After the founding of New China, the fate of some captured generals became a problem, but our army has always been lenient with prisoners.
Chairman Mao once said: "It is easy to destroy a body, but it is difficult to transform a soul!" ”
These prisoners of war have clever minds, combat experience, and have had but also meritorious service, so the chairman always has a reformed attitude toward these war criminals.
In order to better manage prisoners of war, the War Criminals Management Institute came into being, and the Gongdelin in Beijing was also retained, and it was the most famous.
It once held eight Whampoa Military Academy first-term students, and later 7 people were pardoned and only 1 was shot.
Where did this Gong deLin Management Office come from?
Gong Delin
Gongdelin was originally a temple, this temple covers a vast area, originally set up here by the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Ming Dynasty, the "Jingshi Learning Art Institute" was established here, and later converted into a prison after the Beiyang warlords occupied Beiping.
Before the liberation of China, Gongdelin imprisoned many early figures and founders of our party as a prison, and Li Dazhao, one of the founders of our party, died in Gongdelin.
During the Republic of China period, the Beiyang warlords were ignorant and fearful of being "redwashed", and they hunted down Li Dazhao many times. But Li Dazhao was tough by nature and did not have a trace of fear.
Li Dazhao once said: "This kind of shameless persecution cannot frighten me. He was still working in his office when the enemy mobilized police to arrest him.
On April 6, 1927, the reactionary military police finally arrested Li Dazhao and imprisoned him in Gongdelin.
The enemy began to torture Li Dazhao to extract a confession, using torture tools such as electric chairs and tiger stools to force Li Dazhao, and finally even pulled out the fingernails of Li Dazhao's hands.
The pain he suffered could be imagined, but Li Dazhao gritted his teeth and did not reveal half a sentence of information.
Later, the enemy army changed its tactics and lured Li Dazhao, and Yang Yuting, Zhang Zuolin's chief of staff at that time, said of his temptation:
"Mr. Li, as long as you are willing to serve Marshal Zhang and Marshal Wu, you will be above me in your official position." However, Li Dazhao was still unmoved.
Li Dazhao did not care about any of the enemy's deeds against him, adhered to his own heart, always adhered to the party's secrets, and was unyielding.
After 22 days in prison, Li Dazhao was the first to go to the gallows, and the enemy strangled li dazhao three times in order to torture him.
After the Liberation War, Gongdelin was still used as a place for prisoners of war, and most of the war criminals detained were senior generals of the Whampoa Military Academy, so some people jokingly called "Gongdelin this place, not a cat or a dog can enter."
The war criminals imprisoned in Gongdelin were not treated as cats and dogs, they had the hope of being reformed.
The most impressive thing about Gong Delin is that he once imprisoned 8 Whampoa first-term students, only one person was executed by shooting, and the remaining 7 people were all pardoned.
What happened to these 8 Huangpu first-term students?
Eight prisoners of first life
During the rule of the warlords of the late Qing Dynasty, the revolutionary situation was grim, and in December 1921, after Ma Lin, a representative of the Communist International, met with Sun Yat-sen and proposed to him to "establish an officer school and establish a revolutionary army", which gave birth to the Whampoa Military Academy.
The Whampoa Military Academy was established to train officers for the revolution and thus to better carry out the revolution.
Before Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution, the Whampoa Military Academy was a revolutionary military school with the nature of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. At that time, Sun Yat-sen concurrently served as the premier of the military academy, Liao Zhongkai served as the school party representative, and Chiang Kai-shek served as the principal.
In 1924, the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy admitted only 350 of the 1200 candidates, all of whom were the proud sons of heaven who were selected by thousands of people, and who were praised as the "Tianzi protégés" of the first phase of Huangpu.
After the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy, it provided many outstanding talents for the revolution, and Xu Xiangqian, Chen Geng, Zhou Shidi and other founding generals were all born from the first term of the Whampoa Military Academy.
In 1927, the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke down, and the Whampoa Military Academy split, forming three Whampoa Military Academies in Guangzhou, Wuhan and Nanjing.
Later, after some changes, Chiang Kai-shek decided to establish the Central Military and Political School in Nanjing, formally swore an oath of anti-communism, and the students of the Whampoa Military Academy followed Chiang Kai-shek and later became a powerful helper of Chiang Kai-shek's resistance to the Communist Party.
In the Huangpu I period of life who followed Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Zongnan, Gui Yongqing, Yu Jishi, Sun Yuanliang and others all fought for Chiang Kai-shek with their lives.
The eight Huangpu I students imprisoned in Gong Delin were all former confidants of Chiang Kai-shek, namely Li Xianzhou, Fan Hanjie, Huang Wei, Du Yuming, Song Xilian, Zhou Zhenqiang, Zeng Guoqing and Deng Zichao.
Li Xianzhou was the first Whampoa I student captured, and he relied on his own efforts to gradually serve as a company commander, regimental commander, and division commander until the commander-in-chief of the 28th Regiment.
He once participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan, was a good-blooded boy, and was very obedient to the arrangement of old Chiang Kai-shek.
Fan Hanjie was a native of Dapu, Guangdong, good at studying politics and military affairs, once a lieutenant general in the National Revolutionary Army, a famous anti-Japanese general, in the Liaoshen Campaign, was captured by our army in Jinzhou.
Huang Wei was a senior general of the Kuomintang during the Republic of China period, he once led troops to participate in the Battle of Songhu and other defensive wars, had courage and strategy in the battle, and carried out the task of "cleaning up and suppressing" after the Long March of the Red Army, which was regarded as a sworn enemy of the Red Army.
Du Yuming was a lieutenant general in the Army of the National Revolutionary Army, who led troops to fight against our army many times, and made great contributions to the Kuomintang.
Although Song Xilian was a Kuomintang army, he was also a famous anti-Japanese general, and once served as the deputy chief of the Central China Military and Political Governor's Office;
Zhou Zhenqiang served as a guard in the Grand Marshal's Office; Zeng Was introduced by Li Dazhao to the Whampoa Military Academy, and during the Northern Expedition, he served as the director of the Political Department during the Northern Expedition.
Deng Zichao participated in the Eastern Expedition and captured Chen Jiongming when he was a student captain at the Whampoa Military Academy, and later participated in the Northern Expedition, which was highly valued and performed extraordinary in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
These eight first-term students of the Whampoa Military Academy also had great achievements in the establishment of great achievements, performed extraordinary feats in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and were rare talents, but unfortunately they had always served Chiang Kai-shek and fought against the Communist Party.
However, when they were imprisoned in the Meritorious Forest, they were not subjected to inhuman abuse, but were painstakingly persuaded by our army to be educated and reformed.
Attitude change Seven people were pardoned
Preferential treatment of prisoners of war has always been a fine tradition of the Communist Party, and our army can give them food and drink when they capture Japanese troops, let alone treat their own compatriots.
In the final analysis, the two sides still have different beliefs and views, and if they can unify their thinking, then their role in new China is still extremely large.
When prisoners of war first entered Gongdelin, they were always very rebellious, and the so-called one subject did not do two masters, and in this regard, everyone maintained a high degree of loyalty.
These first-born PRISONERS were educated in the Gongdelin to help them correct their prejudices. They felt like they were being brainwashed.
This is also understandable, after all, to accept a different concept from before, to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's important position in their hearts.
Therefore, their previous thinking was still very stubborn, and many people were resistant.
Huang Wei was one of the more serious rebels, and when he first entered Gongdelin, he even wanted to commit suicide.
The excuse was that he needed sleeping pills to help him sleep, but secretly accumulated sleeping pills, but fortunately the manager found 50 sleeping pills he had hidden in his pants legs.
If our army really does not care about these prisoners of war, let them commit suicide, but our army has never abandoned these enemies who were once-for-tat, because they also spilled their blood in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and they also have a patriotic heart.
In order to reassure these prisoners of war, Premier Zhou stressed: "The people in the Meritorious Forest will not be killed for no reason, and these people will be released in batches." ”
It is also mentioned that they will not be shackled, everything in the Gongdelin is free, and they can say anything they want, without fear of being punished.
When they were educated and reformed, Huang Wei even disobeyed discipline, and after being criticized and asked to write a check, he also wrote indignantly: the dragon trapped the shoal was played by shrimp, and the tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by the dog.
At that time, he even got into a fight with the manager, and Huang Wei originally thought that he would be severely punished, but in the end, the manager's punishment was even heavier.
Not only that, Huang Wei's thinking at the beginning was very solidified, often disobeying discipline, and passively treating learning and transformation through the excuse of studying perpetual motion machines, and therefore was criticized many times.
If the criticism that bored him is nothing, he will only close his eyes and not listen to or comment; If he were to hear upset criticism, he would put on a string of farts, and when someone said about him, he would retort:
"Farting is a physiological reaction, you have to associate fart with your statement, I can't help it." It's laughable.
Huang Wei was later found to have five types of tuberculosis, and our army has not given up on his treatment, although it is difficult to obtain the necessary drugs, our army still sent personnel to Hong Kong to buy drugs.
After four years of meticulous treatment by medical staff, he finally recovered from his illness, and his mentality changed step by step, after all, the sincerity of our army can be seen.
During the renovation period, due to Huang Wei's weak body, there was never a shortage of milk, eggs and meat on his table, and when the country was very difficult, his food was also very good, and he was also very impressed.
Except for Deng Zichao, everyone else realized the lofty spirit of the Communist Party in the transformation of Gong Delin and accepted the transformation, although the process of transformation was relatively difficult, the good villains also achieved results.
During the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, some generals who stayed in Gongdelin often discussed the war situation together, worried about the situation at that time, and looked forward to the victory of our army.
The general who had a relationship with the US army also compiled his relevant experience and tactics and handed it over to Chairman Mao, hoping to make a contribution, and Chairman Mao also gladly accepted it and let our army circulate it together, and these experiences played a certain role.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, our army was faced with the dilemma of shortage of materials, and the whole country set off a "stir-fried noodle movement." Some of the prisoners of war in Gongdelin also joined the sport when they learned of this, just so that our army could fight the enemy in a good state.
These prisoners of war save part of their own food subsidies on weekdays and gather together to join in the fried noodles, no longer-for-tat, and the former enemies unite against the foreign enemy.
After the victory of the war, many prisoners of war felt joy from the bottom of their hearts.
In addition to Deng Zichao, the remaining 7 prisoners of war were pardoned in turn. What did Deng Zichao do that prevented him from receiving amnesty or even being shot?
The only prisoner of war to be shot
In fact, we must also talk carefully about Deng Zichao's background, born in a turbulent era, he joined the army and strengthened the country and conquered the battlefield when he was young. Later, he studied hard and successfully became a first-term student of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Later, when he participated in the Northern Expedition with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, he showed his talents and was a rare good seedling.
After the end of the Northern Expedition, he followed Chiang Kai-shek on his southern expedition to the North, and Chiang Kai-shek also attached great importance to him, appointing him as the commander of the 14th Regiment of Security in Jiangxi, responsible for guarding Lushan, one of the military centers of China at that time.
Chiang Kai-shek attached so much importance to Deng Zichao that Deng Zichao was even more sincere with him. Later, Deng Zichao's troops showed their skills in the War of Resistance Against Japan and achieved good results.
Chiang Kai-shek was even more important to him, and Deng Zichao also confronted our army at every turn on Chiang Kai-shek's orders and became one of the threatening forces of our army, and he once declared that he would follow Chiang Kai-shek to the death.
However, he was eventually defeated and arrested and sent to Gongdelin, because of his loyal followers of Chiang Kai-shek, he rebelled against education during the reform and disobeyed management.
He even secretly plotted with Zhang Guoxun and others to escape from prison many times, which had a very bad impact on others.
Deng Zichao also never regretted it after he escaped from prison and was arrested, or he went his own way and did not change his ways, and he could only say that he was too loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and still had prejudice against the Communist Party.
Such a person is a time bomb. Although our army advocates the principle of repaying grievances with virtue, for the sake of the overall situation and fear that he will influence other prisoners of war, deng Zichao can only be executed by shooting.
Deng Zichao became the first Huangpu I student to be shot, and the other 7 Whampoa Phase I students all had a good ending.
After his release, Li Xianzhou was received by Premier Zhou, who recalled the past of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the premier asked him to look forward.
Later, because of Li Xianzhou's outstanding ability, he became a standing committee member of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from a small commissioner, and made contributions to the people in his post.
Huang Wei, who had resisted fiercely in the Gongdelin, was the last to be pardoned, and his reform was very difficult at first, but later he was also very convinced of the Communist Party.
After being pardoned, he was given a spacious house on Yongdingmennei East Street, and his wife was assigned a job.
Du Yuming was one of the first pardoned prisoners of war, he was actually Chiang Kai-shek's concubine, but he was also his confidant, but he was very active in the later reform.
His release was met with a huge amount of talk in prison, which many people found incredible, but it also encouraged more people to undergo reform.
After Du Yuming was released, he was grateful, stayed on the mainland, was arranged to serve as a commissioner of the Museum of Literature and History, and lived the second half of his life without worry.
The other pardoned prisoners of war also had roughly the same ending, basically living a life of food and clothing.
Our army did not embarrass them in prison, nor did it restrict their freedom or embarrass them after they left prison, but helped them as much as possible.
The amnesty prisoners of war have already changed their minds after reform, and they are bent on benefiting the mainland and cooperating with the Communist Party, which can be said to be the best outcome.
The Chinese Communist Party is benevolent and objective, and it wants to do everything in its power to help prisoners of war get on the right path. But if they do not cooperate themselves, our army will have no choice but to show mercy to their men.
Epilogue:
The 8 captured first-term students of the Whampoa Military Academy were also the most brilliant under Chiang Kai-shek, and disobedience to discipline was actually inevitable, and some people doubted whether they could really be converted to evil.
However, the Chinese Communist Party has always loved challenges and is good at turning the impossible into possible, and it is this self-confidence that has allowed our party to lead New China to one peak after another.
Deng Zichao's execution is actually something our army does not want to see, and our army hopes that every prisoner of war can understand the painstaking efforts of the Communist Party and understand the strength of unity.
It is much easier to kill a killer than to convince people with reason, but the Communist Party still chooses a stupid method, only because it is Chinese, and it is better to be consistent with the outside world.