In May 1947, the Battle of Menglianggu broke out in the Yimeng Mountains. At that time, the Nationalist army successively gathered 450,000 troops on the battlefield in Shandong, divided into three mobile corps, and gradually encroached on the liberated areas. In order to turn the tide of the war and preemptively attack, Huaye's 270,000 troops were all dispatched, and the reorganized 74th Division, which was deeply integrated by the lone army, was surrounded in the Menglianggu area. At this point, the two sides launched a great battle of blockade and reinforcement, encirclement and annihilation.
The reorganized 74th Division is one of the five main forces of the Nationalist Army, the troops are all American-style equipment, up to more than 30,000 people when fully staffed, and the soldiers are baptized by the War of Resistance, and the combat effectiveness is undoubtedly first-class. Although surrounded by Huaye's superior forces at this time, the reorganized 74th Division, under the command of Zhang Lingfu, still tried its best to resist, and even tried to realize its strategy of "blossoming in the center".
Fierce fighting was raging on the inside, reinforcements on the outskirts of the Nationalist army were not idle, and ten integrated divisions were rushing to the aid day and night. If he could not quickly take Meng Lianggu and annihilate the reorganized 74th Division, HuaYe would fall into the predicament of counter-encirclement. At the critical moment, huaye encirclement and annihilation troops held the determination to break the ship, and after three days and three nights of fierce fighting, finally before the arrival of the reinforcements of the nationalist army, the reorganized 74th Division was completely annihilated, and the division commander Zhang Lingfu was also killed. So after the total annihilation of the reorganized 74th Division, how did Wang Yaowu react? Let's move on.
As we all know, the relationship between the reorganized 74th Division and Wang Yaowu can be described as inextricably linked. The reorganized 74th Division was formerly known as the 74th Army, and the unit was formed in the Songhu Battlefield, when Wang Yaowu served as the commander of the 51st Division of the 74th Army, because he could fight hard battles and make many military achievements, Wang Yaowu was promoted to the commander of the 74th Army in 1939.
After that, under the command of Wang Yaowu, the 74th Army participated in almost all the major battles against Japan in the future, especially in the three battles of De'an, Shanggao and Changde, which were the most prominent, not only won the highest honor "Flying Tiger Banner", but also was known as the Anti-Japanese Iron Army. It can be seen from this that the proud achievements of the 74th Army were almost all achieved under the leadership of Wang Yaowu. From top to bottom, the entire unit was particularly convinced of Wang Yaowu, the old commander.
During the Liberation War, the 74th Army was reorganized into the 74th Division, with Zhang Lingfu, recommended by Wang Yaowu, as the division commander, while he himself entered Shandong as the director of the Shandong Provincial Party, Government, and Army Unification Headquarters. At the last moment of the Battle of Menglianggu, Wang Yaowu wept silently, watching the complete destruction of the reorganized 74th Division that he had brought out, and Ai killed Zhang Lingfu on the battlefield.
Soon, Wang Yaowu decided to rebuild the reorganized 74th Division, with the three regiments left behind in the rear of the reorganized 74th Division as the backbone, and to ensure that Qiu Weida was the commander of the division. The newly built 74th Division also poured a lot of effort into Wang Yaowu. However, the new 74th Division was, after all, a "replica"; although it had a previously loud number, its combat effectiveness had dropped significantly, and it was finally annihilated by our army again on the Huaihai battlefield.