In August 1945, Japan officially announced its surrender, marking the end of the arduous war of resistance against Japan. However, while the people of the whole country were immersed in the joy of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek's national ** launched a new action. During the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek fought with the CCP many times and did not give up his plan to exterminate the CCP. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, in order to gain an advantage in the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan and other warlords prepared to suppress the Communist Party in advance. Soon after, Yan Xishan's troops quickly launched an offensive against the liberated areas of Shangdang, which led to a drastic change in the situation in Shanxi. Shangdang has been a strategic location in the north since ancient times, and controlling it can directly threaten the hinterland of Shanxi and Hebei.
In order to seize control of Shangdang, Yan Xishan spared no expense and sent his elite troops, the 19th Army, led by the army commander Shi Zebo, to quickly capture Shangdang. In the face of the actions of Yan Xishan's troops, ** of course would not sit idly by, so the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region quickly responded and launched the famous Shangdang Campaign. Yan Xishan and Chiang Kai-shek did not expect that their carefully planned military operation would eventually become a "farce". Under the fierce offensive of Liu Deng's army, the enemy army that invaded Shangdang was quickly defeated, and the main force of the 19th Army led by Shi Zebo was defeated and retreated, and finally could only make a desperate effort to defend Changzhi, and the armed force was only more than 10,000 people. Liu Deng's army successively recovered other towns occupied by the enemy, and finally concentrated its military forces on Changzhi.
Then, the People's Liberation Army's three-way army trapped Shi Zebo in Changzhi, Yan Xishan noticed that the situation was not good, and hurriedly dispatched troops to try to save Shi Zebo. However, ** and others had already deployed and set up a special team to fight the enemy's reinforcements, but Shi Zebo was not rescued, but Yan Xishan suffered heavy losses. In the end, Yan Xishan suffered a heavy blow and failed to rescue Shi Zebo. After a long and bitter battle, until October 12, the Shangdang campaign officially ended. In this battle, Yan Xishan's troops lost more than 30,000 elite soldiers, and a group of senior generals such as Shi Zebo became prisoners of the People's Liberation Army.
After the war, the Kuomintang was unwilling to admit defeat, and Chiang Kai-shek even went so far as to accuse the CCP of breaking the cooperation agreement and demanding the return of the cities occupied by the PLA and the soldiers captured in the battle. ** There was no concession to the provocations of the Kuomintang, but there were more considerations in dealing with the issue of prisoners. Especially for the captured commander of the 19th Army, Shi Zebo, who was an old acquaintance of the CCP. Shi Zebo graduated from the Baoding Army Military Academy in his early years, rose to prominence in the warlord melee, and joined the Jin Sui Army in 1932 and became a fierce general under Yan Xishan. As a staunch **ist, Shi Zebo has participated in the fight against the CCP many times, and has brought a lot of trouble to the CCP with his outstanding military ability, and even led to the sacrifice of Liu Zhidan and a deep blood feud with the CCP.
However, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Shi Zebo threw himself into the anti-Japanese battlefield, fought bravely in important battles such as the Battle of Xinkou and the Battle of Taiyuan, and made many military exploits, causing great trouble to the Japanese army. Therefore, although Shi Zebo was a counter-revolutionary executioner, he was also an anti-Japanese hero. The internal affairs of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region are handled by ***. In June 1947, ** was appointed deputy commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, and although he was in poor health, he still chose to take office with illness. After Shi Zebo was captured, he has been living in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area, and has always refused to accept the transformation and adhered to the leading position. In the face of his attitude, some people advocated killing him to avenge Liu Zhidan and other comrades, but *** did not embarrass Shi Zebo.
Commander-in-Chief Xu ordered the release of Shi Zebo shortly after taking office, a decision that surprised everyone, and even Shi Zebo himself did not expect it. Commander-in-Chief Xu personally went to Yetao Town, Wu'an County, released Shi Zebo and other captured senior Kuomintang generals, and specially saw off Shi Zebo. When Shi Zebo was released, Commander-in-Chief Xu also solemnly said to him: "You don't need to mention any benefits of the Communist Party after you go back, just go back to Taiyuan." You came back alive and the Communist Party didn't kill you, which in itself is the best propaganda. When others see you, or hear that you came back alive, they will think, what will the Communist Party do to us if they didn't even kill Shi Zebo?What do you think?
Shi Zebo couldn't help nodding frequently when he heard Commander-in-Chief Xu's sincere words. Commander-in-Chief Xu's handling was undoubtedly very clever. Obviously, everyone was aware of the grievances between Shi Zebo and the Communists, and almost everyone believed that Shi Zebo would inevitably be executed if he was captured. However, Commander-in-Chief Xu chose Huairou to treat Shi Zebo and generously released him, which undoubtedly set a model among the captured generals. This move has made many people see the tolerance and generosity of the CCP, and even a person with the most heinous crimes like Shi Zebo can be treated with tenderness and be able to return to his homeland, not to mention others. Of course, setting up such a model also means that it will be difficult for Shi Zebo to be reused after he returns.
Yan Xishan and others were very ashamed of the defeat in the Shangdang Campaign, and Shi Zebo, a captured general, was not popular after his return. Yan Xishan even formed a Shameful Struggle Regiment, which was composed of these captured generals, and Shi Zebo was also appointed as the commander-in-chief. However, this kind of treatment made Shi Zebo and others feel very humiliated, they were completely marginalized, and they also lost their future within the Jin Sui army. Therefore, not long after Shi Zebo returned to Yan Xishan's side, he resigned from his position on the grounds of recuperation, and spent his old age in Taiyuan from then on.
After many changes, Shi Zebo's thinking gradually changed, and in his later years, he sincerely began to support New China, and eventually served as a member of the CPPCC of Jiaohe County, Hebei Province, and became a member of New China. The behavior of Commander-in-Chief Xu to interpret Shi Zebo also had a huge impact within the Jin Sui Army, and in several battles later, many senior generals of the Jin Sui Army accepted the transformation of the People's Liberation Army and joined the revolutionary ranks. Many people made significant contributions to the War of Liberation, and some of them even became the right-hand men of the commander-in-chief. There is no doubt that the commander-in-chief has achieved a great victory in the reform of prisoners of war in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.