Chapter 19 6. Victory at Huangpo

On January 30, 1933, Chiang Kai-shek came to Jiangxi from Nanjing. In the Jiangxi Provincial Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang in Nanchang, he delivered a speech to the various "bandit suppression" generals appointed by him. He boasted: "Today, Chiang Kai-shek came to Jiangxi. Nanchang and all of you worked together to suppress the red bandits. Regarding the situation of the bandits, we have achieved brilliant results. A few days ago, the Zhang (Guotao) and Xu (Qianqian) bandits from Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, and the He (Long) bandits from Honghu , have been beaten by our heroic army, and fled to the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Our army there is advancing with victory, and victory is just around the corner. Today, in Fujian and Jiangxi, there are still bandits of Zhu and Mao who are killing and setting fire. Get rid of them quickly!" Having said this, Chiang Kai-shek looked around at the crowd, and then he talked about his theory of losing power and humiliating the country: "It is the creed of building a country from ancient times that we must first settle down when fighting against the outside world. We are not afraid that we will not be able to fight against the outside world now. The communist bandits, who are our confidantes, cannot be eliminated."

At that time, the Japanese army was gathering a large number of troops, intending to attack Rehe on a large scale, and at the same time launched an attack on Shanhaiguan.Chiang Kai-shek ignored the large-scale Japanese aggression, but he was stationed in Nanchang, mobilized more than 30 divisions of elite troops from all over the country, and personally served as the commander-in-chief of "bandit suppression" in Jiangxi Province. Big "encirclement and suppression". On February 4th, the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area decided to take advantage of the enemy's deployment and disrupt its offensive posture by launching an attack first, in order to gain the initiative in combat, so it ordered the Red Army to besiege Nanfeng first.Leaders of the Red Front Army such as Zhu De (commander-in-chief of the Red Front Army), Zhou Enlai (who replaced Mao Zedong as the Chief Political Commissar of the Front Army), Wang Jiaxiang (director of the General Political Department of the Red Front Army), and others were unwilling to storm Nanfeng. The report to the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area said: "At least five disadvantages of attacking Nanfeng: one exposes the attempt, two is easy to be flanked, three loses too much, four cannot raise funds, and five takes time."

However, the reply from the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area pointed out that: the main force of the Red Army on the one hand to attack Nanfeng should not be disputed.Zhou, Zhu, and Wang then decided to implement the instructions of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area to "cross the Fuhe River westward and attack Nanfeng first". On February 9, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De led the Red Army to Nanfeng.With Dong Zhentang's Fifth Red Army and Luo Binghui's Red Twenty-Second Army as the right column, Peng Dehuai's Red Third Army as the central column, and Mao Zedong and Nie Rongzhen's Red First Army as the left column. On the evening of the 11th, the Third and Fifth Red Army Corps began to attack the city from the south and north respectively.Garrisoned in Nanfeng City are the 6 regiments of the 8th Division of the Kuomintang Army. After a fierce battle all night, the Red Army Corps only won nine large and small bunkers and wiped out one battalion of the enemy; Not much, none of the Red Army units broke through the enemy's main positions, and suffered heavy casualties. Peng Ao, the commander of the Third Division of the Red Army Corps, who was responsible for the main offensive task, died in this battle.

At this time, the enemy had discovered the position of our main force, and immediately divided into three groups, outflanking Nanfeng.Its main strategic intention is: use Luo Zhuoying to lead the first column (the eleventh, fifty-two, and fifty-ninth divisions) from Yihuang and Le'an to Ningdu and Guangchang, block the return of our main Red Army, and Go deep into the Soviet area and attack our rear; Wu Qiwei led the second column (a total of three divisions, ten, fourteen, and ninety) from Nancheng and Nanfeng to flank the Jian, Tai, and Li areas of our Soviet area, and intercept the return route of our main Red Army ; Zhao Guantao led the third column (four divisions of five, six, nine, and seventy-nine) from Jinxi out of Lichuan to attack our front, trying to resist our main Red Army in the Jian and Li areas.

On February 15, Zhou Enlai called the Central Bureau and decided to change the strong attack to a detailed attack. The main force was monitoring the enemy in Nanfeng, preparing to ambush and destroy their reinforcements. On the 22nd, the three divisions of the enemy's first column (the 11th, 52nd, and 59th divisions) detoured from the Le'an and Yihuang areas to the back of our main Red Army, attempting to cooperate with the eight frontal divisions to fight against the enemy. The Red Army surrounded and wiped out the Nancheng area.The head of the Red Army on the one hand grasped the enemy's dynamics in a timely manner, determined to concentrate its forces, and set up battlefields in Dongkengling, Gugang, Dengxianqiao, Hekou, Huangpo and Dongpo areas to ambush the enemy's 52nd Division and 50th Division. The Ninth Division, and then took the camera to wipe out other enemy forces from all walks of life, breaking the enemy's "encirclement and suppression".

According to the order of the headquarters, the red army on the one hand was divided into two groups, left and right.On the left side were the First Red Army Corps, the Third Red Army Corps, and the Twenty-first Army. They entered the Huangpi area and set up an ambush. The entire left side troops were under the unified command of Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen.The Red Fifth Army and the 22nd Army are on the right, responsible for blocking the enemy and covering the right wing of the Red Army on the left. The right troops are under the unified command of Dong Zhentang and political commissar Zhu Rui.

In the early morning of February 27th, with cold wind mixed with drizzle, the left column of the Red Army ambushed in the mountains of Huangpo, waiting for the enemy's 52nd Division (two brigades and six regiments).Surrounded by mountains, this area stretches for dozens of miles, with high mountains and dense forests, and narrow valleys.The enemy's 52nd Division is a strengthened division, and each squad has a light machine gun. Relying on its excellent equipment, it marches swaggeringly in the narrow valley between the mountains.With the sound of "bang! bang!" several clear general attack guns, the Red Army on both sides of the valley opened fire violently, and quickly cut the enemy into several sections, so that the head and tail could not look at each other. The battle took only 3 hours, and the left column was about to attack. Annihilated the headquarters of the 52nd Division of the enemy and a regiment of the 154th Brigade, and killed Li Ming, the commander of the enemy division.The next day, the Red Army annihilated the 155th Brigade of the division's vanguard at the bridgehead.Then, the first and third armies cooperated to wipe out the rest of the enemy's 154th brigade located in the Jiaohu area.

Dong Zhentang, who was in the column on the right, was already in a hurry. It may be that the enemy's 59th Division (which governs two brigades and five regiments) heard gunfire across the mountain and moved a little slowly.It was not until 2 pm that the area north of Huoyuan was reached.At this time, Chen Shiji, the commander of the 59th Division of the enemy, mistakenly believed that the 52nd Division was conducting a live ammunition exercise, and ordered the troops to continue to advance, and directly rammed into the muzzle of the right column of the Red Army. The task of the right column of the Red Army is to stop and aid the enemy and protect the flank of the Red Army on the left.But how could Dong Zhentang give up such a good fighter lightly.He was determined to concentrate his forces to encircle and wipe out this group of enemies, so he ordered the 22nd Red Army to occupy the highland northwest of Huangpo, the 15th Red Army to occupy the highland on the first line of Luti, and at the same time, ordered the 38th Division of the 13th Army to occupy the highland west of Huangpo , the Duwu Division assembled Huangpo as a reserve team.

On the afternoon of February 27, the 15th Red Army under the command of Li Qingyun and Zhu Liangcai encountered a regiment of the 177th Brigade of the advance guard of the 59th Division of the enemy in the Luti area.At first the enemy thought it was just local guerrillas of the Red Army, so they rushed forward desperately.Li Qingyun immediately decided to lure the enemy to go deep, and then cut the enemy into two sections with a burst of energy.Chen Shiji realized that the situation was not good at this time, and he ordered the 175th Brigade to catch up and provide reinforcements, but it was too late.In the fierce battle until dusk, more than half of the fifty-ninth division suffered casualties. Dong Zhentang and Zhu Rui ordered the enemy to be surrounded and planned to encircle and wipe them out in one fell swoop the next day. Reinforcements from the Eleventh Division.Order the 39th Division of the 13th Army, the main force, to attack the besieged enemy from the front. The 15th Red Army and the 38th Division will cooperate to annihilate the enemy in Junshan. Direction to aid the enemy.

At 8 o'clock in the morning on the 29th, the Red Army's right-wing troops launched a full-line attack on the 59th Division of the Kuomintang. At 19:00, all four regiments of the enemy were wiped out, Yang Deliang, the commander of the enemy's 175th brigade, was killed, and the commander of the 177th brigade was injured. Fang Jing.Chen Shiji, the commander of the enemy division, left his troops and fled with only a few people in a panic. However, he was captured alive by the left-wing troops of the Red Front Army who rushed over near Dengxianqiao.In the Battle of Huangpo, the Red Army on the one hand wiped out two enemy divisions neatly, killed and captured more than 10,000 enemy officers and soldiers, seized more than 40 cannons, more than 300 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 10,000 other guns. There are a large number of silver dollars and military supplies, and an unprecedented victory has been achieved.In the battle to annihilate the enemy's 59th Division, Wang Shuya, commander of the 39th Division of the Thirteenth Army of the Fifth Red Army, unfortunately died.

Wang Shuya, a native of Gansu, joined the Northwest Army in his early years as a company commander and deputy battalion commander.Soon after the Ningdu Uprising, he joined the Communist Party of China and served successively as battalion commander and regiment commander of the Thirteenth Red Army. In August 1932, he served as the commander of the 39th Division and a member of the General Branch of the Communist Party of China. He was brave and tenacious in combat, commanded meticulously and deeply, and had high prestige in the army.At the critical moment of this battle, he personally led the charge and was unfortunately shot in the abdomen. He was only 26 years old when he died. Huangpo's great victory greatly boosted the morale of the Red Army.On that day, all the ministries participating in the war were transferred to Xiaobu, Nantuan, Dongshao, and Luokou for rest.Chen Cheng lost the people of the two divisions at once, and was so angry that he almost went crazy. Unwilling to fail, he decided to fight the Red Army to the death.But after the victory, the Red Army quickly disappeared, so he had no choice but to change the combat policy of "dividing into and attacking together" to "break through in the middle".After readjustment, the enemy advanced from Yihuang to Guangchang in an attempt to occupy Guangchang and lure the main force of the Red Army to fight it. On March 20, the enemy's 11th Division advanced from Huangpo to the south, and by dusk, all the divisions had reached the front line of Caotaigang and Xuzhuang.Liu Bocheng, chief of staff of the Red Front Army, slammed on the combat map of the headquarters and shouted excitedly: "The fighter plane is coming, the fighter plane is coming!" He immediately suggested to Zhu De to prepare for the battlefield at Caotaigang. After listening to his careful analysis, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and others fully agreed with this combat plan.On the morning of the same day, the Red Front Army issued a combat order. The deployment of the order was: take the Red Fifth Army, the Twelfth Army, and the two independent regiments of Yihuang as the right wing, and attack the Houfang, Xuzhuang, and Leigongsheng areas from east to west. the enemy, and use a force to pin down the ninth division of the enemy in Dongpo, guard towards Xinfeng, and prevent the enemy's front column from returning to help; take the first and third army regiments, the twenty-first army and the independent fifth division as the left wing , the main force attacked the enemies of Caotaigang and Xuzhuang from west to east, and cut off the connection between the ninth and eleventh divisions of the enemy with a force.The Red Twenty-Second Army is the general reserve force for the campaign. After receiving the order, Dong Zhentang led his troops to set off on the night of the 20th and entered the designated offensive positions. At dawn on the 21st, the general offensive began. Since the enemy's 11th Division was the backbone team started by Chen Cheng, it was known as the champion of the entire army. The army had never been defeated, and its combat effectiveness was extremely strong.Because the enemy occupied Caotaigang in advance, and all the commanding heights were equipped with guards.After the battle started, it was in a fierce state. The two sides fought for each position and each commanding height.The Red First Army, which was in charge of attacking Caotaigang from west to east, fought particularly hard. Only the commanding height of Huangbailing in the south, they repeatedly attacked, but were repeatedly frustrated.The 10th and 11th divisions of the Fourth Red Army took turns to attack. In the afternoon, not only did Huang Boling fail to take down, but the troops suffered heavy casualties, and the commanders of the two divisions were seriously injured.At this moment, several enemy planes came to help in the battle, and kept diving and bombing at our main assembly position, making the battle more difficult.A heavy bomb roared and fell on the command post of the First Red Army Corps, knocking Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen down the hillside who were writing the battle order. Fortunately, neither of them was injured. At this critical moment, the Fifth Red Army, attacking from east to west, exerted the invincible power of its big blade.The big swords of the Fifth Red Army are famous for their chopping, but the leaders of the "Left" line thought it was irregular. After the Battle of Shuikou, they ordered all the big swords of the Fifth Army to be returned to the furnace to make bayonets. The resulting bayonets Cannot be used due to soft fire.Li Qingyun, who was the commander of the 15th Army at the time, had a lot of opinions on this stupid approach. He risked punishment and tried to make each company of the 1st, 32nd and 1st regiments of the 15th Army keep 60 swords.At this moment, the remaining family fortune was put to great use. Li Qingyun was ordered to organize a 500-strong swordsman team to seize the close-range fighters and smash the enemy's souls into pieces, crying ghosts and wolves. Six regiments of defensive positions.Suddenly, a gap was torn open in the circular defense system of the 11th Division of the Kuomintang in Caotaigang.Immediately afterwards, the Third Red Army took advantage of the panic of the enemy and also broke through the Leimu Mountain position, and the enemy began to waver across the board.In the evening of the war, Chiang Kai-shek's ace division completely collapsed.In this campaign, most of the 11th Division of the enemy was wiped out, wounded division commander Xiao Qian and Major General Mo Yushuo, commander of the 32nd Brigade, and killed Zeng Xiaochun, commander of the 62nd Regiment, Sun Jiafu, commander of the 64th Regiment, Li Yanfang, head of the 66th Regiment, and Chen Junfeng, head of the 175th Brigade of the 59th Division.Severely damaged the first part of the Ninth Division of the enemy's reinforcements, and most of the 175th Brigade of the rebuilt 59th Division, captured more than 3,000 enemies, and surrendered more than 5,000 guns.It is very ridiculous that when the Red Army soldiers marched with the prisoners, they found that each prisoner had a rope on his body. A rope was used to bind the Red Army prisoners, and they could receive rewards when they returned. The soldiers all laughed heartily when they heard this. When the news reached Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his letter to Chen Cheng, "This loss is extremely tragic, and it is the only hidden pain in my life." Chen Cheng felt ashamed when he received the letter, and wrote One sentence: "Although sincerity is not sensitive, it is ashamed to be an only child!".So far, Chiang Kai-shek's fourth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area ended in disastrous failure. The Battle of Huangpi and Caotaigang was the largest and best ambush fought by the Central Red Army during the Second Civil Revolutionary War.In the two battles, more than 28,000 people from Chiang Kai-shek's three main divisions were wiped out, nearly 20,000 enemies were captured, more than 15,000 guns of various types were seized, and more than 300 latest German-made light machine guns and Forty cannons and a large amount of military supplies.After the victory of the Red Army's fourth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression", the Central Soviet Area now has more than 30 counties, spanning the four provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, and Guangdong, with a population of nearly 3 million and an area of ​​50,000 square kilometers. It has grown to more than 80,000 people, and the local armed forces have also grown to nearly 50,000 people. The development of the Central Soviet Area has entered its heyday.