Chapter 17 (2) To fight regular warfare

Not long after Li De entered the Central Soviet Area, accompanied by Bogu, he came to Fujian Jianning to inspect the frontline headquarters of Zhou Enlai and Zhu De. Li De is tall and tall, standing out among the Chinese people like a chicken, which is daunting.He is German, his real name is Otto Braun, and Li De is his alias after he came to China. Born in 1900, he served in the German Army during World War I, joined the Revolutionary Army in Bavaria, and fought a barricade in Munich in 1919. In 1920, he was arrested and imprisoned as a staff member of the German Communist Party. After eight years in prison, he successfully escaped from prison in an astonishing way and fled secretly to the Soviet Union.In Moscow, he attended the Frunze Military Academy, where he received tactical and strategic training.After graduation, he was sent to China by the Comintern to serve as the military adviser of the Comintern to the CCP.

Although he was only a consultant, Bogu, Wang Ming’s agent in China and the head of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the time, was only 27 years old at the time, had only studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow for a few years, lacked practical work experience, and Knowing nothing about military affairs, he not only obeyed his advice, but also handed over the power of military command to him, and regarded him as the Supreme Emperor. Seeing Zhou Enlai and Zhu De's simple headquarters, Li De was very surprised.He couldn't believe that Zhou Enlai and Zhu De commanded the Red Army in such a place and defeated the well-equipped Chiang Kai-shek's army.Immediately, he shook his head ruefully, saying that guerrilla warfare was outdated.If we use guerrilla warfare now, we will not be able to defeat Jiang Jun at all.Don't forget, our Red Army has grown to hundreds of thousands of people instead of thousands of people in the past.

Zhou Enlai disagreed with Li De's point of view, saying that the Red Army's growth from thousands of people to the current hundreds of thousands was achieved through guerrilla warfare. Li De said that that is already a thing of the past, and the current situation does not allow us to fight guerrillas anymore.The fourth battle against "encirclement and suppression" at Huangpi and Caotaigang defeated Chen Cheng's elite divisions. They did not use guerrilla warfare, but large corps ambush warfare. Zhou Enlai explained to Li De that although it was a large corps ambush, one thing that cannot be ignored was that the premise of this large corps ambush was to lure the enemy deep.In fact, this is also guerrilla warfare.

Li De was displeased when Zhou Enlai praised guerrilla warfare so much, and said: "I think your thoughts have been poisoned by Mao Zedong's guerrillaism! Here, I want to remind you that guerrillaism and the offensive line of the Communist International It's the opposite!" Bogu supported Li De and said, "Comrade Enlai! You should stop arguing with Comrade Li De on this issue. You shielded Mao Zedong at the Ningdu meeting, and many comrades still hold grudges against you!" Zhou Enlai smiled wryly, and said, "Do you think I don't want to fight regular battles? Do you think I like to hide in this ravine and play hide-and-seek with Chiang Kai-shek all day long?..."

Zhu De said: "If we also have aircraft and cannons, I would certainly be happy to fight face to face with Chiang Kai-shek!" Bogu translated Zhou Enlai and Zhu De's words to Li De.When Li De heard this, he rolled his eyes and said sharply, "You guys have been hiding like this all day long. How many years will it take to hide before you can have aircraft and cannons? Airplanes and cannons are for shooting out, not for hiding." !" Bogu also said solemnly: "Comrade Li De is right! Guerrilla warfare is outdated. The golden age of regular warfare has arrived! Only by resolutely implementing the international offensive line and fighting Chiang Kai-shek face to face can we achieve victory in several provinces first." The goal."

Zhou Enlai and Zhu De looked at each other for a while, then fell silent. After sending Li De and Bo Gu away, Zhou Enlai stood in front of the map, staring at the deployment of the Red Army and Jiang Army on the map, falling into perplexed contemplation. After the victory of the fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the Red Army rapidly grew from more than 60,000 people to more than 100,000 people. The equipment was improved compared with the previous ones. Compared with Jiang's army, both in terms of numbers and equipment, they still have a lot of strength. big gap.Is this enough to fight a regular battle with Jiang Jun?This question hangs in his heart like a boulder.

He said to Zhu De beside him: "Boss, is it too early to start a decisive battle with Lao Jiang?" Zhu De said with a wry smile: "The foreign consultant is here, and you and I can't speak well!" "You mean, this regular battle must be fought?" "Isn't this obvious!" Zhou Enlai looked at the map again, his thick eyebrows frowned, he let out a long breath, and murmured: "This Li De, does he have any tricks up his sleeve?..." Bo Gu and Li De were eager to regain Lichuan, and Li De formulated the saltpeter and Zixi Bridge battle plan. On October 2, in the name of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, he ordered the Red Army and the Eastern Army to go northward to eliminate the saltpeter and Zixi Bridge. The Central Army of the Red Front Army moved eastward from Yongfeng, Le'an and other places to attack and contain Jiang's army advancing between Nancheng, Nanfeng, and Yihuang to ensure the actions of the East Lord Army.After Jiang Jun occupied Lichuan, he immediately stepped up the construction of Lichuan city, saltpeter and Zixi bridge, and sent heavy troops to garrison to consolidate the connection between Lichuan, Zixi bridge and saltpeter.

After receiving the order, Zhou Enlai called Xiang Ying on October 4 and transferred it to the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China. He insisted that the Red Army could not attack the enemy near Lichuan by force at present, and pointed out: "Since the enemy is ahead, the main forces of our eastern and central armies must first approach. , and sent a powerful detachment to step up activities on the two wings of the enemy in Jiangxi, confuse and disperse the enemy, so that the main force can fight decisively." On the 6th, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De called the Central Revolutionary Military Commission to report on the specific combat deployment.On the same day, Bogu and Xiang Ying, who were panicked by the fall of Lichuan, rejected the suggestions of Zhou Enlai and others, and replied by telegram emphasizing that "no matter what the situation, the Central Army must not cross the Fuhe River, and you must act according to the intention of the Military Commission in the future."Zhou Enlai and Zhu De fought hard based on reason, and repeatedly called Bogu, Xiang Ying, Li De and others, pointing out that "the southeast of the saltpeter is blocked by the river, so it may not be easy to attack by force. Destroy and aid the enemy on the move."

At the same time, they ordered the heads of the 1st and 3rd Red Army Corps to "in the present few days, the various regiments of our Eastern Army must use their utmost active activities to try their best to prevent and delay the concentration of the enemy (but they should not storm fortresses, and should not attack the enemy in positional warfare." frontal attack), so that the Eastern Army can use large movements, maneuvers, encirclement, and detours to try to reverse the situation by first flanking the advancing enemy troops under favorable conditions." According to Li De's battle plan for saltpeter and Zixi Bridge, Peng Dehuai led the Eastern Army to besiege saltpeter.Because the southeast of Nitpe is blocked by the river, the city defense is strong and heavily guarded, so it is not easy to attack by force.Regardless of the changes in the enemy's situation, Bo Gu, Xiang Ying, Li De and others forced the Red Army to attack saltpeter, and the consequences were very serious.

The Red Army failed to attack for five consecutive days. Chen Cheng quickly mobilized the strength of nearly 9 divisions to implement anti-encirclement from three sides to the Red Army attacking saltpeter.The Red Army was in danger of being surrounded by the enemy and was forced to withdraw from the battle.After a strong attack on saltpeter, Li De, Bo Gu and others ordered the Red Army to attack Zixi Bridge.As a result, after four consecutive days of attack, they failed to occupy Zixi Bridge. The two wars suffered setbacks, and the strength of the Red Army was greatly weakened.At this time, Zhou Enlai also suggested that the main force of the Red Army should be gathered to the outer flanks of Zixi Bridge, Guangguang or Lichuan to find combat opportunities to destroy Jiang's army.His suggestions were still not adopted by Li De, Bo Gu, Xiang Ying and others.

Although Li De, Bogu, Xiang Ying and others admitted that they "made a major mistake" by not quickly withdrawing the siege of Jiangle and Shunchang, and delaying their march northward to the Jinxi, Zixi, and Guangze areas, they also accused Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and others "the chief of the front army is vacillating and has no understanding of the general purpose of the Military Commission. The estimation of the enemy's plan is different from that of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, and it becomes more obvious when the order is executed."They did not seek changes in the use of strategies and tactics, and insisted that "if they refuse to attack such a fortress in principle, it is a refusal to fight."Continue to order the Red Army to go deep into the gaps in the area of ​​Jiang's fortress to fight, causing the Red Army to fall into a bitter battle.What Zhu De said was correct. When the foreign consultants came, the two commanders on the front line couldn't speak well.