In 1948, in the Liaoshen Campaign, the 100,000-strong army of the Ninth Corps, one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, was annihilated by our army, and the commander of this corps, Liao Yaoxiang, was also captured by our army. In 1956, Liao Yaoxiang was sent to Gongdelin for reform. In his opinion, he will never end well, and may even lose his life. In fact, war criminals here receive amnesty every few years.
At the end of December 1961, the war criminals in Gongdelin received their third opportunity for amnesty. Liao Yaoxiang's name was on the amnesty list this time, and he was very happy. Not only was he personally received by Premier Zhou, but during the conversation, Premier Zhou made a request to Liao Yaoxiang, and Liao Yaoxiang's answer surprised Premier Zhou.
Liao Yaoxiang
So how did he get amnesty as a Kuomintang war criminal? What is the request made by Premier Zhou? How did he answer? Next, I will lead you to understand the truth behind this matter. If you are interested in this kind of content, you can like and follow. Your support is the motivation for me to move forward.
Marshal Liu Bocheng assigned him the task
On January 15, 1951, our country officially established the Chinese People's Liberation Army Military Academy in Nanjing. This was the first military academy in my country that included various arms after the founding of New China. , was also the largest and highest-level military academy in my country at that time.
In order to run this military academy well, one indispensable thing is to introduce a large number of expert teachers who are proficient in military command and operations. So Liu Bocheng began to recruit talents all over the country.
Marshal Liu Bocheng
In terms of selecting talents, not only selects outstanding talents from our country’s People’s Liberation Army, but also selects talents from the Kuomintang officers who were captured and surrendered during the Liberation War. Some of these people are members of the Kuomintang’s Ministry of National Defense. officials, and some were senior generals of the Kuomintang army. Do you agree with Marshal Liu Bocheng's approach? You can leave your opinions in the comment area.
Marshal Liu Bocheng has appointed more than 600 former officers of the Kuomintang as instructors. Many students at the military academy are very unconvinced by these instructors. In their view, many of these people are defeated by their own hands, and some are even captured by their own hands.
Faced with such a situation, Marshal Liu Bocheng patiently explained to the students that the status of Kuomintang officers is in their past. Now, they have changed their stance and chosen to serve our army, so they are ours. teacher.
Kuomintang officer
Among these more than 600 people, Liao Yaoxiang is the most prominent one. Marshal Liu Bocheng invited Liao Yaoxiang, who was undergoing renovation of Gongdelin at that time, to give lectures at the college. After Liao Yaoxiang was invited to the Military Academy, Liu Bocheng personally greeted him. This surprised Liao Yaoxiang. He never thought that Marshal Liu Bocheng, who had great military exploits, would personally come to invite him.
When Marshal Liu Bocheng saw him, he pulled him enthusiastically and said: "The purpose of inviting you here this time is to make you a teacher. I want you to talk about what you have studied in Myanmar fighting with the Japanese army." Small unit tactics, forest warfare and urban and village fighting, and your true experience of the Liaoshen Campaign, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of both sides in the battle, and your significance to the construction of our army."
Merit Lin War Criminal
. Liao Yaoxiang was very moved by Marshal Liu Bocheng's move. Marshal Liu Bocheng was afraid that Liao Yaoxiang would worry that he would not be able to speak well, so he specifically said to him: "Don't worry, only you can talk about these issues, we can only be your teachers."”
After Liao Yaoxiang walked up to the podium, looking at the students in the audience, he smoothly recounted the scenes of the Burmese battlefield and the Japanese army, combined military theory with actual combat, and analyzed and lectured to the students in the audience. It was like Liao Yaoxiang had returned to the battlefield at that time.
After the lecture, Marshal Liu Bocheng also applauded him and praised: "General Liao, you." The class was very vivid. "
Liao Yaoxiang
Liao Yaoxiang's extraordinary qualities
So what are the extraordinary qualities of Liao Yaoxiang that make Marshal Liu Bocheng value him so much? It all starts with his life.Liao Yaoxiang is a legendary figure. He once won He was the only person to receive the Medal of Freedom and the Cross from the Allies of the United States and Britain.
He was born in Shaoyang, Hunan in 1906. His family was relatively well-off. He started studying at the age of six, and entered a high school to receive a new education at the age of twelve. At the age of sixteen, he entered Yueyun Middle School, and in 1926 he was successfully admitted to the sixth phase of Huangpu Military Academy. .
Huangpu Military Academy
After entering Huangpu Military Academy, Liao Yaoxiang worked very hard and achieved excellent results in all aspects. The teachers in the school praised him very much. In 1930, he went to French Saint-Germain. After studying abroad at the Seer Military Academy, Liao Yaoxiang successfully graduated with the first grade in his major six years later, and returned to China as the company commander of the cavalry. In 1937, the July 7th Incident broke out, and Liao Yaoxiang actively participated. The Anti-Japanese War. Liao Yaoxiang also participated in the November Nanjing Defense Battle. It was this Nanjing Defense Battle that made Chiang Kai-shek see the shortcomings of his own army. He also understood that he could no longer compete with the Japanese army based on numbers alone. .
So he established the 200th Division, which is a mechanized army. But this army needs a knowledgeable person as a leader, and because Liao Yaoxiang was unwilling to fail in the defense of Nanjing, he named it "Nanjing." He wrote a letter to Chiang Kai-shek with the title of "The experience of the battle and the progress that the national army should make in the future construction of the army."
The Nanjing Massacre
It was precisely because of this that Lao Jiang paid attention to him. After getting to know him, he was learning Born in the mechanized cavalry, therefore decided to promote Liao Yaoxiang to the chief of staff of the 200th Division Major General
The 200th Division was expanded into the New Eleventh Army in September 1938, and was later renamed the New Fifth Army. . The deputy commander of the new 22nd Division is Liao Yaoxiang. In just a few years, he has become the deputy commander of a division from a newly graduated student. This can also be seen that Lao Jiang has the same attitude towards him. Take it very seriously.
In November 1939, the Battle of Kunlun Mountain began. Liao Yaoxiang served as the deputy commander of the New 22nd Division and led his 64th Regiment to attack, breaking through the enemy's defense line and annihilating the main force of the Japanese army. cut off the connection between the Kunlun Pass Japanese defenders and the Nanning Japanese army.
Battle of Kunlun
In May 1940, Liao Yaoxiang was officially promoted to commander of the new 22nd Division. In March 1942, Liao Yaoxiang led the New 22nd Division into Myanmar to fight. When they first entered the battlefield in Myanmar, they encountered strong enemies from the Japanese invaders.
Although the number of Japanese troops was greater than that of Liao Yaoxiang, Liao Yaoxiang was not afraid of this. Instead, he took advantage of the local favorable terrain and adopted the tactics of successive resistance, ordering each unit to alternate cover and carry out continuous attacks on the Japanese army. successfully contained the Japanese army for twelve days with minimal losses to the troops.
In 1943, the counterattack in northern Myanmar began. The New 22nd Division led by Liao Yaoxiang was all replaced with new American equipment, and under this circumstance they won successive victories. even destroyed the headquarters of the 18th Japanese Division in Mengguan and seized the official printing of the Japanese invaders.
Myanmar battlefield
After hearing the news, General Mountbatten of the British army flew over to inspect the battlefield, and took a photo with Liao Yaoxiang. Not only that, he also praised the new 22nd Division. In order to annihilate all the Japanese 18th Division, Liao Yaoxiang led his troops in pursuit of victory. In the end, all the Japanese 18th Division was destroyed.
After this war, Liao Yaoxiang became a tiger general of Chiang Kai-shek and the commander of the five ace armies and the new sixth army of the Kuomintang army. During the two and a half years from March 1946 to October 1948, Liao Yaoxiang and our army launched nearly ten fierce battles in Gongzhuling , Tieling and other places. fighting.
It is precisely because of these battles that Du Yuming and attach great importance to it. Not only that, even the military advisers of the US military attach great importance to it. He was also promoted by Chiang Kai-shek to become the commander of the Ninth Corps.
Mountbatten
Liao Yaoxiang was captured
As a general with great military exploits, he was defeated and captured by our army during the Liberation War. In 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign broke out in full force, and Jinzhou was completely besieged by our army. Although Chiang Kai-shek knew that the situation was over, he wanted to make a final struggle and decided to abandon Shenyang in order to save Jinzhou.
However, Wei Lihuang, as the commander of the Northeast National Military Region, believed that the main force of the national army at that time was located in the Shenyang area, and Shenyang, Changchun, and Jinzhou should be used as the base points, waiting for the opportunity to reverse the situation on the battlefield.
Battle of Liaoshen
After Liao Yaoxiang learned that Chiang Kai-shek was going to abandon Shenyang, he also understood that the Kuomintang's chances of winning were already very slim. gave up Shenyang first, and then gave up Northeast China. He also proposed to Lao Jiang to reinforce Jinzhou, but was rejected by Lao Jiang.
In late October 1948, Liao Yaoxiang concentrated his main force to launch an attack on our army in western Liaoning, but he did not succeed. Seeing that our army became more and more courageous in the war, the failure of the national army became more and more obvious. At this time, Liao Yaoxiang's The troops and our army launched a fierce struggle in Montenegro.
American weapons
Liao Yaoxiang wanted to use this to quit Yingkou and escape from the Northeast to protect himself. The two sides fought fiercely for three days and three nights. Although Liao Yaoxiang's troops were very well-equipped, they were still unable to parry in front of our army, let alone our army's terrain advantage.
was eventually surrounded by our army, cutting Liao Yaoxiang's army into several sections along the way. Under such circumstances, all soldiers had no choice but to lay down their weapons and surrender to our army. Liao Yaoxiang's troops were all captured by our army overnight.
Liao Yaoxiang sneaked away while our army was on guard. After learning the news, our army attached great importance to this. In order to capture him again, our army gathered all the people from each village and conducted a careful investigation. We must not let any suspicious person go. Capture Liao Yaoxiang.
Disguising as a farmer
The next day, Liao Yaoxiang spent a lot of money to buy some farmers' clothes and food, disguised himself as a farmer, and wanted to take this opportunity to escape to Shenyang. was captured when checking in for accommodation, and was later sent to Shenyang Gongdelin to undergo transformation. In 1956, in order to facilitate management and save unnecessary expenses, all war criminals in Shenyang and other places moved to Beijing Gongdelin to study and reform. Liao Yaoxiang also went to Beijing Gongdelin. When
first came here, Liao Yaoxiang, like many officers in the Kuomintang, was very uncooperative with management and often caused trouble. They even joined forces privately to attempt to cause sabotage inside. When Liao Yaoxiang was first arrested and imprisoned, he was very hostile to our army. After all, Chiang Kai-shek used to attach great importance to him. Therefore, Lao Jiang's kindness to Liao Yaoxiang was very great.
Chiang Kai-shek
It is for this reason that when he was undergoing reform in Gongdelin, Liao Yaoxiang was very painful and guilty. During the reform period, he also had the idea of suicide, using this method to express his loyalty to the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek. Fortunately, the colleagues in charge discovered Liao Yaoxiang's dangerous thoughts and began to persuade him. Eventually, Liao Yaoxiang's thoughts of suicide disappeared.
Even so, Liao Yaoxiang's thoughts are still very stubborn. Our party comrades will send some progressive books, but he never reads them. Our administrators see it all. But Liao Yaoxiang had a habit of liking to read newspapers, so we gave him various newspapers to read every day. We began to use newspapers to transmit advanced ideas to Liao Yaoxiang.
"Manifesto of the Communist Party"
Liao Yaoxiang's ideological change
The moment he opened the newspaper, the first thing he saw was the people living and working in peace and contentment, as well as the steady development of the country. Liao Yaoxiang fell into deep thought for a moment when he saw this scene. After his ideological struggle, Liao Yaoxiang began to change his attitude towards our army.
During the years when war criminals were imprisoned, our party comrades rarely directly spoke to them about surrender. Instead, they would let them watch movies, discuss and study, and sometimes let them read works about Marxism-Leninism. Although Liao Yaoxiang received higher education at that time, books about socialist ideas were very unfamiliar to him. He had never read this type of book before.
Marxism-Lenin
At first, Liao Yaoxiang thought that these books were for ideological transformation, so he put them on the bedside and did not read them. After a period of understanding, he discovered that these books were not as great a scourge as the Kuomintang said. Liao Yaoxiang later read all these books on socialist ideas. After he came into contact with these advanced ideas, he felt that his heart was full of power.
So he gradually realized the mistakes he had made before, and later took the initiative to participate in the study and exchange meeting at Gongdelin, where he expressed his thoughts on Marxism-Leninism. In addition, Liao Yaoxiang has also changed in his life. Before, he was unwilling to work at all, and he kept declining some things that belonged to him. From then on, he became the most active of all war criminals.
Gongdelin Academic Exchange
Amnesty for Liao Yaoxiang
In December 1959, was celebrating the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, so we wanted to amnesty those who abandoned evil and turned to good in Gongdelin. The war criminals in Beijing's Gongde Forest were also very excited after hearing the news.
Soon, the central government will announce the first batch of amnesty lists for war criminals. The war criminals are praying to hear their names on the list and hoping that they can get out. At this time, Liao Yaoxiang was also looking forward to this result. When the correctional comrades took out the list and read the names one by one, everyone was very nervous. After the name was read out, Liao Yaoxiang was very disappointed as to why his name was not on the amnesty list.
Amnesty for war criminals
Even so, he still eagerly looked forward to the arrival of the second amnesty. He was still working hard to reform in the forest of merit as usual. Although his name was not on the previous two amnesty lists, he will not fail to make progress. strives to have his name appear on the list of the second amnesty.
A year later, he finally waited for the second amnesty. The lobby of Gongdelin was full of war criminals, and everyone was silently watching the amnesty list on the stage. But this time, his name was still missing. looked at those war criminals who were pardoned and felt very envious, but now he still needs to be reformed.
The second amnesty for war criminals
In December 1961, Gongdelin announced the third batch of amnesty lists. Liao Yaoxiang's name did not appear in the first two amnesty lists, so at the third amnesty conference, Liao Yaoxiang's name He was very calm in his heart, and he was mentally prepared to continue to receive reform in Gongde Forest. But this time Liao Yaoxiang's name appeared on the list, and he was very excited.
Liao Yaoxiang has been on the road from a war criminal to a citizen for twelve years. was a transformation process for Liao Yaoxiang during this period. Since he was a graduate of the sixth batch of Whampoa Military Academy, he was invited by many old classmates when he was released from prison. In this class reunion, in addition to old classmates and old comrades-in-arms, there is also a special guest, that is our beloved Premier Zhou.
Premier Zhou
Premier Zhou gave Liao Yaoxiang a task
Premier Zhou also specifically told Liao Yaoxiang one thing during this banquet, that is, he wanted him to tell all the stories between Chiang Kai-shek and him, like this This will allow future generations to learn from it. In the past, because the relationship between him and Lao Jiang was still very deep and he was very stubborn, Premier Zhou did not dare to explain it to Liao Yaoxiang even if he had such an idea.
But now that Premier Zhou has made this request again, he is very unsure because he doesn't know whether Liao Yaoxiang will agree to this request. But after Premier Zhou said these words, Liao Yaoxiang agreed without much thought, and also said that no matter how difficult it was, he would complete the task.
Liao Yaoxiang
Premier Zhou was very happy after hearing this answer. Because it can be seen from between the lines of Liao Yaoxiang's words that Liao Yaoxiang has made major changes in his thinking. In the end, he accepted this task from Premier Zhou and became a researcher of literature and history in our country.
After the banquet, according to the provisions of the amnesty personnel, they must go to the countryside to undergo labor reform. After all, they are all officers of the Kuomintang and have always enjoyed high official salaries. Therefore, by doing this, they can truly be with the working people. Only then can they truly understand the hardships of the people's lives and appreciate their hardships and difficulties. . So Liao Yaoxiang and Ted's companions took the carriage and luggage to the countryside to work.
The war criminals who went to the countryside for reform
Liao Yaoxiang and others were recalled to Beijing a year later. After Liao Yaoxiang returned to Beijing, the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee also said kindly: "Comrade Liao Yaoxiang, you have worked hard." When Liao Yaoxiang heard this sentence, he felt a sense of intimacy and warmth, because our party finally Calling him a comrade, himself should cherish this hard-won trust and respect, and he is determined to complete the tasks assigned by Premier Zhou.
Liao Yaoxiang was appointed to work
Premier Zhou quickly made work arrangements for Liao Yaoxiang. Liao Yaoxiang was appointed as the cultural historian of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Cultural and Historical Materials Research Committee and officially participated in the work of national institutions. Liao Yaoxiang was filled with emotion as he took the appointment letter. He said that our party, our country's great men and Premier Zhou Enlai have forgiven me and will definitely spend the rest of their lives repaying this kindness.
then began to write a memoir about Chiang Kai-shek realistically. Premier Zhou commented when reading his memoirs, He told the truth to history and also told the truth to the people. Premier Zhou also arranged for Liao Yaoxiang and others to visit various places in our country, in order to allow these amnesty personnel to have a more thorough understanding of the development of the motherland.
Great man of our country who works
During this tour, Liao Yaoxiang realized the contribution of our party to the country and the people, and felt great admiration for our party in his heart.
He wrote a letter to Premier Zhou on one day in November 1964. When Premier Zhou saw the letter, he was very moved and kept the letter properly. The content of the letter is: "I hope I can join the Communist Party of China and become a party member."
In the following time, Liao Yaoxiang embarked on the right path. He is also committed to promoting cooperation and exchanges in cross-strait relations. Not only that, he also played a major role in the ideological change of some Kuomintang personnel. At the last moment of Liao Yaoxiang's life, Premier Zhou's influence continued.
Flag of the Communist Party of China
Liao Yaoxiang died of a heart attack in December 1968. He was only 62 years old that year. In May 1980, the party and the people decided to hold a memorial service for Liao Yaoxiang in Babaoshan, China. In doing so, it also affirmed his lifelong contribution to the motherland. Although he once stood on the opposite side of our party, he has finally found his way back.
Judging from Liao Yaoxiang's life experience, he was a famous anti-Japanese general. During the Anti-Japanese War, he chose to actively resist Japan and defeated the Japanese army many times, making great contributions to the Anti-Japanese War. Although he stood on the opposite side of our army during the Liberation War, after being captured by our army, he was relatively active in reform and finally returned to the ranks of the people, which is very rare.
Liberation War
Since ancient times, heroes have no regard for their origin. For Liao Yaoxiang, he is such a hero. It turned out that he was a tiger general under Chiang Kai-shek, but after being captured, he was influenced by our party's ideas, gradually found his new beliefs, and also showed off his unique military talents. As long as they can serve the people wholeheartedly, no matter who they are, no matter what their status is, regardless of their age, they are all heroes of the people.
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