897 and was born in Anhui. During the Xinhai Revolution, he had been following the side of Sun Yat-sen, the father of the country, and was the first generation of elders of the Kuomintang. General Wei's father died early, and in his early years he made ends meet with his elder brother, who worked in the county. Wei Lihuang is studious and diligent, and can write poetry. Therefore, he slowly became a general who was both literate and martial. At the age of fifteen, Wei Lihuang was influenced by the ideas of his eldest brother and revolutionaries and participated in a military training class in Anhui and County.
At the age of seventeen, he cut his braids and went to Hankou to apply for the Hubei Provincial Army School, and began his career as a horseman. In 1917, Sun Yat-sen's military government was established in Guangzhou, and he was appointed Grand Marshal of Navy, Land and Air. Wei Lihuang was sent to Sun Yat-sen's side as a guard for his outstanding performance in the military academy, and was soon promoted to the position of guard chief. Later, because of his excellent combat command ability, he was promoted to battalion commander, and then promoted to regimental commander and brigade commander, which was deeply appreciated by Sun Yat-sen. After Sun Yat-sen's death, the Kuomintang split within itself. Chiang Kai-shek established a separate government in Nanjing, and Wei Lihuang was responsible for the guarding of Nanjing.
In 1927, Wei Lihuang became acquainted with Zhu Yunheng, the principal of Chongshi Girls' High School, for some reason, and the two quickly fell in love and became good partners. Because Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Soong Mei Ling, and Zhu Yunheng had both stayed in the United States, they were quite able to talk about it, thus deepening the relationship between Wei Lihuang and Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek was also well aware of the friendship between women, so he wanted to harass and control Wei Lihuang through this "nepotism". However, after the Xi'an Incident, Wei Lihuang agreed with Yang Hucheng and others' idea of "uniting with the Communists to resist Japan." Especially after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, he took the initiative to send subordinates to contact the Red Army generals who were active in the Dabie Mountains and hold peace talks with them.
Moreover, Wei Lihuang also tried his best to defy the public opinion on many occasions, sending food, military uniforms, and allocating a large number of weapons and ammunition to our party. In the spring of 1938 alone, Wei Lihuang granted 250,000 grenades and 1 million rounds of ammunition to the Eighth Route Army at one time. This move of his caused great dissatisfaction within the Kuomintang. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wei Lihuang made many miraculous contributions to the nation. He commanded the famous Battle of Xinkou, which severely damaged the main Japanese army. When Chairman Mao visited Yan'an, he specially asked Lin Boqu to give him a picture. Title: The Yellow River defends North China, Mr. Defends the Yellow River.
In 1941, Zhu Yunheng died of illness. In order to continue to co-opt and control Wei Lihuang, Song Meiling prepared to introduce her niece to him as a step-sister, but Wei Lihuang resolutely refused. From then on, Chiang Kai-shek no longer trusted him. This caused Wei Lihuang to encounter many obstacles in the subsequent anti-Japanese activities, and even led to the disastrous defeat of the Kuomintang army in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. In October 1941, after Wei Lihuang presided over the reconquest of Zhengzhou, Chiang Kai-shek's distrust of him reached its extreme. At the Kuomintang meeting, Chiang agitated the crowd to attack Wei Lihuang for failing to carry out the strategy of "taking out the outside world before being inside the country", and relieved him of all his duties the following year.
It was not until 1943, after the defeat of the first expeditionary force to Burma, that he was reactivated. In 1945, Wei Lihuang successfully completed the second expeditionary force combat mission and returned to Kunming, where he married his second wife, Ms. Han Quanhua. By this time, Wei Lihuang's disappointment with Chiang Kai-shek's government had reached its extreme. Subsequently, Wei Lihuang was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek. On the eve of the founding of New China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek hastily ceded the presidency to Li Zongren in order to flee to Taiwan. Wei Lihuang took advantage of the loosening of surveillance, walked away from Guangzhou, and then moved to Hong Kong.
In October of that year, New China was founded. The veteran anti-Japanese general burst into tears, and he excitedly sent a heartfelt congratulatory message to Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou. The chairman and the prime minister immediately called back and said that they welcomed his early return to Beijing! After General Wei Lihuang returned to China, he successively served as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for many terms, and contributed to actively promoting the return of patriots from different parties to China. In 1960, General Wei Lihuang died of diabetes in Beijing. Let us pay tribute to a generation of famous anti-Japanese generals and wish his family good health, happiness and longevity!