In October 1934, after the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the central main Red Army had to make a strategic shift, withdrawing the main force of the Red Army from the central base area and meeting with the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, which was thousands of miles away.
While sending troops north to pursue the Red Army, the Kuomintang also instructed the Nationalist troops everywhere to intercept the Red Army. However, with its tenacious will and the spirit of sacrifice not being afraid of death, the Red Army had to complete the twenty-five-thousand-mile long march by crossing mountains and mountains and experiencing all kinds of difficulties.
During the Long March, the Central Red Army fought more than 380 battles, defeated hundreds of Regiments of the Kuomintang, passed through 14 provinces, crossed 18 mountains, and crossed 24 major rivers. Among these feats, the feat of 22 warriors flying to seize the Luding Bridge is a heroic epic.
Dadu
First, trapped in the Dadu River
On May 25, 1935, after the Red Army forcibly crossed the Dadu River at Anshun Field, it would take as little as a month if the remaining troops were transported by boat, and moreover, the large Kuomintang troops were on their way, and the time left for the Red Army was obviously not so much. The Dadu River is also in the flood season, the river is extremely turbulent, and the never-ending surging sound seems to tell of danger. As early as 72 years ago, Shi Dakai, a famous general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom known as "Shi Dare Dang", was planted here.
In May 1863, Shi Dakai led 30,000 or 40,000 Taiping troops to the Dadu River, which coincided with heavy rainfall and the river swelled, and many attempts to cross the river ended in failure. Until the grain and grass ran out, Shi Dakai was captured by the Qing soldiers who were chasing him.
Now that the Red Army is facing the same dilemma, it is also May, it is also the flood season, and there are heavy troops guarded by Liu Wenhui on the other side of the river, and there are large troops of Chiang Kai-shek chasing after them.
Yang Yongtai, secretary general of the Kuomintang Nanchang camp, reported to Chiang Kai-shek that the Red Army was already trapped in the Dadu River and that it would be difficult for them to fly if they planted their wings. Chiang Kai-shek was very happy to hear this, and now that he could finally annihilate all the main forces of the Red Army, Mao Zedong would surely become Shi Dakai's second!
On May 26, Chairman Mao came to the stone stele of Yiwang Pavilion, which recorded the history of Shi Dakai's defeat at the Dadu River. Chairman Mao couldn't help but sigh: "If Shi Dakai is a very talented strategist, why can't he cross the Dadu River straight up the left bank and enter Xikang?" Or go down to the min river east of DaliangShan? ”
Chairman Mao immediately issued a deployment and ordered the Red Army to go straight up along the left bank and rush to seize the Luding Bridge 320 miles away.
Luding Bridge was built in 1705, when tibetan and Han trade was frequent, and when the Dadu River could only choose a ferry, in the event of a flood season or wind and rain, the boat could not cross, and the goods could only be piled up on the shore. Some fresh food spoiled because they could not cross the river in time, causing great losses, and the movement of troops was often hindered here.
Based on this situation, Kangxi ordered a huge amount of money to build the Luding Bridge. It is said that Kangxi asked eighteen provinces to donate money and spent more than 40,000 taels of silver to build this bridge, and Kangxi wrote three big characters of "Luding Bridge" in his own handwriting, taking the meaning of Lushui Stability.
Chairman Mao's move is indeed a brilliant move; as long as the Luding Bridge is taken, the Central Red Army can detour to Ya'an in the south, Maogong and Maoxian in the north, and successfully meet with the Red Fourth Front army in western Sichuan.
Second, fly to seize the Luding Bridge
On 27 May, in accordance with Chairman Mao's instructions, Zhu De, chairman of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and commander-in-chief of the Red Army, issued a telegram to all the corps: At Anshun Field, the troops were divided into two routes, with the Red First Division and the cadre regiment as the right column, commanded by Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen, advancing along the east bank of the Dadu River; and the Regimental Headquarters of the First Red Army, the Red Second Division, and the Red Fifth Army were the left column, commanded by Lin Biao, and advancing along the west bank of the Dadu River. Both teams will arrive at the Luding Bridge within two days and work together to win the bridge.
The vanguard of the West Bank team was the Fourth Regiment of the Red Second Division, and after receiving the order, they did not dare to delay for a moment, and the whole team advanced as fast as possible, but this road was too difficult to walk, on the left was a towering cliff, and on the right was the Dadu River, which was several meters deep and the river was rushing, and there was a danger of falling down if they were not careful.
At 1:30 a.m. on May 28, the Red Fourth Regiment received a second urgent order from Commander-in-Chief Zhu to seize the Luding Bridge on the morning of the 29th. At this time, they were 240 miles away from the Luding Bridge, and they had to walk in a day. This seemingly unfinished order did not make the Red Fourth Army lose confidence, and they plucked up the courage to shout loudly, "After walking two hundred and four, rush to the Luding Bridge!" ”
Braving heavy rain, enduring hunger, and running with all their might toward the target, they had only one thing in mind, that is, they must rush to Luding Bridge within the stipulated time to win this crucial round for the Red Army.
When they came to The Tiger Gang, Liu Wenhui had already sent people to guard here, and the Red Fourth Regiment fought fiercely with them. The Red Fourth Regiment was originally a heroic regiment, and in many battles they served as the vanguard many times, and the soldiers defeated Liu Wenhui's troops with a single blow and chased them for 30 miles.
Suddenly, a river blocked their way, and they had to stop and build a bridge, which was delayed for nearly two hours. At this time, it was already 7 p.m., and the regimental commander Wang Kaixiang and political commissar Yang Chengwu looked at the map, they were 110 miles away from luding bridge, and there was really not much time left for them.
The Red Four Regiments continued to move forward, and the sky gradually darkened, and it began to rain again. The warriors were hungry and sleepy, but they had no time to rest, they ate raw rice when they were hungry, drank rainwater when they were thirsty, and everything went on at the same time as running.
At 6:00 a.m. on May 29, the Red Fourth Regiment successfully reached the west bank of Luding Bridge, creating a miracle in military history, marching 240 miles a day, which was simply scud!
However, on the first day of the Red Fourth Regiment's arrival at the Luding Bridge, Liu Wenhui had already ordered people to remove the wooden planks on the bridge, leaving only 13 bare iron chains, and the Luding City at the end of the bridge was guarded by two regiments of the enemy army, and it was even more difficult to cross the bridge!
After reconnaissance of the terrain, Wang Kaixiang, commander of the Red Fourth Regiment, and Yang Chengwu, political commissar, summoned all the regiment cadres to a meeting in the church of Shaba Village near the West Bridge head to discuss how to take the Luding Bridge. After deliberation, they decided to form a commando team, selecting 22 commandos to fight in the vanguard, and the rest to cover with fire.
Commandos are like dead soldiers, and their danger is very high, but this does not deter the Red Fourth Regiment, they eagerly sign up and compete to charge. Luo Huasheng, general secretary of the party branch of the Red Fourth Regiment, was responsible for selecting commandos, first of all, from cadres, combat heroes, and communists, and Liao Dazhu, commander of the second company, rushed to participate in the assault mission, so he was appointed commando leader, and 22 commandos were quickly selected.
At 4 p.m. on May 29, the Red Fourth Regiment launched a general attack on Luding Bridge. The trumpet sounded, and Wang Kaixiang and Yang Chengwu stood at the head of the bridge to direct the battle. Armed with submachine guns, large knives on their backs and grenades pinned to their waists, 22 commandos shot at the opposite side while holding on to the bridge railing and stepping on the shaking chains. Behind them, Wang Youcai, commander of the third company, led an echelon of creeping forward, each of them holding a wooden plank, and the commandos took one step and they paved the way.
The enemies in Luding City hid in the fortifications and shot wildly at the Red Fourth Regiment, in fact, they were very afraid of this group of red army that did not want to die. Yang Chengwu saw that the enemy's fire was so fierce, every step our army took was very difficult, it seemed that it was difficult to suppress the enemy by relying on machine guns and rifles alone, so he ordered the preparation of mortars.
Zhao Zhangcheng
Earlier, in order to speed up the march, the Red Fourth Regiment abandoned all its heavy weapons, leaving only this mortar, and only three shells. These three shells are crucial, and it is necessary to achieve a hundred rounds to be able to turn the tide.
So Yang Chengwu ordered Zhao Zhangcheng to operate the cannon, Zhao Zhangcheng is known as the "divine gunner", he never used the gun mount, but only used his left hand to support the cannon body, relying on his superior talent and accumulated experience to directly fire, basically can hit. This time, Zhao Zhangcheng was well aware of the arduousness of the task, and he must live up to his mission and give the troops a head start.
Only to see Zhao Zhangcheng holding up the gun body with his left hand, squinting his eyes and focusing on the opposite turret, and then firing decisively. The shells flew over the Dadu River and flew to the enemy fortress in front of Luding City, and with a sound of artillery, the enemy fortress was blown off a corner, and the enemy army made a fierce cry. Zhao Zhangcheng fired two more shots, each of which hit the enemy's bunker and blew the enemy out with nowhere to hide.
The Nationalist defenders collapsed completely, and they emerged from the fortifications and fled in all directions. The power of the mortars frightened them, but they did not know that the Red Fourth Regiment only had these three shells.
The commandos still did not flinch, and they covered the teammates who were laying the bridge behind them and rushed forward with difficulty, and finally they rushed to the other side, and the bridge was paved. At this time, the enemy set fire outside Luding City to try to prevent the Red Fourth Regiment from entering the city.
Liao Dazhu rushed into the sea of fire with his commandos and killed the enemy. Commissar Yang led the rest of the Red Fourth Regiment to quickly cross the Luding Bridge and quickly support Liao Dazhu.
After two hours of fierce fighting, the Red Fourth Regiment successfully occupied Luding City, and the soldiers could finally rest. Lin Biao immediately sent a telegram to Commander-in-Chief Zhu, telling him that the Red Fourth Regiment had captured Luding Bridge and that the large troops could come over.
In fact, when the Red Fourth Army launched a general attack on Luding Bridge, the main force of the Red Second Regiment of the Right Column led by Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen also reached the Longbabu area 50 miles south of Luding City, and they also fought fiercely with the enemy troops guarding here. The Red Second Regiment beat the defenders here to the ground, making it impossible for them to aid Luding City, and provided great help for the victory of the Red Fourth Regiment.
Chairman Mao's two-way plan for dividing the troops was indeed clever, so that Liu Wenhui's defenders could not take care of themselves, and no one could support anyone, so that the Red Army could break through one by one. At the same time, the spirit of the Red Army not being afraid of hardships and daring to sacrifice is also the key to the victory of this battle, especially the Red Fourth Army, how unimaginable it is to travel 240 miles a day! But they actually completed it, and they risked their lives to take the Luding Bridge in one fell swoop, paving the way for the follow-up troops to advance.
On the second day after the construction of the Luding Bridge, the brigade of Red Army all came, and Chairman Mao warmly shook hands with the deputies of the Fourth Red Regiment and highly praised them: "Our Red Army is really indestructible and invincible. ”
On the fourth day, the large troops of the Red Army all passed through the Luding Bridge, and in order to prevent Chiang Kai-shek's troops from pursuing, the Red Army demolished the bridge and cut off two iron chains before leaving. At this point, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to completely smash the conspiracy to annihilate the Red Army at the Dadu River.
3. Why didn't the defenders blow up the Luding Bridge?
Liu Wenhui was not angry after receiving the news that the Red Army had crossed the Dadu River, but was relieved. Wasn't he afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would blame him?
Young Liu Wenhui
In fact, Liu Wenhui mixed to today's position is actually not very glorious, he relied on the relationship between his cousin Liu Xiang all the way to promote, at that time Liu Xiang was the commander of the Second Army of the Sichuan Army, Liu Wenhui flattered him in every way, Liu Xiang said what he did, so Liu Xiang promoted him everywhere, until he set up his own portal.
Later, Liu Xiang's army was defeated, and Liu Wenhui was left and right, and whoever had great power he turned to. Later, Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition occupied Wuchang, and the Sichuan warlord forces were all bought by Chiang Kai-shek, although Sichuan was under the leadership of the Nationalist government, they actually went their own camps, did not sincerely submit to Chiang Kai-shek, and never stopped fighting for the supreme rule of Sichuan.
Liu Wenhui is ambitious, and he wants to rule all of Sichuan. After being appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the Twenty-fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, he frantically amassed wealth in the garrison and raised the army with the people, and his power became increasingly powerful. In order to continue to expand his power, he waged war against his old friend Liu Chengxun, the chairman of Sichuan Province, and then occupied Xikang, and then Liu Wenhui and Liu Xiang joined forces to defeat several other forces in Sichuan.
Liu Wenhui
At this point, the Sichuan warlords were left with only their uncles and nephews with the strongest power, and the Nationalist government appointed Liu Xiang as the chairman of the Chuankang Army Committee and Liu Wenhui as the chairman of Sichuan Province. But how can a mountain accommodate two tigers? Due to their different political views, the two soon began infighting. Liu Wenhui, who had ascended to the throne by his nephew, again aimed his spearhead at his nephew, but he was defeated by Liu Xiang, not only losing Ya'an, but also his Twenty-fourth Army and Chuankang Border Defense Army were also eaten by Liu Xiang.
Liu Wenhui saw that the general situation was gone, so he begged his eldest brother Liu Wenyuan to persuade Liu Xiang to spare himself, and he was willing to support Liu Xiang to unify Sichuan. Liu Xiang considered that there would be damage in the fight between the two sides, and was afraid that others would gain profits, so he decided not to exhaust Liu Wenhui and let him return to Xikang as the chairman of the province.
Liu Wenhui and his family
Liu Wenhui had just arrived in Xikang to gain a foothold, and when he happened to encounter the Red Army heading north, liu Wenhui was caught in a dilemma when he received the news that Chiang Kai-shek had ordered him to encircle the Red Army. Since Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Wenhui to block the Red Army at the Dadu River, why didn't Liu Wenhui send all his troops to obstruct the Red Army? Liu Wenhui just let people tear down the wooden planks of the Luding Bridge, why not simply blow up the Luding Bridge? Wouldn't the Red Army have no way out then?
Based on the situation at that time, the author thought that there were the following possibilities:
1. Liu Wenhui was more afraid of Chiang Kai-shek than the Red Army.
Liu Wenhui knew that the Red Army was just going to pass through Xikang and then go north, and had no intention of occupying Xikang for a long time. Chiang Kai-shek was different, and he feared that if the Red Army was eliminated, Chiang Kai-shek's army would seize the opportunity to occupy Xikang, and then he would have no place to live.
He had to let the Red Army go, and he had to get the Red Army out of Xikang before Chiang Kai-shek's pursuers arrived. If the Red Army and Chiang Kai-shek's reinforcements go to war in Xikang, with past experience, the Red Army will use the guerrilla tactics they are best at, and then they will hide in the villages of Xikang, establish revolutionary base areas everywhere, and divide Xikang, and the situation will be even more difficult to clean up.
Was Chiang Kai-shek's aim really only the Red Army? In fact, the warlord forces in various places have always been a piece of his heart disease, and if he wants to unify China, not only must he eliminate the Red Army, but the warlords everywhere must also be eliminated. So while the Red Army was heading north, he ordered the warlords everywhere to intercept them, but in fact, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to borrow the hands of the warlords to attack the Red Army, and when they were both defeated and injured, he would sit back and reap the benefits of the fishermen and net them all.
The warlords everywhere are not stupid, and they clearly know that it is not the Red Army but Chiang Kai-shek who is the biggest threat to them now, so they turn a blind eye and do not aim all their firepower at the Red Army. Liu Wenhui is a human spirit among the elites, and he must always put his own interests first, and he cannot do this kind of undesirable folding business.
2. The Sichuan army led by Liu Wenhui was arrogant and arrogant and despised the Red Army.
They found that after the Red Army aimed at the Luding Bridge, they had time to blow up the Luding Bridge, but they only removed the wooden planks on the bridge, leaving a few bare chains, and they thought that in this way, the Red Army would never be able to cross the bridge.
But they did not know that the Red Army was a tenacious force, that they had long ago put their lives and deaths aside, and that as long as it was an order from their superiors, no matter how arduous, the Red Army would accomplish it. So they can travel 240 miles a day, and they can pave bridges and roads braving enemy fire.
When the Red Army came to Luding Bridge, these Sichuan troops were still hiding in the fortifications, and they laughed at the Red Army on the other side for not measuring up to their own strength, clamoring to see how the Red Army came. When they saw the 22 brave warriors sent by the Red Army struggling to advance, they were all dumbfounded, lamenting that these people were really dead, the Red Army's artillery attacked, they fled one after another, so that it was too late to know that the Red Army only had only three shells.
Among all the warlord forces, the Sichuan army was the weakest, on the one hand, the southwest region was short of materials and insufficient war funds; on the other hand, the officers at all levels of the Sichuan army were corrupt and withheld grain. There was also the Sichuan army led by Liu Wenhui who had just been defeated by Liu Xiang, and their morale was already low, and they were instantly frightened in the face of the brave Red Army.
3, Luding Bridge is an important channel connecting Sichuan-Tibet trade, blowing up the Luding Bridge is equivalent to cutting off the source of wealth
。
The reason why Liu Wenhui was able to develop and grow so quickly was that on the one hand, he relied on Liu Xiang's promotion, on the other hand, he relied on his confidant Liu Wencai to frantically amass wealth for him, and with this money, Liu Wenhui expanded the defense zone and seized the territory, so that he could constantly enhance his position of power.
In the years of running in Sichuan, Liu Wencai has been involved in all aspects, as long as it is a profitable business. From silver trumpets to businesses, from credit lending to disguised usury, from workshops to modern industrial enterprises, from field pre-collection to unified taxes and miscellaneous donations, he was able to master it with ease and success. Most of the money Liu Wencai got supported Liu Wenhui's development of forces.
The commercial value of Luding Bridge is huge, and Liu Wenhui is reluctant to blow it up. Moreover, when the Luding Bridge was built, it cost more than 40,000 taels of silver, and it also cost a huge amount of manpower. If the bridge is blown up, who will pay for the reconstruction? Looking for Chiang Kai-shek? Only with such a large sum of money can Chiang Kai-shek not advance funds!
Luding Bridge is a natural wealth of Xikang, only the commercial tax in Sichuan and Tibet is a considerable amount, Liu Wenhui still wants to rely on it to recuperate, waiting for him to make a comeback, of course, he is not willing to blow it up.
4. The luding bridge was not blown up in order to wait for Chiang Kai-shek's reinforcements.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to Liu Wenhui to guard the Luding Bridge, so Liu Wenhui sent two regiments to guard the Luding Bridge, and Chiang Kai-shek sent two brigades to support. Then the defenders had to consider the following two situations: if Chiang Kai-shek's troops arrived first and blew up the bridge, they would not be able to come over, and if the Red Army arrived first, the Red Army would attack without blowing up the bridge. Considering all the considerations, they felt that it was most secure to remove the wooden planks on the bridge, and it would be impossible for the Red Army to come over if the wooden planks were demolished, and if the Nationalist army arrived first, they could also lay wooden planks and let the Nationalist army come over.
Chiang Kai-shek
However, this plan, which seemed to have the best of both worlds, shattered the Red Army, and they came to luding bridge at an unexpected speed, and braved the artillery fire to lay wooden planks, and finally succeeded in winning the victory.
Whatever the reason, the Luding Bridge was not blown up, and the Red Army passed smoothly. This was nothing less than a feat for the Long March, and it also brought confidence to the red army's arduous long march in the future.
In October 1936, the Red Second and Fourth Fronts arrived in the Huining area of Gansu Province, and successfully met with the Red Army, marking the end of the Long March.
In the course of these two years, the Red Army climbed snowy mountains and crossed the wasteland, starving and braving the heat and cold to create feats in extremely difficult circumstances. It is precisely because of their spirit of not being afraid of hardships and sacrifice that we can live a happy life now and pay tribute to the revolutionary martyrs!