In February 1949, in accordance with the instructions of the ** Military Commission, the 11th Column of the Central Plains Field Army and part of the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Army in the Xiangcheng area of Henan Province were merged to form the 17th Army of the People's Liberation Army, which was subordinate to the Second Field Army.
Wang Bingzhang served as the first commander of the 17th Army, so today we will learn about Wang Bingzhang's story and what was his later life?
Wang Bingzhang, a young man from a poor peasant family in Anyang, Henan Province, was born in 1914. In order to make a living, he joined the army and entered Feng Yuxiang's troops, and then with the end of the Central Plains War, Feng Yuxiang was defeated and went into the wilderness, and the troops were absorbed by Chiang Kai-shek, and Wang Bingzhang's unit was organized into the 26th Route Army.
In the following 1931, Wang Bingzhang followed the 26th Route Army to Jiangxi to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army, however, under the leadership of Dong Zhentang and others, they were unwilling to turn their guns on the Red Army, so they launched the Ningdu Uprising, and Wang Bingzhang also responded positively and joined the Red Army.
Wang Bingzhang rose to prominence in the Red Army and participated in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" battle and the Long March. He served as a member of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and then served as the commander of the 11th Column of the Central Plains Field Army in the War of Liberation.
In February 1949, when the 11th Column was reorganized into the 17th Army of the Second Field, Wang Bingzhang became the first commander of the army. He participated in the battle of crossing the river and witnessed the birth of New China.
In order to strengthen the air force, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, General Liu Yalou carefully selected elite cadres to join the Red Army throughout the country, including Wang Bingzhang. At the end of October 1949, Wang Bingzhang was appointed chief of staff of the Air Force, but because he needed to leave Erye, he missed the battle to liberate the southwest, which was why he did not work in the southwest after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In 1968, Nie Shuai appointed Wang Bingzhang as the first deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission. Due to Nie Shuai's daily management, the main person in charge of daily work has become Wang Bingzhang.
During this period, he successfully commanded the launch of the Long March-1 carrier rocket and won the successful launch of the "Vostok-1" artificial satellite. As the principal person in charge of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, Wang Bingzhang also hosted many meaningful activities, such as the National Defense Cutting-edge Science and Technology Exhibition, which exhibited the latest national defense scientific research achievements and top-secret documents.
In addition, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission has also put forward the slogan of "16 May for National Defense" to promote the development of cutting-edge science and technology and the progress of national defense.
In 1971, the wheel of time came to September 13, the turning point of history, the 913 incident occurred. After the 913 incident, Wang Bingzhang was incommunicado for examination in October and was dismissed from his post.
So, what exactly caused Wang Bingzhang to be isolated and reviewed? In fact, it all started with the 913 incident. At that time, Zhou Yuchi and others tried to hijack a plane and fled with Lin Liguo, however, the pilot of the plane had a unique eye and saw through their conspiracy and successfully piloted the plane back.
After the plane landed, Wang Bingzhang was quarantined for examination and dismissed from his post because the plane found a large number of top-secret documents and cutting-edge scientific research materials of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission. The task force conducted two investigations on it, first of all, the top-secret information on the plane, and secondly, the issue of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission purchasing and signing for the health care equipment for **.
Eventually, in 1982, the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) found that Wang Bingzhang was guilty of a lesser offense and could be exempted from prosecution. After retiring from active service, Wang Bingzhang spent his old age in Beijing, where he died in 2005 at the age of 91.