Chapter 43 Feiduojianmenguan

Jiange County is located on the northern edge of the Sichuan Basin. It is the throat channel connecting Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, and its strategic position is extremely important.From Guangyuan and Zhaohua to Zitong and Jiangyou in the west, the terrain is like a shoulder pole, the sword pavilion is in the middle, and if the sword pavilion is lost, it is like a pole being broken from it. Taking the sword pavilion means cutting the defense line of Jialing River in half and controlling the throat of northern Sichuan.This is why Deng Xihou is anxious.But Deng Xihou still has a glimmer of hope, which is Jianmen Pass.

About fifty or sixty miles away from Jiange County, there is a mountain named Jianmen Mountain.Jianmen Mountain, known as Liang Mountain in ancient times, is composed of large and small Jian Mountains. Its steep mountains and towering cliffs meander from northeast to southwest, stretching for more than 100 miles, and are majestic.The main peak, Dajian Mountain, looks sharp and towering when viewed from the side, like a sharp blade piercing the sky, and looks like a city with continuous cliffs when viewed from the side.At the break of the mountain, the two cliffs face each other like a gate, so it is called "Jianmen Pass".Jianmen Pass is a well-known dangerous pass in ancient and modern times, and it has always been a battleground for military strategists. For thousands of years, military strategists have said: "Shooting Jianmen Pass is like winning Sichuan." The reason for saying this is because Jianmen Pass is too steep , easy to defend but difficult to attack.As early as more than a thousand years ago, Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, made a very vivid description of the strangeness, danger, absurdity, strangeness and difficulty of Jianmen in "The Difficult Road to Shu".

Deng Xihou's hope is that, relying on the strangeness, danger, uniqueness, strangeness, and difficulty of Jiange, I have already deployed heavy troops to defend here. No matter how powerful your Red Army is, "one man guards the gate, ten thousand men cannot open it", and a machine gun can defend it. Pass, even if you have thousands of troops, what can you do to me? Deng Xihou really didn't expect that Xu Qianqian lined up his troops and came towards the Jianmen Pass. On April 2, 1935, the spring was cold and rainy.Tens of thousands of athletes from the Red 88th Division, 93rd Division, and 91st Division stepped on the slippery and muddy roads, arrived at Jianmen Pass respectively, and surrounded Jianmen Pass from east, west and south.

The towering cliffs of Jianmen, like knives and axes, have become an insurmountable natural barrier.In the era of cold weapons, there is a tendency that "one man guards the gate, and ten thousand men cannot open it", but once the gate is breached, there is no danger to defend, and it will go straight to Chengdu.Because of this, Xu Xiangqian emphasized when formulating the battle plan for the Jialing River campaign that after crossing the river, the main force must quickly occupy several important towns on the west bank of the Jialing River, and conquer Jianmen Pass, a pass in the northwest main road, as soon as possible.

Knowing that Jianmenguan is a natural danger, why did the Red Army take risks?Knowing the enemy and knowing yourself is the key to victory. As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Xu Xiangqian has a unique and wonderful analysis of the terrain of Jianmen Pass: …Jianmen Pass has always been known for its dangerous terrain that "one man guards the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open it".During the Three Kingdoms period, Jiang Wei guarded that place.After the war, I went to Jianmen Pass to see what a strange terrain it was.If you come from the north, it is a high mountain with thousands of walls and extremely dangerous.If you come from the south, it is slope land.Attacking south is easy and attacking north is difficult.People say that Jianmen Pass is dangerous, but I think it is neither dangerous nor dangerous.It is dangerous to go from Shaanxi to Sichuan, but it is not dangerous to go from Sichuan to Shaanxi.Our troops fought from the south, and it only took half a day to settle the battle and fought a beautiful battle of annihilation.

Since the main force of the Fourth Red Army crossed the Jialing River south of Jiange, the direction of attack on Jianmen Pass became from south to north. As a result, Xiongguan became a slope.This is the generalissimo's military accomplishment and strategic vision.The Red Fourth Front Army was able to gain a firm foothold quickly after crossing the Jialing River, which has a lot to do with the surprise victory and rapid capture of Jianmen Pass. Jianmenguan is the depth of the enemy's river defense, defending the enemy is the three regiments of Diao Wenjun, Commander of the Gendarmerie of Deng Xihou's 28th Army.Among them, Chen Lin's regiment guarded the Shaba River and Hongyan Temple on the east side of Jianmen Pass; Wang Liang's regiment guarded the Hanyangpu area in the south of the pass, and the area around the big and small hanging cliffs;Jianmenguan Shoudi echoes Zhaohua and Guangyuan Shoudi.The enemy has arranged dozens of bunkers on both sides of the pass, forming crossfire.In order to encourage guarding the pass, Deng Xihou allocated a special fund of 40,000 silver dollars to reward officers and soldiers.

According to the enemy's situation and terrain, the general headquarters of the front army decided to attack Jianmen Pass in three ways. The first red ninety-one division quickly cut off Guangzhao and aided the enemy in the east of the pass, and captured Lijiazui through Heishanguan and Fengyazi, forming a feint attack to contain the enemy's firepower; the second red eighty-eight division Go straight from the south to Jianmen Pass, and cooperate with the 31st Red Army to attack the key point; the 1st Red 93rd Division of the Third Route, with the cooperation of cavalry, directly attacked the main peak of the pass from Wulipo to Tiziyan.

The mortar battalion of the Red Fourth Front Army Headquarters cooperated in tackling key problems.The various tackling troops were under the unified command of Wang Shusheng. At dawn on April 2, the vanguard of the Red 88th Division attacked Yuchiliang, the enemy's position, and defended the enemy as Yang Zhuoyun regiment.At ten o'clock in the morning, the Red Army concentrated its firepower to cover the assault team's attack on the enemy's fortifications point by point, and the enemy troops in the bunker fired wildly.In order to cooperate with the commando attack, the attacking troops of the 30th Red Army and the 31st Army launched attacks on the enemy from the east and west of the pass.Seeing me outflanking in two directions, the enemies in the bunker were worried that the rear route would be cut off and the morale of the army would be lost.When the enemy's firepower weakened, the commando soldiers threw cluster grenades into the bunkers. Amidst the huge explosion, the enemy's bunkers were knocked down one by one by our commando.Seeing this, the rest of the enemies in the bunker ran away one after another.The Red Army seized the highlands on the east and west sides of the pass in one fell swoop.

The 88th Division took advantage of the victory to pursue. The soldiers braved the enemy's fire net, took advantage of the terrain cover, rushed and jumped, quickly broke through the enemy's two forward guard posts, rushed to the position, and fought hand-to-hand with the defending enemy.This Sichuan army was far from being the opponent of the 88th Division. After leaving a field of corpses and wounded soldiers, Yang Zhuoyun fled the position, and the 88th Division then occupied Tongjiashan and Pengziliang.At the same time, the Red Ninety-one Division also occupied Lijiacao.The First Division of the Red Ninth Thirteenth Division selected seven people to form an assault team, led by local farmers, went around Jinniu Gorge, attacked the enemy command post suddenly, and captured a Sichuan Army flag and a machine gun.After destroying the enemy's command post, the assault team immediately disguised themselves as the Sichuan army and went straight to the pass gate.This section of the road is rugged and narrow, with cliffs on both sides. When the guards at the enemy pass saw a troop of Sichuan troops approaching, they never dreamed that it was the Red Army. It was not until the troops were less than a hundred meters away from the pass that they routinely shouted: "Who are you? Password!"

The commando of the Red Ninety-Third Division had already learned the password from the prisoners when they captured the enemy's headquarters, and they quickly approached the pass gate while returning the command.It wasn't until the front that the enemy defenders realized that the person who came was wrong, and when they had to ask more carefully, they had already been knocked down by a single shot. Immediately, the commandos rushed into the first gatehouse. When they heard that the Red Army had rushed in, the defenders in the gatehouse did not respond. Knowing the size of the Red Army, they immediately became a mess and ran around. The commando took advantage of the momentum and rushed, breaking through three gate towers in a row. The defending enemy fled across the beacon tower to Zhigong Temple. The natural dangerous pass of "one man guards the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it" was easily occupied by the Red Army.A company of the follow-up troops of the 93rd Division arrived, and together with the assault team blocked the pass with light and heavy machine guns, the enemy Yang Zhuoyun regiment was forced to retreat to the main peak position of Jianmen Mountain.So far, all the enemy's strongholds outside Jianmen Pass have been wiped out.The main peak of Jianmen Pass was exposed to the Red Army.The enemy deployed a dense firepower network on the main peak position, and mortars, light and heavy machine guns hid behind the steep rocks and kept roaring.

At about eleven o'clock, the Red Army launched a general attack on the enemy at the main peak of Jianmen Pass.The main attack task was undertaken by the 274th Regiment of the 93rd Division.The sky was gray, and the drizzle that had started falling in the morning was getting heavier and heavier, the ground was extremely slippery, and water was rushing everywhere in the ditches.This kind of weather is extremely unfavorable for the attacker.The enemy was condescending, and the crossfire basically covered the charging route.The 274th regiment was suppressed by enemy fire for two consecutive charges.From time to time, the enemy also took advantage of the favorable terrain to launch a counter-charge condescendingly.The attack was stalemate. Wang Shusheng came directly to the front of the assault force, carefully observed the enemy's position deployment and firepower configuration, and then adjusted the offensive deployment, ordering the second battalion of the 274th Regiment to be the main frontal attack, the Red Ninety-one Division attacked the enemy's east position, and the Red Eighty The Eighth Division attacked the enemy's western position, and the Red Ninety-Three Division provided frontal cover.The powerful attacking troops of the Red Army are like "three-pronged forks", stabbing fiercely at the throat of the defending enemy with the momentum of Mount Tai. Chen Kang, a veteran of the Red Fourth Front Army and former battalion commander of the Second Battalion of the 274th Regiment, recalled: Deputy Commander Wang Shusheng...turned his face and said to me: "Comrade Chen Wuhe (my name at the time) I ordered your second battalion to charge the enemy's main peak position." ... The first attack failed. ... "What should we do now?"... After a brief discussion with the battalion political commissar, I reused the ridge as a cover and reorganized the battle formation... I asked the battalion and company bannermen to shake the red flag away. , are waiting for my order. ... "The bugleman, blow the charge horn!" As soon as I ordered, the battalion and company horns sounded one after another, and the command flag of the company platoon leader and the red flag of the flag soldier were also unfolded. The numbers are ringing... ... All our comrades in the battalion immediately jumped out of the hiding place, held bayonets, and rushed to the top of the mountain along the chosen charging path with the momentum of Mount Tai pressing down on the top of the mountain... ... ...Because our battalion attacked too hard and too fast, the enemy had no time to use the reserve team to counterattack, and the two battalions retreated together, and the mountain was full of people. When Yang Zhuoyun, the head of the enemy army, deployed his troops, he gave an order to the gatekeepers: shoot them if they see a broken soldier.When the defeated soldiers fled back to the gate, the gatekeepers punished them as "absconding in battle" and fired shots, threatening the soldiers to turn around and fight our army recklessly. The remnant enemy couldn't move forward, couldn't retreat, and was crushed in a trench less than 300 meters long, forced into a beaten turtle.Our camp was condescending, and hundreds of grenades were thrown down at once. The tank was crowded with people, and the smoke was billowing like a pot of rotten gruel. Seeing that the situation was not good, Yang Zhuoyun hurriedly ordered the battalion commander Liao Yuzhang to take out the silver coins and give each soldier a three-yuan hard-working award.Battalion Commander Liao was shot in the waist before firing a few people... and fell to the ground dead. Yang Zhuoyun saw that the position had been lost, and the battalion commander was shot and killed.He rode his horse and ran towards the gate.Looking up suddenly, a red flag has been raised at the gate... He fell into a desperate situation with no way to go to heaven and nowhere to go to earth, and he jumped off the cliff helplessly... At 4:00 p.m., the Red Army occupied Jianmen Pass and wiped out nearly three regiments of about 3,000 soldiers.In this battle, the Red Army only sacrificed more than 50 people. After the Battle of Jianmen Pass, Deng Xihou’s Department wrote the "Report on the Battle of Jianmen Pass". After Xu Bandit broke through the Jialing River, he headed straight for Jiange with his main force.The commander-in-chief took Jiange as an important traffic point on the North Road, which was of great importance. He specially ordered Chen Qiandi to dispatch the sixth regiment of Guangyuan troops, and the third regiment of Commander Diao to rush forward to Jiange, expecting to attack the bandit with the fifth regiment led by himself.Unexpectedly, on March 31st, Liu Hanxiong and Qin Dengdi, who guarded the Jiange, were defeated by the bandits, and the Jiange fell on the same day.Bandit Xu personally led the Puppet Ninth Army, the Thirty Army and the Puppet Fourth Army to advance towards Hanyangpu and Jianmen... About 5,000 bandits attacked Hanyangpu and attacked the left wing of Wang Tuan with a wing encirclement.After several hours of fierce fighting, our Wang regiment was surrounded and the contact line was in danger of being cut off. We had to retreat to Weijiajiao and Tianshengqiao by night.Commander Diao received the report from Wang Tuan, that is, Yang Zhuoyun's regiment occupied the front line of Tianshengqiao, Wulipo, and Guanjiagou Heights, and one of Chen Lin's regiments was located in Zhigong Temple as a reserve team.Commander Chen received the report from Commander Diao and immediately ordered Li Brigade to advance rapidly towards Lianghekou.Yang Zhuoyun's position has not yet been strengthened, and the remnants of Wang Tuan have retreated.The bandits followed and attacked with most of them. First they fought fiercely with firepower, and then they fought hand-to-hand with each other. The hand-to-hand combat was extremely fierce.The officers and soldiers of our Yang regiment all supported us with all our strength in order to achieve victory in the end.During the fierce battle, a part of the bandits from Fuxingchang went from Shaju River to Qingshiguan and attacked Jianmen Pass.Commander Diao tried his best to be ineffective with the reserve team, and Tuan Yang and Commander Diao were cut off first.At the same time, most of the bandits attacked the big trees, and the communication between Zhao and Jian was also cut off.Wang Tuan, who was on Yang Tuan's right wing, was forced to retreat in the direction of Da Diao Yan.But Jianmen was the focus of the bandit's attack. At this time, Tuan Yang retreated in all directions, except for a few officers and soldiers who broke through, almost all of them were wiped out in a pool of blood... the commanders of Yang Tuan Zhuoyun, Jiang Battalion Commander Xiaosi, and Chen Tuan Liao Battalion Commander Both died in the Jianmen position.Battalion Commander Li of the Liu Tuan was killed near Shaxi Dam, and Battalion Commander He of the Chen Tuan was killed in Tianxiong Pass.A total of more than 1,300 officers and soldiers were killed or missing. The capture of Jianmen Pass led to the collapse of the enemy's Jiang defense, and the Sichuan army along the river fled.The Red Army took advantage of the victory and pursued it like a broken bamboo. The army rushed to the enemy's rear, which was hundreds of miles wide.The 30th Red Army and the 31st Red Army took advantage of the starry night to capture Zhaohua City and wiped out one regiment of the enemy.The main force of the Red Thirty-one Army entered the Yangmoba and Sanleiba areas, blocked Hu Zong's southward movement, and encircled Guangyuan again.The Fourth Red Army developed towards Zitong with one force, and the other cooperated with the Ninth Red Army to conquer Langzhong and the south, defeated a brigade of Sun Zhen's department, and wiped out three enemy regiments. On April 5, the first phase of the Battle of the Fourth Red Army's main force to cross the Jialing River came to an end. The Fourth Red Army successively wiped out seven regiments of the enemy, captured Langzhong, Jiange, Nanbu, Zhaohua and the important military site Jianmenguan, and controlled the They captured nearly 400 miles along the west bank of the Jialing River from Guangyuan in the north to the south, destroyed the defense line along the river, and won a major victory in the battle of crossing the river.The forcible crossing of the Jialing River was a successful battle with far-reaching consequences.The width of the river that was forcibly crossed, the large number of people crossed, and the great results achieved are rare in the history of Red Army warfare.The experience gained in this battle will be a useful reference for the troops to cross the Fujiang River, Minjiang River and even the Yellow River in the future.