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In March 1996, an 85-year-old man passed away quietly. The state held a solemn memorial service for him, and a number of senior leaders laid wreaths.
This old man was a general who participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and originally had a bright future. However, a failed retreat and a capture experience nearly cost him his life.
After returning to China, he was expelled from the army and the party, and his life was in dire straits. It wasn't until he was over seventy years old that he regained his reputation and stood in the sun again.
Who is this person? Why was he captured back then? Why was he expelled from the military when he returned home?
All this has to start with the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In late October 1950, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began. In the first three battles, the Volunteer Army won a crushing victory, once driving the US army south of the 38th parallel.
However, the enemy's commander, Li Qiwei, suddenly developed the so-called "magnetic tactics", not to confront the Volunteer Army head-on, but to focus on hitting our army's supply lines.
When our ammunition is exhausted, they will kill one of them with powerful firepower.
In the fourth battle in February 1951, the U.S. Army attacked our Han River defense line with heavy firepower, inflicting heavy casualties on the 38th and 50th armies of the Volunteer Army.
At the critical moment, Deputy Commander Deng Hua led a part of the troops to launch an attack on the rear of the US army. The volunteers did their best to take Hengcheng and put great pressure on Tohei-ri.
The American offensive was forced to slow down, and the fourth campaign ended in a draw.
In order to re-establish their superiority, the Volunteer Army launched the fifth campaign on April 22, 1951. The number of troops invested in this campaign can be said to be unprecedented.
Some units had just arrived in North Korea and had not had time for adaptation training before they picked up their guns and went to the battlefield. This was the case with the 60th Division of the 180th Army.
The 180th Division was originally a unit stationed in Sichuan, China, but because of the tight situation in North Korea, they were urgently assembled. After some simple anti-aircraft, anti-tank, and night combat training at home, they left for North Korea.
On March 17, 1951, they crossed the Yalu River with the Third Corps, after which they received the assembly order for the Fifth Campaign. By the time the troops arrived at the assembly site, there was only enough time left for them to attend their last operational meeting.
The commander of the 180th Division was Zheng Qigui, the deputy division commander was Duan Longzhang, and the political commissar had no official candidates at that time, so he could only be represented by Wu Chengde, director of the Political Department. And this Wu Chengde is the protagonist of our story today.
Wu Chengde was a native of Xinjiang, Shanxi, and joined the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War. He first fought guerrilla warfare near his hometown, and later participated in many major battles such as the Battle of the Hundred Regiments and the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain.
In the War of Liberation, he participated in the liberation of Jinzhong and Taiyuan. After the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, he participated in many battles in the southwest to suppress bandits.
Due to his strong political work ability, he became the head of the political department of the 60th division of the 180th army and acted as political commissar.
He had a brilliant resume in the first half of his life and was very capable, but no one expected that he would set an embarrassing record on the Korean battlefield.
Before the start of the fifth battle, Wei Jie, the commander of the 60th Army, made the following division of labor among his troops: the 181st Division was the first echelon and was the first to attack the enemy; The 179th Division is the second echelon.
As for the 180 division, it was the general reserve. In the first phase of the campaign, everything was carried out according to the prior deployment: the 181st and 179th Divisions achieved good results, and the 180th Division occupied Bugok-ri, not far from Seoul.
At this time, the supplies in the rear were already somewhat unable to keep up, and the troops in the front could only suspend the attack. Immediately afterwards, an order came from above: the 181st Division and the 179th Division were assigned to the command of other corps-level units, and the 180th Division suddenly became the only combat strength of the 60th Army.
In this case, the 180th Division's sense of war was still very high. Division commander Zheng Qigui and acting political commissar Wu Chengde called on the soldiers to jointly write a letter of determination to fight for the main attack.
In order to show the solemnity, Zheng Qigui and Wu Chengde also deliberately wrote their signatures with their own blood. Peng Dehuai, commander of the Volunteer Army, admired the bloodiness of the 180th Division very much, so he ordered them to take up the main attack task in the next stage.
The 180th Division dared to ask for battle, and naturally it also had its own confidence. Back then, in the deep mountains and old forests in the southwest, they chased Hu Zongnan's troops everywhere.
This time in the face of the Americans, they also felt that the other party was nothing remarkable.
Wu Chengde was a little worried about this, and warned his commanders at the mobilization meeting: "The weapons and equipment of the US army are not trivial, and if you want to defeat them, you must use your brains and think of a way to do it tactically." ”
On May 16, the second phase of the Fifth Campaign began, and the 180th Division immediately launched an offensive. They encountered 10 enemy tanks, and with little effort, they were able to finish off all of them with 9 recoilless shells.
The funny thing is that one of the American tanks turned over into the ditch by itself because of fear.
The victory in the first battle made the fighters burst with confidence. Under the command of leaders at all levels, they rushed forward like a bamboo. In just one day, a battalion was inserted a hundred kilometers from the line of attack.
The enemies they encounter always retreat after a short contact, without the slightest intention of holding on.
At this time, Wu Chengde suddenly noticed that something was wrong, and he hurriedly discussed with Zheng Qigui and Duan Longzhang: Is it that the enemy has launched a "magnetic tactic"? Duan Longzhang immediately wrote a letter to the soldiers in front of him, asking them to withdraw to the north of the Hongchuan River as soon as possible.
However, at this time, the Volunteer Army wanted to retreat, and it was already a little late. On the 20th, the 7th Division and the 1st Marine Division of the US Army suddenly launched an attack on the vanguard of the 180th Division.
And the three divisions of the United States on the Western Front also suddenly launched a counterattack against the Volunteer Army and blocked the supply channel of the Volunteer Army. The Volunteer Army Command immediately ordered the forward troops to defend on the spot and break through.
Although the 180th Division has already advanced a long distance, it is still too late to retreat in time.
But just when they were about to come back, they received an order from the army commander Wei Jie: stay where they are and cover the withdrawal of the 63rd Army. Zheng Qigui immediately sent someone to contact him, and it turned out that most of the 63rd Army had already retreated.
Wu Chengde and Duan Longzhang immediately sent a report and asked to retreat again. However, they received another order from their superiors: to continue to stand by and cover the evacuation of the wounded.
At this time, a total of thousands of wounded volunteers were stranded near the battlefield, and in order to rescue them as soon as possible, Wei Jie had to mobilize all the cars to transport them.
And this caused another bad result: there were no more vehicles to transport supplies to the 180th Division. The 180 Division could only rely on existing weapons, hungry and desperate with the enemy.
Despite all the difficulties, the 180th Division still chose to carry out the order. However, by the time it was their turn to retreat, the U.S. forces had already stuck several passage nodes.
Wei Jie saw that the situation was not good, so he gave the order to disperse and break through. And this order, on the contrary, caused confusion and caused most of the fighters to be captured.
But even so, Zheng Qigui, Duan Longzhang and others still came out with some people. Only acting political commissar Wu Chengde had to stay in the encirclement because of a special circumstance.
It turned out that just as he was breaking through with a part of the fighters, another four or five hundred wounded were found in a ravine. As soon as the wounded saw the chief, they immediately asked Wu Chengde to retreat with them.
Wu Chengde, who was unable to protect himself, still chose to take the wounded and sick with him. The speed of their march, as a result, was significantly reduced. Soon, they were surrounded again.
The warriors rushed left and right, but could not open the gap. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, Wu Chengde could only take some soldiers who could still fight and enter the deep mountains behind him.
After Wu Chengde joined the revolution, he fought guerrilla warfare in Shanxi. Once deep in the mountains, his valuable experience came into play.
They went out day and night, frequently striking at the enemy, looting supplies, and even moving from the 38th parallel to the 37th parallel. However, the environment in the enemy-occupied area was too treacherous, and the casualties of the soldiers soon began to increase.
In July 1952, 14 months after they entered the mountain, Wu Chengde was arrested by the enemy's search team.
After being caught, Wu Chengde was imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp. The Chinese army gave preferential treatment to prisoners, and the prisoners of war camps were well fed and clothed, and they were able to hold sports games.
The American prisoner of war camps are a different story entirely. The Americans not only tortured the prisoners of war and forced them to ask for information, but also carried out large-scale "brainwashing" to transfer the relationship between the prisoners of war and their own motherland.
In the brutal struggle, Wu Chengde was persevering and unyielding, and waged an unremitting struggle against the enemy. Seeing that Wu Chengde refused to give in, the enemy could only detain him in solitary confinement on a regular basis.
In the prisoner of war camp, Wu Chengde met many of his comrades-in-arms. Based on this, he judged that the 180th Division was captured a lot of people this time. In fact, as he expected, this time the 180th Division was captured, and there were nearly 7,000 people.
In the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the total number of prisoners of war of the volunteers was only 20,000. The prisoners of war of one unit of the 180th Division accounted for one-third of all prisoners of war. It can also be seen from this that the situation of the 180th Division is serious.
However, in 1952, negotiations on the Korean War also took shape. After another year of stalemate, on July 27, 1953, China, the United States and North Korea signed an armistice agreement.
Immediately after that, the parties began to exchange prisoners of war. Still, small moves by the United States are frequent. Wu Chengde, the highest-ranking prisoner of war, was dragged by them until September before he was released.
There was also a small episode in the meantime. Just before he was released, an American soldier came to Wu Chengde with a bucket of water and asked him to take a bath.
Wu Chengde knew that this was the fact that the Americans wanted to wash off the blood stains themselves and cover up the mistreatment of prisoners of war, so he kicked over the bucket with one kick.
Not to be outdone, the American soldiers forcibly bathed Wu Chengde with a leather tube, and then threw him a brand new piece of clothing.
Wu Chengde tore up the clothes, and finally wore his old clothes, step by step towards freedom.
After Wu Chengde was released, he took a train back to Liaoning and met with the staff of the "Management Office for the Return of Prisoners."
While caring for him, this person also told him the "20-character policy" of the Party Central Committee for dealing with the prisoners, that is: warm care, patient education, strict examination, careful handling, and proper arrangements.
Wu Chengde, who was born as a political work cadre, expressed his understanding of this.
But soon after, with the arrival of the learning stage, the words of the staff of the "Restoration Office" began to sound bad. They demanded that all the captives "explain their problems and learn from each other."
The word "confession" sounds very awkward, and many fighters say that they cannot understand it and cannot accept it.
For Wu Chengde, "confession" is a difficult and dangerous pass. Many people say that the main responsibility for the defeat of the 180th Division lies with him, and let him take this as a direction and write "confession materials".
Wu Chengde could not accept such accusations, so he began to fight. His "confession materials" have never been passed, which has caused huge psychological pressure on Wu Chengde.
He went to talk to the cadres and asked how he could defend himself. The cadre said something very blunt: "Only if you die in North Korea can you prove that you are not a traitor!" ”
This sentence made Wu Chengde discouraged. In fact, this kind of encounter did not happen to him alone. After the defeat of the 180 Division, some non-objective comments appeared.
Many people put all the blame on the front-line commanders, saying that they were "not strong-willed." And those who successfully retreated, such as Zheng Qigui and Duan Longzhang, were also demoted because of this.
As for Wu Chengde, who became a prisoner of war in the United States, the situation will only get worse. In 1954, he was dealt with by the "top grid" and expelled from the army and the party.
However, Wu Chengde did not want to suffer grievances like this. Every year, he insisted on writing letters to the party organization to reflect his problems, explain the situation, and seek justice.
If there is no sound on it, he continues to write. More than 20 years have passed, and dozens of his letters have been written, but everything is like a mud cow into the sea.
In 1980, with the change of leadership in New China, the Party Central Committee set up a special agency to begin to correct unjust, false and wrongly decided cases.
In order to give an explanation to the veterans of the fight against the United States and aid Korea, the state also issued Document No. 74 and began to re-examine the results of the year's handling.
Soon, Wu Chengde was notified: he was restored to his reputation and enjoyed the treatment of a military-level cadre. After Wu Chengde got the handling advice, he couldn't help crying bitterly. The justice he had asked for for decades had finally arrived.
After the dust settled, Wu Chengde immediately packed up his things and returned to his hometown to meet his parents and fellow villagers. After decades of ups and downs, he no longer wanted to wander, so he settled down in Yuncheng.
Under the arrangement of the local government, he became the secretary of the party branch of retired cadres and the leader of the inspection team, and continued to shine for the country.
In fact, Wu Chengde himself is also an idle person. He became an extracurricular tutor in primary and secondary schools, telling children stories about the war, telling them to cherish their lives today and to be patriotic.
In addition, he also used his influence to raise funds for the "Hope Project", with a total of more than 2 million yuan.
In 1996, Wu Chengde died of illness at the age of 85.
After his death, many old chiefs sent wreaths. But I think for him, it's enough happiness for his old age.
He asked for justice, and he got it, and that was enough. He was not afraid of the coercion of the Americans, and he would not betray his country; Now, he has implemented patriotism into his life.
Although he has suffered injustice, his patriotism has never changed. Such an old general is admirable.
Resources:
Wu Chengde: The Highest Position Prisoner in the Volunteer Army, Century Style, No. 7, 2008
The most tragic scene of the Fifth Battle to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea "Hunan Literature and History". 2000(05)
Wu Chengde: A Volunteer Prisoner of War Who Experienced Ups and Downs, Party History Wenhui, No. 4, 2000