Huang Baitao (; 9 September 1900 – 22 November 1948), also known as Huang Botao (黄伯韬), was a Chinese

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

general active in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, for which he was twice awarded the

Order of Blue Sky and White Sun The Order of Blue Sky and White Sun with Grand Cordon (Chinese:青天白日勳章 or 青天白日勛章) is the Republic of China's second highest military award. Created in 1929, it is awarded for "outstanding contributions to national security ...

, the second highest military award in the Nationalist and then

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

military honors system.

Early years and career

Huang's family was from Meixian,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

but he was born in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

. After a stint of serving in the units of various northern warlords, he joined to Generalissimo

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

's forces during the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

. During the

, he was promoted from a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

to command positions in regiment, brigade and division levels solely based on merit and attended the Chinese Army War College, and assigned as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of the third, six and ninth war zones, and he helped to plan the

New Fourth Army Incident The New Fourth Army Incident (), also known as the South Anhui Incident (), occurred in China in January 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Chinese Civil War was in theory suspended, uniting the Chinese Communist Party, C ...

and wiped out a large numbers of communist troops. In 1946, when the

restarted he was promoted to command the 25th corps.

Rise to fame

In December 1947, Huang helped the nationalist army to evacuate from the Shandong province, and stopped the Communist advances led by

Su Yu Su Yu (; August 10, 1907 – February 5, 1984), Courtesy name Yu (裕) was a Chinese military commander, a general of the People's Liberation Army. He was considered by Mao Zedong to be among the best commanders of the PLA, only next to P ...

at Central China in the Eastern Henan Campaign around the summer of 1948. His actions helped to save two KMT units from destruction. President

decorated him with the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun and promoted him to command the 7th army. However, his promotion did not suit well with other nationalist commanders, notably Lieutenant General

Qiu Qingquan Qiu Qingquan (; 27 January 1902 – 10 January 1949) was a ROC Army general who excelled himself in Northern Expedition, anti-communist Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War, and Chinese Civil War. In the Huaihai Campaign, which wa ...

, commander of 5th corps, and Communist moles in the KMT army spread rumors so their working relationship were very tense.

Huaihai Campaign and death

On November 8, 1948, the Huaihai Campaign was about to start, so the nationalist department of defense decided to withdrew the 7th army and the 6th army from northern Jiangsu province to the nationalist military headquarters in Xuzhou

Huang was ordered to wait for another KMT corps (44th corps) to arrive from the 9th pacification zone in Haizhou (海州) before he can travel across the Grand Canal (China), Grand Canal, precious time of 2 days were wasted. He also made the crucial mistake of not securing a bridgehead on the grand canal, and the 320,000 communist soldiers of the Eastern China Field Army under

caught up with him, and the 63rd corps under his command were wiped out of the 7th army's

order of battle In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...

while trying route to cross the grand canal at Yaowan (窑湾) after finishing the rearguard duties. On the same day (November 8, 1948), as Huang continued to retreat toward Xuzhou, Communist underground members of the 3rd pacification zone suddenly revolted on the battlefield, surrendering 23,000 troops to the communist forces. The nationalist headquarters in Xuzhou under Liu Zhi panicked and ordered the 13th army under Lieutenant General Li Mi, which was defending the east side of Xuzhou, to retreat to back to Xuzhou. Those developments allowed the communist forces to completely cut off Huang's 7th army from the rest of the nationalist forces by taking Caobaji (曹八集) and Daxujia (大许家) vacated by Li Mi's 13th army. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the KMT 2nd army and 13th army to relieve the 7th army; But Lieutenant General

, commander of the 2nd army, was not eager to save his beleaguered colleague because of their previous feuds and feared the Communists might encircle his unit as well. Li Mi did try but his relief efforts were beaten back by the communist forces, despite the support of planes and tanks. After 15 days of brutal fighting, the 7th army was destroyed in Nianzhuang (碾庄) village, only 20 miles from Xuzhou. On the night of November 22, 1948, Huang Baitao committed suicide after he successfully broke out from his army headquarters with his deputy commander of the 25th corps, who smuggled his body and personal belongings through the communist security checkpoints. Since Huang Baitao was one of the few KMT army commanders who chose death rather than being taken prisoner by the Communists, President

personally arranged a state funeral for him. The Nationalist Government posthumously promoted him to four-star general and awarded him with his second Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. When the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

approached on

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

in the summer of 1949, the survivors of the 7th army transferred his remains to Taiwan.

References

US Naval War College
*https://web.archive.org/web/20090326011824/http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/bjorge_huai.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Baitao 1900 births 1948 deaths People of the Northern Expedition Chinese military personnel of World War II Chinese anti-communists National Revolutionary Army generals from Tianjin Chinese military personnel who committed suicide Recipients of the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun Hakka people Hakka generals People from Meixian District