From November 1931 to June 1932 (the third anti-encirclement and suppression campaign in the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region), the Red Fourth Front, under the command of commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian, won victories in the four major battles of Huang'an, Shang (Cheng) Huang (Sichuan), Sujiabu, and Huang (Chuan) Guang (Shan), annihilating a total of more than 60,000 people in nearly 40 regiments of the Kuomintang regular army (more than 30,000 enemy in the Sujiabu Campaign). At this point, the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District ushered in a very prosperous situation, the main force also grew from nearly 30,000 people to 45,000 people, and the area of the Soviet Area expanded to more than 40,000 square kilometers, with 26 county Soviet regimes and a population of 3.5 million.
Such an impressive achievement in front of us seems to have struck the "White Sparrow Garden Incident" that occurred not long ago, and has made the vast number of cadres and fighters believe that the purge of rebellion has indeed eliminated the counter-revolutionaries in the ranks and brought victory to the battle. As the initiator of the repression, he was then the secretary of the Central Branch of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District
Zhang Guotao
These victories undoubtedly gave him great prestige, and he began to become ecstatic, completely oblivious, completely oblivious to the fact that a greater crisis was creeping in.
Zhang Guotao, secretary of the Eyuwan Central Branch
Soon, Zhang Guotao held a meeting of cadres at and above the red fourth front in Xinji, at which he optimistically declared to these commanders and fighters who were fighting bloodily in the front:
"At present, the enemy's main force is only seven divisions, the rest are miscellaneous troops, and the Red Army's existing strength is no longer afraid of the number of enemies. At present, our task is no longer to break through the enemy's siege, but to completely eliminate the encirclement and suppression.
Just when Zhang Guotao was blindly optimistic, Chiang Kai-shek had already placed all the focus of encirclement and suppression on the Eyu-Anhui base area, and this time, he mobilized 300,000 troops to form a three-way column of left, center, and right, preparing to wipe out the main force of the Red Fourth Front army on the north bank of the Yangtze River in one fell swoop. When the war broke out in the Central Plains, it was clear from the point of view of the position of interest in the Eyu-Anhui base area that Chiang Kai-shek was bound to pull out this nail.
Film and television stills
At this time, he was then the deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front and the chief of staff of the Eyu-Anhui Military Commission
Choi Shin Hee
He took the lead in proposing to Zhang Guotao the current crisis of the Red Army and the strategic proposal that the main force should be transferred to the west, but it was not taken seriously. Sure enough, in less than three months, Cai Shenxi's words were fulfilled, the Red Fourth Front failed to break the fourth encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang army, and Zhang Guotao had to adopt Cai Shenxi's plan for the western expedition. However, this strategic genius who graduated from the Huangpu Phase I was unfortunately sacrificed to cover the breakthrough of the main force on the way to the west, and his life was forever fixed at the age of 26.
Commander of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, Cai Shenxi
On the night of October 11, 1932, the main force of the Red Fourth Front, the 10th Division (division commander Wang Hongkun, political commissar Zhou Chunquan), the 11th Division (division commander Ni Zhiliang, political commissar Li Xiannian), the 12th Division (division commander Kuang Jixun, political commissar Gan Yuanjing), the 73rd Division (division commander Wang Shusheng, political commissar Zhang Guangcai), and the Young Communist International Regiment (regimental commander Chen Youshou), a total of more than 20,000 people, divided into two columns on the left and right, under the leadership of Xu Xiangqian and Chen Changhao, set out from Sigudun and moved west across the Pinghan Railway.
Xu Xiangqian, commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front
When Chiang Kai-shek learned that the main force of the Red Army was advancing westward, he immediately mobilized a large number of troops to pursue and intercept them. From October 19 to 22, the main force of the Red Fourth Front fought two vicious battles with the Kuomintang army in the Zaoyang Xinji and Tuqiaopu areas, and although it annihilated more than 3,000 enemy troops, it also suffered more than 1,000 casualties.
Wang Hongkun, commander of the Red 10th Division, was wounded, and Lin Weiquan, commander of the 32nd Regiment of the Red 11th Division, and Wu Yunshan, commander of the 33rd Regiment, were also killed in the battle.
The Red Fourth Front continued its march westward, moving all the way to the Nanhuatang area on November 2, at the junction of the three provinces of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi. Zhang Guotao asked Xu Xiangqian to discuss the direction of action of the troops, and Xu Xiangqian proposed:
"At this moment, the main force of the Kuomintang is stubbornly biting the Red Army and chasing and fighting all the way, and the Red Army is facing the danger of being eaten in one bite at any time, and we must not stay on the spot, but must take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold, forcibly cross the Manchuan Pass to the west, and quickly get rid of the enemy.
Zhang Guotao did not think so, but he was optimistic
"The Nanhuatang area is located at the junction of the three provinces of Eyu and Shaanxi, bordering Funiu Mountain in the north, Abalone Ridge in the south, and just between the Danjiang River and the Han River, with a large population and abundant grain and rice, which is very suitable for establishing a base area. After several months of fighting, the troops were poor and lacking, so they should immediately stop their westward advance, rest on the spot, replenish their food and clothing, and wait for an opportunity to establish a base area. ”
Xu Xiangqian knew in his heart that staying in place was tantamount to sitting still, but suffering from Zhang Guotao's persistence and obscenity, he could only obey. On the one hand, he sent reconnaissance posts to the surrounding areas to closely monitor the enemy's movements, and on the other hand, he ordered Cai Wei, the radio director of the Second Bureau, to decipher the enemy's secret code as soon as possible and grasp Chiang Kai-shek's latest intentions.
The main force of the Red Fourth Front stayed in the Nanhuatang area for three days, at which point Chiang Kai-shek had already had three regiments of Yang Hucheng's troops of the Shaanxi Army seize the Manchuan Pass and block the Red Army's way forward, while on the other hand, he ordered Hu Zongnan's First Division to secretly enter the line of Renling, Lei Yin Temple, Qili Gorge, and Gumiaogou southeast of Manchuan Pass. After hearing the news, the headquarters of the Red Fourth Front did not dare to stay any longer, so they ordered their troops to continue westward to Yunling Village in the area east of Manchuan Pass.
Soon, about 30,000 people from the 42nd Division (Division Commander Feng Qinzai), the 44th Division (Division Commander Xiao Zhichu), the 51st Division (Division Commander Fan Shisheng), and the 65th Division (Division Commander Liu Maoen) also rushed to the east, north, southeast, and northeast sides of Manchuan Pass
。 At this moment, the main force of the Red Fourth Front was surrounded by about 40,000 people from the five elite divisions of the Nationalist Army in the canyons of more than 10 miles of Yunling, Nianziping, Kangjiaping, Banmiao, and Wanfu, and was in danger of being completely annihilated at any time.
At a critical juncture concerning the life and death of the Red Army, the General Headquarters of the Front Army held a military conference at Kangjiaping, east of Manchuan Pass
。 At the meeting, Zhang Guotao went so far as to propose that the large troops be dispersed, reduced to pieces, dispersed guerrillas, and that how many people could be highlighted and how many people could be counted, and that guerrillas should be fought on the spot if they could not break out
。 As soon as Zhang Guotao's proposal was put forward, it was resolutely opposed by Xu Xiangqian. Xu Xiangqian advocated that the troops should not be dispersed, and if the troops were dispersed, they would not be able to form combat effectiveness, and they would be easily broken by the enemy and eaten bite by bite. Only when the whole army clenches into one fist and resolutely fights out can it have a glimmer of life. Xu Xiangqian's proposal for a concentrated breakthrough was unanimously agreed by Chen Changhao and cadres at various division levels, and Zhang Guotao finally had to agree. Xu Xiangqian focused on analyzing the current enemy situation, and decided that the main force of the Red Army avoided the Manchuan Pass to the west, opened a gap in the north from the Beishan Pass, and then went straight to southern Shaanxi. The meeting finally decided to use the 34th Regiment of the 12th Division (regimental commander Xu Shiyou) as a breakthrough knife to open a bloody road for the whole army.
On the night of November 12, Xu Shiyou personally led the 34th Regiment of the Red 12th Division, and with the coordination of the 219th Regiment of the Red 73rd Division (regimental commander Han Liangchen), launched an attack on the positions of Hu Zongnan's 1st Division and Xiao Zhichu's 44th Division. Xu Shiyou gathered the machine guns of the whole regiment and fired them as a breakthrough fire to the enemy fire point at the mountain pass. With the enemy at a high vantage point and only a narrow passage on the hill to pass through, the dense network of fire instantly blocked the commando's way forward. At this critical moment, Xu Shiyou brandished a large knife, took the lead as a soldier, bravely rushed to kill, and commanded the commando team to take advantage of the smoke to throw grenades at the enemy position at the mountain pass, and the enemy position instantly turned into a sea of fire. After some hand-to-hand combat, the mountain pass position was full of corpses, and the Red Army finally took the pass position and firmly controlled the commanding heights. When the Kuomintang army heard that the Red Army had taken the Beishan Pass, it immediately organized a large number of troops to retake the pass. Under the bloody blockade of the Red 34th Regiment and the 219th Regiment, until the dusk of the 13th, the Beishan Yakou position was still firmly controlled by the Red Army. In this battle, the Red Fourth Front lost more than 2,000 commanders and fighters, and Han Liangchen, the commander of the 219th Regiment, also died in the battle.
The film and television image of Han Liangchen, the leader of the 219 regiment
Although the Red Fourth Front paid a heavy price, it broke through the siege in one fell swoop, entered southern Shaanxi, left the pursuing enemy army far behind, and once again crushed Chiang Kai-shek's attempt to gather and annihilate the Red Fourth Front. Half a year later, the Izukawa force, which had only 15,000 troops at the time, had developed into an elite division with 80,000 regular troops.