1. Born in the Red Army
Wang Bicheng has shown extraordinary courage and determination since he was a child. He was born into a poor peasant family and experienced the hardships of life from an early age. However, it is this environment that has created his tenacious and unyielding qualities.
In 1916, at the age of 10, Wang Bicheng joined the local Boy Scouts and began to receive some basic military training. Although he was still young, he had already developed a keen interest in martial arts. In 1920, at the age of 14, he left his hometown and went to a nearby Self-Defense Army training camp, hoping to learn more military knowledge and skills.
In the self-defense army, the young Wang Bicheng quickly stood out with his extraordinary courage and courage. Not only was he good at marksmanship, but he was also quite accomplished in throwing grenades. At one point, the instructor drew a circle in front and asked the whole battalion to try to throw a grenade into it. As a result, only Wang Bicheng did it alone, and he was almost in the center of the circle. After the news spread in the battalion, everyone was impressed by this "little man" bombardier.
In 1922, at the age of 16, Wang Bicheng joined the emerging Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and began his arduous revolutionary career. In the Red Army, he started as an ordinary soldier step by step, and successively served as a communicator, platoon commander, company commander, and battalion commander. Because of his outstanding performance, he was quickly reused and appreciated by his superiors.
In 1934, 28-year-old Wang Bicheng was already a deputy division commander of the Red Fourth Front Army. In this year, they were heavily encircled and suppressed by the Kuomintang army, and had to abandon their base areas and began a long march.
Two. The unexpected "little tiger"
Although Wang Bicheng was not tall, his heroic performance on the battlefield was far beyond everyone's expectations. In his petite body, there is a fearless and brave heart.
Among the generals of the Red Fourth Front Army, Wang Bicheng was a well-known sharpshooter. His marksmanship is as accurate as a natural marksman. It is said that he can shoot through the target within 100 steps, and it is not bad at all. And his skill in throwing grenades is even more extraordinary. The scene in the training camp of the Self-Defense Forces was unforgettable. Not only can he throw a grenade into the circle drawn by the instructor, but he can also drop the projectile precisely in the center of the circle. This kind of distance and accuracy of bombing was unique among the generals of the Red Army.
What's even more surprising is that this little man with a thin physique never knows what to fear in positional warfare. Whenever the war is tight, Wang Bicheng is always the first to charge forward. His familiar cry, "Follow me!" As soon as it sounded, the morale of the whole army was greatly boosted. Even the bravest warriors couldn't help but be in awe when they saw Wang Bicheng come forward.
Once, Wang Bicheng's unit was suddenly attacked by enemy troops. The situation is extremely critical, and your comrades-in-arms are fighting for ground and want to retreat. At this juncture, Wang Bicheng raised the gun in his hand and shouted loudly: "Follow me, let's fight back!" With that, he rushed to the enemy formation without hesitation, and when the other officers and soldiers saw this, they also followed him and fought back bravely. In this way, under the heroic leadership of Wang Bicheng, the attacking enemy army was finally defeated and the tide of the battle was reversed.
Because Wang Bicheng has repeatedly performed miraculous feats on the battlefield, coupled with his short size and vigorous whereabouts, the enemy respects his bravery, and even gives him the nickname "Wang Laohu". This nickname is undoubtedly the highest praise for this small fighter.
Three. The peak moment of fighting Zhang Lingfu
In Wang Bicheng's brilliant military career, he fought against Zhang Lingfu, the ace general of the National Revolutionary Army, three times, which also became the peak of his personal military career.
The first was the Battle of Lianshui in 1946. At that time, the total strength of the Kuomintang army reached 50,000, and the troops led by Wang Bicheng were only more than 20,000 people, and the defensive situation was very passive. What is even more tricky is that the 74th Division of the attacking side is fully equipped with American equipment and has very strong firepower. In the face of such a huge disparity in strength, Wang Bicheng stubbornly held on, fought to the death with the enemy for 12 days, not only covered the safe evacuation of the leading organs in Central China, but also inflicted heavy losses on the attacking enemy army, annihilating more than 8,000 enemies, and achieving a strategic victory.
The following year, the second Lianshui Defense Battle broke out, and this time the opponent was Zhang Lingfu. Zhang Lingfu relied on the strong city and strong firepower to defend the city. Wang Bicheng personally commanded his troops to attack Huanglong, launched several general attacks, tried to capture the city, but failed, and finally had to evacuate, with as many as 5,000 casualties.
The Battle of Menglianggu in 1947 was the third confrontation between Wang Bicheng and Zhang Lingfu, and it was also the last battle of the decisive battle between the two. This time, Wang Bicheng made up his mind and vowed to defeat this opponent who had caused him heavy casualties in Lianshui City. In the arduous mountain battle, Wang Bicheng personally led his troops to attack the top of Menglianggu Mountain and smashed Zhang Lingfu's command post. At the last moment of the fierce battle, Wang Bicheng's personal soldiers finally rushed into Zhang Lingfu's command post and captured the national army general, known as the "Loulan Hero".
In this battle, Wang Bicheng completely swept away the opponent who once made him regret, and also laid the foundation for the subsequent comprehensive victory. Since the Battle of Menglianggu, the Sixth Column has never encountered any real opponents. They passed all the way, went straight south, and finally attacked Shanghai, completing the last battle of the battle of crossing the river.
Fourth, Dinghaishen attacked Shanghai
In the final stage of the Total Liberation War, Wang Bicheng's Sixth Column was ordered to move north along the Yangtze River and join other armies in attacking Nanjing, the last stronghold ----of the Kuomintang.
At that time, the Kuomintang army was heavily garrisoned along the Yangtze River in an attempt to delay the offensive of the People's Liberation Army. To this end, Wang Bicheng personally led the elite troops to Zhenjiang, Danyang and other places along the Yangtze River, and launched a series of fierce battles with the enemy.
The Battle of Zhenjiang was the most tragic battle in the attack along the Yangtze River. In April 1949, Wang Bicheng's troops marched to Zhenjiang in an attempt to seize the important commercial town. But the enemy's troops and subordinates all held on to the city, impregnable. After a number of attacks on each other, the two sides reached a stalemate. At this moment, Wang Bicheng took a bold decision: he personally led the 26th Army of the Sixth Column Army to cross the river from the southwest of Zhenjiang and attack the enemy's hinterland.
This action really took the Kuomintang army by surprise. When they found out that part of the PLA had crossed the Yangtze River and cut off their supply lines, they couldn't help but be at a loss. In this situation of successive defeats, the enemy finally decided to abandon Zhenjiang and shift positions. Seeing that the time had come, Wang Bicheng immediately launched a full-scale attack, and Zhenjiang was soon captured.
The Battle of Danyang was an unforgettable night battle. One night in May of that year, Wang Bicheng personally led the 35th Army of the Sixth Column Army to attack Danyang City with a flashlight. In the face of the sudden attack, the enemy army was undoubtedly caught off guard and was in chaos. The People's Liberation Army, which was in pursuit of the victory, soon entered the city, and a fierce street battle broke out between the two sides. Overnight, the streets of Danyang were littered with corpses and blood. At dawn the next day, the city was lost.
After the battles of Zhenjiang and Danyang, Nanjing, Suzhou and other big cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were surrendered one after another. On May 25, 1949, Wang Bicheng's six-column troops entered Shanghai. At this point, the victory of the Liberation War was completely completed.
5. The Founding Generals held outstanding positions
After the end of the three-year Liberation War, Wang Bicheng, a tiger general who had repeatedly performed miraculous feats on the battlefield, naturally received due reuse and awards.
In October 1949, the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was established, and Wang Bicheng was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and assumed the post of deputy commander of the East China Military Region. From then on, he began his new journey in the era of peace.
As deputy commander of the East China Military Region, Wang Bicheng's main task is to be responsible for reorganizing the local armed forces and ensuring the stability of social order in the Yangtze River Delta. Under his leadership, the army penetrated deep into the cities and villages, disestralizing the remnants of the Kuomintang armed forces in various places, and at the same time reorganizing and unifying the local armed forces.
During this period, Wang Bicheng also attached great importance to grassroots construction. He personally went to the townships and towns to inspect the work of the local militia and militia groups, and enthusiastically preached to the masses the principles and policies of the new regime. In many places, Wang Bicheng even did it himself, shoveling grass, building roads, and building houses with the masses, and won the trust of the people with practical actions.
In 1954, at the first National People's Congress, Wang Bicheng was elected as a member of the Central People's Government Committee, which was the highest affirmation of his many years of military career. The following year, he was promoted to commander of the East China Military Region.
During his tenure as commander of the military region, Wang Bicheng devoted his main energies to the military's ideological building and political work. He demanded that the whole army strictly abide by party discipline, maintain close ties with the masses, and never forget the purpose of "serving the people wholeheartedly." Every time he arrived at a new garrison point, he had to personally gather all the officers and men to give them ideological education and discipline training.
At the same time as ideological construction, Wang Bicheng also attached great importance to military training. He insisted on carrying out regular actual combat exercises in the army to ensure the combat effectiveness of officers and men. On one occasion, during a field exercise, Wang Bicheng personally commanded the troops to conduct a large-scale live-ammunition firing, which not only tested the marksmanship level of the officers and men, but also tempered their will to fight.