Reveal Gao Gang's fierce style in the northwest: bare-armed battle against Laoshan, bricks to kill rebels

Gao Gang is a tragic legendary figure in the history of the Communist Party of China. This tall, strong, and courageous Northwest Han was even more courageous and fierce in the years when he founded the Red Army and revolutionary base areas in northern Shaanxi. The recent biography of Gao Gang, written by Dai Maolin and Zhao Xiaoguang and published by the Shaanxi People's Publishing House, is the first biography of Gao Gang published in China, which records two legendary stories of Gao Gang's early years in the northwest.

Bare-armed battle for Mount Lau

In September 1935, the Red Twenty-fifth Army led by Xu Haidong and Cheng Zihua entered the town of Yongping in northern Shaanxi, joined the main force of the Northwest Red Army led by Liu Zhidan and Gao Gang, and immediately established the Fifteenth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, with Xu Haidong, commander of the regiment, Cheng Zihua, political commissar, Liu Zhidan, deputy commander and chief of staff, and Gao Gang, director of the Political Department.

Just as the two armies were meeting, the 110th and 129th Divisions of the Kuomintang Northeast Army had already entered Yan'an and were advancing toward the base area with great momentum.

After Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army was pushed by Chiang Kai-shek to the front line of "suppressing the Communists" in the northwest, it had not yet really fought with the Red Army, nor did it pay attention to these "communist bandits" who looked rustic. In view of the arrogance and arrogance of the Northeast Army, the Red Fifteenth Army determined the operational policy of pretending to attack Ganquan and besieging the city for reinforcement. First, a regiment of the Eighty-first Division pretended to attack Ganquan, and the main force was ambushed at Laoshan Mountain, 30 miles north of Ganquan. When the 110th Division hurriedly reinforced the Ganquan garrison from Yan'an, it fell into the ambush circle of our army. At this time, the main force of the Red Army suddenly launched a fierce attack, and although the Northeast Army desperately resisted, it fought fiercely for six hours, completely annihilated the two regiments of the division and the division's direct subordinates, captured more than 3,700 people, and the division commander He Lizhong and the chief of staff Pei Huancai were killed.

In the first great victory after the formation of the Red Fifteenth Army, Gao Gang, as the director of the Political Department, did not stay in the headquarters, but came to the front of the position of the Seventy-eighth Division. When our army launched its final assault, Gao Gang threw off his shirt, brandished his pistol, and rushed toward the enemy with his bare arms with the soldiers.

This is the high post that people often talk about later on, "Bare Arm Battle Laoshan".

Growing up on the high slopes of the loess soil, Gao gang has the gengzhi of the northwestern people and the hero of the northeast people, the temperament is outgoing, dare to say dare to do, and Jia Tuofu, who has worked with gaogang for many years, once commented that gaogang is thick and thin, he said that on the one hand, the impression of gao is very brave, and from the appearance, it can also be seen that people are fierce; on the other hand, I feel that he is a little rough, the level is not high, and life is romantic.

Bricks kill rebels

Gao Gang gave the impression of speaking vulgarly and acting recklessly, but he was not an uneducated warrior; he had studied in high school, attended middle school, and entered military academy; in the era when the Communist Party led the poor to make a revolution, Gao Gang's education level was not low, and he was approachable, extremely good at talking, and very inflammatory. Gao Gang's tough style is more vivid in another story.

In 1936, our Party issued the Declaration to the Brotherhood of elders, and the Mongolian Working Committee immediately responded, immediately establishing a Brotherhood Guest House in Sanduan City (located in the Ikzhao League) and sending people everywhere to communicate with each other. For a time, the brotherhood organizations in various localities responded to the wind and rushed to the scene, which made our party's voice and mighty. Most of the brotherhoods were poor peasant groups, but there were also gangs of bandits and hooligans and thugs who were milk and wives and posed a great threat to the revolutionary cause. One of the leaders of the Brotherhood was Li Dabaozi, who was lured by money from Kuomintang agents to prepare to instigate an armed rebellion. After hearing the news in Yan'an, Gao Gang immediately led a guerrilla group to the Brotherhood Guest House. At the forum, Gao Gang asked everyone what their thoughts and opinions were on our party's policies and principles, and Li Da braided immediately stood up and said that this was not right, that it was also wrong, and that he was trying to deceive people's minds and arouse public indignation. Gao Gang was furious, but he did not show his face, pretended to approve, took advantage of his lack of preparation, picked up a brick from the ground and slammed it, and Li Da's braid burst out of his brain on the spot and died. The rest of the individual echoers were all stunned, and seeing that Li Da's braids were dead and the dragons were leaderless, they had to kneel down and beg for forgiveness. Our army did not lose a single person, did not fire a single shot, and quickly put down the rebellion.

Gao Gang was 31 years old at the time, tall and strong, had been in the army for nearly ten years, had broken through the knives and guns countless times, and shot fiercely in a hurry, which was quite in line with his reckless character. This article was originally published in the "Literature and History Reference"