The New Fourth Army, the Red Army and the guerrilla reorganized contingent of the three-year guerrilla war in the eight southern provinces, is a strong force of our Party on the frontal battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, and has made great achievements in the anti-Japanese front, and has created brilliant achievements in the history of our army.
However, this contingent also suffered major hardships, that is, the southern Anhui Incident that occurred in January 1941, when our army, proceeding from the overall situation of the War of Resistance, promised to transfer the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui and take a detour from Yunling to move north. Unexpectedly, when we reached Maolin in Nanjing County, Anhui Province, we were ambushed by more than 80,000 people from 7 divisions of the Kuomintang army. The New Fourth Army fought for seven days and nights, running out of ammunition and food, except for about 2,000 people who broke through, most of them were captured or killed.
Among the captured soldiers, these strong soldiers, through Chiang Kai-shek's soft and hard tactics, coercion and inducement, firm conviction and firmness, however, there were also a very small number of people who surrendered and defected, among them, Zhao Lingbo, deputy commander of the first column of the First Detachment of the New Fourth Army, was the highest-ranking traitor, and the damage caused to the New Fourth Army was also the greatest, and he was called the first rebel general of the New Fourth Army.
Zhao Lingbo, a native of Luxian County, Sichuan, born in 1908, he joined the Sichuan Army in his early years, and joined the Red Army after being captured when the Red Army was fighting in Yingshan in the south, Zhao Lingbo was known for blowing a good military trumpet, and was famous for "one hand army trumpet and one gun" in the Red 25 Army, for this reason, he was favored by Wu Huanxian, the political commissar of the 25th Army, and was successively promoted to the political commissar of the Manager's Office of the Red 25 army, the political commissar of the 223rd regiment, and the member of the Eyu-Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee. Because its mantra is "Ge Laozi" in Sichuan dialect, it is called "Ge LaoZi Political Commissar".
Subsequently, Zhao Lingbo participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" of the Eyu-Anhui and Eyu-Shaanxi Border Regions and the Long March of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, and after arriving in northern Shaanxi, he served as the political commissar of the 75th Division of the Red Fifteenth Army, and participated in the battles of Laoshan, Zhiluozhen, the Eastern Expedition, and the Western Expedition. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, he first served as deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army, and then, according to the arrangements of his superiors, Zhao Lingbo went to the New Fourth Army and was sent to the New Fourth Army as chief of staff of the 3rd Detachment.
At that time, the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui was ordered to move north, and in the early morning of that day, when the outpost of the New Fourth Army was wading south across the Qingyi River, it was ambushed by the 40th Division of the Kuomintang Army. The commander of a detachment, Fu Qiutao, led his troops to stubbornly resist and look for opportunities to break through, and decided to go to southern Jiangsu to meet the Jiangnan command. The commander ordered a strong attack on Meishuling, and when the fierce battle was in full swing, Zhao Lingbo, as deputy commander, suddenly issued an order for the troops to retreat.
The regimental commander Xiong Yingtang resolutely disagreed and demanded that he attack the enemy with all his might, and at this critical juncture, Zhao Lingbo went so far as to privately order the blowing of the military trumpet and force the troops to retreat. When Commander Fu Qiutao heard this news, he was indignant and very angry, and immediately ordered the guards to call Zhao Lingbo to face him. Who knew that Zhao Lingbo had already taken advantage of the chaos to break away from the troops and defected to the enemy.
After surrendering to the enemy, Zhao Lingbo told the Kuomintang interrogators: "I have long wanted to break away from the New Fourth Army and have no chance," and "I have two purposes in the future: one is to do anti-communist work, and the other is to be willing to serve the central authorities." Not only that, he also lured Zhao Xizhong, chief of staff of the first column, to defect to the enemy with him.
Soon after, the military commander Ye Ting went down the mountain to "negotiate" unsuccessfully and was detained by the enemy, and then was transferred to Licun Prison in the Shangrao concentration camp, and Chiang Kai-shek was bent on persuading Ye Ting to surrender, but all of them failed. At this time, the enemy had a plan and sent the traitor Zhao Lingbo to do Ye Ting's work.
At this time, Zhao Lingbo was appointed as a political instructor in the enemy's Shangrao concentration camp, and usually wore a half-new and half-old suit, and on this day he suddenly put on a set of New Fourth Army uniforms and came to Ye Ting's cell, and said falsely: "Commander, I live in the next cell, and after repeated requests, I was only approved to come to see you today." Ye Ting had long learned the news of Zhao Lingbo's rebellion, and now that he actually had the face to "persuade" himself, he couldn't help but get angry, and without waiting for Zhao to finish speaking, he picked up a bench and threw it at him.
Later, General Ye Ting, in response to this dog-like traitor Zhao Ling, wrote the famous "Prison Song" in prison in a dignified manner:
The hole open for the dog to crawl away,
A voice shouted:
Climb out and give you freedom!
I long for freedom,
But I also know deeply -
How can a human body crawl out of a dog's hole!
In May 1942, Zhao Lingbo infiltrated the local armed garrison of the New Fourth Army in Fanchang, Pretending to be captured in the Southern Anhui Incident, and escaped from the Kuomintang prison to look for troops, in an attempt to spy on the New Fourth Army.
What he did not expect was that Dong Nancai, a company instructor of our New Fourth Army, recognized him and captured him. On the way to escort the New Fourth Army Division, Zhao Lingbo resisted arrest and tried to escape, but was shot and killed by reconnaissance staff officer Li Wuben. Afterwards, Li Wu reported to the division headquarters; the division sent people to the scene to conduct an autopsy and reported to the military headquarters. In this way, the first rebel general of the New Fourth Army ended his life with such a fate.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Reconnaissance Staff Officer Li Wuben was awarded the rank of Founding Colonel, even the instructor Dong Nancai was awarded the rank of Founding Colonel, and the column commander Fu Qiutao was awarded the rank of Founding General, and Zhao Lingbo, as deputy commander, if not a traitor, was at least a lieutenant general.