#文章首发挑战赛#
In May 1947, the Battle of Menglianggu broke out, and the 74th Division, the main force of the Kuomintang, was completely annihilated by the Huaye Army. The victory in this battle shattered the Kuomintang's plan to attack Lunan.
The strange thing is that more than 30,000 people of the 74th Division of the Kuomintang were annihilated, and only 10,000 guns were captured in the end.
The 74th Army, which had great achievements
The 74th Division was originally the 74th Army of the National Revolutionary Army and was one of the five main forces of the National Army. In 1937, the Battle of Songhu broke out, and at the critical moment of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang urgently established this force.
Soon after the formation of this unit, it was sent to the anti-Japanese battlefield, and the 74th Army annihilated more than 300 enemy troops at Luodian, and even killed the squadron leader of the Japanese army.
In 1938, in the Battle of Wanjialing, the 74th Army, as the main force of the army, was led by Zhang Lingfu, a major general and brigade commander of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st Division of the 74th Army. They climbed up the steep slope behind the mountain, occupied the commanding heights of Zhanggu Mountain, and engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese army at Zhanggu Mountain.
The 74th Army had a great advantage in the terrain and quickly mastered the situation of the war. The Japanese 106th Division suffered heavy losses and fled in a hurry.
In this battle, more than 12,000 Japanese troops were annihilated.
The 74th Army performed well in the Battle of Wanjialing, made outstanding achievements, and won the No. 1 land, sea and air martial arts.
In the Battle of Shanggao in 1947, the 74th Army lived up to expectations and won another victory. Therefore, it was rated as the most combat-ready unit. The Japanese army even called it the "First Terror Army".
After the Battle of Changde, the commander of the 57th Division of the 74th Army led 8,000 soldiers to break through the encirclement of the Japanese army and hold Changde for 12 days.
In the end, there were only 10 people left in the whole division, and this feat was seen by the leaders and awarded the 74th Army three flying tiger flags.
In the last general battle of the Anti-Japanese War, the Battle of Xiangxi, the 74th Army annihilated 12,500 Japanese troops, and the Kuomintang army switched from defense to offense. The 74th Army fought bravely and was once again awarded the Flying Tiger Banner.
The 74th Army harvested four Flying Tiger Flags in just a few years. You must know that before the Kuomintang left the mainland, a total of 20 were issued, which is enough to prove the military strength of the 74th Army.
The 74th Army was not Chiang Kai-shek's descendant, and its current status was completely fought by itself.
Until May 1946, the 74th Army was reorganized into the 74th Division, with more than 30,000 people in the division, fully equipped with American weapons and equipment, and Zhang Lingfu served as the division commander, and this unit was also known as the "first division in the world".
Battle of Menglianggu
Even if it is the first division in the world, it has not escaped the fate of being annihilated.
The reorganized 74th Division is destined to have a tough battle to fight. During the Anti-Japanese War, although the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated, Chiang Kai-shek was ambitious and always wanted to dominate the whole of China.
When it came to the united front, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party also tore their faces. In 1946, the Liberation War broke out, and Chiang Kai-shek launched a full-scale civil war and launched a large-scale attack on the Central Plains.
Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, our army fought bravely and wiped out a large number of Kuomintang troops.
Chiang Kai-shek also lost 68 brigades, and his front-line strength was only more than 200 brigades, most of which were formed by new recruits, and the troops were seriously lacking in combat effectiveness.
How could Chiang Kai-shek, who had great ambitions, be willing to give up? So he changed his combat strategy from an all-out offensive to a focused offensive, and Shandong became his first target.
Why did you attack Shandong first? The occupation of the Jinpu Road by the Shandong heavy army group of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has seriously threatened Chiang Kai-shek's position in Shanghai-Nanjing.
And East China is also the most powerful military group of our army in China. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, most of Shandong was a liberated area, and only when Shandong was liberated, Jinpu Road and Longhai Road could be safe.
After the liberation of Shandong, many places in northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu on the mainland can accept the support of grain and ammunition in the liberated areas of Shandong to provide logistical support for the soldiers fighting on the front line.
In March 1947, the Kuomintang suddenly changed its battle plan, and Chiang Kai-shek successively assembled 24 integrated divisions and 69 brigades, with a total of 450,000 people.
As the main force of the army, the 74th Division adopted the strategy of "concentrating forces, moving closer, fighting steadily, and advancing gradually" and attacked Shandong in three directions, trying to occupy the entire Shandong region.
And this combat strategy greatly reduced the risk of the Nationalist Army being defeated by the Huaye Army one by one.
The national army advanced all the way, and with only a part of the military strength, it opened up the entire Tianjin-Pudong railway.
In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's elaborate battle plan, the Huaye Army was helpless and could not find a chance to annihilate them.
The Kuomintang reorganized the 74th Division all the way north and attacked the New Fourth Army, northern Jiangsu, and the liberated areas of central Jiangsu. They successively occupied Huainan, Huaibei, central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu and other places, and approached Shandong.
In the face of Chiang Kai-shek's attack, the Party Central Committee immediately issued instructions: The Kuomintang forces are relatively dense this time, and it is not easy to attack, so you must wait patiently, do not be in a hurry, and do not divide your troops.
The main forces must be arranged in key areas, and if the main forces are there, there will be a chance to annihilate them.
After receiving the order, the Huaye Army arranged the main force in Laiwu, Xintai and other places, and the rest of the troops were near Pingyi. Subsequently, the commander of the Huaye Army, Chen Yi, and the deputy commander Su Yu, were organized to go to the front line.
The two came to the front line, cooperated with each other, discussed the battle plan, and actively looked for fighters.
However, the Kuomintang army acted cautiously, and the plan to annihilate the enemy was not realized.
At the same time, the movement of the Huaye Army also attracted the attention of Chiang Kai-shek. He thought: The Huaye Army must be very tired after not defeating the 74th Division for so long, and they are definitely not opponents at this time.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek ordered three corps to go to Linyi and other places, and this time they changed the previous combat method of "concentrating troops and fighting steadily."
He divided the three corps and attacked different areas separately, while the reorganized 74th Division, as the backbone of the First Corps, attacked Tanfu from the Duozhuang and Taoxu areas.
At this time, the Huaye Army learned that the Kuomintang reorganized the 74th Division was fighting alone, and they ascertained the movement trajectory of Tang Enbo's corps, considering that the 74th Division was now in a disadvantageous position.
And Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 74th Division, was arrogant and couldn't get along with others. If he were besieged, no one would want to risk saving him.
After an in-depth analysis, Chen Yi and Su Yu immediately decided to besiege the 74th Division. They decided to adopt the combat method of the Black Tiger to cut off the 74th Division's contact with the outside world, and to deploy troops in the outlying areas to surround the 74th Division, making every effort to prevent the rescue of the national army.
Zhang Lingfu, commander of the 74th Division, learned of this news and immediately led his soldiers to retreat to Meng Lianggu. After the Huaye Army found out, they immediately pursued Menglianggu and completely surrounded the 74th Division in the Menglianggu area.
Chiang Kai-shek was not particularly worried when he learned about this incident, he knew that the 74th Division had extremely strong combat effectiveness and would not be easily annihilated.
Moreover, they were still guarding Menglianggu, a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as they sent troops to surround the Huaye Army from the periphery, it would be easy to destroy them.
So Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 10 integrated armies to the rescue, and the Huaye Army not only had to attack the 74th Division at this time, but also beware of Chiang Kai-shek's support troops behind him, and the enemy was on his back.
Under great pressure, the Huaye army launched an attack on Meng Lianggu. They threw a large number of bombs on Menglianggu, and the entire Menglianggu was shrouded in fire and filled with gunsmoke.
The 74th Division fled in all directions under the shelling of artillery shells, dead and wounded. At this time, the Huaye Army considered that if they were not annihilated in time, they were afraid that their entire army would be wiped out by Chiang Kai-shek's reinforcements.
Two days later, the 74th Division broke through frantically as if it had fought with chicken blood, and the battle entered the most difficult moment.
The two sides have been in a stalemate for so long, and the soldiers have long been exhausted.
The 74th Division was surrounded in Menglianggu, and its food, water, and ammunition were about to run out. The Huaye army followed one after another, desperately resisting. The entire Meng Lianggu is like a purgatory on earth, with corpses all over the field and rivers of blood.
After several hours of fierce fighting between the two sides, the 74th Division was finally unable to hold on, and all 32,000 men were annihilated.
But after the war was over, only 10,000 guns were captured.
With such a strong combat effectiveness and such a large number of people, it is impossible to equip only 10,000 people with guns, so where did the remaining 20,000 guns go?
The remaining guns
When the reorganized 74th Division was annihilated in the battle, there was a situation where the number of captured guns did not match the original strength. Why is that?
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 74th Division participated in many large-scale battles, such as the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Wuhan, and the Battle of Changde. In the heat of battle, guns and ammunition are consumed in large quantities as combat materials.
In these battles, the 74th Division, although brave and tenacious, inevitably suffered heavy losses.
After the end of the war, part of the guns and ammunition had been depleted and could no longer be used.
Especially in the case of a siege, the troops may experience long periods of high-intensity fighting, which leads to a large consumption of ammunition.
The reorganized 74th Division is a multi-service army. At that time, the 74th Division was formed relatively late and missed the opportunity to equip it with German weapons.
So they were fully armed with American weapons and equipment, and their combat concept was dominated by the US military.
The U.S. military is quite good at multi-arm coordinated operations, so the reorganized 74th Division has adopted the method of multi-arm operations.
They equipped some of their soldiers with guns and mixed them with artillerymen, tanks, and other soldiers to form a single unit.
There is a certain amount of space in the establishment of this force. Although there are more than 30,000 people in the establishment, the actual number of troops participating in the battle may not reach 30,000 for various reasons, and the actual number of guns used may be less than 30,000.
In the course of the battle, guns could suffer losses due to the heavy fighting conditions.
For example, in the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese army used a large number of chemical weapons. Some firearms may have been damaged by contact with chemical weapons and could no longer be used. Or the army was left behind or captured by the enemy during actions such as retreat, breakout, etc.
During the war, the Kuomintang government was already in financial difficulties, and the army's logistical supplies were insufficient. Especially in the later stages of the war, the 74th Division faced problems such as insufficient ammunition and difficulties in gun maintenance.
In the later stages of the war, there was serious corruption within the Kuomintang, and some generals may have used guns and ammunition for private trafficking, which led to a decrease in the number of guns in the 74th Division.
After the defeat of the Menglianggu Campaign, a large number of officers and soldiers of the 74th Division surrendered or were captured, and these officers and soldiers may not have carried weapons when they surrendered, so when the statistics were made after the war, there was a big difference between the number of guns captured and the original strength.
The mismatch between guns and personnel both reflects the actual situation of the Kuomintang army at that time, and also reveals some little-known stories behind the war.
When we look back on this period of history, we should not only understand the reasons for the decrease in the number of guns in the 74th Division, but also use it as a lesson to cherish peace and build a better future together.
We should also remember history and remember those heroes who made great sacrifices for the country and the nation.