Among the five main forces of the Nationalist Army, there is a Seventy-fourth Army, which is the unit with the best achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan and one of the five main forces of the Nationalist Army. In 1946, the Seventy-fourth Army was reorganized into the Reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, which was equipped with one division commander and two deputy division commanders, of which the division commander was Zhang Lingfu and the two deputy division commanders were Cai Renjie and Qiu Weida.
In May 1947, the Battle of Menglianggu broke out, and the East China Field Army surrounded Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division around Menglianggu. After three days of fighting, the East China Field Army completely annihilated Zhang Lingfu's reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, and the division commander Zhang Lingfu was killed. Then, after Zhang Lingfu was killed, what was the fate of the two deputy division commanders of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division?
First, Cai Renjie
Cai Renjie was born in 1902, he is a native of Changde, Hunan, and graduated from Huangpu Phase V. In his early years, Cai Renjie served as the commander of the 51st Division under Wang Yaowu, the second commander of the Seventy-fourth Army, and after that, Cai Renjie followed Wang Yaowu and successively served as the deputy commander of the 58th Division, the division commander, and the deputy commander of the Seventy-fourth Army.
During the Liberation War, the Seventy-fourth Army was reorganized into the Reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, with Zhang Lingfu as the commander of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division and Cai Ren as the deputy commander. Cai Renjie and Zhang Lingfu cooperate closely, and it is said that Zhang Lingfu purchases double copies every time he purchases materials, one for himself and one for Cai Renjie.
In May 1947, Cai Renjie followed Zhang Lingfu, commander of the reorganized 74th Division, to the front to participate in the Battle of Menglianggu. At the last moment of the battle, the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division was completely annihilated, and the deputy division commander Cai Renjie was killed on the battlefield at the age of 45. There are many theories about Cai Renjie's death, some people say that he was killed by the East China Field Army, and some people say that he "committed suicide and became a ren". No matter what kind of death method, in the end, it will always be the battlefield of battle.
Second, Qiu Weida
Qiu Weida, who was also the deputy commander of the reorganized 74th Division, was born in 1904 and, like Zhang Lingfu, graduated from the Huangpu Ivy Stage. Qiu Weida followed Wang Yaowu in his early years, and after the establishment of the Seventy-fourth Army, Qiu Weida successively served as the deputy commander of the 57th Division and the commander of the 51st Division. Qiu Weida had followed Wang Yaowu in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to participate in the Battle of Xuefeng Mountain, in which he surprised the enemy army, cut off the enemy's retreat, directly contributed to the great victory of Xuefeng Mountain, annihilated more than 20,000 Japanese troops, and was a famous anti-Japanese general who had made great achievements in battle.
In 1946, the Seventy-fourth Army, one of the five main forces of the Nationalist Army, was reorganized into the Reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, and Qiu Weida served as the deputy commander of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division. In May 1947, Zhang Lingfu led the reorganized 74th Division to the Battlefield of Shandong, and the deputy division commander Qiu Weida stayed behind to train the new corps.
After the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division was completely annihilated, chiang kai-shek re-formed the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division on the basis of three new corps that had not been on the battlefield of the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division, and appointed Qiu Weida as the division commander. After that, Qiu Weida led the reorganized Seventy-fourth Division to join Qiu Qingquan's Second Corps and followed Qiu Qingquan to the battlefield of the Huaihai Campaign.
In the third phase of the Huaihai Campaign, Qiu Qingquan's Second Corps was surrounded in the area of Chen Guanzhuang, and Qiu Weida was also defeated and captured during the breakthrough, and was later imprisoned in the PLA official regiment to study. In 1950, Qiu Weida entered the Nanjing Military Academy to teach, and he actively taught, teaching his combat experience to his students without reservation.
In 1958, Qiu Weida became a counselor in the Jiangsu Counselor's Office, responsible for military literature and history, and later served as a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee. In his later years, Qiu Weida often called for the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait in the name of his Huangpu classmates, and he also did a lot of basic work for the peace of the motherland. In 1998, Qiu Weida died of illness at the age of 94.
Resources:
"From the "Ace of the War of Resistance" to the Ashes and Smoke- The Enlightenment of the Rise and Fall of the Reorganized Seventy-fourth Division of the Kuomintang" Sun Haidong