When it comes to the troops of the Ningxia warlord Ma Hongbin, the vast majority of Red Army generals will be dismissive: that is, the Ningxia Majia Army that always sends heads on the Long March road and directly helps the Central Red Army to establish the first cavalry unit? But what is less known is that this Ning Ma, who fought in the eyes of the Red Army, almost captured Xu Haidong, the commander of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, alive during the Long March.
First, Xu Haidong was appointed as the commander of the army, and Dai Jiying made trouble to vent his personal anger
In August 1935, after Wu Huanxian, the political commissar of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, was killed in the Battle of Jingchuan, the commander Cheng Zihua and the deputy commander Xu Haidong led the troops to continue north. After arriving in Xifeng Town, Qingyang County, Gansu Province (present-day Xifeng District, Qingyang City), military commander Cheng Zihua proposed that since he was still wounded and concurrently held the post of secretary of the Eyu-Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee, it was not very convenient, and that Deputy Commander Xu Haidong should be the commander of the army and concurrently serve as the military political commissar. At this time, the Red Twenty-fifth Army had jurisdiction over the 223rd and 225th Regiments and pistol regiments, totaling nearly 3,700 people.
However, at this time, dai Jiying, chief of staff of the army, got into an awkward situation with Xu Haidong, and one day the troops had dinner at 12:30 in the middle of the night and gathered at 1:00 a.m. to prepare to leave, but the people of the military headquarters had not yet assembled, because Dai Jiying suspected that he had left too early, and he would still lie in the bed. Xu Haidong went to ask him why he had not yet let the military headquarters assemble, but Dai Jiying said: "I don't give orders, of course the headquarters can't assemble." This was done until two o'clock, Xu Haidong was so angry that he left first with two regiments, and Dai Jiyingcai chased after him with the headquarters and pistol regiments.
Why did Dai Jiying have to fight against Xu Haidong? This has to start from the beginning of the Long March of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, in the Battle of Yujiahe, the Red Twenty-fifth Army repelled Chiang Kai-shek's 61st Division after fierce fighting, and all the cadres at and above the regimental level were wounded except For Wu Huanxian and Zhang Shaodong (who defected in 1938), but in such an urgent battle situation, Dai Jiying was sleeping with his wife.
The military commander Wu Huanxian was very angry at that time, so he criticized Dai Jiying for a fight, but Dai Jiying did not admit it, and wanted to testify with Xu Haidong, who was his partner in the Red 74th Division. Of course, Xu Haidong also hated Dai Jiying's irresponsible performance, for example, Dai Jiying had also lived a corrupt life and worked poorly, which led to Dai Jiying being criticized for a month, and since then he has been looking for opportunities to work against Xu Haidong.
Second, Dai Jiying's training timeout was over, and he was caught up by Ma Jiajun
The cavalry regiment of the 35th Division of Ma Hongbin, who had been pursuing the Red Twenty-fifth Army, also came to the town of Xifeng, where ma Fenying of the 209th Regiment was stationed. Ma Hongbin called Ma Peiqing, the commander of the cavalry regiment (who worked in the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference after liberation) and asked him to take the two regiments to a good fight with the Red Army. Considering that the 35th Division was a defeated general under Xu Haidong and had been annihilated by the Red 25th Army in the Battle of Guojiahe in April 1933, Ma Fenying asked Ma Hongbin to send another brigade commander to command on the grounds that he was not good at commanding six battalions of cavalry.
Ma Hongbin was very angry and said on the phone: "You are too broken (eagles), they are miscellaneous rice cubs (rabbits), it is easy to catch miles, don't resign!" Ma Peiqing had to set off first with three cavalry battalions, and Ma Fenying set off with three infantry battalions and another mountain cannon. Why does Ma Hongbin want to fight with the Red Army so much? Because his nephew Ma Kaiji, the commander of the 208th Regiment, was killed by the Red Twenty-fifth Army in the Battle of Jingchuan, this old guy cried bitterly.
At this time, the Red Twenty-fifth Army was stationed in the area of Banqiao Town, Heshui County, and Xu Haidong ordered to eat at 12:30 p.m. and leave at 1:00 a.m. Dai Jiying made trouble again, changing the order to eat at four o'clock and leave at five o'clock. Xu Haidong had no choice but to go with him, and when he arrived at five o'clock, he set off with the 223rd Regiment first. Who knew that after Dai Jiying got up, he went to breakfast, and only after eating did he gather the troops, but instead of setting off immediately, he asked the soldiers to gather and listen to his training, which was more than two hours.
The camp of the cavalry regiment of the 35th Division was eight kilometers away from the town of Banqiao, and Dai Jiying was practicing kung fu, and the cavalry of the Majia Army in Ningxia came over, and the 2nd Battalion of the Red 225 Regiment, which was in charge of guarding the periphery, saw the enemy coming and hurriedly opened fire to block the attack. Ma Peiqing did not know the situation, thinking that he had been ambushed by the Red Army, and seeing that there was an open area all around him and there was no place to hide, he simply gritted his teeth and ordered the 1st and 3rd Battalions of Cavalry to charge directly at the Red Army's positions.
Third, Xu Haidong returned to the aid with a heavy machine gun company
The 2nd Battalion of the Red 225th Regiment was mostly composed of recruits recruited in southern Shaanxi, who had little combat experience and were crushed by the cavalry of the Majia Army. Cheng Zihua, who was sitting on a stretcher, saw that the gunfire was getting closer and closer, and urged Dai Jiying to hurry up, so Dai Jiying took Cheng Zihua and the 1st Battalion of the Red 225 Regiment composed of veterans of the Red Twenty-fifth Army to go first, and ordered Fang Bingren, the leader of the Red 225th Regiment, to lead the 3rd Battalion to stay behind to block the enemy, and this battalion was mostly recruits in southern Shaanxi.
Speaking of Xu Haidong, who was walking in front, when he heard the sound of gunfire behind him, he took the guards and a heavy machine gun company back to see what the situation was, and Qian Zhongxin, the president of the Red Twenty-fifth Army Hospital (the founding major general), also folded back with 15 medical personnel. Xu Haidong returned to Banqiao Town, climbed up the JinpingYuan (a small mound formed by the long-term erosion of rain in the Loess Plateau area) outside the town, and saw that the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Red 225 Regiment had completely collapsed under the impact of the Ningma cavalry and were running back and forth.
Chen Yanqi, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Red 225th Regiment, saw Xu Haidong and reported that the regimental commander Fang Bingren had died in battle, so Xu Haidong quickly withdrew. In order to cover the retreat of the soldiers, Xu Haidong remained on the mound, commanded the three heavy machine guns of the heavy machine gun company to fight, and temporarily suppressed the momentum of the Ningma cavalry.
Ma Peiqing saw that this heavy machine gun position was blocking his way forward, so he sent a part of his troops to copy from the flank and rear, and cooperated with the frontal assault of the 3rd Battalion. Xu Haidong saw that the enemy was attacking on both sides and there were many of them, and the three heavy machine guns could not stand it, so he was forced to order everyone to withdraw from Jinpingyuan. Seeing that the situation was critical, Xu Haidong's groom Li Zhiyuan (nicknamed "Little Monkey") hurried xu Haidong to help him get on his horse, and a few whips went down to let Xu Haidong run away. Zhang Mingxian, political commissar of the Red 225 Regiment, also rode along with a mule, while most of the remaining Red Army soldiers were captured by Ning Ma, including the battalion commander Chen Yanqi (the outcome of which is unknown).
Fourth, Han Xianchu and Liu Zhen saved Xu Haidong
Ma Peiqing, who was directing the battle, saw a man riding a white horse and a man riding a mule running together, and asked, "Which one ran away?" A captured Red Army soldier said, "That's our commander." Hearing that it was the commander of the Red Twenty-fifth Army, Ma Peiqing immediately ordered the two messengers around him to chase after him on horseback, Xu Haidong did not carry a gun, could not fight back, the messenger first caught up with Zhang Mingxian, who was behind, and handed over his gun, and wrestled with him, and finally Zhang Mingxian escaped in the chaos.
Ma Peiqing then organized a group of cavalry to pursue and kill him, and the Ma family army cavalry collectively shouted "capture Xu Haidong alive" and chased to a place more than forty meters away from Xu Haidong. At this moment, Han Xianchu (founding general) and instructor Liu Zhen (founding general) of the 1st Battalion of the Red 223 Regiment finally came to reinforcements with the strength of two companies, and saw that the Majia army cavalry was chasing Xu Haidong, Han Xianchu asked the soldiers to fire together, wounding six enemy cavalry on the spot, and the remaining cavalry jumped off their horses and drilled into the sorghum field to find cover.
Han Xianchu and Liu Zhen asked Xu Haidong to go first, but Xu Haidong refused, and finally Liu Zhen said: "Our battalion has experience in fighting cavalry, so you can rest assured that you can go." Xu Haidong reluctantly left. The two companies of the 1st Battalion of the Red 223rd Regiment then occupied a small high ground behind the sorghum field and blocked the Ma family army for a while, and only after estimating that Xu Haidong had gone far did they withdraw, at this time Ma Peiqing no longer pursued.
Fifth, the return of the lost personnel and the aftermath of the war
In the Battle of Banqiao Town, the Red 25th Army killed and wounded more than 200 people under the regimental commander Fang Bingren, and more than 60 people under the captured battalion commander Chen Yanqi, most of whom were soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Red 225 Regiment and the heavy machine gun company. After Xu Haidong's guard Zhan Danan (the founding major general) fell behind, Shengzhi threw a dozen silver dollars he was carrying on the ground, causing the Ningma cavalry to fight for the silver dollars, and he was able to escape and return to the team. He Yuande, instructor of the 3rd Battalion of the Red 225 Regiment (assassinated by secret agents in 1938), also returned to the team with dozens of people.
The medical team of Qian Xinzhong, the director of the military hospital, did not follow Xu Haidong, and they helped several wounded people to hide in a small ravine, and then took advantage of the darkness, following the direction of footprints and trampled grass, and finally caught up with the large troops. After seeing Xu Haidong and others, Qian Xinzhong and others cried, and they cried not for their own successful escape, but for the fact that many wounded people were not rescued in time. After being captured, some Red Army fighters were released by the enemy because they were too young, and together with other Red Army fighters who were scattered, they returned to the Shaanxi-Gansu region, the number of which can no longer be verified.
After disengaging from Ning Ma, Dai Jiying slapped Zhang Zhendong (the founding major general), deputy commander of the Red 225 Regiment, and tied him up, saying that Zhang Zhendong had destroyed the troops and wanted to shoot him, and that he wanted to punish Liu Zhen, who was "ineffective in rescue." Xu Haidong was very angry, and yelled at Dai Jiying: "You change my orders, the defeat in the battle is all resentful of you, and you must be punished first!" Since Dai Jiying was only the chief of staff of the army at that time, he had no choice but to give up.
Ma Peiqing and his cavalry regiment pursued for several more days, and when they reached the area of Donghuachi in Linzhen Township, Huachi County, Gansu Province, a cavalryman accidentally triggered a grenade and killed a white horse when he took a steamed bun from his pocket. Ma Peiqing felt that the matter was ominous, and coupled with the difficulty of buying grain in front of him, he had to order the pursuit to be stopped. In this way, the remaining 3,400 commanders and fighters of the Red Twenty-fifth Army finally escaped the pursuit of Ningma and entered the Shaanxi-Gansu region.
The author of this article: Deere, "This is the war" to join the author, without the author himself and "this is the war" permission, any media, self-media shall not be reprinted, violators will be investigated for legal responsibility, readers welcome to forward.