Author: Cadillo
In February 1936, the main force of the Red Army crossed the Yellow River into Shanxi and launched the Eastern Expedition to Yan. On March 18, the Red Army soldiers were divided into two routes, one with the Red 1st Army as the main force forming the Right Route Army, and the south to the Linfen area to seek opportunities to annihilate the enemy; the other way, the Red 15th Army as the main force to form the Left Route Army, advancing northeast of Jin, attacking Wenshui, Jiaocheng, Jinci and other counties, threatening Taiyuan.
The Red 78th Division, which was reorganized from the former Shaanxi-Gansu-Bian Red 26th Army, was now operating under the red 15th army, which had three infantry battalions under its command, and the division was commanded by the Confucian general Tian Shouyao (killed in 1943) from the former Red 25th Army. In an encounter in Yanwu Town, southeast of Fenyang County, Tian Shouyao commanded his troops to repel a joint attack by the infantry and cavalry of the Jin Sui Army supported by aircraft, covering the safe passage of various units of the Red 15Th Army Headquarters.
The Red 15th Army was like a bamboo, as if it had entered no man's land, and the cavalry company directly under the regimental headquarters once rushed to the Jinci Temple, taiyuan, the old nest of the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan, only 40 miles away. However, due to the lack of offensive equipment, coupled with the relatively strong city defense of the county towns in Shanxi, the Red 15th Army has not yet taken a county along the way, and the Red 75th Division, which was the main force of the regiment, was also returned in the battle against Wenshui County.
The day after the defeat in the Battle of Wenshui, Commander Tian Shouyao decided to personally lead the Red 78th Division to attack Jiaocheng County to open up the situation. That night, Tian Shouyao personally led the battalion commanders to the front line to check the terrain and deploy the siege mission. Liu Maogong, instructor of the 2nd Battalion of the Red 78th Division and a veteran soldier of the former Red 26th Army, stayed at the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion to mobilize the commanders and fighters before the battle, and at the same time prepared siege equipment such as ladders and door panels, and organized the attack as soon as the battalion commander returned.
Xu Haidong, commander of the Red 15th Army, and Tian Shouyao, commander of the Red 78th Division
But unexpectedly, it seemed that they were waiting until almost 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, and the commander of the 2nd Battalion had not yet returned to the battalion headquarters. Liu Maogong was wondering why the battalion commander had not returned for such a long time, and just when he wanted to send someone to look for him, Commander Tian Shouyao suddenly appeared at the entrance of the battalion department and sternly questioned: "How did you do it, why haven't you set off yet?" The rest of the troops are already in place, waiting for you. Liu Maogong replied that the battalion commander had not yet returned, and he himself did not know the specific task, so he did not dare to easily mobilize the troops.
Master Tian Shouyao listened, frowned, and said, "How did this guy do it, he was assigned a task in the middle of the night before, where did he run to fool around?" Seeing that he could no longer wait, Tian Shouyao then ordered Liu Maogong to immediately gather his troops and set off, and the two led 2 battalions to wade across the Ciyao River, and quietly swerved back to the west of the county under the cover of darkness and entered the position.
After a while, the time for the general attack came, and Liu Maogong commanded the commando team to carry two cloud ladders to the corner of the city wall. After the first ladder was erected, a squad of commando fighters followed the ladder up the ladder. The armed landlords who were guarding the city walls resisted desperately, pouring rifle bullets and grenades down like raindrops, and the squad that climbed the ladder sacrificed several soldiers on the spot, and the others also fell to the ground, and the ladder was completely unable to be erected.
Liu Maogong took a group photo with his old comrade-in-arms and founding major general Gao Weisong
At the same time that the 2nd Battalion's attack on the west of the city was blocked, the 1st Battalion of the Red 78th Division, which was attacking in the east of the city, also failed to attack the city wall, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. Tian Shouyao's division commander saw that there was no hope of attacking the city for a while, and continuing to fight would only increase unnecessary casualties, so he ordered his soldiers to blow the retreat trumpet. When Liu Maogong heard the retreat, he could only withdraw from the line of fire with the rest of the commando.
As soon as Liu Maogong and his troops withdrew, they met Zhong Wei (major general in 1955), director of the Political Department of the Red 78th Division. Zhong Wei had a big temper and was once known as "China's Patton" in our army, and this aspect was also because he was as hot-tempered as patton, the famous American general of World War II. Zhong Wei pointed his finger at Liu Maogong, and on the spot it was a stinky scolding: it was all because Liu Maogong did not act in time and missed the fighter, resulting in the defeat of this battle. Liu Maogong wanted to defend himself a few words, but he couldn't interject at all.
At this time, Commander Tian Shouyao came over and apologized to Director Zhong Wei, saying that he had not supervised the battalion commander who participated in the battle, and it should be all his responsibility. Zhong Wei was a cadre transferred from the Red Army and had only worked with Tian Shouyao for a few months, so he was not very familiar with the latter. Therefore, although Master Tian Shouyao sincerely came to apologize, he still didn't buy it at all, and said angrily: "Hmm, I don't care which of you is responsible, anyway, this battle is not well fought, Liu Maogong punished you definitely can't run!" ”
Founding Major General Zhong Wei
Soon, Yan Xishan cobbled together a large army and killed from the direction of Taiyuan in a car to break the siege. When Commander Tian Shouyao saw that the enemy was outnumbered, he ordered the Red 78th Division to fight and retreat. On the way back, Cheng Zihua, the political commissar of the Red 15th Army, came to reinforcements with the regiment's direct subordinates, and after learning that the war situation had changed, he took the legionnaires to cover the wounded and sick to go back first. After Tian Shouyao led his troops to resist for a while, he also led his troops to climb a mountain beam and rushed back, and Yan Xishan's troops generally could not climb the mountain, and were quickly thrown away by the Red Army.
Returning to the camp of the Red 15th Army in the afternoon, Liu Maogong was surprised to find that the battalion commander was waiting there, and considering that he had not been seen during the entire blockade and retreat, he asked him where he had gone during this period. The battalion commander only prevaricated: "Look at the terrain... Then got lost. ”
Although he was not a soldier of the Jiangxi Soviet District, but was captured by the Red Army during the anti-encirclement and suppression operation in the Jiangxi Soviet District, Liu Maogong, as a red army cadre born and raised in the Shaanxi-Gansu Region, still had great respect for him.
Considering whether it was because the commander of the 2nd Battalion secretly ran to the Jin Sui Army to inform that night, which led to the county town not being attacked in time, the Security Bureau was very concerned about this incident, and called many people, including the 2nd Battalion Commander, Tian Shouyao and Liu Maogong, to be investigated, and finally found out the truth. It turned out that the commander of the 2nd Battalion was not a traitor, and on the night of the assignment, when he returned, he saw that it was still early in the morning, so he secretly ran to a local woman's house, so that the time passed without realizing it.
The Red Army built ships to prepare for the Crusade
The commanders of the corps and the front attached great importance to such unorganized and undisciplined behavior. As the troops marched north to the Lüliang Mountains, the Red 15th Army held a public trial meeting against the commander of the 2nd Battalion. The meeting was presided over by Cheng Zihua, political commissar of the corps, and Vice Chairman Zhou personally served as the presiding judge. When the division commissioner who was the indictant finished reading the indictment, Vice Chairman Zhou suddenly asked in a loud voice: "Liu Maogong, instructor of the 2nd Battalion, is the indictment of the crime committed by XX in the indictment a fact?" ”
Liu Maogong immediately stood up and replied: "It is a fact, that night he went out to see the terrain and did not return, did not participate in the battle of Jiaocheng, and the commanders and fighters of the whole battalion can prove it!" Finally, considering that this battalion commander had been serving in the Red Army for five or six years, with no merit and no hard work, Vice Chairman Zhou announced that he would be dismissed from his post and transferred to the cooking squad of other units as a porter. For the purpose of protecting the parties, Liu Maogong did not write the name of the battalion commander when recalling this past.
【Deeply cultivate the history of war, carry forward positive energy, welcome to submit, private messages will be restored】