During the Republic of China period, among the many generals under Chiang Kai-shek, there was a relatively special general, who was neither a native of Zhejiang nor a Huangpu family, but was deeply respected by Chiang Kai-shek, and this person was Huang Baitao. Although Huang Baitao was a Native of Guangdong, he did not apply for the Whampoa Military Academy when he was young, but joined the Beiyang Army, and later was admitted to the army of Zhang Zongchang.
In 1928, Huang Baitao joined Zhang Zongchang's Sixth Army Commander Xu Yuanquan and served as the commander of the division. When Chiang Kai-shek wanted to relieve the generals of the miscellaneous army of their military powers, he would send them to military academies for further study. Huang Baitao, as a senior miscellaneous army general, also had this fate, was sent to the third phase of the Army University to study, during the War of Resistance, as a lieutenant general of the Central Military Commission, Gao Sheng, had no real power at all. However, Huang Baitao was very optimistic, he was not very pessimistic about his fate, but continued to choose to study military theory, and later because of his outstanding talent, he was appreciated by He Yingqin and was sent to Gu Zhutong's third theater as chief of staff.
Not long after arriving in the Third Theater, he obtained Gu Zhutong's weight and was sent to the 25th Army as a commander. The composition of the 25th Army is more complicated, this unit is composed of the Central Army, the Northeast Army, the Sichuan Army and other units, the combat effectiveness is low, and the military discipline is scattered. However, after Huang Baitao became the commander of the 25th Army, he quickly gave the unit a new look. Huang Baitao also often went to the grassroots level as a military commander to eat and live with ordinary soldiers, and was deeply loved by officers and soldiers. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, this unit was reorganized into the 25th Division, with Huang Baitao as the division commander.
In May 1947, the Kuomintang army concentrated 450,000 troops to launch a key attack on the Shandong base area where the East China Field Army was located. At that time, Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division, Li Tianxia's reorganized 83rd Division, and Huang Baitao's reorganized 25th Division were organized as the first column of the First Corps, and Li Tianxia served as the commander of the column. Although Li Tianxia was Zhang Lingfu's old superior, the contradiction between the two was very deep, and Li Tianxia had not yet been the commander of the column for a few days, and Zhang Lingxia told Chiang Kai-shek behind his back about Li Tianxia's situation, and Chiang Kai-shek, in a fit of anger, removed Li Tianxia and made Huang Baitao the commander of the column. Huang Baitao was very embarrassed at that time, and said to Tang Enbo, commander of the First Corps: "My troops are Japanese weapons, Zhang Lingfu, and Li Tianxia's troops are all American weapons units, how can I command them?" Later facts proved that Zhang Lingfu did not listen to Huang Baitao's orders, and even Tang Enbo and Gu Zhutong did not listen to the orders.
After the Battle of Menglianggu began, all the units of the Kuomintang army were stagnant, and many generals wanted to see Zhang Lingfu's jokes. Li Tianxia's reorganized 83rd Division was all-American armament and equipment, and the distance from Zhang Lingfu's troops was less than 10 kilometers, and in order to prevent reinforcements from this unit, Hua Ye put a column to block the attack, and later because Li Tianxia did not move, Hua Ye pulled this column up to fight Zhang Lingfu. However, what Hua Ye did not expect was that Huang Baitao, a miscellaneous general, was desperately reinforcing, causing a lot of pressure on Hua Ye.
Huang Baitao's idea was very simple; he was one of the very few generals within the Kuomintang who did not engage in infighting, and he was also a relatively pure soldier; in his eyes, if a friendly army was in difficulty, he would have to fight to the death to reinforce himself. However, Zhang Lingfu did not look up to him, and when Huang Baitao asked Zhang Lingfu to move closer to the reorganized 25th Division, Zhang Lingfu still pinned his hopes on Li Tianxia's reorganized 83rd Division, who was also a member of the Central Army, and he also questioned Huang Baitao: "My unit has a lot of mules, horses, vehicles, and heavy weapons, and it has suffered heavy losses, can you be responsible?" Huang Baitao was embarrassed to open his mouth again, and had to say: "Then it is up to you to decide!" ”
Although Zhang Lingfu was very arrogant, Huang Baitao was afraid of carrying a black cauldron and did not dare to be sloppy, so he immediately led the reorganized 25th Division to fight to the death for reinforcements. At that time, the first column put the strength of four regiments of a division to block the reorganization of the 25th Division, and these four regiments and two regiments were newly formed new regiments, which showed that there was not enough attention to this miscellaneous army, but after the battle began, the four regiments responsible for blocking the first column were almost destroyed, and Huang Baitao almost broke through the blocking troops and rescued Zhang Lingfu. At that time, Su Yu had no soldiers to take with him, and he was anxious to break out in a cold sweat, but at the critical moment, a battalion of the fourth column passed behind Tianma Mountain to reinforce the Meng Lianggu battlefield, and this unit was quickly stopped by the officers and men of the first column and also threw itself into the blockade battle. After only a few hours of carrying this fresh force, Hua Ye's main force hit Meng Lianggu and killed Zhang Lingfu, and Huang Baitao also had to lead his troops to retreat.