Chapter 34 13. Later stories: Huben, Huben...

In the voluminous historical materials, when those names that you are familiar with in a specific situation appear from another situation by chance, your heart that was once excited will move inexplicably.You will keep tracking down to see how the thing called destiny is tempting, pulling, and teasing every life, and how the things that have formed in your mind are sublimated or destroyed.If it is said that most people or things have an ending, then when you experience the vicissitudes of life, you will not only distinguish between simple dramas, comedies or tragedies.Sometimes, the thousands of feelings surging in your heart can't even form words.

A few days after the Battle of Changde, Yu Chengwan was arrested by the Military Judiciary Executive Director's Department on the charge of fleeing in battle and sent to Chongqing. Complaints after arrest by the Enforcement Branch. The 10th Pre-10th Division fought bitterly with the Japanese army in the area of ​​Zhaojiaqiao, and was unable to support it. Li Changhe, the commander of the 30th regiment, lost his troops and fled the battlefield disguised as ordinary people with only 4 guards.The infantry commander of the regiment was seriously injured and rolled into a dry ditch and was unconscious for two days. Miraculously, he did not die.He angrily reported the escape of the regiment leader to the military department.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was very annoyed at the loss of the third general Sun Mingjin for the Changde battle. After receiving the report, he immediately sent a telegram to arrest Li Changhe no matter how difficult it was.

The military law department cast a net and was about to take action, but Li Changhe led the soldiers back to the tenth army's shelter.After being arrested, he defended vigorously, saying that the army was out of control at that time, he broke out out of helplessness, came back to report the situation, and had no act of betrayal.A few days after the fall of Changde, a classmate of Li's military academy informed him about Yu Chengwan's breakout. In his defense, Li insisted that the nature of his work was the same as that of Yu Chengwan. The 10th Army is also the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's lineage, and it usually fights openly and secretly with the 74th Army. Naturally, at this time, it did not want the 74th Army to be honored and shamed, so it submitted Li's appeal to Chongqing.

After receiving the report from the 10th Army, the Military Law Executive Director Department also believed that Yu Chengwan could not persevere to the end, ruining the glory of defending the city, and the military could not explain to the public opinion, so it reported to Chiang Kai-shek that he suggested killing Yu Chengwan to rectify the military law. It just happened to be catching up with the so-called "victory" that the Japanese army hyped to conquer Changde.The Office of the President of the United States called to ask whether Changde had fallen.On the side of the Wang puppet newspaper that published the emperor's imperial edict to the troops that captured Changde, there was a photo of a Chinese soldier raising his hand and surrendering in the ruins of the battlefield.

Chiang Kai-shek was outraged and ordered Yu Chengwan to be executed for the crime of fleeing. After Yu Chengwan was arrested, he pleaded guilty to all charges without pleading guilty, and wrote a confession letter of thousands of words, and wrote farewell letters to his wife Kuang Yuan, army commander Wang Yaowu, and the old principal Chiang Kai-shek who were far away in Kunming. He waited in prison for the end of the judicial process, and went to the execution ground to finish it all. But at the same time, the heroic deeds of Huben's defense of the city were revealed little by little as reporters from various newspapers and political workers of the 74th Army learned about the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division's breakout.People gradually knew what kind of battle Yu Chengwan was commanding and why there was a final breakthrough.

First, reporters from major newspapers, followed by local officials in Changde and people from all walks of life, jointly wrote a letter to Chiang Kai-shek, enumerating the heroic deeds of Yu Chengwan who led his troops to defend the city.Ask for the pardon of his crimes and show his merits. The Political Department of the 74th Army submitted to the Military Commission a report detailing the record of defending the city and determining the situation at the time of breaking out. When Chiang Kai-shek read these documents, tears filled his eyes several times. He ordered to revoke Yu Chengwan's trial and restore his military rank and position.On the same day, he asked Yu Jishi, a classmate of Yu's first class who was close to Yu and who was the head of Chiang Kai-shek's bodyguard, to go to the prison to pick up Yu Chengwan.

The next day, Chiang Kai-shek hosted a family banquet for Yu Chengwan.During the dinner, Jiang said to Yu: "Parents sometimes beat their children by mistake. Brother Shi Jian, please forgive the principal for his misunderstanding." Yu Chengwan exchanged tears, and repeatedly expressed that he will continue to fight for the leader and the party and country in his lifetime, and he will not hesitate to die. Yu Chengwan was ordered to reorganize Huben, and he pitied the 8,000 passionate men before the war. In the battle of Changde, he persisted for half a month, and there were only 265 people left.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang reorganized the army, and Yu Chengwan served as the deputy commander of the reorganized 74th Division. The 57th Huben Division was changed to the 57th Brigade of the division, and the 169th, 170th, and 171st regiments were still under its jurisdiction. The fate of the Chinese nation took a historic turning point not long after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. The forces representing the fundamental interests of the nation and the people began to compete desperately with the decadent and declining political system.Sadly, many troops and generals who made contributions to the nation during the Anti-Japanese War became the sacrificial objects of that decadent dynasty and were ruthlessly thrown off track by history.

In the Battle of Menglianggu in May 1947, Huben and Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division were destroyed by the PLA's powerful offensive, but Yu Chengwan was lucky to be transferred to the commander of the East Guangdong Division before the battle, and half a year later he was appointed as the 26th Army in Yunnan. He is also the commander of the bandit suppression in eastern Yunnan.The People's Liberation Army swept across the Southwest, Lu Han rebelled, and Yu Chengwan once flew to Taiwan with Li Mi, commander of the 8th Army.The author has not found conclusive historical data on the situation of Yu Chengwan after the liberation of the mainland.Zhou Xun's "Changde Battle in the Anti-Japanese Period" records: Yu Chengwan died of illness in Hong Kong in 1984.

In the materials describing the battle of Menglianggu, we saw several familiar names in the Changde defense battle. After capturing the main peak of Menglianggu, Tao Yong, commander of the 4th column of the PLA, Tan Zhigeng, commander of the 11th division, and Chen Maohui, director of the political department of the division, watched the troops clean up the battlefield on the mountainside. I went to them and asked, "Are you officers?" Without waiting for Tao Yong and others to answer, the man went on to say, "I am Chen Xiyun, Major General of the 57th Brigade, please send someone to carry me away."

Chen Xiyun, served as the acting deputy commander of the 57th Division during the Changde Defense War. Pi Huanyou, deputy brigade commander of the 51st Brigade, stayed among the soldiers for two days after being captured, and was later identified by the soldiers. In an interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, he said: "The 74th Division was once hailed by Mr. Chiang Kai-shek as a 'model army'. , but this time the entire army was wiped out, this is called pig iron colliding with diamonds..." These words were published in Dazhong Daily on May 31, 1947. Pi Huanyou, served as chief of staff of the 57th Division during the Changde Defense War. Feng Jiyi, the deputy head of the 170th regiment during the Changde battle, was the head of the 170th regiment at the time of Meng Lianggu, and was wounded and captured. Du Ding, the deputy brigade commander of the 57th Brigade, was the former head of the 171st Regiment. He went to Nanjing before the war due to something, and did not participate in the Menglianggu Battle.After the war, he became the only survivor of this unit.When the mainland was liberated, he brought the code name "Hu Ben" to Taiwan.During the reorganization in 1952, the 339th Division and the 207th Division stationed in Taoyuan were organized into the 168th Division. "Hu Ben" fell on this unit, and the glorious history of the Huben Unit also fell on this unit. In November 1959, Chiang Kai-shek organized the army into 12 heavy infantry divisions and 6 light infantry divisions. The Heavy Armor Division, also known as the "Forward-looking Division", is a unit ready to fight at any time, and the 168th Division is one of them. In 1961, the division was included in the "Jingwu Project" division and conducted frequent training exercises. As Taiwan's elite troops, it carried out a series of key training and equipment.This division's specialty project is "tunnel attack".Once, Chiang Kai-shek was very excited when watching the division's exercise, and said repeatedly: "Hu Ben, this is still the heroic Tiger Ben!" The military quality of this unit is relatively strong among Taiwan's infantry, but its political quality is considered poor by the military authorities. In the 1970 political assessment, it ranked below the middle of the whole army. During the second deployment to Kinmen in 1960, seven soldiers fled.Under the propaganda of the "Voice of the Strait" in the mainland, Zang Shide, the service company of the 203rd regiment, and Zhan Zhenjin, the deputy platoon leader of the 5th company of the 204th regiment, swam across the sea alone from Kinmen and Matsu in August 1960 and June 1965 respectively. , Surrender to the People's Liberation Army. An army, like a person, has its own history, glory and loss, shame and glory.Every veteran of the Anti-Japanese War interviewed by the author clearly remembered his unit number and the names of the main officers at all levels.The army is the support of the lives of soldiers, but the history of the army is more fragile, it is less valued and more perishable than the individual in history. It only has a life-like and unforgettable meaning for the members of that unit.