In the previous article, we mentioned that Zhang Kexia, a senior general with more than twenty years of party experience and lurking in the Kuomintang army, was the deputy commander-in-chief of the lieutenant general, and on the eve of the great war, he joined hands with Marshal Chen Yi to plot against the famous "three family slaves" Hao Pengju. More than 20,000 Haobu defected in Taierzhuang, and such a pre-battle uprising greatly stimulated the Kuomintang army. At the same time, the uprising not only crushed the intention of the Kuomintang army to attack the Liberated Area of Lunan, but also obtained a large amount of key intelligence for the Huaihai Campaign.
It was Zhang Kexia who passed the "Xuzhou City Defense Deployment Map" to Chen Yi and Commander Su Yu. This detailed map of the allocation of troops provided an important basis for Huaye to later capture Xuzhou, the northern gate of the "capital" Nanjing.
"General Sabre" who led the uprising
Zhang Kexia (right)
In October 1948, when the Huaihai Campaign was about to be launched, the East China Field Army specially sent Yang Side, the chief of the enemy engineering section, to infiltrate the Third Appeasement District of Xuzhou as the representative of Commander Chen Yi to assist Zhang Kexia in carrying out the preparations for the uprising.
At the critical moment when Zhang Kexia was actively active, Gu Zhutong, chief of staff of the Ministry of National Defense, came to Xuzhou. The purpose of his visit was to convey Chiang Kai-shek's will. Jiang attached great importance to this decisive battle in Xuzhou, and at a military conference held in Nanjing not long ago, he said: "Xu Beng is the gateway to the capital, and the party and the state survive. Whether it can avoid collapse depends on the next three months. The generals in the front must work together with one heart. Gu Zhutong finished conveying the message in Xuzhou, that is, arranging a sword-awarding ceremony. He stood majestically on the stage and wore two gilded swords specially made in Germany with the words "Success without success" and the words "Gifted by Principal Chiang Kai-shek" on the hilt of the sword, and wore them on the waist of Zhang Kexia, deputy commander of the Third Appeasement District, and He Jifeng, deputy commander of the Appeasement District and commander of the Seventy-seventh Army.
Gu Zhu put the same hand on Zhang Kexia's body, took He Jifeng's hand in the other, and said: "Since ancient Xuzhou has been a place where soldiers and families must fight, the two generals are the tiger generals guarding the north gate of Xuzhou, and the principal has sent a younger brother to come and give him a sword, and the two will certainly be able to understand the intentions of the chief."
In late October, the units of the East China Field Army began to move south. Chief of Staff Chen Shiyu issued instructions to Yang Side: The Battle of Huaihai will be launched on November 8, when the 7th, 10th, and 13th Columns will cross the canal from the front of The Sansui District to the south, separating The connection between Xuzhou and Huang Baitao's corps. He and Zhang bu were asked to revolt as planned when the campaign was launched. It also clarified the contact information, identification signs and the route of advance; after the uprising, it was divided into two routes to the Liberated Areas.
At this time, Zhang Kexia's situation was quite difficult. Feng Zhi'an (commander of the Third Appeasement District of Xuzhou), because Zhang had mobilized him to revolt many times, was wary of Zhang and had always ordered Zhang to live in Xuzhou and not allow Zhang to approach the troops. In addition, not long ago, Feng Yuxiang's wife Li Dequan called on the officers and men of the Northwest Army to revolt through the radio in the Liberated Areas, which increased Feng Zhi'an's vigilance against Zhang. Faced with this difficult situation, Zhang Kexia believed that he must try to get out and rush to Jiawang as soon as possible to ensure the smooth and successful uprising. At this time, there was already a battle in the front, and Zhang Kexia proposed to Feng Zhi'an to go to Jia Wang to participate in the battle command, and through He Jifeng and the senior generals of the Fifty-ninth Army, he made the same request to Feng, but Feng refused. Zhang Kexia solemnly explained to Feng: "The front is tight, I should be in place, otherwise, I can't explain to the general seat." Feng ignored it.
At about 4 a.m. on November 8, Zhang Kexia came to the jeep, took an entourage, and set off for Jia Wang. At that time, the surrounding area of Xuzhou was under martial law, and vehicles waiting to enter and exit were crowded on the road. Zhang's car drove straight to the gate, and the sentry saw that he was wearing a general's uniform and immediately opened the door to let him go.
Zhang Kexia thought that his walk was very confidential, but he did not know that Chen Jiyan, chief of staff and secret agent of the military command, had already sent people to monitor him. As soon as he set off, Chen knew.
Living under Feng Zhi'an was Feng's retinue senior staff officer Yin Xintian. After the liberation, Yin told Zhang Kexia that on the morning of the 8th, Chen Jiyan rushed in and said to him: "Deputy Commander Zhang has deserted, do you know? After saying that, he hurried upstairs to report to Feng Zhi'an. Half an hour later, Feng Quan went downstairs and asked Yin to prepare a car to meet Liu Zhi (the commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression General"). Yin asked Feng what to do? Feng said, "Go report Zhang Kexia's desertion." Yin joined the Communist Party in his early years, studied with Zhang Kexia at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, had a good relationship with him, and intended to fulfill Zhang's actions, that is, to say: "Things have not yet been clarified, go to report, in case of mistakes, Liu Zhi will definitely criticize you for being too flustered." Yin suggested: "It is best to call everywhere first, ask Deputy Commander Zhang if he is there, and ask him to call back." In this way, Feng Zhi'an hesitated and did not immediately report, which won time for Zhang Kexia's escape.
In order to stabilize Feng Zhi'an, Zhang called Jia Wang and said, "The front is tight, I have come to the front." The People's Liberation Army (PLA) began attacking the canal locks last night, and in the face of this major war, I must share the hardships of life and death with our troops. I hope you will come forward as well. Feng Zhi'an naturally did not dare to go to the front, so he sent a Shunshui person and ordered Zhang to be in charge of command in the front. In this way, time was bought for the uprising.
Zhang Kexia rushed to Jiawang's headquarters at 8 a.m. He Jifeng told: "After Deputy Commander Meng Shaolian rushed back from Xuzhou last night, he immediately convened a meeting of leading cadres of the army and division at the headquarters of the Fifty-ninth Army, and Comrade Yang Side attended and announced the plan of the uprising, which dispelled some people's doubts. At that time, there were also some diehards who opposed the uprising, and The commander of the Eighteenth Division, Cui Zhenlun, pulled out his pistol and said, "Whoever opposes it will be treated with a pistol."
On November 6, 1948, the Battle of Huaihai broke out, and Huang Baitao, commander of the Kuomintang Seventh Corps, was surrounded in the area of Nianzhuang. After Huang Baitao was surrounded, he stubbornly resisted for more than ten days, causing great losses to our army. At 10:00 a.m. on November 8, Zhang Kexia and He Jifeng led two divisions of the Northwest Kuomintang Fifty-ninth Army, one division of the Seventy-seventh Army, and one regiment, totaling more than 20,000 people, and a glorious uprising in front of the battle. This was another uprising of the Kuomintang army on the battlefield in East China, and its numbers, complete organization, and far-reaching influence exceeded any previous one. It was their uprising and surrender that completely ruined Huang Baitao's hopes of breaking through. The rebel troops gave way to the river defense as planned, the People's Liberation Army quickly advanced, Huang Baitao's corps fell into a heavy siege, all 100,000 enemy soldiers were annihilated, the commander of the corps, Huang Baitao, was killed, and the Huaihai Campaign was victorious. Although they belonged to different camps, after all, they were generals who had experienced the baptism of the War of Resistance, and they died in the civil war, which had to be regretted.
Since then, zhang Kexia has to mention He Jifeng. He was also born in the Northwest Army and was highly valued from a grassroots officer, but his strong patriotism in his heart never retreated. He Jifeng, who had been promoted to brigade commander after the September 18 Incident, was dissatisfied with the Japanese invasion of China and heroically resisted the Japanese aggressors at Xifengkou, striking a blow at the arrogance of the Japanese aggressors. In 1937, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, He Jifeng was stationed in the area of Lugou Bridge, he resisted the Japanese invaders many times, he was a well-deserved anti-Japanese general, and his reputation was built using battle merit.
In 1939, He Jifeng joined our party, and he was ostensibly a senior officer of the Kuomintang, but in fact he was a full member of our party. In order to win over He Jifeng, Chiang Kai-shek specially gave He Jifeng a Zhongzheng sword, hoping that He Jifeng could serve himself. Chiang Kai-shek also intended to promote He Jifeng, and under Chiang Kai-shek's promotion, He Jifeng was promoted to commander of the 77th Army. After the founding of New China, He Jifeng successively served as deputy commander of the Nanjing Garrison District and vice minister of the Ministry of Water Resources. Later, he served as a deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and he dedicated the rest of his life to the cause of industrial water conservancy construction in New China, and finally died of illness in 1980 at the age of 82.
The Party Central Committee spoke highly of the uprisings of Zhang Kexia and He Jifeng. In his congratulatory message, Chairman Mao Zedong said that the uprising was "extremely conducive to the development of the revolutionary war." Commander-in-Chief Zhu De praised this as the "first great victory" of the Huaihai Campaign. Su Yu said: If our troops in the south were delayed for another half an hour and the enemy army fled into the city, the situation would be very different.
According to the instructions of the East China Bureau, the rebel forces were reorganized into the Fifty-ninth Army and the Seventy-seventh Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, with Zhang Kexia as the commander of the Fifty-ninth Army. On January 10, 1949, the Fifty-ninth Army and the Bohai Column of the East China Field Army were merged into the Thirty-third Army, with Zhang Kexia as the commander and subordinate to the Ninth Corps of the Third Field Army. Subsequently, Zhang Kexia led his troops to participate in the Battle of Crossing the River, and annihilated more than 10,000 enemies in the pursuit of Guangde. Later, he accompanied Chen Yi as the chief of staff of the Songhu Garrison District, and made contributions to the liberation of Shanghai.