"Under the cover of heavy artillery fire, the East China Field Army Commandos attacked the BGF 74th Division continuously. With the cooperation of the 8th and 23rd Divisions, Lushan Mountain was finally conquered around 1 in the afternoon, and Meng Lianggu and 600 highlands were stormed by columns of 4, 9, 6 and 1. At 4: 30 pm, the 74th Division, one of the "five main forces" of the Kuomintang army, was completely clean and completely annihilated, and its commander Zhang was killed.
Since there are 4, 9, 6, 1 columns in the troops storming and 600 Highlands, which column of Hua Ye attacked Zhang's HQ cave? There is no explanation in the article.
Version 1—— Memories of He Fengshan, Deputy Director of the Secret Service.
1947 On May 30th, four members of the East China Field Army, Chen, Su, Tan and Chen, jointly sent a telegram to the Central Military Commission, saying, "According to the final investigation, it was confirmed that Zhang, the division commander of the 74th Division, and Lu Xing, the brigade commander of the 58th Brigade, were killed by He Fengshan, the deputy head of the 6th Special Service Corps, at 2 pm on/kloc-6. When the deputy head of the mission approached the cave where Zhang and others were hiding, he was introduced as Zhang and others by the division adjutant. There are still prisoners' offices. "
The main witness on which this telegram is based should be He Fengshan, deputy head of the Sixth Secret Service Regiment.
How did He Fengshan describe the fighting process? Look at the memories he wrote:
"At this critical moment, Zhang made his last desperate struggle and organized all the areas and more than 1,000 guards and entourage to come back to us. We shot at the enemy with light and heavy machine guns to cover the 3 rd company's impact on Zhang's command post in the cave on the north side of the main peak. Under the guidance of instructor Shao, the company's vanguard troops rushed to the mountain pass to meet the captain of the enemy guard, killing more than 20 people who rushed out of the cave, and I also suffered casualties 10. Comrade Shao also died heroically.
"After the capture of the cave, our military machine guns, Tom guns and grenades strafed and plunged into the cave, and then shouted the surrender order. The person in charge of the enemy walkie-talkie replied,' Don't fight, Mr. Zhang was killed by a Grenade when he called for help from the generalissimo just now'. He also said,' You killed the captain of the guard as soon as he came out of the hole.' When we entered the cave, we found Zhang's body lying in front of the telephone table. Cai Renjie, deputy commander, Lu Xing, deputy brigade commander of the 58th Brigade, Ming Can and Zhou Anyi, head of the 57th Brigade, were also killed by me. The reorganization of the 74th Division, one of Chiang Kai-shek's "five main forces", was also eliminated quickly, thoroughly, cleanly and thoroughly. "
……
"When I sent someone to escort Wei Zhenyu, the chief of staff of the captured enemy 74th Division, to the heads of columns such as Pi Dingjun and Chiang Kai-shek, he said to the heads of columns,' The troops that captured me captured Zhang alive.' The head of the column immediately sent Comrade Chen Liang, a staff officer, to look for Zhang among the prisoners in our regiment. After examining the body, he confirmed that Zhang had been killed. When our army withdrew from the battle and moved north, I ordered the troops to carry Zhang's body on a stretcher and move with the troops. Two days later, I buried him in the mountain behind the wild boar king village in Yishui, Shandong Province, and set up a' wood sign' in front of the grave, which read' Tomb of Zhang'. At that time, Xinhua News Agency had already broadcast, hoping that his family would come there to collect the body. "
The above should be the main conclusion and basis of Zhang's death in the official history published in the mainland, that is, Zhang led the remnants to fight in the cave where his division was located in the final stage of the campaign and was killed by the sixth column of the East China Field Army. There is also a red stone tablet on the battle site in Mengyin County, Shandong Province, which clearly reads: "Zhang was killed in battle".
According to He Fengshan, Zhang was killed by a Grenade thrown out of the hole when he called for help from Chiang Kai-shek. Here is a question. If he was killed by a Grenade, Zhang should have no fatal injuries, which was inconsistent with the newspaper reports in the liberated areas and other witnesses' seeing Zhang's body at that time.
In 1990s, the author interviewed He Fengshan in the office of a veteran cadre in Tianjin. Regarding the cause of Zhang's death, He Fengshan still maintained the original statement, that is, the commanders of the Third Company killed Zhang when they attacked the cave and dropped bombs in the cave, and refused to admit that they were killed on the spot. According to the cross testimony of other PLA witnesses, the author who interviewed him confirmed that Zhang's body was indeed lying in the cave, thus recognizing He Fengshan's statement that Zhang died while resisting in his division cave, and that the statement that Zhang was deliberately shot down by He Fengshan when he was captured was fabricated. He Fengshan and others collected Zhang's badges and other relics and went down the mountain after the fighting in the cave that afternoon.
Besides the official history, there are many articles about Zhang Sha. Unfortunately, the plots described by everyone are so contradictory that they can't justify each other.
Version 2- Memories of Health Care Doctors in Tao Yong
Among them, the most convincing is an article called "Ordering an Anatomy". According to the author's introduction, the health care doctor of Commander No.4 Longitudinal once went up the mountain with a flashlight after the battle, and finally identified the body with the badge on Zhang Meijun's military uniform, and conducted an autopsy for him on the spot on the mountain:
"He checked his head first and found that there was no scar except a piece of skin on his left cheek. He unbuttoned his chest and found two bullet holes in his chest. The bullet went straight through the heart and flew out of his back, and his body fell in a pool of blood. He repeatedly checked the gunshot wounds and judged that both bullet holes were caused by long-distance shooting from 200 meters away. The caliber of the gun hole is small, which is in line with the caliber of the American' Canada' submachine gun used by our soldiers. Generally speaking, senior Kuomintang generals used to hit their temples with pistols when committing suicide, but Zhang's head was not shot; To say the least, even if Zhang was shot in the chest, it would be difficult for two bullets to form two gun holes. Moreover, there was no trace of gunpowder burning on the clothes, which ruled out suicide. The autopsy conclusion was killed by Zhang's army. " After the examination, Zhang's badge and other relics were searched, and the autopsy doctor left a small photo of the owner from the body as a souvenir.
The whole article is full of doubts. The description of this autopsy alone contradicts the statement that He Fengshan and others attacked the cave that afternoon, killed Zhang and seized his badge and other relics. First of all, since Zhang was attacked by a secret service team in Hefeng Mountain, he should have been shot at close range. It is almost impossible to be shot at a distance of 200 meters. Moreover, people who have a little common sense about firearms should know that the range of submachine guns reaches the limit of shooting range at a distance of 200 meters, and it is impossible to cause penetrating injuries from chest to back at such a long distance. Thirdly, regarding Zhang's fatal injury, the autopsy said that "there were two bullet holes in the chest, and the bullet went straight through the heart and flew out of the back", while the newspaper report in the liberated area at that time clearly stated that Zhang was "shot in the back of the head by a bullet". Wu Qiang, the author of the novel Red Sun, which describes the Battle of Meng Lianggu, is a well-known writer. He used to be the propaganda minister of the Sixth Political Department of Hua Ye (in the same army as He Fengshan). At the end of the battle, he and the security minister rushed to the mountain to see Zhang's body and witnessed the bleeding on both sides of his head. At first, he and the minister of security thought that Zhang had committed suicide, but the column staff repeatedly looked at the wound on the head of the deceased. This is obviously different from the conclusion of the above-mentioned "autopsy" and contradicts He Fengshan's statement that grenades were killed. Fourthly, since He Fengshan has collected Zhang's relics in the afternoon after the war in the caves, how can they collect them in the evening? At this point, I can only regret to say that the autopsy above is probably wrong. If the autopsy report is correct, it can only be that the memory of He Fengshan and others is wrong.
Version 3- Memories of Warrior Ge Zhaotian
After the war, Ge heard that Zhang, the commander of the seventy-fourth division of the Kuomintang Army, had not been captured alive, and that Zhang had a rubber prosthetic leg that was blown up in the battle of Gao 'an, Jiangxi. At this moment, Ge suddenly remembered that it was the enemy officer who killed Zhang with rubber legs? But he remembered Dai's words again, afraid of being punished, and because of the tension of the war, he didn't think much, so he hid the mystery in his heart.
One of them captured by Ge was Zhang's guard Zhu Fanyou. After the Battle of Meng Lianggu, Zhu Fanyou immediately joined the China People's Liberation Army and became close comrades-in-arms with Ge. They were in the same class, fighting the Yalu River together in Shanghai, and finally stationed together in the Neichangshan fortress area. When he talked about the Battle of Menglianggu in his spare time, Zhu Fanyou said, "At that time, you were really something. We were numb when we shot. " Ge Zhaotiandao: "Who told you not to surrender!" Zhu Fanyou said to him, "The man with the prosthetic leg that you killed that day was Zhang. Why not report to the superior? " Ge didn't know that he really killed Zhang until he heard about it. The mystery hidden in his heart for many years was finally solved, but he still couldn't understand why Dai, the substitute teacher, said, "Why did you kill him?" I will punish you! "In this way, the truth of Zhang's murder is deeply hidden in the old man's memory.
Zhang suffered a serious fracture of his right knee in the battle of Gao 'an. During his treatment in Hong Kong, he read in the newspaper that "soldiers in wartime are not allowed to go abroad for illness", and he can recover after another half month of treatment regardless of the doctor's advice, otherwise he may be disabled for life, and he may be discharged early if he has difficulties. He said: "Soldiers are not afraid of death, so why love a limb?" Military orders are inviolable. "As a result, the knee joint became stiff and could no longer be bent. I could only walk straight with my right leg. From a narrative point of view, the "rubber prosthetic leg" in this paper is seriously inconsistent with reality.
abstract
Throughout the above three versions, they are all described from different angles, which may be due to various reasons, resulting in some differences in the process. Therefore, in order to prove that Zhang was killed, more specific and authentic historical materials are needed. The so-called theory of killing prisoners refers to that Zhang was shot and killed by the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army who were escorted after being captured, suggesting that the captives were He Fengshan or his subordinates. This statement, which is different from the official history, has been seen in some sporadic word of mouth before, and some more formal records have appeared since the 1990 s.
The documentary of the East China Liberation War agrees with this statement:
"After the battle, Chen Yi is most concerned about tracing the whereabouts of Zhang. At 8: 30 May/KOOC-0/6/KOOC-0, the Fourth General Manager reported to the headquarters of the Field Army that Zhang was captured by 30 regiments and then disappeared, and was under investigation. The next day, I learned that Zhang's body was carried down the mountain. Some people said they committed suicide, others said they were killed in the battle. Chen Yi multi-party investigation, just know before the end of the battle, Zhang, deputy commander, chief of staff Wei Zhenyu sent a last telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, reported to Chiang Kai-shek the names of officers at or above the regiment level, and said that he would "commit collective suicide, in order to reward the cultivation of the principal. "In fact, they don't want to die. While hesitating, the 4th Longitudinal Warrior rushed into the cave where the 74th Division was located, and Zhang and others were captured alive. On the way to the escort, the cadres of the Secret Service Sixth Regiment saw Zhang, and old hatred and new hatred welled up in their hearts. As soon as their minds got hot, they shot Zhang. Then let the captive soldiers carry the body with the troops and bury it on the hill behind the wild boar king village in Yishui county. There is a sign in front of the tomb that reads "Zhang Tomb" ... On May 29th, Chen Yi severely criticized this at the meeting of cadres above the East China Field Army held in Pozhuang, Shandong. He said: "This time, the damage to the prisoner policy has reached a very serious level. You can lay down your arms and kill freely without too much blame and responsibility. In order to promote the climax of the national revolution, we advocate not killing more prisoners. Some comrades don't believe in the achievements of the prisoner's rebellion, and even worry ... We killed Zhang and reported that he committed suicide, thus deceiving the Party Central Committee, Chairman Mao and Commander Zhu. "
The report of the fourth column mentioned above is taken from Meng Lianggu's Diary of Battle of East China Field Army. The original text reads: "18: 30, more than 10,000 remnants of the 74th Division in Diaowo have all surrendered, and Zhang disappeared after being captured by the 30th Regiment, and is under investigation (report by the 4th column)."
The title of Chen Yi's above speech is "On Shandong War Situation and Army Building". After consulting the Selected Works of Chen Yi Military Affairs, the annotation is: "Zhang was killed by our army, which means that the sixth column of the East China Field Army, led by He Fengshan, deputy head of the team, rushed to the hidden cave entrance of the command post of the 74th Division of Shanenemy reorganization in May 1947 and 16. Because the slogan put forward by the headquarters of the field army is' Rush, capture Zhang alive and falsely accuse Zhang, which is tantamount to suicide. "It can be seen that the following initial report is suicide.
The original 6 longitudinal political commissar jiang wrote in his memoirs:
"In the battle, if there is any shortage, it is that Zhang, who was captured by my sixth secret service, was killed by a cadre who hated Zhang. This is a pity. Otherwise, we must tell him about the past. "
The above two statements contradict the title of the troops fighting in the cave of the 74th Division, but it is believed that Zhang who was captured alive was killed by the cadres of the 6th Secret Service Corps.
However, until the 1990s, He Fengshan, the client, still denied this in an interview. In this regard, Mr. Chu, the author of He Fengshan's "Pi Dingjun", interviewed him before, and his conclusion is that He Fengshan took the blame for Zhang's death for half a century. In his book, he described and analyzed the origin of this rumor in detail, and quoted it as follows:
"This is our teacher." The operator pointed to a dead body and said.
The body lay prone beside the radio station. This radio is placed on a folding table. The soldier turned over, took off the sign on his chest and wrote a chapter on it. Zhang wears a watch on his left wrist and is still ticking away, showing that the time is 5: 02. At this point, a great war that shocked China and foreign countries is over.
He Fengshan ended the fighting in the cave, and when he braved the rainstorm and went down the mountain, he met a staff officer of the column and asked him to send Zhang to the headquarters. He Fengshan to get leng. "Who said that Zhang was caught?" "Wei Zhenyu, Chief of Staff of the 74th Division." He Fengshan didn't have a chance to confront Wei Zhenyu, and he didn't understand why this Weng said he had taken Zhang alive. We can only speculate that Wei Zhenyu does not believe in Zhang's collective success and thinks that the result is naturally the same as his fate. A few years later, He Fengshan went to a military academy to study. Among the teachers, Wei Zhenyu, who was captured in the battle of Meng Lianggu, and Qu Shounian, who was captured in the battle of eastern Henan, were extremely uncomfortable. How can he say that a defeated soldier should be a victorious teacher? Pi Dingjun, a fellow student, criticized him, saying that this teacher-student relationship is also a worldly law. At that time, it was more difficult for He Fengshan to argue with the instructor about the past of the Battle of Menglianggu. In short, in the impression of many people, He Fengshan shot and killed Zhang who had surrendered, and even shot from behind when he went down the mountain, so the bullet entered from the back of the head and was shot from the lower cheek, and the bullet trace was inclined downward along the mountain. The wound is indeed so. But the last person who saw Zhang's body lying in the cave confirmed that it was a lie. This man is General Hong Jiade, deputy director of the Political Department of Nanjing Military Region. Hong Jiade inadvertently mentioned the cave in Meng Lianggu to the author. At that time, he was a platoon leader of the East China Field Army. As soon as the gunfire stopped, he hurried to the cave to see the scene. He saw a body lying on the stone next to the folding table. A soldier told him that this was Zhang. In the lightning, he found a shiny thing next to the body. He picked it up and saw that it was a red translucent stamp with words he couldn't understand. He put it in his pocket. A few days later, he asked a braille to engrave for him. Mr. lettering said that this is a very precious seal of one party, plum blossom seal cutting, and this is Zhang's private seal. Mr. lettering advised him not to wear it off, but to keep it properly, saying it was a treasure. Where did Hong Jiade know its value at that time? Mr. Engraving was forced to grind off the seal script and carve his own name. When marching into Fujian, this stamp, together with later materials, became a ravine in northern Fujian. Zhang's seal was lost, but the signer confirmed that he died in the cave and confirmed his position and posture after he fell. The most authoritative historical witness is Yang Zhanchun, an entourage of the 74th Division. Yang Zhanchun witnessed everything that happened in the cave: the encounter of being killed, and Lu Xing's refusal to commit suicide in front of the photos of his wife and children, pretending to commit suicide, and finally Zhang, Cai and Lu were killed. "
Chen Shiju's statement is similar to this: "Zhang was killed by my sixth longitudinal army in stubborn resistance. At that time, the cadres and soldiers only knew that he was a big official and could not recognize who he was. After being carried out by the prisoner, I realized that it was Zhang. "
Rao Shoukun said in an interview in the Battle of Menglianggu in the Classic Campaign Series of the Liberation War: "Everyone in the cave is shooting and grenades. In my opinion, they were killed by random guns. "
It is worth noting that an important evidence supporting the theory of murder or prisoner abuse is Zhang's fatal injury. There are many sayings that Tom's submachine gun bullet penetrated the left back of the head and the right jaw, and that such a wound could not have been caused by his own shooting. However, according to the memories of the officers and men of the former 74th Division, Zhang did not shoot himself, but ordered his men to shoot him. As for trajectory, the author agrees with such an analysis that bullet penetrating wounds are usually small wounds at the entrance and large wounds at the exit. According to the description in the newspaper of the liberated area at that time, Zhang was "shot in the back of the head", so the wound is probably just the opposite of the trajectory of "the left back of the head enters the right chin and exits", that is to say, it was caused by shooting from the chin, and the bullet entered and exited from the left back of the head, so the wound on the back of the head will be relatively large.
There are many rumors about Zhang's death in the PLA. Perhaps it is because many middle and senior generals in the 74th Division died in the Battle of Menglianggu. When the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army attacked in general, the mountainous areas and plains were mixed together, and the organizational system was chaotic. In the fierce and chaotic gunfight, it is difficult to distinguish each other. They don't know Zhang, and they don't have time to identify him carefully. So there are some contradictory legends and misunderstandings, which lead to misinformation. Mr Zhu's investigation can confirm at least one thing: He Fengshan didn't kill Zhang himself. When the PLA entered the cave, Zhang was indeed dead, but the PLA had no conclusive evidence to prove how he died. Bullets don't grow eyes, and Zhang He didn't die alone. If he was killed in a fight, or a PLA cadre hated him, why did the deputy commander, the brigade commander Lu Xing of the 58th Brigade, the deputy directors of the staff officers Zhou and Liu and his closest subordinates all die in the cave with him, and only a few staff officers were alive?
On the theory of killing prisoners, the most representative article is Exposing the Cause of Zhang's Death. The author thinks that General Zhang was shot by a platoon leader of the People's Liberation Army after he surrendered. Unfortunately, after reading the whole article, I can see that the author doesn't even have a witness who directly participated in the war like He Fengshan, and his authenticity simply can't stand scrutiny. Give two examples at hand:
1. An important basis of this article is that the interviewee mentioned a speech by Chen Yi.
According to Lao Zhong's knowledge, the topic of Chen Yi's speech was "On Shandong War Situation and Army Building", which was written on1May 29, 947, just two weeks after the Battle of Menglianggu. In his speech, Chen Yi accused the prisoner policy of not being implemented, saying that seriously injured soldiers killed prisoners, but did not say that Zhang was also a prisoner who was killed. He only mentioned that Zhang did not commit suicide, but reported that suicide was cheating. The annotation of the selected article containing this speech is: "We killed Zhang, which means that on May 1947, the sixth column of the East China Field Army, led by He Fengshan, the deputy head, rushed to the hidden cave entrance of the command post of the 74th Division of the enemy reorganization on the mountain and fired into the cave, killing the enemy commander Zhang and others. And because the slogan put forward by the headquarters of the field army at that time was' rush, capture Zhang alive', falsely accusing Zhang is tantamount to suicide. " In other words, the initial report was suicide. It can be seen that this can't be evidence of torturing and killing prisoners at all.
2. Finally, the author mentioned that during an interview in the village where Zhang was buried, he was told that Zhang was seriously injured after being shot. Based on this, the author heard that Zhang was carried to the rescue by the People's Liberation Army in March, and died halfway before being buried in the village.
The testimony I heard belongs to first-hand information. Old Zhong doesn't want to comment. Look at the testimony of the witness below. The former head of the trench of the 74th Division mentioned in the above memories that on the morning of May 17, a PLA cadre asked about Zhang's prisoner. Huang took several captured staff officers and aides to the village entrance to identify the body and saw Zhang's body lying on the door panel. Wu Qiang is a famous writer, and his novel The Red Sun describes the Battle of Meng Lianggu. He used to be a cadre of a certain department of Hua Ye Sixth Longitudinal Army (in the same army as He Fengshan). He clearly wrote in the preface of the novel, 17 In May, the morning after the battle, he saw Zhang's body lying on the door in a nearby village [8]. Memories of witnesses from the two countries separated for many years confirmed that Zhang was dead when he was carried down the mountain. Even the time and the details of lying on the door panel are consistent, and it was later that he was carried away and buried elsewhere. With such a solid witness, Zhang was born and carried to the rescue, which is enough to prove that this statement is sheer nonsense. In the book Investigation and Research on Chiang Kai-shek's 74th Division compiled by the Political Department of East China Field Army of the People's Liberation Army in August, 1947 (5. During the civil war-from participating in the civil war to Meng Lianggu's total annihilation), it was recorded that "on May 12th, our army attacked the port north of Duozhuang, trying to attack Yishui, but just got in touch, that is, fled south to the mountainous area of Meng Lianggu, and our field army was heavily surrounded. On May 16, our army was wiped out. " Except for Zhang, Lu Xing and others who committed suicide in the battle and killed more than 7,000 people, all their officers and men were captured. "
When the evidence is contradictory, from the point of view of evidence acceptance, direct evidence should be superior to indirect evidence, and direct testimony should be superior to hearsay evidence. The most qualified historical witnesses should still be the officers and men who spent the last moment in the cave with Zhang, and the parties who directly heard the reports from these officers and men afterwards.
In his book, Mr. Zhu mentioned Zhang's entourage, Yang Zhanchun, who witnessed what happened in the cave. The original data comes from an article published by Tan Lang in Hunan Literature and History in the 1960s, recalling the Battle of Meng Lianggu. After Luo Wenlang was captured, he met Yang Zhanchun in the East China Liberation Officers Training Corps. According to what he learned from Yang Zhanchun, Zhang, Lu Xing and other senior officers were killed by random guns when the People's Liberation Army attacked the command post of the 74th Division. Because Yang Zhanchun was a witness in the cave at that time, this statement relayed by Luo Wenlang was widely accepted, including Li Ao's The Story of Chiang Kai-shek, which shows that it was widely circulated.
However, Yang Zhanchun's statement is not unique.
1947 In the autumn and winter, most of the junior officers captured by the original 74th Division were released by the PLA, and many returned to join the 74th Division rebuilt in Qiu Weida (the 74th Army was renamed as 1948). Yang Zhanchun returned to Nanjing. He brought back a handwritten suicide note and gave it to him. The original was later filed by the Historical and Political Bureau of the Kuomintang Government of Taiwan Province Province. [Wu Yuan said in the article "Zhang I Know" that Wang had people forge Zhang's suicide note to Chiang Kai-shek after the battle. The author thinks that if it really happens, it should be different from what Yang Zhanchun brought back, because it was nearly half a year after Zhang's death that Yang Zhanchun's suicide note was directly received. ]
Yang Zhanchun's report to Wang Yuling is quite different from Luo Wenlang's:
At the last moment, Zhang said he had to kill him. He told his men that it is up to you to live or die. Later, Zhang ordered his men to shoot him first in the cave, but his men refused (author's note: I can't remember the name of this man, according to the memories of other officers in the 74th Division, this man should be Liu). Zhang Dui said, "Do you still obey the orders of the chief?" The subordinate replied: "Obey." Zhang said, "Then I will order you to shoot me now!" A man with a gun can't do it with trembling hands. Zhang shouted at him, "Shall I write you a note?" Those people were forced to shoot at him with guns. Next, Lu Xing, who was seriously injured, was executed. At the same time, Cai Renjie reversed the pike, put the butt on the cave wall, pointed the gun at himself and pulled the trigger. [Interview with Ms. Wang Yuling from June 5438 to February 2003. ]
Why Yang Zhanchun told another story about Tambo in the prison camp is unknown to outsiders. However, among the 74th division officers in the prison camp, there are still people alive. He is Mr. Zhong Shiyan and now lives in Changsha, Hunan. 1943 in the battle of Changde, Mr. Zhong was only a middle school student of 15 years old in Changsha. Encouraged by the heroic deeds of the 74th Army defending Changde, he volunteered to join the army. First, he entered the 74th Army Learning Group to receive training in translating telegrams, and then he was assigned to the military department as an interpreter. Meng Liang. What Mr. Zhong said to the author may give an explanation: "In fact, this matter was also discussed by our captured officers in the prison camp, because after reading the report that it was shot in Bohai Daily, everyone had discussed it, and some people had different opinions. Later, after discussion and research, a unified understanding was reached. At that time, there was a unified saying: "Anyway, people died and the battle was lost. Whether it is suicide or shooting, there is nothing to argue about. "
In order to trace the testimony left by other parties of the 74th Division on this unsolved case, the author also looked through a large number of literature and history materials of CPPCC in various places, among which several reminiscences published by the old people of the 74th Division who stayed in the mainland attracted the author's attention. According to the contradictory prisoner killing mentioned above, the memories of Zhang's death in the headquarters of the 74th Division are basically the same as those reported by Yang Zhanchun: Zhang was determined to kill, and he ordered his men to shoot him.
The relevant fragments are recorded as follows:
Record 1: Recalling Li Huaisheng, the company commander of the original 74th Division.
Record 2: Memories of Huang Zheng, head of the trench regiment of the former 74th Division.
Record 3: Memories of Qiu Weida, the former deputy commander of the 74th reorganization division and the reconstructed commander of the 74th division (commander after the name of the 74th Army was restored).
If Chiang Kai-shek's propaganda about Zhang's suicide in the face of difficulties is beautification and ulterior motives, then in the 1960s and 1980s, when the former 74th Division reorganized in mainland China wrote his memoirs, Zhang had already been listed as a civil war criminal in our history books, and they would not and did not need to cover up Zhang's death with lies. However, decades later, in their memoirs of literature and history published in different places and at different times, they still unanimously proved the same fact: Zhang was determined to commit suicide and ordered his subordinates to shoot him. Two of them also identified the shooter as Liu, deputy chief of staff of the 74th Division, and said that they used carbines. I relayed the words of Zhang's entourage and listened to the report by Zhang, not only seeing the scene with my own eyes, but also hearing Liu's words with my own ears. The plot and time narrated by Qiu, Huang and Huang generally confirm each other, forming an admissible evidence chain.
In order to further clarify and verify the written memories of the 74th Division Staff and the authenticity of Yang Zhanchun's report, the author also asked Mr. Zhong Shiyan for verification. Among the former 74th Division officers who were in caves with Zhang, Mr. Zhong was probably the only one alive in the mainland so far, and he was also one of more than a dozen adjutants and followers who stood around silently after Zhang and others died. Because of his work, he has frequent daily contact with Zhang. He told the author:
First, Zhang's last cave was not big, and twenty people were crowded. Zhong Shiyan and the staff of the newspaper were crowded in a small corner. The telegrams sent and received by Zhang Zai's superiors and friendly forces were compiled by him, and the final telegram sent to Chiang Kai-shek was also translated and sent by him. The manuscript was later put away by the team leader. After his release, he saw a book with a large photo and some handwriting on the title page, including the final telegram manuscript.
Second, the time of Zhang's death, shortly after the telegram was sent, was in the afternoon, not in the evening. Zhong Shiyan was at the scene of the division cave.
3. After the death of Zhang and others, the rest of them left the cave and ran away, and some of them ran to the nearby command post (Author's Note: This is consistent with my memory, that is, after Zhang's death, a group of people in the division, including Zhang's orderly, ran to the command post of the 58th Brigade and cried; He also recalled that he entered the cave, witnessed the deaths of Zhang and others, and fled the cave with others.
When the topic turned back to how Zhang died, Mr. Zhong seemed worried and didn't want to elaborate on the witness. The author asked the officers of the former 74th Division, such as Zhang's suicide story and Yang Zhanchun's statement whether it was true or not. Hearing this, Mr. Zhong hesitated: "My attitude towards this matter has been ... silent for decades. That's all you know anyway. You'd better let me keep silent. "
"So, after the death of Zhang and others, did you fight with the People's Liberation Army in the cave?"
"Sir All dead, what are we waiting for in the cave? Most of them are scattered! Neither the chief of staff nor the deputy chief of staff is dead. After I went out, I hid under a stone. Later, no gunshots were heard and there was a heavy rain. I was captured when I finally cleaned the battlefield, and it was already dark. "
"Now there is a saying that Zhang was shot and killed by a PLA cadre after being captured. As far as you know, is this possible? "
After a long silence, Mr. Zhong said slowly, "If you know what he is like and read his last telegram, you will know what he will do."