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In September 1990, in the special care ward of the location, due to the recurrence of tuberculosis, Marshal Xu Xiangqian was already terminally ill and dying soon.
When I saw Li Xiannian, Marshal Xu Xiangqian's spirit was rarely better, and in the face of old friends, the two chatted about many past events, including the glorious years of the revolutionary era, and some regrets hidden in the bottom of my heart, especially the matter of the Western Route Army, which made Xu Shuai cry directly on the spot.
According to Xu Xiangqian, this battle can be regarded as the biggest regret in his life, the sacrifice of more than 20,000 soldiers, the death of two army commanders, and the tragic situation of only more than 1,000 people returning to Yan'an, which made him sleepless for decades.
So what's going on here? Who made Xu Shuai, who used soldiers like a god, suffer such a big defeat, and what did he mean by fighting westward?
Born in poverty, he won all battles
Everything has to start with the revolutionary career of Marshal Xu Xiangqian.
In 1901, Xu Xiangqian was born in a poor family in Yong'an Village, Wutai County, Shanxi Province.
It is said that the children of poor families are in charge of the house, Xu Xiangqian is the most typical example, at the age of sixteen, seeing that the family has been so poor that he can't open the pot, he fortunately chose to drop out of school to work, and went to the grocery department in the county as an apprentice, but although he dropped out, but his thirst for knowledge has not diminished at all, during the part-time job, he often uses his leisure time to continue learning, and all say that opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared, this sentence is not false at all, this is not, with the reform of Shanxi's education system in 1919, Xu Xiangqian relied on his homework that he never fell behind, and was admitted to the famous Shanxi National Normal Crash Course in one fell swoop.
After graduating from school, Xu Xiangqian finally didn't have to work anymore, but went to the nearby township and county primary school as a teacher, his original intention was also very simple, that is, to teach and educate people, and cultivate more talents for the motherland, but God did not fulfill people's wishes, just because he propagated some anti-feudal and patriotic ideas to the students, and the school used this as an excuse to drive him out.
Such unfair treatment made Xu Xiangqian resentful, and in anger and unwillingness, he simply chose to abandon his pen and follow Rong, and turned his head to apply for the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy.
Fortunately, Xu Xiangqian was admitted, and after graduation, he also stayed directly in school and became a grassroots officer, and in the following years, he followed Mr. Sun Yat-sen to fight in the south and the north, first the first Eastern Expedition, and then the Northern Expedition, and after repeated military exploits, his position was gradually promoted from platoon commander to commander staff officer.
In March 1927, Xu Xiangqian, who discovered the increasing corruption of the Kuomintang and realized Chiang Kai-shek's ambitions, joined the Communist Party of China, and after the "April 12 counter-revolutionary coup", he finally became a full member of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and successively served as the captain of the Sixth Wing of the Workers' Red Guards, the chief of staff and division commander of the Fourth Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, a member of the Hubei-Henan Border Special Committee of the Communist Party of China, the deputy commander of the First Army, and the commander of the Fourth Army.
In just three years, from a staff officer to a military commander, it is enough to see how many military exploits Marshal Xu Xiangqian has made, and during the five anti-encirclement and suppression wars, he organized and carried out a series of anti-encirclement and suppression campaigns, and successively smashed several conspiracies and tricks of the Kuomintang reactionaries.
In February 1934, it was not enough to promote him to the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic, and in the following year, after the First Front Army and the Fourth Front Army met, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and awarded him the gold Red Star Medal, which symbolizes the highest honor.
In the future, among the top ten marshals, in addition to Mr. Zhu, it is not too much to say that he ranks first, however, no one expected that in March 1937, this majestic general actually suffered a fiasco, in October 1936, he led more than 20,000 people to the expedition, and in June 1937, there were only more than 1,000 people left, and he returned to Yan'an by asking for food all the way.
In this battle, almost all of our Western Route Army was annihilated, and the death rate of cadres at and above the division level was as high as 80 percent, and even two of the three army commanders were killed in the battle.
This is undoubtedly a complete fiasco, so the question is, what is the reason for the defeat in this battle, and who can defeat Xu Shuai?
The beginning and end of the Western Route Army's westward expedition
Since participating in the revolution, Marshal Xu Xiangqian can be called a hundred victories, even if the enemy is outnumbered, he can break a few sharp teeth from the tiger's mouth, but unexpectedly, in the battle of leading the Western Route Army to the west, he actually suffered an unprecedented defeat, 20,000 soldiers were almost wiped out, two army commanders were killed, and he himself begged all the way to finally return to Yan'an, so what is going on?
Continuing from the above, we have to start with the reason for the Western Route Army's westward expedition.
When it comes to the Western Route Army's Western Expedition, I believe that there will be many friends who do not know that period of history who are puzzled, thinking that at that time, didn't our party have already arrived at the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi? Why march west?
In fact, everyone doesn't know about this, and there are basically two reasons.
First of all, Chiang Kai-shek from the Kuomintang pressed forward step by step, you must know that although our army successfully completed the Long March and joined forces in northern Shaanxi, the pursuit of the Kuomintang reactionaries did not give up, and Hu Zongnan and other Kuomintang generals were still chasing and fighting fiercely behind them, and it did not look like they would stop in a short period of time.
In this case, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao had to think about the future, in their opinion, if it comes to a critical moment, the "Second Long March" is very necessary, as for where to go, there were two ideas at that time, one was to go south, the other was to go west, the former we will not say much, mainly to see the latter.
What is westward expansion? To put it simply, it is to send the Western Route Army to directly open up the Hexi Corridor and eventually enter Xinjiang Province, which borders the Soviet Union, so that our party can rely on the Soviet Union to contend with Lao Chiang!
Secondly, in fact, even if there is no enemy pressing forward step by step, northern Shaanxi is not a good place to go, as for the reason is easy to understand, only one point, that is, northern Shaanxi is too poor, the loess slopes are everywhere, the grain output is too low, there is no decent industrial base, this base area alone can not support the future of the revolution, so instead of sticking to it, it is better to find another way out.
Combining these two reasons, it is understandable that the organization decided to go west, and at the same time, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao also sent Xu Xiangqian, a general, more than 20,000 people plus a future marshal, this configuration does not look like it will be a failure, but no one expected that the originally worried southern Hu Zong did not pose any threat to the Western Route Army, but the inconspicuous Northwest Majia Army caused huge casualties to our army.
According to the recollections of Marshal Xu Xiangqian and the post-war organizational analysis, we can conclude that there were three main reasons for the defeat of the Western Route Army at the hands of the Ma Jiajun.
You must know that since the establishment of the Red Army, in addition to fighting Chiang Kai-shek's descendants, the remaining warlord troops are basically "the old lady blowing her nose - holding the handle in her hand", therefore, for the Ma Jiajun who is like a bandit, Xu Xiangqian and others naturally did not pay attention to it, and the generals agreed that the Ma Jiajun will most likely be like other warlord troops, as long as there are a few casualties will be defeated, but this is not the case.
Under the influence of religious ideology, when the battle began, the Ma Jiajun was not afraid of death, and its combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of ordinary Kuomintang troops, and it can be said that the officers and men of the Western Route Army were stunned at once, and then lost the opportunity to quickly annihilate the enemy.
The second is the lack of a popular base, let me ask, what is the secret of our army's repeated victories in battles with the Kuomintang army? Obviously, the people's will occupies a large part of the factors, but this is not the case in the northwest, the local people have rarely heard of the deeds of the Communist Party, under the brainwashing of Ma Jiajun, they regard our party and our army as a flood beast, in this case, not only Ma Jiajun fought bravely and abnormally, even the local people are unwilling to provide any help for our army.
Without a mass base and without much food supplies, the combat effectiveness of the Western Route Army naturally became lower and lower in the case of failing to win the first battle.
Third, in terms of weaponry and combat effectiveness, there is also a huge gap between the Western Route Army and the Ma Jiajun, and the number of our army seems to be quite large, but first, in order to build a base area in Xinjiang, 40 percent of them are non-combatants, and only more than 12,000 people can really fight.
To sum up, it is the carelessness of the enemy, the gap in equipment, and the lack of supplies, and the defeat of the Western Route Army is not uncommon, but what Xu Xiangqian never expected is that he will be defeated so miserably, 20,000 troops, after the defeat of Qilian Mountain, there are only more than 1,000 people left, and the blow he received can be imagined.
Westward Expansion Vision
The first is the carelessness of the enemy, the second is the lack of mass base, and the third is the shortage of weapons and ammunition, which caused the tragedy of the Western Route Army's defeat in Qilian Mountain, and the almost total annihilation of the 20,000 army, and at the same time, this is also the nightmare of Marshal Xu Xiangqian's life, so the question is, from the perspective of God, is there any possibility of victory in this battle, and what is the "all the way to the west" that Xu Shuai said before his death?
In fact, Marshal Xu Xiangqian's meaning is very easy to understand, under his years of research and deduction, he finally thought of a way out for the soldiers of the Western Route Army that year, that is, not to fight with the Ma Jiajun near the Hexi Corridor, but to advance at full speed all the way to the west to break through and go straight to the Xinjiang region.
As for the advantages of doing this, there are many advantages, first, combined with the reasons just now, it can be seen that no matter what, it is impossible for the Western Route Army to defeat the Ma Jiajun in a short period of time, rather than fighting with them, it is better to avoid its edge, after all, the purpose of our army's trip is to go to Xinjiang, and the elimination of the Ma Jiajun is just a matter of passing in the imagination, and it is of no practical use, isn't it?
Second, although the Ma Jiajun is fierce in combat and is not afraid of death, they are still warlords in the final analysis, and in the troubled times, the first priority of the warlords is to preserve their strength, and the reason why they chose to fight to the death with the Red Army is actually that they are afraid that our party will develop forces on their territory, but if they find that the Western Route Army does not mean to stay, they will naturally not waste their troops in vain.
And even if Ma Jiajun is obsessed and wants to ask Chiang Kai-shek for merit and reward, our army can completely leave a force behind the palace to ensure the smooth entry of the large army into Xinjiang, although the soldiers in charge of blocking will most likely be wiped out, but this is better than the annihilation of the 20,000 troops, right?
Third, the Xinjiang warlord Sheng Shicai was the most pro-Soviet warlord before the Soviet-German war, once Xu Xiangqian did not fight with the Ma Jiajun, but quickly approached Xinjiang, in order to curry favor with the Soviet Union, he was very likely to lead his troops to the rescue, and even if he did not shoot directly, it was still no problem to send some grain, grass and ammunition, so that even if he fought, the Western Route Army would add a lot of confidence.
It can be said that Marshal Xu Xiangqian's idea is not faulty, if he did not have the impulse at that time, but chose this plan, then maybe the entire future situation will undergo earth-shaking changes, for example, our party will receive more aid from the Soviet Union, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army will play a greater role in the War of Resistance against Japan, maybe it is very possible to drive out the Japanese devils in advance, and in the early stage of the Liberation War, we will also have more confidence;
Also, if Xu Xiangqian and 20,000 elite troops are in charge, in the future, after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Sheng Shicai, the "grass on the wall", will never dare to suddenly backstab, which will lead to the sacrifice of Mao Zemin and other comrades who went to Xinjiang to support.
To sum up, not being able to directly advance into Xinjiang is really a regret of our party and our army, and it is understandable that Marshal Xu Xiangqian never forgot it until his death, but it is a pity that history is not how, even if the future reflection is profound, and the tactics that come to mind are shrewd, the sacrifices of those 20,000 soldiers are irreparable, and they should have a bright future, but they finally died on the vast grassland due to various accidents, and this ending is really regrettable.