of treatment his wounds could be healed, he returned to the army and participated in the Battle of Changsha. As a result, he was unable to recover from his injuries and his colleagues nicknamed him The lame legged general. Afterward, he was promoted to assistant division commander of the 51st division and deputy commander of 74th corps. In 1943, Zhang personally led a task force which relieved the besieged Chinese defenders in the ferocious Battle of Changde and forced the Imperial Japanese Army to retreat, and Chiang Kai-shek called him the model soldier. Although he failed to save General Fang Xianjue from the Japanese attacks during the Defense of Hengyang in 1944, his unit fought well and he tried his best, so the National War Council did not take any action against him. After this rather unhappy episode in his military career, his old superior officer Wang Yaowu helped him again by sending Zhang to the Army War College to study, and Zhang graduated with top grades. In the May 1945, he fought under Wang Yaowu in the Battle of West Hunan and was decorated with Order of Precious Tripod and Medal of Freedom, and He Yingqin promoted him as commander of 74th corps. Chinese Civil War Soon after the Second Sino-Japanese War is concluded, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War occurred throughout most of the country. Chiang Kai-shek reorganized his American trained and equipped divisions into five elite units: Sun Li-jen's New First Army, Liao Yaoxiang's New 6th Army, Qiu Qingquan's Fifth Army, Hu Lien's 18th Army and Zhang's 74th corps. Like many of his own nationalist classmates, Zhang joined the early successful nationalist advance against the communist controlled areas, and scored a smashing victory in the Battle of Huaiyin–Huai'an in the August 1946 against the communists. In early 1947, Chiang shifted his strategy and launched attacks on Yenan and Shandong under nationalist general Hu Zongnan and commander-in-chief of the nationalist army general Gu Zhutong, Zhang's 74th division speared nationalist advance into Shandong province. Communist commanders Chen Yi and Su Yu avoid to battle the nationalists because they tightly concentrated their formation together, which rendered the communist guerrilla tactics useless. Tang Enbo ordered Zhang Lingfu's 74th independent enhanced division to advance further than their original goal, as a result he was trapped by 5 columns of communist troops, on May 12, 1947, Chiang ordered Huang Baitao's 25th corps,