Chapter 29 Battle of Hill Castle

The tendency of the three main forces of the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants to assemble and join forces in the northwest made Chiang Kai-shek furious. He quickly mobilized hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops and personally deployed a large-scale military "encirclement and suppression".The first is to organize the "Battle of Tongwei", ordering the southern part of Hu Zong, Wang Jun, Guan Linzheng, Mao Bingwen, Yu Xuezhong, Wang Yizhe, and Dong Yingbin of the Northeast Army to gather in the Xilan Avenue area, attack the main force of the Red Army, and block the west of the Red Army. Cross the Yellow River to ensure the safety of the Hexi area.The second is to concentrate the army and adopt the tactics of fighting steadily and step by step. With the cooperation of 100 new fighter-bombers, they attempt to suppress the main force of the Red Army to the east of the Yellow River and north of Xilan Avenue and wipe them out.

Regarding Chiang Kai-shek's "Battle of Tongwei" plan, Zhang Xueliang promptly notified the leaders of the Communist Party of China whose capital was in Zhidan.The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission promptly solicited the opinions of military leaders from all walks of life. On October 11, they issued the "October Combat Program" to the entire army in a timely manner, and decided to implement the Ningxia campaign ahead of schedule, requiring rest and training before November 10. , Completed various preparations for attacking Ningxia: the Fourth Front Army quickly built ships with one army, selected a river crossing location, and prepared to cross the Yellow River into Ningxia.The troops attacking Ningxia were composed of the Western Field Army of the Red Front Army and the Red Fourth Front Army.The Red Second Front Army and other departments formed a defensive force against the Kuomintang army in the south.At the same time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that Zhu De and Zhang Guotao would organize and command the military operations of the three front armies in the names of the commander-in-chief and the chief political commissar of the Red Army respectively.

After the "October Combat Program" was released, the headquarters of the Fourth Red Army determined that Li Xiannian's Thirty Red Army would secretly build ships in the Jingyuan area, scout out river crossing points, and make preparations for crossing the river; the Ninth Red Army would follow up quickly; 5. The Thirty-one Red Army formed an echelon along the lines of Huining, Tongwei, and Jingning to resist the attacks of the Kuomintang's Hu Zongnan, Mao Bingwen, Wang Jun, and Guan Linzheng; On October 16, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to "advance and suppress". On October 21, Hu Zongnan, Mao Bingwen, and Wang Jun formed a triangle and went straight to the main force of the Fourth Red Army.

On October 22, Chiang Kai-shek flew from Nanjing to Xi'an to urge the Northeast Army and Northwest Army to join the war. On this day, the battle in the northwest was extremely fierce. The Fifth Red Army fought fiercely for two days and nights in Huining area, and was bombed by 7 enemy planes, causing more than 800 casualties. The deputy commander Luo Nanhui died in the Huajialing battle.The rest of the Kuomintang troops took advantage of their aircraft and advanced fiercely.At the end of the Long March, the Red Fourth Front Army had not been rested. Facing the heavy attack of the Kuomintang, they could only fight exhaustedly and fought with all their strength.

On October 23, Zhu De and Zhang Guotao led the headquarters of the Red Army and the headquarters of the Western Field Army led by Peng Dehuai to meet in Dalacchi to discuss the deployment of the Ningxia Campaign.Afterwards, Zhu De and Zhang Guotao ordered the Thirty Red Army to cross the river first, and the Ninth Red Army followed up, opening up the Hexi battle situation and supporting the Red Front Army; The ferry was blocked by shallow water. In the early morning of the 25th, the 30th Red Army successfully smuggled across the Hubaokou and broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River. The follow-up troops rushed across immediately and quickly destroyed the defense line of the Majia Army along the river, controlling hundreds of miles along the river.

On October 25, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission called the Red Army headquarters and the leaders of the Red Army, the Red Army, and the Red Army Leaders, and proposed specific deployments. We think that in future operations, the first step should be to focus on defeating the southern enemy and stop the enemy from pursuing them. We are between the northern and southern enemies, and the northern battle is of the nature of positional warfare. It takes up to two months to prepare and not stop the southern enemy. , which would put the latter at a disadvantage. The second move focused on going northward. Operations were deployed."

On October 26, 46 people including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, and Zhou Enlai jointly issued the "Letter from Red Army Generals to Commander-in-Chief Chiang and Generals of the National Revolutionary Army in the Northwest" requesting: "Immediately stop attacking the Red Army and join hands with the Red Army to go to the front line of national defense and work hard Kill thieves, defend the country, expel the Japanese aggressors, and regain lost ground." He also proposed: "Whether the gentlemen send representatives in, or ask us to send representatives out, or negotiate on the front line, we are willing to accept. As long as the civil war stops, we will cooperate. Once the door is opened, all negotiations will be resolved under the highest principles of the War of Resistance.”

Also on this day, Mao Zedong called Peng Dehuai: "(1) Guotao has the intention of going out of Liangzhou and does not want to go out of Ningxia, please pay attention. (2) At present, the two most important things are to fight the enemy and win the Dingyuan camp. (3) It was right for the Thirty Army to occupy Yongdeng. The Ninth Army must occupy Yuanying, which is a strategic hub for attacking Ning. It should not be occupied by one army. It is inconvenient and a waste of time. (4) Four, Five , The 31st Army, and the Second Front Army should focus on attacking Hu. Fighting alone is not enough, and the method of attack can lure the enemy to go deep. (5) On the one hand, the army quickly gathers in Tongxin City to rest."

At this time, Hu Zongnan's first army had advanced to the Nihe City area and dispatched to Haiyuan and Dalachi.Wang Jun and Mao Bingwen's troops also advanced rapidly.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek saw the victory news on the western front one after another, thinking that the Red Army had been defeated in the encirclement and suppression, and was retreating westward in a hurry, which was a good opportunity to completely wipe out the Red Army.Therefore, all the ministries were ordered to advance quickly and take advantage of the victory to pursue and suppress. In order to prevent the fierce pursuit of the enemy on the southern front and strengthen the coordinated operations of the three front armies, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission appointed Peng Dehuai as the commander-in-chief and political commissar of the former enemy on October 28, and Liu Bocheng as the chief of staff. Chi) campaign, focusing on the southern part of Hu Zong, the descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. On October 30, Peng Dehuai issued the "Sea Fighting Campaign Plan", which was intended to contain and defeat Hu Zong's southern offensive and create conditions for the Ningxia Campaign.However, the three armies of the Red Fourth Front Army, which were responsible for important combat missions, were unable to reach the designated position on time due to the obstruction of the enemy, which exposed the main right wing of the Red Front Army to the enemy.Under such circumstances, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission had to abandon the plan to fight the sea.

On November 1, the former enemy general headquarters quickly made a new deployment of the plan to capture Ningxia.However, the advance of the enemy army opened up a channel to reinforce Ningxia. In addition, the main force of the Red Army in Hedong and the three armies commanded by Hexi Xu Qianqian and Chen Changhao were cut off, which made it impossible to implement the Ningxia campaign plan. On November 8, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward a new strategic plan concept based on the new situation of the war situation. The main content is: the main forces of the three front forces will continue to fight in the current area in November, and a force will be used to pretend that the Red Army intends to cross the Yellow River and lure the enemy. go north.By December, the main force of the First Red Army and the Second Red Army formed the South Route Army; the Fourth and Thirty-first Armies of the Red Fourth Front formed the North Route Army. Fight against Japan directly, or conduct mobile operations in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu and other provinces, expand the party's political influence, expand the Red Army, and strive to conclude a joint anti-Japanese agreement with the Nanjing government.The troops commanded by Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao formed the West Route Army, established a base in Hexi, and opened up the route with the Soviet Union within a year. (Later, the West Route Army fought alone under extremely difficult conditions. Because the enemy was outnumbered, most of the Red Army commanders and fighters died in the Hexi Corridor.)

At this time, Hu Zongnan's first army, Chiang Kai-shek's direct lineage, was very arrogant with its excellent weapons. It despised the strength of the Red Army and went deep alone, attacking Yuwang County in three directions.In this regard, Peng Dehuai secretly rejoiced, caught a new fighter to destroy the southern part of Hu Zong, and suggested to the Central Revolutionary Military Commission to destroy the enemy between Yuwang and Hongde. For several days in a row, Mao Zedong ate and slept restlessly in Zhidan, Kyoto. He was always concerned about the situation of the Red Army fighting against the Kuomintang army. 2. Regarding the issue of the Fourth Front’s army gathering to prepare for combat against Hu Zong’s south, they called Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, Peng Dehuai, He Long, and Ren Bishi twice, pointing out: “Chiang Kai-shek is still resolute in attacking the Red Army. Compromise with Nanjing is difficult for a while, and we should resolutely smash his attack.” "In the current two or three days, the Fourth Front Army will gather in Tianshuibao and Baoniubao, the Second Front Army will gather in Maojujing and the north, and the First Front Army will gather in the west of Huanxian County. of." ① On November 16, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued instructions to the military and political leaders at all levels of the Red Army, demanding immediate political mobilization so that the commanders and fighters could understand the great significance of this battle. "A. Since the enemy continues to attack us, the current focus is to break the enemy's attack before we can develop the situation and benefit the united front. Otherwise, the enemy will think that we can be deceived. Not only will the situation not develop, but the united front with Nanjing will also be impossible. B. We have many favorable conditions to defeat the enemy. The enemy's situation, terrain, and masses are all beneficial to our combat. The food problem is common to the enemy and us. C. All the specific arrangements and combat operations. The heads of all corps absolutely obey the former enemy commander-in-chief Peng Dehuai Command, the Military Commission and the headquarters do not directly command a corps, so as to defeat the enemy according to the situation without affecting the timing." On November 17, Hu Zongnan's troops marched towards Dingbian and Yanchi in three routes.The enemy's Second Brigade in the Middle Road was ambushed by the Fourth Red Army and the Red Thirty-first Army of the Fourth Front Army west of Mengcheng, killing and injuring more than 600 people. On November 18, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Zhu De and Zhang Guotao: "The Fourth Army's Mengcheng War of Resistance is very effective. Please encourage them to continue to stop the enemy so that the First Army and the Thirty-first Army can break through."Now that Hu Jun is exhausted and his troops are quite scattered, he will win the first battle and have a bright future. "Only by defeating Hu Jun can we start the situation." On the same day, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, He Long, and Ren Bishi jointly issued the "Decisive Battle Mobilization Order to Smash Chiang Kai-shek's Offensive", emphasizing that all leaders must use the most resolute determination, the most responsible loyalty and the most hard-working will to fight against the enemy. implement. "...The current war is very important for the Soviet Union and China. The enemy has many weaknesses and we have many strengths. We must not be afraid of fatigue, charge bravely, and capture more prisoners , pay more guns, smash this attack, and start a new situation.” The mountain castle is located between Hongde City and Tianshui Fort, with undulating beams and hills, vertical and horizontal ravines, and complex terrain, which is conducive to ambush and wipe out the enemy.At this time, the three main forces of the Red Army had moved to the mountain castle area, ready to attack the invading enemy. Previously, Mao Zedong and other central leaders had called Gao Guizi, then Commander of the 84th Division of the Kuomintang Army, Yang Hucheng, Commander-in-Chief of the 17th Route Army, Du Bincheng, Chief Counselor of the 17th Route Army, Fu Zuoyi, Commander of the 35th Army, and Fu Zuoyi, Commander of the 67th Army. Army commander Wang Yizhe and Zhang Xueliang and other senior generals put forward ideas such as "stop the civil war and unite in the resistance against Japan" and "the Chinese will not fight the Chinese". In addition, the secret united front relationship, so Wang Yizhe's and Zhang Xueliang's troops respectively lingered in the east of Yuwang Fort A few days south of Qingyang provided a favorable opportunity for the Red Army's mountain castle to besiege the southern part of Hu Zong. At this point, the time is ripe to wipe out Hu Zongnan's troops.First, the mountain castle area has complex terrain and numerous earthen villages, which are convenient for our army to move, assemble, hide and ambush, and our army has occupied favorable terrain, and the enemy has entered our ambush circle on three sides; second, the first day the enemy arrived at the mountain castle , marched more than 200 miles in a hurry, exhausted, and their combat effectiveness was greatly weakened; third, the enemy had just arrived at the mountain castle, and the fortifications were hastily repaired, which was not strong and could be easily broken by our army; , it is far away from the follow-up troops, and it cannot be supported for a while; fifth, our army has an absolute advantage in battle and is sure to destroy the enemy. Sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhou Enlai arrived at the western front on November 18 to condolences to the Red Second and Red Fourth Front Army, and met with the leaders of the two front armies.Reunion after farewell, very warm.At the same time, they jointly formulated the Battle of Mountain Castle to encircle and wipe out the 78th Division on the southern right of Hu Zong.Then the Red 1st Army, Red 15th Army, and Red 31st Army were deployed at designated positions to conceal and ambush.The main forces of the Fourth Red Army and the Second Front Army were respectively supporting the parties between Shancheng Castle and Hongde City; during daytime reconnaissance by enemy planes, no Red Army's combat motives were found.Hu Zongnan believed that the Red Army was vulnerable and had already retreated towards Yanchi, so he ordered his troops to move towards Yanchi. On November 20, Hu Zongnan's 78th Division on the Right Road entered Zhanshan Castle and sent two reconnaissance companies to move along the mountain castle to Hongdecheng Avenue. At this time, the enemy's 78th Division had entered the "pocket" that the Red Army had arranged in advance. On the evening of November 21, the battle of encirclement and annihilation started.The Red Army first cut off the enemy's escape route to the west, and then launched a fierce attack on the enemy from the east, south, and north directions. The First Division of the Red First Army organized two consecutive charges without breaking through the enemy's position until it was covered by the heavy machine guns of the Fourth Red Division. In the dark night, the Red Army soldiers were very brave, holding a knife in one hand and touching forward with the other. As long as there is a "round scar" on the cap badge, they can easily cut it.When Hu Zongnan's elite troops met the Red Army, which was accustomed to fighting at night, they could not take advantage of positional warfare, and their machine guns and cannons could not play their role. By the next morning, the fighting was basically over.The Red Army wiped out all the two regiments of the 232nd Brigade and the 234th Brigade of the 78th Division of the enemy.At the same time, several other divisions sent by Hu Zongnan to attack Yanchi were defeated by the 28th Red Army, forcing Hu Zongnan to retreat to Dashuikeng, Mengcheng, Tianshuibao and the areas west of it, thus stopping its attack on the Red Army. . The news of the great victory at the mountain castle came. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet, and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission immediately issued a circular on the same day, notifying the entire Red Army of the news that the Red Army had won its first victory at the mountain castle and wiped out more than one brigade in the south of Hu Zong. The soldiers and the people of the entire Soviet area pointed out: "This victory is the beginning of crushing all of Chiang Kai-shek's offensives."And called: "All our Red Army soldiers must unite more, endure hardships and stand hard work, execute orders, and fight bravely. The people of our entire Soviet area must help the Red Army transport food, transport wounded soldiers, and carry victorious goods. When the White Army comes, use strong walls to clear the field. Fight to defend the anti-Japanese base areas, fight to expand the anti-Japanese base areas, and fight to wipe out all attacking enemies." The Battle of Mountain Castle was the first major military victory achieved after the three main Red Army joined forces and cooperated with each other, and it was also the last battle at the end of the Long March.This battle defeated Chiang Kai-shek's military plot, and made the Kuomintang army basically stop attacking the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Revolutionary Base Area and consolidate the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Base Area.