On September 18, 1948, amid the rolling sound of gunfire on the outskirts of Jinan, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 2nd Appeasement District, finally received long-awaited reinforcements. To this end, he left chief of staff Luo Xinli to act as commander at the headquarters, and personally rushed to the western suburbs airfield to greet him, because the troops who came to the aid this time were the old units he used to serve as division commanders and commanders- the reorganized 74th Division, although the division was reorganized in Bengbu after it was annihilated at the Battle of Menglianggu, it has long been a matter of human beings, there are not many old acquaintances of the past, but this feeling is still in his heart, not to mention that the PLA is about to attack the city, and it is also urgent for this fresh force to boost morale and stabilize the situation.
▲ Reorganize the flag of the 74th Division
Repeatedly pleaded for the 74th Division to be transferred
In order to mobilize this force to come to reinforcements, Wang Yaowu can be said to have worked hard. As early as this summer, he repeatedly pleaded with Du Yuming, deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression General," who had come to inspect the defense, declaring: "Under the current situation in which the strength of the communist army is gradually increasing, if we want to hold Jinan, we must adjust the 74th Division to strengthen its strength." Subsequently, Wang Yaowu personally flew to Xuzhou and Nanjing, met with Liu Zhi and Chiang Kai-shek, commanders of the "Suppression General," and requested reinforcements as soon as possible. On September 16, seeing that the artillery of the People's Liberation Army siege of the city had sounded, under chiang kai-shek's repeated strict orders, Liu Zhi finally approved the airlift of the reorganized 74th Division to Jinan.
Looking at the transport planes taking off and landing one after another on the airport runway, the stones in Wang Yaowu's heart landed slightly. It is no wonder that he was so anxious; although he claimed to have 110,000 male soldiers under his command, the main force of the 96th Army, Wu Huawen, was reorganized from the puppet army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; the yanzifeng department of the reorganized 2nd Division was reorganized from the Shandong Provincial Security Forces; the reorganized 73rd Division had previously been completely annihilated in the Battle of Laiwu and had just been expanded from the zibo local armed forces, and the rest were basically the security brigades and other rabble-rousers, which were basically embarrassing and useful, and urgently needed to reorganize the backbone forces such as the 74th Division.
▲Jinan Campaign Situation Map
All 7 companies are unarmed
Unfortunately, the scene he saw next made the hope that had just been ignited in Wang Yaowu's heart completely shattered. The reinforcements who stepped out of the aircraft line were only 7 infantry companies with more than 1,000 men, and all of them were bare-handed, without even the minimum of light weapons and carry-on ammunition. After inquiry, I learned that Liu Zhi, a guy who regarded the army as the cost of promotion, only approved the 172nd Regiment of the 58th Brigade of the 74th Division to fly to Jinan in the name of the "advance echelon." At the same time, under the pretext that the plane was overweight, he asked all officers and men to leave their weapons and ammunition with them before boarding the plane.
Although Wang Yaowu was furious, he really had no choice but to let these empty-handed reinforcements first go to the Xinzhuang Ordnance Depot to collect guns and ammunition, and then march into Jinan City in a neat pace. Subsequently, the newspaper "North China News" in the city immediately published a message, saying: "The airlift troops have arrived from all over the country to reinforce." Of course, the news deliberately concealed the actual situation such as the number and equipment of reinforcements, and only used the vague concept of "coming from source to help" to confuse the public, but even such lies could not be maintained very quickly.
▲Oil painting of the Battle of Jinan
There was no hope for air aid, and the city of Jinan was liberated
On the night of September 19, Wu Huawen, commander of the 96th Army stationed in the western suburbs such as the airfield, led about 20,000 people from three brigades under his command to revolt, and quickly withdrew from the battlefield, transferring all positions to the siege troops of the East China Field Army. At this point, the air passage of the Jinan garrison was completely closed, and the next echelon of reinforcements that Wang Yaowu was looking forward to was completely hopeless.
On the night of September 24, 1948, the various siege units of the East China Field Army met in the urban area of Jinan, and the 110,000 defenders in Jinan were annihilated except for more than 20,000 battlefield uprisings. Wang Yaowu saw that the situation was not good, and fled from Jinan in disguise, but when he fled to Shouguang County, he was captured by the local armed forces in the liberated area.
▲ Wang Yaowu, the general of Jinan and the commander of the 2nd Appeasement District
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