preface
The Chinese nation has been full of talents throughout the dynasties, especially at the moment when the country is in crisis, a group of heroes and heroes will emerge. They stepped forward at a critical moment, held high the banner to counterattack the enemy, did not fear the enemy's guns, did not yield to the enemy's threats and inducements, and faced the war in order to protect their families and protect the country.
Since there are heroic combat heroes, there are people who are greedy and afraid of death in opposition to them. In China's modern and modern history, there is such a general known as the "Flying General", he is Sun Yuanliang. However, this "flying general" is not a positive title, and there are also "long-legged generals" and "escape generals" similar to this title.
During the Northern Expedition, he was a deserter
In 1904, Sun Yuanliang was born into a wealthy family in Huayang, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and his father Sun Tingrong served as Zhi County before the fall of the Qing government, while his uncle Sun Zhen served as commander of the Twentieth Army and commander of the Fifth Military Region of the Nationalist Jin Sui Army.
During the Northern Expedition in 1926, Sun Yuanliang, a graduate of the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, began his first experience as a deserter. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek's First Division of concubines attacked the warlord Sun Chuanfang in Jiangxi, and after successfully capturing Nanchang, the unit did not consolidate the defense, but instead sought pleasure, and was retaken by Sun Chuanfang's troops.
Sun Yuanliang was then the commander of the First Regiment of the First Division, responsible for garrisoning Niuhang Station.
After the battle began, due to the lack of vigilance of the soldiers, Sun Yuanliang, who was the leader of the regiment in the chaos, took the lead in escaping
The troops were leaderless for a while, unable to stop effective resistance, and the soldiers were also fleeing for their lives, and soon the strategic point of Niuhang Station was lost, and at this time, Wang Bailing, the commander of the First Division, was visiting the kiln.
Afterwards, Sun Yuanliang was transferred to Fengxin for garrisoning, and was also responsible for covering the assembly of the main forces. As a result, Sun Yuanliang, who heard that the enemy was attacking, completely ignored the orders given to him by his superiors and led his troops to flee west.
This time, Sun Yuanliang's behavior killed Chiang Kai-shek half to death, and Chiang Kai-shek immediately rushed to the Fengxin position to reorganize the First Division, and he loudly reprimanded:
"In this battle, Sun Yuanliang, the leader of the 1st Regiment, disobeyed the order and retreated privately, according to the warlord, he should be shot... Our First Division, once the most honorable unit, has now been ruined by Sun Yuanliang alone, can we still tolerate such scum? Don't shoot him? ”
The next day, Chiang Kai-shek again pronounced a sentence against the troops for Sun Yuanliang's punishment:
Sun Yuanliang was executed by firing squad for violating the National Revolutionary Army's law of sitting together.
As a result, Sun Yuanliang suddenly disappeared...
In 1928, just when people thought he was dead, Sun Yuanliang appeared in people's sight with a big wave, and he also served as the head of the Nationalist Government Artillery Regiment. It turned out that under the intercession of Xue Yue and Liu Zhi, Chiang Kai-shek, who had calmed down, thought that Sun Yuanliang was a student of the first phase of Huangpu, and only then did he decide to turn a blind eye to him.
Because the number of students in the first phase of Huangpu was already limited, coupled with the fact that they were killed in battle and were "abducted" by the Communist Party, Chiang Kai-shek knew that there were very few people left who could still serve as senior generals in the army, so it seemed that Sun Yuanliang was more precious, and Sun Yuanliang also escaped the disaster.
Sun Yuanliang was also blessed by misfortune, he was arranged to the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School again gilded, back he was appointed as the commander of the artillery regiment, and two years later successfully promoted to the national government's first guard brigade commander.
He was a deserter during the War of Resistance
In 1932, during the Songhu War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Sun Yuanliang, as the commander of the 259th Brigade of the Eighth Division of the Nationalist Army, led his army to hold the town of Miaoxing in Baoshan, Shanghai, and joined forces with friendly troops to attack the Japanese army, which caused the Japanese army to be frustrated, and Sun Yuanliang was promoted to the commander of the 88th Division of the Nationalist Army.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese army planned the Lugou Bridge Incident, Chiang Kai-shek, in order to lengthen the operation time and change the direction of the Japanese army's attack, decided to carry out an active counterattack in Shanghai, and the Battle of Songhu broke out on August 13.
Xie Jinyuan
During the Battle of Songhu, in order to successfully withdraw the main force, Sun Yuanliang arranged more than 400 people from the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division to be stationed at the Sihang Warehouse, and gave xie Jinyuan the order to hold the position to the regimental commander. Then, Sun Yuanliang retreated on his own.
Faced with an enemy of seventy or eighty times their own strength, the soldiers responsible for guarding the Sihang warehouse resisted to the death, and finally were forced to retreat into the concession area, disarmed, and imprisoned in the concentration camp, this group of people is the famous "eight hundred heroes."
However, Sun Yuanliang, who escaped early, seized the credit of the "Eight Hundred Heroes" and was promoted to the commander of the 72nd Army, and also the commander of the 88th Division.
During the defense of Nanjing, Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 72nd Army, was again ordered to guard Nanjing, and at that time he was mainly responsible for the defense of Yuhuatai in Nanjing and the vicinity of the south of the city.
Not long after the battle began, The yuhuatai, the commanding height of Nanjing, was lost, and the Japanese troops who occupied the commanding heights soon launched an attack on the Zhonghua Gate, and the officers and men of the 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division were not afraid of sacrifice and held the city wall. At this time, Sun Yuanliang led his direct subordinates and a part of the 262nd Brigade to flee to Xiaguan without authorization, preparing to cross the river and retreat north.
As a result, he was "persuaded" by Song Xilian's subordinates to return with machine guns at Rujiangmen, and Sun Yuanliang, who could not escape, had to return to the Zhonghua Gate to fight again. Less than a day after returning, Sun Yuanliang did not inform his subordinates, and a person ran away, and no one knew where he went...
In the most complete historical record about the Nanjing Massacre, "Rabe's Diary", sun Yuanliang's hidden figure can be found. Sun Yuanliang quietly fled to the refugee camp alone, and When Rabe learned of this news, he naturally cared about this Kuomintang commander and took him from the camp to the secret room of the Jinling Women's Liberal Arts College.
Sun Yuanliang, on the other hand, wrote in his memoirs:
I could not find a boat on the river, so I had to retreat to the mountains to the east. ...... I took more than 600 officers and brothers with me to the headquarters, and a lifetime of trauma and shame from crossing the river near Longtan, passing through Taixing, Huaiyin, Xuzhou, and Zhengzhou, and arriving in Wuhan in late March 1938.
After Sun Yuanliang "disappeared", the Nationalist 72nd Army was leaderless for a while, resulting in the rout of its officers and soldiers, many of whom could not cross the Yangtze River during the rout, and were finally captured and killed by the Japanese army. Such a German armed army was wiped out so easily.
Being a deserter during the Civil War caused a corps to disappear overnight
After the fall of Nanjing, Sun Yuanliang was sued in court for military salaries and project funds, and as a result, Sun Yuanliang spent 200,000 yuan to settle the matter before and after, and after submitting the plea, Sun Yuanliang was detained for 42 days and acquitted.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Sun Yuanliang got another good opportunity.
In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek felt that Sun Yuanliang's uncle Sun Zhen wanted to preserve his strength, so he looked for an opportunity to remove him from power. Sun Zhen was also aware of Chiang Kai-shek's intentions, and in order to protect his army from being annexed by Chiang Kai-shek while still maintaining control, Zhang Zhen asked his nephew Sun Yuanliang to succeed him.
After all, Sun Yuanliang was a cadet of the first phase of Huangpu, and he was also a concubine of old Chiang Kai-shek, so pushing the boat along the water, Sun Yuanliang once again climbed to a position of high authority - the commander of the 16th Corps, which had three armies under the jurisdiction of the 47th, 41st, and 99th armies, although Sun Zhen was the old foundation of the Sichuan Army, but this army was a supporting American equipment at that time. The combat effectiveness was no less than that of an ordinary corps like Huang Baitao. But it was not a good sign that such a corps had fallen into the hands of Sun Yuanliang.
At the Battle of Huaihai, there were 5 major corps: Huang Wei Corps, Qiu Qingquan Corps, Huang Baitao Corps, Li Mi Corps, and Sun Yuanliang Corps. Among these 5 corps, the other 4 are all outstanding in battle and quite brave in battle, while only Sun Yuanliang has achieved this position by relationship.
By the end of the Huaihai Campaign, Huang Baitao's corps had been completely wiped out by the People's Liberation Army, and Huang Wei was on the verge of being wiped out. At this time, in order to protect the main force of the national army, Du Yuming withdrew to the southwest with the remaining 3 corps, and just after arriving in Henan, Du Yuming received an order from Chiang Kai-shek and told him to go to Shuangdui to rescue Huang Wei. As a result, Du Yuming led three corps and 300,000 troops, and was surrounded by Hua Ye at Chen Guanzhuang.
In order to keep the main force, Du Yuming discussed with Qiu Qingquan, Sun Yuanliang, and Li Mi on December 6, and finally decided to abandon the rescue of Huang Wei and choose to break through from the south to preserve his strength. Sun Yuanliang finally received the order to break through and escape, and he immediately made a deployment when he returned:
Tonight the breakthrough began, and the troops moved to the north of the Huai River to fight the communists, and after the breakthrough, they gathered in Fuyang.
Before preparing for the breakthrough, in order to quickly break out of the encirclement, Sun Yuanliang also ordered his subordinates to destroy all heavy weapons and bulky equipment, and all the mules pulling artillery vehicles were changed into cavalry horses.
However, before the breakthrough, Du Yuming's liaison officer suddenly appeared at Sun Yuanliang's headquarters and demanded that the breakthrough be stopped. Sun Yuanliang, who had already made arrangements, could still manage this, and he sent away the liaison officer and told his communication battalion to shut down all communication equipment, and the radio station also stopped sending reports and refused to accept reports.
If you think that Sun Yuanliang is iron-hearted to break through? That would be a big mistake.
Sun Yuanliang thought that if he broke through, the remaining two corps would definitely break through, and then he only needed to follow Behind Qiu Qingquan's troops to run out, but he did not expect that Qiu Qingquan's corps did not choose to break through, but stuck to the position.
Sun Yuanliang first transferred his troops to the rear of Qiu Qingquan, but seeing that Qiu Qingquan's troops did not move, he crossed Qiu Qingquan and prepared to break through himself. Sun Yuanliang, who had failed to break through, saw that the People's Liberation Army rushed towards him, and he quickly led his men to run back, and this run ran to the position of the Second Corps of the Nationalist Army's Qiu Qingquan, and Sun Yuanliang was thus attacked by the People's Liberation Army and the Second Corps. So there was a big scuffle that night.
The 16th Corps, which had no heavy weapons or fortifications, was wiped out overnight, leaving less than 10,000 remnants of defeated soldiers, and then this 10,000 people were also absorbed by Qiu Qingquan.
During the melee, Sun Yuanliang disguised himself as a lieutenant, deceived the interrogation, and successfully escaped alone, and then disguised himself as a peasant and fled to Xinyang, Henan, and returned to Nanjing for many days. Du Yuming, Qiu Qingquan, and others who were surrounded by the People's Liberation Army were either killed or captured.
Sun Yuanliang, who returned to Nanjing, told Chiang Kai-shek that he had fought hard to kill the enemy and successfully broke through, and Chiang Kai-shek listened to his lies and told him to go to Sichuan to re-establish the 16 corps, and as a result, the rebuilt 16 corps surrendered to the People's Liberation Army not long after.
Such a "deserter" fled to Taiwan after the defeat of the army, and lived until the age of 103 before he died, becoming the last of the huangpu first batch of cadets to die.