History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
In the history of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, there is a well-known Detachment of Women's Army, that is, the Women's Independent Battalion (later renamed regiment) of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which was gloriously born in march 1933 in the revolutionary base area of Sichuan and Shaanxi. At the beginning of 1935, the Women's Independent Regiment was expanded into a Women's Independent Division, with two regiments and more than 2,000 female Red Army soldiers.
In October 1936, after the three main red army divisions met in Huining, the main force of the Red Fourth Front was ordered by the Central Military Commission to carry out the task of creating a base area in the Hexi Corridor and opening up contact with the Soviet Union, and the 21,800 Red Army that crossed the Yellow River in the west was renamed the Western Route Army in November.
The Western Route Army refers to the 21,800 main force of the Red Fourth Front of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (accounting for 2/5 of the total number of the Red Army at that time) in October 1936, in accordance with the orders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to cross the Yellow River in the west, hoping to occupy Gansu and Ningxia, but due to backward equipment and other reasons, most of them were annihilated by the Majia Army five months later.
(Group photo of the Western Route Army)
The main purpose of the Western Expedition was to control the land lifeline linking the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Hexi Corridor to the Soviet Union and open up the northwest passage of Soviet military aid, but because the Western Route Army fought alone and had no backup, it eventually failed.
At this time, the women's independent division, which had been reduced several times and had lost a lot of personnel, was downsized into a women's anti-Japanese vanguard regiment, with a total of about 1,300 people in 3 battalions and 9 companies. Their average age is less than 20 years old, with the youngest being only twelve. Under the leadership of the regimental commander, political commissar and commissioner, this large-scale women's armed force, which is unique in the history of the Red Army, crossed the Yellow River in the west and embarked on a difficult and tragic journey to the west.
In the Hexi Corridor, the Xilu Army went deep alone, heroically killed the enemy for more than 4 months, and after several bloody battles such as Ganchaiwa, Gulang, Yongchang, Gaotai, Nijiayingzi, and Sandaoliugou, annihilating more than 20,000 enemy troops.
Unfamiliar with the local situation and underestimating the enemy's strength, in the face of the harsh natural environment and the extremely vicious grass, the enemy was outnumbered, the disparity in strength, and the lack of backup, they were brutally suppressed and attacked by 180,000 cavalry of the "Ma Family Army" such as Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui, Ma Hongbin, Ma Buqing, Ma Buluan, and Ma Yuanhai, who were entrenched in the northwest. Finally, in March 1937, he ran out of ammunition and food, suffered a tragic defeat, and was ambushed in snow, and almost the entire army was destroyed.
On the way to the west, the women's anti-Japanese vanguard regiment fought bloody battles and yellow sand, and after being captured, they still fought desperately, some swallowed needles and committed suicide, some escaped from prison, some were killed tragically, some were sold to the end, and a very small number of people were rescued and returned to Yan'an.
(Majia Army Cavalry)
Here are the memories of some surviving female soldiers of the Western Route Army:
Yan Xiuwen——
"Our captured female warriors were raped and humiliated by the horse bandit army, escorted to Xining Road, whipped and slashed countless times. Fifty or sixty of us were sent to the wool factory to do hard work to tear the wool, and if we didn't tear it well, we were whipped, and the older female warriors were pulled by the foreman at any time to rape and defile. We worked hard, we were humiliated, and we could only eat two bowls of bean batter a day. We say, 'If you kill, you will kill, and this sin will not be tolerated!' ’
"A week later, the foreman called us together and asked: 'Who worked as a nurse in the Red Army?' More than 20 of us who had worked as nurses were selected and sent to Zhongshan Hospital. At Zhongshan Hospital, we washed bandages, cleaned up, and went to the army hospital to serve the wounded of the Ma family army. The world is as black as crows, and the rape of female warriors occurs from time to time. ”
(Surviving female soldiers of the Western Route Army)
Ren Zhifang——
"I was 13 years old at the Battle of Hexi. We were captured by Ma Buqing's troops and arrived in Wuwei the next day. On the escort road, several female comrades were raped by horse bandits. This time, Huang Guangxiu, He Dezhen and Gou Xingcai were captured. In Wuwei for about 10 days, half was sent to Qinghai, and half was left behind. He Dezhen and Gou Xingcai both became daughters-in-law to Ma Buqing, and I was young and became a yahuan with them.
I gave Gou Xingcai a yahuan for more than 1 year, and once because I opposed her, she gave me to a battalion commander's family as a yahuan. When I was 15 years old, I married a horse-feeding man in the horse bandit army. ”
(Ma Jiajun brutally killed the Western Route Army)
When the news came, at the meeting of the leaders at and above the regimental level, Liu Bocheng held a draft telegram in his hand and forcefully conveyed and reported the relevant situation with great sorrow: "... The headquarters of the Red Fourth Front, with 2.10,000 troops, crossed the Yellow River from the mouth of the tiger and leopard in Jingyuan County, Gansu Province, defeated the river defense troops of the Malu Brigade of the Fifth Division of the Mabuqing Cavalry, and advanced forward step by step... The soldiers of the Western Route Army bravely attacked, and the towns of Liankegulang, Yongchang, Shandan, and Linze had reached Gaotai County by January 1937.
However, the lone army expedition, the consumption is difficult to replenish, and it is winter, it is more difficult to feed and be equipped, and the losses along the way are quite large... The soldiers of the Western Route Army fought bloodily and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, but they also suffered heavy losses. At the end of January 1937, there were only 8,000 or 9,000 troops left in the whole army, and they retreated to Nijiayingzi in Ye County, Qilian Mountains... The troops fought hard and finally ran out of ammunition and food, and were defeated in mid-March. Dong Zhentang, commander of the Fifth Army, Yang Keming, political commissar, Sun Yuqing, commander of the Ninth Army, Chen Haisong, political commissar, Zheng Yizhai, director of the Supply Department of the Front, and other senior cadres all sacrificed heroically..."
Liu Bocheng shed tears while reading. The nearly one hundred officers at or above the regimental level who were sitting around were first stunned, and then they all cried and cried.
(Liu Bocheng)
After the 1980s, the central government rectified the chaos. In 2006, the Central Committee for the first time proposed the propaganda of the Western Route Army in the form of a document to comfort the martyrs and inspire future generations.
The political treatment and living conditions of veteran soldiers of the Western Route Army have been greatly enhanced, and a number of historical and reminiscent works and literary and artistic works that reproduce the true history of the Western Route Army, such as the long-form reportage "The Tale of the Female Soldiers of the Western Route Army," "The Ups and Downs of the Western Route Army," the monograph "Female Red Army Soldiers in the Western Expedition," the movies "Echoes of Qilian Mountain," and "The Shocking Sand," have been published, distributed, and staged one after another, causing great repercussions throughout the country. History has remembered the exploits of the Western Route Army, and the people have paid high respect to the female soldiers of the Western Route Army.