In the Battle of Tuancun in December 1933, Wu Gaoqun, commander of the International Division of the Young Communist Party, was seriously injured on the front line, and finally died of ineffective rescue. When burying the division commander, political commissar Xiao Hua led the soldiers to tears and shouted: "Avenge the division commander!" Avenge your comrades-in-arms! ”
Soon, Cao Lihuai, the acting commander of the Seventh Red Division, was transferred to the International Division of the Young Communist Party as the commander of the division, Cao Lihuai was an old revolutionary who participated in the Shonan Uprising, although he was only 25 years old, but he had rich work experience, and was a suitable candidate for the Central Revolutionary Military Commission to be able to take up the heavy burden in the face of danger.
Founding Lieutenant General Cao Lihuai
Subsequently, the International Division of the Young Communists went south with the Fifth Red Army, relying on the cities of Kangdu and Jianning to build a defensive line to prevent the Kuomintang army from advancing towards the Central Soviet Region.
According to the deployment of the regimental commander Luo Binghui, the International Division of the Young Communists was stationed in Huangfang Township in the north of Jianning, mainly to contain the enemy flank waiting for an opportunity to attack Deshengguan.
This location was very cleverly chosen, the junction of Huangfang Township and Lichuan County is high mountains, the terrain is dangerous, and there are many passes such as Qiujia Pass, Huangjia Pass, zhaitou Pass, etc. Behind it, for the Young Communist International Division, it can be attacked and retreated, and it chokes the enemy's traffic throat from Lichuan to the south, forming the first line of defense to defend the Central Soviet Area.
At this time, kuomintang general Cai Tingkai and the 19th Route Army launched the Fujian Incident, established the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China, and put forward the political proposition of "opposing Chiang Kai-shek and resisting Japan."
Chiang Kai-shek was so enraged that he focused on putting out the fire in his backyard, and in this way the Central Soviet Zone and the Red Army were given a chance to breathe. However, this rare period of preparation for war did not last long, and the Fujian Incident was suppressed within less than a month.
Flag of the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China
In January 1934, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 25 divisions again, one east and one west, to pounce on the Central Soviet Region. On January 25, Chen Cheng, an old rival of the International Division of the Young Communists, once again personally led the main force of the Third Route Army of the Northern Route Army from Fujian back to Jiangxi, attacking Zhangcun from Lichuan, with the intention of opening up an offensive passage to Jianning.
Due to the fierceness of the enemy and the interception of the 94th Division, the International Division of the Young Communists had not yet had time to snipe, and the enemy army had already occupied Zhangcun, Hengcun and other places. In desperation, the International Division of the Young Communists had to retreat to Qiujia Pass, Zhaitou Pass, and other places, and formed a defensive line along the line of QiuJia Pass, Zhuji Pass, Zhaitou Pass, and Huangjia Pass with three regiments of the 13th Division of the Red 5th Army.
It was a cold winter, and there was already snow in the surrounding hills and fortifications, but the young soldiers were still constantly reinforcing the fortifications, because Cao Lihuai and Xiao Hua judged that the Kuomintang army was moving rapidly this time and would not stay too long in Zhangcun.
Sure enough, after occupying Zhangcun, Chen Cheng immediately began to deploy the offensive, and he arranged for the 11th and 67th Divisions to attack Qiujia Pass, the 79th Division to attack Zhaitou Pass, and the 94th Division to be on standby as a general reserve near Xicheng Bridge and Xiyuan.
The vanguard of the 67th Division soon approached the Qiujia Pass front and launched a tentative attack. Because the Young International Division had long been prepared and condescending to take advantage of the terrain, it quickly repelled the enemy's charge, and the enemy army also shrunk its strength and waited for the follow-up main force.
Qiujia Pass is a hill dozens of miles away from Jianning County, and the branches of Zhuji Pass and Huangjia Pass are on both sides, with an altitude of 7,800 meters, which is connected with the Zhaitou Pass not far above, forming a natural defensive position. This is also the reason why the Red Army has been stationed here before and can be attacked and retreated.
On January 26, the main force led by Chen Cheng was assembled at the Qiujia Pass defensive line, and soon launched a fierce attack on several positions of the Red Army.
Map of qiujia pass blockade battle (red circle)
The defensive battle of Zhaitou Pass was the first to start, the 79th Division attacked here with the main force of two regiments, and the First Division of the Young Communist International Division stationed here used the terrain to inflict a large number of casualties on the charging enemy troops, resisting the last ten charges and delaying the overall offensive of the Nationalist army.
However, this situation did not continue to be stalemate, and soon the Kuomintang army took advantage of its superiority in strength to divide a unit and launch an attack around the rear, forming a pinch attack on our army's position. The International Division of the Young Communists stubbornly resisted for several hours, with heavy losses, and finally because it was outnumbered and could not hold on, it had to withdraw to the Huangfang Defense Line according to the pre-war plan and give way to Zhaitou Pass.
At noon on the same day, the main force of the Nationalist 67th Division also launched an attack on the positions of the Qiujia pass Young Communist International Division and the Red 39th Regiment, and under the cover of artillery fire, rushed to the front of the fortress built by our army, and the red teenagers calmly and skillfully snipped with rifles and grenades, repelling several consecutive enemy charges.
At Zhuji Pass, the Red Army position, the attack of the 66th Regiment of the Nationalist 11th Division also went unsmoothly, and many organized shocks collapsed before the large number of fortifications built by our army.
After the news of the defeat of the two enemy troops was reported to Chen Cheng, his face was very ugly. He had nearly 7 times the strength of the Red Army defenders, and the original plan was to attack Jianning City with great force, but he encountered such a big resistance in the first line of defense.
At his disposal, the remaining strength of the 11th Division immediately supported the Nationalist forces in Qiu Jia'ai, and responded to the left wing of the 67th Division, and the two divisions attacked the Red Army positions in three directions. In the face of several times the enemy, the bravery in their bones was once again aroused, and the hatred of the loss of the division commander also supported their heroic battle.
As the battle was over, the enemy once again dispatched bombers, which were originally a strategic force planned for the Jianning Offensive and were used in advance at this small Qiujia Pass.
Under the bombardment of enemy aircraft, the trees in the positions of the International Division of the Young Communist Party burst into flames, and the formation of the soldiers was disrupted. The enemy also took the opportunity to disperse again, with one or two battalions as the strength, divided into eight parts and attacked the Red Army positions.
In this way, the Qiujia pass defensive line was lost after holding out for a day, and the defenders of the Zhuji Pass position and the Huangjia Pass position that had lost their support were attacked on all sides, and they had to withdraw from the battle and jointly retreat to the maofang, huangfang, and Xikou wei lines and regroup.
Retreat to the General's Hall
Because of the heavy damage in Qiujia Pass and other places, the Nationalist army had to be stationed on the spot and rested. On January 27, Comrade Ye Jianying, then commander and political commissar of the Mingan Provincial Military Region and commander of the Jianning Garrison District, personally conveyed a commendation telegram from the Central Bureau of the Young Communist Party to the International Division of the Young Communist Party.
In the telegram, the Central Bureau of the Young Communist Party praised their tenacity and bravery in the blockade battle and encouraged them to make greater achievements. At the same time, Shao Shiping, secretary of the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee, also called on the Jianning garrison to fight for the defense of the central authorities with great determination.
Founding Marshal Ye Jianying
After a brief repair, the Red Army once again organized troops to launch several counter-offensives against Qiujia pass and other places, but due to the strong strength of the Nationalist army and the continuous construction of bunkers, the strategy of the fifth encirclement and suppression was played to the extreme, and they did not regain their positions.
In the end, in order to preserve the living forces and no longer make senseless attrition, the Young Communist International Division and other troops chose to withdraw from the Qiujia Pass Defense Line and transfer to the arrangement of the General Hall Defense Line.
It should be said that the International Division of the Young Communist Party and the Red 13th Division, in the Battle of Qiujia pass, under the attack of the Nationalist army's great superiority in strength and equipment, played the heroic and tenacious style of the Red Army, and delayed the enemy's offensive on the Central Soviet Region, which bought time for the main deployment of the Red Army for defense.
Qiu Jia Pass Battle Site
However, from the perspective of grand strategy, this is actually a frontal war of attrition that was very unfavorable to the Red Army under the erroneous thinking of bogu and Li De. After this battle, the International Division of the Young Communists had less than 5,000 men left, and the ammunition was also greatly depleted, and its combat effectiveness was sharply reduced.
After retreating to the General's Palace, the International Division of the Young Communists gained a rare respite--- Chen Cheng learned a lesson, repeatedly demanding from his subordinates not to venture forward, and must adopt the tactics of "three miles and one push, five miles and one advance" to fight steadily and steadily, and the offensive of the Nationalist army slowed down.
However, at this time, the Central Soviet Region was already suffering from the enemy, and like the Chen Cheng department of the Northern Road Army of the Kuomintang encirclement and suppression force, the Tang Enbo Department of the Eastern Route Army was also close at hand. In this situation, all the Red Army, including the International Division of the Young Communist Party, had to fight continuously to gain a glimmer of life for the Central Soviet Region.