During the Long March, the Red Army fought many fierce battles, but only the Battle of Xiangjiang impressed many generals of the Red Army. At the time
The commander of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Red 1st Army was Geng Biao, the political commissar Yang Chengwu, who was a native of Hunan and loved to eat fish very much, but in an interview with his son, Geng Biao's son said: "Father loves to eat fish, but he does not eat Xiangjiang fish alone, the Xiangjiang Campaign, fought for five days and five nights, just to wait for the passage of the central column, the casualties of the troops are particularly large, the political commissar Yang Chengwu was seriously injured, and his father said that this battle was the most bitter one. ”
Geng Biao learned martial arts from an early age and was tall, and when Yan'an carried out a large-scale production campaign during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Geng Biao personally beat several tigers and gave them to Chairman Mao. For General Geng Biao, who participated in the revolution at the age of 16, what kind of hard battles and what kind of fierce bloody battles have been experienced, so why is he so impressed by the Battle of the Xiangjiang River? How fiercely was the Battle of the Xiangjiang River fought in those years?
In late September 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized more than 1 million troops and more than 200 aircraft to carry out the fifth encirclement and suppression of the revolutionary base areas in the Ruijin Soviet District, of which more than 500,000 troops attacked the Central Soviet Region. The Kuomintang army adopted the tactics of protracted warfare and fortress warfare as the mainstay, taking step by step as a battalion, fighting steadily and steadily, tightly encircling the base areas, and depleting the strength of the Red Army. Due to the prevalence of left-leaning adventurism at that time, the main force of the Red Army suffered heavy losses and had to carry out a major strategic shift, that is, the Long March.
In mid-October 1934, the Central Red Army left more than 30,000 people in the base area to continue the battle, the main force of the Red Army, the First Army, the Third Army, the Fifth Army, the Eighth Army, the Ninth Army, together with the rear organs a total of more than 86,000 people to break through to the west, the main force of the Red Army continuously broke through the enemy's three blockade lines, until the Xiang River.
In order to eliminate the Central Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 300,000 troops to encircle and block. On November 27, 1934, the 2nd Division of the 1st Red Army crossed the Xiang River and controlled the 30-kilometer crossing of the Xiang River between Jiaoshanpu and Jieshou, and on the 28th, the 10th Regiment of the 4th Division of the 4th Division of the Red 3rd Army also crossed the Xiang River and entered the area of Guanghuapu and Fengshanpu south of Jieshou. The Red 5th Army held the areas of Jiang Jialing, Yong'an Pass, and Leikou Pass, and the Kuomintang army that was slowly pursuing was covered by the follow-up troops.
At this time, the follow-up troops, especially the first and second columns of the central government, were only 80 kilometers away from the Xiangjiang ferry, but because Bogu, Li De and others were unwilling to give up the heavy weights they had moved from the Soviet zone, the troops moved very slowly, and the blocking troops suffered huge casualties.
The Red Fourth Regiment led by Geng Biao was the first to cross the Xiang River, and this unit was ordered to hold on to The Bozi Ridge in the arms of Jueshan Pu. At the beginning of the battle, the battle was unprecedentedly fierce, and the Kuomintang army, supported by more than 20 aircraft, launched a frenzied attack on our positions. Before the battle began, Geng Biao felt that the number of enemy troops was not quite right, at first they received orders to block one regiment of the enemy, and then found that there were five regiments, and later in the report of the Red Army division headquarters, it was said that the enemy army had nine regiments, but what Geng Biao did not expect was that in the end, they received accurate information that there were a total of 15 regiments attacking their positions.
The Red Fourth Regiment and the enemy fought until November 30, and the Jianfengling position under the responsibility of the Red 5th Regiment next to the Red Fourth Regiment had been lost, and all but a very small number of red regiments broke through. After the flanks of the Red Fourth Regiment were exposed, they were immediately surrounded by the enemy on three sides, and the casualties of the Red Fourth Regiment also reached two-thirds, and the political commissar Yang Chengwu's right knee was hit by a stray bullet, and the blood flowed like blood. In this case, Geng Biao had to personally pick up the saber and charge the enemy.
Geng Biao was infected with malaria at the time, and after several rounds of fighting with the enemy, his whole body was splashed with blood plasma, and the smell of blood made him vomit constantly. Fortunately, the Red Fourth Regiment held its position and successfully blocked wave after wave of enemy charge, and when retreating, the soldiers carried the seriously wounded regimental commander political commissar off the battlefield.
The Red First Army fought fiercely, and the other legions were not much better. On November 28, under the cover of machine gunfire, the Gui Army launched an attack on the forward position of the Red Fifth Division of the Red Third Army, and Li Tianyou, commander of the Red Fifth Division, commanded the troops to calmly respond to the battle, blocking the road with intensive firepower and killing a large number of enemies. However, the combat effectiveness of the Gui army was also very strong, very good at mountain combat, the commander-in-chief of the Gui army at that time was Bai Chongxi, the number two figure of the Gui clan, who was known as Xiao Zhuge and had good military ability, he commanded the Gui army to constantly attack the flanks of the Red Fifth Division, and many companies of the Red Fifth Division could not get a squad.
On the 29th, the Gui army continued to invest troops, and also invested six aircraft to participate in the battle, Bai Chongxi commanded the Gui army to combine frontal attack and roundabout attack, forcing the Red Army's fortified hill into a desperate situation. The Red Army and the Gui Army launched a fierce white-knife battle, and the casualties on both sides were not small, the political commissar of the 14th Regiment of the Red Fifth Division was wounded, the regimental commander was killed, the political commissar of the 15th Regiment, the regimental commander was wounded, the three battalion commanders were killed, hu Zhen, chief of staff of the Red Fifth Division, was sacrificed, and the entire division could not fight a regiment, leaving more than 1,000 people.
Even more tragic was the Red 34th Division, which, from November 26, Chen Shuxiang, commander of the Red 34th Division, led his troops to engage the enemy in frequent exchanges of fire, repelling one enemy attack after another. After four days and five nights of fighting with the enemy, finally persisted until the early morning of the 30th, guaranteed the Red First Army, the two main armies of the Red Third Army opened a passage in front, and fought for precious time for the two columns of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission to cross the river, at this time, the Red 34th Division had been sharply reduced from 6,000 people to more than 1,000 people, but at this time, the Red 34th Division was again given the task of going to the foot of the maple tree to block the Gui army, in fact, at this time, the foot of the maple tree had been lost, and the wrong orders of the superior caused the red 34th division to go deep alone. In the end, the entire army was destroyed, and Chen Shuxiang committed suicide by tearing off his intestines after being captured.
The Red Eighth Army was a newly formed unit before the Long March, under the jurisdiction of the Red 21st Division, the Red 23rd Division two divisions a total of more than 10,000 people, in the battle with the enemy, the Red Eighth Army fought more than 600 people, almost the entire army was destroyed. The situation of the Red Ninth Army was not much stronger than that of the Red Eighth Army, and the Red 22nd Division of the Red Ninth Army suffered more than 4,000 casualties, almost completely destroyed. The Young International Division of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army fought more than 7,000 people, leaving more than 2,700 people.
The battle was not until December 3 that the main force of the Red Army crossed the Xiang River. After the end of this battle, the Central Red Army fought more than 30,000 people from the 86,000 people before the departure, and this battle left a deep impression on all the officers and men of the Red Army who participated in the war.