In January 1933, the Sichuan warlord Tian Songyao took the oath in Chengdu and took the post of inspector of the "suppression of bandits" in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Border Region, mobilizing nearly 60,000 people from 38 regiments, divided into three roads, left, center, and right, to besiege the revolutionary base area of Sichuan and Shaanxi.
1. When soldiers come to block, Xu Forward formulates a strategy to resist the enemy
Tian Songyao made Sun Zhen the commander-in-chief of the former enemy and was headquartered in Langzhong. Tian Songyao's offensive deployment was to take the left column (including the 1st, 4th, and 5th Divisions) as the main attack, under the command of Wang Mingzhang, commander of the 4th Division, and assemble in the Wangcangba area, with the intention of capturing the Nanjiang River, controlling the southern foothills of daba Mountain, and preventing the Red Army from retreating to southern Shaanxi.
The central column, commanded by Zeng Nanfu, commander of the 2nd Division, assembled west of the Enyang River with the intention of capturing Bazhong and occupying Tongjiang. The right column, commanded by Luo Naiqiong, commander of the 3rd Division, was assembled at Yilong, mainly in coordination with the central column. The three-way army was assembled in early February and launched a general offensive on the 12th.
At that time, the Red Fourth Front's army did not enter Sichuan for a long time, its foothold was unstable, and the number of troops was only one-third of that of the enemy, and it was very difficult to overcome the siege of the powerful three-way army. However, the Sichuan warlords were full of internal contradictions, and although Liu Xiang, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao, on the surface, stopped the melee, in fact had their own small calculations.
Xu Xiangqian calmly analyzed the situation, and he pointed out that although the enemy is strong and we are weak, the enemy is not united internally, it is difficult to keep pace, and the enemy is superior in number but not strong in combat effectiveness. From a geographical point of view, the northern part of Sichuan has dense mountains and dense forests, ravines and ravines, and is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is beneficial to our army.
Based on this analysis, Xu Xiangqian formulated a strategic plan for active defense by "tightening the position". That is, relying on the dangerous passes of the mountains with a small number of troops, building defensive positions, blocking the enemy layer by layer, and at the same time exhausting the enemy by means of night raids and surprise attacks, so as to achieve the goal of depleting the enemy in large quantities, and then, taking the initiative to abandon the position and retreat inward, gradually tighten the position, concentrate the troops, wait for the enemy to attack the defensive line to appear flawed, wait for the opportunity to carry out a counterattack, expand the results of the battle, and finally powder the enemy's siege.
2. Tighten the position and block the enemy army layer by layer
On February 12, Tian Songyao's three-way army launched an attack. On the 18th, the enemy attacked the left bank of the Ba River.
Nanjiang direction: The main force of the enemy's left column launched an attack on Sanjiangba, Mumen, and Changchi respectively. The Red 73rd and 11th Divisions occupied favorable terrain and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. Seeing that the attack was frustrated, Tian Songyao immediately adjusted his tactics, concentrated his left wing forces, and launched a fierce attack on Changchi in an attempt to break through Changchi and directly attack the Nanjiang River.
The Red Army took advantage of the solid positions of GaobiZhai and Zhongkui Mountain to stubbornly resist and destroy nearly 5,000 enemy personnel in ten days. Xu Xiangqian saw that the purpose of depleting the enemy had been achieved, and ordered the Red 11th Division to take the initiative to withdraw from Changchi and block the enemy at the front line of the Eight Temples.
On March 8, Xu Xiangqian concentrated the 11th and 73rd Divisions to carry out a small counterattack, killing the enemy regimental commander He Jimin, and then voluntarily withdrawing from the Eight Temples. Subsequently, the 73rd Division took the initiative to withdraw from Nanjiang City, and after inflicting a large number of casualties on the enemy at the Jiaoziya and Liang Forts, it gradually tightened its position with the 11th Division and blocked the enemy at the line of Guimin Pass, Guanlukou, Guanshan, and Damingya.
Bazhong direction: After the Red 12th Division blocked the first line of the Enyang River, it took the initiative to withdraw to the area near Bazhong, waiting for the enemy's Second Division to advance rapidly, taking advantage of its lack of preparation to counterattack, annihilating more than a thousand enemy troops. On March 8, the Red Army took the initiative to withdraw from Pakistan and China, tightening its positions to the Qingjiang crossing line. The enemy's right column stopped advancing after its attack on Victory Hill was blocked.
From 12 February to 18 March, it was the first phase of the anti-three-way siege. Xu Xiangqian ordered the Red Army to gradually tighten its positions, voluntarily abandon Nanjiang and Bazhong, and kill or wound nearly 8,000 enemy troops. At this time, the Red Army's defensive positions were tightened into two lines of defense. The first line of defense is the northern line, that is, from Guimin Pass, Guanlukou, Guanshan Mountain, Damingya, and Killing Cow Ping in the north, and reaching Desheng Mountain in the south; the second line of defense is the southeast defensive line, that is, from Zhuyuguan to Longfengchang and Mashichang.
As the enemy suffered heavy losses, morale was sharply reduced, the offensive was frustrated, and the two sides entered a state of confrontation. During this period, Xu Xiangqian did not stop the enemy, he commanded the troops to actively carry out cold gun warfare to kill the enemy, and at the same time sent small detachments and guerrilla units to adopt tactics such as night raids and surprise attacks to constantly harass the enemy troops and make the enemy tired of coping.
On 26 April, after a break, the enemy attacked again. The main force of the enemy's left column plunged from the South River to the east, and the left column advanced towards the Tongjiang River by passing through Damingya, the central column via Qingjiang, and the right column through Victory Mountain. The enemy's purpose was obvious, to suppress the main force of the Red Army to the area north of Tongjiang City, and the three major armies were annihilated.
Xu Xiangqian was very clear about the enemy's intentions, and he ordered the Red Army to follow the original strategy, block and delay the enemy layer by layer, and once again annihilate more than 1,500 enemy personnel. After the strategic goal of depleting the enemy army in large quantities was achieved, Xu Qiangqian ordered the Red Army to take the initiative to withdraw from Tongjiang City, tighten the position again, and block the enemy at the pingxi dam, Yinglong Mountain, Jiziding, and Jiuzipo.
Tian Songyao was greatly encouraged by the retreat of the Red Army, who thought that the Red Army could not resist and ordered the troops to attack in full force. The enemy's various departments, believing that the time had come to seize the fruits of victory, advanced one after another.
But the enemy paid a heavy price for every step forward, and after more than two months of fighting, more than 10,000 casualties were inflicted. At this time, the enemy's left column was already in a prominent position after reaching the empty mountain dam area due to its advance too fast, and the distance between it and the central column and the right column near the Tongjiang River widened, forming a situation of going deep alone.
At this time, the Red Army's positions had been tightened to a narrow area of less than a hundred miles, and the main forces had all been concentrated. Xu Xiangqian felt that the time was ripe for the Red Army to counterattack, and the enemy's left column was obviously exposed to our army, which was a great opportunity to concentrate its forces to fight a war of annihilation.
3. The great victory of the empty mountain dam, the three-way siege of the pink Kuomintang
On May 17, the Red Fourth Front held a military conference on Kongshanba and decided to concentrate its forces on annihilating 9 regiments of the enemy's left column that had ventured south of Kongshanba. Xu Xiangqian arranged the deployment of counter-offensive missions. The 73rd Division held its original position, contained the enemy, and waited for the opportunity to turn to a frontal attack; the 10th and 12th Divisions attacked the enemy's right flank from the east of the Empty Mountain Dam; the 11th Division detoured from the north of the Empty Mountain Dam to the enemy's left side, cutting off the enemy's rear road.
After the battle began, the enemy launched several charges against the 73rd Division, but none of them worked, and sometimes the enemy rushed to the front of the 73rd Division's position, and the Red Army fighters engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, stubbornly blocking the enemy, and the battle entered a stalemate.
Meanwhile, the 11th Division, acting as an attack on the left side, braved the rain to pass through the primeval forest northwest of the Empty Mountain Dam and secretly inserted into the enemy rear. In the early morning of the 21st, the 11th Division launched a surprise attack on the enemy, and the 10th and 12th Divisions also launched an attack from the right side, and the enemy was immediately blinded.
Soon, the 9 regiments of the enemy's left column were surrounded by the Red Army, and after three days and three nights of fierce fighting, the battle was basically over on May 24, completely annihilating more than 5,000 enemy troops, capturing Li Hancheng, chief of staff of the enemy brigade, and capturing more than 3,000 short guns, more than 20 machine guns, and more than 50 mortars.
The enemy's central column and right column saw the disastrous defeat of the left column and retreated one after another. Xu Xiangqian saw that the time had come to expand the results of the battle, and commanded the Red Army to take advantage of the victory and pursue, and the various units of the Red Army occupied the valley mouths and yakou, pursued and fought fiercely all the way, successively recaptured nanjiang, Tongjiang, bazhong and other places, and the entire pursuit operation captured more than 6,000 enemy troops.
Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Cemetery
Tian Songyao's troops, which were already disunity, were defeated like mountains, and all enemy forces were about to collapse at the touch of a button. In just over 10 days, the Red Army recovered the land occupied by Tian Songyao for 4 months. At this point, the four-month anti-three-way siege operation ended in victory. In this battle, more than 14,000 enemy troops were killed, more than 10,000 enemy troops were captured, more than 8,000 long and short guns, more than 200 machine guns, and more than 50 mortars were captured.
The "tightening the position" tactic is a new tactic that Xu Xiangqian creatively put forward in light of the terrain, enemy situation, and the reality of the Red Army in the Sichuan-Shaanxi base areas.
Tightening the tactics of positions is to take advantage of geographical advantages and block attacks layer by layer with some troops, so as to achieve the purpose of exhausting and delaying the enemy to the greatest extent. When the purpose of attrition of the enemy was achieved, the Red Army took the initiative to withdraw, further tightening the position and consuming the enemy again.
Because Sichuan's terrain is high in the north and low in the south, and the mountains and mountains in the north are lofty, many passes are "one husband and one pass, and no one can open it", which provides geographical conditions for the "tightening of positions" tactics.
When the position is tightened to a certain time, it captures favorable fighters, concentrates superior forces, quickly carries out counter-offensive operations, expands the results of the battle with one blow, and achieves the goal of defeating the enemy.
Marshal Xu Qianqian, with his superb art of military command and the use of the tactic of "tightening the position," successively won victories in the "three-way siege" against Tian Songyao and the "six-way siege" against Liu Xiang, which greatly enriched Mao Zedong's military thinking and became a classic example in the history of the Red Army's warfare.
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