He was once in opposition to our party, and was even ordered to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army many times, so he became one of Chiang Kai-shek's "five tiger generals". But in the fifties, when he wanted to return to the mainland, our party not only did not refuse, but carefully arranged his itinerary to ensure his safe return.
When he arrived in Beijing, the prime minister, who had just undergone surgery, personally greeted him at the train station, and the chairman even hosted a banquet to entertain him, accompanied by the six generalissimos.
Although he was once a famous general, after applying to return to the mainland, he has always had the illusion of "**mainland". At the end of 1954, he signed the "Mutual Defense Treaty" with the United States, colluding with foreigners, seriously hurting the feelings of the two sides of the strait and triggering widespread anger.
Wei Lihuang, who was in Hong Kong, was angry at Chiang Kai-shek's actions and anxious about his fate, eager to return to the mainland as soon as possible. He has lived in Hong Kong since 1949, when he escaped from Chiang Kai-shek's captivity.
However, there were still many Kuomintang agents here, and in order to avoid exposure, he rarely went out. Wei Lihuang pondered for a long time, hoping to convey his ideas to the CCP leadership.
At the beginning of 1955, he wrote a letter to the CCP through his wife's relatives, and finally sent it to *** through the CCP's organization in Hong Kong.
Chiang Kai-shek had repeatedly lobbied Wei Lihuang to go to Taiwan, while our party hoped to seek a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue and to promote cross-strait reunification by attracting more Kuomintang generals to return to the mainland.
When *** saw Wei Lihuang's application letter, he was very happy, and in order to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, he asked Sister Deng to reply to the letter.
As a veteran who has worked on the hidden front for many years, he maintained a high degree of vigilance and proposed a safe route from Hong Kong to the mainland to Wei Lihuang, and made careful arrangements.
Some people may not understand why our party agreed to Wei Lihuang's application, after all, he was Chiang Kai-shek's right-hand man, targeted our party, and was included in our party's "war criminal list."
However, he did participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army that year, and thus won the attention of Chiang Kai-shek.
In May 1932, Chiang Kai-shek was worried about the expansion of our army's power, so he specially set up the general headquarters of "encirclement and suppression" in the three provinces of Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and sent 300,000 troops to attack the Red Army in these three areas.
Wei Lihuang served as the commander of the 6th Column and led the 83rd Division and the 10th Division to attack from the middle. Fierce battles broke out between these two forces and the Red Fourth Army and the Red Ninth Army.
In the end, the 10th Division suffered heavy losses from the Red Army. In September of the same year, he commanded the troops to engage the Red Army and occupied Yinshanjia, Jinjiazhai and other places. Chiang Kai-shek was very satisfied with his performance and promoted him to commander-in-chief of the "encirclement and suppression" of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region.
After that, Wei Lihuang was repeatedly ordered to lead the troops to carry out "encirclement and suppression" against the Red Army.
In September 1936, he was promoted to army general for his outstanding completion of the task of "suppressing bandits" and became Chiang Kai-shek's indispensable right-hand man. Although he brought a lot of trouble to our army in the past few years, his contribution to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and his help to our Party in the War of Liberation are all things that we cannot ignore.
His outstanding contributions are admirable. In 1955, the famous ** general Wei Lihuang applied to return to the mainland, and our leaders agreed to his request. This is not only because he has helped us in the past, but also because he is a truly patriotic general.
In the summer of 1938, the Eighth Route Army in northern Shaanxi received a batch of urgently needed supplies, including 180 boxes of canned beef, 1 million rounds of ammunition and 250,000 grenades.
These supplies were particularly precious to us, who were in urgent need of ammunition and food and grass at that time.
Wei Lihuang, a high-ranking Kuomintang general, came to Yan'an not long ago to meet with *** and others. Zhao Rongsheng, the secretary next to him, is a red ** who was installed in the Kuomintang by the organization.
Although he knew Zhao Rongsheng's true identity, he still chose to trust and keep Zhao Rongsheng. On April 17, at the suggestion of Zhao Rongsheng, Wei Lihuang came to Yan'an to visit and exchange the situation of the Anti-Japanese War with Mr. Zhu and others.
Under the cordial reception of ***, Wei Lihuang deeply felt the enthusiasm and sincerity of our party. During the three days, Wei Lihuang had a deep impression of our party, and under the influence of Zhao Rongsheng, he established a good relationship with our party.
There were dozens of telegram exchanges between him and ***, discussing how to fight the Japanese invaders. Even, Wei Lihuang once expressed to Zhao Rongsheng his desire to join our party.
After learning of the shortage of supplies for the Eighth Route Army, Wei Lihuang, despite serving in the Kuomintang, had a different mindset from most people. As early as the age of 18, he was influenced by revolutionary ideas, and after graduation, he did not choose to join the ranks of warlords, but chose to join the revolution and participate in the struggle against Yuan Shikai.
In the process of following Dr. Sun Yat-sen, his thinking was further enhanced. Therefore, when he saw the Japanese invaders wantonly trampling on the land of China, his patriotism was ignited, and he resolutely led his troops to fight back bravely.
Wei Lihuang is convinced of our party's anti-Japanese stand and is willing to cooperate with our army to drive out the aggressors.
Wei Lihuang was noticed by Chiang Kai-shek because of his dealings with our party, and he disagreed with the order of his superiors to attack the Eighth Route Army, which led to the loss of military power in 1941 and his transfer from the front.
However, at the end of November 1943, the Chinese Expeditionary Force led by Chen Cheng fought the Japanese in Burma and suffered heavy losses, prompting Chiang Kai-shek to urgently appoint Wei Lihuang as commander-in-chief.
With rich combat experience, Wei Lihuang personally went into battle to reconnoiter the terrain, and formulated a battle plan, successfully commanded 200,000 expeditionary forces to complete the large-scale expeditionary force, and made outstanding contributions to resisting the Japanese invaders.
For a time, his prestige resounded internationally, and even appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the United States. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Wei Lihuang did not support the infighting, and Chiang Kai-shek was dissatisfied with this, so he came to him to "cross the river and tear down the bridge", and found an excuse to order him to go abroad for "investigation".
During this period, he actively sought secret contacts with our party.
At the beginning of 1947, the defeat on the battlefield was decided, and Chiang Kai-shek was in urgent need of talents, so he had to reactivate Wei Lihuang and order him to return to China immediately. Before leaving France, Wei Lihuang expressed to our party through intermediaries his willingness to cooperate with our side in order to end the war as soon as possible.
In 1948, as the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Suppression, he was ordered to go to the battlefield and lead the ** against the People's Liberation Army. Although Wei Lihuang promised to cooperate with our army, he was actually dragging his feet and refusing to confront our army head-on.
Especially in the Liaoshen Campaign, he ignored Chiang Kai-shek's orders, resisted the pressure and resolutely stood still, and even changed the instructions of his superiors, resulting in ** being in a disadvantageous position.
Chiang Kai-shek was very angry about this, and even went to the northeast to take command in person, but at this time the northeast had been liberated by our army.
At the end of December, he angrily accused Wei Lihuang of "indecision and missed the plane," fired him, and then imprisoned him in Nanjing. Fortunately, Wei Lihuang escaped with wit, otherwise he might have been severely punished by Chiang Kai-shek.
In the 50s, because of Wei Lihuang's past contributions, our party did not pursue his past and warmly welcomed him back to the mainland. Our party listed Wei Lihuang as a "war criminal" in order to protect his life and safety, to avoid misunderstanding caused by his relationship with our side, and to reduce Chiang Kai-shek's suspicion and punishment against him.
From the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to the founding of New China, Wei Lihuang has always maintained friendly relations with our party. When the People's Republic of China was founded, he also congratulated *** and decided to return to the mainland.
However, it was not until March 14, 1955 that he was able to fulfill this wish. That night, he and his wife boarded a boat and set out on their return journey.
On the morning of April 6, a couple arrived in Beijing by train. It was supposed to be greeted by *** at the train station in person, but due to busy work, it was not possible. ***, who had just undergone appendix surgery, was not in good health, but he still went to the train station with Mr. Zhu to greet his old friend.
On the evening of the 25th, six marshals, including Mr. Zhu, Mr. Peng, Mr. He, and Mr. He, were invited to hold a banquet to entertain Wei Lihuang and his wife, which fully reflected the great importance that our party attached to him.
Wei Lihuang was deeply moved by the performance of our party leaders. To his surprise, our party also arranged important posts for him. He was successively elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, and took an active part in the military, economic, and other construction of New China.
He was keenly concerned about the Taiwan issue and did his utmost to promote the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait. Because in the course of his life, he has experienced many turbulent times, and he knows very well how much suffering the war will bring to the common people, and he does not want them to suffer the baptism of war again.
Wei Lihuang's return to the mainland caused a tremendous shock, and he took advantage of this to publish an "Open Letter to Taiwan Compatriots." He sharply pointed out that the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek had deviated"Three People's Principles", unscrupulous means to exclude dissidents, exploit the people, collude with foreigners, leave the house and other crimes.
He called on patriots within the Kuomintang to bravely resist Chiang Kai-shek's ** rule and return to the embrace of the motherland. At that time, this remark had a far-reaching impact on politicians and generals on the other side of the strait.
After Wei Lihuang returned to China, not only was he not punished by our party, but he was given preferential treatment, which made many people begin to consider returning to China, including Li Zongren and others. Since his meeting with *** and others in Yan'an in the spring of 1938, he has formed an indissoluble bond with our party.
At that time, he did not expect his fate to change.
He was a well-loved general who cared about the country and its people. Despite the disagreement with Chiang Kai-shek's views and the contradictions between the two, he remained steadfast in his devotion to the country and the people.
He was repeatedly removed from office and his power was hollowed out, but he never regretted his choice, let alone retreated. He has always firmly believed that he will return to the mainland and contribute to the great cause of the motherland's reunification, and this is precisely the embodiment of his patriotic spirit.
After his death, he was buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, which fully demonstrated the position of our party. Although he was on a different side, fortunately, he eventually came to his senses and did not continue to make mistakes.
His patriotic spirit deserves the admiration and praise of all of us.