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Transferred to the Hunan and Hubei borders, "leading" hundreds of thousands of enemies - the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hubei made two great victories in response to the Central Red Army's Long March

Jimu News reporter Zhao Bei

Correspondents: Zhang Yiyou, Li Xin

On the night of July 11, the river behind the Chestnut Garden Victory Monument in Lijiahe Town, Xuan'en County, Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province, roared overnight due to heavy rain.

After dawn, the rain stopped and the flash flood disappeared, leaving only a sinkhole about 40 meters deep, which quietly stored the turbid water in the mountains. "This sinkhole, we people here call it Yanghe Big Cave, the hole is a dark river with an irregular arched entrance, and when the water is large, it overflows to form a mountain torrent." Qin Qinghai, a villager from Liyuan Village, said, "The Red Army's battle here was far more thrilling than this flash flood. ”

Transferred to the Hunan and Hubei borders, "leading" hundreds of thousands of enemies - the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hubei made two great victories in response to the Central Red Army's Long March

He Long personally inscribed the proclamation of encircling and annihilating the Wufeng Regiment to defend Sun Junfeng

The Red Army ignited the flames of the workers' and peasants' revolution in western Hubei

At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of July 11, there was a light rain in the revolutionary martyrs' cemetery in the Hunan and Hubei border Soviet districts of Hefeng County, Hubei Province, and the 21.8-meter-high monument stood in the mountains.

The drizzle sings the loyal soul, and the white flowers sacrifice the martyrs. Hefeng County, the center of the Hunan and Hubei Border Soviet Region, is the source and strategic rear of the revolutionary base area in western Hunan and Hubei, and is also the birthplace of the Red Fourth Army in western Hunan and the main battlefield of the struggle against "encirclement and suppression" in western Hunan and Hubei. The people of all nationalities in Hefeng County followed Comrade He Long in a seven-year-long struggle. At that time, there were only more than 60,000 people in the county, and nearly half of them joined the revolution, of which more than 3,000 died.

"Every cultural relic, every archive, tells the history of the Hunan and Hubei border Soviet areas, and tells the blood and fire chapters of the red history." Huang Xijun, director of the Enshi Prefecture Archives, said that Enshi is not only the cradle of the Second Red Army, but also the central area and core area of the revolutionary base areas in western Hunan-Hubei and the revolutionary base areas in Hunan-Hubei, Sichuan-Guizhou and Guizhou.

After the "87 Conference" in 1927, He Long and Zhou Yiqun were instructed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to go to western Hunan and Hubei to launch an armed revolution. After the failure of the Sangzhi uprising, He Long led his troops into the mountains, where the enemy's rule was relatively weak and convenient for guerrilla concealment, and established the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in Enshi Hefeng, the guerrilla area of his mother's hometown and sister He Ying, who he had known since childhood, to carry out guerrilla warfare.

In November 1928, when the Fourth Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army encountered great difficulties at Hefeng, He Ying sent a batch of ammunition, cotton clothes, cloth, medicine, silver dollars and other supplies. At the same time, the troops were reorganized at Hefeng Yanya, and although there were only 91 men and 72 guns left in the whole army after the rectification, the ideological consciousness and revolutionary stance of the personnel have undergone considerable changes, and a strong leadership of the party has been formed.

From the end of 1928 to the spring of 1929, the Red Fourth Army successively reorganized the "Divine Soldiers" of Xianfeng Black Hole, the "Divine Soldiers" of Xuan'en Xiaoguan, and the "Divine Soldiers" of Hefeng Wuyang Pass. In January 1929, the Red Fourth Army conquered Hefeng County and established the Hefeng County Soviet Government of the Communist Party of China. In February 1929, the Red Fourth Army assembled in Dujia Village, Hefeng, where the historic reorganization of Dujia Village was carried out, and in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee, the troops were officially reorganized into the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and Dujia Village went down in history as the birthplace of the Red Fourth Army. Later, the Red Fourth Army successively conquered Jianshi, Sangzhi and other county towns, opened up the revolutionary base areas along the Hunan and Hubei borders, and the Red Fourth Army expanded to more than 3,000 people.

The Hefeng County Soviet Government was the first county Soviet red flame established and sown by the Party in the revolutionary base areas of western Hunan and Hubei provinces, and its establishment marked the initial victory of the struggle for the red political power in the border areas of Hunan and Hubei and even in the entire western Hunan and Hubei provinces. Since then, five of the eight counties in the Enshi region have successively established county party committees and county Soviet governments; In 40 districts and 243 communes, party organizations, Soviet governments and mass organizations have been established. Among them, Hefeng County has a population of 60,000, and more than 24,000 people have joined the party, the regiment, and participated in revolutionary organizations such as the Red Army, guerrillas, Red Guards, poor peasant leagues, and women's associations.

"On April 18, 1930, the Red Fourth Army set out from Hefeng County to prepare to join the Red Sixth Army. On April 20, the main force of the Red Fourth Army arrived in Wuliping Town, Hefeng County, where the military headquarters was located. While Comrade He Long was recuperating from his wounds here, the Red Fourth Army also encircled and annihilated Sun Junfeng and Sun Tzu Ruibu of the Wufeng Regiment, clearing the obstacles for the division. Ouyang Zhigang, deputy head of Wuliping Township, Hefeng County, said that the former site of the military headquarters and the Soviet government at that time has now built a memorial hall and has become a local red resort.

At the beginning of July 1930, the Red Fourth Army and the Red Sixth Army joined forces in Hubei Gong'an. Subsequently, the Red Fourth Army was renamed the Red Second Army, and the Red Second and Sixth Armies were combined to form the Second Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, with He Long as the commander-in-chief and Zhou Yiqun as the political commissar. The two base areas of Hunan and Hubei and Honghu are connected together, forming a trend of burning the plains.

Zhongbao victory: A great victory for the Red Army in the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign

Transferred to the Hunan and Hubei borders, "leading" hundreds of thousands of enemies - the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hubei made two great victories in response to the Central Red Army's Long March

Monument to the Great Victory of Zhongbao

In March 1931, the Central Branch of the Communist Party of China in Western Hunan and Hubei was established, and the Second Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was reorganized into the Third Army of the Red Army. In 1934, the Red Third Army and the strategically transferred Red Sixth Army met at Muhuang in Yinjiang County, Guizhou Province. After the meeting, the Red Third Army restored the number of the Red Second Army, the corps commander He Long, the political appointee Bi Shi, and the deputy political commissar Guan Xiangying. Subsequently, the 2nd and 6th Army Corps of the Red Army opened up the revolutionary base areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou, and launched the Xiangxi Offensive to cover the smooth breakthrough of the Central Red Army and the Long March.

In particular, before the Zunyi Conference, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps attacked Changde, Yuanling, and Taoyuan in Hunan, attracting away more than 100,000 Hunan troops who were pursuing the Central Red Army. The Central Red Army stayed in Zunyi for 12 days to rest, and it was precisely during these 12 days of stability that the Zunyi Conference was successfully held, and the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps made major historical contributions to the Zunyi Conference.

In the early days of the Long March, in order to cope with the breakthrough of the Central Red Army, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps fought in the western Hunan area to contain the main force of the Hunan Army. After the Central Red Army crossed the Jinsha River, the task of containing the Hunan Army of the Second and Sixth Army Corps of the Red Army was basically over.

After the Central Red Army successfully broke through the encirclement, the 2nd and 6th Army Corps of the Red Army took a defensive position against the Hunan enemy and an offensive against the Hubei enemy, turned the main force to western Hubei, looked for a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy in mobile warfare, and won several great victories. The classic battles were the Zhongbao victory in Xianfeng County and the chestnut garden victory in Xuan'en County, and the "two great victories in western Hubei" were both commanded by He Long.

On June 9, 1935, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps secretly advanced to the vicinity of Xuan'en County and surrounded it. Xu Yuanquan, commander-in-chief of the enemy's "suppression of bandits" in western Hubei Province, learned that Xuan'en was besieged, and urgently ordered Zhang Zhenhan, commander of the 41st Division, to lead his troops to rush to the aid of Xuan'en.

Transferred to the Hunan and Hubei borders, "leading" hundreds of thousands of enemies - the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hubei made two great victories in response to the Central Red Army's Long March

Xu Yuanquan "pursued and suppressed" the Red Army in Hunan and Hubei provinces

However, Zhang Zhenhan did not expect that the Red Army would obtain Zhang Zhenhan's entire battle plan before they set off. He Long, Ren Bishi and others made a plan, leaving one regiment to continue to feint on Xuan'en to monitor and confuse the enemy, while the main forces of the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps took advantage of the night to set off in advance on the 11th and quickly attacked the area east of Zhongbao (belonging to Xianfeng County). The vanguard marched more than 130 miles in one day, occupied the favorable terrain near Zhongbao before the enemy's main force, and carried out encirclement and reinforcement.

In the early morning of June 13, the enemy forces in Zhongbao concentrated their forces to attack the Red Army positions, in an attempt to break through the defensive line and plan to break through in response to the besieged enemy army. At the same time, enemy troops from the Laifeng area also stormed the positions of the Red Army. The Red Army repelled several enemy attacks and thwarted enemy attempts to break through.

On the morning of June 14, the Red 2nd and 6th Army Corps concentrated nearly five regiments and launched an all-out attack on the encircled enemy from four directions. The battle lasted from early morning to early afternoon, and by about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the besieged enemy was completely annihilated, and Zhang Zhenhan was captured alive.

In this battle, the 2nd and 6th Army Corps of the Red Army annihilated one division, one brigade, and one special service battalion of the enemy, and dealt heavy blows to the enemy's right and center routes, winning a great victory after advancing north into western Hubei and effectively cooperating with the Central Red Army's Long March and the struggle in other revolutionary base areas.

"The Battle of Zhongbao, in which more than 10,000 men fought against 110,000 enemy troops, was a battle in which the Red Army annihilated the most enemies and suffered the least losses since the fifth anti-'encirclement and suppression' campaign, and was later included in the military history of the People's Liberation Army and the typical examples of the Second and Sixth Army Corps of the Red Army, and was recorded in the "War History of the Chinese People's Liberation Army." Enshi Prefecture Archives Party History Researchers introduced. In 1986, Xianfeng County built a monument at the site of Zhongbao's victory, and Liao Hansheng, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, inscribed the name of the monument. In 2004, the monument was renovated and a martyrs' cemetery was built for people to pay their respects.

Chestnut Garden Victory: Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou Base Areas Counter "Encirclement and Suppression" to contain hundreds of thousands of enemy troops

Transferred to the Hunan and Hubei borders, "leading" hundreds of thousands of enemies - the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps in western Hubei made two great victories in response to the Central Red Army's Long March

Chestnut Orchard Victory Monument

Qin Qinghai is the red story preacher in Chestnut Garden Village, Lijiahe Town, Xuan'en County, and a group of admirers of the Chestnut Garden Victory Monument have been infected by his affectionate and meticulous explanation. Qin Qinghai's grandfather joined the Red Army after this battle, participated in cleaning up the battlefield, burying the sacrificed Red Army soldiers, and followed the Red Army team to the Hunan and Hubei borders.

On the morning of July 12, Qin Qinghai led the Jimu News reporter to the river behind the monument, followed the direction washed by the mountain flood, went upstream, and found the once war-torn sinkhole - Yanghe Cave.

"This is a seasonal river, and there is only water when there is a flash flood, and the source of the river is a sinkhole, and the terrain is complicated." Standing on the edge of the sinkhole, the turbid water that fell into the sinkhole was still roaring, the shrubs and weeds obscured the vision, and the trees washed by the torrent were neatly lodging along the river, Qin Qinghai pointed to the hill in front of him and said, "At that time, the Red Army was on the mountain and needed to dive down to attack the enemy's elite 85th Division surrounded in the canyon area. Due to the unfavorable terrain, it is necessary to bypass the sinkhole and then cross the river in order to launch a close-range attack. The enemy forces also realized this and tried to break through from here up the hill, and fierce fighting broke out on both sides, resulting in huge casualties. In the end, the Red Army won the victory, completely annihilating the besieged enemy, and the commander of the enemy's 85th Division, Xie Bin, was killed nearby. ”

According to archival materials, from July 30 to August 1, 1935, in the telegram intercepted and deciphered by the Red Army, He Long learned that the enemy's 85th Division would "encircle and suppress" the Red Army from Jiangxi to Longshan via Sichuan.

After careful analysis, He Long and Ren Bishi decided to take advantage of the unfamiliar situation of the enemy's 85th Division's new arrival in western Hubei to annihilate it on the way by ambush tactics. On August 2, the Red Army withdrew from Longshan and advanced in the direction of Shadaogou. In the early morning of August 3, He Long commanded the main forces of the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps to go straight to the ambush point from the Shadaogou mountain shortcut, inserted the chestnut orchard area from the Lijiahe, and used a long and narrow valley "Lifutian" as an ambush point.

At about 12 o'clock on the same day, the enemy completely entered the Red Army ambush area, and He Long immediately issued an order to attack, and the main forces of the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps launched an attack on the enemy from the left and right flanks. When encircling and annihilating the two main regiments of the enemy's 85th Division, the Red Army launched several charges but failed to capture them because the enemy's firepower was too fierce. Before dusk, He Long personally commanded the position, and after an hour of fierce fighting, all the well-equipped enemy guard battalions were wiped out. The whole battle ended at about 11 a.m.

In this battle, the Red Army completely annihilated two regiments and one battalion of the enemy's 85th Division, killed the enemy's division commander Xie Bin, annihilated more than 3,000 people by the Red Army, captured more than 1,000 enemies, and captured nearly 1,000 guns, 6 mortars, more than 600 boxes of ammunition, and more than 60,000 silver dollars.

This battle forced the Hubei enemy to retreat one after another, and the Hunan enemy also shrank his forces and turned to defense, and the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" of the Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou Soviet regions was an immediate failure. The two great victories of Zhongbao and Chestnut Garden both became classic examples of "winning more with less, defeating the strong with the weak" and "encircling points to send reinforcements" in the history of the Red Army's warfare in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou.

"The Battle of Chestnut Garden not only made the Hunan army and the Hubei army completely lose the confidence and courage to attack, but also forced Chiang Kai-shek to give up the plan of using the Hunan army and the Hubei army to 'encircle and suppress' the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps, and ordered the Hunan army and the Hubei army to stop the offensive and turn to defense." Qin Qinghai said: After the battle, the military and civilians in the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Soviet Region actually smashed the enemy's "encirclement and suppression."

The 2nd and 6th Army Corps of the Red Army went through dozens of battles and battles in the revolutionary base areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou, and not only did not reduce their strength, but also grew to more than 20,000 troops, winning a decisive victory in the struggle against "encirclement and suppression." It not only pinned down hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, effectively supported and responded to the Long March of the Central Red Army and the struggle of the Red Fourth Front Army in the Sichuan-Shaanxi border region, but also constantly nurtured, developed, and strengthened its own strength, creating conditions and laying the foundation for the formation of the Second Front Army, one of the three main front armies of the Red Army, in July 1936.

(Photo courtesy of Hubei Provincial Archives)

(Source: Jimu News)

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