Long March Female Red Army Memorial Statue
In the ranks of the Red Army's Long March, there was a special group, the female Red Army. Among them were the wives of the leaders of the party, government, and army in the Central Soviet Region, as well as ordinary female cadres and female soldiers. The largest number of women in the Red Army was the Red Fourth Front, which included a formed women's unit, the Women's Independent Division. The smallest number of people is the Red 25 Army, only Zhou Dongping, Dai Juemin, Zeng Jilan and other 7 female nurses from the military hospital, known as the "Seven Fairies".
On the arduous Long March, the female Red Army faced frequent battles, high-intensity marches, and the same tests of disease, hunger, and harsh environments such as snowy mountains and meadows. In addition, the menstrual pain of women and the torture of pregnancy and childbirth have made them suffer more hardships than the male Red Army. They use women's unique flexibility and arduous environment and fate to fight to the death, and compose a touching story with strong love and love.
During the Long March, in order to get rid of the enemy's encirclement, pursuit, and interception, the troops had to keep rushing to the road. If the female Red Army encounters a menstrual period, although her abdomen is colicky and her legs are trembling, she must also cover her stomach and move forward step by step. When camping, there are often three or five people huddled together, lying on the cold, damp ground. In desperation, some female Red Army soldiers actually practiced the ability to sleep standing.
From left, Chen Chunying, Cai Chang, Xia Ming, Liu Ying (file photo)
The unusually arduous long march left many people behind due to injuries and illnesses. At that time, it was stipulated that for the wounded and sick who could not walk, 8 pieces of ocean were given to foster care in the homes of local people. In order to keep up with the large troops, the female Red Army put forward a simple slogan: no fall behind, no flowers, no prisoners, no eight dollars. After entering Guizhou, Deng Liujin, a soldier of the Recuperation Company of the Central Red Army cadres, suffered from dysentery and could not walk. The superior took out 8 silver dollars and advised her to stay and recuperate. Deng Liujin firmly disagreed: even if he died, he would die in the team! Wang Zenan, commander of the Women's Transport Company of the Red Fourth Front, is a legendary figure. When crossing the snowy mountains, this female Red Army soldier who participated in the Long March with her small feet wrapped in her feet sang her own songs to encourage her comrades-in-arms: The foot binding should be wrapped in cloth and brown, and it should not be tightly wrapped and not loose; when you reach the top of the mountain, you cannot stop, and the revolutionary road cannot be stopped. In the end, she forced herself to walk through the snowy mountain meadow step by step with the small feet of the "three-inch golden lotus".
During the Long March, the women's Red Army's clothing, food, shelter, and transportation were even more rudimentary. According to Zhang Wentian's wife, Liu Ying, when she set out from the Central Soviet District, her entire belongings were a blanket plus a few necessary change of clothes and rations for about 10 days, beaten into a backpack, and an enamel jar hung on the belt, and the road jingled. On rainy days, it will be drenched like a chicken in the soup, and if it does not rain for a few days, it will be covered with dust.
Poor natural conditions and severe material scarcity made the female Red Army, who was in her cardamom years, forget her gender. In order not to be recognized by the enemy as a woman during the battle, they cut off their long hair. Sleeping in the open, marching for a long time, there is no condition to consider personal hygiene. The Red Army was ragged, disheveled, and covered with lice. Peng Dehuai joked: "No lice, no army, no lice are not counted as Long March cadres!" "Whenever you camp, regardless of whether men, women, young or old, or whether your position is high or low, there is a "compulsory course" - catching lice. To this end, some female Red Army soldiers simply shaved their heads.
Li Zhen, director of the Organization Department of the Political Department of the Red 6 Army, recalled the Long March and lamented: "In particular, we female comrades suffer more than male comrades. Marching day and night to fight, the female comrades' hair is full of lice, and when they comb it, they fall down. Some of the lesbians were pregnant and marched to war with big bellies. Although the leaders and comrades cared for and cared for the female comrades, gave us dry food to eat, and gave us horses to ride, they still paid more energy than others. ”
When crossing the meadows, the female Red Army, without exception, experienced the harshness of the natural environment. The vast meadows stretched out, and the black mud swamps were covered with deep grass, and people and cattle would be engulfed in traps. One day, Deng Yingchao fell into the swamp with his horse, but fortunately he was discovered by the comrades behind him in time to pull her up. At that time, it was raining heavily, Deng Yingchao was soaking wet all over her body, and she was originally weak and sick, and she had a high fever. For seven days and seven nights, Deng Yingchao finally stepped out of the vast meadow and saw a family's house. The house was two stories above and below, with people living on top and livestock on the bottom. Due to his weak body and fatigue, Deng Yingchao was very difficult to walk, and he couldn't go upstairs at all, so he threw himself on the dung pile and couldn't stand up. It wasn't until Cai Chang and a few other comrades arrived that they put her upstairs. Cai Chang later told Deng Yingchao that when they looked at Deng Yingchao, who was covered in feces, they couldn't help but secretly cry, thinking that she couldn't live.
Marshal Liu Bocheng's wife, Wang Ronghua, once recalled: "We were dressed in single clothes, marching in the swamp, and our feet were soaked in the smelly and cold water, and the degree of hardship was unimaginable... There was less and less food, and within a few days we had eaten a bag of fried noodles made of barley and an egg-sized salt we had brought with us when we first entered the meadow. In this uninhabited swamp, where to find grain, there is no way to eat wild vegetables, and some comrades eat swollen faces. In the end, even wild vegetables were not easy to find, so they had to find some cowhide, burn the hairs on the cowhide, and boil them in water to eat. ”
In order to survive, bark, grass roots, belts, the female Red Army has eaten almost everything. Once, Yang Shangkun's wife, Li Bozhao, mistakenly took wild tobacco leaves as radish wisps, and was almost poisoned after eating them. In order to make the cowhide sole into a "delicacy", they also made up an oil poem: the sole of the cowhide shoe is six inches long, and the dry food in the middle of the grass is good; boiling water has a unique taste, and the wildfire is particularly fragrant after fire. Two inches to boil wild vegetables, two inches to make clear soup; one dish and one soup are good tricks, leaving two inches of comrades to taste.
On the long march, some of the female Red Army soldiers died in battle, some fell on the march, some caused physiological changes due to harsh environmental conditions, lifelong infertility, and more like He Zizhen, Zeng Yu, Chen Huiqing, Liao Xiangguang, Wu Zhonglian and other mothers who gave birth during the Long March, after childbirth had to endure the pain of entrusting the newborn child to the villagers to raise, but since then life and death are unknown... For the victory of the revolution, they sacrificed their love, sacrificed their own flesh and blood, and even sacrificed their young lives. (Li Tao, Guo Linxiong, Zheng Wenhao)
Source: Xinhua News Agency