What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
▲ The Japanese Kou in the "9/18" Incident
Mentioning Zhao Baoyuan, the leader of the puppet army, he can be called a "elder" level traitor during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. As early as the "9.18" incident in 1931, he also served as a battalion commander in Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army, and as soon as the "puppet Manchukuo" was established, he immediately defected to the first batch of puppet army units formed by the Japanese, the 3rd Brigade of the Fengtian Provincial Garrison Army. Subsequently, Zhao Baoyuan repeatedly led his troops to attack the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army in the area of Dagu Mountain and Changbai Mountain, and was promoted to the commander of the 6th Cavalry Regiment of the brigade for his meritorious killing of Chinese.
Shortly after the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance in July 1937, Zhao Baoyuan was sent to Shandong as one of the first units to follow the Japanese into the war and became a brigade commander under the "Shandong Autonomous Army", another traitor armed force. In October 1938, Zhao Baoyuan's troops were defeated by the 5th detachment of the Eighth Route Army in the Jiaodong area, suffering heavy losses, and in order to avoid being held accountable by the Japanese, he simply led his troops to defect to Li Wenli, commissioner of the Eighth Special District of Shandong Province and commander of security, and was incorporated into the "3rd Security Brigade of the Eighth District of Shandong Province".
▲Lugou Bridge Incident
Although Zhao Baoyuan's troops were born out of the "puppet Manchukuo" unit, their backbone was all well-trained old Northeast Army, and the equipment was also well-equipped with Japanese weapons, so its combat effectiveness was second to none in the Shandong Kuomintang army, and it was quickly appreciated by Shen Honglie, the chairman of the province. Zhao Baoyuan was soon appointed acting county magistrate of Laiyang County, and later promoted to commissioner and security commander of the 13th administrative district of Shandong Province.
In 1939, Zhao Baoyuan's security brigade snared bandits everywhere and expanded it into a provisional 12th Division, which organized the "Anti-Eighth Coalition Army" with this division as the backbone and openly confronted the Eighth Route Army. Zhao Bao, as a general of the Kuomintang Army, also accepted the japanese title of "Suppression of the Communist 7th Route Army" and set up an office in Qingdao, where the Japanese army was stationed, to exchange information and supply the Japanese army with grain and other materials plundered in exchange for a large number of guns and ammunition.
▲ Anti-sweeping struggle
In 1942, Zhao Baoyuan led his troops to participate in the Japanese Kou's sweep of the Jiaodong base area of the Eighth Route Army three times, and wreaked havoc, "everywhere he went, he swept away, women raped for it, Zhuang Ding tied up for it, and things were lighted up." The local people were immediately slaughtered and buried alive, and thousands of anti-Japanese family members and progressives were killed by them. Because of his meritorious service in fighting the Eighth Route Army, Zhao Baoyuan was concurrently appointed director of the Second Office of Shandong Province in February 1944 and commander of the Ludong Military Region in May.
On February 11, 1945, the Jiaodong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army organized troops and militiamen to launch a campaign against Zhao, conquering Zhao Baoyuan's headquarters in Laiyang Wandi in one fell swoop, leaving only 600 remnants of the Zhao army, fleeing to Jimotopi under the cover of the Japanese army, and did not dare to make another major move for more than half a year. However, with the unconditional surrender of Japan, Zhao Baoyuan was immediately appointed by the Kuomintang as the commander of the First Combat Zone in Shandong and the commander of the provisional 12th Division, receiving Japanese equipment and incorporating the local puppet army, and rapidly expanding its strength to 7,000 people.
In 1946, Li Yannian, deputy commander of the Kuomintang 11th Theater and commander-in-chief of the Shandong Advancing Army, was ordered to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Shandong region, reorganize Zhao Baoyuan's department, continue to retain the name of its provisional 12th Division, and have 1 infantry regiment, artillery battalion, and cavalry company under its jurisdiction, which is subordinate to the 96th Army of the Kuomintang 20th Group Army. On June 8, 1946, at the beginning of the outbreak of a full-scale civil war, the main force of the Jiaodong Military Region of the People's Liberation Army first aimed the spearhead of the attack at Zhao Baoyuan, an old enemy, and conquered the county seat of Jiaoxian County, where his division headquarters was located.