In July 1925, the National Revolutionary Government in Guangzhou was established, and soon after the establishment of the National Government, the military strength of the Republic of China was reorganized, and it was collectively called the "National Revolutionary Army", referred to as the "National Army". When the National Revolutionary Army was first established, there were five armies, from the first army to the fifth army, which were also the earliest units of the National Revolutionary Army.
Among these five units, the Second Army was reorganized from the Xiang Army in Hunan, and the first commander was named Tan Yanmin, who was a well-known figure in the Republic of China period, who served as chairman of the National Government in Nanjing and commander-in-chief of the Xiang Army. Unfortunately, Tan Yanmin died young at the age of only 50, and after Tan Yanmin's illness and death, the Second Army successively appointed several commanders, and today our story is related to the Second Army, who was the last commander of the Second Army.
The general's name was Chen Kefei, born in 1903, a native of Zhejiang. Chen Kefei was talented and intelligent from an early age, and was a good piece of material for reading, but unfortunately, he was born in a chaotic world, and he could only choose to abandon Wen Congwu. In 1925, Chen Kefei was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and became a student of the Whampoa Phase V. Objectively speaking, there are not many outstanding students in the Huangpu Fifth Phase, and Chen Kefei is the best in the Huangpu Fifth Term, whether it is a military rank or an official position.
After graduating from the Whampoa Military Academy, Chen Kefei entered the central army at that time, that is, the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and became an ordinary platoon commander, because the First Army itself was the Whampoa Army, and Chen Kefei was a clever and clever Whampoa student, so he was very successful in the First Army, and soon after he was promoted from platoon leader to regimental commander.
In 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and Chen Kefei entered the Second Army as a regimental commander. In May 1938, the Japanese wanted to open up the communication line from North China to Shanghai, so they planned to attack Xuzhou, and to attack Xuzhou, they must first take Taierzhuang, and the Battle of Taierzhuang broke out. Chen Kefei led his regiment to be ordered to contain the Japanese troops in the eastern section of the Longhai Line, and he fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army in the Tancheng area for four days and nights, successfully winning the opportunity for the large army and contributing to the great victory of Taierzhuang.
In order to open up the Indo-Burma Highway and support China's anti-Japanese cause, in 1941, the Chinese Expeditionary Force was established, but unfortunately, the Expeditionary Force failed due to multi-headed command and cooperation, and the first expedition failed. However, the expeditionary force summed up the lessons in time and defeated the Japanese army in one fell swoop in the second expedition, and Chen Kefei also served as the commander of the Ninth Division of the Expeditionary Force during the second expedition, and he commanded the Ninth Division to defeat the Japanese Fifty-sixth Division, stabilizing the situation in the southwest and laying the foundation for the final victory of the expeditionary force.
In 1946, the Nationalist government carried out a military reorganization, and Chen Kefei first served as the brigade commander of the Ninth Brigade of the Reorganized Ninth Division, and soon after became the commander of the Reorganized 15th Division (equivalent to the commander of the 15th Army). However, with the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Liberation War, Chiang Kai-shek gradually became unusable, and in December 1948, Chen Kefei was appointed commander of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army and was ordered to go to the Jingzhou area of Hubei Province to wait for the opportunity to "counterattack". It is estimated that at this time, Chen Kefei did not expect that he would become the last commander of this long-established army.
In 1949, Chen Kefei was promoted to commander of the 12th Corps and commander of the Second Army, and he was ordered to go to the southwest to cooperate with Song Xilian's "counter-offensive", but at that time, the general trend was gone, the Second Army was also defeated and retreated, and soon after he was trapped in Yin County, chen Kefei led more than 10,000 of his subordinates to choose a peaceful uprising and officially join the People's Liberation Army.
After the peaceful uprising, the Second Army was reorganized into the Fiftieth Army of the People's Liberation Army, and Chen Kefei served as the deputy commander of the Fifty Army, and after the founding of New China, he served as a counselor of the Central and Southern Military and Political Committee. In 1955, Chen Kefei ended his military career and transferred to the local government, serving as a counselor in the Wuhan Counselor's Office and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Because he had already changed careers before the title was awarded, according to the principle of conferring titles, demobilized soldiers could not be awarded military ranks, so Chen Kefei, who remained on the mainland, was not awarded any military ranks.
In his later years, Chen Kefei lived mainly in Hubei, and he also joined the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee and used his identity to do a lot of work for cross-strait peace. Unfortunately, in 1966, due to well-known historical reasons, Chen Kefei was treated unfairly, "forced to die" in desperation, and chose to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river, ending his life.
Resources:
"Glorious Choice" Chen Kefei