As the largest party in the Republic of China, the Kuomintang was originally under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, upholding a positive and inclusive ideology and cooperating with revolutionaries from all walks of life, but it never wanted to be seized by careerists, resulting in a chaotic internal situation. After seizing the military and political power, Lao Jiang was also very worried that his status was threatened, and some warlords rebelled many times, so it was urgent to build his own ace army.
After thousands of selections, only a few henchmen and generals were able to be trusted by Lao Chiang, and no matter what their ability was, they were given elite generals to command. Among the many national armies, the existence of the 74th Division is the most envied by other generals, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is Lao Chiang's "treasure". So, in the War of Liberation many years later, what was the fate of the 74th Division, and how did our army deal with this unit?
01
The predecessor of the 74th Division can be traced back to the 74th Army, which was pinned on by the National Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In order to resist Japan, the Nationalist Government reorganized the whole army, and combined the troops of Yu Jishi and Wang Yaowu into the 74th Army, under the jurisdiction of the 51st and 58th divisions, and Zhang Lingfu happened to be the colonel commander in it, laying the groundwork for the future display of talent.
After the establishment of the 74th Army, it was often sent to fight the enemy in the most dangerous places. For example, in the Battle of Songhu, the 74th Army fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army for three days, annihilating tens of thousands of enemies, but the Nationalist army was even more heavy, with a total of more than 100,000 casualties, while the 74th Army lost one-third of its personnel.
Before the 74th Army could reorganize a little, the Japanese army went straight to Wuhan, the gateway to the central region, vowing to break the Chinese army's defense line within a year. Lao Chiang also knew the importance of this battle, and immediately allocated advanced American-style equipment, so that the 74th Army was fully armed, and fought fiercely with the invading Japanese army in Wuhan for several days, and finally lost the enemy, resulting in the fall of Wuhan.
After this battle, the 74th Army summed up its experience and lessons, and the combat level of the whole army increased day by day, and in the subsequent battles, it became more and more courageous, and was called Lao Chiang's "Imperial Forest Army" by the world. However, in the War of Liberation, the performance of the 74th Division was unsatisfactory, and it did not have the strength of the ace of the national army.
02
In 1946, Lao Chiang reorganized the 74th Army again, and slowly reduced it to the 74th Division with about 30,000 people, and the whole army was equipped with American-style equipment. Zhang Lingfu, who previously served as deputy army commander, also took this opportunity to provoke the division commander's girder, which attracted much attention within the Kuomintang. In the eyes of ordinary people, the 74th Division can be called the top in China in terms of equipment and combat quality, and the PLA will inevitably suffer losses if it encounters it.
However, in the Battle of Menglianggu, Zhang Lingfu's performance was too arrogant and arrogant, and he thought that he was invincible in the world. Even so, Huaye also attached great importance to this opponent, and mobilized 29 regiments to encircle and suppress Zhang Lingfu, Zhang Lingfu saw that there was no hope of breaking through the siege, and he was unwilling to be captured, so he chose to commit suicide on the spot.
When cleaning up the battlefield, Su Yu personally came to inspect the work, and he has always been strict in this regard, and he will never allow the slightest mistake. But when he saw the thousands of prisoners reported by the soldiers, he felt that there was something unreasonable, the 74th Division also had 30,000 people, plus more than 10,000 people who were annihilated, there was still a lot of difference, if they were allowed to slip away, it would be tantamount to "letting the tiger return to the mountain".
Chen Yi was also shocked when he heard the news, and ordered to search the battlefield again, and never let go of any place where people could hide. Sure enough, the soldiers found more than 7,000 shivering soldiers in a trench and disarmed and captured them on the spot.
03
Why did Chen and Su go so far into fighting and not sparing all the prisoners? Because what is more valuable than combat equipment is experience and lessons, and the 74th Division has already figured out Huaye's strength, and if these 7,000 elite soldiers run back to report to Lao Chiang, it is very likely to cause heavy casualties to Huaye in the future.
However, during the meeting, the logistics generals thought that keeping more than 7,000 people was too heavy to supply Huaye, and since they were unwilling to accept ideological reform, they might as well send them back to their hometowns. After hearing this, Chen Yi slapped the table and emphasized: "None of the captives are allowed to be released, no matter what method is used, they must be reformed." ”
At the request of their superiors, the political workers of our army first screened the identities of more than 7,000 prisoners and screened out three categories: ordinary soldiers, cadres, and spies. Most of the ordinary soldiers were forcibly captured as the big soldiers, and they were quickly converted with hot white flour buns and meals.
And the officers and spies are the most stubborn, and they are not willing to give in. In response to this situation, Huaye sent several previously reformed officers and soldiers of the Nationalist Army to infiltrate the prisoners, eavesdrop on the conversations of special groups, and report in a timely manner after grasping the evidence, so as to seize the handle of the spies and avenge the persecuted revolutionary fighters.
epilogue
As we all know, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has always given preferential treatment to prisoners, but that does not mean that it will unconditionally tolerate mistakes. Those spies who have indiscriminately killed innocent people should be severely punished by the law and spurned by the people, otherwise they will be sorry for the heroic martyrs who shed blood and sacrificed their lives for the revolution. The two generals, Chen and Su, were extremely correct in their approach, and they took a long-term view and helped our party solve a major problem!