Liberation War: The most stubborn 500 soldiers of the Nationalist army, all died for the old boss, and none of them surrendered
There were more than 500 inconspicuous soldiers in the Battle of Jinan in 1948, but they were the real toughest people in the Nationalist army that year, and all of these 500 people died near the headquarters building of the veteran general Wang Yaowu. After the war, no one was captured, which made people sigh. In addition, this group of dead soldiers also caused the sacrifice of Wang Jiwen, commander of the 3rd Column 8th Division of Huaye's main attack unit, and his performance was really dead to the end.
So what exactly is the origin of these 500 people? Why would he sacrifice his life for Wang Yaowu at any cost in the last moments of the Battle of Jinan? It all started in September 1948, when the War began. Wang Yaowu knew that his strength was inferior to that of the Huaye Shandong Corps, so he asked the 74th Army from the top level of Nanjing to come to the rescue. It should be explained here that in May 1947, this ace guard army had been wiped out by HuaYe once, but the remaining more than 2,000 officers and soldiers were re-formed as a basis, reaching the size of more than 20,000 people, that is, Qiu Weida's new 74 army. And Wang Yaowu is the most senior commander of the old 74th Army, it can be said that the soldiers have great respect for him and have deep feelings, and this unit is the best choice to go to Jinan.
However, although the troops of the Yan clan are there, how easy is it to transport them to Jinan? The land route has long been impassable, even if it can be transported to the past, it will take time, and when more than 20,000 people arrive in Jinan, I am afraid that the city has been lost. So air freight is the only viable option. At this time, the problem came again, just a day of troops, Jinan airport around the commanding heights of many places by our army to attack, with the help of artillery superiority, Jinan airport was quickly blocked by our army, there is no national army aircraft can take off and land normally. At this time, only more than 500 people of the 172nd Regiment of the 74th Army were successfully delivered to Jinan, and the others could no longer support Wang Yaowu.
Although there are only 500 people, they are loyal to Wang Yaowu, especially the 7 company commanders, who were previously the platoon leaders and squad leaders of the old 74th Division, who have always regarded Wang Yaowu as a god and are willing to give up their lives to protect the safety of their old superiors, and more than 500 people have no intention of returning alive. Although this 74th Army has been rebuilt and its strength is not as strong as the original old unit, it is still more effective than the ordinary national army, not to mention this special emotional relationship. As a result, more than 500 people were all sent to the vital commercial port headquarters, and the task was to stick to the headquarters building and its nearby bunkers and streets.
In September 1948, Huaye's artillery strength had surpassed that of the Jinan Nationalist Army, and after a concentrated heavy artillery attack, the Shangbu Headquarters had been blown to the ground. Under these circumstances, more than 500 people of the 74th Army were not afraid, and still desperately resisted and did not retreat. Thousands of soldiers of our army have rushed into the interior of the building, but they have been pushed back, and the nationalist defenders are fighting with Huaye floor by floor, and the building has completely turned into a huge meat grinder, and there are figures of hand-to-hand combat and fighting everywhere. And these 500 Nationalist soldiers seemed to want to avenge the old 74th Division a year ago, insisting on fighting for several hours without surrendering, but choosing to beat themselves up to prove their bravery. In the end, more than 500 people were all killed, none of them were captured, our army paid a heavy price to capture the commercial port, and the commander of the 8th Division, Wang Jiwen, was also hit by stray bullets in this battle and unfortunately died.