Chapter 2 Withdraw from Hubei, Henan and Anhui

Beginning in November 1927, in just over a year, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, armed peasant uprisings broke out in Huangpi, Macheng, Hubei, Lu'an, Huoshan, Anhui, and Shangcheng, Henan, in order to resist the reactionary Kuomintang regime. The 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Divisions of the Eleventh Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army opened up three revolutionary base areas on the Hubei-Henan border, southeastern Henan, and western Anhui. At the beginning of 1930, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting in Shanghai and decided to merge the three base areas of Hubei-Henan, southeastern Henan, and western Anhui to form the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Special Zone and establish the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Special Committee under the leadership of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee.At this point, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base was formally formed. At the beginning of 1931, under the strong request of the leading comrades in the base areas and the development of the revolutionary situation, in order to strengthen the leadership and policy guidance of the Soviet area, the Party Central Committee in Shanghai decided to divide the leading body of the Party Central Committee into three. Zhongfa, Zhou Enlai and others led the central government to relocate to Ruijin, Jiangxi. In addition, they sent several Politburo members to the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Honghu Soviet areas to set up central sub-bureaus to lead and guide the military and political struggles in the Soviet areas.

In late April 1931, Zhang Guotao, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and Chen Changhao, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, arrived at Xinji (now Xinxian County), the capital of the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet regions.According to the instructions of the Central Committee, the former Hubei-Henan-Anhui Special Committee of the Communist Party of China was abolished and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Central Branch was established. Zhang Guotao, Chen Changhao, Shen Zemin, Zeng Zhongsheng, Wang Pingzhang, Cai Shenxi, Shu Chuanxian, and Kuang Jixun were appointed as members of the Central Branch, and Zhang Guotao was appointed as the Secretary of the Central Branch.The sub-bureau is directly subordinate to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, representing the central leadership of the party organizations in the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet areas, and is the highest leading organization of the party organizations in the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui areas.

At the same time, the Hubei-Yuan-Anhui Central Branch Revolutionary Military Committee was established consisting of Zhang Guotao, Zeng Zhongsheng, Kuang Jixun, Xu Xiangqian, Zheng Xingrui, Shen Zemin, and Chen Changhao. Zhang Guotao was the chairman, and Zeng Zhongsheng and Kuang Jixun were the vice-chairmen.The Revolutionary Military Commission is the highest military leadership organization in the Hubei, Henan and Anhui base areas, directly leading and commanding the Red Army and local armed forces. In order to concentrate forces, unify command, and resist Jiang's large-scale attack, the Hubei, Henan, Anhui Central Branch and the Military Commission of the Communist Party of China decided to reorganize several Red Army units in the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet Areas into the Red Fourth Front Army.Xu Xiangqian was the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front Army, Chen Changhao was the general political commissar, and Liu Shiqi was the director of the Political Department.The Fourth Front Army has the Fourth Army and the Twenty-fifth Army under its jurisdiction. The fourth army commander Xu Xiangqian (concurrently), political commissar Chen Changhao (concurrently), the twenty-fifth army commander Kuang Jixun, and political commissar Wang Pingzhang.

After the merger, the Red Fourth Front Army consisted of two armies and six divisions, with a total strength of more than 30,000 troops, making it the military force second only to the Central Red Army at that time.Since then, another strong force of steel has been added to the sequence of armed forces led by the Communist Party of China. Located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Dabie Mountains straddle the three provinces of Hubei, Anhui and Henan, straddling the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway in the north, the important town of Wuhan in the south, and Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist Government, in the east. The geographical location is extremely important.There is a Communist Party armed with tens of thousands of people in his chest and belly. Chiang Kai-shek is like a thorn in his throat, and he has no peace day and night, and he is determined to get rid of it and then quickly.At the beginning, they did not take this army of rebel peasants seriously, and ordered the non-directed troops stationed in Hubei, Anhui, and Henan around the Dabie Mountains to "clear and suppress". The first two "encirclement and suppression campaigns" were crushed.After the establishment of the Red Fourth Front Army, the enemy launched the third "encirclement and suppression". Under the command of Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao, the Red Fourth Front Army successively launched the Battle of Huang'an, the Battle of Shanghuang, and the Battle of Sujiabu.Tens of thousands of enemies were wiped out in each battle, and the guiding ideology of battles such as long-distance raids, encirclement and support, and outflanking and outflanking of troops became more and more mature, demonstrating the ability of large corps to fight.After several battles, the main force of the Red Fourth Front Army grew to more than 50,000 people in six divisions.The total number of independent regiments, local red guards, and guerrillas in each county is close to more than 100,000.The Hubei-Yuan-Anhui base area starts from the Pihe River in the east, ends at the Beijing-Han Railway in the west, reaches Huangchuan and Gushi in the north, and reaches Huangmei and Guangji in the south. About 40,000 square kilometers, with a population of 3.5 million.

Seeing that the strength of the Fourth Red Army was growing stronger, and the problem of elbows and armpits had developed into a problem of the heart, Chiang Kai-shek was determined to concentrate more forces and complete his efforts in one battle to completely "destroy" the Red Army in the Dabie Mountains. On May 22, 1932, Chiang Kai-shek officially announced the establishment of the "bandit suppression" general headquarters in the three provinces of Hubei, Henan and Anhui.The enemy's center and right armies had a total of 26 armies, plus six brigades of about 300,000 people, and four air teams. Chiang Kai-shek was concurrently the commander of the center army, and Liu Zhi was the deputy commander.The 300,000 enemy troops encircled the Hubei, Henan, Anhui, and Soviet areas. Jiang Jun learned the lessons from the failure of the previous three "encirclement and suppression campaigns" and formed a heavy force group to find the main force of the Red Army for a decisive battle. Tactically, they fought steadily and pursued for a long time, gradually reducing the space for the Red Army's activities. In an attempt to "gather and wipe out" the Red Army on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The Dabie Mountains in May were filled with battle clouds.Although it is late spring, the mountains and plains are full of dark clouds, and the emerald green spring is shrouded in the thick smoke of war. The sometimes dense and sometimes sparse sound of guns and guns resounds in the mountains and forests near and far.In the air, several enemy planes painted with the Kuomintang party emblem roared frantically and dived towards the ground. The roar of machine guns and bombs brought death to all directions.On the ground, hundreds of thousands of Jiang troops rushed into the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet areas from all directions, and the cruel fourth "encirclement and suppression" began.

The enemy is at present, what countermeasures to adopt to resist the enemy's attack is related to the survival of the base area and the development of the Red Army.At that time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was dominated by the "Left" leaning three lines. They ignored the disparity in the strength of the enemy and ourselves, and the huge difference between China and the Soviet Union. They blindly followed the Soviet Revolution as a model and demanded that the Red Army continue to attack the central city occupied by the enemy. Offensive, to start a decisive battle with the enemy, hoping to cause a general riot across the country by capturing the city, and win the revolution in a short period of time.In order to oppose the enemy's "encirclement and suppression", the Party Central Committee issued instructions to the Soviet areas:

In addition to consolidating the newly developed Soviet area in northwest Anhui with the 25th Army, the Fourth Army of the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui Red Army should move westward to expand and consolidate the Eastern Hubei Soviet Area, and cross the Jinghan Road with more than one division of troops to cooperate with the Third Red Army to eliminate The main forces such as Xu Yuanquan and Xiao Zhichu created a relatively solid new Soviet area between Xiaogan and Wushengguan on both sides of Jinghan Road. If necessary, they can attack Huangpi again, intimidate Wuhan, mobilize the enemy's forces to attack western Hunan and Hubei, and seek a solution to the war , in order to create a situation of encircling Wuhan.

Individual leaders of the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Central Sub-bureaus also lacked a clear understanding of the seriousness of the enemy's situation, and were blindly optimistic, even thinking that "in terms of the comparison of armed forces, we have already gained an advantage." It is conceivable to imagine the outcome of wrong situation assessment and wrong strategic policy.Although the soldiers of the Red Fourth Front Army were not afraid of sacrifice, fought bloody battles, won victories on some battlefields, and caused great damage to the enemy in front of them, the Red Army itself also suffered great losses.The enemy army is still advancing gradually according to its deployment, the strategic space of the Red Army is shrinking day by day, gradually losing the initiative on the battlefield, and is in a passive position.

Facing the crisis, Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao, who are the supreme commanders of the Fourth Red Front Army, believe that our army is exhausted from long-term combat. Under the situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, we must not fight blindly. Now the enemy is advancing step by step. It is already extremely critical.As soon as the third counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" was over, they proposed to the Central Sub-bureau: "Go back to the base of the division, rest and reorganize the troops, and prepare to meet the enemy's fourth 'encirclement and suppression' campaign."

However, the leaders of the Central Sub-bureau of Hubei, Henan and Anhui were still immersed in the joy of the previous victories. They ignored the comparison of the strength of the enemy and ourselves, and the grim reality that our army had been fighting for a long time, the troops were extremely fatigued, and urgently needed to rest. In the absence of heavy firearms, the main force of the Red Army was concentrated to attack Macheng. Xu Xiangqian is the person who directly leads the troops. He knows that the victory of every battle is won after the Red Army has paid a huge price. This is not in line with military laws, and it is not good for the Red Army and the Soviet area.He spoke generously at the meeting: Since the battle of Ximafan last autumn, our army has been fighting continuously and is extremely tired. The most urgent task is to recharge our batteries and rest for training.We should stop offensive operations on outer lines, place the main force on the Hubei-Henan border, set one foot on the base area and the other on the white area, while resting and reorganizing the troops, cover the local development work, and prepare for crushing the enemy's "encirclement and suppression".In this way, the old districts can be consolidated, and the new districts can be developed. At the same time, the troops are mainly used for food in the new districts, and the burden on the people in the old districts can be reduced. Neither Xu Xiangqian nor Chen Changhao's fierce arguments and impassioned statements had any effect. In early July 1932, the siege of Macheng began.The city of Macheng is strong and tall, and there are deep trenches outside the city walls, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack.Facing the attack of the Red Army, the enemy shrunk their outlying strongholds and firmly defended the city.This time the enemy had a large number of troops, the distance between the troops was not large, and they could coordinate well with each other, so the Red Army was unable to carry out siege and reinforcements.Under the fortified city, there are no heavy weapons for attacking fortifications, so they can't be conquered quickly, and they must divide their troops to block and aid the enemy. After exhausting themselves, the enemy can deploy calmly.The enemy adopted the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao. At the beginning of the Red Army's siege of Macheng, a single column of the enemy Xu Tingyao captured Huoqiu. flutter.In order to save Huang'an and Qiliping, the Red Army was forced to withdraw from the siege of Macheng, and turned around to fight in a hurry. In a situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, the area of ​​the base area has been greatly lost, the strategic space of the Red Army has been increasingly compressed, and the battle situation has become increasingly passive. On August 13, Huang An fell.The enemy's main force closely pursued our army's decisive battle, the encirclement situation gradually formed, and the battlefield situation continued to deteriorate. Chiang Kai-shek, who is in the camp in Nanchang, is tightening the encirclement of the base area little by little according to his deployment. He believes that the encirclement formed by his hundreds of thousands of troops is like a steaming cauldron. The Red Army is the duck that has been gradually cooked in this pot. It has wings and is difficult to fly. Although the battle situation was progressing, Chiang Kai-shek was still not satisfied with the rigid tactics of his troops. On August 4, Chiang Kai-shek called the generals in front: The tactics of suppressing the Red Army cannot be regarded as the same as the formal battle. The operation of suppressing the Red Army can only be completed secretly and quickly. At this time, the conspiracy of the Red Bandits to be broken into pieces has become apparent. In this case, Xuanhuadian, Hekou Township, Qiliping, Huangan County and all districts to the west should be boldly and quickly moved forward, and wiped out by the red bandits. Only a few small troops searched for the bandits in the area west of this line, and cleared the villages one by one. At the same time, they used the main force and the Boying tribe to suppress the red bandits in Xinji and Popi River. Only in this way can the first phase of the elimination plan be completed... On August 19, Chiang Kai-shek called Liu Zhi again to instruct him on the essentials of the military operation of "suppressing bandits". On September 13, Zhang Guotao, Chen Changhao, and Xu Qianqian jointly called the central government, requesting the central government to mobilize forces from various Soviet areas to cooperate with the struggle against "encirclement and suppression" in Hubei, Henan and Anhui: The enemy advances in separate routes, with three divisions on each route, supporting each other. Our army has already switched to fighting the enemy for a month.In two fierce battles at Huang'an and Qiliping, the enemy's 2nd, 10th, and 89th divisions suffered heavy setbacks and returned to Huang'an to replenish.The enemy's 3rd, 80th, and 83rd Divisions also took the route northwest of Xinji, and cooperated with the 58th Division and Zhang Yu's troops to attack.After three days of fierce fighting, the enemy's eighth and twelfth divisions suffered another serious setback.Due to the enemy's separate routes, our army has not yet been able to eliminate the enemy's route. Now we are moving to the west of Anhui to eliminate the enemy attacking Jinjiazhai first. Qiliping and Xinji have automatically given up.The greatest difficulty in our army is that it is not easy to replenish personnel. There are nearly 10,000 combatants in the hospital, three-quarters of which suffer from rotten feet, and the number of sores and rotten feet is still increasing. There is a shortage of doctors and medicines, and counter-revolutionary sabotage doctors.To supplement the Red Army and solve the hospital's problems, please contact ××× us in the Central District.Our army is in the midst of a fierce battle. When the central government calls to fight resolutely, please the Central District and the central government to urgently mobilize the Red Army and the workers and peasants in all districts to support our army. I hope that we will always inform us of the enemy's news. At that time, the national Red Army was still divided and surrounded by the enemy, and the Central Soviet Area was also being "encircled and suppressed" by the enemy, so it was difficult to count on the support of the Central Committee.The situation in Hubei, Henan and Anhui is further deteriorating. In mid-September, the battle in western Anhui was defeated. The enemy guard Lihuang column captured Jinjiazhai. The main force of the Red Army gradually retreated to Yingshan. On September 24, Zhang Guotao, Xu Xiangqian, and Chen Changhao reported to the Central Committee again: The enemy marched in separate directions with heavy troops. Our army has safely withdrawn from Tangjiahui and Jinjiazhai, and is now assembled in the area of ​​Yanzihe and Xijieling. The Yingshan enemy is beginning to advance towards Xijieling, and our army is preparing to destroy it.It is extremely difficult for our army to do reconnaissance work. Please always report our enemy's situation, and quickly use various methods to harass the enemy's rear, so that the Red Army in each Soviet area will cooperate with our army.Liang Guanying's department is currently stationed in the Huoshan and Liubo areas, please do more work for them. A series of telegrams asking for help from the central government shows that the situation is extremely critical. On September 27, the Central Bureau of Hubei, Henan and Anhui held a meeting in Yanzihe to discuss the next action plan.Zhang Guotao, Shen Zemin, Chen Changhao, Xu Xiangqian, Cai Shenxi, Fang Ying, Wang Pingzhang and others attended the meeting.Faced with such a critical situation, the Central Sub-bureau once again decided to ask the Red Army to take the initiative to deal a "hard blow" to the enemy.Xu Haidong of the 25th Army was ordered to lead his fourth division to harass the enemy in Western Anhui, Qianshan, Taihu Lake and other places. The main force of the Red Fourth Army first took Yingshan, and then moved to Macheng and other places.Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao were extremely dissatisfied with this unreasonable decision, and tried their best to argue at the meeting, but the Central Branch Bureau and the Military Commission officially issued an order, and as soldiers, they could only obey. On October 8, the main force of the Red Fourth Front Army met the elite of the Kuomintang Central Army and Hu Zongnan's First Division head-on in the Hekou area west of Huang'an, and the two sides immediately began a bloody battle.This attack ended in the failure of the Red Fourth Front Army, causing the main force of the entire army to be compressed into a small area with a radius of only tens of square kilometers. On October 10, the Central Sub-bureau of Hubei, Henan and Anhui held an emergency meeting in Huangchaifan again to study the situation.As the commanders-in-chief of the battlefield, Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao are the most clear about the situation of the enemy and ourselves and the actual situation of the troops.The enemy is dozens of times stronger than me, and their weapons and equipment are far superior to ours. However, our army has been fighting for a long time and has not been able to get replenishment and rest. The logistical materials and ammunition supplies are extremely lacking, and the troops are extremely exhausted. Under such circumstances, reckless fighting can only exhaust the precious revolutionary power.For this reason, they strongly advocated that the main force should fight on the outside to avoid fighting head-on with the enemy.Xu Xiangqian said at the meeting: The central area of ​​the base area has been occupied by the enemy. It is difficult for our large troops to move around, and we have lost the opportunity to wipe out the enemy all the way. If we want to disperse the guerrillas, the local guerrillas are okay, but there are many difficulties for the large troops. The enemy's strength is always greater than ours. There are 100,000 people, and there is only such a small area left in my base area. As soon as the gun is fired, the enemy will attack from all directions within two or three hours, not to mention that if you disperse the enemy, they will disperse! Chen Changhao pointed out that hard work can only benefit the enemy. When the enemy is strong and we are weak, it is in line with the current reality to avoid the enemy's main force and troops to fight outside. If the base area is lost, it can be rebuilt. It will be difficult to recover again. If the green hills remain, we are not afraid of running out of firewood. In the face of the serious enemy situation, apart from a very small number of people, Zhang Guotao, who was then Secretary of the Central Bureau of Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and Chairman of the Military Commission, also realized the seriousness of the situation. The enemy's strength has greatly surpassed ours. After many battles, our army failed to complete In the task of defeating the enemy, most of the base areas have been occupied by the enemy. The main force of the Red Army has no room to maneuver and cannot crush the enemy's "encirclement and suppression".He agreed with Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao's opinion that under the current situation, the main force of the Red Army should jump outside the Hubei, Henan and Anhui base areas, "go to the west of Pinghan Road, and join the Red Army", and return to the base area after waiting to wipe out the enemy. Zhang Guotao made a decision on behalf of the Central Sub-bureau: Xu Haidong will lead the Red Army and the local independent regiments to stay in the base area and persist in the struggle. Xu Haidong will be appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army Command, with full authority to lead all local armed forces in the area.Shen Zemin led the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the party and government organizations in counties and districts, guiding and participating in guerrilla warfare on the spot.The Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Seventy-three, and the International Divisions of the Communist Party of China, the main forces of the Fourth Front, were led by him, Chen Changhao, and Xu Xiangqian to leave the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet Areas, and went to the west of Pinghan Road to join forces with the Third Red Army. Wait for the opportunity to call back. Regarding the evacuation of the base areas in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, party history and military experts have made many analyzes and comments. Some opinions are more pertinent, but there are also very few people who believe that the withdrawal of the Red Fourth Front Army is an escape, and it is the result of not implementing the "correct line." .Due to the influence of the long-term ultra-left ideological trend in the past and various historical reasons, insiders cannot explain the real reason for the withdrawal of the Fourth Red Front Army, and the real historical situation cannot be explained to the world.After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, the spirit of seeking truth from facts gradually returned, and some historical issues began to attract the attention of researchers in the party and military.In the early 1980s, when Xu Xiangqian talked with Liao Gailong, deputy director of the Central Party History Research Office, and others, he spoke as an authoritative party and revealed the historical truth at that time: In the past, some articles also said that the withdrawal of the Fourth Red Army from Hubei, Henan and Anhui was an escape... I recalled that the Huangchaifan meeting was held at that time, and more than 20 people attended it, and I also participated.The meeting temporarily decided to leave the old base area, go to the west of Pinghan Road, go around in circles, defeat the enemy and go back.That's how it was planned.As a result, after crossing the west of Pinghan Road, the enemy chased hard and fought many battles.We fought fiercely in the Xinji and Tuqiaopu areas of Zaoyang and suffered heavy losses.In a situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, we have no problem of retreating or not.We were forced to evacuate.The next morning we broke through the enemy's blockade and headed west.Regarding this issue, when I was in Yan'an, Comrade Chen Yun and Kang Sheng talked to me.They asked, do you plan to go to Sichuan?I just told the story of the battle.I said it was not planned, but forced. At first, I was going to go around in circles, and then go back after defeating the enemy, but I couldn't go back.If you can't go back, go west.At the beginning, we planned to establish a base area in western Henan, but it didn't work; and we planned to enter the southern Shaanxi area to establish a base area, but it didn't work either.At that time Yang Hucheng had already defended Manchuan Pass, Hu Zongnan had chased him and entered southern Shaanxi, and our road to Hanzhong was blocked.Under the pursuit of the enemy, we crossed the Qinling Mountains and turned to the vicinity of Xi'an.Near Xi'an, they were intercepted and pursued by heavy enemy troops.After a fierce battle, we crossed the Qinling Mountains and arrived in Hanzhong.Then we went to Sichuan. At that time, Sichuan warlords fought in chaos and the reactionary ruling power was weak. When we arrived in Sichuan, we could stand firm. When Li Xiannian asked whether it was correct to withdraw from Hubei, Henan and Anhui, he also said: Some people say that it is wrong to withdraw from Hubei, Henan and Anhui.There has been a saying since ancient times, under the couch, how can you allow others to snore and sleep?How could Chiang Kai-shek allow so many of us to revolutionize in front of him?For the fourth "encirclement and suppression", he personally went to Wuhan to sit in the township, specifically to deal with Hubei, Henan and Anhui.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek had already unified Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. We beat Yue Weijun, and he unified Henan and Hubei.Therefore, it is not acceptable to stay in Hubei, Henan and Anhui for turnover.If it is said that the fourth "encirclement and suppression" was smashed, there may be a fifth "encirclement and suppression" and a sixth "encirclement and suppression".Besides, there were policy problems at that time. I exchanged opinions with Xu Shuai on this issue. It was right for Hubei, Henan and Anhui to withdraw, and that place could not be occupied for a long time. The words of Xu Xiangqian and Li Xiannian clarified a basic problem, that is, the dialectical relationship between strong and weak.Under the siege and interception of powerful enemies, if you fight recklessly, you will only suffer greater losses.Fight if you can, and leave if you can't. The purpose of leaving is first to survive, and after you survive, you will fight again.This is the basic principle that our army should follow when the enemy is strong and we are weak in the early days of the revolution.It's a pity that it took many years for this basic truth to be accepted by people. Zheng Dongguo, a senior general of the Kuomintang, had participated in the "encirclement and suppression" of the base areas. He also had his own views on the withdrawal of the Fourth Red Front Army from the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui base areas: It took more than three months from the time when the Kuomintang army launched the fourth "encirclement and suppression" war against the Soviet area to when the main force of the Fourth Red Front Army withdrew from the Hubei, Henan, Anhui, and Anhui Soviet areas.During the period, although the Red Army won successive victories in some partial battles, it was still unable to get rid of the passive situation, and finally had to withdraw from this old revolutionary base area for many reasons.From the perspective of the Kuomintang, it has made careful preparations for this "communist suppression" war.Mr. Chiang Kai-shek has successively mobilized more than 400,000 troops, many of which are direct troops of the central government. , Eighty-third, eighty-eighth, and eighty-ninth divisions are all elite main divisions of the Kuomintang army.Compared with the Red Army, the Kuomintang army has an absolute advantage both in terms of military strength and firepower, which is very different from the previous three "encirclement and suppression" campaigns (which used to mainly use motley troops and local armed forces).At the same time, the Kuomintang army made major adjustments in tactics. In addition, Mr. Jiang personally commanded and unified orders, and the actions of various ministries were more coordinated, and the combat was more active than before, which made it difficult for the troops to be defeated by the Red Army as before.From the perspective of the Communist Party, Zhang Guotao, the leader of the Communist Party of China in the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet Areas at that time, expanded the "suppression of counter-revolutionaries", the interior of the base area was not very stable, and the strength of the Red Army was also weakened.In terms of military affairs, the Red Army also failed to give full play to its unique flexible tactics of "boldly carrying out external attacks, concentrating forces, and defeating the enemy one by one". Take control of the battle.Looking back now, at the beginning of the Kuomintang army's fourth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Soviet regions, it was indeed a bad strategy for the Fourth Red Army to go south and besiege Macheng.The main force of the Red Army stayed in Macheng and its surrounding areas for more than a month, busy "surrounding and fighting for aid", and the Kuomintang troops took advantage of the opportunity to penetrate into the central area of ​​the Soviet area from the east, west, and north.When the Red Army realized the seriousness of the situation and hurriedly moved its main force northward to meet the enemy, the Kuomintang army had already closed the encirclement. It was difficult for the Red Army to have suitable fighters and enough time to defeat or eliminate a certain enemy line, and it was also difficult to find a gap to break through the encirclement calmly.Moreover, after the main force of the Fourth Red Army went northward, it tried to use the method of fighting tough battles to eliminate or defeat a part of the main force of the Kuomintang army and crush the "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang army in one fell swoop. Although this was forced by the situation, it was also unrealistic. .According to the Red Army's military strength, firepower and enemy conditions at that time (the Kuomintang troops in each major combat area are very close to each other and can respond to each other at any time), it seems impossible to capture several elite main divisions of the Kuomintang army at once.Therefore, although the Red Army repeatedly changed its attack targets and achieved partial victories in Qiliping and other places, due to limited strength, it failed to achieve the desired results, and instead suffered serious consumption.These are the reasons why the Red Army failed in this anti-"encirclement and suppression" war.