Preface
During the War of Liberation, many outstanding generals emerged from our party and the Kuomintang, and three of them brought tremendous pressure to the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army on the mainland. Not all three generals were well-known, only one of them was a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, while the other two were even ridiculed and despised by Chiang Kai-shek's cronies in their early years.
However, no matter which one of these three generals was chosen, they were more powerful than the rumored Xue Yue and Zhang Lingfu, which caused great trouble to the PLA fighters of our party.
So who are these three figures, and what are the talents they possess that make our party's PLA fighters feel such a headache?
1. "Land Snake" Huang Baitao: A self-made genius
After the 1927 tragedy, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party quickly named each other mortal enemies. In the long years of civil war that followed, many military generals rose in the flames of war and were destroyed in the smoke of gunpowder.
Huang Baitao is one of them. He was originally just a nobody under Zhang Zongchang, but after Zhang Zongchang's defeat, he escaped and came to Chiang Kai-shek.
You must know that Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates have gathered countless outstanding people, and it is not easy for an "outsider" to gain a foothold here. But Huang Baitao, with his extraordinary military talent, quickly gained a firm foothold in this environment of the jungle.
He first broke the New Fourth Army in the Southern Anhui Incident and eliminated the great trouble for Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek was impressed by him and specially promoted him to the commander of the 25th Division. Since then, Huang Baitao has truly started the legend of his "God of War".
On the front line of resistance against Japan, whenever the war fell into a stalemate, there was always a figure who came to the forefront and rekindled hope for the national army - that was General Huang Baitao who galloped on the battlefield.
He led the army to raid the Japanese army in the great victory of Menglianggu and captured the Japanese division commander alive; He resisted stubbornly in the defense of Kunlun Pass, repelled more than ten Japanese offensives, and finally annihilated more than 5,000 Japanese troops in the fierce battle of Nanyang......
It can be said that without Huang Baitao's participation, the victory of the Anti-Japanese War would have been absolutely difficult to come.
However, the good times did not last long, and after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Huang Baitao turned his gun and aimed his former ally at the Communist-led People's Liberation Army. In a series of fierce decisive battles that followed, Huang Baitao still performed well, but he was also doomed to the ultimate tragedy.
In the winter of 1948, the decisive battle of Huaihai began.
This time, Huang Baitao faced one of the most outstanding gods of war in the new century - Su Yu. The two of them have been fighting back and forth for many days, and Huang Baitao finally exposed his flaws, and more than 100,000 troops under his command were besieged by the People's Liberation Army in the area of Yehuling.
Huang Baitao was desperate to find that the end of his entire army was inevitable. In order to avoid humiliation and lack of banner, he still raised his gun to kill himself under the dissuasion of his subordinates, and thanked the world with his death.
That night, the wind whimpered in Wild Fox Ridge, mixed with the smell of scorched grass and trees. Huang Baitao sat alone in the tent, wiping the horse oil gun in his hand expressionlessly. He knew that this would be its last launch, the destination of the bullet, his own temple.
The curtain opened, and the adjutant stood in the doorway. "Sir, this is not the only choice! After surrendering, there is always a chance to turn the tables......"
"My life has come to an end. Huang Baitao shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I followed Zhang Zongchang to fight the world back then, and followed Chairman Jiang to fight in the south and north, and made a lot of contributions. It's a pity that the good times didn't last long...... I understand that this time, it's really over. ”
He looked up at the top of the tent, memories coming to his mind. The scene of the bloody battle with the bandit leader when he was a teenager, the scenes of crossing the river to the south when he was in his prime, and the humiliation of being treated coldly in middle age......
"My mission is over. ”
After a gunshot, the adjutant withdrew with tears in his eyes. Outside the tent, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is preparing for a general offensive.
Afterwards, Su Yu said that if it weren't for Huang Baitao's death, the victory of the Huaihai Battle would never have been possible. It can be seen from this that the personal ability of this local military general is amazing. However, in the end, he could not escape the mockery of fate.
At the place of his heroic martyrdom, a simple tombstone was erected, but it was quickly destroyed. Now it is deserted, and there is no trace of it, only the grass is overgrown.
Second, the scheming Hu Lian
Huang Baitao is not the only one who has made great contributions in the Anti-Japanese War. Back then, he was also compared with Hu Lian, who was also from the local army.
Hu Lian is cautious by nature, good at using stratagem, and often relies on outwitting on the battlefield. This is in stark contrast to the thick and large-leaved Huang Baitao. He commanded the death squad to defend his position under the indiscriminate bombardment of the Japanese invaders, and blew up the Japanese Combined Fleet with fire in the Battle of Jiuhua Mountain...... Countless legends have highlighted the genius of this strategist.
In the Battle of Shipai, Hu Lian and 15,000 officers and soldiers swore to defend the Yangtze River fortress, blocking the pace of the Japanese army's direct capture of Chongqing. After the war, he rose to fame and became a leader in the national army.
It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and like Huang Baitao, Hu Lian was also repeatedly deflated in the Liberation War.
In the Battle of Xiangdong in Hubei, he commanded 10 divisions to confront Su Yu head-on, and suffered a crushing defeat in less than three days, losing his troops and losing his generals. In the Huaihai Campaign, he was ordered to reinforce Huang Baitao, wanting to reverse the situation, but he could only end up in a bottleneck battle.
However, unlike Huang Baitao, who died, Hu Lian is still clever. Under the increasingly urgent situation of the People's Liberation Army, he was ordered to defend Xuzhou in danger, but he also saved his life early and fled to Taiwan.
In Taiwan, he became Chiang Kai-shek's only confidant to rely on, participating in and commanding the final Battle of Kinmen. Although the result was a failure, Hu Lian still got the reputation of "King of Kinmen".
Now Hu Lian is a gray-haired old man, but he can only spend the rest of his life in Taiwan. Once famous, now it is just a dream.
In fact, Hu Lian also had the opportunity to change his fate.
In 1948, the Nationalist army was defeated on the entire northeast front, and Hu Lian was ordered to hold Xuzhou and cover the retreat of the main force. At this time, he was very entangled in his heart - whether to follow Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to Taiwan, or to consider the overall situation and defect to the People's Liberation Army?
This psychological struggle between heaven and man lasted for many days and nights. He knew that taking the initiative to surrender would be a shortcut to change his fate; But how could he betray the leaders and ideas he had followed for so many years?
In the end, under the repeated persuasion of his subordinates, taking advantage of the gradual subsidence of the war, Hu Lian gathered his troops and evacuated from Xuzhou in advance. He said to his subordinates:
"I can't leave my brother who has been with me for many years! There is still a chance to go to Taiwan, so let's go together. ”
When his subordinates heard this, they all burst into tears. So these martyrs were broken into pieces, and each of them hid, waiting for an opportunity to escape. However, tragedy still followed, many people lost their lives in the process of retreating, although Hu Lian escaped death, but also ended up today.
3. Fu Zuoyi, who is ambitious in all directions
Fu Zuoyi is not only the most senior general in the national army, but he is also the one who makes people sigh.
In 1913, when he was still a hairy boy, he participated in the Taiyuan Uprising and fought to the end with the remnants of the Qing Dynasty. This was the beginning of his long journey.
After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, he was outnumbered at first, but he also broke the Japanese army several times in Taiyuan; Later, in the victory of Suiyuan, a division of the invading army was annihilated in one fell swoop.
The "thunder method" made Fu Zuoyi's status in the army rise day by day, but at the same time, it also attracted the suspicion of Chiang Kai-shek. Because Fu Zuoyi has always had a close relationship with the Communist Party, he has tried to mediate the contradictions between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party many times.
In the Jinchaji Campaign, he fought against Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen one after another, and won many victories. However, these victories did not make Fu Zuoyi feel happy, because deep down, he was reluctant to form enemies with his former comrades.
In 1948, after successive victories in the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin, Fu Zuoyi finally made up his mind to revolt and led more than 100,000 troops to submit to the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This move played a key role in the peaceful liberation of Beiping and Northeast China.
After the uprising, Fu Zuoyi was appointed by Mao Zedong as the Minister of Water Resources of the new government. He spent his last years in Beijing until his death in 1965.
Fu Zuoyi can be said to be the luckiest one, he did not lose his life by the war, and he also avoided being left overseas to survive. It is because he made the right choice in time.
In fact, at the beginning of 1948, as the national army was losing and retreating, Fu Zuoyi was thinking about whether to defect. After all, the experience of fighting side by side with the People's Liberation Army made him not repelled by the new forces. But joining the Communist Party means betrayal and breaking everything...... This kind of psychological pressure almost drove Fu Zuoyi crazy.
It was not until the winter of 1948, witnessing the victory of the Liaoshen Campaign, that Fu Zuoyi finally made up his mind. He convened a meeting of the division commanders: "Everyone, the general trend has gone, I have decided to lead everyone to the PLA, this is the only way out!"
"General, this means that we are going to betray the national army, and I don't know if we can still be accepted by the northern government!" When the generals heard this, they all showed embarrassed looks.
"Don't worry! I have a lot of old friends in Yan'an, and I believe they won't embarrass everyone. I have also been in contact with the People's Liberation Army and they welcome our surrender. Fu Zuoyi was full of confidence.
So the 100,000-strong army quickly changed its banner. Soon, Lin Biao came to greet him in person and was very pleasantly surprised. And Mao Zedong, who was terminally ill, also wrote a letter of condolences in person, which made Fu Zuoyi feel relieved.
In the early morning of the second day of joining the Communist Party, Fu Zuoyi stood on the high place of the camp and looked into the distance, the morning sun sprinkled on the earth, and the golden wheat waves rippled with the wind. All this peaceful scene made him unable to calm down for a long time, and when he thought about it, he finally did not let his subordinates sacrifice in vain, and also contributed to the early realization of peaceful reunification, and he couldn't help but redden.
Perhaps it was precisely because of the timely transformation that Fu Zuoyi won a far better ending than Huang Baitao and Hu Lian. Otherwise, with his ability, he might have already won a great victory in Taierzhuang in 1944.
epilogue
Hard-fought and glorious victories often come at a terrible cost. And why are we powerless to alleviate these sufferings?
Just like Fu Zuoyi, if we wake up in time and take great strides, we may be able to avoid greater disasters and exchange for the peace and rebirth of the entire nation.
The wheels of history are rolling forward, the dead are gone, and the survivors are still there. We still have time to start again, and don't forget to reflect.