Chapter 21 8. Passive defense—the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression"

The main force of the Red Army suffered repeated setbacks on the northern front, and the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission changed from military adventurism to military conservatism, adopting passive defensive operations.The Red Army is required to fortify everywhere and resist every step of the way.Carry out regular positional warfare with the enemy, fight for consumption with the enemy, delay the enemy's attack, and weaken its strength, so as to prevent the enemy's fifth "encirclement and suppression".After playing like this for a while, there is no doubt that he is still passive.At this time, the 19th Route Army of the Kuomintang launched the "Fujian Incident", telegraphed against Chiang and announced the establishment of the "People's Government of the Republic of China".

Chiang Kai-shek was very depressed when he heard the news in Fuzhou.Because the Nineteenth Route Army was the eastern force in this encirclement and suppression campaign, it was tasked with guarding the western and northwestern regions of Fujian and preventing the Red Army from developing eastward.If the eastern defense line collapses, if the 50,000 "rebels" join forces with the 100,000 Jiangxi Red Army, the carefully planned fifth "encirclement and suppression" will go bankrupt. Contact, coupled with the Fujian estuary controlled by the 19th Route Army, foreign aid will continue to flow in, and the consequences will be disastrous.Chiang Kai-shek immediately changed his military deployment, temporarily suspended the encirclement and suppression of the Soviet area, and transferred 11 whole divisions from the troops attacking the Soviet area to deal with the 19th Route Army in Fujian.

Regarding this great opportunity, Mao Zedong put forward a suggestion in time: at this time, the main Red Army should rush into the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi regions centered on Zhejiang, and gallop across Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuhu, Nanchang, Fuzhou and other places. During this period, the strategic defense is transformed into a strategic offensive, threatening the enemy's fundamental strongholds, and seeking operations in vast unfortified areas.Use this method to force the enemy to return to aid and eliminate the enemy during the movement, thereby smashing the enemy's attack on the base area and assisting the Fujian People's Government.

Peng Dehuai also called the General Political Commissar of the Red Front Army and forwarded it to Bo Gu, the leader of the Central Committee: "Leave the Fifth Red Army Corps to defend the Central Soviet Area, concentrate the First, Third, Seventh, and Ninth Army Corps, and march towards the border areas of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, and threaten Nanjing with Fang Zhimin and Shao Shiping's base areas , Shanghai, and Hangzhou, supported the Fujian Incident of the 19th Route Army, promoted the anti-Japanese movement, and undermined Chiang Kai-shek's fifth "encirclement and suppression" plan." The main force of the Red Army was transferred from the eastern front to the Yongfeng area on the western front to attack the fortress of the Jiang army, allowing the 19th Route Army to fight against the Jiang army alone, which made the Red Army lose the best opportunity to crush the fifth "encirclement and suppression".

Chiang Kai-shek began to encircle and suppress the 19th Route Army with heavy troops. The Fujian People's Government, which was in danger, had repeatedly asked the Red Army for military support, but the left-leaning central government was indifferent. In January 1934, after suppressing the Nineteenth Route Army, Chiang Kai-shek freed up his hands and began a massive attack on the Central Soviet Area.The enemy concentrated more than 20 divisions and rushed towards the Soviet area in three directions. In front of the strong enemy, Bo Gu, Li De and others made mistakes, and still ordered the Red Army to build bunkers in cities, towns, villages and traffic arteries, and fortify everywhere. , and actively attack the enemy.In the Battle of Tuancun, the 13th Division of the Fifth Red Army alone lost more than half of its staff, and Wu Gaoqun, the commander of the 15th Division, died.Next, the Fifth Red Army was transferred to Nanzhang and Hengcun areas for defensive warfare.Under the bombardment of enemy planes and cannons, the Fifth Army Corps suffered huge losses. Some strongholds held by companies and platoons failed to withdraw in time during the enemy's attack, and half of them survived with the strongpoints.

This kind of head-to-head fighting with the enemy has caused a large number of combat-experienced veterans and commanders to be reduced. Although many new fighters have been recruited from the local area, most of them have not received the most basic military training. Throw in the front lines.In this way, the combat effectiveness of the troops can be imagined.The Thirteenth Division of the Fifth Army Regiment was the foundation of the Ningdu Uprising. It was a team capable of fighting tough battles. When the division commander Chen Bojun inspected a recruit training session, he found that nine out of ten people who shot with live ammunition actually missed the target. Such a result made him extremely worried. .

This is the case with the Fifth Army, and the other main armies have not fought well in battles in various places.Lin Biao, head of the First Red Army Corps, wrote a letter to the Military Commission, boldly stating the four shortcomings of the Military Commission in command: (1) The lack of determination has lost many opportunities for victory. This is the biggest and most serious shortcoming of the Military Commission. (2) After the decision is made, the calculation of the time is not accurate, so that the various units cannot coordinate. There are many facts like this. (3) The regulations on the tasks of individual ministries and the means of implementation are too detailed, leaving no room for subordinates to maneuver.

(4) Failing to apply tactical principles flexibly according to the actual situation, failing to fully analyze the characteristics of the local situation, but always copying the same old methods everywhere. Liu Bocheng, who was the chief of staff of the front army at the time, was also very anxious about this. He approached Li De and proposed that this unrealistic military guideline must be terminated, otherwise the Red Front Army would be in danger of being ruined.Li De was furious after hearing this, and reprimanded Liu Bocheng: "You are not as good as an ordinary staff officer. Bai studied in the Soviet Union for several years."

Liu Bocheng was a famous general in the Sichuan Army as early as the 1920s. During the Northern Expedition, he served as the commander of the 15th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. When he participated in the Nanchang Uprising in 1927, he served as the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Committee Staff Group. In 1928, he went to the Soviet Union and studied at the Frunze Military Academy, where he was a classmate of Li De.After returning to China, Liu Bo assumed the post of Secretary of the Military Commission of the Yangtze River Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After arriving in the Central Soviet Area, he successively served as the principal of the Red Army School and the chief of staff of the Red Army.He has long-term experience in leading troops, rich experience in headquarters work and a solid level of military theory.Regarding Li De's sarcasm, Liu Bocheng put the overall situation first, and kept calm and did not argue with him.A few days later, Liu Bocheng accompanied Li De to the General Staff Headquarters. Li De kicked the cooking pot over because he suspected that the confidential officer was cooking on the side of the road and blocking the way.Liu Bocheng couldn't bear it anymore, and asked Li De angrily in Russian: "This is how the imperialists bully the Chinese. As a consultant sent by the Communist International, your behavior is wrong and an imperialist behavior!"

Li De became angry and sued Bogu, saying that Liu Bocheng didn't respect him, and asked to remove Liu Bocheng from his post. Soon, Liu Bocheng was demoted to the Red Fifth Army as chief of staff. On March 25th, the 13th Division of the Fifth Red Army Corps cooperated with the First and Third Red Army Corps to launch the Battle of Taining, and fought fiercely with the Fourth Division and the Eighty-ninth Division of Tang Enbo's Division of the Tenth Column of the Kuomintang Army in Xinqiao and Sunshine. line.Although seven enemy regiments were defeated in this campaign, more than 1,400 people were killed and injured, more than 370 were captured, and 900,000 bullets were fired, but the Red Army itself also suffered more than 700 casualties.

In the first ten days of April, the enemy concentrated eleven whole divisions and launched an attack on Guangchang along the east and west banks of Fuhe River, which kicked off the prelude to the defense of Guangchang.Here Li De put out the strongest lineup of the Red Army at that time. The Fifth Red Army and the First, Third, and Ninth Army lined up to contend with nearly 100,000 enemy troops and defend Guangchang to the death.Bo Gu put forward: "Fighting to defend Guangchang is fighting to defend the Chinese revolution.", "Victory or death!", "Keep the enemy out of the country!" slogan.With their indomitable revolutionary spirit and flesh and blood, the vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters insisted on fighting seven elite divisions and one artillery brigade of the enemy for eighteen days.Eighteen days later, Guangchang fell. Although the heroic Red Army soldiers inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, they also suffered nearly 6,000 casualties, accounting for one-fifth of the total troops participating in the battle. Guangchang fell, and the harsh reality made the majority of Red Army cadres and soldiers feel strongly dissatisfied with this unrealistic tactic.The Field Command then held a meeting in Tuppo on the evening of the 29th, aiming to summarize the Guangchang Campaign and discuss the next battle plan. Those present at the meeting were: Zhu De, Bogu, Li De, Zhou Enlai, Gu Zuolin, etc. The heads of the troops were: Lin Biao, Chief of the First Red Army Corps, Nie Rongzhen, Political Commissar, Zuo Quan, Chief of Staff, and Li Zhuoran, Director of the Political Department Peng Dehuai, head of the Red Army Corps, Yang Shangkun, political commissar, Deng Ping, chief of staff, and Yuan Guoping, director of the Political Department. Dong Zhentang, head of the Fifth Red Army Corps, and Zhu Rui, political commissar. Luo Binghui, head of the Ninth Red Army Corps, Cai Shufan, political commissar, etc. Bogu sat sullenly on the stage. At present, the northern gate of the Soviet area has been knocked open by the enemy. What should we do in the future?How should the battle be fought?Defending Lichuan and Guangchang, but none of them were saved. "Fighting the enemy outside the country" was almost in vain. How could it not make Bo Gu anxious? Li De, who was entrusted by him, seemed to have no better way. He proposed "Fort to fort," "position against field," and "short assault" didn't work.Even so, they refused to admit that their military policies, strategies and tactics were wrong. Bogu looked around and saw that everyone was present, so he announced the opening of the meeting.He first spoke: "In the first battle of Guangchang, although we finally gave up, in the past few days, our first, third, fifth, and ninth armies dealt heavy blows to the enemy and wiped out many enemies. The enemy also exposed in this battle. Less weakness, the crazier the enemy is now, it means that they have no way out, and they are at the end of their rope." Then, Bo Gu continued: "Although we are retreating temporarily, what the enemy got is an empty city. Our future is bright! The Soviet area The future is bright! All ministries should summarize well, take a rest, and prepare for new battles!" Bogu said these words just to comfort the generals, but he didn't expect that as soon as he finished speaking, there was a "boom" from the audience, and everyone started to discuss. "In the battle of Guangchang, our army suffered nearly 6,000 casualties, while the enemy's casualties were less than 3,000. How can it be said that we dealt a heavy blow to the enemy?" "The Battle of Guangchang lost money. If the fight continues like this, the money will be lost!" "Today it's called a sudden (short assault) here, and tomorrow it's called a sudden there. Our army is almost overwhelmed!" ... The discussion became louder and louder, and his words became more sharp and sharp. As the commander of the field army, Zhu De couldn't sit still. He also disliked Li De's way. He had approached Li De many times to talk about the success of the anti-encirclement campaign Based on experience, I want to remind Li De from the side that the principles of regular warfare and positional warfare should not be copied.But Li De couldn't listen to it at all. Now that the battle is like this, Zhu De is also very annoyed.He said solemnly and heavily: "We lost the Lichuan decisive battle, and we still lost the Guangchang decisive battle." Zhu De's down-to-earth speech made the audience suddenly quiet, and Bogu seemed to have been hit hard, and his face immediately became gloomy.Zhu De glanced at Bogu, ignored him, and continued: "It is wise for the Field Command to announce the withdrawal from Guangchang, but unfortunately it is too late. If we withdraw earlier, the losses will be smaller. Comrade Peng Dehuai once suggested that, But the headquarters did not adopt it in time, and I am also responsible." As soon as Zhu De made his statement, the commanders of the various legions below began to talk about it.Li De felt that under such circumstances, it would be difficult to calm down the anger in the venue if he continued to push the blame, so he stood up and said, "I am also responsible for the failure of the Guangchang Battle." Okay? The main reason is that our fortifications are not done well, and our fortress is not strong enough. When the enemy attacks, our firepower is not organized well, and we are not firm enough when launching short assaults..." Peng Dehuai became angry when he heard it, and he stood up and said angrily: "How to organize stronger firepower? There are no bullets at all, no bullets! Do you understand? Ten times out of ten times out of ten, a short assault will fail when the enemy is densely packed with bunkers!" " When Li De heard that it was Peng Dehuai who had objections to his "short assault", he was very displeased, so he said arrogantly: "So you don't have any shortcomings in command?" Peng Dehuai became even more angry when he heard this, and said angrily: "A problem in command? Your combat command was wrong from the beginning. It is that the main force is not concentrated. In the battle of Tuancun, if the first and third armies are not separated and used in a centralized manner, We can annihilate three divisions and fifteen regiments of the enemy, and we can capture bullets, capture enemy soldiers, and replenish our own battle consumption. Now, every battle is spent fighting against the enemy, and the enemy has the help of the national regime and imperialism , We rely on what we get from the enemy, you don’t understand this truth at all. In the encounter at Xunkou, we wiped out one division of the enemy, and we were not allowed to stay for a long time to destroy the last battalion that was besieged... The second time we hit Nanfeng, almost As a result, the entire army of the First Army was wiped out. If the soldiers of the Red Army were not highly conscious, the First and Third Armies would have collapsed long ago... You can see the outcome of this defense of Guangchang. It has been 8 years since the establishment of the Central Soviet Area, and it is not easy to establish this base area, and I am heartbroken, so I was sent away by you like this!" There was a burst of anger like lightning and thunder, and Peng Dehuai had already put his personal safety aside.Afterwards, he felt that the translator hadn't fully told Li De what he had said, so he turned his head and said to Yang Shangkun, political commissar of the Three Army Corps behind him: "Comrade Shangkun, tell him (Li De) what I said later!" Yang Shangkun and other senior commanders present applauded inwardly for these words. He had studied in the Soviet Union and could speak fluent Russian.Hearing what Peng Dehuai said, he stood up without hesitation and said to Li De in Russian: "Comrade Peng Dehuai said that if the Central Soviet Area is lost, we will be very sad. You are like an unfilial son who sells his father's property. Same, I don’t know how sad it is!” As soon as he said this, Li De was furious: "Feudal! Feudal! You are dissatisfied because you have dismissed your vice chairman of the Military Commission!" Peng Dehuai is a true man who would rather give up than surrender, and he said to Li De tit-for-tat: "That's not the case at all. What we are discussing now is how to defeat the enemy. You insist on talking about other things, it is simply shameless! Say what you want, expulsion from the party, public trial, beheading, I'm ready!" Bogu stood up and waved to Yang Shangkun, as if blaming him for being meddlesome and shouldn't have translated the following words, and then said sternly to Peng Dehuai: "Old Peng! It's too much, just based on your attitude towards the consultant, you can You have to be punished, you go back first, and talk about it later." The meeting broke up badly.Peng Dehuai mercilessly fired at Li De, Bogu and others at the meeting. Fortunately, they were frightened by Comrade Peng Dehuai's lofty prestige in the Red Army and did not dare to take action against him.Unfortunately, they still haven't learned their lesson.Soon after the Battle of Guangchang, the Kuomintang army quickly captured Yongfeng, Longgang, Jianning, Yongan, Liancheng and other places, and concentrated more than 30 divisions to advance to the central area of ​​the Soviet area in six routes.Left-leaning leaders such as Bo Gu and Li De also divided the main Red Army into six groups, implementing the wrong policy of "dividing troops into six groups" and "resisting across the board". They wanted to fortify everywhere, but they couldn't. On May 12, the Eastern Group, composed of the First Red Army, the Fifth Red Army, the Seventh Red Army, and the Ninth Red Army, launched another Jianning defense battle. , Anren, Wuzhenling, Mayuanqiao, Tongyuanqiao and other places resisted the attack of the Eighth Column (commander Zhou Hunyuan) and the Tenth Column (commander Tang Enbo) of the Kuomintang Army. On May 15, the enemy concentrated the Eighth and Tenth Columns to attack the Mayuan Bridge and Tongyuan Bridge positions guarded by our Red First Army and Red Ninth Army.Our garrison was exhausted, and the position was broken by the enemy. On May 16, the Kuomintang army concentrated eight divisions and began to attack Jianning County, Fujian.That night, the Red Army voluntarily abandoned Jianning County and moved to the Ninghua area. On July 16, Dong Zhentang led the main force of the Fifth Red Army to resist the attack of the four divisions of Tang Enbo's Division of the Kuomintang Army in Guifengtai and Dazhainao positions. The battle lasted for four days, and the troops suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat. On August 5, the enemy launched an attack on the area north of Yiqian with the strength of nine divisions, supported by strong firepower from aircraft and artillery.The Fifth Army Corps and the Three Army Corps fought side by side, and built five defense systems with support points as the backbone within a depth of about 15 kilometers from Gao Hunao, Wannian Pavilion to the front of the post, and held them firmly.As soon as the elite 89th Division of the enemy came up, they launched several strong attacks, all of which were repelled by our army.Since this area is full of small hills, there are paddy fields and cultivated land all over the period, and there are no prominent highlands for both sides to use.The enemy's attack was fierce, and the Red Army officers and soldiers defended tenaciously. The factors of victory and defeat largely depended on the strength of firepower. In the next few days, all the commanders and fighters of the heroic Fifth Army Corps just relied on rifles, machine guns, grenades, and broadswords to beat the enemy's 89th Division to the point of losing its combat effectiveness and had to withdraw from the battle.On the third day, the enemy reorganized the attack with new troops.The third and fifth armies responsible for frontal defense cooperated with each other and persisted until August 28. Due to serious casualties (more than 2,300 casualties in total), all positions north of Yiqian had to be abandoned. The battles were defeated one after another, and the situation was getting worse and worse. Bogu had to decide to hold a military-political joint meeting again to review the war situation and formulate a new combat policy.Attending the meeting were Bogu, Luo Fu, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Xiang Ying, Wang Jiaxiang and other members of the Political Bureau of the Soviet Area, as well as Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Dong Zhentang, Luo Binghui, Chen Yi and other regiment commanders and military commanders.Mao Zedong also participated in this meeting. This was the first Military Commission meeting he attended since he was deprived of the right to speak in the party and the army at the Ningdu meeting of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area in October 1932, and was wrongly criticized by left-leaning leaders. The meeting was presided over by Bogu, and Lin Biao, head of the Red First Army Corps, spoke first.He believes that positional warfare has restricted his actions for several months, and he has lost many opportunities for mobile warfare, and hopes to change it in future operations.After Lin Biao finished speaking, Peng Dehuai gave a speech. His speech was full of gunpowder: "Our war guidance was wrong from the beginning. Since the five campaigns against 'encirclement and suppression' (meaning during Li De's command), the Red Army has not We fought a good battle! If it wasn't for a command error, this "encirclement and suppression" campaign would have been crushed long ago..." It was the turn of Dong Zhentang, head of the Fifth Red Army Corps to speak, and he said tactfully: "Our Fifth Army Corps is familiar with field warfare and fortress warfare, and our soldiers are also brave and tenacious. However, our equipment is far inferior to that of the enemy, and we are not as powerful as the enemy." It is too great a sacrifice to rely on flesh and blood to head-on the enemy's fortifications and bunkers. I hope that in the future we can change our strategic approach, avoid positional warfare, and strive for mobile warfare." The speeches of the regiment leaders were almost all criticizing the strategic decisions of Li De and Bogu.Li De was very displeased when he heard this, and he said: "Everyone thinks that the strategic policy in the past was wrong, but I don't think so. I think it's because you are not good at combining positional warfare with short assault... " Not only did Li De not admit his mistake, but he beat him back, causing the afternoon meeting to break up unhappy.In the evening, the meeting continued, and Bo Gu proposed to discuss two topics: one was the issue of preparing to transfer operations on outside lines, and the other was the issue of expanding the Red Army.When discussing the first question, Mao Zedong made a warm speech. He proposed that the Soviet area could not be fortified, and that if it was to be fortified, only local troops should be used for defense. , Anhui, Jiangxi and other provinces transferred operations. As soon as Mao Zedong's words fell, he was opposed by Bo Gu and Li De.At this time, Mao Zedong was agitated. Although he had been deprived of the right to speak for more than a year, as long as he was allowed to participate in the meeting, he would speak, whether the left-leaning leaders liked it or not, he would speak.At this moment, he said solemnly: "After the 'Fujian Incident' last year, I suggested to you that we must unite with Cai Tingkai's troops to jointly deal with Chiang Kai-shek's attack. At the same time, we should extend a helping hand in time. As a result, you didn’t listen, and now the Fujian People’s Government has collapsed, and we are also in an extreme predicament. We have lost an optimal opportunity to break the enemy’s fifth encirclement campaign..." Regardless of his status as "standing aside", Mao Zedong used a large number of facts to prove that the suggestions he made at the time were correct. He also wanted to wake up Bogu, Li De and others to listen to other people's suggestions and not to make mistakes. Willing to go his own way. It is a pity that the left-leaning leaders are too stubborn to listen to any suggestions. After this meeting, the Fifth Red Army Corps was ordered to deploy defenses in the Xingguo Xingguo Xingxu area, struggling to resist the successive attacks of the six divisions of the Kuomintang Army.At this time, Liu Bocheng, the former chief of the general staff who had just been demoted, went to the army headquarters and was warmly welcomed by the army commander Dong Zhentang and political commissar Li Zhuoran (appointed not long ago). In the afternoon of the same day, a meeting of cadres above the regiment battalion was held in a mountain temple in Wuliting, the headquarters of the Legion, outside Xingguo City.Dong Zhentang, who presided over the meeting, said to the cadres in the audience: "Now, Chief of the General Staff Liu will give us a military report." Liu Bocheng stood up, and there was immediate applause from the audience. "Hello, comrades! I was appointed by the Central Revolutionary Military Commission to serve as the chief of staff of the Fifth Red Army Corps. I am honored to join your heroic army!" There was another wave of applause from the audience. Liu Bocheng adjusted his glasses and said loudly: "Comrades, our counter-campaign against 'encirclement and suppression' is not called a war, it is called a 'defend war', and the enemy does not call it a war, it is called a 'roll off war'." '. The enemy, with its superior force and modern equipment, rolls over like a big stone roller. If we insist on using people to block it, of course we will suffer! In this way, we give the initiative to the enemy and put ourselves at risk of being beaten. The passive situation. The war of the past year has proved that the vast number of cadres and soldiers of our Red Army are brave and good at fighting, but our strategy has problems and needs to be changed. Now, we are going to jump to the outside to fight. The troops have fought for so long, they should have Take a good rest, but there is no time now, comrades should hurry up and mobilize after returning, and prepare to leave soon.” Warm applause rang out again, not only because of respect for the former chief of staff of the Red Army, but also because his speech, vivid and vivid metaphors, reached the hearts of the cadres.But at the same time, Liu Bocheng's sentence "starting to fight on the outside line soon" also revealed the extreme plight of the Red Army on the one hand at that time. Although the Legion was the main force of the Long March, it was the only one still fighting.