In April 1930, the Red Army in the Eyu-Anhui Border Region was reorganized into the Red 1st Army, and the three divisions under its jurisdiction were successively organized into the 1st Division, the 2nd Division and the 3rd Division. Xu was formerly deputy commander and commander of the 1st Division.
Although the Red 1st Division is said to be a division, in fact, there are only more than 800 people, there is no regiment, battalion, company organization, only five brigades, the equipment is very simple, the whole division does not even have a machine gun, a few soldiers carry "one-eyed dragon", "old sleeve" and other old miscellaneous guns, ammunition is pitifully small, most of the soldiers still carry bird milling, large knives, shuttle standards.
In May, the Central Plains War broke out. The enemy troops around the Eyu-Anhui Border Region moved north one after another, and only the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army Guo Rudong garrisoned some key towns in eastern Hubei. The Red 1st Division immediately attacked the southern section of the Beijing-Han Line.
The enemy has an army, the number of the Red 1st Division is actually less than that of the enemy's regiment, and the equipment is poor, how to fight this battle?
After reconnaissance and reflection, Xu Xiangqian pointed the arrow of his determination to attack at Yang Jiazhai and decided to annihilate the defending enemy there with the tactics of night raiding.
Yangjiazhai is a small station in the southern section of the Beijing-Hankou Railway, guarded by two companies of the enemy Guo Rudong's department. This area is far from the enemy headquarters, and the surrounding terrain is easy to covertly approach.
At dusk on June 11, the Red 1st Division gathered and marched 40 miles, approaching Yangjiazhai at midnight. At this time, a train came from north to south, and under the lights, only a few sentries were seen walking back and forth. After the train, the Red Army immediately launched an attack on the enemy.
The entire battle ended in less than half an hour, completely annihilating the enemy, surrendering more than 120 guns, and capturing dozens of enemy soldiers.
After the war, the Red 1st Division withdrew to Huang chaifa for recuperation. When the masses in the base areas learned that the Red Army had won the battle, they rushed to tell each other and rejoiced, and many people asked to join the army, so the whole division was expanded into three detachments and a special service detachment, with more than 1,200 soldiers.
This is the first expansion of the Red 1st Division.
After the enemy of Yangjiazhai was annihilated, Guo Rudong still did not take the Red 1st Division seriously, believing that the annihilation of the two companies was "neglectful of guard", and even arrogantly said that the Red Army was "a ragtag crowd, vulnerable to a single blow", and sought an opportunity to take revenge on the Red Army.
On the 26th, the 1st Regiment of Guo Rudong's Independent Brigade entered Zhengjiadian south of Yangpingkou, and the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade entered Xiaohexi.
Upon learning of this situation, the Red 1st Division decided to continue annihilating and ambushing the 1st Regiment of the Enemy Independent Brigade.
At dawn the next day, the whole division entered the predetermined ambush area, with one team ambushing at the foot of the left wing hill east of Yangpingkou and the second and third teams ambushing on the right wing hill. The guerrillas and the division's special service brigade went out of Zhengjiadian in front of them to lure the enemy into "taking the bait."
As soon as they lured the enemy, the enemy was deceived.
At about 10:00 a.m., the enemy's 1st Regiment went out in an attempt to eliminate the "small guerrillas" in one fell swoop.
When they entered the ambush circle, Xu waved a big hand forward, and the charge horn sounded. Like a group of small tigers, the warriors jumped up and pounced on the enemy, and the valley suddenly burst into gunfire and shouted to kill, and the enemy was like ants in a chaotic camp, scurrying around. Most of the enemy was quickly annihilated, and the enemy regimental commander led the remnants to retreat on a hill and continue to resist. Xu Qiangqian organized his troops to tighten the encirclement, and as a result, the secret Communists who were doing military movement work in the enemy 1 regiment shouted: "No, surrender your guns to survive!" ”
The enemy soldiers laid down their weapons one after another, and the regimental commander, seeing that the general trend had gone, also led the troops to surrender their weapons.
This time, the Red 1st Division killed and wounded more than 200 enemy personnel, captured nearly 1,000 enemy regimental commanders or less, and surrendered more than 800 guns.
Since there were too many prisoners to take them all, except for a few who insisted on staying behind to join the Red Army, the rest of the officers and men were each given two pieces of ocean and released home.
After the Battle of Yangpingkou, the main force of the Red 1st Division withdrew to the Huangchaiba area, more people joined the Red Army, and with the enemy prisoners who joined the Red Army, the whole division was organized into two regiments, the 1st and 3rd regiments, two battalions per regiment, three companies per battalion, and the troops expanded to more than 1500 people.
In late July, the Red 1st Division again attacked Jinghan Road and captured Qijiawan Station. At this time, the 5th Regiment of the enemy Qian Dajun's mentor drove from Wuhan to the garden, because the situation was unknown at the beginning of the day, afraid of attack, digging trenches during the day, sitting at night, rushing to build fortifications, just to save their lives.
Xu Xiangqian and others believed that the garden defenders were well equipped, but their combat effectiveness was not strong. The Red Army won the battle in a row, morale was high, and if the enemy did not accidentally attack the garden, it was entirely possible to annihilate the enemy. So, on the night of the 28th, he rushed to the garden.
Unexpectedly, not long after the Red Army set out, the defenders went the wrong way, and the main force found that the defenders did not follow, so they had to stop and wait on the side of the road. As a result, by the time the guards arrived and the whole division reached Pingtou Mountain, 15 miles east of Garden Station, it was almost dawn. Obviously, night raids are no longer possible. Unexpectedly, the Red Army made a mistake, and the defending enemy also made a big mistake.
That night, the warehouses on the streets of the north and south of the enemy's garden caught fire one after another, and the officers and men were busy all night. After learning of this situation, Xu Xiangqian immediately said: "It is not possible to take a little risk of fighting a war." Although the night raid opportunity has been lost, the basic conditions for attacking the enemy are still in place. Therefore, even if it is a little risky, we must also insist on fighting and cannot waver. ”
When the sun was shining red, the Red 1st Division suddenly rushed into Garden Town with a brave movement. The enemy soldiers who had been busy all night had just gotten up and were washing, the Red Army rushed in like a tide, panicking, the main force of the Red Army quickly detoured from both sides, most of the enemy was taken prisoner, only the enemy deputy regiment commander with a mortar company hid in the Li Family Ancestral Hall to continue to resist.
Wang Shusheng, the commander of the 3rd Regiment, said, "Prepare for a fire attack." ”
The soldiers moved the firewood and grass over and piled it around the ancestral hall, and the enemy soldiers immediately became chaotic, killed the deputy regimental commander, and collectively surrendered their weapons.
The battle ended in only three hours, completely annihilating one regiment of the enemy, killing and capturing more than 1,400 officers and men below the commander of the enemy regiment, and capturing 8 heavy machine guns, five mortars, and more than 800 long and short guns. The Red Army, with fewer than 10 wounded and none of them sacrificed, won an unprecedented victory.
The victory in the Battle of the Garden shook Wuhan and greatly encouraged the broad masses of the Eyu-Anhui Border Region, young peasants rushed to sign up for the army, and the local government sent the recruits of the entire company and battalion to the Red 1st Division. As a result, the Red 1st Division carried out the third expansion in Xiaohexi, in addition to the formation of the 1st and 3rd Regiments to supplement the formation of three battalions, the regimental headquarters to add a special service company, and another machine gun mixed regiment was formed, and the strength of the whole division doubled to more than 3500 people. In three months, the Red 1st Division had tripled in strength.