Located in the southeast corner of Beijing's Shijingshan District, Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery is a unique place. It is uninhabited, but there are armed police standing guard 24 hours a day; Despite being in the middle of the city, it is quiet; There are many tombstones, but they are the safest places to feel.
When it comes to its name, every Chinese is full of respect.
As the highest standard and most famous garden-style cemetery in the country, the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery carries the great contributions made by countless martyrs to the founding of New China. There are countless heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of people's liberation, such as the commander-in-chief and Mr. Peng.
What is even more surprising is that there are also 12 senior Kuomintang generals who made great contributions to national liberation and revolutionary victory during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, such as Wei Lihuang, Fu Zuoyi, and Peace General Zhang Zhizhong.
Although they were enemies in the war, it is only reasonable that they were buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery after their deaths.
Why did Huang Wei enjoy such an honor and be buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery? What does this have to do with ***? What sacrifices did this hero make for the country and the nation?
All this starts with the battle for Luodian in August 1937. The "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was about to break out, and in just a few months, North China fell one after another.
The Japanese army arrogantly shouted the slogan of "bulldozing China in three months," which further aggravated the cruelty of the war. In order to expand the strategy of aggression against China, in August 1937, the Japanese army aimed at Shanghai, the richest city in China, and the Battle of Songhu began.
This battle is known as the largest and most tragic battle in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, with as many as one million Chinese and Japanese participants and lasted for three full months.
It was in this fierce battle that Huang Wei and countless other heroes wrote a singing and crying chapter of history with their lives.
Huang Wei was born in 1904 in a farming family in Guixi, Jiangxi, his father died young, and his mother was in charge of the family's livelihood. Huang Wei studied in a private school when he was a teenager, and entered Jiangxi No. 4 Normal School at the age of 13.
At the age of 19, he graduated from the Fourth Normal School and returned to his hometown to work as a primary school teacher. However, at that time, the warlords were chaotic and the country was in turmoil, and Huang Wei was deeply distressed and decided to join the army and serve the country.
At this time, the Whampoa Military Academy recruited students from all over the country, and Huang Wei, with the help of fellow villager Fang Zhimin, was admitted to the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924. After graduating from the Whampoa Military Academy, Huang Wei was retained to teach because of his excellent grades, and followed Chiang Kai-shek twice in the Eastern Crusade.
After the Northern Expedition began, Huang Wei first served as a battalion commander in the 21st Division, and then performed well in the battles of Yongan and Tonglu, and was respected by a serious general and promoted to the commander of the 61st Regiment.
In 1936, Huang Wei was selected to study at the German Army University, but due to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to China early on August 28, 1937. The day he returned to Nanjing coincided with the day that Li Shusen, the commander of the 67th Division, was wounded in the battle of Luodian and left.
Huang Wei reported to the Military Commission and began his military career.
Okay, okay, I've decided to let you succeed Li Shusen as the commander of the 67th Division, and you will go to Shanghai with me in a while. Then, Chiang Kai-shek invited Huang Wei to have dinner together at noon and presented him with his own ** and a few books.
In the upper right corner of this **, there are also four words "Cultivate my comrades", and the inscription is "Jiang Zhongzheng". Huang Wei was very happy to see this, because he knew that this was Chiang Kai-shek's intention to train him, which made him feel very honored.
On September 3, Huang Wei followed Chiang Kai-shek to Kunshan, where he met Gu Zhutong, Chen Cheng, Zhang Zhi, and others. That night, Luo Zhuoying took Huang Wei to the headquarters of the 67th Division, conveyed Chiang Kai-shek's instructions to everyone, and announced that Huang Wei would take over as the commander of the 67th Division.
Division Commander Huang Wei traveled to the front line at night, personally inspected the troops, cared about the welfare of the soldiers, and was known as a "civilian general". During the rounds, he emphasized training in shooting and grenade throwing, and gained an in-depth understanding of the situation in the division.
However, at midnight on September 6, a bloody battle broke out in the town of Luodian. Huang Weibu succeeded in occupying a large area, but then the attack of enemy aircraft and reinforcements caused a serious **, and the battle situation became very unfavorable.
Despite the crisis in the line of fire, Huang Wei and Ye Peigao still bravely commanded the soldiers to counterattack, repelling the Japanese army again and again. However, the battle did not improve by noon, and Luo Zhuoying had no choice but to abandon Luodian.
On September 7, Luo Zhuoying ordered the offensive to be stopped, and all units returned to their original positions. Huang Wei personally commanded the 199th Brigade to fight the Japanese army in Gujiajiao until September 15, successfully repelled many fierce attacks by the Japanese army, annihilated more than 600 Japanese troops, and covered the transfer of the 14th and 98th divisions to the rear.
However, in the end, the troops led by Huang Wei were extremely heavy, almost to the point of having no soldiers to send. But Huang Wei still did not give up, and he sent all the clerks, men and others in the army to the battlefield.
After the battle, less than 1,000 of the 10,000 troops led by Huang Wei were left. If Verdun is a meat grinder, then the battle for Rodian is a flesh mill through and through.
Although the Battle of Songhu ended in failure, Huang Wei's heroic performance on the battlefield still deserves our highest respect. After the war, Huang Wei was unanimously praised by Chen Cheng and Chiang Kai-shek, and was promoted to army commander.
In the subsequent War of Resistance Against Japan, Huang Wei led his troops to inflict varying degrees of damage on the Japanese army many times. It is for this reason that Huang Wei was approved to be buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery after his death.
The Battle of Huaihai was one of the fiercest battles during the liberation period. In November 1948, Huang Wei's corps was ordered to set off from Henan and gallop day and night to aid the Xuzhou battlefield. Huang Wei's 12th Corps was the main force of the Central Plains Battlefield, and with the rapid advantage of mechanization, the forward arrived in Mengcheng, Anhui.
Huang Wei originally planned to supply supplies through the direction of Bengbu, but at this time Huang Botao's corps had been besieged by our army, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered Huang Wei to rush forward to relieve the siege. Huang Wei had no choice but to move on.
After Huang Wei's corps crossed the Hun River, the PLA's strong blocking position in front put them in a difficult situation. The city of Mongolia had been occupied by the People's Liberation Army, making it impossible for Huang Wei to retreat.
They could only advance towards Guzhen, which was located on the railway line for easy supply and reinforcements. However, as soon as Huang Wei's corps moved, the PLA Central Plains Field Army gathered on all sides and surrounded them in the Shuangduiji area on November 25.
After being trapped in Shuangduiji, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the two corps of Li Yannian and Liu Ruming to support Huang Wei and provide food and ammunition to the location of the 12th Corps by airdrop. At the same time, he airlifted Hu Lian, deputy commander of the 12th Corps, to Shuangduiji.
Hu Lian's bravery and good fighting injected new vitality into Huang Wei's corps. Huang Wei knew that he was inferior to Hu Lian in terms of military experience, so he handed over the command to Hu Lian. On December 6, the People's Liberation Army officially began its general offensive after persuading Huang Wei to surrender to no avail.
The focus of our attack was on the direction of the 10th, 14th and 85th armies, and it was planned to destroy these three armies first, and then engage in a decisive battle with Huang Wei's ace army, the 18th Army.
In a vicious battle that shook the world and wept ghosts and gods, the Central Plains Field Army insisted on fighting in Dabie Mountain, and although they suffered heavy losses, they did not flinch in the face of Chiang Kai-shek's ace corps.
The political commissar of the Central Plains Field Army said firmly: "We must do our best to kill Huang Wei's corps, even if we pay the greatest price, we must achieve the final victory!" ”
During the month, the 12th Corps made several breakthroughs, but all of them were successfully stopped by our troops. When the ammunition was exhausted, a large number of ** soldiers chose to revolt, which instantly plunged Huang Wei's 12th Corps into chaos.
Some ** generals even took advantage of the chaos to escape, but they were captured by our army. Surprisingly, our army never found Huang Wei's figure. However, on the night of December 15, a peculiar figure caught the attention of Xue Zhenying, a soldier on duty.
When Xue Zhenying and the battalion instructor were patrolling the entrance of the village with some people, they heard some noise in the fields outside the village. Xue Zhenying quickly led the two to check, only to find that the person opposite had spotted them as they approached, and called himself "his own person".
Because it was dark and the other party didn't match the password, Xue Zhenying began to suspect that they were enemies. Just as he was about to arrest someone, the other party fled. Xue Zhenying and the others quickly chased after them, and when they returned to the place just now, they found that there was still a person hiding in the ditch.
Xue Zhenying walked to the man in the ditch, pointed at him, and ordered him to stand up. The man didn't react, Xue Zhenying kicked him, but he still didn't move. Xue Zhenying understood that he was playing dead, so he shouted at him to stand up quickly, otherwise he would be killed.
The man knew that his plan had been discovered, and slowly stood up. Xue Zhenying looked at him and found that he was in his 40s, not tall, but his demeanor was unusual. Xue Zhenying searched on him and did not find **, and then asked him for his name and identity.
The man just said that he was a clerk of the 30th Army, and then he kept silent. Xue Zhenying had no choice but to escort him to the station. After arriving, the battalion commander Yang Zhenhai and the instructor Fan Tianshu discovered his identity and began to interrogate him.
However, he always only said that he was a clerk of the 30th Army, and refused to say anything but this sentence. As the fighting continued, the PLA fighters were unable to interrogate him in detail, so they locked him up in a house at the battalion headquarters and arranged for two people to guard him.
The next day, Yang Zhenhai led the troops to transfer, and the prisoner followed them, and also carried a small steel cannon mount for them.
**Leniency for Huang Wei*** During the battle, Kuomintang Lieutenant General Huang Wei was captured, and he asked the **Military Commission to execute Huang Wei. However, the Chairman decided to be lenient with Huang Wei considering that he was only acting on orders.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China set up prisons for war criminals to detain and reform Japanese puppet war criminals and Kuomintang war criminals. After Huang Wei was captured, he was imprisoned in Beijing Gongdelin Prison and Fushun War Criminals Management Center.
Despite becoming a prisoner, Huang Wei was still unconvinced and openly confronted him many times. When he signed the letter of persuasion to Du Yuming, Qiu Qingquan and other high-ranking Kuomintang generals, he was annoyed and angry, saying: "Since ancient times, there have only been martyrs who died in battle, and there are no generals who survived!" ”
Huang Wei upheld the determination not to surrender to the Communist Party, and successively entered the Gongdelin, Qincheng and Fushun War Criminals Management Center. During this period, he not only adhered to "stubborn thoughts", but also grew a beard in Gongdelin and Qincheng, claiming that this was a sign of the Kuomintang period and must not be shaved off in a Communist prison.
At the same time, he also always carries Wen Tianxiang's "Song of Righteousness" and firmly adheres to the national integrity. The Kuomintang war criminals who were reformed with Huang Wei were all studying ***'s "On Protracted War" and making ideological reports based on their own crimes.
However, Huang Wei expressed disdain for this, and did not even say a word when others made reports. During a prison visit, he rejected his wife's suggestion, saying that he would no longer eat her cooking and that he did not want her to visit him again.
Although Huang Wei did not cooperate with the reform, the Communist Party and *** still treated him with the greatest tolerance. When Huang Wei first entered Gongdelin Prison, he was suffering from five types of tuberculosis, such as pulmonary tuberculosis, lymph node tuberculosis and seminal vesicle tuberculosis.
After learning about it, he instructed the Ministry of Public Security to go to Hong Kong to buy streptomycin and other drugs, and finally succeeded in ** his illness. However, although Huang Wei's tuberculosis has been cured, some of his old diseases are still not treated**.
Dr. Zhang Wei Zhou is well aware of the seriousness of Huang Wei's condition, and hemorrhoidal fistula and heart disease make him miserable. Although many attempts for treatment were unsuccessful, in 1972, Huang Wei's old illness** and his life were in danger, which made the situation even more serious.
Zhang Weizhou went to Shenyang Hemorrhoidal Fistula Hospital and asked the famous expert Li Runting to treat Huang Wei's illness. Li Runting was well aware of the heavy responsibility, and after repeated consideration, he decided to accept the challenge and take the medical team to the Fushun War Criminals Management Center to perform surgery on Huang Wei.
After two hours of meticulous work, the operation was a complete success, and the hemorrhoidal fistula that had plagued Huang Wei for decades was able to be achieved**, and he was also happy about it. After this operation, Huang Wei's resistance was significantly reduced.
Since 1959, China has started the work of amnesty for war criminals, but it requires war criminals to have a good attitude of admitting mistakes, correcting reactionary ideas, and actively participating in labor reform.
Among them, Huang Wei has not been granted amnesty because he failed to meet these conditions. Until 1975, his physical condition was much worse than before, and he was still worried about the war criminals in prison.
One day, he said to his staff: "We should release those war criminals and force them to be reformed is immoral." We used to kill bullies and landlords to protect the people, but these war criminals do not pose a threat to the common people, and we should release them. ”
Three days after the amnesty was announced, Huang Wei and other war criminals were released and warmly welcomed. At the banquet, Huang Wei was the first to speak to thank *** and *** for their transformation and amnesty.
Subsequently, Huang Wei was chosen as the guardian of ***, and he was very surprised by this. Although Huang Wei originally planned to return to his hometown to enjoy his old age, ** hoped that he would stay in Beijing as the Commissioner of Culture and History of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, enjoy the treatment of CPPCC members and receive a monthly salary.
Huang Wei has a wish, that is, he hopes that his contribution during the Anti-Japanese War will be recognized. He believed that the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression did not distinguish between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the Kuomintang also made important contributions to this period of history.
After Huang Wei's daughter Huang Huinan accompanied him to attend the 28th anniversary of the National Day, they went south to visit and investigate. At the Nanchang Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall, Huang Wei found that the list of martyrs in the glass case contained his classmates, including Fang Zhimin, an early revolutionary of the Communist Party.
Huang Wei was very emotional and said to his daughter: "I want to visit the tomb of martyr Fang Zhimin. On that day, he stood in front of Fang Zhimin's tomb for a long time.
Although Huang Wei resisted during the reform, he never criticized Chiang Kai-shek too much. He said that although there were many bad people in the Kuomintang, he would never criticize Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng.
This is because Chiang Kai-shek is his principal and his supreme commander, and Chen Cheng is his benefactor, and without Chen Cheng's reuse, his promotion would not have been so rapid.
On March 20, 1989, Huang Wei died of a heart attack in Beijing at the age of 85. His death is heart-wrenching, but his life, whether it is his contribution to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression or his performance during the transformation, is worth remembering.
Therefore, ** approved his burial in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery as a sign of recognition for his contribution to national independence and national liberation. Regardless of Huang Wei's attitude during the renovation period, we cannot ignore his efforts during the Anti-Japanese War, which is also an important reason why he can be buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.