Chapter 34 (1) Battle of Tucheng

After the Zunyi Conference, the Central Red Army carried out reorganization, threw away the cumbersome baggage, streamlined the organization, and enriched the combat company.The whole army was downsized into 16 regiments: the Red 1st Army formed 2 divisions and 6 regiments, the Red 3rd Army formed 3 regiments, and the Red 5th and 9th Army formed 3 regiments each. In accordance with the decision of the Zunyi Conference to cross the river to the north, the whole army marched from Songkan, Tongzi, and Zunyi to Chishui and Tucheng on January 19, 1935.The 1st Red Army led by Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen is the right column; the 3rd Red Army led by Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun is the left column; The 9th Army was the central column.The mission of the 1st Red Corps was to capture Chishui County and create conditions for the troops to cross the Yangtze River north between Luzhou and Yibin in Sichuan.

Zhou Enlai left Zunyi with the central column, passed Sidu, crossed Loushan Pass and entered Tongzi. Since then, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has strengthened its leadership over the Military Commission and held daily meetings to discuss operations and marching routes. Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, and Zhu De all attended the meetings.Zhou Enlai issued combat or marching orders according to the decisions of the meeting, and was responsible for organizing their implementation.He changed the previous command method, and only pointed out the general direction to the front-line commanders, so that the front-line commanders could flexibly implement the military commission's combat plan according to the situation in their respective theaters.

At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek noticed the movement of the Central Red Army and believed that the Red Army had threatened southern Sichuan and might cross the Yangtze River north. He urgently sent a message to He Guoguang of the Sichuan Staff Group and Liu Xiang of the Sichuan Army to organize the "Southern Sichuan Suppression General", and sent Pan Wenhua as the commander in chief to station in Luzhou. Concentrate forces to deploy blockades in Chishui, Gulin, and Xuyong areas to block the Yangtze River; order the Yunnan Army Longyun to send troops into Guizhou; order the Guizhou Army Wang Jialie to cross the Wu River to follow the Red Army; transfer Shangguan Yunxiang to Sichuan from Henan and Hubei to gather in Sichuan and Guizhou On the border of Songkan, Xueyue used Zhou Hunyuan's troops to cross the Wujiang River to the west of Guizhou, Dading flanked, and controlled the main force Wu Qiwei's troops to stand by in Guiyang.

The strength of Jiang's army, which was chasing and intercepting the Red Army, amounted to 150 regiments and more than 300,000 horses at this time, including 4 divisions of the Hunan Army in the east, 6 brigades of the Dian Army in the west, 2 columns of Jiang's descendant Xueyue in the south, and the Sichuan Army in the north. 12 brigades.The Red Army only has more than 30,000 people. The troops crossed Loushan Pass to Tongzi. Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang and other heads of the Military Commission formulated the "Operation Plan for Crossing the River" on January 20, stipulating that "our field army's current basic policy is to go from northern Guizhou to southern Sichuan and cross the river. Move to a new area, cooperate with the Fourth Front Army to carry out a general counter-offensive from the northwest of Sichuan. And use the 2nd and 6th Army Corps to operate at the intersection of Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei to clamp down on the enemy who will suppress the southeast of Sichuan. The enemy launched a new siege and strives for the redification of Sichuan."

The plan decided to change the tactics, "A small number of capable troops (about one regiment or so) should be used for mobile defense against the enemy chasing after him", or "the main force should be assembled for an offensive battle to destroy the enemy", "the advance corps should be secret, rapid, brave, and resolute action, and exercise maximum maneuvering". Two days later, in the name of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Military Commission, they called the Red Fourth Front Army and pointed out that "in order to choose good conditions and strive for greater development prospects, we have decided to transfer our field army to western Sichuan and plan to cross the river from the upper reaches of Luzhou."Instructed the Red Fourth Front Army to "use mass armed forces and independent divisions to actively move toward the east front to contain Liu's enemy, while concentrating the Red Army's full force on the west front." .

At the same time, he ordered the 2nd and 6th Army Corps of the Red Army to attack eastward, contain the Hunan enemy, and coordinate with the 1st and 4th Front Army of the Red Army. At this time, if the three main forces of the Red Army with nearly 160,000 people can cooperate closely under the leadership of the Central Committee and fight in accordance with the unified deployment period of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, they will not only be able to cross the Yangtze River and enter western Sichuan, but they will also be able to cross the borders of Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Yunnan. To break Chiang Kai-shek's new "encirclement and suppression".However, the nearly 20,000 troops of the Red 2nd and 6th Army followed the deployment of the central government, cooperated with the operation, and contained the Hunan enemy, while the Red Fourth Front Army had nearly 100,000 troops. Because the main leader Zhang Guotao did not implement the central order, he failed to command the troops to closely cooperate with the Red First Army. The front army crossed the river to fight.In this way, it caused great difficulties for the Central Red Army to cross the river and enter Sichuan.

The left, middle, and right columns of the Central Red Army arrived at Tucheng and Chishui County in the lower reaches of the Chishui River on January 26 and 27, preparing to cross the Chishui River. Tucheng, a large town in Chishui County, is located on the right bank of the Chishui River, and is the main traffic route from Chishui and Xishui counties to Gulin County in southern Sichuan.On the way from Xishui to Tucheng, Mao Zedong inspected the terrain along the way and found that the mountains in this area were high and the valleys were deep. If Jiang's army went deep alone and entered the layer foundation dam and Huangjinwan line east of Tucheng, the Red Army could use both sides. The favorable terrain of the valley is condescending, and the superior forces are concentrated to encircle and annihilate.

He told Zhou Enlai this idea that he would fight Jiang Jun in Tucheng.Zhou Enlai thought this idea was good, and considering that Mao Zedong had been forced to leave the military leadership position since the Ningdu Conference, he had not commanded a battle for more than three years. The first trial of the sword. On the afternoon of January 27, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang and others arrived in Tucheng Town.The 5th Red Army entered the northeast of Tucheng. At this time, it was learned through reconnaissance that two brigades and four regiments of the Liuxiang Department of the Sichuan Army were rushing towards Tucheng.When meeting to study the enemy's situation and deploy battles, Mao Zedong believed that Liu Xiang had several lines of troops to pursue and should be wiped out in stages.Therefore, the Military Commission formulated the battle plan and objectives of the Tucheng campaign. The Red 1st Corps of the right column continued to go north on the 23rd to capture Chishui City, and arrived in Tucheng on the 24th, driving the remnants of the two brigades defending the enemy, Hou Zhidan and Liu Hanwu, to flee towards Chishui County.

When the Red Army arrived at Huangpi Cave in Chishui County on the 26th, it was blocked by the Zhang Anping Brigade of the Sichuan Army.On the 27th, the Red 2nd Division went to Fuxingchang and Wanglongchang to encounter the first part of the Dafenggang Brigade of the Sichuan Army.The Red 5th and 9th Corps of the Central Column, the Military Commission Column and the Red 3rd Corps of the Left Column also arrived in the Tucheng area on the 27th.With the Red 3rd Army and the Red 5th Army occupying favorable terrain on both sides of the town 2 to 4 kilometers east of the town, they dealt a head-on blow to the vanguard of the Sichuan Army.

At the same time, the four brigades of the Sichuan Army gathered in Tucheng.Among them, Guo Xunqi's troops of the Sichuan Army, who followed the right column of the Red Army, had reached Qinggangpo and occupied some commanding heights in the east one step ahead of the Red Army, taking advantage of terrain and strength.Because the Red Army was careless in deciphering the enemy's telegram, it translated the enemy's 4 brigades into 2 brigades, judging from the wrong information, thinking that it had the upper hand in terms of strength.Based on this judgment of the enemy's situation, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong and others decided to annihilate the Guo Xunqi Department of the Sichuan Army that was chasing and attacking.

At dawn on the 28th, the Red 3rd Army, the Red 5th Army, the Central Column Cadre Group, and a part of the Red 1st Army launched a fierce attack on the Sichuan Army in the Qinggangpo area of ​​Tucheng from the north and the south.Liu Xiang was afraid that the Red Army would cross the Yangtze River through Luzhou and Yibin and enter southern Sichuan, because Zhu De and Liu Bocheng were both generals of the Sichuan Army, resourceful and familiar with the terrain. Once they led their troops into Sichuan, the situation would be unimaginable.Therefore, Liu Xiang called on the officers and soldiers of the Sichuan Army to guard their homes and bravely blocked the Red Army with the determination to die. After fighting fiercely for a long time, although the Red Army inflicted heavy losses on the Sichuan Army, it paid a heavy price.Since the Sichuan army took the lead in occupying the favorable terrain, and the brigade commander Guo Xunqi personally went to the front line to participate in the battle, the following regiment and battalion commanders led the charge with such ferocity that the Red Army could only retreat while fighting. Later, Mao Zedong personally interrogated the prisoners, only to learn that he had misjudged the strength of the Sichuan Army.I thought that the Sichuan Army had 4 regiments with about 6 to 7,000 people. In fact, the Sichuan Army has 6 regiments with more than 10,000 people, and reinforcements will arrive soon. The Sichuan army counterattacked violently, broke through the position of the Red 5th Army, seized the top of the mountain, and advanced step by step towards Tucheng, all the way to the front of the Central Military Commission headquarters on Baima Mountain to the east of the town.There was a fierce attack by the Sichuan Army in the front, and the Chishui River with waves rolling in the back. The situation was very critical. Mao Zedong immediately sent people to rush to the apes, and notified the main force of the Red 1st Army to rush to Tucheng.At the critical moment, Zhu De ignored the advice of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, and insisted on directing the battle in the most tense area of ​​the front line.When he led the central column cadre group to arrive, the Red 5th Army was running out of ammunition after repelling the Sichuan Army's sixth violent charge.Most of the cadre regiments are company platoon officers with rich combat experience. Zhu De is in command. Under the leadership of regiment leader Chen Geng and political commissar Song Renqiong, they rushed and fought back the Sichuan army's attack, and went straight to Guo Xunqi's command department. At this moment, reinforcements from the 3 brigades of the Sichuan Army arrived, and the Guo Department was supplemented, so they counterattacked the cadre regiment that had not yet rested.The ammunition of the cadre regiment was quickly exhausted, and they met the Sichuan army hand-to-hand, replacing ammunition with swords and stones, and the two sides scuffled into a ball.At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the 2nd Division of the 1st Red Army arrived at the Baima position, cooperated with the cadre regiment, and counterattacked continuously. The Red 2nd Division arrived in time, the Sichuan Army retreated, and the troops attacking Tucheng got a chance to breathe. Zhou Enlai immediately called a meeting of several Politburo members and military chiefs in Tucheng to study the next military action. Mao Zedong took the initiative to take responsibility for the defeat in the Tucheng battle and made a review.He painfully admitted that he had made mistakes in reconnaissance of the enemy's situation before the battle, and had an inaccurate grasp of the enemy's military strength.In addition, the Sichuan army is not the Qian army, and its combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of the Qian army. This is another aspect of underestimating the enemy.Another point is that the Red 1st Army is still in the direction of Chishui City, its troops are scattered, and it has not formed a battle of annihilation. Zhou Enlai was very disturbed when he saw that Mao Zedong had taken all the responsibility for the failure.He pointed out that Mao Zedong was eager to fight, and he was also eager to win.Mao Zedong has not participated in commanding the Red Army since he was deprived of his military command at the Ningdu Conference in October 1932, and since Li De entered the Central Soviet Area and took full control of the military command, he has never been able to command the Red Army in a hand-to-hand battle.Both of them are emotional, only emphasizing the subjective side, ignoring the objective side. Then, Mao Zedong analyzed that there are many rivers in Tucheng, and the terrain is not good for the Red Army.What's more serious is that the enemy's reinforcements will arrive soon.Once their forces are concentrated, the threat to the Red Army will become greater, and another fight will be a war of attrition.Zhou Enlai agreed with Mao Zedong's analysis, emphasizing that now the Red Army can only avoid reality and cannot fight a war of attrition. Then, Mao Zedong suggested that judging from the current situation, the Red Army could not cross the Yangtze River north from Luzhou to Yibin as originally planned.In order to disrupt the enemy's tail pursuit plan and change from passive to active, we should cross Chishui from Tucheng and march westward with light clothes. This suggestion was supported by Zhou Enlai.In this way, the meeting adopted Mao Zedong's suggestion and decided to change the original plan to cross the Yangtze River from Luzhou to Yibin, and the troops would cross the Chishui River from Tucheng to the west. Bo-gu was also in the meeting, but he didn't say a word during the meeting.After the Zunyi Conference, he was still in charge of the Party Central Committee in name, but in fact he no longer played the role of top leader.Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong were in charge of the military affairs, and Luo Fu was more in charge of the daily affairs of the Party Central Committee.In addition, at the Zunyi meeting, he did not fully admit his mistakes, nor did he fully accept the criticisms of his comrades. After the meeting, he felt some resistance, which aroused the resentment of the comrades around him.Therefore, people's trust in him has gradually decreased. On January 29, the Military Commission sent a telegram to the heads of all regiments and columns regarding the deployment of the Red Army's crossing of the Chishui River.The telegram stated that on the 28th, the enemies fighting our army were the three regiments of Guo Xunqi's brigade and the three regiments of Pan Zuo's brigade, the Sichuan enemy. .The chapter brigade in the direction of Chishui entered five miles away from Hulunao yesterday.Da Lu went to Bingtan, Fan Ziying opened Gulin News from Xuyong, and Liu Lu opened Dashimu from Luzhou.Our field army plans to break away from the enemy before dawn on the 29th and cross the Chishui River westward to the south of Gulin. Operational deployment of each corps: 1st Corps, 9th Corps, 2nd and 3rd echelons of the Military Commission, the top cadres of the cadre regiment are all under the command of Lin Biao, and they are the right column. Apes cross the river. Customize alert settings.However, the 9th Army's alert in the direction of Chishui in Chuanfeng'ao had to be withdrawn on the evening of the 29th.The team directly under the Military Commission (the first echelon), the cadre regiment, and the 5th division are the central column. The 5th division is still under the command of Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun. At that time, the 4th and 5th divisions dispatched a considerable force as a cover team to cover the progress of the central column and the left column, and had to cross the Chishui River at no later than 12 o'clock on the 29th. The 5th Corps, the team directly under the 3rd Corps, and the 4th Division were the left column, all under the command of Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun. They crossed the river from the pontoon bridge in the upper reaches of Tucheng, and proceeded to Taipingdu via Touchangba. The 4th Division dispatched a battalion from the time of withdrawal. For the cover team.When each column turns from the westward route to the southeast of Gulin, the turning point should be closer to the Chishui River.After each column crossed the river, the task of destroying the pontoon bridge was the responsibility of the guards of the 1st and 3rd regiments. The Red Army crossed the Chishui River westward from Yuanhouchang and the north-south area of ​​Tucheng into southern Sichuan, and prepared to cross the Jinsha River northward from the upper reaches of Yibin.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek adjusted the deployment of troops and organized the "pursuing and suppressing" army into two armies: He Jian, commander-in-chief of the First Route Army, used the main force to "encircle and suppress" the Red 2nd and 6th Army Corps, one of which blocked eastern Guizhou; Commander-in-chief Long Yun, former enemy commander-in-chief Xue Yue, under the command of Wu Qiwei, Zhou Hunyuan, Sun Du, Wang Jialie and other columns, "encircled and suppressed" the Central Red Army.Immediately, 12 brigades of the Sichuan Army set up defenses along the Yangtze River, the Xueyue Division and the Qian Army split off to pursue southern Sichuan, and the 3 brigades of the Yunnan Army rushed to Bijie, Zhenxiong and other places in an attempt to intercept the Red Army. Due to the failure of the Red Army to attack Yongning, on February 2, it began to march westward towards the junction of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provinces.In Jiming Sansheng Village, Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Luo Fu, Wang Jiaxiang, Zhu De and others held a meeting. They believed that since Jiang's army was heavily deployed along the Yangtze River, it would be difficult to cross the river for a while, and the Yunnan army that came to intercept it did not arrive, so they decided to march west on the border of Yunnan. Rest for a few days in the area to see how the situation changes before making a decision on the next step.