There was such a soldier, his name was Sun Jinxian, born in Yanshan, on the border of Hebei and Shandong. In his early years, because of his poor family's wealth, he defected to the troops of Zhang Zongchang, the king of Shandong, when he was not yet 20 years old. In 1930, his unit, along with friendly forces, was incorporated into the 57th Division of the National Revolutionary Army. At that time, there were several units involved in the reorganization: the 1st Route Army supplemented the 1st Brigade, the 2nd Brigade, the Supplementary 5th Regiment, and the Shandong Provincial Government Guard Regiment. Because of his bravery in battle and his military achievements, he has been promoted to a junior officer.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the 57th Division participated in the famous Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Wuhan. Especially in the Battle of Wuhan, the 57th Division and the 9th Division of the Central Army cooperated with each other to hold the town of Tianjia and inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese army. The division lost more than half of its losses, wounding two brigade commanders, one regimental commander martyred, three regimental commanders wounded, and more than 70 per cent of junior officers. The commander of the 57th Division at that time was Shi Zhongcheng, who later served as the commander of the 74th Army. Sun Jinxian was meritorious in battle, won the trust of division commander Shi Zhongcheng, and had been promoted to a mid-level officer.
In 1939, the replenished 57th Division was assigned to the 74th Army of the Anti-Japanese Iron Army. Shi Zhongcheng continued to serve as division commander, and Sun Jinxian continued to serve as a mid-level officer. At first, this division was not taken seriously because it was not a concubine, its weapons and equipment were not good, and its military discipline and combat effectiveness were not good. However, the 57th Division fought hard and handled things relatively low-key. The new commander, Wang Yaowu, felt that the division could be transformed, and he treated the officers and men of the 57th Division with sincerity, tried to be fair and fair, and recommended shi Zhongcheng, commander of the 57th Division, to concurrently serve as the deputy commander of the 74th Army.
As a result, the 57th Division was quickly subdued by Commander Wang Yaowu and accepted the order to let Cheng Wanlai, a student of the Huangpu First Term, take over as the division commander. In November 1943, the 57th Division was ordered to guard Changde, Hunan. At this time, the division commander was Yu Chengwan, a first-term student of Huangpu, the deputy division commander was Li Yan, a graduate of the Baoding Military Academy, and the chief of staff was Chen Shuyun, a fourth-term student of Huangpu, and the three regimental commanders were: the 169th Regiment, Chai Yixin, and the Huangpu Third-term student. The 170th Regiment, Sun Jinxian, was born in the army. The 171st Regiment, Du Ding, was born in the sixth stage of Huangpu. The division has three regiments with about 8,000 men.
In addition, the first part of the artillery regiment of the 74th Army also participated in the defense of Changde. Initially, the Japanese focused on attacking other units of the 74th Army, and did not regard the 57th Division of Changde as the number one enemy. However, the Japanese army quickly adjusted its deployment and approached changde city. At the age of 36, the commander of the regiment, Sun Jinxian, together with friendly troops, faced the siege of the Japanese army with the main force of the two divisions, and stubbornly killed the enemy in the face of danger. The two sides fought fiercely for less than 15 days, and the defenders annihilated thousands of Japanese troops, but they also lost themselves. Among them, his 170th Regiment has less than 100 people who can continue to fight.
All the reinforcements did not contribute, or were quickly defeated by the Japanese army, or even defeated by the Japanese army and annihilated by the Japanese army. Finally, the division commander Yu Chengwan, with two regimental commanders and several hundred others, broke through in a bloody battle. Chai Yixin, the commander of the 169th Regiment, took the initiative to stay behind and cover the breakthrough of the main force, and finally he was martyred. Eventually, division commander Yu Chengwan led less than 100 officers and men and a division of the Dian Army to meet the division outside Changde City. In the First World War of Changde, the 57th Division and the Artillery Regiment of the 74th Army participated in the battle with 8529 officers and men, 4069 martyrs, 1950 wounded, and 358 missing.
The 57th Division was awarded the "Flag of Honor" for its combat performance, and the martyred colonel Chai Yixin was posthumously awarded the title of Lieutenant General. After the war, the 57th Division was rebuilt, with Deputy Division Commander Li Yan promoted to division commander, Chief of Staff Chen Shuyun promoted to deputy division commander, and Sun Jinxian continuing to serve as the commander of the 170th Regiment. Former division commander Yu Chengwan, because he broke through without permission, after the war, we found a large number of wounded soldiers in the ruins, so he was removed from his post and imprisoned, and later went to other units. Later, Yu Chengwan served as the commander of the 26th Army, and after the defeat, he went to Settle in Hong Kong.
Subsequently, Sun Jinxian and the 170th Regiment participated in the Battle of Changheng and the Battle of Xiangxi. The unit is still tenacious and brave, but its combat effectiveness is far less than before. However, Shi Zhongcheng had been promoted to commander of the 74th Army, so the 57th Division's life was not difficult. In 1946, Shi Zhongcheng was promoted and the 74th Army was reorganized into the 74th Division. Deputy Commander Zhang Lingfu was reappointed as division commander, and Cai Renjie, former commander of the 58th Division, was reappointed as deputy division commander. Some officers of the former 51st and 58th Divisions were reused, while some of the elderly of the former 57th Division were ostracized and suppressed.
Li Yan, the former commander of the 57th Division, had been promoted to a high level, and the deputy division commander Chen Shuyun was promoted to division commander and then changed to brigade commander. Du Ding, deputy commander of the 57th Division, witnessed the infighting in the 74th Army and took the initiative to leave. Sun Jinxian, the commander of the 170th Regiment, also very knowingly applied for transfer. Sun Jinxian, with the help of Wang Yaowu and Shi Zhongcheng, came to Longkou, Shandong Province, to serve as the director of the Longkou Military and Police Joint Inspection Department. A few months later, General Zhou Kaicheng of the 8th Army was ordered to come to Longkou to form the 4th Shandong Provincial Garrison Brigade. With the help of Sun Jinxian, the brigade was quickly organized.
Then, Zhou Kaicheng took the initiative to recommend Sun Jinxian as deputy brigade commander and arranged for him to meet with the military commander Li Mi. Since then, Sun Jinxian has come to Li Mi's system and has won Li Mi's trust. In 1948, the brigade was reorganized into a division of Li Mi's regiment, the 237th Division of the 8th Army. Sun Jinxian, who was in his early 40s, was promoted to division commander. He had the intention to make a big show and make a difference, but in the Battle of Huaihai, Li Mi's army was quickly destroyed. He and Li Mi escaped one after another, then rebuilt the 8th Army and withdrew into yunnan in the southwest.
In December 1949, tens of thousands of officers and men of Li Mi's corps retreated to Yunnan. Lu Han, the chairman of Yunnan Province, suddenly launched a mutiny, detained Li Mi, commander of the 8th Army, and Yu Chengwan, commander of the 26th Army, and telegraphed the uprising. Not to be outdone, the two armies immediately launched a siege of Kunming, forcing Lu Han to release Li and Yu' commanders. Afterwards, Sun Jinxian's 170th Division was promoted to major general of the 9th Army because of its outstanding performance. At the end of the War of Resistance, he was still a regimental commander, and in just a few years he had been promoted to a military commander, which was indeed not slow.
At that time, tens of thousands of troops in western Yunnan were organized into a corps. Tang Yao, deputy commander-in-chief of the army, served as the commander of the corps, Cao Tiange served as the commander of the 8th Army, and Sun Jinxian served as the commander of the 9th Army. In the face of the pursuit of the People's Liberation Army, Tang Yao ordered two armies, one left and one right, to cover each other to cross the river and withdraw from the mainland. This is a sound plan, and if it is firmly implemented, most troops can escape smoothly. However, Commander Sun Jinxian quickly overtook the friendly forces and blew up the Yuanjiang Bridge, throwing both the friendly troops and Commander Tang on the other side of the Yuanjiang.
In order to slow down the pace of the PLA's offensive, he also sacrificed one of his regiments. As a result, the abandoned troops were completely annihilated by our army, and Commander Tang and Commander Cao, as well as tens of thousands of officers and men, were captured. Unexpectedly, less than half a month after Sun Jinxian's troops crossed the Yuan River, the People's Liberation Army had already bypassed the Yuan River and set up an encirclement to block his troops. After fierce fighting, the 9th Army suffered heavy losses and was forced to surrender. If he stays honest, he may get a decent ending, such as going to the CPPCC, at least saving the lives of most officers and men.
However, Sun Jinxian was not dead-hearted, and he took advantage of the fact that he was not prepared to lead his troops to defect. As a result, he was reported by his subordinates, and within a day, the rebellion was quelled by our army. Sun Jinxian was arrested and imprisoned. In early 1951, after a public trial, he was executed by firing squad in Kunming at the age of 45. However, the Taiwanese side did not know what happened later, and deprived him of all his positions as well as medals, medals, and honors. In this way, the former anti-Japanese hero, because of his capriciousness, became a beam-jumping clown that both the Kuomintang and the Communists could not tolerate!