In September 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Red Army experienced a difficult journey, crossing the snowy mountains and meadows and advancing towards northern Shaanxi.
Behind them, the cavalry of Ningxia's enemies Ma Hongkui, Ma Hongbin, and Mao Bingwen also pursued them more and more tightly, and the soldiers who fell behind on the march suffered a lot of their losses.
"The enemy in the back is a nasty 'tail', and they have been following northern Shaanxi, which is very unfavorable to us." Always passive, be sure to cut off this tail outside the base gate! Mao Zedong explained to Chen Geng, the head of the cadre regiment.
In the Sequence of the Red Army of the Long March, the cadre regiment led by Chen Geng was the most special unit.
The reason is that even if the cadre regiment is an ordinary soldier, the rank is not low.
The cadre regiment should not only train the cadres of the Red Army, but also shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending the headquarters of the Red Army, and can be called the "Royal Forest Army" in the Red Army.
In the early morning, Chen Geng sat on the hillside of a pass and waited for Xiao Yingtang's fifth company.
"How many more students do you even have?" Xiao Yingtang and the team had just approached, and Chen Geng called him to his side to inquire.
"There are 42 more, plus the cooks and the two of us, for a total of 48." Xiao Yingtang pointed to Zhang Wenli, the branch secretary next to him, and replied.
"Although we only have 48 men, it is no problem to fight the enemy in one battalion!" Xiao Yingtang keenly felt that there might be a task from the inquiry, and quickly added.
"Okay! Then leave this task to you. Chen Geng said after exchanging views with Song Renqian.
"The enemy, fearing that we would join the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, wanted to draw our main force south of Wuqi Town, and then mobilize the reactionary troops from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region to surround and annihilate us, and now their Majia cavalry is catching up again." Your task is to gather the main force of the pursuing enemy cavalry here to block the main force of the cover at Wuqi Town. ”
Finally, Chen Geng repeatedly admonished: "Now is the time when the whole army is in danger, and you must block the enemy to the death!" ”
According to Chen Geng's meticulous arrangements, three squads of the Fifth Company were lurking on the slopes of the east and west sides to wait for the enemy.
When the sun rose up the hill, three horsemen of the Ma family army appeared in the distance, they stopped and walked, obviously observing the movement, and after a while, more than 30 enemies riding brown high-headed horses appeared one after another.
The commanders and fighters of the fifth company held their breath and waited for the enemy to enter the firing range...
With the roar of machine guns and rifles, more than 30 enemies fell in a panic, and the birds and beasts that still had a breath left dispersed.
About 10 minutes later, 1 company of enemy cavalry, brandished sabers, rushed straight to the position of the fifth company.
The commanders and fighters hid in the fortifications, intently aiming at the target, waiting for them to rush into range, and another burst of fierce fire.
The group of fierce "knights" was instantly like their avant-garde platoon, dead and wounded, all knocked over and fell off their horses. Some who tried to struggle to the death were eliminated one by one by the special shooters of the fifth company.
After repelling the enemy's second attack, the commanders and fighters of the Fifth Company seized the time to wipe down their guns and bullets, repair the fortifications, and prepare for another battle.
Suddenly, gunfire broke out on the hill to the west. The enemy who originally wanted to detour from the left side of the mountain was killed by the troops that Chen Geng had already deployed there and waited.
"They will never be willing, and the great battle is still ahead!" Everyone was prepared for this.
The sun was far to the west, and three enemy planes flew over the Red Army positions, followed by bombs, mortars and light and heavy machine guns bombarding and strafing at the same time, covering a battalion of about 400 troops, and rushing towards the Red Army positions.
This time they dismounted from outside the range of the Red Army, and then moved down the small ditch to a field ridge only two or three hundred meters away from the position of the Fifth Company.
The five companies, already suffering some casualties, faced with an enemy ten times their size, clutched the grenades very calmly, preparing for a more intense fight.
The bombardment lasted for more than 20 minutes, and the Ma Family Army, which was shaded under the field, suddenly stood up, brandished a saber, and rushed to the position of the Fifth Company in the mountains.
Only more than 50 meters away, all the firearms of the five companies were fired, and rows of grenades blossomed in the crowd of the other side. Ma Jiajun's howl was drowned out, and the saber flash was gone...
After such repeated contests, ma jiajun hid behind Tian Kan, and the guns did not fire, the cannons did not bombard, and even the wounded soldiers and dead bodies did not dare to carry them, and the battlefield gradually fell silent.
The letter sent by Chen Geng's correspondent reads: "The task of blocking the enemy's advance has been completed, creating favorable conditions for the main force to cut off the 'tail', and now you are ordered to hand over your position to the friendly and neighboring troops who came to take over the defense at 12 o'clock tonight, and then withdraw to the vicinity of Wuqi Town for recuperation." ”
"Aren't we going to have the task of cutting the 'tail'?" The tail hasn't been cut off yet, so why should we withdraw? "Hearing the transmission, many people are reluctant to leave the position.
In fact, at this time, Mao Zedong had already deployed the main force of the Shaanxi-Gansu detachment to attack the cavalry regiment of the enemy's Thirty-fifth Division head-on and cut off the "tail".
When the fifth company arrived at the camp, it saw such a picture: the main road was crowded with many brown-red, black, and white horses, and bundles of guns were carried in front of the horses; groups of prisoners, escorted by Red Army soldiers, wandered through the crowd watching the liveliness...
After the war, the officers and men of the Red Army praised each other that there were only 48 people in the fifth company of the cadre regiment, but at the time of the crisis of the whole army, they repelled the crazy attack of more than 400 enemies, which was ten times greater than their own, and created an amazing record.