Chapter 73 72. Luo Zhongyi - Resisting the Enemy Behind the Enemy and Fighting the Puppet Stubborn

Luo Zhongyi was a famous anti-Japanese general of the New Fourth Army. Born in Xiangyang, Hubei in 1907.He participated in the progressive student movement in his early years. In 1927, he joined Feng Yuxiang's army as a soldier. In 1931, he went to Jiangxi with the 26th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. In December of the same year, he participated in the Ningdu Uprising and was incorporated into the Fifth Corps of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.After Luo Zhongyi joined the Red Army, he studied hard and worked hard. He joined the Communist Party of China in June 1932 and served successively as platoon leader, director of the Soldiers Committee, company commander, and battalion commander.

He fought bravely, made many military exploits, and was promoted from squad leader to platoon leader, company commander, and battalion commander. In 1933, he was selected to study at the Ruijin Red Army School. After graduation, he was transferred to the Chief of the Operations Section of the Command of the Fujian Military Region, and the Chief of Staff of the Lian (City) Ning (Hua) (Long) Yan Army Division. Five times against "encirclement and suppression". In October 1934, after the long march of the main force of the Red Army, Luo Zhongyi served as the deputy commander and chief of staff of the third combat division of the Central Military Region, and stayed in the Soviet area to persist in guerrilla warfare.At that time, the enemy was strong and we were weak, and the situation was dangerous. In March 1935, Zhang Dingcheng and Fang Fang held a meeting of the leaders of the Red Army guerrillas in western Fujian in Jinsha, Yongding, and established the Western Fujian Military and Political Committee with Zhang Dingcheng as the chairman to lead the guerrilla warfare. In April, the Western Fujian Military and Political Committee divided the western Fujian guerrilla zone into four military divisions, and Luo Zhongyi served as the commander and political commissar of the first military division (also known as the first detachment).They led their troops to deal with the enemy in an extremely difficult environment and spent the most difficult year of the three-year guerrilla war. On January 1, 1936, the Southwest Fujian Military and Political Committee merged the original four divisions into three divisions, and Luo Zhongyi was still the commander of the first division.At this time, the main force of the Kuomintang in the "clearance and suppression" began to retreat, and the situation improved.Luo Zhongyi led his troops to take advantage of the situation to develop towards Ningyang, Liancheng, and Qingliu, and opened up a new Soviet area in Longyan, Liancheng, and the Tiechang and Meihua Shibadong areas at the junction of Longyan, Liancheng, and Shanghang.

In July 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party held peace talks in Longyan, West Fujian, and reached an agreement. According to the agreement, the Red Army in West Fujian was reorganized into the "People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army in West Fujian", with Luo Zhongyi as the commander.In October of that year, the guerrillas in the southern provinces were reorganized into the "New Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army" (referred to as the New Fourth Army).Southwest Fujian and other Red Army guerrillas were reorganized into the Second Detachment of the New Fourth Army, with Zhang Dingcheng as commander, Tan Zhenlin and Su Yu successively as deputy commanders, and Luo Zhongyi as chief of staff.

From the winter of 1938 to the spring of 1939, Luo Zhongyi and all the commanders and fighters of the second detachment engaged in intriguing tactics in the enemy's dense stronghold network and carried out guerrilla warfare.They relied closely on the masses, severely attacked the enemy, strengthened themselves, and opened up an anti-Japanese base area in the suburbs of Nanjing, the heart of the Japanese puppet. In August 1939, the leading organs of the first and second detachments of the New Fourth Army were ordered to merge, and the Jiangnan (referring to southern Jiangsu) headquarters of the New Fourth Army was established. Chen Yi was the commander-in-chief, Su Yu was the deputy commander-in-chief, and Luo Zhongyi was the chief of staff. In July 1940, after Chen Yi and Su Yu led the main force of the Jiangnan New Fourth Army to cross the Yangtze River north, Luo Zhongyi stayed in Jiangnan, reorganized the Jiangnan Command, and served as the commander-in-chief.In October of the same year, after the victory at Huangqiao, Luo Zhongyi still returned to the Maoshan area and became the commander of the new second detachment.He led a total of more than 3,000 people from the New Second Detachment and local armed forces to persist in the struggle behind the enemy in the south of the Yangtze River, fighting in the difficult environment of the enemy's stubborn attack, using flexible strategies and tactics to deal with the enemy.

In mid-January 1941, after the Southern Anhui Incident, the situation in southern Jiangsu was extremely dangerous, with frequent fighting.Luo Zhongyi led his troops to fight almost every day and move camps every night.Sometimes they fight several times a day and move camps three times a night.Relying on the strength of the Second Detachment, Luo Zhongyi overcame many unimaginable difficulties with the help of the county martial arts teams and secret traffic stations, fought beautiful battles one after another, and won one victory after another. In March 1941, the New Fourth Army was reorganized into seven divisions according to the order of the Central Military Commission, and the second detachment led by Luo Zhongyi was changed to the Sixteenth Brigade of the Sixth Division of the New Fourth Army.Tan Zhenlin served as the commander of the Sixth Division, Luo Zhongyi served as the chief of staff of the Sixth Division and the commander of the Sixteenth Brigade, and Liao Haitao served as the political commissar of the brigade. On May 21, the Battle of Jinshan started.Tan Zhenlin commanded, and Luo Zhongyi went to the front to fight in person.This battle lasted for four days, three battles and three victories, more than 500 enemy officers and soldiers were captured, and many weapons were seized.It forced the Kuomintang diehards to stop the large-scale attack on the New Fourth Army in southern Jiangsu after the Southern Anhui Incident.

After the Golden Mountain victory, Tan Zhenlin returned to the division headquarters of the Sixth Division on the East Road. Luo Zhongyi went west to Lishui and returned to Maoshan in the north, shouldering the important task of upholding the anti-Japanese struggle in the Maoshan base area. The Maoshan base is facing the Kuomintang army in the south and the Japanese and puppet blockade of Liwu Road in the north. It is only about 30 miles from north to south.The existence of the Sixteenth Brigade and the Jiangsu-Anhui District Party Committee was like a sharp sword piercing the enemy's heart, and the Japanese army had long wanted to eliminate it.

At dawn on November 28, 1941, the Japanese army, with more than 3,000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery, under the cover of heavy fog, attacked the 16th Brigade Headquarters and the villages around Tangma Village, Liyang County, where the party and government organs in southern Jiangsu were located, in three routes.At that time, more than 1,000 people from the 16th brigade's brigade headquarters, rear hospital, quilt factory, equipment repair station, brigade teaching team, party and government agencies in Jiangsu and Anhui districts, and the anti-enemy committees in the four counties of Maoshan and the main personnel of each county were stationed here. There are less than 400 troops, which is far from the enemy's strength.At this time, Luo Zhongyi quickly deployed troops to organize the main force to fight against the Japanese army, and designated the brigade chief of staff Wang Sheng to lead the transfer of the brigade headquarters and the party and government organs in southern Jiangsu, while he himself rushed up with the only officers and soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 48th Regiment around him.

The Japanese army launched three charges successively.Luo Zhongyi commanded the troops to sometimes adopt combined firepower attacks, and sometimes to counter-charge, repelling the Japanese army one after another. However, relying on the power of artillery and cavalry, the enemy finally entered Tangma.Luo Zhongyi led his troops to retreat to Wangjiazhuang.The Japanese army surrounded from all directions, the situation is critical.Luo Zhongyi ordered the machine gunner to put the machine gun outside the village to cover the breakout.At this time, Liao Haitao, the political commissar of the brigade, asked Luo Zhongyi to withdraw with the troops first, but Luo Zhongyi insisted that Liao Haitao go first.Luo Zhongyi rushed to the side of the sacrificed machine gunner, picked up the machine gun, and shouted while shooting: "I will cover you, attack to the south!" batch.The guards worried about the safety of the chief, and asked Commander Luo to quickly withdraw with the troops to the south. "You go, I'll cover!" After Luo Zhongyi said this, he was hit in the head by a bullet and died heroically.Fighting until noon, Liao Haitao also shed the last drop of blood on the battlefield.

After a bloody battle, the personnel of the 16th Brigade Headquarters and the party and government organizations in Jiangsu and Anhui finally broke through the encirclement and smashed the Japanese army's plot to encircle and suppress. After the sacrifices of Luo Zhongyi and Liao Haitao, the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army sent a telegram to the whole army: "Comrades Luo and Liao Er are outstanding veteran cadres of our party and our army. They have struggled for the party and the revolution for more than ten years. The base area has made outstanding achievements. The whole army mourns unanimously and honors the martyrs."

After the founding of New China, the people of Liyang moved the remains of Luo Zhongyi and Liao Haitao to the foot of Limao Mountain at the entrance of Xiaoyuzhuang Village. In November 1981, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the heroic sacrifices of Luo and Liao, the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government built the "Liyang Xishan Martyrs Cemetery" at the foot of Limao Mountain.The army and civilians sent dozens of elegiac couplets to commemorate the two heroes Luo and Liao, one of which read: