Chen Cheng, a native of Qingtian County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, graduated from the Baoding Military Academy, and then went south to join the Guangzhou Revolutionary Army, and had the honor of serving as an artillery instructor at the Huangpu Military Academy after its establishment. You know, Chen Cheng studied artillery at the Baoding Military Academy, so he is a professional in this line. At the Whampoa Military Academy, he met and appreciated Chiang Kai-shek, and as a result, Chen Cheng became a backbone member of the Whampoa department, which was deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek and has since soared. He is an officer to the rank of general of the Nationalist Army, and holds the positions of Chief of the General Staff, Commander-in-Chief of the Logistics Department, and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Because of his high official position and the deep trust of Chiang Kai-shek, he was called a small chairman by the outside world.
Although Chen Cheng was a powerful minister during the Republic of China period, friends who may know history know that his military ability is not the most outstanding among all the generals in the national army, and can only be said to be of average level. Although Chen Cheng's military ability was mediocre, he trained an excellent army for Chiang Kai-shek. That is the "18th Army of the National Revolutionary Army". Chen Cheng's achievements can be denied, but the performance of the 18th Army in the warlord melee, the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the War of Liberation was indeed outstanding, and it was definitely an excellent army in the national army.
Temporary
It should be known that the five main forces of the Nationalist Army are the 74th Army, the Fifth Army, the 18th Army, the New First Army, and the New Sixth Army. However, among the five ace armies, the earliest was the 18th Army, which is also revered as the big brother in the army. In addition, the four armies were formed during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Speaking of the 18th Army, it is necessary to mention the 11th Division, because the 18th Army was expanded on the basis of the 11th Division. The commander of the 11th Division of the National Revolutionary Army was not Chen Cheng, but Cao Wanshun, and then Chen Cheng served as the commander. Coupled with Chiang Kai-shek's admiration for him at that time, the officers of the 11th Division were all Huangpu sheng, and they were also regarded by Chiang Kai-shek as a concubine unit.
It is said that the Gui army has strong combat effectiveness, but in the Jiang Gui War, Chen Cheng led the 11th Division to defeat the Gui army many times. Also during the Great War of the Central Plains, the 11th Division defeated Feng Yuxiang's elite large knife death squad, and Chiang Kai-shek took economic warfare, and soon the Northwest Army collapsed.
During the warlord melee, the outstanding performance of the 11th Division, as well as the merits made on the battlefield, were obvious to everyone. So at that time, the 11th Division was an ace force. Subsequently, the expansion of the Eighteenth Army, the first ace army in the national army, was officially born. This excellent army became famous during the warlord melee, and then the 18th Army grew and grew during the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army.
Chen Cheng, in the course of the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, constantly expanded the 18th Army, you know, a corps is generally two divisions to three divisions. The 18th Army had five divisions in the course of the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, making it the largest army at that time. He also participated in five anti-encirclement and suppression wars in the Soviet Union, as well as the Battle of Ganzhou, the Battle of Nanxiong Shuikou, and the Battle of Le'an Yihuang. In these battles, the 18th Army performed very well, so the commander Chen Cheng was promoted, and the second commander of the 18th Army was Luo Zhuoying. Friends who may know history know that Luo Zhuoying was a famous general, and the merits made during the anti-Japanese period can be comparable to Xue Yue, the god of war.
Therefore, in the following period of the War of Resistance, the commander of this ace army was Luo Zhuoying, who at that time had the 11th Division under its command, with Huang Wei as the commander; the 14th Division, with Huo Yuzhang as the division commander; the 67th Division, with Li Shusen as the division commander; and the 98th Division, with Xia Chuzhong as the division commander. The 18th Army fought well during the Civil War, however, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the 18th Army also made contributions to the anti-Japanese war. He participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Zaoyi, the Battle of Western Hubei, the Battle of Changde, the Battle of Xiangxi and other large-scale battles during the War of Resistance. In these battles, the Eighteenth Army fought with the blood of a soldier, and no officer took the initiative to surrender to the Japanese army on the battlefield. At the same time, the 18th Army also trained a number of generals who could fight good battles, such as Luo Zhuoying, Huang Wei, Fang Tian, Hu Lian, Huo Yuzhang, Xia Chuzhong, Peng Shan, Qin Daoshan and other generals, all of whom had served as division commanders or deputy commanders and commanders of the 18th Army.
During the Liberation War, the 18th Army was reorganized into the Eleventh Division, with Hu Lian, a nationalist general, as its commander. In the course of fighting with the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army, the reorganized 11th Division won more than it lost, and in addition to the strong combat ability of the troops, it also had a great relationship with the division commander Hu Lian. The reorganized 11th Division, which had always been regarded as a fierce enemy by our army during the Liberation War, was not eliminated until the final Battle of Huaihai.
Throughout the combat history of the 18th Army, this unit is definitely an excellent army in the National Army, and it is also an ace army cultivated by Chen Cheng. He made outstanding contributions to Chiang Kai-shek's fight against the world.