Excerpt from Huanghai Spring and Autumn 2010 Issue No. 9
Watching "Bus"????Excerpted from "Yanhuang Chunqiu" 2010, Issue 9Author: Han SanzhouOriginal title: "A Tragic Episode of Investigation after the 'Wannan Incident'" (with deletions)
January 7, 1941, the "Wannan Incident" broke out. Under the sudden attack of more than 80,000 Nationalist troops, the New Fourth Army fought bloody battles for 7 days and finally lost due to being outnumbered and suffering heavy casualties. According to the verification of party history experts, during the "Wannan Incident", more than 3,000 soldiers of the New Fourth Army sacrificed their lives, more than 4,900 were captured, more than 3,000 soldiers were forced to join the Nationalist army, and over 1,300 broke through the siege. However, most of these cadres and soldiers who successfully broke through the siege returned to the party within a short period and became an important force in the newly formed New Fourth Army and a precious wealth of the party. Nevertheless, some of these loyal soldiers who went through the rain of bullets and were unrepentant even unto death were also suspected by the revolutionary troops, investigated, and led to serious mistakes. Among them, the suicide case of Li Zhi-gao, the original head of the military department's combat department, is a typical political tragedy.
Li Zhi Gao, a native of Pingjiang County in Hunan Province, joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at the age of 15 in 1929. He experienced the Long March and was a capable and talented cadre who excelled in both literature and martial arts. In December 1937, after the New Fourth Army headquarters was established, Li Zhi Gao was among the first batch of cadres sent from Yan'an to work for the New Fourth Army. He followed Xiang Ying and Lai Chuanzhu, Li Zifang, Hu Lite, and other comrades to Hankou to establish the New Fourth Army headquarters. Later, he served as the head of the Military Intelligence Department and the Operations Department of the army headquarters. During the "Wannan Incident", Li Zhi Gao, as the head of the Operations Department, achieved military merit. After breaking through the encirclement, he and Second Column Chief of Staff Xie Zhongliang, along with 70-80 other New Fourth Army cadres, persisted in southern Anhui for several months before crossing the Yangtze River to Wuwei County in mid-April, where they joined forces with Zeng Xisheng's Seventh Division. Li Zhi Gao then served as Chief of Staff of the Seventh Division, while Xie Zhongliang became commander of the 55th Regiment of the Seventh Division.
In March 1941, when the reorganized New Fourth Army headquarters was established in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, a review committee was set up to examine the scattered personnel who returned after the breakout. According to the records of "Recollections of the New Fourth Army Headquarters", Li Zhi-gao and Xie Zhong-liang wrote a report about the true circumstances of the deaths of Deputy Commander Xiang Ying and Chief of Staff Zhou Zi-kun after they broke out from Anhui Province. However, based on materials provided by some cadres who had broken out, the Yancheng headquarters suspected that General Ye Ting's capture and the deaths of Xiang Ying and Zhou Zi-kun were closely related to Li Zhi-gao and others, as they were among the last batch of people who remained in southern Anhui. Without verifying the materials, the headquarters determined that Li Zhi-gao and Xie Zhong-liang were suspected of being internal traitors, which also implicated many other comrades who had broken out. As a result, the headquarters sent personnel from the anti-espionage department to the location of the New Fourth Army's Seventh Division to arrest and interrogate Li Zhi-gao and Xie Zhong-liang. During their detention, Li Zhi-gao was extremely resistant and eventually took his own life on January 3, 1942, at the age of 28.
Li Zhi Gao took his own life by shooting himself in the jaw with a rifle after deceiving and disarming a young soldier who was guarding him. The military later investigated and found that Li Zhi Gao and Xie Zhongliang were not spies, and immediately wired the 7th Division to release Xie Zhongliang and restore their reputation and work. Unfortunately, Li Zhi Gao did not live to see his name cleared.
Afterwards, the Chief of Staff of the Military Department, Lai Chuanzhu, informed Li Zhi-gao's wife of the true circumstances of this mistaken case. The Seventh Division also held a memorial service for Li Zhi-gao. The Political Commissar of the Seventh Division, Zeng Xisheng, said that Comrade Li Zhi-gao was an outstanding staff talent and it was a great pity that he died.
The Secretary of the Central China Bureau and the Political Commissar of the New Fourth Army also made a profound self-criticism on this matter. He said: "I sent the head of the Guard Department to understand the situation, but I did not timely understand the progress of the situation, which led to the wrongful death of Comrade Li Zhi-gao. They were all cadres who broke out of the Southern Anhui Incident and were the sparks of the revolution. They did not fall under the enemy's gunfire, but fell after returning to their own troops. It is heartbreaking! Comrades, this is a tragedy of our New Fourth Army! It is my dereliction of duty! I did not protect them in time, which was my mistake. Here, I sincerely self-criticize and apologize to the comrades who were wronged! Let us mourn for the deceased comrade! From now on, such serious incidents must never happen again! Please supervise, if there is another incident like this, first remove me from office."
As a dedicated revolutionary who feared not even death, he valued his ideals and honor more than his own life. The greatest disappointment in his life was not being trusted by the party and the people, and even being treated as an enemy. This inner suffering and torment is unimaginable to ordinary people, so Li Zhi-gao could only prove his innocence with his death. As * said, a warrior like Li Zhi-gao who was extremely loyal and brave to the party and the people did not fall under the enemy's gunfire, but fell after returning to his own troops. Moreover, he chose to take his own life to demonstrate his innocence and integrity, which is a huge mistake. In fact, looking back at the history of the party, treating comrades as enemies for investigation, and frequently engaging in "ruthless struggle and merciless blows" has left many painful lessons, whether it was during the previous "purge" or the later Yan'an Rectification Campaign's "rescue movement". Even within the New Fourth Army, Li Zhi-gao's case is not an isolated example.
According to historical records, in 1938, the New Fourth Army had a misfire incident involving Ye Daozhi, which was also an event that Li Zhi Gao personally experienced. At that time, Ye Daozhi, Xu Changsheng and others were three people who were also Long March cadres transferred from Yan'an Anti-Japanese University to the New Fourth Army headquarters. They had held regimental and battalion-level positions in the Red Fourth Front Army, but after coming to the New Fourth Army, they were demoted. Ye Daozhi first served as deputy commander (political commissar) of the 4th Regiment, and later was reassigned as commander of the Military Department's Special Operations Battalion, Xu Changsheng served as a staff officer in the Special Operations Battalion, and another person (Chen Wuhua, later renamed Chen Kang) served as an instructor at the Southeastern Guerrilla Cadre Training Class. As a result, these three people were dissatisfied with their positions, feeling that they were not being utilized effectively, and planned to return to their original unit in the Eighth Route Army. They took advantage of the opportunity to inspect the terrain, carrying their newly issued rifles, and slipped away.
After the military department found out, they were extremely angry and immediately dispatched the head of the reconnaissance department, Li Zhi-gao, to lead a team to chase them down. They captured Ye Dao-zhi in Jingdezhen, Xu Chang-sheng was shot dead, Chen Wu-he escaped and returned to his original unit in the Eighth Route Army, where he continued to serve after the founding of the country and was even awarded the rank of lieutenant general. More than a month later, Ye Dao-zhi was executed for "betraying the enemy and committing treason". Because he was a cadre of the Fourth Front Army, at the public trial, it was said that he had attempted to betray the revolution and surrender to Zhang Guo-tao, but Ye Dao-zhi firmly denied this before his execution, saying that he was not betraying the revolution or going to surrender to Zhang Guo-tao. He only admitted that he had made a mistake by leaving the military department with a gun without permission from the organization after disagreeing with work arrangements.
At that time, Tao Yong (who later became a Navy commander and major general after the founding of the country and was persecuted to death during the "special period") came from Yan'an with Ye Daozhi. He petitioned to guarantee Ye's safety, saying that Ye was their temporary branch secretary when they traveled south, and when they passed through Wuhan, they learned about Zhang Guotao's betrayal, everyone expressed outrage, and the temporary branch even held a special meeting to criticize him. Therefore, it was impossible for Ye Daozhi to go and surrender to Zhang Guotao. However, Tao Yong's efforts were in vain, and Ye Daozhi was still executed.
Three people involved in the same incident: one was shot dead, one was sentenced to death, and one escaped successfully and later became a major general. It is clear that this was a miscarriage of justice. In October 1983, the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army issued a document announcing that the execution of Ye Daozhi and Xu Changsheng was a "historical miscarriage of justice", which was rehabilitated and their reputation restored.
General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army
Decision on Rehabilitation of Comrades Ye Daozhong and Xu Changsheng
In April 1938, Ye Daozhi, the original political commissar of the Tenth Division of the Fourth Red Army, and Xu Changsheng, the original deputy commander of the 276th Regiment of the 92nd Division of the Thirty-first Red Army, were assigned to work in the New Fourth Army from Yan'an. They respectively served as the commander of the special operations battalion and staff officer of the army. Ye and Xu escaped with guns on July 31 of the same year under the pretext of surveying the terrain due to their dissatisfaction with their appointments being too low. After being captured, they were executed by the military law department of the New Fourth Army in September of the same year for the crime of surrendering to the enemy and rebellion.
After re-examination, it has been proven that Comrades Ye Daozhi and Xu Changsheng's escape with guns was not to surrender to the enemy or betray the revolution, but because they had opinions about being underemployed and could not be treated correctly, wanting to return to work in the Eighth Route Army. Their behavior was extremely wrong, but its nature was a violation of discipline, belonging to an internal problem among the people. Therefore, the execution by shooting of Comrades Ye Daozhi and Xu Changsheng was incorrect, it is a historical miscarriage of justice. It has been decided to rehabilitate Comrades Ye Daozhi and Xu Changsheng, restoring their reputation.
