Chapter 32 Longzhou fell, and the Eighth Army of the Red Army suffered such a tragic experience

Yu Zuoyu, commander of the Eighth Red Army, led the first column to retreat from Chongshan to Longzhou after receiving an urgent telegram from Deng Bin. Deng Bin convened a cadre meeting of the Red Eighth Army Military Committee and local party committees, and made a detailed report at the meeting in accordance with his spirit of reporting to the Central Committee in Shanghai and the Central Military Commission's instructions to the Red Seventh and Red Eighth Army.The meeting decided that the Eighth Red Army would temporarily form a front committee, with He Shichang, the head of the Political Department, as the secretary of the front committee. Army rendezvous.

At the meeting, Yu Zuoyu expressed his obedience to the decision of the Red Eighth Army to move closer to the Red Seventh Army, but he reserved his opinion. Yu Zuoyu believes that the Red Eighth Army was founded not long ago, and it opposed the French colonialist movement and carried out the agrarian revolution, and was welcomed and supported by the masses.The situation has just been opened, and the foundation still needs to be consolidated. If the main force of the Eighth Red Army is withdrawn from Longzhou at this time to join the Seventh Red Army, not only will the mood of the masses and social order be affected and become unstable, but the reactionary forces in Longzhou will also be affected. They will take advantage of the gap and make a comeback to counterattack the new regime.

After the meeting, Deng Bin had a heart-to-heart conversation with Yu Zuoyu. Deng Bin said: "Commander Yu's opinion is not unreasonable, and it is also an important aspect of our established plan. However, the situation is changing faster than our original plan. The Guangxi warlords regain control of Guangxi, and Longzhou is the thoroughfare of Nanning. , they will not sit idly by and ignore Longzhou." Yu Zuoyu said: "Although Li, Bai, and Huang re-operated in the Guangxi center, their vitality was seriously injured. Chen Jitang and He Jian, who served Chiang Kai-shek, are still deploying troops on the border of Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, and are ready to occupy Liuzhou and Wuzhou at any time. Li, Bai, and Huang can't take care of them, so how dare they focus on dealing with me Zuo Jiang and You Jiang?"

Deng Bin shook his head and smiled: "If they intend to do so, it will certainly be beneficial to us. However, the situation shows that it is the regular army of the Guangxi faction that the Seventh Red Army fought against the enemy in Long'an." Yu Zuoyu also smiled and said: "This is because we are going to attack Nanning, and they have to rush to deal with it." Deng Bin took a sip of water, and then lit another cigarette: "The Battle of Long'an has been fought for two days, and the situation is unknown. If the Seventh Army loses the battle, it will definitely retreat to the upper reaches of the Youjiang River, and the enemy may turn around, Invade Longzhou, and the strength of our Eighth Army is very different from that of the enemy, when Longzhou is in danger, our Eighth Army will be in a very dangerous situation."

Yu Zuoyu sighed deeply: "I've considered all of these, the possibility is very high. But..." Deng Bin understood the subtext behind his "but", so he said bluntly: "You are worried that once the Eighth Army withdraws from Longzhou, the army's livelihood and all expenses will be lost, right?" Yu Zuoyu said: "Since the establishment of the Eighth Army, all the sources of funds have been settled by taxation in the Longzhou area. If you drive away, people will not send the tax money to your door. We can't spend much with our existing savings. Daylight view."

Deng Bin said: "That's why you can't make up your mind to move closer to the Seventh Army." Yu Zuoyu said: "But I still obey the decision that everyone discussed and passed." The two talked frankly and honestly. Although there were differences in understanding, their emotions were interlinked. The Red Seventh Army lost the battle in Long'an, and the main force has retreated to the Guohua and Pingma areas.Bai Chongxi sent troops to pursue, and the other mobilized four regiments to attack Longzhou.At this time, the Eighth Army of the Red Army realized that Longzhou was absolutely undefendable. Therefore, in order to maintain the connection with the Seventh Army of the Red Army, they decided to lay down the important channel between Zuojiang and Youjiang——Jingxi.

After Deng Bin and Yu Zuoyu arranged the defense of Longzhou, they hurriedly bid farewell to Yu Zuoyu and Wan Dan as equals, and rushed back to Youjiang.According to the agreed plan, he rushed to the first column of the Red Eighth Army stationed in Leiping at night to command the attack on the Jingxi Passage.In order to strengthen the transformation of the old army and the party's absolute leadership over the army, Deng Bin established a party committee in the first column, emphasizing that: the party committee is the highest leadership organ of the army, and all major events in the column must be discussed and approved by the party committee. Only in this way can it be implemented, and unite comrades inside and outside the party to achieve the unity of the troops and the unity of action.

According to He Jiarong, the commander of the first column, the political commissar Deng arrived in Leiping in early March. After Leiping established the party committee of the first column, he personally commanded the first column to attack the enemy in Jingxi.He gave instructions to the young first column, both politically and militarily.When the march reached Hurun, he preached to the officers and soldiers of the first column the three major missions of the Red Army and the importance of political propaganda work to disintegrate the enemy.He said: Every soldier in our Red Army must be able to use two guns. In addition to the weapons in your hands, you must also master propaganda weapons; you must be a combatant and a propagandist at the same time.When fighting against the enemy, we should shout slogans while beating the enemy, asking them why they are fighting, and for whom are they fighting?Is it for your own benefit, or is it a tool of the warlord?The poor in the world are one family, the poor do not beat the poor, we welcome you to come over!He said: If we explain these principles clearly, the enemy's morale will be shaken, and they will surrender to us, or they will not fight desperately.

He Jiarong said: The first column, with nearly 2,000 troops, was divided into two combat echelons and marched towards Jingxi.Surrounded Jingxi County on March 11.Political Commissar Deng came to the front line to command the battle with me at the position outside the South Gate (that is, near the present Jingxi Bridge).When the siege lasted four days but failed to capture, political commissar Deng was eager to return to Youjiang to convey the instructions of the Party Central Committee to the Seventh Red Army, so he could not delay too long in Jingxi.I then sent Company Commander Tan Jin to lead the Eighth Company to escort him to Youjiang.When saying goodbye, he instructed the first column to take down Jingxi, remove the obstacle between Zuojiang and Youjiang, and pay attention to the situation in Longzhou at any time.

He Jiarong said: Before leaving, Political Commissar Deng once again telegraphed Yu Zuoyu, Army Commander of Longzhou, etc., to implement the principle of decision.Although the first column of the Red Eighth Army faced local militias and bandits, these militias and bandits were supported by the warlords of the Guangxi clique. Defend the city.Yu Zuoyu saw that the first column could not attack Jingxi for a long time, so he telegraphed He Jiarong to lead the first column to withdraw to Longzhou.Unexpectedly, on the way back to Longzhou, the first column encountered the regular army of the Guangxi clique who invaded Longzhou, and the two sides fought fiercely on the iron bridge.The first column suffered heavy casualties, and more than 400 officers and soldiers died heroically.Commander He Jiarong and Chief of Staff Yuan Zhenwu led their troops to break out of the encirclement at Guohua and Pingma in Youjiang.The second column of the Red Eighth Army fought bravely in the situation of being outnumbered and fought fiercely for a day and a night, and finally abandoned Longzhou and was forced to break through.Wan Danping, chief of staff of the Red Eighth Army and commander of the second column, and battalion commander Lei Xianting were shot and died while covering the breakout of the troops.The army commander Yu Zuoyu led a team of only 700 people to move to Pingxiang. The enemy followed and pursued the Guangxi faction and issued arrest warrants to capture Li Mingrui, Yu Zuoyu and the main leaders of the Red Eighth Army with 1000 Dayang, 500 Dayang, and 300 Dayang respectively.At this time, the Eighth Army of the Red Army was no longer consolidated. Some old officers colluded with spies from the Guangxi clique and intensified their rebellion activities. The head of the regiment, Liu Xiding, rebelled, causing the loss of the second column. A group of political workers were forced to leave the army; many Red Army officers and soldiers and peasant soldiers were shot dead by the rebels.Commander of the Eighth Red Army, member of the Zuojiang Revolutionary Committee, Chairman of the Military Committee Yu Zuoyu, Liao Guanghua, Wang Jingxuan and others disguised themselves as businessmen and escaped from arrest. They went to Guangdong via Hong Kong to search for CCP organizations. They were arrested in Shenzhen in August 1930 for being betrayed by traitors. On September 6, he was killed by the Cantonese warlord Chen Jitang in Honghuagang, Guangzhou.Yu Zuoyu, who was only 30 years old, wrote down his last poem in a very tragic and tragic way before he died generously: ten years of fame is worthy of masturbation, how can a passion be shed in vain!

After the Eighth Red Army failed, its first column attacking Jingxi, under the leadership of Commander He Jiarong and Chief of Staff Yuan Zhenwu, tried to contact the Seventh Red Army several times, but failed due to the enemy's strong siege, and retreated to the border of Guizhou. ——The only surviving team of the Red Eighth Army went through untold hardships and moved to the Yunnan-Guangxi and Guizhou-Guangxi borders for several months. There were more than 300 soldiers left. Under the leadership of the local recuperation), finally in September 1930 in the Hechi area of ​​Guangxi, he joined the Seventh Red Army led by Li Mingrui and Zhang Yunyi. From then on, the rest of the first column of the Eighth Red Army was merged into the Seventh Red Army.