Hu Zongnan, a first-class general in the Army of the Nationalist Government, has been rumored conclusively by many people that this highest-ranking commander in the Kuomintang army is actually an underground comrade of the Communist Party, and has listed many facts to support it.
Although everyone knows that these rumors of Hu Zongnan are nothing more than appendices and exaggerations to attract readers, this also shows from the side that Hu Zongnan is a relatively outstanding general in the Kuomintang.
Among the Kuomintang generals, the People's Liberation Army spoke highly of Hu Zongnan, and Premier Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Hu Zongnan, saying that he was a very talented military commander, even better than Chen Cheng, the general of Chiang Kai-shek's Five Tigers, and others.
However, Hu Zongnan, a high-ranking military commander with outstanding talents and loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek, ended up in a very ordinary life...
After Hu Zongnan went to Taiwan, he was not taken seriously, and in his later years he suffered from many illnesses and finally died in a scream.
The short Hu Zongnan was the eldest of the Whampoa Military Academy students and the first commander of the War Zone
As we all know, Chiang Kai-shek's largest support group in the army was the Whampoa Military Academy students he cultivated single-handedly -- they were known as Tianzi protégés and the most loyal and capable officers of Chiang Kai-shek's ruling army, and Hu Zongnan was one of the representative figures in the Whampoa Military Academy.
Hu Zongnan is the best among the first batch of Huangpu graduates, among all the Huangpu students who joined the army, the first to become a brigade commander, division commander and even a military commander is Hu Zongnan, which can be said to be Qingyun Ruyi and attract much attention.
On May 12, 1896, Hu Zongnan was born in a poor family in Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province, his life situation from childhood was not good, and his diet and nutrition in his adolescence were very average, so Hu Zongnan was not very tall when he became an adult.
Although the living conditions in the family were not very good, Aizi's father still sent Hu Zongnan to a private school to study, and after setting up a new-style primary school, he transferred him to the Xiaofeng County Higher Primary School, hoping that Hu Zongnan would be able to study and become a talent, and the future would be a good Guangzong Yaozu.
Hu Zongnan, who is not tall, intelligent and courageous, has not lived up to the expectations of his parents, and his academic performance has been maintained well, and when he graduated from high school, Hu Zongnan achieved the second best result in the school.
After graduation, Hu Zongnan first became a teacher in his hometown, taught and educated people for several years, and then left his hometown for Shanghai because of the disagreement with his parents about marriage.
In April 1924, Hu Zongnan went to Guangzhou to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy, but was rejected because of his height.
After being appreciated by the party representative Liao Zhongkai, he was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy as a first-term cadet, and graduated from the military academy in November of the same year. At this time, Hu Zongnan was 28 years old, a scholar and a scholar, from Rong to the country, became a soldier in the National Revolutionary Army.
When he was at the Whampoa Military Academy, Hu Zongnan was the oldest, the eldest brother of all the cadets, studying hard, training hard, treating people and things in a very disciplined manner, and won the love of many cadets.
At the same time, because Hu Zongnan was a compatriot of Chiang Kai-shek, the principal of the Whampoa Military Academy, his outstanding performance was also seen and remembered by Chiang Kai-shek.
In a series of wars, Hu Zongnan commanded well, was brave and good at fighting, and his performance was very eye-catching, and he was praised by many superior officers.
When he officially joined the army in 1925, Hu Zongnan was only a lieutenant platoon leader, and he served as a battalion commander in early 1926, and by July of the same year, he had been promoted to colonel regimental commander, just one step away from the position of general.
In March 1927, Hu Zongnan, relying on his achievements in attacking Sun Chuanfang and conquering Shanghai in Nanchang, was finally promoted to deputy commander of the First Division of the First Division of the First Army, and became the first of the huangpu cadets to become a general.
Relying on his own strength, Hu Zongnan began to co-opt his disciples to establish factions, forming the "Huangpu Department" of the Young Zhuang faction in the Kuomintang army, and Hu Zongnan also became a representative figure and leader among them, and his influence in the army increased.
Beginning in 1932, Hu Zongnan, He Zhihan, Dai Kasa, and others established the Lixing Society and the Fuxing Society of the quasi-secret service organization, and for a time the momentum soared, and Hu Zongnan became the head of the Thirteen Taibao under Chiang Kai-shek, and even known as the prince of the Huangpu department, and formed a great force within the army and political circles.
Hu Zongnan, who had performed brilliantly in both military and political circles, joined the battlefield of encircling and suppressing the Red Army with great ambition, and led heavy troops to encircle and intercept the Red Army.
However, in the Battle of Songpan, Hu Zongnan was severely taught a lesson by the Red Army, and he himself was almost taken prisoner.
After the Xi'an Incident, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and Hu Zongnan led the elite kuomintang troops to participate in a series of major battles such as the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Kaifeng, and the Battle of Wuhan.
After being taught a lesson by the Red Army, Hu Zongnan made a lot of progress, and in the great battle with the Japanese Kou, he commanded from the front, repeatedly defeated the enemy, led the troops to fight many good battles praised by the Chinese people, and annihilated many Japanese thieves who invaded China.
In January 1945, the dawn of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had dawned, and Hu Zongnan was appointed acting commander of the First Theater, with 4 group armies, 16 armies, 42 divisions, and 5 special regiments under his jurisdiction, totaling 450,000 people, becoming one of the most important forces of the Kuomintang army to counterattack the Japanese army.
In July 1945, Hu Zongnan was officially inaugurated as the commander of the First Theater, becoming the first commander of the War Zone among the Huangpu students, and the eldest brother among the Huangpu graduates also became a role model for all the students at that time, and his popularity was unparalleled.
Hu Zongnan, who lost the battle, changed from a favored subject of tianzi to a disgraced person who was not valued after going to Taiwan
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Hu Zongnan participated in the surrender ceremony, won the Anti-Japanese Medal, and was promoted to the rank of general, becoming the most senior general in the Kuomintang army - life was proud and glorious.
With the rupture of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the Kuomintang government began to launch a large-scale attack on the Liberated Areas, and Hu Zongnan, as a senior commander in the army who was valued by Chiang Kai-shek, was even more eager to perform and contribute to the front.
Due to the repeated failures of friction between the Kuomintang and the Communists, Hu Zongnan was embarrassed and angry, and in 1947, he mobilized heavy troops to plan to capture Yan'an and eliminate the Northern Shaanxi Border Region of the People's Liberation Army.
In order to avoid the enemy's front, the People's Liberation Army took the initiative to abandon Yan'an, withdraw its troops from the enemy's encirclement, and began to circle with the enemy on the outer line.
Hu Zongnan, believing that by occupying Yan'an, he had eliminated the Party Central Committee and the People's Liberation Army, he made a big fuss about the elimination of 50,000 enemy people to the news reporters and held a grand celebration ceremony in the Yan'an Auditorium.
Chiang Kai-shek believed in Hu Zongnan's boasted feats of great merit, and not only praised him greatly, but also rewarded him with the rank of official and gave Hu Zongnan a rare second-class Grand Ribbon Medal.
However, in fact, the PLA did not suffer much loss in the early stage of the battle, and after Hu Zongnan led his troops into Yan'an, the various units of the PLA launched an active offensive from all directions.
For a time, the Kuomintang troops suffered one setback after another, and in the battles of Qinghua, Yangmahe, Panlong, and Shajiadian, the PLA repeatedly completely annihilated the entire brigade of Kuomintang troops, and most of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Liberated Area was subsequently retaken.
With the beginning of the PLA's strategic counteroffensive, Hu Zongnan's troops were unable to form a strategic advantage in suppressing the PLA, and Hu Zongnan was forced to start abandoning Xi'an and other strategic strongholds and began to retreat south and flee.
As a representative figure in the Kuomintang army, Hu Zongnan had lost confidence in fighting at this time, and after he fled south, he not only had to continue to abandon the southwest region, but also fled from China in the direction of Burma and other directions, which made Chiang Kai-shek greatly dissatisfied.
Chiang Kai-shek strictly ordered Hu Zongnan to stick to the southwest region and appointed him as the deputy chief of the Southwest Military and Political Governor's Office, a situation in which he could not be defeated and could not escape--Hu Zongnan racked his brains and exhausted his heart, and he only ended up sleepless and panicked day and night.
The Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan in defeat, and Chiang Kai-shek strictly ordered Hu Zongnan to stick to the situation in the southwest, not because he did not know that Hu Zongnan's troops were running out, but because he hoped that a senior Kuomintang general with enough status and status would be martyred.
In this way, not only did the face after the defeat look better, but also the position within Taiwan was also easy to arrange, so hu Zongnan's troops and his personal retreat orders were not given.
In March 1950, when New China had been established and the defeat of the Kuomintang regime was irreparable, Hu Zongnan was determined to continue to flee with Chiang Kai-shek, and on the eve of the People's Liberation Army's attack on Xichang, he left his troops and fled to Taiwan alone.
A soldier without a general is still a soldier, but a general without a soldier is not as good as a soldier.
After fleeing to Taiwan, Hu Zongnan, who had no troops and military power, became the target of various factions to shirk responsibility and vent anger in order to leave only the soft persimmon as a big man in the army.
In May 1950, more than 40 members of Taiwan's "Control Yuan" jointly impeached Hu Zongnan, believing that a large part of the Kuomintang's defeat in the Liberation War was due to Hu Zongnan.
This made Hu Zongnan anxious and embarrassed, and as a last resort, Hu Zongnan had no choice but to lead the so-called guerrillas to garrison the outer islands under a pseudonym and live in a hurry.
Since then, Hu Zongnan has not been able to control the heavy army as before, and he has no prominent position and the enthusiasm of the people, and has since become a listless and widowed person.
In his later years, Hu Zongnan, who was desolate, suffered from a variety of diseases, and before he died, he was reluctant to put down his arm and died in a scream
Hu Zongnan has always been grumpy and unwilling about his failure, but he still hopes to regain military power, and even return to his former position of favor.
But Chiang Kai-shek had lost interest in Hu Zongnan and even began to dislike Him.
After the joint impeachment of the members of the Control Yuan, although Hu Zongnan escaped the disaster of backing his responsibility and being imprisoned, he did not escape the treatment of being left out in the cold.
In the following ten years, Hu Zongnan lost political power, had no position and no power, and he himself fled to Taiwan alone, without bringing any family assets and property, and his life was very difficult.
Depressed Hu Zongnan, no one can talk to, there is no place to vent, he can only climb to the mountain, against the empty mountain forest, crazy shouting until powerless to collapse.
Having been living in this life of internal and external difficulties and anxiety, Hu Zongnan's physical condition deteriorated rapidly, and he suffered from several evil diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure.
In the later stage, it was not only impossible to eat meat, but also sweets, etc., which can be said to be worse than life.
On February 13, 1962, Hu Zongnan woke up in his sleep, raised his arm in horror and shouted, when the doctor arrived, he found that his arm was stiff and could not be put down, and after the first aid was fruitless, Hu Zongnan died on the 14th of the next day.
Hu Zongnan's son, Hu Weishan, said sadly after his father's death that Hu Zongnan was desolate in his old age, and his death was also a kind of relief.
Because of his unusually hard life in his later years, Hu Zongnan repeatedly sought opportunities to plead with Chiang Kai-shek for a position or opportunity, but he was not ignored by Chiang Kai-shek.
This attitude of Chiang Kai-shek also affected others, and Hu Zongnan was completely left out of sight.
When Hu Zongnan was seriously ill, Chiang Kai-shek actually remembered this proud disciple, and in order to appease people's hearts, he specially went to the hospital to visit Hu Zongnan, and this sudden grace made Hu Zongnan on the hospital bed excited and weeping bitterly.
After Hu Zongnan's death, he was posthumously promoted to the first rank and became a first-class general in the Kuomintang army.
But in fact, this admiral did not get any good living treatment in the last years of his life, and this kind of mourning behind him showed the desolation of Hu Zongnan in his later years and the hypocrisy of the Kuomintang top brass.
Hu Zongnan's life was still loyal and courageous, and he did not discount his execution of Chiang Kai-shek's orders.
Although, in the end, due to his life-saving, he did not fight the People's Liberation Army to the end in the southwest region, Hu Zongnan did not flee to Europe and the United States, but insisted on following Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan without a long life.
Perhaps, before fleeing to Taiwan, Hu Zongnan still thought that his beloved principal would continue to value himself and take care of himself, but he did not think that widowhood and thin righteousness were the true face of this group of high-ranking Kuomintang officials.
Hu Zongnan, who had lost the support of the army, did not find a trace of warmth within the Kuomintang, and as a general in the tangtang nationalist army, he even felt embarrassed in his own life, which cannot but be said to be a great irony of loyal and courageous soldiers.
Throughout Hu Zongnan's life, he lived a tortuous and turbulent life, which was quite rich.
He served as a teacher who taught and educated people, as a soldier who threw pens and pens, as a general who fought against the Japanese Kou, and as a commander who insisted on civil war—and finally died in bed as a general of the defeated army.
In fact, in terms of personal talent alone, Hu Zongnan, who was already 28 years old and only learned military knowledge, had some considerable achievements in the anti-Japanese battlefield.
Considering this aspect, he still has a certain ability to learn and have military ability, but he lacks military strategic command ability and correct political direction.
If Hu Zongnan had not defected to the Kuomintang reactionary government, and had not been promoted to a high position by Chiang Kai-shek's Miao, he might have been qualified as a commander at the level of a military division, and it would have been easier for him to exert his abilities.
Unfortunately, because of the limitations of the times and cognition, Hu Zongnan finally stood firmly on the opposite side of the people, repeatedly opposing communism and opposing the people, and such behavior was bound to be washed away by the people's ocean, which also determined that his end would be desolate and depressed.
Resources:
[1] Guangming Network. Hu Zongnan's last 12 years.2015-08-04