On December 15, 1948, the Battle of Huaihai was nearing its end.
Instructor of a special service battalion of a certain unit of the People's Liberation Army
Fan Tianshu
He was leading 5 warriors to search the Area of Zhouzhuang, four or five miles southeast of Shuangduiji.
Not long ago, they received instructions from the General Front Committee at every level --
"Hurry up and catch Huang Wei."
When the two warriors searched for a wheat field outside the village, they suddenly found a figure lying on the ground not far ahead.
Battle of Huaihai
Two warriors, holding steel guns, pointed at the man and shouted:
"What do you do?"
"I am the Fourteenth Army, the Army, the Captain of the Army, the Division, the Secretary."
The man stuttered and answered.
So the man, who claimed to be the captain of the Fourteenth Army, was taken to the prisoner's shelter and written in the register
"Fang Zhengxin, a native of Yiyang, Jiangxi, a captain of the Fourteenth Army"
Identity Information.
If you look at this man's performance when he was captured, he does not look like a senior Kuomintang general in any case.
Captured Huang Wei
But the soldiers in the shelter were keenly aware that the man was carrying a compass and a pike gold pen with him, plus a small black mole on the upper right lip of the man, which was not consistent with the characteristics of Huang Wei described in the Political Department's circular?
So, under the constant interrogation of the soldiers in the shelter, this man finally revealed his flaws.
He was Huang Wei, commander of the Twelfth Corps.
After being captured, Huang Wei was imprisoned in Beijing Gongdelin Prison along with his former subordinate, Yang Botao, commander of the Eighteenth Army.
Beijing Gongdelin
However, Yang Botao has always refused to communicate with Huang Wei, and has repeatedly ridiculed Huang Wei behind his back, calling him a "hero of the People's Liberation Army".
So, how did the commander of the Twelfth Corps gradually fall into the situation where he is now captured? Why do others say that Huang Wei is a "hero of the People's Liberation Army"?
Born in Whampoa, he devoted himself to editing
Huang Wei was born on February 28, 1904 to a farming family in Guixi County, Jiangxi Province.
After his father's early death, his mother single-handedly provoked the family, and he and his mother and brother were dependent on each other.
Huang Wei
From the long-term tempering of life, he has planned the path of "learning and excellence" for himself early, hoping to find a way out through learning and improve family conditions.
At the beginning, Huang Wei, a graduate of the Fourth Normal School in Goose Lake, worked as a teacher at a primary school in his hometown.
But the students always laughed at his short stature, and Huang Wei, who was not willing to be trapped in this small town for a lifetime, chose to resign and go to Shanghai.
On the way, he met Shangrao, who was passing through Shanghai to Apply for the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou
Fang Zhimin
。
Huang Wei's life's glory and unwillingness began from this moment...
Under the guidance of Fang Zhimin, Huang Wei was introduced by Zhao Xingnong, then a standing member of the Provisional Party Committee of the Kuomintang in Jiangxi Province and director of the organization department, and was successfully admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the Kuomintang on the day of the opening of the school.
In the winter of 1924, Huang Wei graduated and stayed on as the lieutenant district captain of the third enlistment corps of the Whampoa Military Academy.
From 1925 to 1938, during the thirteen years, Huang Wei participated in many battles with Chiang Kai-shek, won the favor of Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng, and was ordered to go to Germany for military further study.
Chiang Kai-shek
Although he was recalled early due to the outbreak of the War of Resistance, Huang Wei was immediately appointed commander of the Eighteenth Army after returning to China.
The Eighteenth Army was a unit of Chiang Kai-shek's concubine, and it took Huang Wei only fourteen years from graduation from the Whampoa Military Academy to become a military commander, which is also extremely rare in the Whampoa Military Academy.
Chiang Kai-shek also gave him a "signed photo" and wrote it
"General Pei I took a souvenir
"Six big words.
Huang Wei was puzzled: My name is "Enlighten me", but Jiang Gong gave it away with "Pei Me", is it Because Jiang Gong has misremembered my name because of busy affairs?
After thinking about it for a long time, I finally realized: "Those who cultivate me, cultivate me." ”
Isn't this exactly what Jiang Gong attaches to himself?
Since then, Huang Wei has changed his name from "Enlighten me" to "Pei Me", treasured Jiang Gong's kindness in his heart, and repaid Jiang Gong's kindness with actions.
In the winter of 1939, Chen Lie, then commander of the 54th Army, died of a sudden illness while leading his troops to the border between Yunnan and Vietnam to prepare for a war of resistance against the Japanese army that was trying to attack Yunnan.
Huang Wei was ordered to go to Kunming.
However, this trip made Huang Wei extremely discouraged, and he asked Chiang Kai-shek for resignation, ostensibly saying that he would return to his hometown of Guixi, Jiangxi Province, to visit the grave and recuperate from illness, but in fact he planned to return to his hometown.
And what made this talent, who was deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng, want to return to his hometown in discouragement?
It turned out that after Guan Linzheng, commander-in-chief of the Ninth Army, who had a feud with Chen Cheng, led the Fifty-second Army into southern Yunnan, the Fifty-fourth Army was under his command.
While Huang Wei belonged to Chen Cheng's faction, Guan Linzheng naturally looked at him unfavorably and deliberately embarrassed.
Under guan Linzheng's deliberate planning, He Yingqin, minister of military affairs, became dissatisfied with Huang Wei and even complained to Chiang Kai-shek:
"Huang Wei destroyed the military supplies, the independent provident fund does not report and does not pay, please remove from his post and investigate!"
He Yingqin
Although Chiang Kai-shek did not believe that his confidant would act in this way, out of consideration for the overall situation, he still transferred Huang Wei away from the Fifty-fourth Army and made him a lieutenant general in the Military Commission.
Although, Huang Wei did not open his fists and feet on the anti-Japanese battlefield to achieve his life ambitions.
But in the arena of training talents and military education, he found his own happiness.
In 1944, due to the Japanese invasion of Guizhou and the threat to Chongqing, the Kuomintang government issued an appeal for the vast number of knowledgeable young people to join the army, and reorganized the "Military Commissar Supervision and Training Office" into the "Directorate of Youth Training for Knowledge Youth From the Army".
The headquarters of the "Director Department" is located in Chongqing, Huang Wei is the deputy director, and Chiang Kai-shek has also set up a southeast branch in Hengfeng County, Jiangxi, and Huang Wei is also the director, starting a three-year long training life.
Forced to take up his post, he was focused on running a school
In August 1948, in order to reverse the current situation of defeat and retreat, Chiang Kai-shek held a military conference in Nanjing.
The meeting decided that in order to launch a decisive battle with the Platon Army, it is necessary to reorganize the troops and adjust the existing units into a number of mobile corps to enhance the strength of the corps.
Thus, the Eighteenth Army, the Tenth Army, the Fourteenth Army, and the Twelfth Corps of the Eighty-fifth Army were born at the same time.
But who should be the commander of this corps?
Hu Lian in his youth
Originally, the commander of the Twelfth Corps was considering having Hu Lian, the commander of the Eighteenth Army, serve as the commander.
However, this decision was opposed by Bai Chongxi, so Chiang Kai-shek had to find another candidate.
Just when Chiang Kai-shek was at a loss, his subordinates sent to Shanghai came back to report back and conveyed to him the views of Chen Cheng, who was recuperating in Shanghai:
Three of the Twelve Corps were Chen Cheng's old units, and Huang Wei was very familiar with the Eighteenth Army, and it was most appropriate for him to be the commander of the corps.
Although He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi opposed it, Chiang Kai-shek, with the strong support of the chief of staff Gu Zhutong, appointed Huang Wei as the commander of the Twelfth Corps and Hu Lian as deputy commander.
When the order was given, Hu Lian was depressed, but Huang Wei was not willing to accept the new appointment.
At this time, he was serving as the principal of the Wuhan New Military Academy, and as soon as he received the notice, he rushed to Nanjing to see Chiang Kai-shek and resigned from the matter:
"It's been a long time since I left the army, and now I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to lead the troops again, so let me run a school."
Chiang Kai-shek not only did not agree, but also sharply reprimanded Huang Wei for not having a big picture view, only considering things from a personal point of view, and the most important task at the moment is to fight a war.
Huang Weijian really couldn't resign, so he took a step back and should be the commander of the Twelfth Corps.
But he also made his own demands on Chiang Kai-shek, saying that this was only a temporary measure, and that he was going to make a temporary transition.
"After this battle, go back to running a school."
The position of commander of the Twelfth Corps should still be reserved for Hu Lian.
Chiang Kai-shek nodded and agreed.
Abandoning the city of Mengcheng Hesitation led to the siege
On November 6, 1948, the Battle of Huaihai was launched, and the Huang Wei Corps, with many sophisticated weapons and equipment, was divided into the first echelon (the 10th, 14th, and 18th Armies) and the second echelon (the 85th Army and the 49th Division) from Pinghan Road to the east from Zhishan and Zhumadian respectively.
On the 18th, the first echelon of the Twelfth Corps arrived in Mengcheng, where it engaged in a fierce battle with the People's Liberation Army.
Huaihai Battlefield
Huang Wei took the deputy commander Hu Lian proposed
"Core Maneuver"
Tactics:
The first is to build strong fortifications around Mengcheng and stockpile food and ammunition for needs; second, to maintain a fixed distance from the People's Liberation Army, aim at the target when advancing, and first occupy the favorable terrain ahead as a new core.
So step by step, steady and steady, stand firm.
According to Yang Botao's recollection, the main forces of the Fourteenth Army and the Eighteenth Army of the Corps crossed the Vortex River, the Tenth Army was in the northwest of Mengcheng, the Eighty-fifth Army was in HuangjiajiMajiadian and other places, and as for the Corps headquarters in Mengcheng.
Yang Botao
In short, all armies adjusted their positions in accordance with Huang Wei's advance deployment, prepared for a big battle with the People's Liberation Army, and firmly held Mengcheng.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek sent an urgent telegram and ordered the north to enter Su County.
It turned out that the reason why Chiang Kai-shek was so anxious to let the corps go north was because Huang Baitao's Seventh Corps was surrounded in Nianzhuang and was frequently in a hurry, and at this time, Huang Baitao's corps had only 3 regiments of troops left, and it was in danger.
Therefore, even if the Huang Wei Corps was hundreds of miles away from Nianzhuang, Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to give up and urged the Huang Wei Corps to advance north.
Huang Wei Corps
Huang Wei did not dare to disobey the order, abandoned the strategy of holding on to Mengcheng, and immediately packed up and went north.
Although during this period, Yang Botao and Wang Yuan, commander of the 11th Division, fearing that the corps would be attacked by Nakano during their march, suggested that the corps move in the direction of Bengbu, and Xiong Shouchun, commander of the 14th Army, suggested staying in Mengcheng.
But none of this was taken in by Huang Wei, who followed Chiang Kai-shek's orders and pushed north.
On November 22, the troops of Huang Wei's corps were stationed in Nanpingji, but they could not imagine that Huang Baitao's corps, which was far away in Nianzhuang, had been completely annihilated on the same day.
When the news came, Huang Wei was silent.
At this moment, he was both mourning for Huang Baitao and worried about his own way forward.
On November 23, the 10th and 18th Armies of the Huang Wei Corps attacked Xinxian County on the south bank of the Xun River from dawn to The Sun Yan section. Among them, the Eighteenth Army, with the strength of four regiments and ten chariots, forcibly attacked the position of the Fourth Column of the Nanping Concentrated Field and advanced toward Su County.
In the face of such a strong offensive by the Huang Wei Corps, Liu Bocheng, who had rich experience in attacking tough battles, ordered Nakano to take the initiative to retreat, abandon the Nanping set, and adopt it
"Surrounded by three passes"
Tactics.
Liu Bocheng
The Nationalist army did not know what the plan was, and the Tenth Army and the Eighteenth Army, unconsciously, chased across the Xun River in order to open up the SuXian Pass.
Day and night, Huang Wei, Wu Shaozhou, deputy commander of the Twelfth Corps and commander of the Eighty-fifth Army, and Yang Botao, commander of the Eighteenth Army, gathered together to study the next military deployment.
Wu Shaozhou first told the rest of the people a bad news - Mengcheng was occupied and the retreat route had been cut off.
Huang Wei analyzed the current situation and asked:
"The communist army just 'resulted' Huang Baitao's Seventh Corps, it was at a time when morale was high, on the contrary, our army, with heavy armor marching for many days of lack of flesh and skin, not to mention, morale was also affected by the total annihilation of Huang Baitao's corps. Our current task is to go to Suxian County to meet Du Yuming, how should we fight in order to complete the task of Jiang Bus Dai? ”
Wu Shaozhou
With years of combat experience, Yang Botao felt that the communist army had consciously abandoned the Vortex River and the Xun River, which might be a trick to lure the enemy.
Moreover, Huang Baitao's corps was completely destroyed, and Huaye was very likely to divide his troops to go south, and once Huaye arrived in Suxian County, it meant that Huang Wei's corps would be attacked on both sides and become the common target of Zhongye and Huaye.
He pointed to the military map and proposed that the corps should be turned to the railway line southwest of Guzhen while the corps was not yet under siege.
The more Yang Botao said, the more he felt that this plan was feasible, guzhen was no more than eighty miles away from Nanpingji, and this place was guarded by Li Yannian's corps, so that he could not only obtain rear supplies, but also meet with Li Yannian's corps and increase his strength.
As soon as Yang Botao finished talking about this plan, Wu Shaozhou immediately agreed.
But Huang Wei was still hesitating, Yang Botao's speculation was indeed very reasonable, but did he really have to disobey Jiang Gong's orders?
In case of accountability, who will bear this responsibility?
With this hesitation, he missed the best time.
By the time he made up his mind and ordered the corps to advance towards Guzhen for a glimmer of life, it was too late.
Suxian Road
As Yang Botao expected, the People's Liberation Army had built strong fortifications on both the east and west sides of the road to Suxian County, forming a pocket-shaped cloth array.
At that time, Nakano's sixth column rushed to the south and southeast of Shuangduiji, met with the eleventh column, quickly organized a blockade, intercepted the way for the corps to withdraw from Guzhen, and Nakano's fourth and ninth columns pursued to the north bank of the Xun River, united with the troops on the south bank, and surrounded the Huang Wei corps.
At this time, the Huang Wei Corps was like the turtle that had entered the urn, surrounded in the double pile.
After the war, according to the memories of many captured soldiers of the National Army, the People's Liberation Army had three "must kill skills":
Close-in operations, flying thunder, shouting in front of the battle
Nakano's three-stroke combination of compressing and consolidating the encirclement of the Yellow Wei Corps was a three-stroke combination:
First of all, the close-up operations were often carried out overnight, and the trenches of the People's Liberation Army were dug in front of the positions of the Huang Wei Corps; then they flew a thunderbolt and let the fortifications of the corps and the soldiers "go to the sky"; coupled with the shouts before the battle, the morale of the Huang Wei Corps, which was not high because the Huang Baitao Corps was annihilated, became even lower.
Even though the Huang Wei Corps was well-equipped, it could not withstand the physical and mental exhaustion caused by the multi-day march and the immediate situation, coupled with the severe supply in the rear and the limited food and ammunition it carried, and since November 26, the entire corps had been in a predicament.
Sit back and wait for the siege to break through and fail to become a prisoner
After the news of the siege of Huang Wei's corps reached Nanjing, the highest military side of the Kuomintang expressed surprise and confusion, and the siege of Huang Baitao's corps could still be explained by the fact that it had been broken before and had not yet recovered.
The Huang Wei Corps was a cutting-edge division, how exactly did Liu Bocheng surround its regiment?
Puzzled, Chiang Kai-shek could only order Huang Wei's corps to immediately open the road to Bengbu to solve the problem of supply.
Why was the destination of Chiang Kai-shek's order not Guzhen at this time, but changed to Bengbu?
It turned out that Li Yannian's regiment, which was originally guarding Guzhen, had retreated on the night of the 26th for the sake of its own safety.
As a result, Chiang Kai-shek's previous plan for the three armies to meet Su County eventually became a bubble, and the eastward retreat of the Huang Wei Corps also lost the reinforcement strategy.
During the siege of Huang Wei's corps, Chiang Kai-shek adjusted his deployment several times, and in just four days, formulated a plan for two divisions.
On December 1, Hu Lian, deputy commander of the Twelfth Corps, flew back from Nanjing to Shuangduiji, and he conveyed Chiang Kai-shek's instructions to Huang Wei:
Let Qiu Qingquan, Sun Yuanliang, and Li Mi's corps turn southwest of Xuzhou into Mengcheng, Woyang, and Fuyang to relieve the siege of Huang Wei's corps; Huang Wei's corps suspended the breakthrough, held firm, and contained the middle field forces, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
Qiu Qingquan
As soon as this order arrived, the commanders and division commanders of the various corps looked at each other and were shocked.
However, Huang Wei did not object to this order, abandoning the original plan to attack the lake ditch and instead adopting a circular defensive formation.
However, at this time, the supply of food was already difficult, and the airdrop supply at the joint logistics headquarters was subject to the weather, and the actual amount of grain delivered was not even one-eighth of the scheduled amount, and the ammunition was less than one-third.
The soldiers could only eat porridge every day, they could not eat enough, they had already scavenged everything that the people of the city could eat, and even the water in the well ditch was almost drunk.
Every time the airdrops arrived, they rushed up to scramble, and some even drew their guns at each other.
In addition to the lack of supplies, the weather was getting colder, the situation of the entire corps was extremely bad, and morale was naturally seriously affected.
On December 4, Huang Wei, seeing that the war situation was scorching and had reached the point of life and death, decided to send Hu Lian back to Nanjing for help.
If the reinforcements can arrive in time, it is precisely to take advantage of this time to formulate a plan for coordinated operations; if the reinforcements are blocked, then ask Chiang Kai-shek for instructions to break through on their own in order to preserve a certain amount of living forces.
This time, the latest instruction that Hu Lian brought back from Nanjing was "you can break through."
Indeed, at this moment, the Huang Wei Corps had no other way but to break through on its own.
According to Chiang Kai-shek's ideal plan, it was hoped that if the reinforcements arrived, the situation could be reversed and the Platon Army would be besieged, but Huang Wei's corps would run out of materials and could not be sustained, and the foreign aid of the corps was almost hopeless:
Li Yannian and Liu Ruming's corps marched slowly, and had been advancing and retreating near Cao Laoji, while Sun Yuanliang's corps had withdrawn from Xuzhou and had now been completely annihilated.
Therefore, the directive mentions:
"Don't care about Du Yuming, and don't expect Li Yannian."
Subsequently, under the guidance of Chiang Kai-shek, Huang Wei secretly formulated a plan to open a breakthrough path by airdropping chemical bombs.
In their view, compared with the Platon Army, although the Nationalist army has exhausted its combat strength for several days, its advantage is that it "still has complete heavy weapons" and occupies an absolute advantage in air power, which is not comparable to the PLA.
And once special chemical weapons (poison gas bombs) are used, the PLA will collapse, or even all be killed, as long as it persists for three days, victory is no problem.
The release of poison gas is a violation not only of the humanitarian spirit, but also of the provisions of public international law. Huang Wei knew this very well, so the plan was strictly confidential, and only a few senior generals knew about it.
At dusk on December 12, the People's Liberation Army launched an offensive, and Huang Wei ordered the Eighteenth Army to fire poison gas bombs at the People's Liberation Army twice.
At first, this inhumane chemical attack did inflict heavy casualties on the PLA.
But the news reached Nanjing, where opposition to the gas bomb was so loud that Chiang Kai-shek had to stop delivering chemical weapons to the Huang Wei Corps.
At this point, the defeat has been decided, but we cannot sit still.
Huang Wei ordered a breakthrough to be launched at dusk on the 15th and taken
"Open the bow on all sides, fight back in all directions, drill the gap in the seam, and rush out of the siege"
The breakout plan strives to preserve some of the troops.
To put it bluntly, in fact, this plan is to let the armies flee wherever there is a "gap" and let everyone scatter and flee for their lives.
The breakthrough was originally scheduled to begin at dusk, but Huang Wei, Hu Lian, and others were worried that the tanks would not be able to break through at night, so they advanced the operation to 4 p.m.
Before leaving, Huang Wei was still not very sure in his heart, so he asked the medical staff for sleeping pills and prepared to take medicine to commit suicide when he was desperate.
He also made a gentleman's pact with the deputy commander Hu Lian:
Whoever breaks through successfully is responsible for taking care of each other's families and taking care of the rest of the aftermath.
Hu Lian
However, at this time, the Kuomintang troops were already scattered, and when the breakthrough order was issued, before the prescribed time, many troops rioted and broke through ahead of schedule.
This also made the Platon Aware of the Intentions of the Huang Wei Corps, increased its strength, and launched a final offensive.
With the cooperation of tanks, the troops of the Eleventh Division successfully opened a gap in the Jade Emperor Temple, and the tanks on which Huang Wei and Hu Lian were riding crossed the river.
The pontoon bridge of the Jade Emperor Temple was crushed by the tanks of the two men, and later Wu Shaozhou's tank was trapped in the Jade Emperor Temple.
Escape the tank sitting
Wu Shaozhou felt that he could not escape, so he simply waited for the Plaster on the spot and took the initiative to be taken prisoner; and Huang Wei's tank was hit by a shell shortly after crossing the pontoon bridge, and he was lying in the nest; only Hu Lian escaped by chance.
Without a tank, Huang Wei ran desperately among a group of soldiers, doing a final struggle.
And when he fled to the Zhouzhuang area four or five miles southeast of Nanpingji, he suddenly stepped on the air and fell into the wheat field next to the road.
Huang Wei felt that there was no hope of escaping, so he wanted to commit suicide with a pistol, but when he touched his body, he found that the pistol had disappeared during the escape.
He remembered the sleeping pills he had asked the medical staff for before leaving, and when he grabbed them, he sent them to his mouth, but without water, the sleeping pills could not be swallowed.
At this time, Fan Tianshu, an instructor of a special service battalion of the People's Liberation Army, found him with 5 soldiers and took Huang Wei back to the prisoner's shelter.
This "first-class strong brigade" with 120,000 horses and all American equipment was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army shortly after entering the Battle of Huaihai, until the end of the campaign, except for deputy commander Hu Lian, deputy commander Gu Bingkui and others who escaped, the Twelfth Corps was completely destroyed in just 20 days...
Escape from the transformation of the stubborn stone head finally opened
Four days after the collapse of Huang Wei's regiment, Chiang Kai-shek heard from the CCP radio that Huang Wei, Yang Botao, Wu Shaozhou, and others had been captured.
He placed all the responsibility for this defeat on the leadership of Huang Wei and others, and sighed:
If this news is really accurate, then the corrupt and incompetent generals have eliminated another batch, which is not a pity, nor is it sad.
After Huang Wei was captured, he repeatedly stressed during his interrogation that his profession was a soldier and he always had a revolutionary spirit. As for the path he is currently taking, it is considered reactionary, this is a problem of system and leadership, and he has never personally done anything to apologize to the people.
He also said that his biggest mistake was to lose the battle. Blame the crimes of war.
In 1950, after Huang Wei was transferred to the Beijing Gongdelin War Criminals Management Office, he also took many actions to resist reform.
He not only resisted political studies, but also often used some provocative words or provocative things to express his resistance, and even used the study of "perpetual motion machines" to evade transformation.
Amnesty of Huang Wei
However, an illness changed Huang Wei's mind and he received a letter of amnesty from the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China on March 19, 1975.
During the few years of hospitalization, Huang Wei, who was stubborn, felt the meticulous care of the Communist Party.
As the saying goes, there is no filial piety in front of the bed for a long time, but the Communist Party treats itself as a war criminal so carefully.
He truly felt that the Communist Party's lenient policy toward Kuomintang war criminals was real and credible, so he seriously explained his various problems.
According to the recollections of the staff who have been in contact with Huang Wei, Huang Wei can be said to be the most difficult to reform of all war criminals, but he is also the best of all war criminals...