After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, the red army's scattered guerrillas in the south were reorganized into the newly organized Fourth Army, referred to as the New Fourth Army, with Ye Ting as the commander and participating in the anti-Japanese resistance.
The reason why our army uses the name "New Fourth Army" is that it originated from the Fourth Army of the "Iron Army" to which Ye Ting belonged during the Northern Expedition.
But in fact, at that time, the Fourth Army still existed, and the commander was Wu Qiwei, who was also a well-known anti-war general.
Wu Qiwei is a native of Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, who studied at the Baoding Army Officer School and the Army University General Officer Class, and in 1926, during the Northern Expedition, Wu Qiwei served as the chief of staff of the 36th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Fourth Army. At that time, Ye Ting was the commander of the 34th Regiment of the 12th Division of the Fourth Army, and later the 34th Regiment was reorganized into an independent regiment.
When the Northern Expeditionary Army came to Tingsi Bridge, it was Wu Peifu's elite troops guarding the bridge, and Wu Qiwei only said a word to the soldiers below: "It must be taken, there is no room for negotiation!" ”
After the people returned to their respective combat posts, they thought that Wu Qiwei had returned to the command post, but unexpectedly, as soon as the battle broke out, Wu Qiwei rushed to the front and took the lead in charging.
At that time, the fierce battle situation was enough to shock people's hearts, and Wu Qiwei, as the chief of staff, took the lead and greatly excited the soldiers. After taking the Tingsi Bridge, Wu Qiwei's first words to the soldiers were: "You are good, there is no breed!" ”
At the time of the Battle of Songhu, Wu Qiwei had been promoted to commander of the Fourth Army, and led his troops into the areas of Luodian, Liuchang, and Daxing to block the Japanese army. Luodian is known as the "Flesh and Blood Mill", and its tragic degree can be imagined, not only is the area small, but also the Japanese army uses three-dimensional fire bombardment, and the cannons on aircraft, tanks, and warships are attacking here in one go.
Wu Qiwei knew that he could not fight hard, so he ordered the troops to go into cover whenever the Japanese bombed, wait until the Japanese bombed, then find a favorable position, and when the Japanese charged close, they would concentrate their firepower and start fighting.
This method did work, slowing down the Japanese offensive and later became known as "covert tactics."
The Fourth Army held out in Luodian for three days and three nights, annihilating thousands of enemy troops, and achieving remarkable results; even though it later ended in rout, Wu Qiwei was also praised and applauded by all sectors of society, and the Shanghainese also elected Guo Moruo, Xie Bingying, and other well-known figures in the cultural circles to lead a condolence group to offer condolences.
After the war, the Fourth Army gained the reputation of "Anti-Japanese Iron Army", and Wu Qiwei was also known as the "Mother of the Iron Army" and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the Ninth Army.
Shortly after the Battle of Songhu, Wu Qiwei ushered in another highlight moment: the Great Victory of Wanjialing in the Battle of Wuhan.
The Great Victory of Wanjialing was the first and only battle of the Chinese army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and General Ye Ting once said: "The Great Victory of Wanjialing, the Great Victory of BangHong, is in danger, serves as the guarantee of Jianghan, and is on the same foot as Pingxingguan and Taierzhuang, and its reputation is immortal!" ”
The commander-in-chief of the Great Victory at Wanjialing was Xue Yue, and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy was Wu Qiwei, who was also the actual commander-in-chief, and Xue Yue had specially ordered: "The time of the attack and the detailed deployment are stipulated by Wu Qiwei." ”
Once, Wu Qiwei was in the command post with Ou Zhen, commander of the Fourth Army, on the phone to discuss issues related to the war situation, when the sound of planes circling suddenly came from the sky, followed by a burst of machine gun fire, it was obvious that the Japanese planes came to sneak attack, but Wu Qiwei was not moved and continued to call Ou Zhen.
The Japanese strafing was very intensive, Wu Qiwei's telephone was broken, fortunately not injured, his subordinates advised him to quickly hide in the air raid shelter, but Wu Qiwei was still unmoved, changed a telephone, and continued to arrange combat deployment for Ou Zhen.
What is General Demeanor? That's the demeanor of the great general! Landslides in front of the same color!
In the end, in the Battle of Wanjialing, the Chinese army won a complete victory, and the Japanese 106th Division was annihilated by more than 10,000 people, almost the entire army was destroyed!
Although Wu Qiwei was Chiang Kai-shek's beloved general, in the face of the great national righteousness, he still chose to stand with the people. In May 1949, Wu Qiwei decided to abandon the dark and surrender to the Light, not only to break with Chiang Kai-shek by telegram, but also to inform the old ministry and issue the "Our Declaration" and declare an uprising. It is said that when Chiang Kai-shek heard about this, he was so angry that he even dropped his cup and did not speak for a long time.
When Chairman Mao and President Zhu heard about the uprising in eastern Guangdong, they expressed "great satisfaction" with Wu Qiwei's uprising.
On July 10, 1953, Wu Qiwei died of illness in Beijing at the age of 62 and was buried in Babaoshan.