Xu Haidong was the founding general of new China, and although he basically did not participate in command and combat due to physical reasons in the Liberation War, his contribution to the revolution was also enormous!
As early as the red army period, Xu Haidong was a well-known general of our army, which made the enemy feel frightened and made many reactionaries deeply impressed. Even in the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, his name could make a division commander of the Nationalist Army dare not confront him!
As the pace of the Japanese invasion of China gradually stepped up, Chiang Kai-shek chose to cooperate with our party because of the situation, and openly expressed friendship with our party, but secretly small actions have been continuous.
Beginning in 1939, the overall situation between China and Japan entered a stage of stalemate, and Chiang Kai-shek breathed a sigh of relief and believed that the greatest enemy was not the Japanese Kou but our Party, so he made a report entitled "Awakening the Soul of the Party, Carrying Forward party morality, and Consolidating the Party Foundation" at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang, which set off the first anti-communist upsurge during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
In March 1940, Li Pinxian, chairman of the Kuomintang Anhui Province and commander-in-chief of the 21st Group Army, gathered nearly 7,000 people from the 138th Division and the 10th and 12th Guerrilla Columns to attack the Jiangbei Headquarters and the 4th Detachment of the New Fourth Army.
Li Pinxian was an important general of the Gui clan, but unlike the previous chairman of Anhui Province, Liao Lei, he attached importance to the overall situation, and as soon as he arrived at his post, he convened a meeting of county governors in the province to arrange anti-communism in various places, and abolished some anti-Japanese organizations jointly established by Liao Lei and our party, so he was extremely reactionary in his heart.
Seeing that the enemy was menacing, Xu Haidong, commander of the 4th Detachment of the New Fourth Army, consulted with the generals and came up with a method against the enemy.
The 138th Division of Gui Stubborn has strong combat effectiveness and a large number of people, and we cannot eat it for a while, but we cannot let it interfere with us eating other enemies, so we must contain it. Ask the head of the political department, He Wei, to bring the basketball team and the field service group to comfort them, just drag them for three days and let them stay still.
It was very dangerous to go deep into the enemy camp, but He Wei agreed without half a moment's hesitation. Xu Haidong nodded, and then asked Lin Weixian, commander of the 4th Detachment, to lead a reconnaissance battalion disguised as a Japanese Kou to deal with the enemy's Tenth Guerrilla Column and the Eighth Security Regiment.
As soon as the local troops in the national army saw the Japanese, they were afraid and did not dare to fight, that is, they used their mentality to fight a surprise. At the same time, Dai Jiying was asked to lead two regiments to attack Yan Renyi, director of the Northern Anhui Bureau, and the detachment organs chose to stay still in order to confuse the enemy, adding a battalion to stay behind.
After the various units of the New Fourth Army were ready to leave, Wang Zhiyou, commander of the 138th Division on the other side, also held an operational meeting to deploy a specific offensive plan.
When he was speaking passionately, the adjutant ran in in a panic to report: Director He of the four detachments of the New Fourth Army brought the team and service group over, saying that he wanted to comfort the nationalist army.
I am preparing to beat someone else, and now they are coming to comfort them? What's going on? Wang Zhiyou did not react for a moment. The adjutant also said: A group of them are not busy, beating gongs and drums, carrying the slaughtered pigs and sheep to the division headquarters, division commander, what to do?
Wang Zhiyou replied: What does this New Fourth Army want to do? We were going to beat him up, but he came to offer condolences. Forget it, reach out and don't hit the smiley face people, first see what they are going to do.
So a group of people rushed to the entrance of the division, only to see He Wei and his party carrying a lot of chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep on their shoulders. Wang Zhiyou thought that he had not yet torn his face, and in order to paralyze our army, he smiled and went over to shake hands with He Wei to express his welcome.
He Wei also said vainly: Xu Haidong, commander of our detachment, has come from afar to join hands with our army to resist Japan. I was specially ordered to bring a basketball team, a service group and some small gifts to come to offer condolences and hope that Master Wang would smile.
Hearing this, Wang Zhiyou did not have a smile on his face, and he was surprised: Xu Haidong again?
Looking at him like this, He Wei also thought that Wang Zhiyou was an acquaintance of Xu Haidong, so he asked: Do you know our commander? Wang Zhiyou quickly shook his head in denial, but he already had a lot of thoughts in his mind, he knew Xu Haidong and had spoken.
It was in 1933, Wang Zhiyou was only a regimental officer in the Nationalist army, and was ordered to go to "encircle and suppress" the Red 25th Army in western Anhui, but his regiment was completely destroyed by Xu Haidong's troops in half an hour, and Wang Zhiyou himself became a prisoner.
Our party's policy toward prisoners has always been very good, those who are willing to join the Red Army will stay, those who want to go home will also be paid for the journey, Wang Zhiyou is an officer, so Xu Haidong received him. At that time, Wang Zhiyou swore to heaven that he would never take a gun again in order to survive, and after leaving, he returned to his hometown to make a living.
Xu Haidong did not embarrass him and personally sent him a travel fee. It was only when Wang Zhiyou repented on the road and ran back to find the original commander, and since then he has also made some merits, which has been promoted to division commander.
Because of this experience, Wang Zhiyou knew that Xu Haidong was very capable of fighting, and he was afraid of a few points before he was at war, worried that if he was captured again, he would definitely die, so it was better to take advantage of the opportunity of Director He's arrival to establish a coordinated relationship to deal with the Japanese together.
Thinking of this, his attitude toward He Wei was a little better, and he said very politely: Your army is so generous, I am ashamed of it, thank you!
Subsequently, Wang Zhiyou warmly entertained He Wei and his entourage, and at the banquet, he also specially told the regimental commanders that they would assemble on time the next day to watch the performance of the New Fourth Army Field Service Regiment.
The two sides of the banquet were very happy, and drank until very late before they dispersed, He Wei was preparing to go to bed at nearly 11 o'clock in the evening, the guards came to report that Master Wang asked to see, and He Wei immediately went out to meet him.
The two exchanged a few words of greeting, and Wang Zhiyou was preparing to say something friendly between the two armies, but he did not expect that the head of the intelligence department of his division headquarters had found this place again, and panickedly reported to him that the Tenth Guerrilla Column and the Eighth Security Regiment had been annihilated by the New Fourth Army.
Wang Zhiyou in order to get closer to He Wei, so this information was said in public, He and Wang had different mentalities after listening to it, He Wei knew that Lin Wei had won the hand first, but Wang Zhiyou thought that He Wei was also going to deal with himself at the moment, and his hands were trembling with nervousness.
When He Wei saw this look, he quickly expressed his relief: Master Wang did not have to worry, the New Fourth Army only eliminated Japanese devils and traitors. I know that Master Wang hopes to resist Japan together, so we are very welcome.
Wang Zhiyou immediately echoed: What Director He said was that the contemptible people have always supported the New Fourth Army in the past, and they will certainly work with the New Fourth Army to resist Japan together in the future.
With this statement, He Wei also smiled: If Master Wang had this idea, then he would be relieved, and Commander Xu called us to show friendship, and there was absolutely no other intention.
After this conversation, both sides relaxed a lot.
With a good foundation, the next day when the New Fourth Army Field Service Corps performed, the entire 138th Division clapped red. In order to promote the feelings of the two sides, the two armies also played a basketball friendly game in the afternoon, although the 138th Division lost, but Wang Zhiyou's mood was very good.
On the evening of this day, news came again, and Yan Renyi, director of the Northern Anhui Bureau, was also annihilated by the New Fourth Army. Wang Zhiyou, who was also a national soldier, was even happier after hearing this, and he was glad that he had taken the right step. So he went to He Wei again, and the two sides discussed a gentleman's agreement on mutual non-aggression and cooperation in resisting Japan.
Both strategies had failed, and Wang Zhiyou reported to Li Pinxian early in the morning of the third day, saying that the whole division was short of grain and grass and asking to retreat.
The 138th Division was a unit of the Gui clan, and Li Pinxian was not willing to be eaten like this, so he agreed to Wang Zhiyou's request, and He Wei also took the opportunity to return to the New Fourth Army.
What Wang Zhiyou didn't know was that Xu Haidong, whom he was deeply jealous of, was actually recuperating and was very weak, and if it were not for the critical situation this time, perhaps Xu Haidong would not have come forward to manage things.
With a single name, you can scare the enemy's senior officers, which is also a very powerful thing. It's just a pity that Xu Haidong has basically been recuperating since then due to physical reasons, otherwise his war career would have been more brilliant!