In May 1947, after the Battle of Shandong and Laiwu, we defeated the Kuomintang army's offensive in Yimeng Mountains. The most important battle was the Battle of Menglianggu. The Huaye Commander Su Yu and others carefully deployed it, and gradually led the reorganized 74th Division of the National Army to Menglianggu, and then concentrated their superior forces to annihilate it. The famous commander of the 74th Division and the beloved general of Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Lingfu were defeated and died.
When this battle started, our army's slogan was "Storm to Menglianggu and capture Zhang Lingfu alive". In the end, Zhang Lingfu died. There are many different opinions on the cause of his death. The Kuomintang claimed that Zhang Lingfu "deathed suicide", and our army's files showed that he was shot dead. With the disclosure of relevant archives in recent years, it can be determined that Zhang Lingfu's suicide was a lie fabricated by the Kuomintang to comfort Chiang Kai-shek.
The Kuomintang’s statement is related to the news released by our army at the beginning. For some reason, the East China Field Army once said in a report to the Central Committee and Chairman Mao after the Menglianggu war that he failed to capture Zhang Lingfu alive and he committed suicide.
Zhang Lingfu
And on May 29, 1947, more than ten days after the end of the Menglianggu Battle, the commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army Chen Yi A passage spoke at the meeting of cadres above the regiment revealed the secret of Zhang Lingfu's death:
"Persist on the Shandong base to completely crush Chiang Kai-shek's attack, cooperate with the national struggle, and promote the climax of the Great Revolution... On this issue, many cadres fluctuated, were dishonest, and violated the policy. Zhang Lingfu was killed by us, and the report said he committed suicide, so we deceived the central government. , Chairman Mao, Commander-in-Chief Zhu. " (See "Selected Military Writings of Chen Yi" page 387)
Chen Yi learned that the report the Huaye troops gave to the central government at the beginning was false, and he severely criticized cadres at all levels at the meeting to rectify the military atmosphere. So how did Zhang Lingfu be shot dead? Since we want to talk about this, it is necessary to briefly review the battle.
The reorganized 74th Division commanded by Zhang Lingfu is a trump card unit of the National Army, well-equipped and very combat-effective. Some people say that the destruction of the troops was mainly due to the numerous internal conflicts of the National Army. In order to preserve their strength, no one in the other troops near the battlefield reinforced Menglianggu. In fact, the battle between the Chinese wing troops was also very fierce. It was not that the national army did not want reinforcements, but that they could not fight in. After the main troops of Huaye encircled the reorganized 74th Division, Chiang Kai-shek was very shocked. While appeased Zhang Lingfu and asked him to hold on to the aid, he urgently dispatched ten reorganized divisions to advance towards Meng Lianggu. Huaye was prepared for it, with five columns mainly attacking Menglianggu, and the remaining four columns and the brothers in southern Shandong were responsible for fighting aid.
Chen Yi
enemy reinforcements Qiu Qingquan 's new fifth army was blocked south of Laiwu, Hu Lian 's 11th division was blocked north of Mengyin 's 7th army was blocked on the front line of Sun Zu and Taohua Mountain, the 20th division and the 64th division were blocked south of Qingtuo Temple, Huang Baitao 's 25th division had already reached the Huangya Mountain line southwest of Menglianggu, and could not advance. Li Tianxia 83rd division arrived at the Niutou Mountain area southeast of Menglianggu, and was also blocked.
Chiang Kai-shek's telegrams were one after another, urging all troops to rescue the 74th Division. Although the national army was not united, not all troops could not work, among which Huang Baitao's 25th Division worked the most. As long as the 25th Division crosses Huangya Mountain and enters the open land, it will be connected with the 74th Division.
The 48th Regiment of the 6th Column of Huaye Division was blocking the 25th Division. They quickly seized the favorable terrain of Huangya Mountain and dragged the enemy at all costs. Huang Baitao forced his troops to charge towards the mountain in a dense formation, "only advance but not retreat". The battle was extremely fierce. In the end, one regiment of Huang Baitao's troops was completely injured and injured, but they failed to break through the defense line of our 48th regiment.
Objectively speaking, Li Tianxia’s 83rd Division is Zhang Lingfu’s life-saving straw. But the 83rd Division was scared by the Huaye before. On the last day of the battle, it was still wandering southeast of Menglianggu. Chiang Kai-shek was furious and sent an airplane to the 83rd Division air pitching order, asking them to rescue the 74th Division quickly, "no delays, otherwise it will be treated as military law."
But Li Tianxia has already withdrawn her troops to Daguanzhuang. Although Chiang Kai-shek's order puts great pressure on him, he is still determined not to march. The 83rd Division remained unmoved, resulting in the 74th Division's right wing being empty and eventually annihilated. Li Tianxia was cunning and did not save Zhang Lingfu, but first came to preserve his strength, and secondly, there was a conflict between the two, so Li Tianxia would rather be punished than hold on to the army.
When the battle was about to end, the secret service regiment of the Sixth Column of Huaye first broke through the west side of Menglianggu and directly attacked the command post of the 74th Division. According to the recollection of General Wang Bicheng, the former commander of the Sixth Column of Huaye, Zhang Lingfu and his chief of staff, Wei Zhenyue, led more than 1,000 remaining soldiers to the mountainside to fight stubbornly, and most of them were annihilated. Zhang Lingfu and others hid in the cave.
When the secret service regiment attacked the cave, the instructor of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion died. The officers and soldiers of the 3rd Company were red-eyed, rushed fiercely in the rain of bullets, and controlled the entrance of the cave, and then Zhang Lingfu died. He didn't have the courage to commit suicide, and the only question was in what state he was killed.
Wang Bicheng
The day after the end of the battle, Xinhua News Agency reported the news of Menglianggu's victory. A few days later, another report said: "Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the first American Armed Division of Chiang Kai-shek's direct main force, had been shot dead by the American weapons seized by the People's Liberation Army."
According to the report, when Zhang Lingfu attempted to break through and escape, he was hit on the back of the head by the People's Liberation Army's American Thomson machine gun and was killed on the spot. Afterwards, two captive regiment commanders of the 74th Division, Zhang Guangdi, secretary of Zhang Lingfu, and others went to identify the body and confirmed that Zhang Lingfu's back head was hit by Thomson's bullet and the blood was already dry. The People's Liberation Army put his body into a coffin and buried it, and held a simple memorial service.
Combined with Chen Yi's speech mentioned above, it shows that in the first good news from Huaye to the Central Committee, he said that Zhang Lingfu committed suicide, but was later corrected, and changed to Zhang Lingfu was shot dead in the battle. In the years since then, the history of our army and related books have recorded the sayings of "shocking" or "shocking on the spot". Until the late 1980s, some memoir articles mentioned that Zhang Lingfu was shot dead by angry officers and soldiers after surrender.
1987, Jin Zigu, who was once the chief staff member of the Huaye Command, published an article in the newspaper "Record the Battle of Menglianggu", which revealed the secret for the first time, "When the battle was coming to an end, a platoon of troops in the Sixth Column, rushed into the cave where Zhang Lingfu hid. Zhang Lingfu raised his hand to surrender. The platoon was full of regret for the enemy and raised his submachine gun and shot him to death."
Wang Bicheng, who was once the commander of the Sixth Column of Huaye, also published an article in a related publication "Flying Fighting Meng Lianggu", which said: "The commander Zhang Lingfu, who was covered with the blood of the people and was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, was killed by a cadre who had a deep hatred for him after being captured alive by our spy regiment."
So, who was the person who killed Zhang Lingfu? "Selected Military Writings of Chen Yi" mentioned that He Fengshan, the deputy commander of the secret service regiment who led people to attack the command post of the 74th Division during the Battle of Menglianggu. In addition, the "Su Yu Military Collection" contains a telegram sent by Chen Yi, Su Yu and other Huaye leaders to the Central Military Commission on May 30, 1947. There is a passage in it:
Su Yu
"According to the final inspection, the commander of the 74th Division, Zhang Lingfu, deputy commander of the 74th Division, Cai Renjie, , and brigade commander of the 58th Brigade Lu Xing, when the battle was resolved at 2:00 pm on the 16th, was shot dead by He Fengshan, deputy commander of the Special Service Regiment of our Sixth Column. When Deputy Commander He approached the stone cave where Zhang Lingfu and others were hiding, he introduced it as Zhang Lingfu and others according to the adjutant of the division headquarters. It is still available at the prisoner's office. "
1989, as a historical witness, He Fengshan wrote an article in the third issue of "Military History Materials", which detailed the process of killing Zhang Lingfu.
He Fengshan said that at that time, Zhang Lingfu fought stubbornly in the cave, and the secret service group opened fire violently inside and killed him. Later, after Wang Bicheng's memoirs were included in the Battle of Menglianggu and other war history archives, it was changed, which was consistent with He Fengshan's description, saying that Zhang Lingfu was shot dead during the battle.
The problem is that Zhang Lingfu's fatal injury is in the back of his head. Many historical researchers speculate that it is likely that he was shot dead after surrender. If this is true, it is understandable, because the officers and soldiers of Huaye hate Zhang Lingfu too much.Before the Battle of Menglianggu, the Sixth Column and other troops fought twice with the 74th Division in Lianshui. Although the second Lianshui Battle was won, the Sixth Column suffered a lot of casualties. The officers and soldiers wanted to swallow Zhang Lingfu alive and avenge their comrades.
If this is the case, then Huaye's initial report to the central government was obviously to protect He Fengshan and others, worried that they would be punished. Chen Yi then criticized the Sixth Column, and the matter was left in vain.
No matter what, Zhang Lingfu did not commit suicide, and even the "auspicious letter" he left was fake. Many years later, Wang Yaowu admitted that the suicide letter was forged by him and was not written by Zhang Lingfu at all.
