Huang Baitao can be said to be a very special figure in the history of Chinese military.
In terms of origin, he was a general, but his journey to the army was quite bumpy. In terms of identity, although he was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek , Chiang Kai-shek only recognized his direct lineage and not his collateral lineage, so Huang Baitao died in the battle in the end. Although he was posthumously awarded a lot of honors by Chiang Kai-shek, he did not even attend his funeral.
After Huang Baitao died, Chiang Kai-shek held a funeral for him. The funeral was very grand, but Chiang Kai-shek did not attend Huang Baitao's funeral, so many years later, Chiang Kai-shek even said goodbye People, "Where was Huanran (Huang Baitao's character) buried back then?"
Then, how did Huang Baitao, the famous general who stirred up trouble on the battlefield between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and was later besieged and killed by our army during the Liberation War, die? What little-known stories are there about him before and after his death? As Huang Baitao's loyalist, Chiang Kai-shek treated Huang Baitao well. Why didn't he attend Huang Baitao's funeral in the end?
The Lone Minister of the National Army
In military history, Huang Baitao was evaluated as "foolishly loyal to Chiang Kai-shek".
What is said is that Huang Baitao was very loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and worked very hard for the orders given by Chiang Kai-shek, so even though he had a wife and children and a happy family, he was still willing to persevere to the end for Chiang Kai-shek's orders, even if there was only one soldier left.
Even if all the "colleagues" around him deserted him, fled or scattered, Huang Baitao had no intention of breaking out or surviving.
The reason why Huang Baitao was so lonely and loyal to Chiang Kai-shek was because Huang Baitao was not a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. He was neither a student of Huangpu Military Academy where Chiang Kai-shek was the principal, nor did he contribute to Chiang Kai-shek's "entrepreneurial" stage.
If Chiang Kai-shek's "great cause of the party and state" is compared to a train bound for the end, then Huang Baitao is the kind of passenger who gets on the train last.
Because he was not a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek and had no backing in the Chiang Kai-shek group, Huang Baitao, a lone army, was so loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and relied on Chiang Kai-shek's favor to survive in the Chiang Kai-shek group.
Speaking of Huang Baitao, we have to mention his military career, which can be regarded as ups and downs, many twists and turns.
Huang Baitao was born on September 9, 1900. His original name was Huang Botao, with a small name of Huanran, and his ancestral home was Meixian County, Guangdong.
Huang Baitao was born in , Zhili Province (today's Tianjin). Although his family was not wealthy, Huang Baitao's spiritual world was very rich, because his family was not an ordinary ordinary family, but a family of fallen military generals.
Huang Baitao's grandfather and grandfather all served as military officers for the Qing government in the late Qing Dynasty. However, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, their family gradually declined.
Huang Baitao grew up in Tianjin, then attended middle school and military academy. The military academy he attended was the Jiangxi Army Officer School, and then he attended the Jinling Officer Education Corps.
Huang Baitao served as a low-level military officer in Jiangsu Province and felt depressed. Later, he took refuge with Zhang Zongchang of the Beiyang Government.
Zhang Zongchang can be said to be one of the great villains during the Republic of China. He not only liked to exact taxes and levies, but also liked to kill innocent people indiscriminately. He was later "cleaned up" by Chiang Kai-shek.
Huang Baitao, who followed Zhang Zongchang and joined Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang army, was also "dismissed" by Chiang Kai-shek as Zhang Zongchang's old subordinate and relative.
However, Huang Baitao was not driven away by Chiang Kai-shek like other veteran gangsters. Instead, he was sent to an officer training class sponsored by the Kuomintang.
The reason why Huang Baitao was not driven away directly was because he was still young and did not kill innocent people indiscriminately like Zhang Zongchang. He was an upright officer, so Chiang Kai-shek did not care much about him, took away his military power, and then sent him to the officer class for "reform".
After half a year of "transformation", Huang Baitao's old warlord label has been wiped away.
Chiang Kai-shek then dared to use Huang Baitao and transferred him to the 41st Division of the Kuomintang Army as the division commander.
But that’s it, he is still the commander of a miscellaneous division. The 41st Division has uneven quality of soldiers, poor weapons and equipment, and little combat effectiveness.
Not only that, the mission the 41st Division received was very unfriendly to them, because Huang Baitao received the order to find Red Army troops and "suppress bandits."
As we all know, our people's soldiers, from the Agrarian Revolution period, have poor weapons and equipment, but they are quite tenacious and have very strong combat effectiveness. When Huang Baitao received the order to attack the Red Army , he made it clear that he would give it to him for free.
But Huang Baitao is not discouraged. He feels that Chiang Kai-shek is a big tree. As long as he embraces this big tree, he will be able to prosper sooner or later.
Therefore, during this period, Huang Baitao spared no effort in the "suppression" of our army. Although the troops suffered heavy losses, Chiang Kai-shek became more and more appreciative of his seriousness.
Huang Baitao really entered Chiang Kai-shek's field of vision in 1936. Not only was he personally promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to the senior counselor of the "General Suppression", he was also selected into the third class of the general class of the Army University of the Kuomintang Army.
After coming out of "Mainland", Huang Baitao was awarded the rank of major general.
Precisely because he was awarded the title of major general at a young age, with a strong hand and a rapid rise to prominence, Huang Baitao was very loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. Not only did he never form cliques within the Kuomintang, but he rarely ate or drank with others when he was in Nanjing.
Although he was insensitive to others, he was very sincere and warm to Chiang Kai-shek. Only when Chiang Kai-shek came to him would Huang Baitao be particularly active in reporting on it.
This kind of relationship lasted for more than ten years. Huang Baitao was promoted from major general to lieutenant general, and his position was changed from division commander to corps commander. All his wealth was given by Chiang Kai-shek. Without Chiang Kai-shek, Huang Baitao would be nothing.
It is this kind of relationship that is why Huang Baitao would rather die than surrender, and was eventually killed by our army on the Huaihai battlefield.
On November 11, 1948, Huaye, under the command of Chen Yi and Su Yu, launched a general offensive, breaking through the defensive position of Huang Baitao's regiment in one fell swoop, and surrounded Huang Baitao in a place called Nianzhuang. In the end, Huang Baitao died on the battlefield.
However, Huang Baitao is a professional soldier after all, and he once lamented his ending as a soldier.
Huang Baitao felt very special. He asked his subordinate at the time, Yang Tingyan, deputy commander of the 25th Army of the 7th Corps. Yang Tingyan. Huang Baitao said: "Commander Yang, you said that I, Huang Baitao, am loyal to the party and the country. I am heartbroken, am I right? Why did it end up like this? Was it me or the party that was wrong? ”
The Death of Huang Baitao
In fact, there are some questions about Huang Baitao’s death in history.
Before Huang Baitao's death, the last witness around him was Yang Tingyan, the deputy commander of the 25th Army. According to his later memories, Huang Baitao shot himself to death in desperation.
Furthermore, Yang Tingyan also said that Huang Baitao shot himself, but it did not hit the fatal place, so he still struggled with blood loss and pain for a long time.
Later, Yang Tingyan couldn't bear to see Huang Baitao's painful struggle, so he shot him again, and Huang Baitao died.
These words were spoken by Yang Tingyan himself.
However, in history, the death of Huang Baitao was the first national army lieutenant general and corps commander killed by our army on the battlefield of liberation, so the discussion was too great, and there are still many different opinions on the mystery of his death.
The first theory, which is also the most widely circulated and has the most evidence, is that Huang Baitao died of suicide.
The reason is naturally Yang Tingyan’s personal statement.
Yang Tingyan was different from Huang Baitao. Although he was only a deputy commander, he did not have Huang Baitao's lofty fighting spirit and loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek. He was very afraid of death, so he did not die with Huang Baitao, but survived by luck.
Although he tried to escape disguised as a soldier, he failed and was caught. However, our soldiers saw that he was injured, and because our army treated prisoners leniently at that time, they did not put Yang Tingyan in danger, but released him and let him return home on his own.
Yang Tingyan walked out of our army's position and did not dare to waste a moment. He fled back to Xuzhou overnight, and then met Du Yuming.
The reason why Du Yuming was so anxious to find Yang Tingyan was because he cared about Huang Baitao.
Yang Tingyan did not dare to hide anything, so he said, "On the night of November 11th, it was pitch dark. Commander Huang and I failed to break out. We were afraid of being captured and humiliated by the Communist army, so Commander Huang committed suicide at that time. No. But he didn't hit the right spot and wasn't dead, so I gave him a shot." When Du Yuming heard that Huang Baitao was dead, he was shocked and immediately felt sad.
Although he was not very familiar with Huang Baitao, a lonely and loyal minister, Du Yuming still appreciated him because the latter was an upright soldier. When he suddenly heard that Huang Baitao had died, he suddenly felt sad.
However, although there was Yang Tingyan as the last "witness" to Huang Baitao's death, other theories were still circulated.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to record those glorious years and not forget the revolutionary legacy of our ancestors, our party hosted veterans and cadres to organize and compile the history of each army in various periods. Finally, the Party History and Military History Department of the Academy of Military Sciences published it uniformly to praise the glorious deeds of our ancestors.
In 1987, the Academy of Military Sciences published "The War History of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", which was a key battle in the Huaihai Campaign and also a good start. ml2 The Battle of Nianzhuang was highlighted, and the key figure in the battle was Huang Baitao. His death was described in the book like this:
"... Huang Baitao fled to the compound and continued to command the remaining troops in their death struggle. Our army Organize continuous attacks. By the evening of the 22nd, the remnants of the enemy were annihilated and Huang Baitao was killed..."
"Not only that, but the "War History of the Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army " published later also had evidence and supplements for Huang Baitao's death in the Battle of Nianzhuang. The description is as follows:
"...On the evening of the 21st, another attack was launched on the remnants of the Sixty-Fourth Army. On the 22nd, the defending enemy was completely wiped out and Huang Baitao was killed. "
" In other words, Huang Baitao was killed by our army in the end.
But no matter what, Huang Baitao died and turned into a pile of loess.
After Huang Baitao's death, his body was recovered by Huang Baitao's wife and family. Although Chiang Kai-shek was disappointed with the defeat, he still had to honor Huang Baitao.
Chiang Kai-shek: Where is Huanran buried?
After Huang Baitao's death, Chiang Kai-shek recognized his merits and posthumously awarded Huang Baitao a second-class Army General and the Medal of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
Although Chiang Kai-shek’s posthumous award is a common practice, it can be said to be an extremely sad honor for the situation within the Kuomintang.
Because Huang Baitao was only 48 years old when he died, the army lieutenant general who had already served as the commander of the Corps posthumously awarded him the title of general. Although he was awarded the title posthumously, Huang Baitao also became one of the people with the highest military rank among his peers.
Not only that, there is also a Blue Sky and White Sun Medal.
The Medal of the Blue Sky and White Sun is the highest level honor in the Kuomintang army. It is awarded to those who have either made great military exploits or died on the battlefield. It is a mournful honor awarded to them.
Huang Baitao's Blue Sky and White Sun Medal, the serial number is No. 187. Before him, among the millions of soldiers who died before and during the Anti-Japanese War, as well as in the civil war , less than 200 people received this medal.
Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek also sent people to give Huang Baitao's orphan 100,000 yuan gold yuan coupons at Huang Baitao's public memorial as a token of condolences.
But when it comes to this, I have to say how hypocritical Chiang Kai-shek is.
The 100,000 gold yuan coupon sent to Huang Baitao's widow looked like a large amount, but it was actually of little value.
When Huang Baitao's body was found by the old ministry and his family and transported to Nanjing, it was January 17, 1949. At this time, in order to save the collapsing monetary order and prices in the Kuomintang-controlled area, the gold yuan coupons issued by Chiang Kai-shek in August 1948 had been issued for about 5 months.
However, because Chiang Kai-shek refused to make concessions on military spending, his financial expenditure far exceeded the limit. In addition, the unlimited issuance of gold yuan coupons caused the value to depreciate again and again. By the end of 1948, it had devalued to the point of being like waste paper.
Chiang Kai-shek gave the 100,000 yuan to Huang Baitao's widow. The amount seemed quite large, but according to the average rice price in the Kuomintang-controlled area at that time, which was sold by the grain, it was 130 yuan per grain of rice. 100,000 yuan could only buy one kilogram of rice.
is really useless.
Chiang Kai-shek knew that the purchasing power of gold yuan coupons in the Kuomintang-controlled areas was already very low, so he sent them over. Although it seemed to express condolences and condolences, it was also hypocritical.
Furthermore, Chiang Kai-shek was not only unreliable in the condolence money, he was also particularly unscrupulous at Huang Baitao's funeral.
It turned out that Chiang Kai-shek was being "forced" by Vice President Li Zongren and was forced to step down. He was forced to resign in his hometown of Fenghua, Zhejiang Province.
When Chiang Kai-shek left Nanjing, it happened to be the beginning of Huang Baitao's memorial ceremony. Therefore, Huang Baitao was not "sent away" by Chiang Kai-shek's master.
So much so that Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Taiwan in his later years, spent the rest of his life boringly recalling his "turbulent years". When he recalled Huang Baitao, he would also ask with confusion, "Where was Huanran buried?"
Conclusion:
He didn’t even know where his loyal subordinates were buried. It’s no wonder that Chiang Kai-shek was defeated and retreated in the end. Huang Baitao had such an unreliable boss and thought he could enjoy the shade under a big tree, but in the end he paid by mistake.
