History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
Around October 1934, in the face of repeated heavy encirclement and suppression by the enemy army and the economic blockade of the Nationalist government, several main units of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army had difficulty in survival and were forced to carry out strategic transfers. They left several core base areas and marched to the western region, eventually reaching the northern Shaanxi region, known in history as the 25,000-mile long march. In October 1936, the three fronts of the Red Army finally met in Huining, Gansu, an event that marked the end of the victory of the Long March. After being reorganized the following year, they officially threw themselves into the torrent of anti-Japanese resistance.
At that time, the main forces of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army were mainly: the Central Red Army, represented by Zhu De, was mainly deployed in the southern region centered on Jiangxi, plus the local troops had nearly 100,000 officers and men; the Red Army in the western Hunan region, represented by He Long, and after meeting with Xiao Ke's Red 6Th army division, it soon grew to nearly 20,000 people; the Red Army near Bashan in northern Sichuan was represented by Xu Xiangqian, that is, the Red Fourth Front, which had no less than 80,000 people; the Red Army in the Eyu-Anhui region was represented by Xu Haidong, that is, the Red 25Th Army, which often remained at more than 3,000 people. Less than 7,000 people.
According to my rough count, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army had about 300,000 men in its heyday, annihilating hundreds of thousands of enemies before and after. However, the enemy army invested millions of officers and men before and after, and repeatedly surrounded and suppressed the main red base areas. At the same time, the National Government imposed a strict economic blockade on these base areas. These red base areas were quickly depleted of resources, depleted of troops, short of food and clothing for the troops, and particularly short of medicine and ammunition. Under this grim situation, these units had no choice but to leave their base areas and prepare to open up new base areas in other areas.
Around October 1934, the Central Red Army first sent more than 6,000 people from the Red 7th Army to the east to attract the attention of the enemy. Then, under the cover of night, the five main armies of the Central Red Army plus the directly subordinate columns totaled 86,789 people left the Gannan Soviet area. At that time, the whole army had more than 40,000 guns and less than 1 million rounds of ammunition, and many people had to charge and fight with large knives and spears. Before crossing the Xiang River, the whole army had lost no less than 20,000 people, but some new soldiers were replenished along the road, so there were still 70,000 people. Subsequently, the Battle of Xiangjiang broke out!
In the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, due to the mechanical command of some central leaders and the reluctance to throw away those heavy weights and altar jars, the Central Red Army was quickly blocked by hundreds of thousands of enemy troops on the riverside. After nearly ten days of bloody fighting, less than 40,000 people crossed the Xiang River. It is said that the enemy in front of them lost less than 20,000 people. Then, the remaining troops went through twists and turns to meet the main divisions of the Western Sichuan and Red Fourth Fronts. At this time, the Central Red Army was short of clothing, food, and ammunition, and only more than 10,000 people were left. Still, their morale is very high.
The Central Red Army and the Red Fourth Front soon broke up because of route problems and went north alone to the northern Shaanxi region. According to statistics, less than 7,000 people came to northern Shaanxi, including some officers and soldiers sent by the Red Fourth Front, such as Zhang Renchu, Hu Bingyun, Yang Guofu and others. After meeting the local Red 15th Army in northern Shaanxi, the Red Army in northern Shaanxi finally reached more than 10,000 people. In the spring of 1936, the Red Army invaded Shanxi in the east, and successively expanded no less than 6,000 new recruits. In this way, the team grew to nearly 20,000 people, and gradually recovered.
After the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, He Long returned to western Hunan and soon created the famous Xiang'e west base area, and formed the Red 3Rd Army, the predecessor of the Red 2nd Army. At the end of October 1934, the Red 3rd Army and Xiao Ke's Red 6th Army met near the Chuanqian Border Region. After the reorganization, the two corps had a total of 8,000 men. Subsequently, the two legions came to western Hunan together, annihilating tens of thousands of enemies and growing to nearly 20,000 themselves. He Long became the commander of the Red 2 Corps, and Xiao Ke served as the commander of the Red 6 Army.
Faced with the encirclement and suppression of nearly 300,000 enemy troops, the main force of the Red Army in western Hunan was forced to leave the base area and turn to the northwestern region of Qianxi. After the troops arrived in the western Sichuan region, they met the 88th Division of the Red Fourth Front near Ganzi. Then, the Red Fourth Front assigned more than 1,000 people from the Red 32nd Army under its command to He Long's troops. At this time, the Red Second Front was finally established, under the jurisdiction of the Red 2Nd Army and the Red 6th Army, as well as Luo Binghui's Red 32nd Army. However, after coming out of the meadows and arriving at the Ganshan Border Region, this force was soon besieged by the enemy army and lost thousands of people.
In October 1936, the Red Second Front came to Huining, Gansu Province, and met with the Red Front. Previously, the Red Army and the Red Fourth Front had already met in Huining. At this time, the Red Second Front had about 11,000 men. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, this unit was reorganized into the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, with a total of 14,000 people. He Long and Xiao Ke served as the chief and deputy division commanders, Guan Xiangying as the director of the division's political training office, and Zhou Shidi as the division's chief of staff. Soon, this team came to the northwestern region of Jin to carry out the anti-Japanese struggle, and later developed into the Jinsui Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.
As for the Red Fourth Front, its main activities were in the northern Sichuan region. Since the resources in the northern Sichuan region have been depleted and the source of soldiers has been basically cut off, according to the words of some elderly people, the base area has dried up. In this context, the main force of the Front first launched an attack on the southern Shaanxi region, but did not retreat. Subsequently, the plan to build the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu base area also failed. As a result, the main force of the Red Fourth Front began to march towards western Sichuan. According to statistics, there are more than 80,000 people in the whole army, plus miscellaneous organs and some people accompanying the army, there are no less than 100,000 soldiers and civilians.
In June 1935, the Red Fourth Front and the remnants of the Central Red Army met in the western Sichuan region. In September, the 5th and 32nd Armies of the Central Red Army were incorporated into the Left Route Army of the Red Army, and later followed the Red Fourth Front. The Red Fourth Front had some differences with the Central Red Army on the question of whether to go north or south. As a result, after moving south, it was besieged by heavy enemy troops. After the main force of the Red Fourth Front went north, it came out of the meadow, and at this time there were 40,000 people left. When Huining met the division, Xu Xiangqian's troops were about 35,000 or more, less than 40,000.
After the three main forces met in Huining, the main force of the Red Fourth Front was ordered to cross the Yellow River and kill the Hexi Corridor. Due to being intercepted by the enemy's 25th Division and other units, two armies with a total of more than 10,000 people failed to cross the river and then came to northern Shaanxi. As for the 22,000 people who crossed the Yellow River, they were soon besieged by the Majia Army in the northwest, and almost all of them were destroyed. Only a few thousand people either returned to northern Shaanxi, or returned to their hometowns, or wandered all over the northwest. The remaining 10,000 men were later reorganized into the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the predecessor of the Second Field Army.
After introducing the above three fronts, I began to introduce the famous Red 25th Army. In the autumn of 1932, the main force of the Red Fourth Front left the Eyu-Anhui region and later moved to northern Sichuan. Wu Huanxian and others quickly rebuilt the Red 25th Army with some troops and local armed forces and continued to persist in armed struggle in the Dabie Mountain area. In November 1934, about 3,000 people in this army were ordered to start the Long March, the commander was Cheng Zihua, the political commissar was Wu Huanxian, the deputy commander was Xu Haidong, the chief of staff was Dai Jiying, the director of the political department was Zheng Weisan, and the deputy director was Guo Shushen.
The Red 25th Army passed through the Eyu-Shaanxi Border Region and opened up the Eyu-Anhui Base Area, which was under the responsibility of Zheng Weisan and Chen Xianrui and others, and left a group of officers and soldiers behind. Before the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the Red Army in this area had grown to about 2,000 people, and was later reorganized as the remaining post of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The main force of the Red 25th Army continued north, and in September 1935 it met with the Red Army in northern Shaanxi. Subsequently, the Red 25th Army and the Northern Shaanxi Red 26th Army and the Red 27th Army were merged into the Red 15th Army. The whole army had 6,000 men and was later reorganized into the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
However, it is said that the remnants of the Red Army are less than 7,000 people, and they are merged with the Red 15Th Army to form the new Red Army. At this time, the Red Army reached 13,000 people, under the jurisdiction of the Red 1 Army and the Red 15 Army, with Peng Dehuai as the commander. Shortly after the meeting, the Red Army surrounded and annihilated one division and one regiment of the Northeast Army near the town of Zhiluo in Shaanxi, thus consolidating the Shaanxi-Gansu base area. Subsequently, the Red Army successively expanded to the surrounding areas, which had grown to about 20,000 people before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and was later reorganized into the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
In October 1936, the three fronts met in Huining, Gansu. Then, the main force of the Red Fourth Front, about 22,000 people, crossed the Yellow River and marched towards the Hexi Corridor. More than 10,000 people who did not succeed in crossing the river and friendly troops came to northern Shaanxi together. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, there were three fronts, each of which had two armies under its jurisdiction. Together with local troops and directly subordinate units, before the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Red Army in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region had grown to more than 60,000 people. As for the Red Army guerrillas in the south, less than 10,000 people survived, which were later reorganized into the New Fourth Army.
Strictly speaking, after the Long March, the remaining troops are: the Central Red Army has about 7,000 people, the Red 25Th Army has less than 3,500 people, the Red Fourth Front Army has less than 15,000 people, and the Red Second Front Army has less than 12,000 people, for a total of less than 40,000 people. However, the Red Army in northern Shaanxi had 3,000 people, and there were thousands of Red Army troops in the Eyu-Anhui region. Therefore, the total number of people in the whole army is about 40,000. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, these units were reorganized into the Eighth Route Army and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Left Guard Corps, totaling about 50,000 people. These units are the most core contingent of our army and the hope of the nation.
To add, when I wrote this article, I read a lot of materials and memoirs of old cadres. It may be that it is old, and there are various numbers, so I have only chosen the more consistent ones. Less than 40,000 people came to northern Shaanxi, nearly 5,000 officers and men in northern shaanxi and southern Shaanxi, and less than 5,000 people from the Western Route Army returned to northern Shaanxi. After a year of army expansion, the Red Army in the northwest region grew to more than 60,000 people, with a claim of 74,000 people. Of course, about 50,000 people were reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and many troops remained in the rear.
Of course, there are other accounts, in 1962 a leader recalled that less than 30,000 people came to northern Shaanxi. Marshal Peng Dehuai recalled that less than 35,000 Red Army troops were reorganized into the Eighth Route Army and the Eighth Route Army's Remaining Corps. According to this statistics, more than 200,000 Red Army troops participated in the Long March, and many new soldiers were added on the way, totaling more than 300,000 people. But less than 40,000 people came to northern Shaanxi, and with the addition of other troops in the northwest region, it was around 40,000 people. After replenishment, before the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the Red Army in the northwest had grown to about 70,000 people.
The red army guerrillas in the south shall be in fourteen provinces and twenty-one guerrilla areas. It is mainly based on the bases of Eyubian, Western Anhui, Xiang'egan, Shonan, Western Fujian, Southwest Zhejiang, Eastern Fujian, and Gansu-Guangdong, with a total strength of no less than 50,000 troops. Together with the replenishment of soldiers before the outbreak of the War of Resistance, there were nearly 100,000 people before and after. I have also counted that about 10,000 people have been reorganized into the New Fourth Army, with four detachments under its jurisdiction, with Ye Ting and Xiang Ying as the main and deputy commanders. About 3,000 men were absorbed by the local army, and thousands more refused to go down the mountain, and the troops who refused to go down the mountain were quickly completely annihilated.