The 74th Army of the National Revolutionary Army was the most capable unit during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and made great achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but many people did not know that it was Wang Yaowu of the Huangpu Iii Period who brought this unit into the first main force of the Nationalist Army. In the Kuomintang army, there was a phenomenon of seniority ranking, but Wang Yaowu, a third-term student of Huangpu, was the superior of many first-term and second-term students.
Born in Tai'an, Shandong Province, Wang Yaowu worked in Tianjin in his early years and later worked as a teller in a candy store in Shanghai. In 1924, Wang Yaowu and several fellow villagers applied for the Whampoa Military Academy and entered the Whampoa Phase III study. Wang Yaowu did not forget his code of conduct in the business field, he trained very hard after entering the school, and he also loved to learn, but he was also very good at interpersonal relations with others, frequently giving gifts to some first-term and second-term seniors, and also giving gifts to his instructors, so many people liked him at that time.
In 1932, Wang Yaowu was appointed brigade commander of the Supplementary Brigade for his neutral service in combat. In 1934, Wang Yaowu led his troops to ambush the Red Tenth Army led by Fang Zhimin, resulting in the capture and death of the regimental commander Fang Zhimin, the commander of the Red 19th Division, Xun Huaizhou, and only the chief of staff Su Yu broke out with hundreds of people. After the war, Wang Yaowu was promoted to commander of the 51st Division. After the outbreak of the All-Out War of Resistance, the 51st and 58th Divisions were combined into the 74th Army, and Chiang Kai-shek's nephew Yu Jishi served as the first commander.
Whether it was the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Lanfeng, and the Battle of Wangjialing, Wang Yaowu's 51st Division showed strong combat effectiveness. In 1939, Wang Yaowu was promoted to the commander of the 74th Army, and it was he who brought this unit to the peak. After Wang Yaowu became the commander of the 74th Army, he not only stepped up military training, but also engaged in business, and even did business in the Japanese-occupied areas, opening a canning factory, a biscuit factory, and a clothing factory; in the end, he used the money he earned to purchase equipment for his troops and strengthen the combat effectiveness of the troops.
In the Battle of Shanggao in 1941, the 74th Army under the command of Wang Yaowu alone killed more than 5,000 Japanese troops, and in order to block the pursuit of the 74th Army, the Japanese army released a large number of poison gas bombs, and the officers and men of the 74th Army still pursued them in the case of poisoning, and finally killed the commander of the Japanese 34th Division, Major General Yan Yong. After that, Wang Yaowu led his troops to participate in the Battle of Zhejiang, the Battle of Western Hubei, and the Battle of Changde. In 1944, Wang Yaowu was promoted to commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army. In 1945, Wang Yaowu was promoted to commander of the Fourth Front, a 40-year-old Huangpu fourth-term student who was already on an equal footing with Zhang Fakui, Xue Yue and other veterans of the Kuomintang army.
During the Battle of Xuefeng mountain in 1945, Wang Yaowu commanded the Fourth Front Army to annihilate 30,000 Japanese troops, while the Chinese army suffered 20,000 casualties, far less than the Japanese army. After the victory of the War of Resistance, Wang Yaowu took charge of Shandong. In fact, at that time, many of Huaye's actions were seen by Wang Yaowu, and many battles accurately guessed Huaye's true intentions, but Chiang Kai-shek not only did not listen to him, but repeatedly reprimanded him for fearing war.
Before the Battle of Jinan in 1948, Wang Yaowu advised Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw his troops and preserve his strength, but Chiang Kai-shek did not listen and had to fight Hua Ye. Finally, under the fierce attack of Huaye's 140,000 siege group, Jinan was quickly conquered. Before the city of Jinan was destroyed, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to Wang Yaowu, the chairman of Shandong Province, to kill all PLA prisoners and underground party members held in prison. After Receiving the order, Wang Yaowu did not carry it out, and at that time, some people under his hands said that they would fight the People's Liberation Army to the end, but Wang Yaowu told them that this was a civil war, not a fight against the Japanese, and there was no need to fight to the end.
Before the destruction of Jinan City, Wang Yaowu did two things, the first was to evacuate the entire city to prevent the war from injuring the innocent, and he did not choose to use the people as his shield like other generals of the Nationalist Army. The second was to call the Military Justice Department and the military prison to demand the release of the PLA prisoners of war, underground party members and other political prisoners. Five yuan was paid to all captured officers of the People's Liberation Army, and three yuan for soldiers. In order to avoid the persecution of prisoners of war by secret agents, Wang Yaowu also let his confidant, Mao Xueqian, the head of the spy group, personally go to see and go to coordinate the handling, and the violators were dealt with by military law. After Wang Yaowu was captured, the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army at that time originally thought that they could retrieve a large amount of treasure from his home, but what they did not expect was that they found two American tractors, and later Wang Yaowu said that he was going to return home to farm after the battle.