The reorganized 74th Division, also known as the 74th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, was a unit with very strong combat effectiveness during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This unit fought all over the battlefield during the War of Resistance, made great achievements in battle, and gradually became the number one main force of the Nationalist army, and even the Japanese army was very afraid of this unit.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 74th Army was reorganized into the 74th Division, with more than 30,000 people in the division and fully equipped with American weapons. This unit is not the same as the ordinary troops of the Kuomintang Army, which has the best weapons and equipment, combat quality, and tactical level is significantly higher than that of the rest of the Kuomintang Army. Many officers and men of this unit fought against the Japanese army many times during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, so whether it was a hot war or a cold weapon battle, the combat effectiveness was very fierce. In the two Lianshui Battles, the officers and men of huaye units felt that this unit could fight better than the Japanese army.
In May 1947, the Kuomintang army gathered 450,000 troops to launch an attack on huaye's Shandong base area, and Zhang Lingfu rushed to the front with the reorganized 74th Division. Su Yu resolutely seized the fighter, and Huaye's nine infantry columns and a special column totaling 270,000 troops all went out and annihilated them in three days.
The total annihilation of the reorganized 74th Division caused a great shock to the Nationalist army at that time, and Chiang Kai-shek was very unhappy, so he asked Wang Yaowu to rebuild the reorganized 74th Division. In fact, the reorganized 74th Division was not completely annihilated, and at that time, three new corps of the 74th Division remained in the rear for reorganization; Wang Yaowu used these three new corps and a howitzer battalion to form the 51st Brigade, the Shandong Garrison Brigade was reorganized into the 57th Brigade, the Guangdong Aviation Garrison Brigade was reorganized into the 58th Brigade, and the captured officers and men of the reorganized 74th Division released by HuaYe were also supplemented.
In January 1948, the reorganized 74th Division was rebuilt. In April 1948, the Morale of the Central Plains Field Army, which had just emerged from dabie Mountain, was demoralized and seriously injured, and needed to fight a victorious battle to boost morale, so they set their sights on the 58th Brigade of the reorganized 74th Division stationed in Fuyang, Anhui Province, and the 58th Brigade had more than 9,000 officers and men, although the combat effectiveness was not as good as the old 74th Division, but it should not be underestimated, and the morale of this unit was very high, and after knowing that the People's Liberation Army was going to attack, they also played the banner of revenge and hatred.
In order to win this battle, the Central Plains Field Army mobilized five columns and also transferred 10 columns of Huaye to reinforce. On 29 March, the 59th Regiment of the 20th Brigade of the 1st Column of Nakano took the lead in attacking, annihilating a brigade of the 58th Brigade, but was quickly counterattacked with heavy losses. When the 58th Regiment of the 20th Brigade sent a sharp knife company to carry out the interspersed mission, it was left with one squad, and the regiment also lost more than half.
In the battle of Dongguan, the defenders of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Column and the 58th Brigade fought repeatedly, but because the walls were too thick and Nakano did not have heavy weapons, it was difficult to move forward due to heavy casualties. During the fierce battle between the two sides, the commander of the 222nd Regiment of the 58th Brigade led a battalion to attack the combined headquarters of the 2nd Brigade and the 20th Brigade of the 1st Column, causing the 20th Brigade to withdraw from the battlefield due to excessive casualties. Nakano's 11th Column was equally unsatisfactory in the battle of Beiguan, with the 58th Brigade also carrying out a counter-offensive and a main attack regiment of the 11th Column being defeated.
Nakano and the 58th Brigade fought for six days, but made no progress, and Qiu Weida led the other two brigades of the reorganized 74th Division to quickly reinforce, and the rest of the Nationalist troops also moved closer to Fuyang. In order to avoid being surrounded, Nakano had to choose to retreat and find another fighter.