At midnight on the 30th, our regiment arrived at the watermill camp, and the 6th Division of the 3rd Army had been ordered to rush to the Xiang River, and the unexpected encounter with our regiment was the 34th Division of the 5th Army, which was responsible for the rear guard of the whole army, so our regiment invisibly became one of the rear guards of the whole army. For our new force, it is an excessively heavy burden. At dawn, silver frost is everywhere, and autumn winds are cold. We greeted the morning light and followed the Red 9th Army from the left flank to the bank of the Xiang River.
The 34th Division of the 5th Corps remained in the waterwheel for cover. When my Red 8Th Legion was struggling to advance, I heard fierce gunfire on the right flank, and the air was raining down, knowing that the main regiment of the right flank was breaking through the enemy's blockade line. Then, from the direction of the waterwheel, there was another gunshot, and the cover battle against the pursuing enemy of the 34th Division began. Our regiment marched behind the Red 9 Corps, only an hour apart, and at first we heard some fragmentary gunshots in front of us, and we did not know what was going on.
Director Luo Ronghuan said to me: "You are more familiar with the situation in Guangxi, go to the front to understand the situation." ”
After I accepted the task, I rode in front with the sharp platoon. Walking, walking, suddenly, just listening to "Bang! syllable! A few gunshots followed by "Da! Yikes! Yikes! "With a loud bang, rifles and machine guns came from the jungle on the mountainside of a hundred meters ahead, and the commander of the sharp platoon behind me was wounded. I was also hit in my saddle. I immediately jumped off my horse and assisted the command team in dispersing on the spot and attacking forward. After a while, the commander of the vanguard quickly caught up, reconnoitred the enemy, and commanded the troops to occupy the position. At this time, I also clarified the situation.
It turned out that after more than an hour of the Red 9 Corps, a Guangxi enemy army came from the direction of Guanyang and began to hear the sound of fragmented gunfire, which was the comrade they had beaten the 9th Army and left behind. We must repel the enemy in front and clear the obstacles before we can continue to advance, otherwise, the pursuing enemy in the rear will suppress the 34th Division, and we will be attacked from front to back. So the head of the legion ordered a strong attack. However, the enemy has already occupied the main positions first, and his reinforcements have arrived one after another, and it is not clear how many people there are, and it seems that it will be difficult for us to eliminate the enemy in a short period of time. At that time, the 9th Army had gone far, the right wing of the gunfire had become sparse, and the farther it was getting farther and farther away, it was estimated that it had broken through the enemy's blockade line, and if we did not clear the road as soon as possible, its situation would be very dangerous.
At 3 p.m., enemy planes flew in, flying low only 300 meters above the ground, and strafing down with machine guns during dives. In addition to the combat troops, our army's luggage, food burdens, horses, stretchers, etc. are scattered on the mountains, looking for hidden places everywhere. The enemy planes were even more imposing, and their machine guns continued to strafe downwards. At this point, the gunfire of the 34th Division behind us was loud, and this was the last time we heard the voice of this division.
Sometimes the enemy and I were almost mixed together, and the enemy's pursuers were tens of meters away from the corps command organ. Director Luo Ronghuan often took out his pistol and directly participated in the battle like the personnel of the organs. Twilight has fallen. Depending on the situation, our legion can no longer pass from the front, but how to catch up with the main force? Judging from the distant gunshots ahead and the hovering of the planes over the far side, the main force was already tens of miles away from our regiment, and we must quickly rendezvous from the flanks, otherwise it would be more difficult to move when it was dark. Therefore, the legion decided to concentrate the organ's luggage, food burdens, horses, etc. to set off first, and the combat troops confronted the enemy for a while and then withdrew, and hurriedly advanced in the direction of the logistics troops that had set off first. In the hazy moonlight, exhausted warriors stumbled along. While walking and napping, the stomach is hungry, and you can only rely on the little dry food you carry to fill your hunger. Gunshots kept coming from the distance, and the troops did not dare to stop and rest. The warriors became more and more anxious as they walked, but their pace became slower and slower. The queues are getting thinner and thinner, and more and more are left behind. Even those propagandists who encourage others to move forward cannot walk on their own.
I marched on foot with the combat troops, and I was already extremely tired, and my feet began to swell again. I had to hurry with my stick and grit my teeth, and I didn't dare to stop no matter how tired I was, for fear of not being able to keep up with the team, and once I rested, it would be difficult to get up again. In this extremely tense, extremely tired situation, we walked more than 50 kilometers.
At dawn, we came to a flat dam on the side of a road, surrounded by fire, as if there were many troops camping. We analyzed that it may have been the logistics unit that set off first, but we did not see the sentry, and we felt strange. Walking further, I heard a horse hissing at me a few times on the side of the road. I blinked my eyes, ah! It turned out that the old yellow horse that Comrade Shaoqi had given me was greeting me! Comrade Shaoqi once said that it has a good memory, but it seems that it is indeed not bad. I was very happy, hurried over, and saw the breeder Lao Zhang sleeping on the side of the road, so I immediately called him up and asked about the situation: "Are all the comrades you set out first here?" "No, the food burden rested for a while and left!" He replied sleepily. "What about you?" "I'm here waiting for you!" And the captain of the legion, the keepers, are also waiting for you here! "What troops are nearby?" Why are there so many fires around? "No, they're all left behind!" "Have you fed the horses?" "I've eaten hay and I've drunk water!" "Let's go!"
After urging the comrades around me to get on the road, I immediately got on my horse and ran forward. Staying here is dangerous, and the enemy will soon chase after you. The old yellow horse is very energetic, "boo, boo, boo" on the main road rhythmically. I was already very tired, sitting on a horse, shaking, feeling very comfortable, while snoozing and thinking, I really want to thank Comrade Shaoqi for giving me this horse, without it, my feet are swollen and I can't walk, I may fall behind; if it is not the breeder Lao Zhang loyal to me, who can put the horse on the side of the road waiting for me; if it is not such a good horse, it may be lost, and if you don't know, then it is likely that you will not be able to get out of the dangerous situation!
After about 10 kilometers of walking, we came to a small town 20 kilometers away from the Xiang River, and the sky was already bright. Dogs bark and chickens chirp, as if urging people who are asleep to get up early, but we have walked more than 100 kilometers in a row and have not closed our eyes! The streets of the town are straight and cleaner, and some comrades want to lie down and sleep before leaving, but this town is not a place to stay for a long time. It is understood that the main force has crossed the Xiang River, and we must quickly rush to the Fenghuangzui ferry port to cross the river. As soon as I left the street, under the reflection of the rising reddish sun, I saw books and documents on the ground next to the road, a mess, including "Introduction to Leninism", "Marxist Political Economy", "The Land Question", "Basic Problems of the Chinese Revolution", "Infantry Exercise Code", and many maps, bookcases, books in foreign languages, and so on. Some of the books remain untouched, some are torn apart, and some are scattered and splashed with mud page by page, which are the books in the library that the Red Army transport personnel have painstakingly transported from Ruijin, and they are also our ideological weapons and materials necessary for battle, and now we have to throw them away and burn them. The two bundles of books and documents I had brought from the Central Soviet District were still hanging on horseback, and I was still reluctant to throw them away.
Marching on the road was originally easy to walk, but the soldiers were too tired and too hungry, and those who were accustomed to walking on the mountain road had to work hard, feeling that the 20-kilometer road was too far, the knee pain was unbearable, and every step forward had to exert all their strength. Some of the warriors walked and fell asleep on the side of the road, and we woke up this one, and the other lay down again. Along the way, the political workers of the various companies used the time they might use to give propaganda, explanation, and encouragement to the soldiers, explaining our situation, the importance of rushing to cross the Xiang River and the tasks we were undertaking, pointing out that we were still under heavy siege by the enemy, and that we must rush to the crossing point as soon as possible to cross the Xiang River, otherwise the enemy would cut off the way.
It has been learned that the 34th Division, which was originally the queen of the palace, has taken another road, not behind us, and behind the palace is our 8th Army, which we endured hunger and fatigue, and when we walked to guangxi, about a few kilometers away from the Fenghuangzui ferry, an enemy plane appeared in our head and dropped bombs and strafed along the road against our troops. And there is no concealment on both sides of the road, and there is no time to allow us to stop and hide, in order to seize time, we can only brave the strafing and bombing of enemy aircraft to advance, and there is nothing more difficult and dangerous than the march in this dangerous situation. Everyone is determined to make the greatest sacrifice, and life and death are not taken into account. Along the way, many comrades died under the bombardment and strafing of enemy planes, and the enemy planes could only take the lives of some of us, but they could not finally solve the battle. Near the sides of the road, there are other sporadic troops rushing towards the Phoenix Mouth Ferry, indicating that the crossing of the river has not yet been completed. Our Red 8th Army, which was acting as a cover, could no longer advance, so it hurriedly set up a guard and prepared to meet the pursuing enemy to cover the troops who had not yet crossed the river. After setting up the vigilance, I arranged to cook rice to eat. I don't know where the food burden went, so the units had to send someone to cook it. There were no vegetables, no salt, no bowls, and everyone ate them in hats. Before the meal was finished, the enemy came from the side. We wrapped up the unfinished meal in our hats, immediately took up arms, and climbed the mountain to resist.
At this time, the troops in front had all crossed the Xiang River, and our cover task had been completed, so we retreated while fighting and advancing towards the ferry. At noon on December 1, our regiment finally arrived at the Fenghuangzui ferry on the Xiang River. Everyone saw the sparkling river and felt a little relieved, because we rushed to the Xiang River in front of the enemy. The Phoenix Mouth Ferry is the upper reaches of the Xiang River, the river surface is more than 100 meters wide, the river water is not deep, but it can be cold and bone-cold. We had just reached the riverside ferry, and the sound of pursuing enemy gunshots came from behind. Enemy planes repeatedly bombed and strafed over the ferry, stirring up columns of water on the river surface, and the temporary pontoon bridge erected at the ferry port had been blown up. We immediately braved the rain of bullets to rush into the river and crossed the river in vain. I walked in front of the regimental organs and some comrades of the 23rd Division, and when we reached the center of the river, the water flooded to the armpits, and everyone carried their guns and luggage and struggled to move to the other side, and the diminutive ones only showed their heads on the river surface, and some female comrades could not get over, so they grabbed the tail of the mule and crossed it. During the rush to cross the river, many comrades were shot and fell into the river, swept away by the rushing river Water Just after arriving at the opposite shore, the enemy plane swooped down again, and we lay down in the depression of the beach, waiting for the enemy plane to drop bombs and strafe, and then rushed into a lush forest on the shore. The books and documents I brought from the Central Soviet District were all lost during this river crossing. The gunfire on the east bank of the river became more and more intense, and we continued to run forward in the woods. At this time, the enemy had already pursued to the riverside, and the troops of our regiment who had not crossed the river engaged in several fierce battles with the enemy, with great losses and chaotic structure, and most of the comrades could not cross the river.
At night, we stopped camping in the woods of the mountain. Looking at the comrades around me, many familiar faces were gone, and I felt very heavy in my heart, although I was tired, I always couldn't sleep, and in front of my eyes were those comrades-in-arms who had fallen into the river and had suffered together. The next morning when the troops were sorted out, almost all of our 21st Division was lost, the 23rd Division was also seriously reduced, and the whole regiment was left with less than 2,000 men. The entire Red Army unit suffered heavy casualties in this battle, and was seriously injured, and quite a few comrades were physically exhausted. The 34th Division, in order to cover our army's crossing of the Xiang River, was cut off by the enemy and collapsed. By this time, the number of personnel in the Red Army and the central organs had been sharply reduced from more than 80,000 to more than 30,000. The Battle of Xiangjiang was the fiercest, cruelest and most costly battle on the Long March. However, our heroic commanders and fighters of the Red Army, in the face of a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, fought with blood and blood stained the Xiang River, fought bitterly for a week, and finally crossed the Xiang River in victory and broke through the enemy's fourth blockade line. After crossing the Xiang River, our army entered the western extension of the mountains and advanced in the rolling mountains. It's really bloodstained to look back, and looking forward is the vast expanse of clouds.