Chapter 14 1. March of the Broadsword on the Red Land

On January 9, 1932, the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the "Resolution on Striving for the First Victory of the Revolution in One or Several Provinces." Favorable political and military conditions, the capture of one or two important central cities, and the start of the revolution in one or several provinces are all on the agenda of the party's work and the Soviet movement." The resolution required The Central Soviet Area took the central cities of Nanchang, Fuzhou, Ji'an, etc. to combine the currently scattered Soviet base areas, and started the first victory in Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces.

The meeting chaired by Zhou Enlai began to study the issue of attacking Ganzhou.Zhou Enlai set off from Shanghai to the Central Soviet Area on the second day after the victory of the Ningdu Uprising at the end of last year.Before leaving, Bogu (Qin Bangxian), the head of the interim Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, confessed to him the mission of the Red Front Army to attack Ganzhou.At this meeting, Mao Zedong believed that the ancient city of Ganzhou was surrounded by water on three sides, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the Red Army's ability to attack key points, technical equipment, etc. at that time was not suitable for attacking.Zhu De also believes that the current situation is still that the enemy is strong and we are weak, which is consistent with Mao Zedong's view.After listening to everyone's opinions, Zhou Enlai felt that it was not yet ripe to attack Ganzhou, so he called Bogu in Shanghai.However, the interim head of the Central Committee who was based in Shanghai knew neither the military nor the actual situation, but he still insisted on it.The Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of ​​the Communist Party of China had to sit down again to discuss the issue of whether to fight Ganzhou.

At the meeting, Mao Zedong once again pointed out that Ganzhou is a fortified city that the enemy must defend. With the existing technology and equipment of the Red Army, it is likely to be unable to attack for a long time and fall into a very passive situation.He believes that even if they want to fight, they can only adopt the tactics of besieging the city and fighting for aid.All in all, hard hitting will definitely suffer.It is a pity that this opinion was rejected in the final vote due to the disapproval of most leaders of the Central Bureau and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission.

On January 10, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued the "Military Instructions for Attacking Ganzhou", appointing Peng Dehuai, the commander of the Red Army Corps, as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.The Red Army and the Fourth Army are the main combat armies, and the southern Jiangxi, eastern Jiangxi, Hexi, Yong, Ji, Tai, and Wan guerrillas and the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region Reserve are the combat armies.Chen Yi is in charge of commanding the combat army.The order also instructed the Fifth Red Army to continue training on the spot and not to participate in this battle.In the middle of the year, Peng Dehuai led the Third Army Corps and the Fourth Red Army to march towards Ganzhou from Huichang, Shicheng and other places.

Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province has always been the political, economic center and military center of southern Jiangxi. The city faces water on three sides and has strong walls, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is known as "Iron Ganzhou".At that time, more than 8,000 people were stationed in the city, including the 34th Brigade of the 12th Division of the Kuomintang and the armed forces of landlords from 17 counties in southern Jiangxi. In the north, there were five divisions of Chiang Kai-shek's direct line troops in Ji'an, Xiajiang, and Wan'an. There are more than ten regiments of the Guangdong Army in Yu, Nanxiong, and Shaoguan. These troops can quickly reinforce Ganzhou after the battle starts.

On February 4th, the Red Army arrived near the city of Ganzhou one after another. Facing the powerful offensive, the Kuomintang army immediately retracted its line of defense and entered the city to defend.Peng Dehuai led the main combat army to occupy the Baiyun Mountain line on the outskirts of the city, and approached Chenghao from the southeast of the city.After the Red Army besieged the city, they blasted and attacked the city twice on February 13 and 17 respectively, but were unsuccessful.On the 23rd, the Red Army launched a general attack and blew up a section of the city wall in the southeast of the city. Part of the Seventh Red Army broke into the city and occupied the tower.The defenders immediately organized a counterattack, suppressed our army's follow-up troops with fierce firepower, and launched a siege to our troops who broke into the city. After several hours of fierce fighting, the main attacking troops were frustrated and had to withdraw from the battle.At the same time, in order to break the siege of Ganzhou, the 11th Division and the 14th Division of the Kuomintang Army, a total of 12 regiments with more than 20,000 people, broke through the blockade of our Hunan-Jiangxi Independent First Division on February 29. It is near the city of Ganzhou, facing the enemy of Ganzhou across the river.

The arrival of the enemy's 20,000 reinforcements basically announced the complete failure of our army's attempt to attack Ganzhou.At this time, the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area had no plans to withdraw its troops. On the contrary, it issued a combat order to "resolutely seize Ganzhou, and take advantage of the victory to destroy the enemy who came to help."The next day, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission called the Fifth Red Army, which instructed the Fifth Red Army to go to the front line immediately and coordinate the attack on Ganzhou.The Fifth Red Army's participation in this battle is also inseparable from Mao Zedong's strong suggestion.It turned out that the three armies were unable to attack the city of Ganzhou for a long time, and suffered heavy casualties, so they were in a dilemma.After Mao Zedong learned of this situation, he immediately suggested that the Central Revolutionary Military Commission activate the Fifth Red Army Corps in training.

Xiao Jinguang, Ji Zhentong, Dong Zhentang, Zhao Bosheng and others were extremely excited after receiving the telegram, and immediately went to various ministries to mobilize for combat.At that time, all the commanders and fighters of the Fifth Army Corps were particularly enthusiastic about participating in the battle. Because it was the first battle since joining the Red Army, the leaders of the Army Corps were very cautious and led all the ministries to set off one after another on the same day. Further instructions from the Military Commission. In the early morning of March 7, the two regiments defending the enemy in Ganzhou drilled out of the dug tunnel and launched a surprise attack on the Red Army's siege troops. Attacking from the side and rear, forming a pincer attack on the Red Army from inside and outside.At that time, the Red Army Corps commanded by Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan had been fighting hard for many days under the city of Ganzhou. Their physical strength was extremely exhausted, and the commanders and fighters were all asleep.

Facing the influx of enemies, the soldiers of the Red Army fought bravely despite losing their organizational system and fighting on their own. The two sides started a thrilling melee in the city.Due to lack of vigilance, all the three armies fell into a very passive situation. Without reinforcements, the entire army of the three armies would be in danger of being wiped out.Huang Kecheng, the political commissar of the first division of the army, commanded the troops to organize a counterattack on the spot, while looking for opportunities to break through.At this critical moment, Dong Zhentang, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Fifth Red Army Corps, arrived with the Thirteenth Army. Dong Zhentang saw that the enemy and us were fighting together on the battlefield. The situation was critical, so he had no time to think about it. He drew his sword from his horse and ordered decisively: " Comrades, put on your big sword and kill!" The commanders and fighters of the 13th Army rushed towards the enemy with their big swords and followed the commander.

Here we must briefly introduce the broadsword of the Red Fifth Army.Due to the poor equipment of the former Northwest Army, grappling and sword fighting were included in the main subjects of soldier training, and almost every soldier could learn good sword skills.One year after the Battle of Ganzhou, the 29th Route Army, also a part of the Northwest Army, led by patriotic generals such as Song Zheyuan, Tong Linge, and Zhao Dengyu, also used a big sword to kill the Japanese in the Great Wall War of Resistance. It dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese invaders and broke the morale of the Chinese people.As the news spread, the whole country was invigorated, and passionate young people asked to join the army and go to the front to fight against the enemy. The famous composer Mai Xin, who was carrying out anti-Japanese activities in Shanghai, was deeply inspired, and immediately composed an immortal battle song-March of the Broadsword, dedicated to the heroic anti-Japanese soldiers. Twenty-ninth Route Army.

Turning around, thousands of big knives suddenly lit up under the city of Ganzhou. The knives were shining like a sea of ​​knives, and the enemy's flesh and blood flew everywhere they passed.The enemy army fought against the Central Red Army many times, and had never seen this kind of fighting style. Those who were killed fled into the city in panic.General Liu Shaoqing, who was the commander of the Red First Division's spy company at the time, had a deep memory of this: ... At the critical moment, a team holding red flags and wielding big knives charged over, and the big knives shone dazzlingly white in the sun.Everyone in this team has three major items: rifles, pistols, and broadswords. None of them shoots. They are very brave.I took a long breath and felt relieved: This is the thirteenth army of the fifth red army of the new force army coming... At the critical moment, the Fifth Red Army attacked decisively, repelled the enemy, and lifted the siege of the Red Army's siege troops.The first time they went to battle, the Red Fifth Army played awe-inspiring.The soldiers and civilians in the Soviet area all clapped their hands and cheered, and passed on the big blade of the Fifth Army as a "shen".Since then, "the charge of the first army, the outflank of the third army, and the sword of the fifth army" have become the three magic weapons of the Red Army to make the enemy daunting. While the Thirteenth Army of the Fifth Red Army was clearing the siege outside the city of Ganzhou, Huang Zhongyue and Zuo Quan led the Fifteenth Army to block the reinforcements of the Kuomintang army along the river along the Tankou, Chutan, and Dahukou lines.With the timely reinforcements of the Fifth Red Army, the front line has basically stabilized.In the service, Ouyang Jian, political commissar of the 37th Division of the 13th Army, and more than a dozen division-level cadres died heroically. At this time, it was impossible to continue to attack Ganzhou, and the various units of the Red Army on the one hand gathered in Jiangkou one after another.The Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of ​​the Communist Party of China held the famous "Jiangkou Conference" in Jiangkou.The meeting was presided over by Zhou Enlai, and Chairman Mao also came to attend the meeting.The meeting decided that the three regiments of the Red Front Army would march in three routes.The Red Army Corps led by Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan attacked both sides of the Ganjiang River, expanded the Hunan-Jiangsu Soviet area, and then developed northward, known as the "West Route Army". The Red First Army led by Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen developed from the east bank of the Ganjiang River to the north and reddened the eastern Jiangxi area, known as the "Middle Route Army". The Fifth Red Army led by Ji Zhentong and Xiao Jinguang coordinated the West Route Army and the Central Route Army in the Southern Jiangxi Soviet Area. On March 17, Mao Zedong set off with the First Red Army Corps, crossed Wuyi Mountain, and entered the territory of Fujian Province.In Changting, after learning more about the situation in Fujian, Mao Zedong convened a meeting of cadres above the First Red Army Corps to mobilize the Eastern Expedition. He pointed out: Our new task is to develop in the direction of southern Fujian via western Fujian.It should be noted that there is not much room for our central base to develop northward along the Ganjiang River, and the base camp of the Kuomintang's "suppression of communism" is located in Nanchang.If it develops westward, it will be blocked by the Ganjiang River, and it will be inconvenient for large troops to forget to return.If it develops to the south, it will inevitably compete with the main force of the Guangdong army.Only the eastward development is the most beneficial. Firstly, there is the old base area in western Fujian as a support, and secondly, there is still broad room for development in southern Fujian. This is the best development direction.Therefore, the Central Bureau decided that I would lead the East Route Army to fight outside and south Fujian to develop base areas, expand the political influence of the Red Army, and obtain material supplies. Then Mao Zedong called Zhou Enlai, Secretary of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area on March 30, and proposed a bold idea: stay away from the base area and go straight to Zhangzhou.The telegram said: "Comrade Enlai: (1) Telegram. In politics, you must go straight to Zhangquan to mobilize the enemy, win the war, and start the situation. If you put it near Longyan to raise funds, it is still a conservative situation. The following is very bad. (2) According to investigations, Zhangzhou is difficult to defend and easy to attack, so our 1st Army Corps and 7th Division plan to go straight to Zhangzhou regardless of whether we can defeat Zhang Zhen in Longyan. (3) The Cantonese enemy threatens our retreat from Dapu to Longyan It only takes five days, and it takes fifteen days for the Fifth Army to travel from Xinfeng to Longyan. Therefore, if it is known that the Cantonese enemy has entered Fujian and then mobilized, it will be too late. (4) The First Army has already moved to Xinqiao in Tingdong to rest. Disrupt the enemy's ears and eyes, wait for the Seventh Division to gather together, and then go east first. The Fifth Army can enter Fujian later, but must arrive at Longyan to wait for orders at the latest on April 20. The Thirteenth Army must also enter Fujian, located in Longyan, to protect the rear road……" In this telegram, Mao Zedong asked all the Fifth Red Army to set off immediately, take a shortcut and march to Huichang and Yunmenling, and then strive to reach Longyan on April 20, and implement the "directly down to Zhangzhou" combat plan.After Zhou Enlai's defeat in the Battle of Ganzhou, he also realized that it was not advisable to take risks to attack fortified positions. Especially after gaining a better understanding of the actual situation in the Central Soviet Area, he began to lean towards Mao Zedong's proposition. After receiving the telegram, Zhou Enlai immediately presided over a meeting of the Central Bureau in Ruijin to further study the deployment of the Eastern Route Army's entry into Fujian. In view of the weak strength of the Red First Army, it was difficult to deal with the Fujian enemy and the Guangdong enemy at the same time. .After the meeting, he rushed from Ruijin to Changting. After listening to the report of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China on the situation in the Zhangzhou area, he approved the plan for the Longyan and Zhangzhou campaigns.