Chapter 69 Bloody Jinggang of the Five Red Army

The Fourth Red Army attacked southern Jiangxi. Although it contained several enemy brigades, it failed to achieve the goal of breaking the siege of Jinggangshan. The strategy of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" failed to work.The crisis in Jinggangshan has not been lifted, and the Fifth Red Army is facing a severe test. When the main force of the Fourth Red Army went down the mountain, He Jian sent some troops to pursue, but did not relax the siege of Jinggangshan.He ordered troops from all walks of life to tighten the encirclement by advancing step by step. It is indeed not easy for the Fifth Red Army, which has just arrived, to defend Jinggangshan under the siege of a powerful enemy. In addition, the main force of the Fourth Red Army has gone far to southern Jiangxi, and Jinggangshan has few soldiers and ammunition. It is almost impossible to establish a solid line of defense everywhere. thing.Some commanders and fighters of the Fifth Red Army did not understand staying behind in Jinggangshan, and wanted to return to the border areas of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi.Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan proceeded from the overall situation and persuaded the soldiers of the Fifth Red Army to shoulder the heavy responsibility of guarding the mountain with a fearless spirit of self-sacrifice.

On January 26, the enemy forces in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces completed their preparations for attacking the Jinggangshan base area. Troops from more than 10 regiments gathered at the foot of Jinggangshan. Even He Jian moved the command post from Pingxiang to Lianhua in order to personally supervise the battle. On the 27th, the enemy forces in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces launched a full-scale attack on Jinggangshan, and the focus of the attack was the three outposts of Huangyangjie, Bamianshan and Tongmuling.The enemy first bombarded the fortifications of each outpost with mountain artillery, and then attacked with heavy troops in turn.The Red Army soldiers standing firm at the outposts stubbornly resisted the enemy's crazy attacks again and again.

The battle was extremely fierce, dense artillery shells rained down on the Red Army's positions, and the enemy's attacks followed one after another, with Red Army soldiers being shot and fell down from time to time. The conditions are very harsh, the weather is cold, and the fortifications that have been destroyed by artillery fire are difficult to repair; the continuous battles prevent the Red Army soldiers from getting a moment's rest. Wrap up and sleep on the battlefield. This fierce battle lasted for 3 days and 3 nights. The 10th Brigade of the Red Fifth Army and the first part of the teaching team led by Peng Baocai were defending the Bamianshan sentry. There were only more than 100 people, but they were facing 3 regiments of the enemy Wu Shangbu.Under the cover of fire from mountain artillery and machine guns, the enemy took turns attacking the outpost.The commanders and fighters guarding the mountain have no fear in the face of an enemy dozens of times stronger than themselves.Relying on the terrain, they fought bravely and tenaciously with the enemy and repelled many attacks of the enemy.In the end, the bullets ran out, all the fortifications were blown up, and almost all the more than 100 Red Army commanders and fighters died heroically.

Tongmuling outpost is divided into two positions, Baiyinhu and Liping, guarded by the Eighth Brigade of the Fifth Red Army led by He Guozhong, the Ninth Brigade of the Fifth Red Army led by Ninggang Red Guard, and the Ninth Brigade of the Fifth Red Army led by Huang Yunqiao.General Li Jukui, who personally participated in this guarding battle, later recalled: "The enemy's attack on Baiyin Lake was also extremely tense. We were on the mountain in Liping, and we heard the machine guns on the other side of Baiyin Lake 'snapping'. , like cooking porridge, non-stop. The enemy fought fiercely during the day and sneaked at night. Comrade He Guozhong personally led the Eighth Brigade to stand firm. In those days, there was heavy rain and snow, and the mud in the fortification was half a foot deep. I couldn’t sit or sleep. Sleep. Under such a very difficult situation, we persisted for 4 days and 4 nights." Later, the Baiyinhu position was broken by the enemy.The enemy quickly occupied Tongmu Ridge and approached Ciping, the core area of ​​Jinggangshan.

The Huangyangjie outpost is still the top priority of the enemy's attack.The troops invested by the enemy were 3 regiments of the Wu Shang Department of the Hunan enemy, and only the first brigade of the Fifth Red Army led by Li Can and the 1st Company of the 32nd Regiment led by Xu Yangang were stationed at the outpost. There were only more than 200 people in total.Although the strength of the enemy and us is very different, the Red Army commanders and fighters guarding the mountain carried forward the spirit of brave fighting. Relying on the dangerous terrain, they fought fiercely with the enemy for 3 days and nights, and still firmly controlled the outpost.

Seeing that the frontal assault had repeatedly failed, the enemy tried to sneak attack.They used money to buy a vagrant named Chen Kai'en from Xiaxieyuan Village, Huangyangjie, and organized a "death squad" of more than 700 people. On the evening of the 29th, Chen Kai'en took the "death squad" along a small stream that he usually used to catch stone frogs, and wandered in the deep mountains and valleys all night. . The situation reversed sharply, and the enemy army directly attacked the mountain, which not only made Huang Yangjie's defense meaningless, but also made the Red Army standing in Huangyangjie suffer from the enemy and was in danger.There are frontal attacking enemies in front, and the sneak attacking enemies behind have cut off the retreat. There are precipitous cliffs on the left and right, and a deep valley below.At this critical juncture, Captain Li Can, Party Representative Zhang Chunqing, and Xu Yangang of the 32nd Regiment commanded the troops to fight against the front and rear enemies, while taking off their leggings, knotting long ropes, climbing up the cliff, and withdrawing from the battle.

The enemy army swarmed to the outpost of Huangyangjie... The three outposts of Huangyangjie, Bamianshan and Tongmuling fell one after another, and the Jinggangshan base area suddenly lost its barrier. The entire army is in danger, and more than a thousand Red Army commanders and Red Guards are in a situation of being divided and surrounded. If we continue to fight, we will inevitably make greater sacrifices.In order to preserve the vitality, Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan and others decided to gather their troops and withdraw from Jinggangshan after urgent discussions. As a result, the mountain guards scattered in various places quickly assembled and broke out in the direction of Suichuan.

On March 7, 1929, the "Letter of the Special Committee of the Hunan-Jiangxi Frontier" described the situation of the breakout: "At that time, there were four to five hundred people from the Fifth Army who rushed out of Wujing. There were more than a thousand unarmed men. Therefore, the weather was cold, the mountain roads were rough, and the movement was very slow. In addition to being defeated, it was difficult to unify the command. Although there were not many losses, the Suichuan armed forces and wounded soldiers, old and young, were all scattered by the enemy." The enemy army swaggered into Jinggangshan, burned, killed and looted frantically, and implemented the brutal "three light policy" on the base area.In Xiaojing, the enemy captured more than 100 seriously wounded Red Army soldiers who were unable to break through, and brutally shot them to death collectively in a rice field.

Jinggangshan was shrouded in white terror. Soon, the enemy launched a fierce attack on the Jiulongshan military base, which was at the corner of the Jinggangshan military base. Liu Zuoshu, Yan Hui and others commanded the Yongxin, Lianhua, and Chaling County Red Guard Brigades to carry out tenacious resistance. But in the end it failed due to being outnumbered. All Jinggangshan base areas fell.