"I recommend Xuanyuan with my blood" - to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the departure of the Long March of the Red Sixth Army of the "Central Red Army's Long March Reconnaissance and Pathfinding Advance Team".
Wu Zhimin
In late April 1934, after Guangchang, Yunmenling, Jianning, Longgang and other cities were lost one after another, the north and south gates of the Central Soviet Region were opened. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to withdraw the main force from the central Soviet area and carry out a strategic transfer, and the Red Seventh Army Corps would serve as the anti-Japanese advance force to go north to "transfer the enemy", and the Red Sixth Army Corps would march west to "explore the road". Regarding this great operation in history, Zhou En said of the Red Sixth and Red Seventh Regiments: "All the way is to explore the road, and all the way is to transfer the enemy." Bogu said: "At that time, the military plan was to move and prepare to go to western Hunan and Hubei, and the Sixth Army Corps was the vanguard. Ren Bishi said that this was "inevitable".
1. Exploring the way for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army opened the prelude to the Red Army's Long March
The Red Sixth Army was established in mid-June 1933 and had two divisions under its jurisdiction. On July 23, 1934, the Red Sixth Army received an order to leave the Hunan and Jiangxi Soviet areas and move to central Hunan to carry out guerrilla warfare and create a new Soviet area. The instruction also laid down the route and plan of action for the Western Expedition, and determined the leading members of the corps, with Ren Bi as the representative of the Central Committee at the time, Xiao Ke as the corps commander, Wang Zhen as the corps' political commissar, Li Da as the corps' chief of staff, and Zhang Ziyi as the director of the corps' political department. After receiving the central telegraphic order, the Red Sixth Army actively carried out various preparations for the transfer. At 3 p.m. on August 7, Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, and Wang Zhen led more than 9,700 people from the Red Sixth Army Corps and the Red Army School to bid farewell to the Hunan and Jiangxi revolutionary base areas with the sense of loyalty and courage to accept orders in danger and the courage to take responsibility, and with the spirit of sacrifice of not saying anything hard and not afraid of death, they bid farewell to the Hunan and Jiangxi revolutionary base areas, and set out from the Hengshi and Xinjiang areas of Suichuan County, Jiangxi Province, to explore the way for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army, taking the first step of the Red Army's Long March, and opening the prelude to the Red Army's Long March.
2. The successful completion of the task of transferring and containing the enemy played the role of an advance force for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army
The Red Sixth Army Corps broke through the enemy's four blockade lines in succession in just five days and advanced to Zhaiqianwei, south of Guidong, Hunan. On August 12, the Red Sixth Army Corps held a swearing-in meeting in Qianwei, Guidongzhai, Hunan, and officially announced the establishment of the Military and Political Committee and the Red Sixth Army Corps, with Ren Bi as the chairman of the Military and Political Committee of the Legion, Xiao Ke as the commander of the Legion and commander of the 17th Division, Wang Zhen as the political commissar of the Legion, Li Da as the chief of staff of the Legion, and Long Yun as the commander of the 18th Division. At the same time, the orders of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Central Revolution and the tasks of the Western Expedition were conveyed, the marching discipline was announced, and the combat mobilization was carried out. The vast number of commanders and fighters realized that this breakthrough expedition was not only for the purpose of pinning down the enemy on the outer front, but also for the purpose of preserving their own strength, bringing about an extremely important strategic shift, and saving the Red Army and the revolution. The pledge meeting greatly boosted the fighting spirit of the Red Army commanders and fighters and strengthened their conviction and determination to win the Western Expedition.
On August 20, the advance force of the Red Army marched from Guiyang into Xintian and captured the county seat in the afternoon. In the evening, the main force of the Red Sixth Army Corps marched from Guiyang into Xiaoyuan Village, Xintian, and the leaders of the regiment held an emergency military meeting above the regimental level at the Xiaoyuan Village Ancestral Hall that night to discuss how to get rid of the enemy and force the crossing of the Xiangjiang River. The meeting analyzed the situation in detail and made a decision to rush across the Xiangjiang River and advance to Xinhua and Lipu to join the Second Army Corps of the Red Army. After the meeting, the Red Sixth Army Corps quickly drove to Xintian County, successfully crossed the Xiangjiang River, and successfully realized the rendezvous with the Red Second Army led by He Long.
The correct decision of the Xiaoyuan Conference won the opportunity for the Red Sixth Army to quickly get rid of the enemy's encirclement and rush to cross the Xiangjiang River.
Rushing to the Xiangjiang River on August 23, the Red Sixth Army adopted the tactics of going around in circles, and successfully crossed the river at Jieshou on September 4. On September 17, he took advantage of the false attack to occupy the passage city. After the battle of the new factory in Jingxian County, it entered the territory of Guizhou on the 20th. On October 1, the Red Army occupied the old state of Huangping. On October 24, the main force of the Red Sixth Army Corps, which had broken out of the encirclement, finally arrived at Muhuang, Yinjiang County, Qiandong, and joined forces with the Red Third Army led by He Long and Guan Xiangying. On October 26, the two armies advanced to the southern waist boundary of Youyang County, Sichuan, and held a meeting to celebrate the meeting of the two armies. After that, the Red Third Army was approved by the Central Committee to restore the number of the Red Second Army Corps, and He Long, Ren Bishi, and Guan Xiangying commanded the actions of the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in a unified manner. On October 28, the Red Second and Red Sixth Army Corps withdrew from Qiandong and moved to Xiangxi. In November, the Xiangxi Offensive was launched, and by January 1935, the revolutionary base areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou were created.
At this point, the Red Sixth Army successfully completed the task of transferring and pinning down the enemy, and played the role of an advance force for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army.
3. The main experience of the Western Expedition of the Red Sixth Army
During the Red Sixth Army's westward expedition, it fully gave full play to its own advantages, was flexible and mobile, and no longer stuck to the rules, so it accumulated very good experience in long-distance combat without rear, which played a role as a pathfinder vanguard army for the Long March of the main force of the Red Army.
The main experiences of the Red Sixth Army's westward expedition were:
(1) Have the courage to correct erroneous commands and choose the direction of travel in light of reality.
(2) It is necessary to get rid of the fetters of the "big move" in a timely manner and improve the mobility of the troops.
(3) Adopt flexible and mobile tactics to find and annihilate a weak enemy in the course of movement.
(4) Attach importance to the role of the masses of the people and pay attention to effective ideological and political work.
Before the Sixth Army Corps took action, the "leftist" Central Committee instructed that the units participating in the transfer should include all the 17th and 18th divisions of the Red Sixth Army Corps, students of the Red School, two radio planes, a field hospital, and a bomb making and repair factory. By the time the Red Sixth Army set out, it had brought prisoners, hospitals, arsenals, lithographs, and even vices. This kind of "big move" completely violates the requirements of the principles of mobility, flexibility, and rapidity in carrying out strategic transfer under unwarranted conditions, and "greatly weakens the troops' mobility capability, makes it inconvenient to march, and has many worries about fighting a war." Objectively, it affects the commander's determination to look for opportunities to fight." In the face of the enemy's encirclement, pursuit, and interception, and the fact that there were many high roads and dangerous rivers in the mountains and rivers of Hunan, Guizhou, and Guizhou, the leadership of the Red Sixth Army Corps quickly realized that this "big move" constrained the army's ability to march and fight. In order to improve the mobility of the troops, the leadership of the Red Sixth Army made a decisive decision, first disposed of large and heavy machinery and equipment, and threw off the burden in time. After entering Hunan Province, the Red Sixth Army Corps further lightened its armament to further improve its mobility and flexibility. When we entered the southeastern region of Guizhou in early September, we threw away everything except weapons and ammunition. Throwing off the burden has improved the mobility of the troops. The enemy lamented: the Red Army's whereabouts were erratic, and the Nationalist army was exhausted.
IV. The Historical Significance of the Red Sixth Army's Western Expedition
At the critical moment when the Kuomintang army was advancing in the hinterland of the Central Soviet Region, the Red Sixth Army Corps was ordered to march westward, tearing open the gap in the Kuomintang army's defense line of "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Red Army. Moreover, the Red Sixth Army Corps always dragged the troops of Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces around, disrupted the enemy's attempt to encircle and annihilate the deployment of the Red Army in the Hunan and Jiangxi Soviet regions and the central Soviet region, diverted the attention of the Kuomintang decision-making level, relieved the pressure on the central Soviet area of the enemy army in Hunan and Guizhou to a certain extent, and won valuable time for the preparation of the Central Red Army's Long March. During the Western Expedition, he promptly reported to the Central Committee and the Military Commission the terrain, people's conditions, climate, and products along the way, providing important information for the transfer of the Central Red Army; It did a lot of political propaganda on the way to the west, which laid a good mass foundation for the subsequent transfer of the Central Red Army; In the course of the strategic shift, it had the courage to resist the erroneous command of the "leftist" central authorities, constantly corrected the erroneous tendency of conservatism to "move the house," and adopted flexible and mobile combat methods and the practice of military principles that conformed to objective reality, thus providing a reference for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army and laying the foundation for our party's final abandonment of the "leftist" dogmatic military line, which made a major contribution and had a historical impact on the reversal of the predicament of the Chinese revolution at a moment of crisis.
5. Participate in the unveiling ceremony of the statue of the leader of the Red Sixth Army, the pioneer of the Long March
On the evening of August 20, 1934, the main force of the Red Sixth Army entered Xintian from Guiyang, Chenzhou, and camped in Xiaoyuan Village. That night, the Military and Political Committee of the Sixth Army of the Red Army held an emergency military meeting attended by cadres at and above the regimental level at the Liu clan ancestral hall in Xiaoyuan Village, and repeatedly debated and debated major issues such as the timing of crossing the river and the route of the march. The meeting lasted all night, and finally made the correct decision to choose a way to rush across the Xiangjiang River and advance to Xinhua and Lipu to join the Red Second Army Corps before the enemy's deployment was ready. This meeting played a decisive role in whether the Red Sixth Army could get rid of the enemy's siege and whether the Red Army's Long March could achieve victory.
On the morning of April 23, 2011, the Beijing Founding Descendants Choir came to the site of the Xiaoyuan Conference in Xiaoyuan Village, Lianhua Township, Xintian County, Hunan Province, to participate in the unveiling ceremony of the statue of the leader of the Red Sixth Army.
The old site of Xiaoyuan Conference sits in the north and faces south, with a brick and wood structure, a one-and-a-half-height building with small green tiles on the top of a hard mountain, and a stage and patio in the room. It is 11.2 meters long from east to west, 7.3 meters wide from north to south, and has a construction area of 82 square meters. A residential building 50 meters west of the former site of the meeting was the former site of the headquarters of the Red Sixth Army at that time, and Ren Bi, who was the representative of the Central Committee of the Red Sixth Army Corps, lived here with the corps commander Xiao Ke and political commissar Wang Zhen. In 2011, the former site of the Xiaoyuan Conference (including the former site of the headquarters of the Red Sixth Army Corps) was announced by the Provincial People's Government as a provincial cultural relics protection unit. The old site is carved with four army leaders: Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, Wang Zhen and Li Da. Descendants of leaders such as Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, and Wang Zhen attended the unveiling ceremony. General Xiao Xinghua, son of Xiao Ke, delivered a speech.
After the unveiling ceremony, we visited the former headquarters of the Red Sixth Army.
The local villagers flocked to the regiment as if they saw the Red Army of the year, and stuffed bags of red dates, peanuts, and eggs into the regiment members, and some of the regiment members were moved to tears on the spot.
Subsequently, we came to the Memorial Park of the Western Expedition of the Red Sixth Army to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony.
In the evening of the same day, a special performance of "Beijing Founding General's Descendants Choir Singing Xintian" was held
The Great Chorus
Male vocal quartet
Joint singing "Looking forward to the Red Army"
Soundtrack poem recitation "Milk Lady"
Mixed Chorus
Male chorus
Female chorus
Male and female voice duets
Performances by local theatrical groups
Performances by local theatrical groups
Choir members
Local leaders pose for a group photo with choir members
The scene of the performance
Forever moving forward
He Beisheng (left) and Wang Yali (middle) were interviewed
After breakfast on April 24, the choir took a group photo with local leaders and guests.
Then return to Beijing in two batches. The first batch, led by Deputy Head Wang Yali, rushed to Changsha to take a plane. In the afternoon, the second group was led by Deputy Head He Beisheng and rushed to Yongzhou to take a plane.
Group photo.
The choir participates in the group photo list
First row, from left: He Beisheng (14), Wang Yali (15)
Second row, from left: Yang Zhaorong, Liao Lirong, Zhang Xiaoli, Wang Yan, Fu Fengming, Chen Jiangping, Wang Yamei, Liu Shunning, Yang Dongmei, Wang Yali (small), Sui Lihua, Lu Xiaoqing, Deng Ying, Zhong Hongjiang, Sun Dongxu, Cao Xiaoping, Zhu Min, Zhao Xiaojun, Wang Yajia, Wu Liyang, Liu Yanling, Yue Zhongqiu, Liu Siling, Wang Yaying, Yang Qiuhua; 25 people
Third row from left: Li Yuanzheng, Shi Xiaoli, Liu Jun, Yu Zejun, Liu Xingyun, Liu Jiangping, Wu Zhimin, Ding Chenglong, Pei Jianjun, Zhang Donglin, Lu Xiaobin, Song Baiyi, Lu Xiaoyuan, Yun Xiaolan, Zhu Xiaoqiu, Liu Honglin; 16 people
Fifth from left in the fourth row: Peng Zhiqiang, Li Yaming, Chen Weike, Bian Xiaobing, Wang Chunsheng, Wang Pingwa, Jin Xiaohui, Yang Nanzheng, Li Anqing, Cui Yueling, Chen Hua; 11 people
Fifth row from left: Chen Xiaoting, Cheng Wu, Fan Xiaoxiang, Zhang Zhaoxing, Tan Zhengang, Shen Fanhe, Liao Diqing, Wang Pingfei, Yu Zeqing, Xie Changping; 10 people
Second from left in the sixth row: Chen Zhong, Hou Beichuan, Li Tianhai, Bai Lulin, Yang Zijiang, Li Zhanping, Yang Zhujiang, Cao Xiaolong, 8 people
More than 72 people.
Beijing Bayi alumni took a group photo. From right: Yang Zijiang, Xiao Xinghua, Yang Zhujiang, Zhong Hongjiang
The political commissar of the armed forces department (middle) and Liu Shunning (third from right) are fellow villagers in Qiyang
Before lunch, the second group of personnel first came to Tanwenxi. Tanwenxi Ancient Village is a mysterious ancient village full of mysteries and wonders.
The members of the group came to the Longjia compound on the Daguanling, which is located four or five kilometers away from Xintian County. The ancient village dwellings and ancient cultural sites are well preserved to this day. These dwellings and historic sites are located in the treasure land of feng shui, with ingenious design, excellent production, extraordinary bearing, and charm.
The Long March was the first in history. In August 1934, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Military Commission, the Red Sixth Army withdrew from the Hunan and Jiangxi base areas to explore the way for the strategic transfer of the Central Red Army. The history of the Red Sixth Army's westward expedition is a tragic history. Under this tragic history, the officers and men of the Red Sixth Army made fearless sacrifices, showing a sense of loyalty to accept orders in danger and have the courage to take responsibility; a spirit of sacrifice that does not speak hard and is not afraid of death; A noble sentiment of loving the masses and the people. The lofty spirit of these communists is always worthy of our inheritance and development.
Updated 4 hours ago