Located in Gansu Province, at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, the Mountain Castle is a small village and town on the Loess Plateau that has nothing special to offer. However, in 1936, after the three main forces of the Red Army met the division, it was here that the last battle of the agrarian revolutionary war was fought. Since then, the name of the mountain castle has been recorded in the annals of the revolutionary war of our army and has become famous in China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" > passive transfer</h1>
Around November 1, the enemy troops reached the front lines of Jingyuan, Xi'anzhou, Haiyuan, and Heicheng, and adjusted their deployment according to Chiang Kai-shek's instructions:
"With the 3rd Army as the left wing, jingyuan pursued tongxincheng from Dalachi and Hejiaji; with the 4th division of the 67th Army as the right wing, from Heicheng town to Huanxian and Hongdecheng through Yuwangbao; with the 4th division of the main 1st Army as the middle road, attacking from Xi'an Prefecture and Haiyuan through Tongxincheng, Yuwang, and Yanchi in the direction of Yulin, in a vain attempt to coordinate with the enemies in northern Shaanxi, Gao Guizi, Gao Shuangcheng, and Tang Enbo, to wipe out the main force of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi."
The enemy army is heavily concentrated, and the situation is becoming more and more severe. On 1 November, in the face of the enemy's general headquarters at Guanqiao Fort, the generals were summoned to a meeting to discuss countermeasures. After reconnaissance, our side learned of the enemy's deployment plan, and after conducting a comprehensive analysis and study of this, we believed that we should take the enemy as a breakthrough point to combat the arrogance of the enemy.
Therefore, a specific plan was formulated to target the Hu enemy: When the main force of the Red Army was transferred to the first line of TongxinCheng, Wangjia Tuanzhuang, and Liwangbao, it would take advantage of the favorable terrain in the areas of Guanqiao Fort and Huchang Fort to attack the Hu enemy troops in exchange for annihilating this part of the enemy army in exchange for the safety of our army.
Marching and fighting, the time, the location, and the people are very important, the ancients Zeng Yun: "The time of day, the location, and the people, the three must not be, although victory and disaster." "Heaven and time are not won by people, so geographical advantages and people have become the key to the victory of our army."
Compared with Chiang Kai-shek's army, although our army's equipment is far behind, everyone firmly believes in revolution, works with one heart and one mind, and is superior to Chiang Kai-shek's "elite generals" in terms of people and aspects; in this way, as long as we win geographical advantages, we can annihilate the incoming enemy and win victory.
Since the organization has its own armed forces, our army and Chiang Kai-shek's army have repeatedly fought, and the great victories again and again have proved the strength of our soldiers and the excellence of their command.
Our army has come through one difficult war after another, and this time our army has also made sufficient preparations to welcome the "guests", believing that the glory of victory can shine again.
But it is often said that "plans cannot keep up with change", in life, and even more so on the rapidly changing battlefield. The cunning Hu Zongnan discovered the Red Army's attempt and found himself in a prominent position of isolation.
Therefore, after his 97th And 43rd Divisions occupied Guanqiao Fort and Camel Factory Fort on November 4 and 5, respectively, they ordered their troops to move cautiously, only with small troops in contact with the Red Army, and the main force as a battalion, waiting for the follow-up troops. At this time, the enemy troops on both flanks began to detour backwards towards the main flank of the Red Army.
Hu Zongnan was born in the Whampoa Military Academy, and although he was a disciple of the Han Dynasty, he was a major general under chiang kai-shek, a "fellow countryman", and a great enemy of the revolutionary organization. Since he joined the army, he has experienced countless battlefields and won countless victories, and Premier Zhou once commented: "Hu Zongnan is the most capable commander under Chiang Kai-shek, better than Chen Cheng. ”
Coupled with the name of Chiang Kai-shek's troops, such an army is undoubtedly "a difficult bone to gnaw."
Chiang Kai-shek's dispatch of Hu Zongnan on this expedition shows his determination to win, but the officers and men of our army will never sit still. Although our army gradually became passive in its contacts with the Hu enemy, seeing that the time was not yet ripe to annihilate the enemy, Commander Peng, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, ordered the troops to continue to move eastward, lure the enemy deeper, and then look for fighters.
The whole army knew that this would be an uphill battle, and they fought with the spirit of twelve points to fight the enemy.
Later, in the process of transfer, the Red Army also set up ambushes several times to lure and annihilate the Hu enemy, but all of them wounded their fur and failed to achieve remarkable success, so our army had no choice but to move all the way to the east.
And the enemy's three-way pursuit of troops is pressing forward step by step in the rear of our army. A frontal conflict will undoubtedly be the defeat of our army; setting up ambushes and fighting guerrillas? However, it is difficult to contact the main force of the Hu enemy and cannot inflict a devastating blow on it, and it can be said that the current situation is really extremely bad. But despite the unfavorable situation, Commander Peng is still looking for an opportunity, an opportunity to turn the tide.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="19" > win-lose turnaround</h1>
At about 11:00 a.m. on the morning of the 17th, the vanguard regiment of the enemy's 2nd Brigade swung into the ambush circle of our Red 4th Front. The enemy thinks that it is too late for the Red Army to "escape" now, so where does it dare to stop and touch the stone with an egg? However, when our army saw the enemy enter the ambush circle, the ambush troops of the Red 4th Front immediately launched a fierce attack on the enemy.
The vanguard regiment of the enemy's 2nd Brigade was overwhelmed by this sudden attack, and lost more than 600 people at once, and the enemy regimental commander was ordered to return to the western sky before he had time to organize resistance.
The enemy lost control and was even more leaderless, and they all routed backwards, until they met the large group of people and horses who came after hearing the news, and then settled down. However, by the time the enemy's main force resumed its offensive, the 4th and 31st Armies of the Red 4th Front had already withdrawn from the battle and moved eastward.
The Battle in the Mengcheng area caused Hu Zongnan's 1st Army to suffer a small blow, and although it was caught off guard by our army, most of the soldiers successfully fled back to the location of the main force.
In this regard, the arrogant Hu Zongnan not only did not have some vigilance because of this, but believed that the Red Army was engaged in a "battle of trapped beasts." Therefore, the 43rd Division was ordered to replace the heavily damaged 2nd Brigade and continue to accelerate the pursuit with the left and right roads.
The ancients were defeated, And Hu Zongnan and his troops gradually relaxed their vigilance and exposed their nature in the process of pursuing our army, and the battle with the 2nd Brigade proved that our army had not yet reached the end of the road, and even the war situation had begun to turn around.
However, the many enemies who fled also showed that the time was not yet ripe, and our army still needed to carry the weight forward.
Due to the obstruction of the 4th and 13th Armies, the speed of the enemy's pursuing troops in the middle of the road was delayed, and the movement of the main force of our Red Army was extremely precious.
Commander Peng, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, took this opportunity to lead the main force of the Red Army to the east, northeast and southeast of the mountain castle. As for why our army is gathered here, it is only because of the geographical advantage of the enemy to fight to the death.
The Hill Castle is located north of Huan County, in the middle of Hunder City and Sweetwater Castle. Here the rivers and plains intersect, the six rivers converge, the ravines are longitudinal, the terrain is quite complex, and it is an ideal place for large troops to ambush.
After the former enemy commander-in-chief Peng arrived with the main force of the Red Army, he immediately ordered his troops to wait for the opportunity to hide around the mountain castle and prepare for battle.
Since the "arrogance" of the Hu enemy has exposed the flaws in this almost invincible army, now as long as we seize the opportunity, we can turn defeat into victory and complete the tasks assigned by the organization.
According to the orders of Commander Peng, the troops immediately began to make tense pre-war preparations. Concealed movements, checking equipment, pre-war mobilization, everything was carried out in an orderly manner, just waiting for the enemy to come. However, at this moment, Commander Peng's mood was heavy, and a series of questions were bothering his heart:
Several attempts to ambush Hu Zongnan's 1st Army failed, and they were defeated and retreated. Moreover, the Red Army has been marching continuously for more than 20 days, and the extreme fatigue of the troops is not to say, more importantly, it has a great impact on the morale of the troops. If the enemy's offensive can no longer be stopped and the enemy is compressed into the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area, not only will it be difficult to realize the new strategic plan, but even the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area will be greatly threatened, and the consequences will be even more serious. ”
Thinking of this, a strong sense of responsibility prompted Commander Peng to secretly resolve to win this battle no matter what.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="35" > the final battle</h1>
In the pursuit deployment of Hu Zongnan's 1st Army, the 78th Division under the command of Ding Delong on the right side was responsible for the pursuit in the direction of the mountain castle. Like his immediate superior, Hu Zongnan, Ding Delong was arrogant, believing himself to be the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's concubines, well-equipped, and did not pay attention to others at all.
Ding Delong was also born in the Whampoa Military Academy, and zuo Quan, the "model soldier" of our army, was both a classmate of the military academy and a fellow hunan countryman. Although the two have such a deep relationship, the two take very different paths. The reunion of the two on the battlefield this time is bound to be a tit-for-tat confrontation. Then, when the most effective unit under Hu Zongnan encountered the three main forces of our army, who could achieve the final victory?
Ding Delong led his troops to approach step by step, and seeing that the Red Army was constantly "retreating," Ding Delong thought that the time had come, and he commanded his subordinate troops to pursue them with all their might, in a vain attempt to gain a head of merit, so that they could ask for merit and rewards in front of Chiang Kai-shek.
Old Chiang Kai-shek has always favored his own troops, so that these units are not only superior to other units under Chiang Kai-shek in terms of personnel and equipment, but also far exceed other units on his own side in terms of logistics and supplies; therefore, this unit can be said to be the elite under Chiang Kai-shek' hands, winning a lot of face for them, but at the same time giving birth to many "moths."
Although some "moths" do have a skill, asking for merit and reward is always their favorite thing.
It is a good thing to reward meritorious people and encourage other soldiers to make meritorious contributions, but the utilitarian spirit that breeds is a taboo on the battlefield. Because single-minded achievements will inevitably make people unable to see their surroundings, and if they can't see the battlefield they are in, they will definitely end up in a tragic end.
On November 20, according to Theodron's orders, the 232nd Brigade of the 78th Division (under the jurisdiction of the 463rd and 464th Regiments) and the 468th Regiment of the 234th Brigade pursued all the way as the vanguard and soon entered the area around the mountain castle.
At this time, the 78th Division was far away from the left and middle road pursuers, and the position was already isolated and prominent. At the beginning, Hu Zongnan immediately solved this hidden danger when he realized that his troops were relatively isolated, and at this time, Ding Delong was eager to win, carelessly ignored the enemy, and plunged into the trap of our army.
Seeing that the 78th Division had entered the ambush circle of our army in the mountain castle step by step, the long-awaited opportunity to annihilate the enemy had finally arrived, and the generals and soldiers were waiting for only one order. Commander Peng, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, immediately decided to concentrate the three main forces of the Red Army to annihilate the enemy 78th Division that had entered the mountain castle area. And quickly made specific deployments of troops:
"With the Red 1st and Red 15th Armies of the Red 1st Front and the 4th and 31st Armies of the Red Fourth Front as the attack group, annihilating the enemy entering the mountain castle, the Red 1st Army (1st, 2nd, and 4th Divisions) deployed on the high ground north of Liuqu Heights, Miaoyang, and Xiaoxigou in the area south and southwest of the mountain castle to the highlands on the west side of Daijiayuan, and its 2nd Division attacked in the direction of the sentinel battalion, and in coordination with the Red 15th Army to cut off the enemy's retreat, the main force of the legion attacked the horse palm and the mountain castle.
The 4th and 31st Armies of the Red 4th Front deployed on the east side of the mountain castle, that is, in the area around the castle, and attacked from the east to the mountain castle. With the Red 15th Army deployed on the high ground around Tianzhuangzi, Fanyuan, and Fengchagou, a force attacked in the direction of the sentry horse battalion, and with the coordination of the 2nd Division, cut off the enemy's retreat, and the main force of its regiment attacked from the northeast to the mountain castle.
The Red 2nd Front And the 28th Army and other units served as reinforcements and containment, among which the 28th Army clamped down on the 1st Brigade of the Enemy's 1st Division on the Left Road in the area from Dashuikeng to Hongjingzi; the 6th Army of the Red 2nd Front, with the coordination of the 81st Division, blocked the Northern Army in the mountains around Guojia Dawan; and the main forces of the Red 2nd Front were secretly assembled in the areas of Hongdecheng, Hujiadongzi, and Helian Bay as a general reserve for the campaign and served as a task to respond to all sides. ”
In order to enhance the morale of the commanders and fighters of the Red Army and ensure the victory in the battle of the Mountain Castle, the Higher Military Commission issued the "Mobilization Order for the Decisive Battle of Crushing Chiang Kai-shek," calling on the commanders and fighters to "not be afraid of fatigue, bravely charge, capture more prisoners, surrender more guns, smash this offensive, and unfold a new situation, so as to make the meeting of the three fronts and the first gift to the people of the victorious Soviet region." ”
Vice Chairman Zhou also personally came to the front line from northern Shaanxi to represent the superiors of the organization to comfort the commanders and fighters of the Red Army and assist Commander Peng in commanding the battle of Shan Castle.
The battle order was quickly issued to all the participating units of the Red Army, and the red army departments immediately carried out covert movements to the designated areas according to the predetermined deployment.
The failure to lure Hu Zongnan's 1st Army several times to succeed made the Commanders and Fighters of the Red Army eager to launch an immediate attack and strike hard at the arrogance of the so-called main force of Chiang Kai-shek's concubines, and the fatigue caused by the rapid march for more than 20 consecutive days had long since disappeared without a trace.
At this time, our army has the advantage of the time, place, and people, and a big battle and a hard battle are about to start, and the success or failure of the overall situation depends on the victory or defeat of this time.
At about 14:00 on the 20th, the enemy's 463rd Regiment, with the strength of two companies and a platoon, advanced along the avenue and valley reconnaissance, respectively, and the main force advanced along the high mountains on both sides of the avenue.
When the vanguard reconnaissance detachment entered the area south of Balipu, it was suddenly attacked head-on by the first part of our Red 1st Army, and the enemy immediately retreated, and our Red I Army quickly launched a pursuit, annihilating most of it, and the remnants of the enemy fled back to the mountain castle with the main force of the regiment. After the victory of the first battle, the morale of our generals soared, and at the same time, the enemy officially showed its fangs and claws, and the final battle broke out.
By the afternoon of the 21st, the red army troops were deployed as scheduled, and quickly reached a siege of the enemy at the mountain castle, cutting off their retreat in the direction of Sweetwater Fort and other enemy contacts.
At this time, the enemy's 232nd Brigade found that the Red Army was encircling its two wings in a roundabout way, and the terrain of the mountain castle was relatively low, and it was difficult to hold on to the Red Army from all sides. So at dusk, the enemy began to retreat to the high ground around the Cao family's balcony. The enemy is vainly trying to break through the encirclement of our army, to regain its strength, and to make a comeback, and the excellent situation in our army naturally cannot allow the enemy to succeed.
Seeing that the enemy was withdrawing, Commander Peng, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, ordered all units to take advantage of the confusion of the enemy's change of position to immediately launch a general offensive and take it down in one fell swoop! Suddenly, the gunfire around the mountain castle was loud, and the shouts of killing were tremendous, and the warriors of our Red Army pounced on the enemy with the momentum of overwhelming the sea.
The two armies met and the brave won, and the pursuing Red Army engaged the retreating enemy, and gradually the sun sank to the west, making the surrounding area dark.
In such an environment, the enemy could not distinguish the direction, and because of the fear of hurting friendly troops, the superior guns could not play a role at all; but in the face of the menacing force of our army, the enemy army had no choice but to fight with trapped beasts, and all the weapons in their hands were thrown away.
On the contrary, the Red Army was very good at large knives and spears because of the shortage of equipment, and coupled with the rich experience of night combat and a full understanding of the terrain, our army, which was also in the dark, showed its skills.
The warriors of our army slashed and stabbed with large knives and spears, and the enemy with severely limited vision could only resist and could only cry wolf. In an instant, the Red Army attacked the mountain castle and took advantage of the victory to pursue the cao family balcony.
Under the fierce blows of the Red Army, the enemy retreating from the mountain castle and the horse's paw had long been defeated, and the enemy defending the Cao family's balcony was also in a mess, and the mighty wind of the past had long disappeared without a trace.
Seeing this scene, the enemy brigade commander felt that the general trend had gone, and it was impossible to organize resistance at all, so he had to take advantage of the cover of the night darkness with his brigade to flee in the direction of the Broken Horse Ridge. At this time, only some of the remnants of the enemy on the battlefield gathered in the sentry camp and the surrounding areas to resist.
Commander Peng immediately ordered a force to pursue and annihilate the fleeing enemy, and the main force continued to surround and annihilate the remnants of the sentry horse battalion. Under the continuous blows of the Superior Forces of the Red Army, the enemy of the Sentry Horse Battalion was quickly annihilated, and the remaining remnants were compressed into the valley northwest of the mountain castle. By 9 a.m. on November 22, the fighting was over, and most of them were annihilated, except for a few who used the darkness of the night to break through the mountains.
In this battle, the Red Army annihilated more than one brigade of the enemy, giving Ding Delong's 78th Division a devastating blow. After Hu Zongnan learned that his 78th Division had been severely damaged, he was afraid of repeating the same mistakes, and immediately ordered all the pursuing troops to retreat to The Great and Small Pits, Mengcheng, Sweetwater Fort and the area west of them to stop the attack. When Chiang Kai-shek learned of this news, he woke up like a dream, and only then did he realize that he had once again fallen into the trap of the Red Army organized by the revolutionary organization.
The Battle of Shan Castle swept away chiang kai-shek's so-called main force of the concubines, Hu Zongnan's 1st Army, and greatly boosted the morale of the Red Army. Its victory not only thwarted Chiang Kai-shek's offensive and stabilized the situation in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base areas, but was also of great significance to enhancing the unity of our army and promoting the realization of domestic peace.
Soon after the end of the Battle of Shan Castle, the "Xi'an Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries occurred, and since then, the Chinese revolutionary organization and Chiang Kai-shek's forces have achieved the second cooperation between the two sides and jointly embarked on the road of anti-Japanese resistance. The Battle of The Mountain Castle thus became the last battle in the Agrarian Revolutionary War.
Thank you for watching, paying attention to me, and learning more about it.