In the history of our army, Cheng Zihua's status is very high, he once served as the commander of the Red 25th Army and the commander of the 13th Corps of Siye, and even Xu Haidong admired him very much and took the initiative to ask to be his assistant.
Unlike Xu Haidong's bravery, Cheng Zihua is known for his wisdom and strategy, and is a famous wise general in our army, but in Cheng Zihua's revolutionary career, he has also been injured many times, no less than Xu Haidong.
In December 1927, Cheng Zihua participated in the famous Guangzhou Uprising, after the enemy surrounded Hailufeng, the rebel army fought less and less, and finally only 20 people were left, Cheng Zihua and others withdrew to Xintang Village in Haifeng County.
Here, everyone was surrounded by the enemy again, and when the bullets ran out, they began to fight with the enemy with bayonets.
Cheng Zihua also held up a bayonet to fight with the enemy army, after killing several enemy soldiers, his left hand was hit by the enemy's bullets, losing his combat effectiveness, if it were not for a comrade-in-arms next to him who was quick in his eyes and killed the enemy with a knife, Cheng Zihua would have died at that time.
After Cheng Zihua was injured, the situation was very critical, but fortunately, the local Red Guards rushed over in time to cover their evacuation, so that they escaped the disaster.
In June 1930, Cheng Zihua led the Red Army to attack Ruichang County, Jiangxi, and as a result, in this battle, the left hand, which had not yet fully recovered, was again seriously injured.
At that time, Cheng Zihua was directing the battle, and suddenly a bullet came, right in the middle of the left wrist, and the pain was unbearable, but Cheng Zihua did not want to go to the battlefield, saying: "So many soldiers are desperate, how can I be a deserter?" Die here today! ”
However, the warriors did not listen to him and forced him to be put down.
Because the injuries were too serious and the medical conditions in the base area were too poor, Cheng Zihua had to go to Shanghai for treatment. Because he was from Shanxi and his accent was easy to distinguish, Cheng Zihua thought of a way, and when he was interrogated, he said that he was a company commander of Yang Hucheng's unit of the Northwest Army, which mixed up many checkpoints.
In December 1934, Cheng Zihua encountered a greater danger.
At that time, Cheng Zihua was the commander of the Red 25th Army, and xu Haidong, the deputy commander of the army, led the army to withdraw from the Eyu-Anhui base area and went straight through Eyu-Shaanxi to Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia, which is also known as the Red 25th Army's Long March.
After the Red 25th Army entered shangluo city in southern Shaanxi Province, the 60th Division of the Kuomintang Army chased the Red 25th Army all the way and finally caught up near the Yujia River and exchanged fire.
In this vicious battle, Xu Haidong was seriously injured and was hit by a bullet through the left side of his face. Cheng Zihua immediately asked the medical staff to treat him, and then he raised his telescope to observe the battle situation and command the battle.
At this moment, the enemy army found his position and shot at here, Cheng Zihua could not dodge, both hands were hit by bullets again, and more seriously, the left wrist, which had been seriously injured twice, this time the arterial blood vessel was broken, and the blood flowed continuously.
The injury was so severe that the doctor had no good way but to tie his left arm tightly with cowhide to prevent excessive blood loss.
Cheng Zihua was unconscious, and he also developed a high fever, and his life was in danger for a time.
It is worth mentioning that the president of the Red 25 Army Military Hospital is Cheng Zihua's doctor Qian Xinzhong when he treated his left hand in Shanghai, and under Qian Xinzhong's meticulous treatment, Cheng Zihua was finally out of danger of life.
The Red 25th Army wanted to continue the Long March and could not leave the command of the main and deputy commanders, so everyone found two stretchers for Cheng Zihua and Xu Haidong, and let the two lie on the stretchers to continue to command the battle.
(Photo: Cheng Zihua in the middle of the back row)
Because the troops carrying two stretchers were too conspicuous and could easily be discovered by the enemy, everyone placed the two stretchers in the middle of the troops and covered them with blankets. But even so, the Kuomintang army still knew that the main and deputy commanders of the Red 25Th Army were seriously injured, and stepped up their pursuit.
Cheng Zihua said to the soldiers: "You carry me, affect the speed of the march, put me down, can't drag the big troops because I am alone!" ”
Of course, no one listened to him, and everyone continued to carry him on the march.
Once, Cheng Zihua couldn't help it, so he said to Qian Xinzhong, "Give me a hard time!" amputation! ”
Qian Xinzhong said: "If you amputate, it will be a lifelong thing, what will you do in the future?" The injury is temporary, and when you get to the hospital, you will definitely be cured. ”
In this way, everyone carried Cheng Zihua all the way to northern Shaanxi.
Until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Cheng Zihua also said with emotion: "My life was given by countless Red Army soldiers, and it was they who used stretchers and experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers to carry me to northern Shaanxi, and I have today." ”
After the Red 25th Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, the situation improved, and Qian Xinzhong operated on Cheng Zihua. Although the operation was successful, Cheng Zihua's hands were still left with a lifelong disability, his fingers could not be straightened, he could not hold them, his wrists could not be moved, and only the thumbs of his hands could still move.
Because the injuries to both hands were too serious, cheng Zihua could not wave to everyone like other commanders when speaking to the meeting of the troops, so that some soldiers who did not understand the situation thought that Cheng Zihua was putting up a shelf, which was really wronging him!
Fortunately, Cheng Zihua's injuries were mainly traumatic, no major obstacles, and he lived until 1991, at the age of 86.
(References: "In Memory of Cheng Zihua", "Memoirs of Cheng Zihua", "Long March")