The Civil Engineering Department was an army faction of the Kuomintang mainland period, also known as the Chen Cheng Department, and the core figure was Chen Cheng.
The Civil Engineering Department was one of the pillars of the Central Army, and the main force was eliminated by the People's Liberation Army during the Battle of Huaihai.
This army was named after the "earth" was split into "eleven" and "wood" was split into "eighteen".
This is Chen Cheng's starting unit, in terms of combat strength, it is said not to eat vacancies and moderately accept the opinions of subordinates, so the army's combat strength has a certain reputation since the beginning of the War of Resistance, and the results of many vicious battles with the Japanese army in the War of Resistance have made the name of the civil engineering units start, and after the end of the War of Resistance, they are regarded as one of the five main forces of the National Army.
The generals of the civil engineering department were mainly from the 11th Division of the Eighteenth Army of the Nationalist Army during the mainland period, including generals who were close to Chen Cheng in interpersonal relations.
The Eighteenth Army was founded during the suppression of the Communist Party in Jiangxi. Originally, during the fourth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai led the Central Red Army to severely damage Chen Cheng's troops, and the 18th Army was annihilated by 2 divisions, but Chiang Kai-shek was very fond of Chen Cheng, and soon replenished and expanded.
After the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Central Army of the State Government was divided into three major military groups: the Civil Engineering Department (Chen Cheng), the Hu Zongnan Department, and the Tang Enbo Department (known as "Chen Hu Tang").
Because the head of the civil engineering department, Chen Cheng, was favored by Chiang Kai-shek, he successively held important military and political posts, and was regarded as a proud and fierce general because of his outstanding military achievements and repeated achievements in the civil engineering department.
Due to the exemplary role of the head of the civil engineering department, Chen Cheng, the cadre style of the group is relatively clean.
Also because of the contradiction between Chen Cheng and He Yingqin, the relationship between cadres in the department and He Yingqin's department was relatively tense. During the Battle of Western Hunan Province, the 18th Army and Wang Yaowu's troops did not buy each other, causing some Japanese troops to escape.
Famous civil engineering generals include:
Leader: Chen Cheng
The Four Great Kongs: Luo Zhuoying, Lin Wei, Guo Confession, and Zhou Zhirou
Luo Zhuoying was a think tank of this faction and a cadre that Chen Cheng relied on.
Lin Wei was a senior military staff officer of Chiang Kai-shek and a military secretary of Chiang Kai-shek, serving successively as director of the Military Department.
Guo Chen was also one of the senior generals in the Nationalist army, engaged in staff officers, logistics, military and political positions.
Zhou Zhirou and Chen Cheng were classmates, originally also an army general, and then Chen Cheng was transferred to the Air Force, and after a long period of hard work, Zhou Zhirou was appointed to the commander-in-chief of the Air Force.
Thirteen Taibao: Fang Tian, Liu Yunhan, Luo Zemin, Yang Yekong, Shi Zuhuang, Lü Wenzhen, Zhao Guisen, Guo Rugui, Liu Jinkang, Che Fanru, Hong Maoxiang, Li Zhongxin, Wu Zhongzhi.
Other generals: Huang Wei, Xia Chuzhong, Li Shuzheng (graduated from the Huangpu Seventh Staff Class, Chen Chengyuan was the youngest lieutenant general in the army), Zhang Dingming, Xiao Qian, Li Jilan, Huo Yuzhang, Li Shusen, Chen Lie, Peng Shan, Mou Tingfang (Huangpu Phase I), Fang Tian, Wu Jiguang, Li Jingyi, Shi Ke, Song Ruike, Mo Youshuo (Huangpu Phase II and III), Hu Lian (Huangpu IV), Luo Guangwen, Zhu Dingqing (Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer), Li Ming (Xingwu), Que Hanqian, Zou Hong, Li Shilin (Baoding Military Academy Phase VIII Infantry Section), Fang Jing, Dai Zhiqi, Liu Jiming, Shen Fazao, Luo Youlun, Qiu Xingxiang, Yu Jinyuan, Ye Peigao, Peng Shiliang, Mei Chunhua, Peng Zhancun, Yin Zuogan, Yang Botao, Wang Jiaben, Chen Yiding, Wang Yanqing, etc.
After graduating from the Baoding Military Academy in June 1922, Chen Cheng was assigned to the Third Company of the Sixth Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Zhejiang Army in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, as a probationary officer. Soon after, he was made a second lieutenant platoon leader. He saw that he had not been promoted after two years of work, so he felt that in the Zhejiang Army, there was no backstage, it was difficult to make a difference, and he decided to find another way.
In June 1924, the Whampoa Military Academy was officially established. Chen Cheng held the post of Education Adjutant. In the following year, the school set up an artillery section, and because Chen Cheng was from the artillery section of the Baoding Military Academy, he was reappointed as an instructor in the artillery section and a district captain of the artillery team.
In 1925, the Whampoa Military Academy established an artillery battalion. Chen Cheng was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the first company.
In 1926, Chen Cheng was appointed colonel of the 63rd Regiment of the 21st Division.
In 1927, he was promoted to deputy commander of the 21st Division, and still served as the commander of the 63rd Regiment. In July of the same year, at the age of thirty, Chen Cheng was promoted to commander of the 21st Division.
In 1928, the First Army was reorganized into six divisions. Chiang Kai-shek saw that five division commanders were Huangpu instructors, and only Cao Wanshun, commander of the Eleventh Division, had surrendered to the division at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, so he appointed Chen Cheng as the deputy commander of the division In May of the same year, Chen Cheng was promoted to division commander.
In early 1930, the Eleventh Division departed for Wuhan. In February, Chen Cheng sent troops to surround the remnants of Cao Wanshun's Sixty-sixth Regiment stationed in Wuchang, disbanded by force, repatriated officers, and allocated soldiers to the regiments under the jurisdiction of the Eleventh Division.
In April, at the behest of Chiang Kai-shek, the independent 13th Brigade of Xu Shengyu in Hubei was incorporated, and the 11th Division was expanded from the original two brigades and six regiments to a three-brigade and nine-regimental first-class division, which greatly enhanced its strength.
In August 1930, Chen Cheng was promoted to commander of the 18th Army, and still served as the commander of the 11th Division.
At the beginning of 1931, Chen Cheng reorganized the Third Division into the Fourteenth Division, which was organized into the Eighteenth Army, with Zhou Zhirou as the deputy division commander and Luo Zhuoying as the commander of the Eleventh Division, forming the foundation of Chen Cheng's military group.
Chen Cheng used various pretexts and adopted various means to recruit miscellaneous troops and further expand his strength. In September, he was ordered to take over the title of the Fifty-second Division, which had been crushed by the Red Army, and form a division with the Independent Brigade of the Eleventh Division and the Siege Brigade of the Fourteenth Division, and from the commander of the division, he was promoted to the commander of the Fourteenth Division.
Soon, with the strength of two brigades and two regiments, he encircled the Forty-third Division stationed in the southwest region of Ji'an, and threatened its division commander Guo Huazong to leave, and Liu Shaoxian was appointed as the commander of the division and returned to the eighteenth army.
Later, at Chiang Kai-shek's behest, the 59th Division of Zhang Ying of the Sichuan Army was encircled at Yongfeng, and all but Li Mi's regiment fled to Fuzhou was disarmed. After more than two years, the Eighteenth Army was expanded to five divisions and twenty-nine regiments.
In the spring of 1937, Chen Cheng served as the administrative secretary of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the deputy director of the Wuhan Camp.
In 1946, he was appointed chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense and commander-in-chief of the Navy, assisting Chiang Kai-shek in commanding the Kuomintang army to launch a full-scale civil war, and in September of the following year, he also served as the director of the Northeast Expedition, sitting in Shenyang to command the Northeast Battlefield to fight against the People's Liberation Army, but was defeated.
He resigned in May 1948. In October of the same year, he went to Taiwan, and in December he became the chairman of Taiwan Province and the commander-in-chief of the security. Later, he successively served as "Chief Executive Officer", "Vice President" and Vice President of the Kuomintang in Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek loves to employ three kinds of people: one is a fellow villager in Zhejiang; the other is the Huangpu concubine; and the third is absolute loyalty to him personally. Chen Cheng has all three points. The reason why he is particularly favored is because Chen Cheng has another advantage that others do not have - he is Chiang Kai-shek's son-in-law.
Chiang Kai-shek's daughter, a girl named Tan Xiang. The father of this Tan Xiang girl is the former Qing Hanlin, after the establishment of the Republic of China, the elder Tan Yanmin of the Kuomintang.
Tan Yanmin died early, and before his death, he entrusted his precious daughter Tan Xiang to Chiang Kai-shek, first, there was such a great responsibility, and second, Tan Xiang and Song Meiling were particularly involved. Therefore, in the lifelong affairs of this daughter, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife are particularly concerned. To find what kind of object tan xiang, the two had already thought of a piece - Chen Cheng.
In 1932, the wedding of Chen Cheng and Tan Xiang was held as scheduled, and the witnesses were Chiang Kai-shek. This is the origin of the son-in-law.
Chen Cheng himself was a die-hard loyalist, sparing no effort to do things for Chiang Kai-shek, and now that he has this layer of kinship and kinship, the civil engineering department is naturally more and more loved by this old man.
The Eighteenth Army of the National Revolutionary Army was born in August 1930, and was the oldest and most famous veteran force in the "five aces" of the Kuomintang, with the earliest army, the strongest strength, and the most famous generals, becoming famous in warlord melee, stronger than encircling and suppressing the Red Army, contributing to the anti-Japanese flames, and defeating the Huaihai battlefield.
The 18th Army can be said to be Chen Cheng's starting capital, and the "soil" character in Chen Cheng's military group nicknamed "Civil Engineering Department" represents the 11th Division, the backbone unit of the 18th Army, and "Wood" represents the 18th Army (the ministry is named after the "Soil" was split into "Eleventh" and "Wooden" was split into "Eighteenth"). It was also the basis for Generals such as Luo Zhuoying, Huang Wei, Fang Tian, and Hu Lian to advance to higher ranks in the future.
The 18th Army was the earliest and longest-established army among the five main forces, made many military achievements in the warlord melee and the Kuomintang-Communist civil war, and was the beloved unit of Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng, whose backbone was all graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, and who could set an example when fighting against the enemy, which could be called the main ace.
The most famous achievements of the War of Resistance were:
In the tug-of-war between Songhu Luodian, the 3rd Division commanded by the 18th Army against Matsui Ishigen lasted for nearly a month for the Japanese army to fight for this projectile land, and thousands of people died in battle, and the entire Luodian was bloodied, which was called "flesh and blood mill" by the Japanese army.
In 1943, hu Lian, commander of the 11th Division of the 18th Army, was ordered to defend the Fortress. The great war was imminent, Hu Lian wrote 5 farewell letters, and then bathed and changed clothes, ready for a decisive battle. In the battle around the stone pai, the Japanese army once drilled a gap around the stone plate and rushed to Funiu Mountain, which is only 60 miles away from the Sanduamping. Hu Lian immediately ordered his subordinates to plant the national flag on the highest peak, and strictly ordered the defenders not to take a step back. In the case of fighting alone, in order to ensure that this can be used as a support point for counter-offensive in the future and to defend the most important gateway of Peidu, the 11th Division persisted until the Nationalist army launched a comprehensive counterattack and completely defeated the Japanese army, the clever deployment of the 11th Division, tenaciously persevered, played a key role in the final victory, the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in this battle, killing and wounding more than 20,000. The Battle of Shipaikou was an important battle in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which bankrupted the Japanese plan to occupy Chongqing and enter Sichuan, and turned the Chongqing Nationalist Government into safety. After the war, the division commander Hu Lian was awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun for his meritorious service in holding the stone fortress, and the regiment and battalion commander he belonged to also received the highest medals.
In November 1944, as the main force of the concubines, he was treated with the first batch of disguised american weapons, which greatly improved his combat effectiveness. In the battle of Xuefeng Mountain in western Hunan Province, he performed well in the Battle of Xuefeng Mountain in western Hunan Province, and fought together with the 74th Army, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese army. (The entire campaign lasted 55 days, killing more than 12,400 Japanese troops and wounding more than 23,300 people)
In June 1946, the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke down, Chiang Kai-shek openly tore up the armistice agreement, mobilized heavy troops to take the lead in attacking the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains, and the Ace Eighteenth Army was the first to attack.
More than 50,000 troops of our Central Plains Military Region were compressed by more than 300,000 Kuomintang troops in a narrow area of less than 100 miles, and the situation was extremely critical. In view of this, the CPC Central Committee has clearly instructed; immediately break through, survival first, victory first!
In accordance with this instruction, the troops of the Central Plains Military Region, under the leadership of Li Xiannian and Wang Shusheng, broke through victoriously in the east and west. As a result, the first battle after the outbreak of the civil war, the Eighteenth Army pounced.
After that, the Eighteenth Army threw itself into the battlefield of northern Jiangsu and the battlefield of Shandong, and fought with our army several times, but did not take advantage of any advantage, first in the Battle of Juye, it lost 1 regiment; then lost 1 reorganized division in the Battle of Subei; then in Xintai, Shandong, it was almost wrapped in "dumplings" by our army; in the Battle of Menglianggu, it was blocked by our Huaye 3 column, failing to save the fate of the entire army of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division. This series of "achievements" of the Eighteenth Army is also doomed to the arrival of its doom.
After the Liaoshen War, the situation on the battlefield underwent fundamental changes, and our army not only had an advantage in quality but also in quantity compared with the Kuomintang army, so the Party Central Committee decided to launch an attack on the Liu Zhi clique, which had the largest number of Kuomintang troops on the battlefield in East China, and this was the Huaihai Campaign that shocked China and foreign countries.
At that time, the Liu Zhi clique gathered around the Longhai Railway and the Jinpu Railway centered on Xuzhou to form a "one point and two lines" deployment to facilitate mobility and reinforcements. In view of the characteristics of the enemy's deployment, our army decided to first besiege the Seventh Corps of the Liu Zhi clique in the east of Xuzhou and cut off its contact with Xuzhou.
On the night of November 6, 1948, Hua Ye first besieged the Seventh Corps of the Liu Zhi Clique, and when Chiang Kai-shek learned that the Seventh Corps was surrounded, he ordered all the units to quickly reinforce, of which the Eighteenth Army, all of which was equipped with American weapons, was reinforced from The Qishan In Henan to Fuyang, but it was too late. Our East China Field Army quickly ate the Seventh Corps, while the Central Plains Field Army captured SuXian and cut off its contact with Nanjing.
After learning that the Seventh Corps had been annihilated, Chiang Kai-shek decided that all the major armies would join forces in Su County and open up the Xuben section of the Jinpu Road to change the unfavorable situation. However, the Kuomintang troops of Xuzhou and Bengbu had not yet acted, and the Huang Wei Corps, including the Eighteenth Army, launched an attack on the Nanpingji area on the south bank of the Bahe River, forming a situation of advancing alone. Liu Deng's army immediately seized this favorable fighter plane and laid out a bag-shaped position north of the Bahe River, preparing to attack and annihilate from both sides.
On the morning of November 24, 1948, Huang Wei's corps crossed the River alone, and as a result, it entered the preset pocket of the Central Plains Field Army. At this time, the commander of the corps, Huang Wei, found himself in a dangerous situation, and ordered his troops to withdraw to the west of the Bahe River and prepare to turn in the direction of Guzhen, and our army quickly seized this favorable fighter and surrounded the Huang Wei Corps in an area of 7.5 kilometers each with the double pile as the center.
After that, Huang Wei used the Eighteenth Army as the vanguard to break through to the southeast, but after being repelled, he had to turn to a solid position. Our army resolutely besieged it and continued to attack it, and finally further reduced the Huang Wei Corps to a narrow strip of 5 kilometers from north to south and 1.5 kilometers from east to west.
After that, although Chiang Kai-shek ordered Du Yuming to lead his troops to rescue Huang Wei's regiment, Du Yuming's clique had been firmly clamped down by me in Chen Guanzhuang and could not move. When our army failed to persuade Huang Wei to surrender, we ordered all attack groups to launch a general attack on Huang Wei's corps, fought fiercely for two days, completely annihilated the corps, and captured the commander of the corps, Huang Wei.
The Eighteenth Army of the "King of Kings", the "big brother" of this Kuomintang ace army, after 19 years of glory, was finally completely destroyed along with the Huang Wei Corps.
Civil Engineering Units in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (10 Corps)
18th Army (Peng Shan), 6th Army (Gan Lichu), 54th Army (Huang Wei), 66th Army (Fang Jing), 79th Army (Xia Chuzhong), 86th Army (Mo Youshuo), 87th Army (Zhou Xiangchu), 94th Army (Li Jilan), 99th Army (Fu Zhongfang), Provisional 2nd Army (Zou Hong)
Civil Engineering Department during the Civil War (12 integrated divisions)
The whole 11th Division (Hu Lian), the whole 10th Division (Luo Guangwen), the whole 14th Division (Que Hanqian), the whole 37th Division (Mou Tingfang), the whole 50th Division (Pan Yukun), the whole 54th Division (Kan Hanqian), the whole 66th Division (Song Ruike), the whole 67th Division (Dai Jian), the whole 69th Division (Liang Hanming), the whole 72nd Division (Yang Wenqiong), the whole 75th Division (Liu Jiming), the whole 79th Division (Fang Jing).
In 1948, seeing the successive defeats and retreats of the battlefield across the country, Chiang Kai-shek had to start looking for a way back. Chiang Kai-shek turned his attention to Taiwan, which had just been recaptured from Japan, and in his eyes Taiwan had become a key chip in the future. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek made Chen Cheng the chairman of Taiwan and gave him abundant material and military assistance.
When selecting Chen Cheng, Chiang Kai-shek still had some concerns, and he knew that once Chen Cheng had two hearts, he would have no way back. However, at this time, the factions within the Kuomintang also shifted their attention to Taiwan, and Li Zongren repeatedly advocated sending his cronies to Taiwan. Therefore, in this critical situation, Chiang Kai-shek still weighed the pros and cons and chose Chen Cheng.
Chen Cheng himself was also very surprised to learn that he had been sent to Taiwan, because on the battlefield in the northeast, Chen Cheng's wrong command caused the strength of the Kuomintang to be damaged, so he has been sitting on the cold bench since returning from the northeast.
Chen Cheng was very excited by Chiang Kai-shek's heavy use this time, and he began a series of reform measures after he went to Taiwan. The first is to impose wartime control over Taiwan, because the chaotic situation on the mainland made many high-ranking officials, rich people, and remnants choose to take refuge in Taiwan, so the situation in Taiwan at that time was also very chaotic.
Not long after Chen Cheng arrived in Taiwan, he announced the order to impose wartime control, imposed a night curfew on all major cities in Taiwan, strictly prohibited large-scale parades and assemblies, and searched everywhere for privately held guns and ammunition. Violation is punishable by death for disturbing the peace.
As soon as such an iron-fisted decree was issued, Taiwan's public order improved significantly, and then Chen Cheng began to govern the economy.
At this time, Taiwan was affected by the mainland's gold yuan coupons, which caused the island's economy to show a level of inflation. After consulting with Yan Jiagan, who was in charge of the economy, Chen Cheng decided to take out all the gold and DOLLAR stolen from various parts of the mainland for the issuance of new Taiwan dollars. With the pooling of resources from across the continent, the introduction of the new Taiwan dollar stabilized the economy and inflation was significantly curbed.
After the stabilization of public security and the economy, Chen Cheng began to do the thing that had the greatest impact on Taiwan, that is, the rent reduction in the July 5th.
Chen Cheng ordered that the rent of all landlords should not exceed 37 percent of the annual grain production, and this rent rate still sounded very high, but before Chen Cheng issued a decree, the rent in the poorer places in Taiwan was a 55 percent account of the landlords and tenant farmers, and the richer ones could reach 60 percent of the tenants and 40 percent of the landlords.
In addition to reducing or waiving land rent, Chen Cheng also sold and leased all the land previously occupied by Japan to farmers, and also required that if the harvest failed 30%, the landlord needed to exempt the farmers from rent, and so on.
Judging from Chen Cheng's policies, Chen Cheng's "July Five-Year Plan rent reduction" was actually a moderate land reform by the Kuomintang. A more moderate method was adopted to regain some rights and interests from the landlord class to arouse the enthusiasm of the peasants.
The "three axes" strategy implemented by Chen Cheng when he took office quickly calmed down the turbulent Taiwan, and Chiang Kai-shek was also very pleased when he saw it.
However, as Chen Cheng's tactics in Taiwan continued to strengthen, Chiang Kai-shek developed some dissatisfaction, which came from three aspects.
First of all, Chen Cheng's utilitarianism is too heavy, and after stabilizing Taiwan's governance, Chen Cheng began to attack power. He not only served as the chairman of Taiwan Province but also as the commander of the security forces, and it can be said that Taiwan's military and political power is already in his hands. In addition, the staff sent by the Kuomintang Nanjing government were also pointed, as if they had become warlords in Taiwan.
Chen Cheng's power soon attracted accusations from some Kuomintang tycoons. Among them were He Yingqin and Hu Zongnan, and even Yan Xishan, who did not care about party affairs, criticized Chen Cheng, which made Chiang Kai-shek, who initially supported Chen Cheng's appointment as chairman of Taiwan Province, very embarrassed.
Second, Chiang Kai-shek's dissatisfaction came from his political rival Li Zongren. After Li Zongren saw That Chen Cheng had gone to Taiwan, he continued to woo him, and at this time Chiang Kai-shek had already stepped down, and Chen Cheng could only choose to obey Li Zongren. Even when Chiang Kai-shek was forced to confess, Chen Cheng traveled from Taiwan to Guangzhou without authorization to attend a grain conference held by Li Zongren.
Chiang Kai-shek was also very angry when he learned of this, and although he ostensibly scolded Li Zongren for fearing that Chen Cheng would be placed under house arrest, he was actually afraid that Chen Cheng would turn against him and let the last trump card in his hand be taken by his opponent.
The last point came from the United States, and as the domestic situation became clear, the U.S. government, which had been supporting the Kuomintang behind its back, began to cancel its aid to Chiang Kai-shek.
Even Chiang Kai-shek's intelligence personnel in the United States learned that the United States secretly found Chen Cheng, hoping to support him as an agent of Taiwan and use Taiwan's unique advantages to achieve the goal of containing the Communist Party. We do not know Chen Cheng's answer, but Chiang Kai-shek knew that after that, his suspicion of Chen Cheng reached its peak.
Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng a question: "If the Communists want to fight, can that part of Taiwan be defended?" ”
After hearing this, Chen Cheng frowned, pondered for a while, and said: "Without the assistance of the United States, relying on our own strength alone, the PLA can break through the Penghu Archipelago in one month, and in two months it can hit the main island, but the main island can hold for three months." ”
Chen Cheng's analysis is somewhat reasonable, because the PLA's naval strength is too weak, if the PLA relies on the tactics of the sea of people and desperately attacks the island of Taiwan, it can still break in, but it will take at least a few months, on the contrary, a maritime power like the United States, they only need 1 day to occupy Taiwan. At that time, the Chinese Navy had only a hundred dilapidated gunboats, and it was impossible to pose a threat to Taiwan.
Chen Cheng's words strengthened Chiang Kai-shek's determination to retreat to Taiwan, so that Chiang Kai-shek could live in a remote corner of Taiwan, and Taiwan has not yet been liberated.
The people are the leaders of history, the liberation of Taiwan, the reunification of the motherland is the aspiration of the people and the trend of the times, the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, and no foreign forces will be allowed to interfere in the Taiwan issue, and the island of Taiwan will eventually return.