The 74th Army of the National Revolutionary Army was formed during the Battle of Songhu, and this unit was initially only a second-rate unit, and there was a big gap between it and the First Army, the 18th Army, the Teaching Corps and other units, but it took only eight years for this unit to become the number one main force of the Nationalist Army and a unit that the Japanese army feared.
Among the five main forces, the 74th Army is the most special unit, the reason why the New First Army and the New Sixth Army have such good records has a lot to do with the assistance of US weapons, the 18th Army and the Fifth Army are the old troops, the 18th Army is chen Cheng's unit, the Fifth Army had China's only mechanized division in the early stage of the War of Resistance, that is, the famous 200th Division. Among these units, only the 74th Army has made a name for itself by relying on one battle after another, and the Japanese army calls this unit a three-five unit, and the Chinese call it the Tiger Army. From the Battle of Songhu to the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Lanfeng, the Battle of Wanjialing, the Three Battles of Changsha, the Battle of Shanggao, the Battle of Changde, the Battle of Hengyang, and the Battle of Xiangxi, this unit fought all over the field, and each of them had a good record, which made the Japanese army very afraid.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, this unit was reorganized into the 74th Division, which was commanded by Zhang Lingfu of the Huangpu IV Period. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, this unit was very famous, and Chiang Kai-shek said that if there were ten units like the reorganized 74th Division, it would be enough to solve the war in China. But in the Battle of Menglianggu in 1947, HuaYe only took three days to annihilate it all, so why was it so fast?
First of all, the reason why Hua Ye was able to solve the reorganization of the 74th Division so quickly was thanks to Zhang Lingfu's friendly forces. At that time, the Kuomintang had 450,000 troops in Shandong, and it was only one day away from the farthest part of the reorganized 74th Division, the nearest of which was Li Tianxia's reorganized 83rd Division, and Huang Baitao's reorganized 25th Division was only 10 kilometers away from Meng Lianggu. Huang Baitao did try his best to block the attack, and one of the divisions responsible for blocking HuaYe's column was almost destroyed, but Huang Baitao's reorganized 25th Division was japanese equipment at that time, and its firepower was limited. Li Tianxia was Zhang Lingfu's superior, his reorganized 83rd Division was reorganized from the original 100th Army, the Central Army was fully equipped with American weapons, strong combat effectiveness, and strong firepower, Hua Ye used a column to block Li Tianxia, but Li Tianxia never moved, and Hua Ye finally sent a column that blocked Li Tianxia to fight the reorganized 74th Division.
Secondly, in order to annihilate the integrated 74th Division, Hua Ye used all his troops, of which the five columns with the strongest combat effectiveness were used to fight Meng Lianggu, and the other troops were all blocking reinforcements. Ye Fei's first column, Tao Yong's fourth column, Wang Bicheng's sixth column, and Xu Shiyou's ninth column, the four most famous units in Huaye, were all in the direction of Meng Lianggu, causing considerable pressure on the reorganized 74th Division.
The reason why the reorganized 74th Division was completely annihilated by Hua Ye also had a lot to do with Zhang Lingfu's personal character. Zhang Lingfu graduated from Peking University and the Huangpu Military Academy IV, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he became the commander of the 74th Division, the number one main force of the Nationalist Army, and was deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek. Zhang Lingfu was originally jealous of his colleagues, but he not only did not restrain himself, but he was arrogant and arrogant, except for Chiang Kai-shek, no one paid attention to it, not only looked down on Huang Baitao, Li Tianxia and other colleagues, even Tang Enbo and Gu Zhutong's orders did not listen, and finally after being besieged, no one was willing to save him, in stark contrast to him was his other compatriot and classmate Hu Lian, the reorganized 11th Division led by Hu Lian was also one of the five main forces of the nationalist army, and also encountered many sieges of Huaye and Nakano, but because he was low-key and cautious, There are people who are willing to save him.