The 18 th Army, to which Chen Cheng belonged, immediately carried out the order for the reorganization of the troops stipulated in the Nanchang camp, divided the division that originally had two brigades and six regiments into two divisions, each with three regiments directly under its jurisdiction, reduced the brigade-level command structure, streamlined the units directly under its command, and directly commanded the regiment by the division commander, so that the command and use of the troops was relatively strengthened.
After the reorganization of the 18th Army, the division numbers were: The 11th Division was divided into 11th Division Commander Huang Wei and 67th Division Commander Fu Zhongfang; the 14th Division was divided into 14th Division Commander Huo Yuzhang and 94th Division Commander Li Shusen; and the 43rd Division was divided into 43rd Division Commander Zou Hong and 97th Division Commander Kong Lingsui. The other troops were reorganized in accordance with the order, and each entered the "encirclement and suppression" section where it was served, selected favorable terrain, built pillbox positions, and established a complete blockade line encircling the Soviet area on all sides. Under the cover of the blockhouses, the local government organized the armed forces of the armor and landlords to carry out anti-communist propaganda, and sometimes sent indigenous people to infiltrate the Soviet area to reconnoiter the movements of the Red Army, and the local government and the troops exchanged contact. During this period, Chiang's army did not attack the Soviet area, but only concentrated on operating the pillbox line, and instead of despising the Red Army in the past, it acted rashly and rashly, giving the Red Army an opportunity to fall into a situation of being passively beaten, and the terror of Chiang's officers and men gradually stabilized.
After everything was ready, the Nanchang camp began to attack the Soviet area at the end of the winter of 1933. Instead of following the old practice of driving straight ahead and advancing in great strides, the "advance and suppression" carried out a short-range attack on a limited target, gradually encroaching on the Soviet area.
The divisions of the 18th Army immediately began to set out from the pillbox line in Nanfeng, attacked the Soviet area in the southwest, and advanced only more than 40 miles, reaching the line of Sanxi, Donghuashan, and Fenglintang, that is, they stopped advancing, built pillbox fortifications, and did not advance again. The First Army Corps of the Red Army Lin Biao took advantage of the fact that the army's fortifications had not been completed and its foothold was not stable, and it resolutely took the offensive. On the front of the Eighteenth Army, the Red Army used only a small number of troops to carry out feints to contain them. The direction of the main attack was chosen on the rightmost flank of the army, the 94th Division. The 563rd Regiment of the division was stationed on the Wudouzhai Heights in Donghua Mountain, and the regiment commander Dai Zhiqi made a mistake in his judgment and did not take a damn opinion of the Red Army's tentative attack for the purpose of searching. The division commander Li Shusen planned to send troops to strengthen him, but Dai thought that he could hold it and did not need to increase his troops.
The next day, the main forces of the Red Army began to attack in their true faces, and the battle turned fierce. Li sent our battalion of the 564th Regiment of the division to Donghua Mountain for reinforcements, Dai did not use it and controlled it at the foot of the mountain, and then the Red Army's offensive intensified, and the position was shaken in several places, and this battalion was urgently ordered to reinforce, but the fortress had been broken by the Red Army, and the troops were routed and retreated. Our reinforcements reached halfway up the hill, that is, they encountered the pursuing Reds, and both sides fired heavily and threw grenades at each other. The regiment commander, Dai Zhiqi, was wounded by the Red Army on the position and was rescued under the cover of reinforcements. After a fierce battle, the reinforcements were also routed by the Red Army. However, immediately following the 94th Division was the position of the 14th Division, which was higher than Donghua Mountain, that is, it attacked the Red Army flank with strong troops, and the Red Army began to stop pursuing. The 94th Division was able to contain the retreating troops, occupy the second line of positions, and continue the fighting.
Seeing that the battle situation was not good, the army commander Luo Zhuoying personally went to the front line to supervise the battle, and actively adjusted the deployment and carried out a counteroffensive. The 11th and 98th Divisions were moved to the right flank of the 94th Division, and pounced on the Red Army that had captured Donghua Mountain and Wudouzhai. The 14th and 67th Divisions on the front also shifted their offensive on all fronts. In the face of this powerful enemy force, the Red Army did not put up a strong resistance and took the initiative to withdraw. In this operation, Chiang's army carried out defensive operations on the pre-arranged positions, and was able to calmly deal with the fighters and avoid defeat.
In order to rectify the combat discipline, Luo dismissed Liu Juewu, the battalion commander who had lost the Wudouzhai position, and escorted him to the Military Justice Department, claiming that he would be severely punished. The head of the regiment, Dai Zhiqi, was exempted from prosecution for his injuries. The 14th Division, which took active sorties to hold its ground, was commended. After the withdrawal of the Red Army, the whole army was engaged in the construction of the pillbox fortifications, which was soon completed, and the forces were gradually assembled and the necessary rearmament was carried out in preparation for the next phase of the operation.
In January 1934, the 18th Army built a blockhouse fortification at the 6th Division of Zixi Bridge in Lichuan to support the garrison, and the whole army attacked Lichuan. The 94th Division marched to the vicinity of saltpeter, was attacked by the Red Army, and after a fierce battle, suffered many casualties, and withdrew to Nancheng.
The battles of Zhangcun and Hengcun near Lichuan. In February 1934, the 18th Military Division attached to the 79th Division of Fan Songfu was stationed near Lichuan and assembled, with the purpose of invading and occupying the Jiangxi-Fujian border area retained by the Red Army, so as to ensure the security of eastern and western Fujian, and to prevent the Red Army from developing and expanding the Soviet area in this regard.
The unit guarding the Zixi Bridge blockhouse line in Lichuan was the Weng Guohua Brigade of the Sixth Division, which had repelled the siege of the Red Army at the Zixi Bridge, and was awarded an exceptional commendation by Chiang Kai-shek, who awarded the brigade the honorary flag, and the whole brigade was paid a favor for one month. When Chen Cheng received information that a large number of Red Army troops had assembled in Zhangcun, Hengcun, and Tuancun in the southwest of Lichuan, Chen Cheng and Weng Guohua and other senior officers ascended to a high ground in the south of the city to observe the surrounding terrain and study the offensive and defensive plans. My company was serving as the garrison of this high ground, when I heard Chen pointing in the direction of the Red Army and saying to Weng: "Now that we have completed the fortifications of the pillbox and have established ourselves, we can deal a little blow to this Red Army." Weng replied: "The Red Army here will not be very strong, and it should take active action." After Chen Cheng returned to the city, he deployed troops to attack the Red Army. The 79th Division attacked the Red Army west of Longan on the right, the 94th Division attacked Hengcun in the center, and the 14th Division attacked Zhangcun on the left.
Zhangcun and Hengcun were large villages with 100 inhabitants, and the nearby terrain was flat and open, and the Red Army retreated to the high ground south of it without relying on the villages to fight strongly. The next day, the 14th and 94th Divisions continued to attack the Red Army's positions in the high ground, but the Red Army condescended and firmly resisted the attack. After fierce fighting, progress on the whole front was mixed, with some troops capturing several hills, while others made no progress. When the troops of the two divisions were climbing the slope of the high ground, the Red Army took the opportunity to shoot, causing heavy casualties, and the front lines of the two armies became staggered. On the third day, the main forces of the Red Army launched a fierce counteroffensive against the 79th Division on the right flank. Fan Songfu, commander of the 79th Division, was a veteran soldier who had served as Chen Cheng's commander, who was usually good at drinking and greedy for glasses, who was bold and calm in battle, and did not care about the attacks of the Red Army. When Chen Cheng asked him about the battle situation, he said that there was no problem with the position. Soon, however, several of the main hilltop positions collapsed, and if the Red Army continued to expand its gains from here, it could be copied behind Li Chuan, and the flank of the Eighteenth Army and Chen Cheng's general headquarters were seriously threatened. At this time, Fan Songfu was in a hurry, and strictly ordered the front-line troops not to retreat, and mobilized troops to actively counterattack, and the two sides competed, and the battle was very fierce.
In view of this dangerous war situation, Chiang's army had learned many lessons in the past few "encirclement and suppression" activities, and had suffered great pain, and paid special attention to precautions. After obtaining the article "On Short Assault" written by Lin Biao, commander of the First Army Corps of the Red Army, he attached great importance to it and ordered the whole army to pay more attention to it and actively study countermeasures. The main method is to advance steadily and steadily, and never act rashly and recklessly, so as to give the Red Army an opportunity to take advantage of it. The reserve forces should be as close to the first line as possible, not too far. When the Red Army carried out the tactics of short assault and quick victory, the reserves were quickly able to reinforce without losing the opportunity. Therefore, the general reserve team controlled by Chen Cheng is located in the front line and rear, and retains great resilience. When he found that the position of the 79th Division was shaken, he strictly ordered Fan Songfu to hold on, and on the other hand, he sent the reserve 11th Division to quickly reinforce it, and after stubborn fighting, he stopped the offensive of the Red Army and restored the stability of the position.
On the side of the 94th Division, after capturing some hills, it was in a state of confrontation with the Red Army across the mountains. However, wedged into the position of the 94th Division on a large hill occupied by the Red Army was extremely hindering the construction of the pillbox line. Division commander Li Shusen deployed troops to launch an attack in an attempt to seize the hill. The attacking troops reached the top of the hill and occupied one side with the Red Army, throwing grenades at a distance of several tens of meters, and the Red Army was at a disadvantage, among which more than 20 soldiers of the 94th Division, who had been captured by the Red Army in the saltpeter battle, were incorporated into this Red Army and also participated in the battle. Hearing the shouts of the troops of the 94th Division, they demanded that the Red Army surrender! These 20 or so people were instigated by Ren Hongzhou, the platoon commander, and led these men to surrender and surrender their guns. In this way, the Red Army was even more critical, but it still held on to the hill and did not retreat. By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, reinforcements from the First Army of the Red Army came up and launched a counterattack, but Chiang's army could not resist and was driven down the hill by the Red Army. Faced with this blow, the 94th Division did not dare to provoke the Red Army any longer, but instead consolidated the positions it had occupied, and made every effort to build pillbox fortifications, and the Red Army also abandoned this hill and withdrew. The 14th Division was held on the side of the Red Army and there were no heavy battles.
This time, Chen Cheng launched an offensive against the Red Army in an attempt to deal a blow to the Red Army, but after a week of fierce fighting, he was counterattacked by the Red Army and suffered heavy casualties, but he did not achieve the expected goal. Fearing that the Red Army would be pressurized, he ordered the 18th Army and the 79th and 6th Divisions to contact the line southwest of the Nancheng garrison and the Lichuan River, strengthen the fortifications, hold out, and not engage the Red Army.
"Attack" the Jiangxi-Fujian border area. After completing the blockade of the Soviet area, Chen Cheng transferred the 18th Army from the blockade line and ordered the Fifth Division and the 79th Division to take over the garrison and start a new offensive to carry out the destruction of the Soviet area on the border between Jiangxi and Fujian and cut off the Red Army's connection between the two provinces, with a view to breaking through each of them. In March, it attacked from Lichuan to the areas of Guangguang and Shaowu Minjing. When they advanced all the way to the Loess Pass, they were blocked by a small Red Army unit and evacuated at the slightest contact, and the 94th Division did not encounter the Red Army when it left Shanguan. The troops entered Guangguang and Shaowu without a fight, and made contact with Chiang's army stationed in western Fujian. Fortifications were then built on this line. The area was sparsely populated with overlapping mountains and mountains, making it difficult to collect the materials needed to construct the bunkers. However, the forest was so dense that the troops cut down trees to support the chest wall of the pillbox, and cut gun holes in them, and the fortifications progressed rapidly. As a result, the forest resources in this area have been destroyed, and the people's grain and vegetables have been requisitioned.
In April 1934, Chiang's army began a campaign to seize Guangchang, a strategic point in the Soviet area. Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng believed that Guangchang was the central hub of the entire Soviet area, and that by occupying Guangchang, they could penetrate deep into the core base areas of the Red Army, sweep in all directions, and then directly threaten the red capital Ruijin. In the entire offensive arrangement, Chen Cheng was the commander-in-chief of the Central Route Army in the main offensive aspect, and gathered more than a dozen divisions from the 5th, 6th, 23rd, 27th, 78th, 79th, 90th, and 18th armies to attack on a large scale. The divisions of the Eighteenth Army took up the frontal attack, advancing gradually in a fan shape along both sides of the Nanfeng-Guangchang road. The troops advanced to the east-west line of Baishe, more than 60 miles southwest of Nanfeng, and found that there were positions and fortifications built by the Red Army on the high ground south of Baishe, and the forward troops were blocked by the Red Army guarding the fortifications. Division commander Li Shusen ordered the troops to stop, form a formation, and conduct reconnaissance and search. Everyone was surprised by this situation, and in the past the Red Army had always taken offensive and surprise attacks, and had never taken defensive operations. This made Jiang Jun unpredictable and extremely confused and distressed. When they arrived at the east-west line of Baishe this time, they suddenly found that the Red Army occupied favorable terrain and had built a neat defensive position, and a strong pillbox with two-tiered firing equipment was built on the important hill. There are obstacles such as outer moats and deer barricades outside the bunker, and some of the bunkers have a small amount of food, drinking water and other materials. Some of the pillboxes were also camouflaged to avoid reconnaissance and bombing by Chiang's planes.
This time, the 94th Division, which was advancing along the road to carry out a frontal attack, attacked the alert units of the Red Army that occupied the north of Baishe, and the Red Army had very little ammunition and weak firepower, and withdrew after the slightest contact with the Red Army. After occupying the Red Army's alert position, Chiang's army stopped its offensive and did not dare to rashly attack the Red Army's existing position. Division commander Li Shusen ordered a unit of troops to occupy a covering position at a distance of 1,200 meters from the Red Army position, and the main force immediately built pillboxes along the line between the east and west of Baishe to form a confrontational state. From then on, Chiang's planes were dispatched daily to carry out reconnaissance and bombing; ground troops fired artillery bombardments from time to time; and plainclothes search units searched for cracks and drilled gaps and went out to reconnoitre. After holding out for several days, it became clear that the Red Army garrisoned in front of us was not the main force, but a newly expanded army, poorly equipped, carrying mostly dilapidated rifles, and not many of them; and the quality of the soldiers was not good, and the old and weak were mixed. On the grounds that his position had been consolidated, he organized a powerful attacking force and took advantage of the opportunity of the planes to reconnoiter and bomb over the Red Army to begin an offensive, capturing in one fell swoop several hilltop fortress-like positions of the Red Army, capturing a number of Red Army, and causing no casualties among the attacking troops. Therefore, it was believed that the Red Army fortress position in front of him could be breached. It was decided to adjust the deployment and launch a large-scale offensive on the entire front of the Red Army positions. By the time the guns roared and Chiang's troops cautiously entered the Red Army positions, the Red Army had already moved. At this time, it was very close to Guangchang, and the main force still did not dare to drive straight in, for fear of taking risks. After several days of search and reconnaissance, no situation was found, and the attack on Guangchang continued.
Guangchang fierce and unprecedented positional warfare. Luo Zhuoying's attack deployment: First, the 14th, 67th, and 98th Divisions were used as the first-line attack forces, and the 94th and 11th Divisions were used as reserves. The terrain here is a small hilly area of undulating hills, with paddy fields and no prominent highlands to exploit on both sides, so the factors of victory or defeat depend largely on the strength of firepower. Chiang's armament was far superior to that of the Red Army, and it had ample ammunition to form a barrage of fire with blazing firepower.
We saw with our own eyes that the Red Army in front of us did indeed display an astonishing spirit of heroic sacrifice, rushing forward one after another, rushing towards Chiang's army. The 14th Division, which is known for its steadiness, paid attention to building strong fortifications in line with the creed of "sweating more in peacetime and shedding less blood in wartime", and at this time some positions were also broken by the Red Army, and the Red Army followed and pursued the division commander Huo Yuzhang's command post, stray bullets and wounded many of the reserve troops who were resting nearby. Huo ordered the nearby reserves to reinforce the counterattack, and personally went to the mortar position to urge the mortar shooters to fire fiercely. Because the firing speed was too fast, the shooter panicked for a while, so that a cannon exploded, killing more than ten people on the spot. The intensity of the battle can be seen here.
Although the Red Army fought extremely bravely, it was suppressed by the blazing fire net, and was outnumbered, and suffered extremely heavy casualties, and the corpses of the Red Army killed in the front of the position of less than 500 meters were densely strewn and scattered in the hundreds, with broken shins and feet, which was unbearable to see. Among them, it was found that there were people wearing pistols and binoculars, who seemed to be middle and higher commanders, and those who personally participated in the charge and died, and because the Red Army suffered too many casualties, the shock force was weakened, and it was unable to take advantage of the situation to expand the results of the battle, so as to gain the strength of the deep and direct attack to break through Chiang's army, and the whole offensive was frustrated. Luo Zhuoying had time to mobilize the reserves of his 94th Division to reinforce the 14th Division, forming an absolute advantage in manpower and firepower. The Red Army was forced to stop the attack and hold on to the same position. By night, the Red Army had withdrawn. After stopping the onslaught of the Red Army, the 18th Army stayed on the spot all night and actively strengthened the fortifications of the position with a view to consolidating it, containing casualties, replenishing ammunition, and preparing for the next day's battle. Thus, the movement of the Red Army at night was unhindered and it was able to withdraw safely. The Red Army withdrew, and Chiang's army did not know it, and it was only at dawn that it was discovered that there were no Red Army troops in the forward positions. The search units dispatched by the divisions only carried out activities at close range of more than 10 miles, and did not consider taking advantage of the victory to engage in a large-scale pursuit battle against the Red Army.
In this operation, both armies officially set up their positions, and the hand-to-hand charges, white-knives battles, hard-fought battles, and fierce and brutal battles were unprecedented in the past and will only be seen in the future.
After several days of rectification and extensive searching, it was confirmed that the Red Army had completely withdrawn, but as a precaution, Chen Cheng still took a cautious attitude and launched an attack with Guangchang as the target. On April 28, after the forward entered Guangchang, it was assumed that the Red Army had already been transferred, and the divisions of the 18th Army were stationed in Guangchang in May. Chiang's long-term struggle finally achieved its goal. Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng believed that the "encirclement and suppression" military had entered the decisive stage.
Battle of Quang Nam. At the end of May, the divisions of the Eighteenth Army continued to advance south of Guangchang. The 43rd, 97th, and 98th Divisions penetrated deep into the Le'an South Soviet District and gradually encroached forward. The 94th and 14th Divisions advanced to the line of Toubei and Baishui. When they reached the mountainous area of more than ten miles north of Toupi, they were blocked by a Red Army and there were skirmishes. After the two divisions occupied the line between Toubei and Baishui, they immediately stopped advancing, adhered to the tactics of steady and steady fighting, and began to build blockhouse fortifications, which operated for about half a month. According to the situation at that time: Toubei is located between the north and south mountain systems, the terrain is open, and the fields are connected, becoming the boundary between the north and south highlands, and becoming a key tactical point. Chen Cheng ordered the 94th Division to secure the head to facilitate the advance of the 98th Division on the right flank. Song Zhixi, commander of the 564th Regiment of the 94th Division of the defending army, organized his troops in advance and resolutely attacked, capturing dozens of Red Army personnel, and the Red Army did not attack again.
In the high ground south of Toubei, the Red Army built a neat line of bunker fortifications, which overlooked the Toupi Basin, making it impossible for Chiang's plainclothes search team to move, and Chiang's army did not attack the Red Army's position. At this time, the divisions of the 18th Army had become technically proficient in the construction of pillbox fortifications, the tactical requirements had also been greatly improved, and the defensive strength had increased. For example, shooting equipment, outer trenches and deer barricades and other obstacle facilities, ammunition and grain reserves, and convenient transportation and communication have formed a neat system. The construction progress of the troops has also been greatly improved, and in the initial stage of "encirclement and suppression," the construction of a pillbox position is extremely simple, and it takes three days for an infantry company to complete it, but at the present scale, a platoon can complete it in three days. Therefore, the offensive on the Soviet zone is all the more urgent.
In July, the 18th Army penetrated into the core base area of the Red Army, and its posture was that the 43rd and 97th Divisions advanced step by step from Le'an, occupied the line between Tantou and Shaxi, and connected with the Cantonese Army near Xingguo on the right, the 98th Division on the left and the 94th Division at Toubei, and the 14th Division near Baishui on the far left. Its 11th and 67th divisions were placed in reserve and were responsible for the construction of roads from Guangchang to various points on the front. This line held for nearly two months, and in addition to sporadic fighting, the main forces of the Red Army once assaulted the pillbox line of the 14th Division. The position of the 79th Regiment of the division was broken through, and after the division commander Huo Kuzhang and the regiment commander Que Hanqian counterattacked with the full strength of the reserves, and the timely reinforcement of the 11th Division, the Red Army failed to make a large-scale breakthrough, so the attack was stopped and withdrawn. Chen Cheng and Luo Zhuoying attached special importance to this battle, intending to set an example, and reported to Chiang Kai-shek to order all units to commend him, promote the regiment commander Que Hanqian to the rank of major general, and all the officers and men of the regiment were given a monthly salary and a flag of honor. During this period, the other divisions intensified their activities in the Soviet area, constantly sending small units and plainclothes search teams into the Soviet area to counter guerrilla attacks and cover the looting of supplies. The Rutoupi Basin is rich in rice, and after July, a large amount of rice was ripe, and the political workers of the army mobilized the armor guards in the white area to enter the Soviet area to harvest the rice.
Since Chiang's army entered Jiangxi and began to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army in the central Soviet area, it has suffered heavy defeats one after another. In order to restore combat strength, the weapons and equipment of the "offensive and suppressive" units have been replenished in a steady stream. The divisions of the 18th Army are one of the key reinforcement units, and with the passage of the "offensive and suppressive" military, the weapons of the 18th Army have also been greatly strengthened. The Kuomintang government strengthened the air force in early 1933. First of all, Zhou Zhirou, deputy commander of the 18th Army, was appointed as a special envoy to the air force of Europe and the United States to inspect the air force. Zhou is a graduate of Baoding Military Academy, a classmate of Chen Cheng, talented and cheerful, known as a Confucian general. Thoughtful trip to Europe and the United States. Finally, Zhou considered the Italian and American aircraft to be the most advanced. At that time, Italy was Mussolini's dictatorship, and it was wantonly aggressive and expanding into Africa, and there was a general under his command, who vigorously advocated the "theory of air force victory" and devoted himself to developing the air force, which had a considerable scale, so he purchased a number of Italian-made aircraft and hired some aircrew. A large number of planes were purchased from the United States, and Zhou believed that the United States had relied on its abundant national strength in the aircraft industry, and the planes produced were the most advanced. The Nationalist Government in Nanjing signed a contract with the United States to help China build an air force. An aviation school was established in Jianqiao, Hangzhou, with Chiang Kai-shek as the principal and Zhou Zhirou as the chief of education. All types of aircraft and instructor crews are supplied by the United States. With the development of the Kuomintang Air Force, Zhou Dici was promoted to director of the Aviation Committee and commander-in-chief of the Air Force. During the "encirclement and suppression" period, an air force headquarters was set up at the Nanchang airfield to coordinate the ground fighting of the army and cause harm to the Red Army.
On the ground side, it has purchased large quantities of light and heavy weapons of various types from Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and other countries in order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the "offensive and suppressive" troops. Each infantry company is equipped with three light machine guns, the types of which include German-made automatic rifles, Czech-style light machine guns, and French-made Habegkaisi light machine guns; regimental units are to replace the Hanyang-made domestic rifles originally used with German-made or Bi-made 79-caliber rifles, and the company platoon commander is equipped with a German-made 20-round fast and slow machine gun. The 1st Artillery Regiment and the 5th Artillery Regiment under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs were divided into battalions or companies and assigned to various "encirclement and suppression" units. The cannon is fully equipped with observation equipment and has a maximum range of 9,000 meters. The shell is a compound charge, which has the performance of air explosion and collision explosion, and is suitable for shooting at various targets, and the hitting accuracy is extremely accurate. In addition, the mortar battalion of the Armed Forces Tax Police Corps and the mortar battalion under which he belonged was transferred to the front line to participate in the fighting. This kind of cannon is a French-made 81 caliber and equipped with sights, which is better aimed at than the 82 caliber mortars made by Chiang Jun. The adoption of weapons above the level of Chiang's army did great harm to the Red Army. In response to this situation, the Red Army also changed its positional structure. For example, in the defensive position of Baishe, the wall fort is used, the target is exposed, and it is easy to be bombarded, and the defense line set up in Toupi and Shicheng is changed to the form of a fort, which is covered by giant trees, which has strong resistance and is easy to camouflage. Therefore, Chiang's army mainly relied on the penetrating power of Bufu-style mountain artillery shells to carry out sabotage shots to open the way for the infantry.
At the end of July, Chiang's army launched an offensive against the Red Army in Shicheng. The main force of the offensive was the 4th Division and other units of Townenburg. The Red Army built strong bunkers and fortifications in the area around the post and put up stubborn resistance. After careful reconnaissance, Chiang's army first bombarded the Red Army bunker with artillery concentration, and the infantry took advantage of the results to charge and fight for the fort, causing many casualties. The Red Army was stationed in the bunkers, and although some of the fortifications were destroyed, the soldiers still held on, and when Chiang's troops approached, they began to shoot again. For example, the commander of a certain regiment of the 4th Division commanded the troops to attack, and the troops in front had already advanced beyond the positions of the Red Army, and the Red Army in the bunkers behind was still lurking. The regimental commander was shot and killed by the lurking Red Army as he passed through a bunker and looked in through the hole of the gun. This unexpectedly increased the casualties of Chiang's army. On the post front, the Red Army launched a major counteroffensive. The 94th Division was ordered to be withdrawn from Toubei and quickly rushed to the post to reinforce it, but after the battle situation stabilized, it still turned to Huibei to garrison. At this time, it was a scorching summer and malaria epidemic, and the division marched in the summer, although it was only more than 200 miles round trip, and there were quite a few people who were sick and left behind along the way.
Attack on Ningdu and Zero. In September 1934, the left flank of Chiang's army Tang Enbo captured Shicheng, and Chen Chengnai launched an offensive against the Ningdu Red Army. The focus of the attack deployment remained on the 94th and 14th Divisions. It is equipped with Bufu mountain artillery and tax police mortars. The 43rd, 97th, and 98th Divisions on the right flank were assisted by an active activity in the invasion of the Soviet area to search for and contain the Red Army.
The 94th Division, to which I belonged, launched an attack on the defensive positions of the Red Army on the heights south of Toupi. At dawn the attack began, the Chiang army planes were in the air to help the battle, for a while the guns roared, the Red Army positions were like a rain of bullets, the infantry of the Chiang army took advantage of the situation to climb over the mountain pass, the ants attached to it, when they climbed to the Red Army bunker, they found that the Red Army did not have a large force to defend, only a few people were left on guard, and when the Chiang army began to bombard, it had been withdrawn, wasting a lot of ammunition in vain. So the 18th Military Division advanced on all fronts. The 43rd and 97th Divisions arrived near Liangcun and Liantang, and the 98th Division arrived near Gulonggang. The 94th, 14th, and 11th divisions on the front entered Ningdu one after another. After the rest of Ningdu and the construction of the blockhouse line was completed, the troops continued to search and advance in the direction of Lingdu, and when they reached the vicinity of Quyang, they began to build a blockade line of pillboxes. This time, the attack from Toubei and Baishui was carried out in large steps, but was not blocked by the Red Army. Chen Cheng's General Headquarters of the Middle Route Army was stationed in Ningdu. In order to carry out anti-communist propaganda, collect ashes, build a bone mound, and hang the remains of the landlord's armed battlefield that had been held for two years and were annihilated by the Red Army to Cuiwei Peak, and put stone inscriptions on it. He also opened up a highway from Ningdu City to the foot of Cuiweifeng Mountain, and invited a group of upper-class social figures and journalists from Nanchang to visit Ningdu and vigorously carry out anti-communist propaganda.
In order to further encourage the anti-communist momentum of his military group and strengthen the training of combat techniques, Chen Cheng and Luo Zhuoying specially opened an officer education regiment in Ningdu, with Chen himself as the head of the regiment and Peng Shan as the head of the education group. Officers at or above the platoon commander level of the whole army are called to take turns for training. A total of three sessions, each period of two weeks, some people jokingly called Ningdu University. For the front-line troops, they urged the strengthening of the construction of pillboxes and fortifications to strictly guard against the attack of the Red Army. The 98th Division garrisoned the Gulonggang pillbox line, which was located in a high mountain and steep mountainous area, and was the old base of the Red Army, where the main force of the Red Army launched an offensive. It was believed that if the blockade line of the division was breached, the Red Army would be able to drive straight in, the defense of the important towns of Fuzhou and Ji'an would be empty, and the Red Army would have it at its fingertips, threatening the rear of the entire "advance and suppression" army, and the "encirclement and suppression" plan would inevitably collapse, and the previous achievements would be wasted. Division Commander Xia Chuzhong vigorously supervised the troops to resist stubbornly and personally went to the front line to prevent the officers and soldiers from escaping. Although several pillboxes were breached by the Red Army, they still used reserves to fight for them repeatedly, and after two days and two nights of fierce fighting, they finally held their positions, and the Red Army retreated in vain. This offensive and defensive battle was the last battle in the "encirclement and suppression" of the 18th Army.
"Purge" of the Central Soviet District. In October 1934, the main Red Army broke through from Jiangxi and drove into Hunan through the Fujian-Guangdong border, starting an unprecedented 25,000-mile long march. The divisions of the 18th Army did not participate in the pursuit, and continued to "advance and suppress" the Soviet area on the line of the pillboxes that were originally garrisoned. In addition, Guo Siyan's 99th Division (the division was formed by the remnants of the 52nd and 59th Divisions) and Huang Guojun's 92nd Division (the division was also under the Chen Cheng system, and Huang was promoted from the deputy commander of the 67th Division to the division), and the Fifth Army was formed, with Xue Yue as the commander, to follow the Red Army in pursuit. Chiang Kai-shek appointed Chen Cheng as the commander-in-chief of the reserve corps, stayed in the Soviet area, commanded the troops stationed in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, and served as the "purge" of the Red Army troops left by the Communist Party in these two provinces. Since the Long March of the main force of the Red Army, a part of the Red Army and local workers' and peasants' Red Guards have remained in the Central Soviet Area. The total strength of the army was no less than 30,000 people, all under the command of Xiang Ying of the Jiangxi Soviet Government, and continued to fight indomitable and stubborn. Therefore, Chiang's blockade of the Soviet area was not lifted, and only a part of the "encirclement and suppression" forces were transferred, and the main force of the 18th Army was only transferred to one division of Kong Lingsui's 97th Division, which was placed under the command of Hu Zongnan in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions to block the Red Army. Chen Cheng's "clean-up" army focused on the triangle of Ningdu, Lingdu, and Xingguo. The military industry carried out the policy of road construction, actively built the highway between Ningdu and Lingdu and other key points, and the political workers assisted the landlords to return to their hometowns, reorganize the Baojia, and establish the Kuomintang regime. The overall "clean-up" arrangement is that each unit and sub-division is responsible for each other, and they also echo each other.
Due to the strong resistance of the Red Army in the Soviet area, the "clean-up" work of Chiang's army could not be completed quickly and was repeatedly postponed. The divisions and other units of the Eighteenth Army were pinned down in Jiangxi Province, and the total strength should be more than 100,000, and they could not be diverted to pursue the Red Army and increase the pressure on the Red Army. By the end of June 1935, the work of "purging and suppressing" had been largely finalized. At this time, the Red Army in the southwest of Zhejiang still had considerable strength, and Chiang Kai-shek, in order to stabilize the important areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and avoid the trouble of his henchmen, decided to transfer all divisions of the 18th Army to Zhejiang to take up the new task of "clearing and suppressing." In July, the divisions of the army successively entered the Zhejiang border through the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Road to carry out a new "encirclement and suppression." I left the unit and did not participate.
[Yang Botao, April 19, 1909-February 20, 2000, was born in Yongping Township, Zhijiang County, Hunan. Dong. In 1930, he graduated from the seventh phase of the Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy. He graduated from the 14th class of the Army University in 1938. From 1938 to 1942, he served as a lieutenant colonel and staff officer of the headquarters of the 15th Group Army of the Kuomintang Army, chief of staff of the 11th Division of the 18th Army, commander of the 94th Army Corps and chief of staff of the division. Later, he served as the commander of the 86th Army. He was captured during the Battle of Huaihai in 1948 and released in 1959 under amnesty. In 1961, he was appointed Commissioner of Culture and History of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1983, he was appointed as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Central Supervisory Commission of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. 】