preface
General Chen Maohui joined the Red Army in July 1929, was awarded the rank of major general in 1955, and experienced many vivid stories in his decades of military career, and "closing the net official Zhuang Enemy Chieftain" is a wonderful scene that he often talks about in his later years...
Figure | Major General Chen Maohui
On the centenary of General Chen Maohui's birth, he once told people around him about the capture of Du Yuming alive, and Jinjin said: People are very good at "acting."
What was the scene like?
How did the three corps of 300,000 troops commanded by Du Yuming be "cleverly" eaten by Su Yu?
The Battle of Kunlun Pass in December 1939 made Du Yuming famous overseas and was known as a "famous anti-Japanese general". At the beginning of 1942, he served as the deputy commander of the First Road of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the commander of the Fifth Army, leading his troops into Burma to meet the Japanese army...
However, such a famous anti-Japanese general suffered successive defeats after Chiang Kai-shek threw him into the battlefield of the civil war.
Figure | Du Yuming
First in the northeast battlefield, he tasted the iron fist of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, his heart was exhausted, he was helpless, coupled with illness, he had to leave the northeast to shanghai to recuperate. A year later, his physical condition improved, and he was appointed deputy commander of the Xuzhou "Suppression General" and commander of the Second Corps.
At this time, the Battle of Jinan began, and he led three corps north to reinforce, but was stubbornly blocked by HuaYe, causing his troops to advance only a few kilometers a day like a turtle crawling. On the way, Du Yuming learned that the city of Jinan was broken,
Wang Yaowu
The whereabouts were unknown, so he hurriedly retracted back to Xuzhou, so that he did not fall into the pocket array laid down by Hua Ye in advance, and temporarily escaped the doom of being annihilated.
Figure | Wang Yaowu
Soon, crisis information came from the northeast again, and Du Yuming hurried to the battlefield to clean up the mess. After commanding the huludao retreat, he flew back to Nanjing on November 9, and the next day listened to Chiang Kai-shek's instructions to go to Xuzhou to command and relieve the siege of Huang Baitao. Therefore, he flew to Xuzhou overnight.
On November 22, Huang Baitao's army was completely annihilated by Hua Ye. After the Battle of Huaihai entered the second phase, Hua Ye used the 1st Column, the 3rd Column, and the 12th Column to monitor and block Du Yuming's group in Xuzhou.
On November 30, Du Yuming's clique, which was besieged in Xuzhou, in addition to launching a feint attack on Huaye with some troops to confuse the People's Liberation Army, its main forces, the Second Corps, the Thirteenth Corps, the Sixteenth Corps, and the Kuomintang party and government organs in the Xuzhou area, as well as about 300,000 people who were coerced, began to withdraw from Xuzhou.
As for Du Yuming's whereabouts, Su Yu made some reasonable analysis. He believes that Du Yuming's escape is three possibilities:
"The first is to go east along the Longhai Road and flee south by sea via Lianyungang, but it is difficult to quickly solve the problem of ships and docks carrying three corps. The second is to go straight to the southeast and walk through the two Huai, and turn to Beijing and Shanghai through central Jiangsu, but this road runs through rivers and rivers, and it is necessary to pass through the water network area, which is not convenient for large corps and heavy equipment to operate. The third is to go south along the west side of Jinpu Road through the mountains. ”
Figure | Su Yu (third from left), deputy commander of Huaye, listened to a report on the situation on the Huaihai front
Regarding Du Yuming's policy of "going south," Su Yu was a little worried. Because the terrain in that area is open, the roads are flat, and it is close to the Huang Wei Corps, it can echo with the two corps of Liu Ruming and Li Yannian, and advance north and south, not only to relieve the siege of Huang Wei, but also to concentrate forces to defend the Huai River. Su Yu predicted that Du Yuming might take this road, and once Du Yuming and Huang Wei met, the battlefield situation would undergo major changes that were not conducive to the PLA...
When Su Yu was about to deploy most of his troops on Jinpu Road, he promptly received a military intelligence circular from the Central Military Commission, saying that Du Yuming would retreat from the direction of Lianghuai.
This was different from what Su Yu had expected. In this case, Su Yu fell into a state of dilemma.
However, Su Yu quickly adjusted his thinking, and he made the following more in-depth analysis. He said:
"After repeated analysis, I think it is unlikely that the enemy will take two steps. We deployed seven columns on the northern front on the east and west sides of Jinpu Road south of Xuzhou, with a focus on the southwest. For example, Du Yuming's three corps broke through in the direction of Lianghuai, and they had to pass through the water network area, and the speed would not be fast, and we could catch up. ”
Figure | Su Yu (second from left)
At the same time, Du Yuming, who had come out of Xuzhou, planned to set out for Yongcheng, retreat to the vicinity of the Huai River as planned, and wait for the troops to rest before attacking the People's Liberation Army.
On December 3, Chiang Kai-shek saw that Du Yuming's clique had withdrawn from Xuzhou, changed his mind, and then airdropped a handwritten letter to Du Yuming: "My brother should quickly resolve the bandits around Suixikou and Mazhuang within two days..." He asked Du Yuming to move closer to Huang Wei's corps.
Chiang Kai-shek planned to have Du Yuming attach his back to Nakano, work with Li Yannian and Liu Ruming's corps to the east to rescue Huang Wei, and then join forces to flee south.
Figure | Huang Wei
In this way, Chiang Kai-shek went down according to the route designed by Su Yu. At that time, the people's liberation army with a small number of people successfully prevented Du Yuming's group from meeting with Huang Wei's corps, and the key was to block the south. What if the Du Yuming Group went east, north, and west? There were no main forces of the People's Liberation Army in those directions, and the enemy could breathe a little.
Later, Du Yuming recalled:
After reading the letter, I felt that Chiang Kai-shek had changed his determination again, and that the whole army would be destroyed, and I was very resistant in my thinking. I thought that 'the general will be outside, and the military orders will not be accepted', and I am ready to continue to yongcheng, but after thinking about the reconnaissance of the air force, I think that if we retreat to the vicinity of the Huai River as originally planned, and then attack the People's Liberation Army, then the siege of Huang Wei will be lifted, and we can still make up for it. However, in the event that the Platon Army intercepted along the way, the troops suffered heavy losses, and the encirclement of the Huang Wei Corps could not be lifted as planned, Chiang Kai-shek was bound to turn his anger on me and completely blame me for the failure of the 'Battle of Xu Beng', fearing that he would be judged by military law. ”
Figure | Group photo of Chiang Kai-shek and Du Yuming
For a moment, Du Yuming had no idea, and he sighed deeply and said:
"In this way, I will die in battle, and I will die without fighting." Photographed by Chiang Kai-shek's obscenity, where to go, he could not make up his mind. ”
Therefore, Du Yuming summoned the commanders of the three corps to study what to do, and finally decided to carry out Chiang Kai-shek's orders. This also reflects that Du Yuming's decision is not bold enough, and indecisiveness is a taboo for soldiers.
In this way, Du Yuming's group adjusted its deployment and attacked in a southeasterly direction. At the same time, Hua Ye, commanded by Su Yu, immediately adopted the tactics of blocking in the southeast and attacking in the other three directions, and finally surrounded Du Yuming's group in the Areas of Chen Guanzhuang, Qinglongji, and Li Shilin on the 4th.
Why didn't the assault on Du Yuming's group work? The Kuomintang army explained the reasons in a war report:
"The People's Liberation Army (PLA) uses the scattered areas of villages to make arrangements with a depth of more than five kilometers: according to the size of the village, it is occupied with a minimum number of troops. The trench was dug to the outside of the village, so that village A and village B formed an intersection... It is necessary to attack village by village with infantry, and for each village occupied, there are many casualties... The FRONT LINE OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY LOST A VILLAGE, AND OCCUPIED ANOTHER VILLAGE AFTER THE BATTLE, ALWAYS MAINTAINING THE ORIGINAL DEPTH AND UNABLE TO BREAK THROUGH... Eventually, there will be no food..."
The failure of the Du Yuming Group, from the perspective of decision-making. The biggest problem with the Kuomintang army is that it only attaches importance to the immediate gains and losses, and does not see the extreme importance of the initiative.
Before Du Yuming withdrew from Xuzhou, Chiang Kai-shek had clearly agreed to the plan of "abandoning Xuzhou and not loving war", but he was "blinded by a leaf" by Huang Wei in the encirclement circle, and he could not see the importance of the initiative in the entire Huaihai Campaign and even the entire Liberation War Decisive Battle, and changed the retreat plan in the middle of the way, and finally pushed du Yuming's clique into the abyss of no return...
Figure | Su Yu and Du Yuming
From another point of view, Du Yuming's opponent is obviously too strong. Later, when Su Yu talked about Du Yuming, he said:
"Du Yuming can only win the battle, not lose the battle; he can only fight under favorable conditions, not under unfavorable conditions." When he fought in India and Burma, he had American supplies and was in the limelight. In the northeast, there are trains, ships, and planes. However, this time we were surrounded by the Yongcheng area, unable to break through, unable to garrison, and annihilated by us. ”
After Du Yuming was captured, he disguised his identity, and Chen Maohui carefully interrogated the truth
On the morning of January 10, 1949, the large-scale battle surrounding and annihilating Du Yuming's clique was nearing its end, and the scattered officers and men of the Kuomintang army were running around...
Du Yuming saw the situation, led a small number of people, rode the night black wind high, and ran wildly for more than 20 miles. At dawn, he was afraid of revealing his identity and hid in a potato field.
The village where Du Yuming and the others stayed, where the health department of the 11th Division of the 4th Column of Huaye was stationed.
In order to disguise his identity, Du Yuming shaved off his beard, took off his officer's uniform, and changed into a cotton coat for a small soldier.
After that, he asked a common man who had risen early to collect dung whether there was a People's Liberation Army around him, and when the fellow villagers saw the Kuomintang troops, they were angry, hateful, and a little afraid, so they bluffed and said:
"Wow! The surrounding area is 800 miles, and the People's Liberation Army is everywhere. ”
Subsequently, Du Yuming's aide-de-camp offered a golden ring and asked his fellow villagers not to tell people that there were people hiding here.
The fellow was very clever, first stabilized the enemy, and then ran back to the village to the leader of the division health team
Wang Ying
He said: "There is a Kuomintang in the mountain field northeast of the village. ”
The captain was busy rescuing the wounded day and night, and worked all night, exhausted to death. So he sent two 20-year-old creeps to capture the captives.
In this way, these two small soldiers, led by their fellow villagers, went straight to the potato field.
The capture went well, and the two minions faced an enemy several times larger than themselves, undaunted, and ordered the enemy to put down their guns. Du Yuming and the others were frightened and obediently followed the two small soldiers back to the health team.
Figure | Du Yuming was captured
The local area of the health team is small, and it can only be handled by Chen Maohui, director of the division's political department.
In the war environment, for safety and concealment, the division's political department lived in a small grass hut in a small grove of trees outside the village.
Chen Maohui was experienced, he first carefully examined all the prisoners, then divided the prisoners into two parts, and he personally interrogated the suspicious three people. Later, Chen Maohui learned that these three people were Du Yuming and his aide-de-camp
Yin Dongsheng
driver
Zhang Yinguo
。
Chen Maohui first asked Yin Dongsheng, "What is your name?" ”
Yin Dongsheng replied to his real name, and then Chen Maohui asked him about his profession. Yin Dongsheng made up that he was a reporter for Xuzhou Daily.
Next, Chen Maohui's gaze shifted to Du Yuming's body. Du Yuming respectfully saluted Chen Maohui.
Chen Maohui asked:
"What's your name?" Which unit? ”
After a few seconds of dullness, Du Yuming replied:
"High civilization, quartermaster of the Thirteenth Corps."
Chen Maohui laughed and said:
"It's a good name. How many major points does the Thirteenth Corps have? ”
Du Yuming replied:
"Eight places."
Figure | Chen Maohui
Chen Maohui was a little suspicious of the "quartermaster officer" in front of him, and his first reaction was that "this person is not a small official", so Chen Maohui asked Du Yuming to write out the names of the chiefs of the eight major divisions.
Du Yuming thought of making up a few names at random, so he reached into his coat and took a pen. Chen Maohui saw that some of the cotton in his coat had been hollowed out, and inside were cigarettes, canned food, beef jerky and other things. At this time, Du Yuming's mind turned and he thought of the method of "bribing the chief".
He took out a few packs of "camel brand" cigarettes and sent one pack to Chen Maohui. Chen Maohui, on the other hand, strictly abided by the discipline of the troops, saying:
"We do not search the pockets of the captives, we do not want your needles and threads, and we ask you to put away the cigarettes." I have 'Pegasus Brand' cigarettes, which are famous cigarettes in our Liberated Areas! ”
Then, he added, "You better hurry up and write." ”
Du Yu saw that he could not get rid of it, so he took out a Parker gold pen from his coat for a long time. When he was ready to write, he diverged from the topic again.
He asked Chen Maohui:
"Comrade, what is your surname?"
Chen Maohui said, "My surname is Chen. ”
Du Yuming continued to ask:
You are Commander Chen Yi, right? ”
Chen Maohui replied, "I'm not, do you want to see Commander Chen, that's also very easy, it will be a day away." ”
Figure | Chen Yi
Some did not talk a lot, Du Yuming just dragged and did not write. In this case, in order to dispel Du Yuming's concerns, let him honestly confess. Chen Maohui not only explained to Du Yuming the PLA's policy of giving preferential treatment to prisoners, but also asked the gang to fry a few dishes for Du Yuming and a few others.
Du Yuming recalled:
I was so impressed with that meal. At that time, the gang room fried four dishes for the three of us: braised beef, horse liver fried garlic, horse meat fried leeks, cabbage scrambled eggs. There is no rice, and it is eaten with yellow rice.
After lunch, Chen Maohui ordered du Yuming and the others to be sent to the small mill to rest, and he himself was busy dealing with other things.
Not long after, Chen Maohui's wife
Xie Feng
The captives were heard saying, "The commander-in-chief is dead." She quickly told her husband about the situation. She asked Chen Maohui, "Are there any commander-in-chiefs among the prisoners you have captured here?" ”
Chen Maohui smiled and said, "Where is it?" After speaking, he was stunned for a moment, recalling the conversation with the "high-civilization quartermaster general.".
He suddenly realized, and hurried to the small mill. When I went inside, "Gao Wenming" attempted suicide, only to see that he was covered in blood, but he was still gasping for breath in his mouth. Ask him, and he closed his eyes and said nothing.
Chen Maohui saw the situation and hurriedly ordered someone to send Du Yuming to the health department by car. Then, he summoned Yin Dongsheng and interrogated him about who the "high civilization" really was. At the beginning, Yin Dongsheng still refused to speak directly, and when he saw Chen Maohui shouting that he was going to shoot him, Yin Dongsheng confessed in a loud voice:
High civilization is actually Du Yuming.
Du Yuming, the largest front-line commander of the Kuomintang army on the Huaihai battlefield, was captured in this way? This astonishing good news made Chen Maohui and the officers and men present jump up happily.
But the mouth was unfounded, and Chen Maohui asked Yin Dongsheng to hand over what Du Yuming had brought with him.
Yin Dongsheng took out a delicate briefcase from his cotton coat, which contained a pair of ivory chopsticks with the words engraved on it, yes
Dragon Cloud
A precious gift to the "40th birthday of Du Yuming, commander of the expeditionary force".
Figure | Dragon Cloud
At present, the human and physical evidence is all there, and Du Yuming's identity can already be determined.
Just in case, the Minister of Enemy Engineering of the Political Department of the Fourth Column
Jiang Keding
With Du Yuming's photo, he rushed to the Political Department of the Eleventh Division and handed it over to Chen Maohui for verification.
Chen Maohui took a look at the photo and said affirmatively: "This is this person, yes!" At this time, Du Yuming was rescued and bandaged and safely escaped from danger.
Figure | Du Yuming was wrapped in gauze
subsequently
After face-to-face identification, it was also confirmed that it was Du Yuming himself. Before leaving, Jiang Keding asked people to take a photo of Du Yuming, which was later published in "The Three-Year Battle Record of the people's liberation army in Chinese", which was wrapped in gauze.
Du Yuming was reformed and remained in Beijing after the amnesty
Why did Du Yuming change from a "granite head" that could not be transformed into a supporter of the people? This is inseparable from his experiences and personal experiences in the Prisoner of War Management Center.
In order to cure his illness, du Yuming sent special personnel to Hong Kong and Macao with heavy money to buy scarce and valuable medicines in China. After the operation, his body was weak, and the management office specially prescribed a "small stove" for him.
The Communist Party's policy of giving preferential treatment to prisoners changed his thinking. An amnesty was issued on 17 September 1959. After Du Yuming saw the newspaper, he said excitedly:
"Holding an amnesty on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China has great historical significance. It has entered the annals of history with a brilliant page, proving the incomparable superiority of the socialist system. For those of us war criminals, as long as we study hard, we all have our own future..."
In March 1961, Du Yuming was appointed as the Cultural and Historical Commissioner of the Literature and History Research Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; in November 1964, he was specially invited to be a member of the Fourth National Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference; in 1978, he was elected as a deputy to the Fifth National People's Congress and a standing member of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1981, Du Yuming died of illness in Beijing.
Looking at the trajectory of Du Yuming's life, although he has gone through a twists and turns, he is upright and sensitive to distinguishing between right and wrong. The reason why he was able to have a glorious second half of his life was the reward given to him by life, and it also showed the wisdom and greatness of our party and our army's policy toward the Kuomintang military and political personnel.