preface
Speaking of the famous generals in the Kuomintang army during the War of Resistance, Zhang Lingfu is definitely a general who has to be mentioned, in the Battle of Gao'an in 1939, he was shot in the knee and almost amputated because he personally fought with the Japanese Kou, but Zhang Lingfu said indifferently: "Although Zhang Someone's leg is ruined, he is not deceived by the thief Kou, and it is worth it!" In the end, although the leg was saved, it also fell into a permanent disability, so he was given the title of a lame general. It can be seen that Zhang Lingfu is a soldier with great national integrity and national righteousness.
Zhang Lingfu (front row, second from left)
Zhang Lingfu was born in 1903 in a rural area in Shaanxi Province, was a cadet of the Huangpu 4th term, he had courage and strategy in battle, and he was deeply respected by Chiang Kai-shek, all the way to the commander of the 74th Division of the Kuomintang Reorganized Division, which was different from other Kuomintang troops, it was the trump card in the Kuomintang army, the elite of the elite, and it was the unit that Chiang Kai-shek valued most.
Zhang Lingfu rarely lost battles in his military career, in addition to his courage and strategy in commanding battles, but also stemmed from his extreme self-confidence, he often said to his subordinates: "The Kuomintang troops have never lacked commanders, what they lack is a confident commander, and there is no room for indecisive generals on the battlefield!" ”
But it was precisely his self-confidence that made him arrogant and arrogant, unable to listen to anyone's opinions, and finally insisted on going his own way in the Battle of Meng Lianggu, killing Meng Lianggu and paying a huge price for his blind self-confidence.
This article will also explain in detail how Zhang Lingfu and his reorganized 74th Division forced themselves into a desperate situation step by step in the Battle of Menglianggu.
Zhang Lingfu went deep alone, and Tang Enbo lamented
In May 1947, in the Yimeng Mountains of Shandong Province, because the East China Field Army had previously implemented the main concealment and confusion tactics, Chiang Kai-shek mistakenly thought that the Platon Army was tired of attacking and was retreating, so he ordered all the troops to pursue and sweep, Zhang Lingfu was afraid of losing this great opportunity to make meritorious contributions, so he ordered the 74th Division to accelerate its advance, gradually breaking away from the cover of the 25th Division and the 83rd Division on the left and right sides, becoming a situation of going deep alone.
The 74th Division belonged to the Kuomintang First Corps, the commander was Tang Enbo, he knew that the form of the battlefield was far less optimistic than Zhang Lingfu imagined, so he called Zhang Lingfu to ask him to temporarily slow down the pace of the march, but Zhang Lingfu was backed by Chiang Kai-shek's big backstage, and he was also the commander of the Kuomintang First Ace Division, although Tang Enbo was his superior, he did not pay attention to it at all, but everywhere he let Tang Enbo cooperate with him to fight, this time Zhang Lingfu did not say a few words to hang up the phone, and continued to order the troops to speed up and advance, Tang Enbo was helpless He had to get into a jeep and personally chase after Zhang Lingfu to persuade him in person.
Tang Enbo drove all the way to the vicinity of the Qingtuo Temple, before catching up with the follow-up troops of the 74th Division, Tang Enbo immediately stopped and asked the soldiers who were already running sweaty: "Who made you run so fast?" ”
Soldier Qiu Wancai replied, "We, Master Zhang, said that whoever can catch Chen Yi and Su Yu will be promoted to the third rank, and there will be a heavy reward!" ”
Tang Enbo:, pass on my orders, the troops pause their advance, rest in place! ”
Qiu Wancai asked, "Who are you?" ”
"I'm Tang Enbo, go and get your division commander!"
Because Qiu Wancai did not know Tang Enbo, Tang Enbo went out and hurriedly wore civilian clothes, only taking a driver, so he did not believe that this was Tang Enbo, after looking up and down, he gave Tang Enbo a blank eye and continued to chase the large army.
Tang Enbo's face was livid, knowing that he could not stop it, he lamented to the driver in frustration: "Commander Zhang is going to be fierce and ji less, I am afraid that he has become cannon fodder for the communist army!" ”
That night, Zhang Lingfu led the 74th Division to Tanbu and camped.
Zhang Lingfu said to the deputy division commander Cai Renjie: "He Tang Enbo is a coward, he does not dare to compete with Chen Yi and Su Yu, I thought that Zhang Lingfu did not dare, I just can't understand why the old man would use him as a timid person like a rat, and when I win this battle, I will go back to him to settle the account!" ”
Arrogant soldiers must be defeated, and this is the eternal law of war.
Zhang Lingfu insisted on going his own way to defend Meng Lianggu
At this time, Su Yu also noticed the movement of the 74th Division, and he believed that although this unit was a fierce enemy, they were heavily equipped troops, and marching in the mountains would become a drag, not to mention, nor could they exert their power, so they were ready to concentrate their superior forces to encircle them south of Tanbu and north of Menglianggu to eliminate them.
On the night of May 13, the various columns of the East China Field Army quickly met with the division, formed a huge encirclement circle and carried out a large-scale attack on Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division, and the 74th Division also carried out fierce counterattacks, until the morning of the 14th, Zhang Lingfu suddenly received a call from Tang Enbo, who told Zhang Lingfu: "According to the intelligence of the air force reconnaissance, at present, there are about 100,000 people of the communist army surrounding him, and about 100,000 people are on the way to retreat. ”
This information made Zhang Lingfu break out in a cold sweat, realized the seriousness of the problem, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat in the direction of Meng Lianggu, and at about 3 p.m. the next day, the main force of the 74th Division arrived at Meng Lianggu.
From Tanbu to Menglianggu, in a short period of tens of miles, his troops were attacked by the Platon Army on four small scales, and there were a large number of troops assembling in the eastern, western, and northern directions, Zhang Lingfu gradually had an ominous premonition in his heart, realizing that Su Yu's action was directed at his 74th Division.
Zhang Lingfu ordered the troops to rest in place, and then took a few people up the mountain to observe the surrounding terrain, preparing to find a new way out for the 74th Division.
Gugu is a kind of mountain with steep surroundings, flat top and strange shape, which has the characteristics of being easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Zhang Lingfu climbed to the top of the mountain with difficulty on crutches, at which point Deputy Chief of Staff Li Yunliang said: "As long as our army places a regiment of troops on the top of the mountain and is equipped with more than a dozen howitzers, it can be condescending, even if the communist army grows wings, it is difficult to attack!" ”
Zhang Lingfu nodded after listening, and he pointed to the top of the mountain with his crutch and said: "We can take advantage of the terrain here, hold menglianggu, attract the main force of the communist army to besiege, and then Tang Enbo's first corps and other troops will implement a counter-encirclement on the outskirts of the communist army, so that we can gather and annihilate the communist army!" ”
At this time, Wei Zhenyu, chief of staff, raised an objection: "There is a serious shortage of water here, how to solve it if we stick to the water source of tens of thousands of people?" ”
Deputy Chief of Staff Li Yunliang said: "It can be airdropped. ”
Wei Zhenyu: "This mountain is full of big stones, and the fortifications cannot be built." ”
Li Yunliang: "It only takes a few days, there is no need to build fortifications." ”
Wei Zhenyu: "Then what if our heavy weapons such as tanks and howitzers don't come?" ”
Li Yunliang: "Can we first throw it to the communist army for safekeeping, and when we win the war, will it still be ours?" ”
The two argued endlessly about this, and Zhang Lingfu rudely interrupted the two and immediately ordered them to camp at Meng Lianggu.
At this time, Wei Zhenyu still wanted to continue to persuade Zhang Lingfu, but before he could open his mouth, he was interrupted by Zhang Lingfu waving his hand: "Okay, go ahead and carry out the order." ”
Then Zhang Lingfu and Tang Enbo had a phone call and told him his plan, and Tang Enbo understood that Zhang Lingfu's personality could not be persuaded at all, and he did not bother to persuade again, but only perfunctory: "We fully cooperate with you." Then he hung up the phone.
Later facts proved that all the objections raised by Chief of Staff Wei Zhenyu had become a reality and a laughing stock in the eyes of the People's Liberation Army, and Zhang Lingfu's blind self-confidence made Meng Lianggu his grave.
Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to encourage Zhang Lingfu to be ridiculed by Su Yu
Late on the night of the 14th, the People's Liberation Army successively captured Duozhuang, Wanquan Mountain, and the 330 Heights, completely cutting off the 74th Division's way out to escape south. Chief of Staff Wei Zhenyu wanted to report these news to Zhang Lingfu, but Zhang Lingfu had already fallen asleep to the fierce gunfire, and he did not wake Zhang Lingfu, but the bad premonition in his heart became stronger and stronger. In the early morning of the 15th, the 74th Division had been surrounded by 5 columns of the East China Field Army, completely compressed in a narrow strip centered on Meng Lianggu.
On the morning of the 15th, Zhang Lingfu got up to eat breakfast, Wei Zhenyu truthfully reported the battle situation, Zhang Lingfu, who had eaten half of the meal, put down his chopsticks and was in no mood to continue eating, at this time he only frowned slightly, it was extremely difficult to be detected, and then he returned to his previous attitude of facing his subordinates, and he always showed a calm posture in front of his subordinates.
He said to Wei Zhenyu, "Just lost some weight and mule horses, no problem!" ”
Having said that, he still had some worries in his heart, although there were still hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops on the outskirts of the People's Liberation Army, but their combat morale was hugely different from that of the People's Liberation Army, moreover, many officers in these Kuomintang troops were not accustomed to Zhang Lingfu's arrogant attitude, and it was unknown whether they could do their best to rescue them.
While Zhang Lingfu was meditating, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram in which Chiang Kai-shek said: "Lingfu, the Battle of Meng Lianggu is our rare fighter plane, and it is also the fighter plane that Chen Yi and Su Yu dreamed of. More than a month ago, we captured Yan'an, and after more than a month, our victory was at your feet, and I had issued the strictest orders to the external troops, so that they would cooperate with you at all costs to win this battle, you must hold your position and attack the communist army inside and outside, you are my most trusted and outstanding iron army, this miracle will be completed by your 74th Division! Victory must be yours! ”
Chiang Kai-shek's words of encouragement were really too exaggerated, and even had some brainwashing elements, and as everyone knew, Chiang Kai-shek's telegram had been intercepted by Chen Yi and Su Yu, and the two laughed loudly, and Su Yu said: "Old Chiang Kai-shek is afraid that he has been knocked unconscious by us and has begun to talk crazy!" ”
Chen Yi said angrily, "I would rather let go of Huang Botao's entire division than let a soldier of the 74th Division escape from Meng Lianggu!" ”
Zhang Lingfu killed Meng Lianggu
After Chen Yi and Su Yu exchanged views, they immediately issued their respective combat tasks to each column.
On the morning of 16 May, Su Yu issued an order to attack, and before the general offensive began, Su Yu ordered our artillery to first carry out a fierce artillery attack on the Menglianggu position.
More than 30,000 people of the Kuomintang reorganized 74th Division huddled in a narrow area of Menglianggu, which was no more than 10 miles away, and when our artillery shells fell, the stones splashed everywhere, and the power was greatly enhanced, and the soldiers of the 74th Division fell one by one.
Cai Renjie, deputy commander of the 74th Division, used a telescope in the trenches to see his soldiers on the bare mountain, exposed to the sun and bombarded by shells, one by one, his face was covered with blood, sloppy to the extreme, and even a little ace division looked.
While Cai Renjie was worried in his heart, Zhang Lingfu's sudden arrival interrupted his reverie: "Is the person looking for water back?" ”
Cai Renjie was startled, quickly sorted out his emotions, picked up the phone and called the commander of the 3rd Company who was responsible for finding water, and the commander of the 3rd Company said excitedly: "Guarding the pond under the mountain is Xu Shiyou's 73rd Regiment and 5th Company, our company of more than 100 people have attacked 25 times and have been beaten back, and now only I, the deputy company commander and the service soldiers are left!" ”
After hearing this, Zhang Lingfu was silent for a moment and said, "Ren Jie, tell all the officers and men that if you are thirsty, drink horse urine and human urine!" Then he ordered his guards to take a bowl of horse urine and drink it all.
Zhang Lingfu looked up at Cai Renjie, whose thirsty lips were chapped, "What? You also come to a bowl? ”
Cai Renjie licked his lips and quickly waved his hand to refuse.
Zhang Lingfu did not embarrass Cai Renjie anymore when he saw the situation, and immediately sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, asking Chiang Kai-shek to airdrop some materials to solve the urgent need.
After receiving the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent 25 transport planes and flew toward Meng Lianggu. The transport planes hovered over Menglianggu for a while before dropping parachute buns, cans, and rubber sacs filled with water.
The situation that the 74th Division wanted to replenish by airdrop was quickly discovered by Tao Yong of the 4th Column, who ordered the reconnaissance officers to use the exact same signal as the enemy to guide the transport airdrop, the transport aircraft could not identify the authenticity, coupled with the interference of the wind direction and other factors, resulting in most of the materials falling into the PLA position, and a small number of rubber sacs filled with water that fell into the positions of the 74th Division were shot through by our army when they were about to fall to the ground, and the rubber sacs became empty bags after landing.
The few supplies that fell into the positions of the 74th Division were scrambled by soldiers as soon as they landed, and there were also incidents of wrestling together because of the scramble for food, and even firing at each other.
When the materials fell into the PLA positions, they caused the PLA fighters to cheer one by one, and the soldiers looked at Chiang Kai-shek's transport plane, shouted with a giggle, and even made up a set of smooth words: "Transport Captain Chiang Kai-shek, transported steamed buns and roast chicken, and the shells transported were so powerful that they became their own hits!" ”
At 2:30 p.m., the battle to attack the main peak of Meng Lianggu officially began with the launch of three signal bombs, and the main peak of Meng Lianggu was suddenly submerged in a sea of fire, and all the PLA soldiers who participated in the battle shouted the slogan of capturing Zhang Lingfu alive and rushed to the main peak from all directions.
The battle was fought very fiercely, and Sun Tongwei, the regimental commander of the 73rd Regiment of the Ninth Column, first led his troops to rush to the top of the mountain and planted a red flag. The Sixth Column Special Task Force Regiment directly took the cave occupied by the headquarters of the 74th Division, and not far from the cave, it encountered the desperate resistance of more than 1,000 enemies.
When the Sixth Column Special Service Regiment rushed to the mouth of the cave, it engaged in a fierce battle with Zhang Lingfu's guards of more than twenty people, and the soldiers of the Special Service Regiment violently strafed and dropped bombs into the cave, and after the explosion, the cave was as silent as death, and when the special service regiment of our army rushed into the cave, it found Zhang Lingfu, who had been shot and killed in the back of the head, deputy division commander Cai Renjie, who had fallen in a pool of blood, and a number of senior commanders of the 74th Division.
In the Battle of MengLianggu, our army annihilated more than 32,000 people of the Kuomintang's reorganized 74th Division, and won a complete victory, and Zhang Lingfu also became a victim of Chiang Kai-shek's civil war.
When Chiang Kai-shek learned the news of Zhang Lingfu's death, he looked dejected and lamented: "The failure of the 74th Division is the most painful thing for me!" Afterwards, Chen Cheng, chief of the general staff, was suspended, Tang Enbo was dismissed, and Li Tianxia, commander of the 83rd Division, was escorted to the Nanjing Military Justice Department for a military trial, which showed the status of Zhang Lingfu and the 74th Division in Chiang Kai-shek's heart.