Wang Yaowu - Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

When the Chinese Civil War broke out again in 1946, General Wang was named as governor of Shangdong Province and commander-in-chief of the 2nd pacification zone. But he had great difficulty to establish his authority due to intense inter-service rivalry among different nationalist commanders and Communist forces stepped up their attacks on isolated nationalist garrisons in the province. In May 1947, his career suffered a serious setback when the 74th enhanced division under his old subordinate lieutenant general Zhang Lingfu was lost in the critical Menglianggu Campaign and most of the nationalist troops assigned to his sector was pulled out of the province to be redeployed elsewhere. When the Chinese communist forces under Chen Yi and Su Yu attacked the provincial capital in 1948 during the Battle of Jinan, General Wang only had local garrison forces which made up by raw recruits and second-rate troops. The fate of Jinan was sealed when one of his corps commanders (Wu Huawen) defected to the Chinese communist forces. The communist troops breached the city defenses and General Wang fled from his headquarters and was captured in a nearby county.