The 74th Army of the National Revolutionary Army was a very famous unit during the Republic of China period, which arose in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and was destroyed in the Battle of Menglianggu during the War of Liberation. However, in the Kuomintang army at that time, there was another unit that was not inferior to the 74th Army, and this unit was the 18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
The 18th Army was the earliest unit in the five main forces of the Jianjun Army, and it was also the concubine unit of Chen Cheng's department, chen Cheng, Luo Zhuoying, Fang Tian, Huang Wei, Hu Lian and other strong generals of the Nationalist army had all served as commanders of the 18th Army. In the 18th Army, the most powerful is the Tiger Regiment, that is, the 33rd Regiment of the 118th Division of the 18th Army, and when the main force of the Kuomintang Army was reorganized in 1946, the 33rd Regiment was not abolished, but transferred from the 11th Division to the 118th Division. The 33rd Regiment has more than 3,000 people in the regiment, all of whom are composed of veterans, and their combat effectiveness is very strong.
In the second phase of the Battle of Huaihai, in the Battle of Shuangduiji, more than 12 corps, including the 18th Army, were surrounded by the main regiment of Huaye in the Dawangzhuang area. Huang Wei and Hu Lian placed the 33rd Regiment, the Tiger Regiment, the most capable regiment of the 18th Army, in the Dawangzhuang area, which was only a few kilometers away from the headquarters of the 12th Corps. In order to annihilate the Tiger Regiment and open the Southern Gate, the two main regiments of the 57th Regiment of the 7th Column of the 6th Column of Nakano launched an attack on Dawangzhuang at the same time.
After the Huaye artillery prepared for dawangzhuang for half an hour, the two regiments organized three battalions of troops to take the lead in breaking into Dawangzhuang. Melee night combat has always been the strength of our army, but in the Battle of Dawangzhuang, this advantage is not obvious, the two sides of the machine guns, submachine guns, grenades, explosive packs, bazookas, flamethrowers are all used, street by street to house for contention. At that time, the morale of the People's Liberation Army was very high, so the 33rd Regiment was quickly driven out. After Hu Lian knew this, he immediately concentrated all the cannon fodder of the 18th Army to bomb Dawangzhuang, and then the commander of the 33rd Regiment and the remaining officers and men launched 15 consecutive attacks, and the fight was very fierce.
The strength of the 33rd Regiment was also used to the limit, and even the service department, cooks, and car soldiers were sent up. The Huaye Seven Column Command finally sent the guard company to the front, and the 150-man guard company only survived 17 people, which completely annihilated the Tiger Regiment, and the entire Dawangzhuang was razed to the ground after the war. A main regiment of the 85th Army at Xiaowangzhuang at that time watched the whole battle, and they surrendered to the Huaye Seven Columns after the Battle of Dawangzhuang.