In 1965, Marshal Peng Dehuai officially took over the post of third deputy director of the Third Line Engineering Construction Committee in the southwest region of the country.
After arriving in the southwest, Marshal Peng Dehuai worked tirelessly and began to devote himself to work day and night, frequently going to the grassroots frontline.
In just a few months in his leadership position, he conducted extensive research, paying special attention to the battlefields on which the Red Army had fought.
During a certain inspection, the marshal happened to pass by the place where the Luding Bridge had been captured, and suddenly wanted to revisit the hometown of the Dadu River.
Facing the battlefield of that year, he stared at the bullet-riddled land, recalled the tenacious fighting spirit and firm will of the Red Army soldiers, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion:
Even if Chiang Kai-shek blew up the Luding Bridge that year, he could not stop the heroic Red Army soldiers from capturing the bridge.
Why did he express such feelings about Marshal Peng Dehuai, who had made outstanding contributions to the establishment of the Republic throughout his life?
The historical changes of the Luding Bridge, the main road in the southwest When it comes to the Luding Bridge, it is inseparable from the historical background of the Dadu River in the southwest, which spans the southwest of the motherland and is the key road of southwest transportation at that time.
According to historical records, the Luding Bridge was originally built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, and legend has it that the Kangxi Emperor personally ordered the construction in order to solve the traffic obstacles between the Han and Tibetan ethnic groups and promote the cultural and economic exchanges between the two ethnic groups.
During the construction of the bridge, more than a dozen large iron chains used by the main body could not be towed to the opposite bank, and repeated attempts by engineers and technicians failed.
When the people were close to giving up, a strong man crossed the West Bank by boat and succeeded in installing thirteen chains, only to die of exhaustion after completing his mission.
In memory of this heroic bridge builder, the locals built the Kada Temple.
This story also shows the great difficulty of building the Luding Bridge, and the importance of the Luding Bridge cannot be ignored for the residents of the southwest region at that time.
For the soldiers who planned to cross the Dadu River during the Long March, the Luding Bridge was a bridge of life to be captured no matter what the cost.
At present, we look at this battle through the lens of history, whether it is in the pre-war preparation or the final victory, it can be described as the magic of the "Flying Luding Bridge" battle.
The Red Army was in a difficult situation, and the slightest carelessness could lead to total annihilation. In 1934, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army suffered defeat in the Fifth Anti-Encirclement and Suppression, and in order to preserve the flame and strength of the revolution, the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base Area was forced to cede to the Red Revolutionary Forces, and the Red Revolutionary Forces were forced to retreat strategically according to the situation.
After more than a year of anti-encirclement and internal struggle, the strength of the Red Army has been greatly weakened compared with before.
In 1935, after the Red Army successfully crossed the surging Jinsha River, after repeated consultations and careful planning, it was decided to transfer its forces from the southwest to the northwest, which was the foundation of the revolution. The reactionary forces of the Kuomintang were unstable here, and a new revolutionary base could be opened.
However, to enter the Great Northwest from the Great Southwest, it is necessary to pass through the Dadu River.
When the Red Army arrived at the Dadu River, Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Nanjing, carefully examined the map and tried to use the disobedient warlords in the southwest to completely strangle the Central Red Army and weaken the local warlords.
During the Taiping Rebellion in 1863, Shi Dakai, the core military force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the later period, was annihilated by the pursuing Hunan army because it was difficult to cross the Dadu River smoothly, leaving behind a painful lesson in history.
Chairman Mao personally visited the Dadu River and after inspecting the terrain, he deeply realized the grim situation that Shi Dakai faced back then.
From the perspective of the river range, the Dadu River is not a wide river, less than 100 meters, which is insignificant compared to other rivers.
However, due to geographical reasons, the Dadu River has two major characteristics: abundant water and large inclination.
It is precisely because of these two characteristics that the flow speed of the Dadu River is extremely fast, several times the speed of other rivers in the flat area, and the situation is very dangerous.
In the art of war, rapid marching was emphasized, and when Chairman Mao was planning ahead, a local old man inadvertently provided key instructions.
This old gentleman, who has entered the age of 100, has accumulated extremely rich life experience and experience, and knows the local situation well.
He observed that the Red Army maintained strict military discipline and a sound system, and that the leadership cared for the people and directed the soldiers to actively participate in the local people's livelihood.
Therefore, he could not bear to see the Red Army repeat the mistakes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so he took the initiative to communicate with the leaders of the Red Army, gave a detailed introduction to the situation, and informed him that there was a Luding Bridge nearby, and as long as the bridge was captured, it would create a smooth passage for the Red Army to cross the Dadu River.
Luding Bridge enjoys a good reputation in the southwest region and is a real transportation hub and strategic location. Chiang Kai-shek was determined to trap the Red Army through the Dadu River moat, so he never missed any opportunity to allow the Red Army to cross the river.
Long ago, Chiang Kai-shek had ordered local warlords to blow up the Luding Bridge to prevent the Red Army from finding a breakthrough to cross the river.
After receiving the old man's prompt, Chairman Mao quickly made a decision and immediately sent the Red Fourth Regiment to Luding County to ensure that the arrival of the army would not be hindered and that the river could be crossed safely and quickly.
On May 28, 1935, the Red Fourth Regiment received an urgent order from Chairman Mao, asking them to quickly go to Luding County and seize the Luding Bridge before the arrival of the army on May 31.
This is an extremely dangerous and difficult task, less than three days away from the deadline, but it will take at least a day to capture the Luding Bridge. Therefore, the challenge for them was to march more than 100 kilometers in two days and two nights to reach the Luding Bridge.
In order to reach their destination as quickly as possible, they marched at the highest speed, even abandoning everything except guns and ammunition, including thick bedding and raincoats.
Unexpectedly, the route chosen to save time was extremely difficult, with the road winding and bumpy, with steep cliffs on one side and rushing rivers on the other, and some fighters even accidentally fell off the cliffs.
Faced with such a difficult road, the soldiers overcame unexpected difficulties and finally arrived at Luding Bridge several hours ahead of schedule.
As mentioned earlier, in order to prevent the Red Army from crossing the river, Chiang Kai-shek planned for the local warlord Liu Wenhui to blow up the Luding Bridge.
However, Liu Wenhui, as a seasoned warlord, has a certain brain in the warlord melee. He understands that blowing up the chain bridge will prevent future troubles, but it will also lead to bigger problems.
First of all, once the bridge is blown up, it is difficult to repair it in a short time, and the damage is huge. The disappearance of important transportation hubs in southwest China has severely damaged regional transportation, politics, economy and commerce, and the loss of tax revenue is immeasurable, and it will also be spurned by the locals and blamed by history.
Secondly, the bridge was destroyed, and the Red Army could not cross the river, and the two sides would inevitably fall into a stalemate, and after the Red Army was exterminated, the army that Liu Wenhui had cultivated for many years would suffer heavy losses and its own strength would be greatly weakened.
This coincided with Chiang Kai-shek's calculations, which effortlessly weakened the Red Army and Liu Wenhui.
Therefore, after consulting with his cronies, Liu Wenhui delivered the news to Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Nanjing, pretending that proper arrangements had been made, so please rest assured. He stationed a large number of heavy troops at the head of the Luding Bridge, strengthened the armament of the bridgehead, and even dismantled the wooden planks on the bridge deck. In his opinion, even if the Red Army had wings, it would be difficult to fly.
However, he did not anticipate that the opponent he faced would be the Central Red Army. In the face of this army, miracles often ceased to be miracles, because the Red Army was good at creating miracles.
When the Red Fourth Regiment rushed to the Luding Bridge despite all the difficulties, they found that the Kuomintang troops had already dismantled the wooden planks on the bridge deck, and only a dozen iron chains were left shaking in the wind, making a piercing sound of metal colliding.
Under the iron chain is the turbulent Dadu River, which is turbid due to the sudden rise of the river in the rainy season, mixed with a large amount of sediment. The waves crashed against the shore with a loud noise, which impressed the Red Army soldiers.
In the battle of Luding Bridge, not only was the natural environment precipitous, but it was also artificially blocked by the Kuomintang reactionaries. The Kuomintang reactionaries sent soldiers, armed with regular rifles, Maxine machine guns and mortars, to form a heavy fire defense line and stand at the bridgehead.
Whether it's a natural problem or a man-made obstacle, this battle is destined to be extremely difficult. Dark clouds hung over the soldiers of the Red Fourth Regiment who participated in the battle, and shadows filled the air.
From the moment this Red Fourth Regiment joined the Red Army, it remembered its determination to sacrifice its life for the revolution. Although they are not afraid of sacrifice, difficulties, and fearlessness, they inevitably feel heavy helplessness in the face of the situation in front of them.
They were not afraid of sacrifice, but they were worried that sacrifice lacked meaning and would not be able to cross the river smoothly for their comrades.
For the future of the Red Army, for the sake of inner beliefs and ideals, the company commander Liao Dazhu had to personally stand at the head of the bridge and do pre-war mobilization for the soldiers:
"Soldiers, I know what you think in your hearts, but for the sake of the revolution, for the sake of the Soviets in our hearts, and for the sake of our future generations, we must take the Luding Bridge today, no matter what bulls, ghosts, snakes, and gods are on the opposite side, we must beat them down and prepare for the Red Army to cross the bridge, do you have confidence?"
"Yes!"
Amid the deafening shouts, company commander Liao Dazhu and instructor Wang Haiyun led 22 warriors to rush to the enemy at the bridgehead on the opposite bank.
With the bravery of seeing death as home, the soldiers of the Red Fourth Regiment surprised the Kuomintang soldiers on the opposite side, and it took more than ten seconds to come back to their senses.
Red Army soldiers, armed with rudimentary weapons, braved the enemy's bullets and bullets and quickly rushed to the opposite bank along the crumbling iron chains.
The Red Army soldiers rushed to the bridgehead, and the Kuomintang, seeing that the situation was out of control, opened fire one after another.
The cry of the Red Fourth Regiment resounded at this moment of crisis:
"Comrades! For the sake of victory, for the smooth crossing of the river by the large army, rush! ”
The soldiers marched forward more courageously, fearless of the raging fire on their bodies, and waged a desperate struggle with the Kuomintang.
In just two hours, the Red Army soldiers managed to capture the Luding Bridge, an incredible feat.
This victory shattered the conspiracy of the reactionaries to wipe out the workers' and peasants' Red Army with the help of the Dadu River, and completely shattered Chiang Kai-shek's absurd illusion of staging the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the Dadu River.
The key to this victory, called "Flying to Capture the Luding Bridge", lies in the word "fly", because the victory is embodied in the miracle of the Red Army soldiers desperately rushing to a rapid march of more than 100 kilometers.
It was precisely because of this that the Kuomintang was unprepared and caught off guard.
In 1965, Marshal Peng Dehuai returned to Luding Bridge.
He followed the river to the Kangding area upstream of the Luding Bridge, inspected the construction of the project, and accidentally found that the Dadu River meanders here, the water flow is gentle, and the river surface is narrow, as if it is a natural ferry.
Marshal Peng Dehuai couldn't help but sigh to the entourage around him:
In fact, we only had to go a little upstream, and even if the Luding Bridge was destroyed according to Chiang Kai-shek's order, it would not be able to stop the Red Army from crossing the river.
Despite this fact, the heroic feat of the Red Army in capturing the Luding Bridge is still worthy of our admiration. That spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice and hardship is an example that our younger generation needs to learn from.