In May 1947, the entire 74th Division of the Kuomintang was annihilated by Huaye at Menglianggu, and all 30,000 elites were destroyed, and the division commander Zhang Lingfu committed suicide in defeat.
The generals of the Nationalist army who failed to rescue them were stunned when they heard the news of Zhang Lingfu's death.
In order to get rid of the crime of ineffective rescue, Tang Enbo, Li Tianxia, Huang Baitao and other generals immediately looked for various explanations.
Among them, Huang Baitao's words are the most ingenious. At a military review meeting personally convened by Chiang Kai-shek, he said:
"I followed the order to contact Zhang (Lingfu), and it was difficult to communicate with the radio. Once in contact, I asked him about the current situation, and he said very simply, I want him to give up the rear to my division, so that even if the contact with Linyi is cut off, we can still use the rear contact point of Fei County (Fei County has a brigade headquarters and a regiment of our division), and the 74th and 25th divisions can stand up to the fight when they lean together. He said that when he occupied the mountain of Menglianggu, the formation was already a foregone conclusion, and it was inevitable that he would continue to fight. I once informed him. The 74th Division could not come near me, and I changed my plans and decided to get close to the 74th Division. So I personally led 4 regiments to reinforce Meng Lianggu. I reached the east of the boundary monument and suffered a thousand casualties, but the time was too late, he had already died. I had to pause and rush to save myself. That's how it happened. ”
Finally, he said to Chiang Kai-shek: "If the president investigates, if I do not command properly, sit idly by and do not save, or the battle is untrue, please ask the president to bring me to justice." I have nothing else to say, and I am waiting for orders. ”
As a result, after he finished speaking, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Tang Enbo is not present, why did he change his command at the critical juncture of the battle?" Huang Shi cares about friendly troops, and it is still good to be able to rescue them in danger..."
The "Huang Division" is Huang Baitao's entire 25th Division.
When Huang Baitao listened, a heavy stone in his heart was put down. He later said to the people around him: "Looking at the situation at the beginning of the meeting, it is really dangerous!" ”
Although Huang Baitao passed the thrilling pass, his actual actions of not being able to rescue him in the Battle of MengLianggu still caused dissatisfaction among the Huangpu generals. In this regard, Huang Baitao is also well aware. Therefore, in the next shandong war, in order to make up for his achievements, he was particularly active, just like Zhang Lingfu in the beginning, and he fought for his old life as soon as he fought.
Instead, he inherited Zhang Lingfu's mantle on the battlefield in Shandong and soon won the favor of Chiang Kai-shek. A year later, Huang Baitao was promoted to commander of the Seventh Corps. In the Battle of Eastern Henan, he set a precedent for the commander of the Nationalist Corps to lead the charge with a tank. After the battle, he received a Blue Sky and White Sun Medal.
However, he didn't know that he had done this, and was stepping forward in Zhang Lingfu's footsteps and walking on the road of death.
In October 1948, the Battle of Huaihai began. Huang Baitao, who had just become the commander of the corps, was favored by the People's Liberation Army because he was a vanguard, and as a result, he deployed heavy troops and surrounded him in the area of Nianzhuang. Huang Baitao's 100,000 men and horses were squeezed into a narrow area, and they could not fight out, and they could only wait for help like Zhang Lingfu in Menglianggu, and then he was also encouraged by Chiang Kai-shek to "fight the security of the party and the country in this battle", and also received the consolation that reinforcements (Qiu Qingquan's corps) were advancing bravely, as well as the airdrop of a cup of water.
The encirclement of the People's Liberation Army is shrinking smaller and smaller.
The scene on Meng Lianggu was repeated one by one in Mill Zhuang, but this time the protagonist was replaced by Huang Baitao.
In the end, Huang Baitao's old boss Gu Zhutong personally flew over The Mill Village and told Huang Baitao on a walkie-talkie that the reinforcements were blocked and he wanted him to consider breaking through and moving closer to the reinforcements. Huang Baitao put down the microphone, sighed, and finally understood: the reinforcements had no hope at all! To this, he said to his subordinates with hatred:
"Anyway, it's the end, what does the breakout do?" Did this awkward look make Qiu Qingquan look happy? (Huang and Qiu are very deep), it is better to fight one by one here, and finally die! It is also good to ask the Huangpu students to see, or to encourage them not to fight in the future, only for selfish interests. ”
At this moment, Huang Baitao's sad and indignant state of mind was so similar to Meng Lianggu's Zhang Lingfu!
On November 22, the Seventh Corps was completely destroyed, and the desperate Huang Baitao followed in Zhang Lingfu's footsteps, raised his gun to his head and pulled the trigger, and committed suicide.
In just over a year, Zhang Lingfu and Huang Baitao, the two aces of the Kuomintang army, were defeated and committed suicide, shocking China and foreign countries. After Huang Baitao was killed, an insider in Nanjing said: "Huang Baitao's tragedy lies in the fact that 'if you know your mistake, you will change it', which is too stupid. ”