Friends who are familiar with history know that there has always been a distinction between concubines and miscellaneous cards in the national army, and generals from miscellaneous cards are not only slow to rise, but also difficult to hold important positions. But there was one person who was an exception, although he was from a miscellaneous background, he served as the commander of the nationalist army heavy army group and became the love general of Chen Cheng and lao Jiang, and this person was Huang Baitao. Huang Baitao is neither a graduate of the Baoding Military Academy, nor is he from Huangpu, nor does he belong to any faction. Before defecting to Lao Jiang, he successively followed the Beiyang warlords Li Chun and Zhang Zongchang, and because of his bravery and good fighting, he sat down from an ordinary messenger to the position of division commander.
After Zhang Zongchang's army was defeated, Huang Baitao defected to Lao Jiang, and because he was from a miscellaneous background, Old Jiang did not trust Huang Baitao, relieved him of his military powers, and only let him become a staff officer in the Central Military Commission. By chance, Huang Baitao became acquainted with Chen Cheng, who admired his military talents, and Huang Baitao was able to become the commander of the 25th Army. At that time, the 25th Army was a newly formed unit, mainly composed of the Sichuan Army, the Northeast Army and a small number of central armies, and its combat effectiveness was very low. After Huang Baitao took office, he practiced what he preached and carried out strict training for the 25th Army, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of this unit.
After the outbreak of the Liberation War, the 25th Army was reorganized into the reorganized 25th Division, and under the leadership of Huang Baitao, the 25th Division ranked among the best in the Nationalist army both offensively and defensively, and became one of the most effective units in the Nationalist Army. During the Northern Jiangsu Campaign, Huang Baitao led the reorganized 25th Division of Lianketai County, Gaoyou, Baoying, Yancheng, Funing, and Muyang; soon after, he was transferred to Jiaodong to fight, and his achievements were equally outstanding, successively capturing Gaomi, Pingdu, Laiyang, Fushan, and Yantai.
The reorganized 25th Division was equipped with Japanese weapons, and its firepower was far inferior to that of the reorganized 11th Division and the reorganized 74th Division, but Huang Baitao's performance in offensive was far superior to That of Hu Lian, and even compared with Zhang Lingfu, he did not fall behind at all. At the same time, Huang Baitao also repeatedly relieved friendly troops at critical moments, which was very rare among the generals of the Nationalist army. In the Battle of Menglianggu, in order to relieve Zhang Lingfu, Huang Baitao tried his best and almost broke through the blocking position of a column, at this time, a battalion of the 28th Regiment of the Fourth Column just happened to pass by from here and entered the battle in time, which blocked Huang Baitao.
Shortly after Zhang Lingfu's defeat and death, Hu Lian and his reorganized 11th Division also fell under the siege of Huaye in Nanma. Under the onslaught of the People's Liberation Army, Hu Lian was in danger. Chen Cheng ordered Huang Baitao to provide urgent reinforcements, and he led the reorganized 25th Division to advance in the night, breaking through HuaYe's blocking position and forcibly saving Hu Lian from the encirclement. After the outbreak of the Battle of Eastern Henan, Huang Baitao first broke through Huaye's blocking position and rescued the reorganized 72nd Division belonging to ou Shounian's corps. Then he fought hard for 8 days and nights at Diqiudian and Huaye, and finally forced Huaye to retreat.
In order to commend Huang Baitao's military exploits, Lao Jiang not only personally awarded him a Medal of Blue Sky and White Sun, but also promoted him to the commander of the 7th Corps, and also ranked his special pass number for the Presidential Palace in 17th place, which was even higher than many Huangpu generals. Old Jiang's move made Huang Baitao grateful and said: "The country is thick to me, the leader is thick to me, only to die."
In order to repay Lao Jiang's kindness, Huang Baitao must be the first in every battle and never easily retreat. However, such a strong general of the nationalist army who was both offensive and defensive was killed by Liu Zhi and others. Before the Battle of Huaihai broke out, Huang Baitao had already sensed that he was in danger of being surrounded by Huaye, and repeatedly asked Liu Zhi to withdraw to Xuzhou, but it was not until November 4 that Liu Zhi called back to agree to retreat. However, just as Huang Baitao was deploying the retreat, Liu Zhi suddenly called and ordered the Seventh Corps to wait for the 44th Army in the direction of Haizhou and retreat with the army.
Originally, Haizhou was not far from Xin'an Town, and if the 44th Army forcibly marched, it would not take a day to join Huang Baitao. However, Liu Zhi could not rest assured of his private salt business in Haizhou, and even informed the boss who was engaged in the salt business for himself in advance, and the boss informed his relatives and friends of the news. As a result, ten or ten hundred, soon everyone in Haizhou knew that the 44th Army was about to withdraw, so those merchants, local rich people, and some high-ranking officials and dignitaries took action one after another, dragging their families and mouths to Xin'an Town, and at once blocked the road tightly.
Huang Baitao had been in the battlefield for a long time, and he knew that if he delayed for one minute in Xin'an Town at this time, he would be more dangerous. However, due to the blockage of the road, the 44th Army could not speed up the march at all, and could only move forward with the crowd. Huang Baitao, who was very depressed in his heart, said to his friend Li Yili, a major general in the Presidential Office who joined the army: "When a large army fights, it is precisely because the general has no talent and exhausts the three armies. The affairs of the state are heavy, the head is thrown lightly, and the life and death of the individual are not regrettable. But this is the main battle, the relationship is survival, if we collapse, we will lose everything, what will we do in the future? ”
For this question of Huang Baitao, Li Yili was obviously unable to answer, and he kindly comforted Huang Baitao and advised him not to be too discouraged. It was not until November 7 that the 44th Army reached the town of Xin'an, and Huang Baitao urgently ordered the whole army to retreat to Xuzhou, but it was too late, and Hua Ye used the three precious days given by Liu Zhi to catch up and surroundEd Huang Baitao in the Nianzhuangwei area. For the sake of several salt shops, Liu Zhi actually used military secrets as a joke, and finally put Huang Baitao in a desperate situation. Old Jiang used such a person as the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "suppression of the general", how could the Nationalist army not be defeated!
After Huang Baitao was besieged, Old Jiang was so anxious that he urgently ordered Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi to go to relieve the siege. In order to prevent Qiu Qingquan from slipping his head, Lao Jiang also wrote him a handwritten letter: "For the survival of the party and the state, in this one fell swoop, my brother should carry forward the Huangpu spirit, be loyal to the country, fulfill filial piety for the nation, and sacrifice at all costs to crush the enemy in front of him to relieve the siege of the Yellow Army." But in order to protect themselves, Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi refused to fight to the death, and they violated old Jiang's orders and fought for 11 days to advance less than 30 kilometers, almost just sitting and watching Huang Baitao's downfall.
Huang Baitao was well aware of the bad habit of the Nationalist army in seeing death and not saving, and he also knew that it was difficult for him to get reinforcements. Therefore, from the moment he was surrounded, he issued an order to the commanders of the army to "prepare to fight independently and fulfill the duty of a soldier" and declared that he would fight with our army one by one. Hua Ye's attack on Nianzhuang wei adopted a four-sided attack on the center, with 4 columns attacking the positions of Xiaoyazhuang and Youjiahu north of Nianzhuangwei; 8 columns attacking the positions of The compound and Wuzhuang east of Nianzhuangwei; 9 columns attacking the 44th Army near Nianzhuang Station; and 6th and 13 columns attacking the positions of Pengzhuang and Hetaizi.
The field army command demanded continuous assaults, quick battles, and settlements within 3 to 5 days. However, at the beginning of the assault, it was found that the difficulties were much greater than expected, and the attacking troops were met with the deadly resistance of the enemy, and the battle was extremely fierce. The area around Xiaoyazhuang and Youjiahu lake attacked by the 4th column was guarded by the enemy's 25th Army, which was Huang Baitao's starting force, with many veterans, strong combat effectiveness, and extremely hidden fortifications.
After the officers and men of the 4th Column entered the village, they encountered fierce fire interception, and the enemy built a dotted ming fort and a dark bunker in the village, most of the firing holes were close to the ground, and our attacking troops would be killed or wounded even if they crawled forward. In addition, the enemy also built most of the fortifications into a mezzanine, which could be covertly fired from behind our assault troops. My attacking troops often launched several shocks to advance one step, and even if they occupied a civilian house, they would be immediately ignited by the enemy's incendiary bombs. A division of the fourth column attacked for eight hours, paying the price of more than 3,000 casualties, before capturing Xiaoyazhuang and Youjiahu.
In order to reduce the casualties of the frontal assault, Su Yu ordered the troops to carry out earthwork and approach the enemy by digging trenches to shorten the distance of the impact as much as possible. Huang Baitao's forward positions were constantly eroded in this way, and the small villages on the outskirts were lost one by one, and our attacking troops finally approached the enemy's core fortifications. At this time, the enemy's stubborn resistance was even more fierce, and each house had to be repeatedly fought several times before it could be occupied.
At this time, the Battle of Nianzhuangwei had reached its final stage, and Huang Baitao said to Liu Zhenxiang, commander of the 64th Army, and others: "I am old and sick, and I cannot walk as a prisoner, and I am embarrassed. After my sacrifice, let others still know that there are loyal people, or I can make those who are drunk and dreaming of death wake up, and there may be hope for the party-state. You are still young and still have a lot of work, and I hope that you will break through and do something for the party-state. After that, Liu Zhenxiang and others broke through separately, and Huang Baitao committed suicide at the age of 48. After Huang Baitao's death, Old Jiang was very sad and posthumously awarded him the second-class general of the army.
After Huang Baitao's death, his wife Liu Biyun came to Taiwan with her son Huang Xiaoxian and daughter Huang Lizhen. Old Jiang remembered the military achievements of Huang Baitao and took great care of his children, and Huang Xiaoxian was arranged to work in the military's foreign affairs agency, and the treatment was very generous. Because he is the only son in the family, Liu Biyun is very doting on him, and Huang Xiaoxian has developed an arrogant personality and is contaminated with many vices. Soon after, because of financial problems, he shot a gambling stick named Yang Shirong, and was soon arrested and sentenced to death.
In order to save her son's life, Liu Biyun moved around, and finally after being pointed out, she found Lao Jiang and Song Meiling with Huang Baitao's Qingtian White Sun Medal, and pleaded bitterly: "The president is gracious!" Lady Kain! Save my son! His first husband, Huang Huanran, was a national chengren, and he left his only son to serve as the first to commit the crime of homicide and should be severely punished according to law. But the president looked at his father's sacrifice for the country, spared him from death, and left the only blood for the Huang family. ”
Seeing this Qingtian White Sun Medal, Old Jiang saw things and thought about people, and he said with a solemn expression: "Baitao has made outstanding achievements, but unfortunately the tutoring is not strict, Tiger Father and Dog!" Since ancient times, even if I am the president, I cannot be put above the law. Liu Biyun obviously left room for old Jiang's words, so he repeatedly pleaded and prostrated his head vigorously. When old Jiang saw the situation, he could not bear it, and took up a pen and instructed: "Remember his father, honor and honor, inherit his heirs, and help reduce his sentence." Huang Xiaoxian changed from the death penalty to life imprisonment, and later Liu Biyun took many activities to release Huang Xiaoxian from prison on parole. After this ordeal, Huang became a successful businessman and moved to the United States in the mid-1970s.