In the modern history of our country, a large number of famous generals have emerged, and among these many generals, the national army will obviously have more generals than the communist army. However, the nationalist army not only had the advantage in geographical equipment and numbers, but also suffered a crushing defeat in the end. Many people have also buried their lives because they chose the wrong path. For example, this is Li Yutang, a first-term cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy, a lieutenant general in the Republic of China Army, and a famous general in the War of Resistance. A lifetime of outstanding achievements, but unfortunately finally died of death!
Li Yutang was born in 1899 in Dawangqiao, Dawang Town, Guangrao County, Shandong Province, to a landlord family with seven brothers and sisters, ranking third. He received a good education from an early age and was also admitted to the Shandong Provincial Industrial College. During that war-torn era, Li Yutang witnessed first-hand the social chaos, warlord scuffles, harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the complaints of his fathers and fellow villagers, and the misery of the people. It inspired his patriotic zeal.
Li Yutang
During his studies, Li Yutang felt that the country was being bullied by the Western and Japanese powers, as well as the continuous destruction of the domestic war, and after graduation, he resolutely decided to throw himself into the pen. In 1921, he was put into the army of Yan Xishan in Shanxi. Originally, he thought that his ambitions could be realized here, but unfortunately, Yan Xishan's internal intrigue, power and profit, and corruption were serious, so he left the army and returned to his hometown.
In 1924, the Kuomintang and the Communists achieved their first cooperation, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou with the help of Chinese communists and Soviet advisers. At the recommendation of a friend, Li Yutang was admitted to the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. After graduation, Li Yutang was assigned to the Second Regiment of the First Division of the National Revolutionary Army as a probationary platoon leader and participated in the Northern Expedition. Because of his bravery and tenacity, he was successively promoted to the posts of company commander and battalion commander; after repeated victories, he was promoted to regimental commander, brigade commander and division commander of the First Division of the Army.
In the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, there were three Shandong cadets surnamed Li—Li Xianzhou, Li Yannian, and Li Yutang—all of whom were promoted to important positions as commanders of Chiang Kai-shek's corps, all of whom were famous generals with the rank of lieutenant general of the Kuomintang, known as the "Three Li of Shandong."
Among them, Li Xianzhou was captured by us in the Battle of Laiwu in 1947 and died of illness during his term as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in October 1988; Li Yannian was the commander of the Sixth Corps, the general reserve of Du Yuming's department, and in mid-January 1949, at the end of the Battle of Huaihai, he withdrew from Bengbu to Jiangnan and then fled to Taiwan, where he died of illness in 1974; Li Yutang was shot by Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan in February 1951.
Three battles and three victories
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Yutang led his troops to participate in the Songhu War of Resistance and the Battle of Taierzhuang, and was later promoted to commander of the 8th Army, stationed in Jiangxi, and repeatedly defeated the Japanese. Later, he became the commander of the Tenth Army and led his troops into Changsha. In 1941, the Japanese naval fleet of the invading Japanese army went up the Yangtze River, invaded and occupied the Jiujiang River, landed from the Jiujiang River and marched to Hunan, directly taking Changsha. Li Yutang personally came to the front line to command and defend Changsha, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese and Kou, and finally won the first victory in defending Changsha.
The Japanese army was not willing to accept defeat, and the following year it gathered its troops again and cooperated with chemical forces to attack Changsha on a large scale. Although the Japanese army was strong and fierce, it broke through a defensive line. However, Li Yutang was not afraid to calmly respond to the battle, and insisted on the second line of defense, so that the left and right wings were encircled and attacked on three sides, resulting in the Japanese army's hasty defeat and victory in defending Changsha for the second time.
Although the second defense of Changsha also won the final victory, but the loss of Jinjing and other places was held accountable, Li Yutang was transferred to the deputy commander-in-chief of the theater to serve in the headquarters, and the commander of the Tenth Army was replaced by someone else. Taking advantage of the desire to change leaders, the Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops in a vain attempt to take Changsha. Since the commander of the Tenth Army had not yet arrived, this team without a commander was broken through by the Japanese army as soon as it entered the battlefield.
Xue Yue, commander of the theater, decided to let Li Yutang, who was still living in Changsha, come back and assume the responsibility of commanding the 10th Army, but Li Yutang was disobedient from his post and did not buy Commander Xue's face until Chiang Kai-shek personally called him to continue to hold changsha.
At this time, although the Japanese army was still blocked on the outskirts of Changsha, it was fierce. Li Yutang held a meeting of the positional oath divisions, called on all the soldiers to swear to defend Changsha to the death, and swore with indignation: "I Li Mou is willing to coexist and die with Changsha, and I am willing to live and die with the soldiers and share hardships..." The oath touched all the soldiers with tears in their eyes, and they shouted with their arms: "Oath to coexist and die with the commander of the army and Changsha, and resolutely resist the war to the end!" After a week of bloody fighting, the officers and men of the whole army killed and wounded nearly 6,000 Japanese and Kou, captured more than 2,000 people, captured a large number of weapons, ammunition and heavy vehicles, and won the greatest victory in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Killed
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Li Yutang led his troops into Yanzhou, after which the Nationalist-Communist Talks broke down and civil war broke out. Li Yutang participated in the Battle of the Central Plains as the commander of the 24th Army, and after the fall of Yanzhou in 1948, Li Yutang was captured. However, because he pretended to be a soldier, he was not discovered, and then he took a chance to escape on the way to escort. But in the end, in exchange for the "never use" thorough investigation order, Li Yutang had no choice but to live in Shanghai. Fortunately, in February 1949, Chiang Kai-shek announced his resignation, and Li Yutang sensed that the opportunity for a comeback had come, so he became a senior staff officer under his old boss Xue Yue, and was later recognized as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Hainan Defense Department.
In April 1950, the Battle to Liberate Hainan Island began, and Li Yutang was not only the deputy commander-in-chief of The Defense of Hainan, but also the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army and the commander of the 32nd Army. Li Yutang, who holds three positions, is an important figure worthy of rebellion for the People's Liberation Army that is about to liberate Hainan. Just as the so-called soldiers who yield without fighting can oppose the fang's main generals and liberate Hainan is the best policy. Therefore, Li Gang, an underground work liaison officer, was sent to Hainan Island to carry out counter-surrender work.
As early as after the defeat in Yanzhou, Li Yutang saw with his own eyes that the Kuomintang clique had rebelled against each other and the defeat had been decided, and that it would only be a dead end to continue to work with the Kuomintang, and decided to accept the opinion of liaison officer Li Gang. For the sake of prudence, he personally wrote a letter to secretly send someone from the water to Hong Kong to find his wife Chen Bolan and his brother-in-law Chen Shiqing, and asked them to forward the letter to Ye Jianying, the supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army in Guangzhou. After the letter was transferred to Ye Jianying's hands, Ye Jianying personally instructed: "Li Yutang revolted quickly, and after the uprising, he can be entrusted with the post of deputy director of the Hainan Island Military and Political Committee." ”
Unfortunately, at that time, because of the war, the traffic was interrupted, and Li Yutang did not receive a letter for a long time, and hainan island was eventually defeated. After Li Yutang led the remnants to Hsinchu, Taiwan, he was again removed from the military and arrested for his wife Chen Bolan's contact with the ccp's underground party Li Gang. Originally, after Qian Dajun's investigation of this case, he believed that Li was not aware of his wife's general situation, so in accordance with article 9 of the "Regulations on the Suppression of Bandits and Spies during the Period of Suppression of Rebellion," Li Yutang was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for not reporting the bandits.
Unfortunately, when Chiang Kai-shek approved this verdict, he personally approved a word of "shame" on the verdict, so this famous anti-Japanese general who had received the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun was thus determined by his final fate. On February 5, 1951, Li Yutang and his wife Chen Bolantong were taken to taipei for execution.
Before Li Yutang died, he left a suicide note, saying, "My life is over!" But it has nothing to do with me. The President decreed that there was no room for appeal, and I hoped that there would be public opinion after my death. I have nothing to be sorry for the country, but what good does the country do to me? I am not sorry, but I have been a country all my life, so I am not willing to end up like this! ...... After peace, bury me in Yunlong Mountain, Xuzhou.... ”
In 1983, with the approval of the State Council, the Shandong Provincial People's Government posthumously recognized Li Yutang as a revolutionary martyr. The reason is that Li Yutang had taken over the CCP's plot to counter-uprising, but it could not be implemented because of the traffic interruption. From this, li yutang and his relatives can also be comforted, and General Li Yutang can be blinded under the nine springs!